Hawks assistant’s son brings home NCAA title

DREW WITNESSES TITLE: Hawks assistant coach Larry Drew has had plenty of shining moments in a storied playing and coaching career in college and the NBA, but his basketball experience took a new twist Monday night in Detroit as he watched his son’s North Carolina team knock off Michigan State for the NCAA title.

Drew was there at Ford Field, taking in all the sights and sounds associated with college basketball’s biggest night.

“It was an absolute rush that is hard to describe,” Drew said Tuesday afternoon before the Hawks and Raptors played at Air Canada Centre. “I’m so happy that Larry had a chance to experience that as a freshman. It gives him something to sink his teeth into going forward. But overall, it was just such an amazing thing to see in person.

“That building was just huge. And that crowd, with all those Michigan State fans, was unbelievable. It’s one of those things you have to see with your own eyes to believe it.”

Drew flew to Detroit on Monday afternoon and made the game and then met the Hawks in Toronto on Tuesday afternoon for the game against the Raptors.

JUST WIN, BABY: Losing three consecutive games to end the regular season last year had most folks expecting an early first-round exit for the Hawks in their series against Boston.

It never happened. The Hawks battled the Celtics to seven games, getting blown out in the finale.

Still, few people saw a seven-game series coming after watching the Hawks limp to the finish line in the regular season.

Hawks coach Mike Woodson doesn’t want to see his team repeat that mistake of crawling to the finish.

“My thing is, you want to end on a good note so you can really start your preparations for the playoffs. And as soon as we get this fourth spot locked up, we can do that and we can also start resting some guys for the playoffs.”

The Hawks still can’t let up right now, though, not with Miami and Philadelphia chasing them for the home-court advantage that comes with the fourth spot.

“We have to win games, plain and simple,” Josh Smith said. “We need a collective defensive effort and we need to bottle up what we do at home and make sure we open it up on this road trip.”

The Hawks play at Milwaukee tonight before returning to Atlanta for a Friday night game against Indiana.

LAW RETURNS: The Hawks added reserve point guard Acie Law IV to active list after an eight-game absence because of a lower back injury. He hasn’t seen the floor since playing one minute in a March 19 victory over Dallas.

— Sekou Smith