The Hawks will find no sympathy for their injuries and a challenging schedule in the NBA standings, which lacks notations for such things alongside the wins and losses.
The Hawks say they aren’t looking for that, anyway, even as their injuries seem to never end.
“We say there’s more room over there on the bench [with players missing],” Hawks reserve Jerry Stackhouse said before playing the Nets on Friday night. “We aren’t all on top of each other. But other than that, we don’t really talk about it. This is the NBA.”
Another truism of the league is that even teams low in the standings have enough good players capable of rising up to defeat better opponents. The Nets tried to do it to the Hawks before succumbing 93-84 at Philips Arena.
The Nets (15-34) had lost four in a row and are headed for the draft lottery. But they have a dynamic scorer and playmaker in All-Star guard Deron Williams, and his scoring plus strong bench production and rebounding were enough to make the Hawks work for a victory.
The Hawks needed a late spurt to build an 84-75 lead, then held on to win after New Jersey cut the lead to four points in the final minute. The Hawks (28-20) won for the fourth time in five games and pulled into a virtual tie with Indiana (27-19) for fifth place in the Eastern Conference.
Each time the Hawks threatened to open a comfortable lead, the Nets came back.
A 6-0 spurt in the third quarter pushed the Hawks’ lead to 53-48, but Williams made a challenged 3-pointer. Hawks guard Kirk Hinrich made two 3-pointers for a 60-53 lead, but New Jersey closed the period on a 16-2 run to lead 69-62.
The Hawks scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter, but the Nets re-gained the lead.
Another Hawks spurt, this time 10-2, pushed them ahead 84-75, their largest advantage of the night. But Gerald Wallace made a 3-pointer, and Anthony Morrow sank a jump shot to trim the Hawks’ lead to 84-80 with three minutes to play.
Atlanta held on to win another game that showed its margin of error is thin against any team. It’s a message Hawks coach Larry Drew repeats often to his team, with mixed results.
The Hawks’ slow start against the Nets came two nights after they did the same against struggling Cleveland and not long after similar efforts against Sacramento and Detroit.
“You can’t worry about the name on the front of the jersey,” Drew said. “You have to compete. I think that’s the next step for us.”
The Hawks couldn’t get Williams under control early. He scored in the low post, on jump shots and while driving to the basket and scored 12 points in the first half.
Hawks All-Star Joe Johnson matched Williams early while scoring nine points in the first quarter. But the drives he converted in that period weren’t there in the second, when he had his shot blocked at the basket twice and managed two points.
It was part of a listless start for the Hawks against the Nets. Perhaps they just needed game officials to give them the motivation they seemed to lack.
Josh Smith earned a technical foul for arguing with game officials even though he got a foul call on the play. Before Smith could evens shoot his free throws, teammate Tracy McGrady was called for a technical foul.
New Jersey made both technical free throws to extend its lead to 31-23, but it wasn’t long after that the Hawks picked up their tempo.
Jeff Teague had a steal and a dunk, followed by Willie Green’s steal leading to a transition dunk by Smith. Those plays were part of a 14-3 spurt that gave Atlanta a 37-34 lead.
Still, the Hawks could never pull away from New Jersey. The Nets led 44-43 at halftime.
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