| Hawks Looking To Stay The Course Authored by Brian Reynolds - January 20, 2009 - 9:26 pm
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"Guys have got to step up until we get Marvin and Al back and when that is, I don't know," said head coach Mike Woodson. "It's important that we stay the course in terms of holding the fourth spot [in the Eastern Conference] down," "The Philly's, the Miami's, they are all making pushes. We just gotta stay the course man."
Staying the course with two starters out of the lineup may seem like a difficult task for the young club, but with their strong leadership and favorable schedule, the Hawks have little reason to panic.
Joe Johnson, Mike Bibby, and Josh Smith have all picked up the slack since Al Horford went down on January 9th in Orlando. Johnson has scored 20-plus points in four of the five games since, including 28 against the Raptors where he drained a clutch jumper to seal the win. Johnson is now 10th in the league in scoring, averaging 22.2 ppg and is on his way to his second all-star game in as many years.
Bibby has been solid all year for the Hawks, but has even increased his productivity since the Horford injury. He has scored 20-plus points in three of his last five games, including 23 against the Raptors. He continues to give the team the veteran presence it so desperately needs and will be counted on to carry the load even more if Acie Law IV is going to miss time. Law hurt his quad in the game against Toronto and had a noticeable limp after the game. He is listed as day-to-day. On the season, Bibby is averaging 16.2 ppg and 5.3 apg
Then there's Josh Smith. Smith, who missed 12 games at the beginning of the season with an ankle sprain has seemed to finally find his groove. The high-flying act has scored 20-plus points in eight of his last 12 games, including 22 points and 12 rebounds against Toronto. Smith also had a key steal on Chris Bosh in the final minute of Monday's game to help get the win.
Starting January 20th in Chicago, the Hawks will play nine of their next 11 games against teams with a sub .500 record. The Hawks may very well be favorites in all nine of those games despite not having two starters. So, even with the injuries, this may be a point in the season where the Hawks start to separate themselves from the "Philly's and Miami's" and make a stand for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
And with a 16-4 record at Phillips, it's pretty obvious why Woodson wants to stay the course with the four seed.
- Brian Reynolds is a contributing writer from Emory University and can be reached at Brian.matthew.reynolds@gmail.com |
