After picking up a scrappy, shorthanded victory in Chicago on Wednesday night, the Atlanta Hawks will officially enter the second half of the season north of the .500 mark irrespective of the outcome of tomorrow night’s tilt against the Boston Celtics with the team’s record sitting at 21-19 through their first 40-games of the 2024-25 season.
While there is still a lot of basketball left to be played, and I’d stop (extremely) short of hanging any banners for this fairly blasé accomplishment, it is worth noting the extent to which this squad has surpassed their preseason expectations* thus far — with ESPN’s Kevin Pelton projecting the Hawks to finish with around 32 wins (11th in the Eastern Conference) in his annual preseason win projections article, and DraftKings Sportsbook placing Atlanta’s over/under for wins at a modest 36.