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Ahead of the NBA playoffs, FOX Sports will find the best-case scenario for all 16 qualified teams and make the case for why each could win the title, no matter how improbable it might be.
Sleeper pick
Remember the Atlanta Hawks, the team that finished the regular season with 60 wins and the top seed in the Eastern Conference last year, only to be swept by the Cavs in the conference finals?
Yeah, that team is still really, really good, and they're keen to make up for last year's lost opportunity.
The Hawks have made a few changes -- point guard Dennis Schroder has taken on a larger role, and Thabo Sefolosha and Kent Bazemore have attempted to fill the gap left by Demarre Carroll, who exited last offseason for the No. 2 seed in the East, the Toronto Raptors.
But Paul Milsap is still really good. Al Horford continues to be one of the league's most underrated players, and no team in the league, much less the Eastern Conference is going to have an easy time scoring against them, especially when the possessions get tighter.
Pass and defend
The Hawks won't come at you with flash, but they do have two tenets necessary to win in the playoffs -- a stifling defense and exceptional ball movement. It's every coach's favorite pairing.
The Hawks were second in the NBA in assists and assist ratio, they were 6th in 3-pointers made, and 6th in effective field goal -- all qualities of a title contender in the modern pace-and-space NBA. It's particularly impressive for a team whose two best offensive weapons are big men that could hardly be characterized as "stretch".
Defensively, the Hawks might be the best team in the league. They held opponents to the lowest field-goal percentage in the NBA this season and posted the second-best defensive rating in the league behind the Spurs.
They have a 3-1 record against both Boston and Charlotte this season and match up well with both Toronto and Miami, especially in a playoff setting.
There is one problem though...
Maybe they won't play the Cavs
LeBron James owns the Hawks. Last year, he nearly singlehandedly swept Atlanta in the Eastern Conference Finals, and he's carried that dominance into this season, where the Cavs have won all three matchups.
The Cavs and Pistons are going to need to form an alliance, because the Hawks can't, under any circumstances, face off with Cleveland in the playoffs.
Ignore the Cavs' problems. Some things go beyond logic. Atlanta is a good team, but they haven't beaten the Cavs since March of last year.
The Hawks, with their stout defense and exceptional coaching, have the ability to push the Warriors and Spurs in an NBA Finals -- seriously -- but they'll have to avoid the team in Northeast Ohio to have any chance at that upset.
If the Hawks can avoid Cleveland, a matchup with San Antonio would pit Gregg Popovich against his protégé, Mike Budenholzer. The Hawks have played the Warriors well this season, too, having led them in the fourth quarter in Oakland in February and then taking them to overtime in Atlanta March. It's hardly outrageous to think the Hawks could take both teams the distance in the NBA Finals, and in a winner-take-all game, anything is possible.
But it's not possible if the Cavs stand in the way.
