Hawks forward Josh Smith sat out the team's game against San Antonio on Tuesday night because of soreness in his right knee.
Smith suffered a sprain Feb. 28 at Denver after he had banged the knee earlier in the season. He said he has had nagging pain and weakness in the knee and isn't sure how long he will be out.
"We just want to try to get as much of the swelling out of it as we can and get it as strong as I can before the playoffs," Smith said.
With Smith out of the lineup, coach Larry Drew started Jason Collins at center and shifted Al Horford to Smith's usual power forward position.
The Hawks have four regular-season games left. They clinched the fifth seed Tuesday night, despite losing, with the loss by the 76ers. The Hawks can't catch the Magic for the fourth seed.
Drew said the decision to hold out Smith was made with the postseason in mind. The Hawks play their final regular-season game April 13 at Charlotte.
"With five games to go, we want to try to get guys as healthy as we can going into the playoffs," Drew said before the game Tuesday. "I think it's a situation of if [Smith] really needed to play tonight, if this were the playoffs, he would probably play. But we have got to let the knee settle down and get him as healthy as we can going into the playoffs."
Williams honored
The Hawks presented Marvin Williams with the Jason Collier Memorial Trophy in a pregame ceremony. The award, named in honor of the former Hawks center who died in 2005, is given to the player who "best exemplifies the characteristics Collier displayed off the court as a community ambassador."
Williams is a member of the Special Olympics Georgia Honorary Board. He also has supported Hawks Adopt-a-Family program and the Hosea Feed the Hungry and Homeless.
Etc.
Collins left the Spurs game in the second quarter with a left ankle injury. Collins tumbled to the floor after fouling forward Tim Duncan and then appeared to collide with Horford. He didn't come out with the team for the start of the second half.
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