The Hawks’ search for consistency continues.
With five games remaining until the all-star break, the up-and-down team is hoping to finish strong and get some healthy players back.
Following a stretch of four wins in five games, the Hawks played poorly in Saturday’s home loss to the Bulls, a team missing four key players, in another step backward. This most recent scenario has proven frustrating for coaches, players and fans.
The Hawks will be without center Zaza Pachulia (sore right Achilles) and likely guard Devin Harris (sore left foot) for Tuesday’s game at the Pacers in an important Eastern Conference matchup. They are the most recent of injuries that have befallen the Hawks.
“I’m certainly looking for the consistency,” Hawks coach Larry Drew said following Monday’s practice. “Losing is frustrating. The thing I have to keep reminding myself when you look at our team, right now we are battling some injuries. We miss Devin. We miss Zaza. We lost Lou Williams. We are trying to make some adjustments along the way and work with what we have. I wish we would have had all of our guys in the last month, everybody playing well. I wish we had everybody healthy. That’s not the case. We have to go with what we have.”
The Hawks have had their share of injuries. They have played only one game this season, Dec. 12 at the Magic, with no players on the injured list. The Hawks have a total of 56 games lost to injury and have used 15 different starting lineups.
The Hawks remain sixth in the Eastern Conference but they are getting closer to the bottom of the playoff race than then the top. Entering Monday’s play, the Hawks (26-20) were five games behind the conference leading Heat. However, they are only a game up on the Bucks and 2-1/2 games ahead of the Celtics.
The Pacers, tied with the Nets, are 1-1/2 games up on the Hawks.
“It’s an important game,” center Al Horford said of the matchup with the Pacers. “I don’t know if it’s a statement game, but it’s an important game for us to be able to keep up with those top five teams.”
The Hawks have won both meetings against the Pacers this season with games at Philips Arena. They have won or tied the rebound battle in each case. That is no small task as the Pacers lead the NBA in rebounding at 45.53 per game. The Hawks are a distant 26th at 40.50 per game. The Pacers are also tops in the league in rebounding differential at plus-4.61.
In offensive rebounds, the Pacers are fifth in the league at 13.0 per game. The Hawks are 26th at 9.7 per game. It was offensive rebounding that hurt the Hawks against the Bulls, whose depleted roster came up with 18 offensive rebounds in their victory.
Drew said he will make some defensive changes in order to slow the rebound advantage of the bigger Pacers.
“Playing like a team against a team like Indiana we know that too many defensive rotations will put us probably at a disadvantage on the glass,” Drew said. “From a tactical standpoint, we’ve got to be more selective in what we do. At the same time, we have to make sure we are able to defend them pick-and-roll wise, guys coming off screens. We’ve got to be able to defend that. We look at each situation as ‘Where is the fire? How do we defend it?’ We have to try to put the fire out, or contain it. By doing that, sometimes another fire could start someplace else.”
Notes: Pachulia said following a limited practice Monday that his Achilles is feeling better. He said he caught himself checking to see if there was pain in the area that will cost him his fourth game in the past six. He hopes to rejoin the team soon. … Johan Petro tweaked his back during Monday's practice and left to receive treatment. He did travel with the team to Indianapolis. … Player Development instructor Nick Van Exel remains on a leave of absence.
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