Prepare yourselves for a dangerous thought involving the Hawks' short-term future, and here's why: Sports folks are perennially into that cliche about taking things (all together now) one game, one day, one whatever at a time.

Consider, too, that the Hawks have more than a few issues right now. After missing the postseason for an NBA-high eight straight years, they are among the underwhelming but competitive group of four teams battling for that eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Most immediately, they'll meet one of those teams tonight at Philips Arena, where the Chicago Bulls will join the Hawks in trying to become the least mediocre bunch on the court for an evening.

As for that dangerous thought, what if Harry The Hawk joins that cow in jumping over the moon and the Hawks really do make the playoffs?

Good news. At least one Hawks player has the correct response to what logic says would be a massacre for his team in the first round against the Boston Celtics, the NBA's most gifted powerhouse in years. Suggested Josh Smith: Who would listen to logic if Harry The Hawk and an acrobatic cow actually did that lunar thing?

"We're most definitely hungry, and we're not just satisfied with making the playoffs, because we want to be a Golden State in the playoffs," said Smith, referring to the Warriors' clobbering last year of the supposedly mighty Dallas Mavericks. In that first-round matchup, the Warriors played out of their minds by forgetting they were only a No. 8 seed and eliminated their No. 1-seeded foes in Game 6 with a 25-point blowout.

The Celtics would be a No. 1 seed, and the Hawks would be a No. 8 seed. Which would mean what compared to Warriors-Mavericks of 2007?

Well, not that, but who knows? Maybe the youthful Hawks would discover ways to make the veteran Celtics huff a little more between puffs. Added Smith, "We want to resemble Golden State in that they came out [against Dallas] with the passion and the intensity that showed that they knew that they were going to play heads up with anybody that they faced.

"In regard to just making the playoffs, we talk about it pretty much about nearly every day to make sure that everybody stays focused on the task at hand."

We're back to that cliche about staying in the present, where the Hawks have fluctuated during their playoff run from dandy to decent to dreadful. They've done so, not only from game to game but from quarter to quarter. You can blame inexperience, the adjustment to new point guard Mike Bibby, a bench that coach Mike Woodson uses only as a last resort, and a flawed roster that still needs a talented big man and a strong leader.

You can't blame the schedule. With the 31-40 Hawks holding a half-game lead over the New Jersey Nets for that last playoff spot in the East, the Hawks will spend the next three games against opponents with lesser records (the Bulls, the New York Knicks and the Memphis Grizzlies).

Then again, none of that helped the Hawks earlier this week when they vanished after halftime in Chicago before reappearing too late near game's end.

Thus, the reluctance of most Hawks to think beyond this second.

"The main focus and the main goal for us is just getting there [to the playoffs] first," said Josh Childress, the Hawks' splendid sub. "Obviously you look and you see who you're potentially matched up with, and that's something that we have to keep our eyes on. But the biggest goal for us right now is just getting there."

Joe Johnson, the Hawks' most valuable player, agreed, saying, "If we did make the playoffs, we could be a scary team. It's only up to us. It would be a tremendous accomplishment knowing that this franchise hasn't been there in, I mean, what? I don't even know how many years it's been. We just have to come in and really focus in on what we have to do."

Then Johnson sighed, adding, "We just have to take ..."

You know the rest.

tlmoore@ajc.com

> HAWKS VS. BULLS: 7:30 p.m. today (Fox Sports Net, 790 AM)