• BOSTON ON THE BRAIN: Hawks coach Mike Woodson is the last person thinking about anything other than the opponent at hand, particularly with the tenuous nature of his team's hold on their playoff position these days.

But not even Woodson could ignore the significance — and future implications — of Saturday's game against Boston at Philips Arena.

"They know we're still in the hunt for that eighth spot, and I expect them to play their guys, to play to win and to try and put a little something on our minds," Woodson said before his team played the Knicks on Friday night at Madison Square Garden. "And I wouldn't expect anything less. We'll obviously be trying to do the same thing."

If the playoff spots hold as of right now, the top-seeded Celtics would square off against the No. 8 seed Hawks in the first round, starting this time next week.

• STROKE RETURNS: After struggling with his shot in each of the Hawks' past three games, point guard Mike Bibby finally found his stroke again in the first half against the Knicks.

He had 12 points at halftime and was 5-for-9 from the floor and 2-for-3 from beyond the 3-point line.

His teammates swear they were never worried about Bibby. But after his 0-for-8 showing from the floor in Tuesday's loss to Indiana, no one would have blamed them.

But they didn't waver in their belief in Bibby, not even a little bit.

"Nope," Josh Smith said when asked if he tried to do anything to fire Bibby up on the days between games. "I think he stayed after practice to shoot or something, but he doesn't need to search for magic potions. He knows what he can do."

• HEAT OF THE MOMENT: The Hawks didn't wait until tip off Friday night to get the juices flowing.

Reserve big men Solomon Jones and Zaza Pachulia got into a post-shootaround scuffle that had to be broken up by teammates.

No one suffered any serious damage, Woodson said, and nobody will face any disciplinary action for being involved.

— Sekou Smith