BS Report: March 16, 2026
Well, it’s been a while since we’ve been able to say this, but tonight in Atlanta, a really big game for the Atlanta Hawks. No joke. It’s a big game between the Hawks and the Orlando Magic. Now here’s the situation. The Hawks have won nine games in a row. Their longest win streak in the last 11 seasons. They will go for win number ten tonight against Orlando the Magic.
Well Orlando’s won seven in row. So they’re playing very good ball. And they have gone all the way up to fifth place in the Eastern Conference standings. But the interesting thing about this is the standings are very bunched together. There is only two and a half games from Orlando, and the fifth place position in the Eastern Conference to Atlanta, and the ninth place position in the Eastern Conference. And Atlanta. With all these wins, and they’ve been on a roll since the All-Star break, obviously. Well, they’ve really been stuck in ninth place because both Orlando and Miami, the teams ahead of them, have been doing well. Also, Miami had won eight games a row until they lost to Orlando on Saturday. So those two teams are doing well. The Hawks have been doing well. Toronto and Philadelphia have slipped back a little bit, and you’ve got a big mess there from five until nine in the Eastern Conference. The Hawks would love to get to either fifth place or sixth place by the end of the season, because that would keep them out of the play in tournament, which is what they’ve been in the last two years and have lost both seasons.
So this game tonight against Orlando, a team Atlanta has already beaten twice so far this season, would be crucial in case Orlando in Atlanta tie at the end of the regular season. They go by the games in the regular season. So if Atlanta wins tonight and wins their third game out of four, then Atlanta will have the tiebreaker over Orlando.
They do not have it over Toronto. They do have it over. The Philadelphia 76 ers. So that’s good. So there’s still a lot of basketball left. Well there’s not much but there’s still plenty of games left to determine all this. These head to head matchups with these teams that are ahead of Atlanta are very crucial. It’s crazy really, that the Hawks were in ninth place in the Eastern Conference when they started this win streak and are still there, but that shows you how the other teams, the East have also done. The real interesting thing about the game tonight is that Orlando is going to be without a couple of their starters, Frans Wagner, and also, Anthony Black. Their point guard will be out. We’ll see if Jonathan Kuminga plays for Atlanta. And that could be crucial. But the Hawks have played unbelievable ball. Obviously in this win streak I was there on Saturday to watch them at State Farm Arena.
And I know Milwaukee didn’t have Giannis the Greek Freak, but Atlanta was playing so well. And you can just tell they turn it on in the fourth quarter. And we got to remember now this is a different team than early in the season. Gone are Trae Young and Kristaps Porzingis and Luke Kennard and Krejci. Now we’ve got Jalen Johnson stepping up into a larger role. We have other players that are doing very well like C.J. McCollum and Nickeil Alexander-Walker two veterans. So this is a really different team. And that’s why we’re seeing this win streak. Yes, they played weaker opposition, but they’ve also played very good basketball. So this is a big game tonight at State Farm Arena with Orlando. And we’ll see if the Hawks can win their third game out of four against Orlando, which would be crucial in the standings in the Eastern Conference.
