At least one Hawks player is looking at Sunday’s key matchup against the Nets with an eye toward the playoffs.
DeShawn Stevenson said there is a something more at stake in the game.
“It means a lot because we might end up playing them (in the playoffs),” Stevenson said. “We don’t want to be down 3-1. That game is important.”
The Hawks have lost two of three meetings with the Nets this season, including a poor performance March 9 in a 93-80 loss at Philips Arena.
The Hawks (36-29) have the same record as the Bulls, who own the tiebreaker, for the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference. They are two games behind the fourth-place Nets (38-27). The Celtics, who played the Bobcats on Saturday, would make it a three-way tie with win.
The Hawks, with 17 games remaining in the regular season, still cling to their “one game at a time” mantra. However, their playoff position will be determined over the final 30 days of the regular season. The Hawks have nine home and eight road games remaining. All but three are against Eastern Conference opponents and none against division foes. They have three games remaining with the Bucks, currently eighth in the conference.
The Nets are next. Less than an hour after the Hawks defeated the Suns on Friday night, Josh Smith sat at his locker. He was asked when he and his team would look to the matchup with the Nets.
“It starts now,” he simply said.
Despite the outcome of Sunday’s game, the Hawks could make up ground by virtue of the Nets’ schedule. After playing the Hawks, the Nets leave on an eight-game trip, which includes the West Coast, with the circus taking over the Barclays Center. They won’t return home until after an April 3 game in Cleveland, and they host the Bulls the next day. The Hawks can relate after earlier this month starting a six-game trip with three wins, only to lose the final three.
“It would be ideal if we split the series, and we are going in there with the mentality of getting the game back that they won here,” Al Horford said. “I don’t think that will determine anything with the playoffs. I know what we are capable of as a team.”
There is a bitter taste in the mouth of the Hawks players after their latest loss to the Nets. The Hawks jumped to an 11-1 lead to start the game, but sputtered thereafter in losing by 17 points.
The Hawks won the series opener 109-95 at home Jan. 16. Jeff Teague and Devin Harris combined for 46 points, 16 assists and eight rebounds. The Nets avenged the loss two days later with a 94-89 win in Brooklyn. In the back-and-forth game, no team led by more than eight points. The Hawks lost guard Lou Williams for the season with a torn ACL in the game.
The Hawks have had trouble with Nets center Brook Lopez in the season series. He has combined for 60 points and 24 rebounds in the three games. The Hawks started Zaza Pachulia to defend Lopez in the first two games. They used Johan Petro in the previous meeting, as Pachulia continues to be out with a sore right Achilles.
Note: The Hawks signed Shelvin Mack to a second 10-day contract Saturday. The 6-foot-3 point guard has appeared in five games for the Hawks since being signed out of the NBA Development League. He has eight points, seven coming in a win over the Lakers on Wednesday, four rebounds and three assists in 30 minutes. The contract takes Mack to March 25, when the team must either sign him for the remainder of the season or release him.
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