The best thing about an NBA regular season is that it ends. This one ended with the Hawks, who were two games from the 2021 NBA finals, slipping into the play-in tournament. Everyone hates the regular season because it means nothing. Everyone hates the play-in because it's a blatant attempt to energize an audience numbed by five months of load management.
The Hawks' regular season was underwhelming. They did as much as was needed to qualify for the play-in and no more. They went 43-39 — a winning percentage of .524. Last season's was .569. This team had the 16th-best record among 30 NBA clubs. The biggest move made over 82 games was to dump Cam Reddish, who's a talent but not quite a player. (Check his subsequent Knick stats.)
If the newish play-in didn't exist, the Hawks wouldn't still be playing. Its creation rendered two-thirds of the NBA playoff-eligible. You'd have to be ragingly mediocre not to qualify for this expanded postseason. For much of the season, the Hawks weren't far from that. Not until March 28 did they nose above .500 to stay.
