Hawks enter tough stretch

Just because the Hawks had weeks to analyze their early-season schedule hasn’t made it any easier to swallow now that they are in the midst of it.

Six of their first 10 games, including Tuesday’s game against Indiana at Conseco Fieldhouse, have been road games. And seven of their next 12 will be on the road as well.

Fold in the fact that they’ll have played back-to-back set eight times by Dec. 13, including Wednesday night’s game against Washington at Philips Arena, and it’s easy to see why Hawks coach Mike Woodson is preaching to his team regularly about the importance of getting the most out of whatever practice time they have available.

“You always have practice to find your comfort zone, and we just haven’t been able to do that,” Woodson said. “But it’s not anything we’re crying about. The schedule is no surprise. We just have to manage it and take care of our business.”

Surprise teams

Forget the Pacers’ 4-5 record heading into Tuesday’s game. Woodson said he identified the Pacers and the New Jersey Nets as teams that are vastly improved from last season. While neither team was predicted to be among the playoff contenders in the Eastern Conference in the preseason, both are in the thick of the chase right now.

The Nets already own two wins over the Hawks, on last weekend’s back-to-back tango. The Pacers were the first team to defeat the defending world champion Boston.

“They’ve both added and subtracted players,” Woodson said. “But I think they are better teams right now than they were this time last year because they’re playing really good team basketball. That’s always the key.”

No defense

If Woodson thought his team’s defense was putrid in the losses to the Nets, he must have really been disgusted with the way they played in the first half Tuesday night. The Pacers shot 58 percent (26-for-45) from the floor, 75 percent (6-for-8) from beyond the 3-point line and saw the Pacers outscore them 32-6 in the paint, all staggering numbers by any measure.