Hawks take moment to relish accomplishments

Before the Hawks secured the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference playoff chase, team captain and All-Star Joe Johnson hadn’t given much thought to how it would feel when his team achieved that goal.

Moments after it was done, though, he allowed himself a rare moment to enjoy the wild ride the Hawks took to get there.

Enlarge this image

Hyosub Shin/hshin@ajc.com

With home court secured, the Hawks’ Mike Bibby, Josh Smith and Al Horford are looking for a run in the playoffs.

MORE ON THE HAWKS

• Schedule • Beat Blog • Stats
• Player pages: Josh Smith

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

From a 26-win season in his first with the team four years ago to the surprising playoff bid last year to the home-court advantage in the first round that was secured Friday, and all the craziness, fun and tireless work in between, Johnson couldn’t have imagined a better feeling.

“I definitely think it makes it all a little bit sweeter knowing where we’ve come from,” Johnson said. “When I first got here to now … we’ve definitely gotten a lot better year after year. We’ve grown and matured. It feels great to have home-court advantage in the first round. And that’s absolutely something we have to be proud of.”

There’s no downplaying the Hawks’ performance this season. Their 46-34 record, with two games to play. Their first home-court advantage since the 1997 playoffs. Their trying five-year turnaround nearing completion.

Josh Smith is the only player still on the roster from the 2004-05 season that was marked by a gruesome, NBA-worst 13-69 season. He can’t help but think about the players who have come and gone since that inauspicious beginning.

“You live to cherish these moments and appreciate these moments when you start the way we did,” Smith said. “The thing is, I’ve truly had fun this whole season. Playing with this team and accomplishing what we have, it’s been as much fun as I’ve had since I’ve been in the league.

“The only regret is that some of the guys that shed blood, sweat and tears with us along the way aren’t around to enjoy this part of it. Josh Childress is in Greece. And [former Hawks general manager Billy Knight] isn’t around to see what his team has become. And I don’t care how you slice it, this is his team. He put these pieces together and here we are.”

Well, not exactly.

Knight did draft Al Horford and trade for Mike Bibby, the two biggest additions to the Hawks’ nucleus during that span. But the additions of both Flip Murray and Mo Evans this season can’t be overlooked either.

Adding players with winning pedigrees in each of the past two seasons no doubt helped bolster the roster.

“It helps,” Horford said, “because when I came in I was already confident in what could be done. And then once you brought in Bibby, and he has that winning mentality, we had higher expectations for our team. We weren’t here to experience the tougher times, but it feels good to put this team and this franchise back in a good position.”

Horford pointed to some recent words of wisdom from Hawks coach Mike Woodson that stuck with him and his teammates over the last week as the Hawks rebounded from three consecutive losses to win three consecutive games and nail down that fourth spot.

“When we came in [last Monday] for practice, coach was just telling us to calm down and that everything was going to be fine,” Horford said. “He said win these three games and we’ll be good. He kind of laid it out for us, and everybody stepped up to the call.”