The Hawks were in full rest mode in their regular-season finale despite the fact they still had a chance to secure the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Starters Al Horford, Josh Smith, Kyle Korver, Devin Harris and Jeff Teague were held out of Wednesday’s game against the Knicks.
Coach Larry Drew started a lineup of Shelvin Mack, John Jenkins, DeShawn Stevenson, Mike Scott and Ivan Johnson. For those keeping track, that’s the 29th different starting five used by the Hawks this season.
“(Rest mode), and some guys are still a little nicked up,” Drew said. “I’ve said it before. We are going to err on the side of caution with just one game remaining. It makes no difference, (the) five or six (playoff seed). We split with both teams, so I would rather play it safe than to be sorry.”
The Hawks went into Wednesday’s game needing a win and a Bulls loss to the Wizards to finish fifth and open the playoffs against the Nets. Otherwise, they open against the Pacers.
The Knicks continued to rest their top players as well. Carmelo Anthony, Tyson Chandler, Jason Kidd, Kenyon Martin and J.R. Smith did not play.
“I would rather go into the playoffs healthy rather than maneuver or position ourselves to play a certain team,” Drew said. “At this stage, that is not important to us as a basketball team. We have to get as healthy as we can, and we are only going to have a few days to do that (before the playoffs start this weekend).
