76ERS 109, HAWKS 94: ‘We’re in a rut right now’

A light smattering of boos accompanied the Hawks as they left the floor for the locker room at the end of Sunday’s ugly 109-94 whipping at the hands of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Hawks captain and All-Star Joe Johnson said it was an appropriate end to 48 minutes that he had trouble describing after the Hawks (22-14) dropped their third consecutive game without putting up much of a fight.

“I don’t think we’re playing together on either end of the floor,” Johnson said while staring into his locker. “We’re just not helping one another. We’re not playing with any energy, and really, you have to put it on the starting five because we’re not doing [expletive] at the start of these games.”

They were down by double digits in the first quarter of back-to-back losses to Orlando, and down by 50 at one point in the second half of Friday’s loss to the Magic.

The 76ers opened Sunday’s game on a 10-point tear and led by as many as 11 early while cruising down the stretch as the Hawks struggled regardless of which five players they had on the floor.

“We’re in a rut right now,” said Hawks coach Mike Woodson, who was without starting center Al Horford on Sunday and will be without him for the foreseeable future. Horford is out indefinitely with a bone bruise in his right knee.

“Guys are kind of looking over their shoulder a little bit,” Woodson continued, “and the only way we’re going to get out of it is to work our way out of it. That’s through practice and trying to get some confidence back in these guys and get them back playing.

“Orlando took some starch out of us that last game. We’re not competing defensively like we have been. And that’s on me. I have to get them back playing defense because that’s the only we’re going to have a chance to win.”

The Hawks have lost four of five games to start the New Year after finishing the last 10 games of 2008 with a league-best 9-1 mark.

Whatever defensive focus, offensive flow and swagger they had before appears to have vanished somewhere along that way.

“We’re just not playing with any intensity, and it’s coming from the way we’re starting these games,” said Hawks reserve Mo Evans, who chipped in with 10 points off the bench Sunday. “You saw Philly jump on us at the start. And then at the end of the game, they were still outrebounding us and getting to all the loose balls when we’re the team that needs to be playing with a sense of urgency.

“In my opinion, there seems like a complacency on our team right now, like we already clinched a playoff seed or home court advantage or something and we’re barely out of the starting gate of this season.”

Things are only going to get tougher for the Hawks, who leave today for a three-game Western Conference trip that kicks off in Phoenix on Tuesday night.

“We blew a chance to head out on the road with a little momentum,” Josh Smith said. “This one stings because we didn’t even give ourselves a chance from the start.”

Even with Johnson and Mike Bibby combining for 47 points and 17 assists the way they did Sunday, the Hawks have much bigger issues to deal with —- namely, their defense, which has been shredded by teams recently.

They had no answers for Andre Iguodala and former Georgia Tech star Thaddeus Young, who matched Bibby and Johnson every step of the way, finishing with 27 and 22 points, respectively.

“The bottom line is we’re going to find out if we’ve grown at all from our struggles in the past,” Hawks forward Marvin Williams said. “All I can tell you is we’re not going to shake this off one man at a time.

“It has to be us doing it together.”

NEXT FOR HAWKS

> Who: at Suns

> When: 9 p.m. Tuesday

> Radio: 790 AM