Without a resilient showing in Game 4 against the Washington Wizards, the Atlanta Hawks will be casualties of second-round chaos—their historic record-setting 82-game campaign at risk of becoming a footnote on a postseason framed by a precipitous decline.
All year long, the Hawks have been strangers to strife. They won a franchise-record 60 games, locked up the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed with three weeks left in the regular season and lost back-to-back games just five times.
Adversity may run in the franchise's bloodstream when it comes to on-court success, but this season was different.