Atlanta Hawks: Hawks Clinch Playoffs

The Atlanta Hawks have clinched the playoffs with an impressive win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Are the Hawks playoff win chances heading in the right direction?

Winning against Cleveland is never easy but for the Atlanta Hawks they found a way to do just that on Friday with all five starters sitting on the bench. The Hawks bench exploded and carried the team to victory that was highlighted by Tim Hardaway Jr. putting away any hope of a late Cavs surge.

The victory was once that looked like the Hawks of last year withstanding Lebron James and Kyrie Irving’s onslaughts and playing a brand of team basketball that has been missing for the majority of the last two months for the Hawks.

Clinching the playoffs was the biggest story line out of the win and an important one for a franchise that seems to have found new life. As of now the Hawks would face Washington in the playoffs though that will almost certainly change with the East finishing all within striking distance of the team ahead of them.

The Hawks are going to need to sweep their remaining games and go into the playoffs red hot if they want to have hope of being able to take down a team like the Cavs or Boston Celtics in a long playoff series without having home advantage.

THJ is going to have to continue to stay hot and come off of the bench and provide an offensive spark when the Hawks need it most.  Friday night the Hawks bench showed what they are capable of doing to the best team in the East if that team shows up in the playoffs Hawks fans could be pleasantly surprised.

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The problem for the Hawks is going to be the fact that the East will likely go through Cleveland and while the Hawks have proven they can beat them in the regular season can they slow the Cavs down when it means the most?