NBA Power Rankings midseason reset: Milwaukee Bucks who we thought they’d be

Last week: Beat New York 140-135 (2OT), lost at Orlando 135-126, lost at Cleveland 127-105

This week: Thursday vs. Miami, Saturday vs. Dallas

The Atlanta Hawks were still deep into a rebuild, but were expected to be a bit better in 2019-20, as they were No. 24 in the preseason NBA Power Rankings. But injuries and a 25-game suspension to one of their young core pieces, John Collins, sabotaged their season as Atlanta had two 10-game losing streaks within the season’s first 33 games.

While the Hawks are 9-14 since that dreadful start, the damage was done. As for the rest of their schedule, Tankathon ranks it as the NBA’s fourth-weakest, with 26 games against opponents with a combined winning percentage of .465.

Home (15): Feb. 20 Miami, Feb. 22 Dallas, Feb. 26 Orlando, Feb. 28 Brooklyn, Feb. 29 Portland, March 2 Memphis, March 9 Charlotte, March 11 New York, March 14 Cleveland, March 18 Oklahoma City, March 20 Washington, March 31 New Orleans, April 3 Charlotte, April 7 Detroit, April 15 Cleveland
Away (11): Feb. 24 at Philadelphia, March 6 at Washington, March 7 at Memphis, March 16 at New Orleans, March 21 at Philadelphia, March 25 at Golden State, March 26 at Sacramento, March 28 at Utah, April 5 at Charlotte, April 10 at Toronto, April 12 at Milwaukee

With 26 games to play, the Hawks are 9½ games behind the eighth-place Orlando Magic in the East and despite their relatively easy remaining slate, making up that much ground in that short a time as well as passing five other teams is probably too much to expect.

Game of the first half: Trae Young has had many signature outings over the first half, but in Atlanta’s 152-133 win over the Wizards on Jan. 26, Young went for 45 points and 14 assists with six rebounds, while hitting 13-of-24 overall and 6-of-11 from 3-point range.

He was also 13-for-16 at the line in Atlanta’s highest-scoring regulation game since scoring 155 points against the San Diego Rockets on Feb. 11, 1970.

Last week: Lost to Clippers 133-92, beat Atlanta 127-105

This week: Friday at Washington, Saturday at Miami

If anything the Cleveland Cavaliers have overachieved thus far in 2019-20; we had them at No. 30 in the preseason NBA Power Rankings after all.

The Cavs have struggled defensively at times, don’t force a lot of turnovers and are extremely undersized in the backcourt and, since the trade deadline, have two starting-caliber centers who are nearly unplayable together, so at least there’s that.

Cleveland is in the middle of the pack in terms of remaining schedule strength, ranked No. 14 by Tankathon for their final 28 games, with a combined winning percentage by their opponents of .503.

Home (12): Feb. 24 Miami, Feb. 26 Philadelphia, Feb. 29 Indiana, March 2 Utah, March 4 Boston, March 7 Denver, March 8 San Antonio, March 24 Sacramento, March 26 Lakers, March 30 Phoenix, April 11 Milwaukee, April 13 Brooklyn
Away (16): Feb. 21 at Washington, Feb. 22 at Miami, Feb. 28 at New Orleans, March 10 at Chicago, March 13 at Charlotte, March 14 at Atlanta, March 17 at Houston, March 19 at Orlando, March 21 at Indiana, March 28 at Brooklyn, April 1 at Utah, April 3 at Phoenix, April 5 at Sacramento, April 7 at Portland, April 8 at Golden State, April 15 at Atlanta

Like the Hawks, Cleveland trails eighth-place Orlando by 9½ games and have the other six teams currently projected for the draft lottery to pass to reach the playoffs. Probably not going to happen.

Game of the first half: It’s rare for a 28-year-old in his ninth NBA season to have a career night, but that’s exactly what Tristan Thompson did in a 115-112 overtime win at Detroit on Jan. 9. Thompson played 45 minutes and scored a career-high 35 points on 15-of-20 shooting to go with 14 rebounds, three blocks and three assists.

It was the first 30-point game of his career, coming in his 598th career game.