DEL.ICIO.USHawks end preseason with win over Pistons
Woodson uncertain if team is ready for regular season
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Auburn Hills, Mich. — Hawks coach Mike Woodson knew his team was ready for the regular season after last year’s exhibition schedule because they finished with a 7-1 record.
He knew they were prepared for the rigors of the 82-game marathon because they showed they were capable of playing at a high level each night, even if the competition wasn’t playing at the same level.
Duane Burleson/AP
Detroit Pistons’ Rodney Stuckey (3) drives to the basket between Atlanta Hawks’ Maurice Evans, left, and Ronald Murray.
Duane Burleson/AP
Detroit Pistons’ Tayshaun Prince (22) takes a shot against Atlanta Hawks’ Josh Smith.
Five days from the Oct. 29 regular-season opener in Orlando, Woodson isn’t as certain that his team is in the same rhythm this time around.
“You just don’t know,” Woodson said before the Hawks’ 88-87 victory against Detroit at the Palace of Auburn Hills on Thursday in the preseason finale for both teams. “All I can compare it to is how we played at this time last year. And I had to go out last season and push guys, really Marvin [Williams], Josh Smith and Josh [Childress] because they needed more playing time. And in doing that, we had a nice carryover into the regular season. We had our nine or 10 guys, and we were set.
“This year we backed off a lot of the guys, and as we get prepared for Orlando right now, I’m still reaching to figure out my rotation and kind of how things are going to fit. That’s something you’d like to have done in the last two or three preseason games, but I just wasn’t able to do that.”
With his entire starting five returning, all but one of the major bench players [Childress] and veteran additions such as Mo Evans and Flip Murray, Woodson said he didn’t feel the need to push quite as hard this year.
But the Hawks are counting on their five-day cushion to get some of the dust knocked off before facing the Magic. Because their showing during this preseason, they finished with a 5-3 record, lacked the same precision and attention to detail that they displayed a year ago.
“We were in a different zone last year, a different mode,” said Smith, who sprained his right ankle just before halftime Thursday and did not return just as a precautionary measure. “We felt like our backs were up against the wall last year with all the stuff we had been through the two years before that. Our focus was locked in from the first day of camp last year.”
For all that focus, the Hawks won just 37 games last season. They did make the playoffs, though, exposing all but a couple of veterans to the third tier of a marathon NBA season for the first time.
“We were definitely feeling it by the end of the playoffs,” said Williams, who returned to the starting lineup Thursday after missing three games with a sprained ligament in his thumb on his non-shooting hand.
“From the preseason we had last year and all the games we won, you could tell we had a lot of momentum going into that first game against Dallas. There was no doubt we were ready, and we came out and shocked some people by knocking Dallas off.”
With 10 of their first 16 regular-season games on the road, the Hawks will need to start this season with a similar punch or risk going into a hole early and spending a considerable amount of time in December trying to dig out of a hole.
The Hawks, who played without captain and two-time All-Star Joe Johnson (who stayed in Atlanta with a groin injury) on Thursday, were 12-29 on the road last season.
“I think we have to make a statement early to make sure we’re a better road team this season than we were a year ago,” Williams said. “And I think definitely starts with what we do in Orlando.”
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