Having long ago locked up the No. 1 playoff seed in the East, the Hawks have played somewhat like a team with little present purpose in losing six of their past 13 games, and yet in Wednesday’s regular-season finale in Chicago the Hawks will have something for which to play.
They might be able to further influence their playoff path while in the regular season, after all.
The Bulls (49-32) are trying to hold off Toronto (48-32) for the No. 3 seed in the East. If the Raptors stay where they are, at No. 4, they could match up in the second round with the Hawks.
That’s not so good; Toronto beat Atlanta (60-21) in three of four meetings this season.
The Hawks are 2-0 against the Bulls, and an Atlanta win in Chicago would leave Toronto needing only a split of games Tuesday at Boston and Wednesday against Charlotte to secure the No. 3 spot as the Raptors own a tiebreaker over the Bulls.
So, a mission: down the Bulls, and help the Raptors up.
“We have one game left,” said point guard Jeff Teague, “and we’re going to treat that like a playoff game.”
Wednesday may also be more important because it will be the last chance before the postseason for All-Star forward Paul Millsap to find game rhythm. He missed the past five contests with a strained right shoulder and contusion.
Millsap practiced Tuesday, but head coach Mike Budenholzer didn’t cement his status for Chicago.
While the Hawks wandered about Monday for nearly two thirds of their final home game, they looked as if they were so eager for the playoffs to arrive that they could hardly have cared less about the present. That needs to end.
As a 17-64 team that lags the entire NBA in scoring banked season highs of 33 assists and a 55.8 percent shooting while outscoring its average by 20 points, as the Knicks did, it was obvious that something’s missing.
That freshened debate: Have the Hawks lost the Zen that pushed them to a 19-game winning streak and a glorious 35-3 run from Nov. 28 March 16, or are they just bored and riding cruise control to the postseason?
Budenholzer, who has rested players liberally for weeks while also dealing with player injuries, said, “We know we have to play better,” while suggesting that the Hawks will be able to flip the switch and keep it on by referencing past success.
Time is running out to find whatever is gone.
“We didn’t come out with the focus that we needed to, the aggressiveness,” forward DeMarre Carroll said. “We can’t do that. If we want to be a great team, we have to approach every game the same.”
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