The Hawks are tired.
They just played five games in six nights. After a one-day respite Thursday, they are back home-road, back-to-back games that will bring the total to seven games in nine days in four cities. With 14 games remaining in the regular season and with playoff positioning at stake, there is no time to rue the lockout-compacted schedule.
“We can’t use that as an excuse,” Hawks coach Larry Drew said. “That’s what the schedule is. That’s what we face and we just have to roll our sleeves up and gut it out.”
The Hawks (30-22) are sixth in the Eastern Conference. Entering Thursday night, they were a half-game behind the Pacers, who host the Wizards Thursday. Right now, they would open the playoffs on the road, something they've avoided in two of the past three seasons. The Hawks would likely have to catch the division rival Magic, who they trail by 2 1/2 games, to move up and host an opening-round series.
Moving down in the playoff race is also a concern. The Hawks are only a game ahead of the seventh-place Celtics and 3 1/2 games behind the Knicks, Friday’s opponent at Philips Arena. Finishing in one of the last two spots in the conference means an opening-round series against either the Bulls or Heat, something the Hawks would certainly like to avoid. The Bulls just completed a 3-1 season series against the Hawks with Wednesday’s 98-77 victory.
The Knicks, with ex-Hawks coach Mike Woodson in charge, are in town Friday before a Saturday game at the 76ers. It was the Knicks who forced the Hawks into a season-high 25 turnovers en route to a 99-82 win on Feb. 22 at Madison Square Garden. That was before the defensive-minded Woodson, who coached the Hawks for six seasons (2004-10), took over.
In the nine games since Woodson succeeded Mike D’Antoni, the Knicks are 8-1. They’ve held the opposition to an NBA-low 86 points per game during that span (282 for 692 shooting, .408). Only one opponent has reached 100 points and four have been held to 80 points or below.
Under Woodson, six of the eight wins have come by double-digits and five by 15 or more points.
“It’s been our defense that’s put us in this position,” Woodson told reporters after the Knicks’ 22-point victory over the Magic Wednesday. “It’s been stifling.”
With apologies to guard Jeremy Lin and the “Linsanity” craze that hit New York in February, they are now infatuated with “Woodsanity” in the Big Apple.
“We’ve got to utilize [Thursday’s] day off as a rest period and preserve our legs to gear up for a hot Knicks team,” Josh Smith said following Wednesday’s loss to the Bulls.
The Hawks have lost two straight, falling behind by 17 and 18 points in the first half of losses to the Bucks and the Bulls. They rallied to cut the deficit in each, even taking a brief lead against the Bucks, but the comebacks fell flat in the fourth quarter. Big deficits are especially hard to erase with tired legs.
Following Saturday’s game against the 76ers, the Hawks have only two more back-to-back dates over the final 12 games. Eight of those games are at home, including a five-game homestand to end the regular season.
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