THE ROAD AHEAD
A look at the remaining schedules for the teams just above and below the Hawks in the Eastern Conference playoff race, with just over a month remaining in the regular season.
Team; Games remaining; Home; Road; Above-.500 opponents
5. Wizards (33-30); 19; 10; 9; 6
6. Nets (32-30); 20; 9; 11; 7
7. Bobcats (30-34); 18; 9; 9; 8
8. Hawks (27-35); 20; 13; 7; 9
9. Pistons (25-39); 18; 6; 12; 10
10. Knicks (25-40); 17; 7; 10; 10
The Hawks are in the home stretch — literally.
With 20 games remaining in the regular season, the Hawks play 13 times at Philips Arena. They are clinging to the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference and hold a three-game lead over the Pistons entering Wednesday’s NBA schedule. The final quarter of the season begins Thursday with a home game against the Bucks, who own the league’s worst record.
Sure there is the one-game-at-a-time mentality. Coach Mike Budenholzer and players were espousing the philosophy following practice Wednesday.
“That is all we can do,” Jeff Teague said. “That’s all we’ve got to do.”
The Hawks (27-35) have won twice in the past 16 games, with the wins snapping losing streaks of eight and six games. There is a profound difference in the way the Hawks play at home, and their record reflects as much. They are 17-11 (.607) at home and 10-24 (.294) on the road.
During the month-long skid the Hawks have not been healthy. Not counting the season-ending injuries to Al Horford and John Jenkins, the Hawks played the past month without Pero Antic and parts of it without Gustavo Ayon (now out for the season) and Paul Millsap.
Millsap and Antic are back now, and the Hawks are 1-1 since they returned. They lost in the final seconds at the Clippers and won at the Jazz.
“You are supposed to take it one game at a time, and that is the right way to do it,” Kyle Korver said. “But I think we all know we have to play well down the stretch. We don’t want to just make the playoffs. You want to be playing good basketball. That is the focus.
“Now that we have our team back together, for the most part, let’s get back to playing good basketball again. As long as we are playing good basketball, we will accept whatever happens in the standings.”
Of the teams just above and below the Hawks in the standings, they easily have the most home games remaining. The fifth-place Wizards have 10 home games left. The ninth-place Pistons have six. Nine of the Hawks’ home games are against teams with records currently above .500.
Teague said the Hawks play with more energy and with more pace at home. Korver said with a healthy roster, the added depth gives the team chances late in games to get a loose ball or a rebound, offensive or defensive, which win games in the NBA. Against the Jazz, with the score tied, Antic got an offensive rebound and passed to DeMarre Carroll, who made a 3-pointer that gave the Hawks the lead for good.
Budenholzer said he doesn’t subscribe to the theory that teams play better at home than on the road. He acknowledged that often it’s easier for a team to keep its poise with the game on the line at home as opposed to a hostile environment.
“Keeping your poise when you are learning something new or your group is young or your group is new together maybe on the road is more of a challenge,” Budenholzer said. “We’ve had our share of close games that I don’t think as much to do with home or road. We just haven’t gotten a bounce against a lot of teams — Miami, the Clippers, San Antonio.
“I’m aware that we’ve won more at home and played better. That’s encouraging that we’ve got (13 home games). It would be a little stubborn to say it doesn’t make any difference.”
Another advantage for the Hawks is that their seven remaining road games are all one-day trips. A game against the Timberwolves in the farthest they will travel.
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