Remember that time when the Hawks defeated one of the hottest teams in the Eastern Conference?
"It feels like it was a while ago that we beat Chicago, huh?" Hawks guard Jamal Crawford said. "That's crazy."
Actually, it's been a little more than a week since Atlanta came from 19 points down to hand the Bulls one of their two losses since Feb. 9. Hawks fans roared as center Al Horford erupted for 31 points to lead the rally.
Since then, though, the Hawks have lost to Oklahoma City, New York and the Lakers. In the latter two games, the Hawks suffered the indignity of seeing (and hearing) Philips Arena taken over by fans rooting for the visitors.
Now the Hawks, just 4-9 since their last three-game winning streak, stagger to Chicago on Friday for a rematch with the surging Bulls.
"I think we have been playing good. We just haven't been able to pull some games out," Horford said. "We are struggling on the offensive end a little bit, but that happens throughout the year. We are still pretty confident about what we have."
Lately it's hard to tell.
The Hawks scored plenty against Oklahoma City but offered little defensive resistance while losing 111-104. The Hawks slowed New York, which has a potent offense like the Thunder, but had one of their worst offensive games of the season in a 92-79 loss.
The Lakers exploited all of Atlanta's weaknesses in a thorough 101-87 victory. The Hawks couldn't handle 7-footers Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol and couldn't find an effective way to score against an elite defensive squad.
Before the Hawks played Los Angeles, Hawks coach Larry Drew said he wanted his team to focus on its issues more than on the opponent. He said the Hawks would maintain that approach after losing to the two-time defending NBA champions.
"Playing against good teams that are playing for something, you tend to lose focus on what you need to do as a team," Drew said on Thursday before the Hawks departed for Chicago. "That's something I don't want to happen for us. I want us to stay focused on who we are and what we have to do on both ends of the floor."
On the one hand, the Hawks are losing tough games to good teams (and did beat Chicago). Then again, Atlanta's schedule for the final 18 games is filled with good teams and more of them are waiting in the playoffs.
Before Thursday's play, the Hawks were still fifth in the Eastern Conference, 3 1/2 games behind Orlando for the final position for the home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. But Atlanta has joined Miami in sliding down the standings while New York and Philadelphia gain ground from behind.
"It's definitely not the end of the world," Crawford said. "We are not the only team in the NBA going through struggles right now."
With no victories to show for the past week, the Hawks tried to take solace in a few positives from the defeats.
Against the Thunder, the Hawks bucked a recent trend by converting a significant number of shots close to the basket. Atlanta is one of the few teams to make the Knicks labor to score since they acquired Carmelo Anthony. Drew wanted the Hawks to push the pace against the Lakers and said he was pleased to to see in video of the game his players consistently sprinting for fast breaks.
"And after I saw it, I thought, ‘Where has that been?'" he said.
"We have just got to try to bottle up some of the positive things we did and try to put them together for 48 minutes," Hawk guard Joe Johnson said. "If we can do that, we will be all right."
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