With only 12 games left on the regular season slate, the Hawks are inching closer and closer to securing their second straight playoff berth and a potential home-court advantage in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Hawks.com contributor "Hometeam" Brandon Leak has some thought on what the team needs to focus on down the home stretch to lock it all down.
Take it away, Hometeam...
HTML clipboard
With the playoffs around the corner, it’s important to focus on things that work
and remove the things that don’t work. If the Hawks focus on and remove the
right things, we’ll see them in the second round of the playoffs!
THE BENCH:
Flip Murray is clearly the go-to guy, and he will make a difference in the post
season. Zaza Pachulia will have to be more aggressive with put backs and finish
up strong when given scoring opportunities. Simply put -- be effective and ready
to play when called upon. If Woody gives you a shot, make the most of it – and,
give the starters a well deserved rest.
FREE-THROWS:
They have to be made period! If you want to give games away down the stretch or
in the post season, the best thing to do is to miss free-throws! For the life of
me, I have no idea how the Hawks have become the second-worst shooting team from
the charity stripe when we were a top-ten shooting team last season. The reason
doesn’t matter; tighten up fellas, shoot them after practice, and win. After
all, they are FREE!
MIKE BIBBY
Avenge what happened last year – the missed shots, the missed opportunity and
the early departure from the playoffs. With Flip, Joe and Mike on the court late
in the 4th quarter, open shots will be abundant – after all, you can’t double
all three of them. Bibby has to come through this post season - making shots on
the road will make the difference.
ENERGY ON THE ROAD
Wanna forget? Start with last year’s Game Seven in Boston, which was a blowout
because of poor shooting in the first half. The Hawks have a choice – miss shots
and take themselves out of games, or use their firepower and enhanced defense to
give them a shot on the road. But, you can’t win anywhere if you’re down 17, 20
or 30 points early in the game!
These are but a few things that will make the difference. The Hawks are a young
team with a real shot at making it to the post season AND moving to at least the
second round!
And there it is!
