Atlanta
Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services
The Hawks face just nine more games this season, with only four one-day road trips to visit other teams. The only team they will still face two times is the Charlotte Bobcats. Do the Hawks have a chance to catch their division rivals and end with a better record than the expansion team?
They are currently 4.5 games behind the Bobcats and in addition to playing them twice, the Hawks also face New Orleans tonight and New York later on, both eminently beatable teams, especially late in the season, with everybody thinking about the summer.
The Hawks indeed have a chance against some of the remaining playoff teams they are facing as there is a good chance at least some of them will be caught sleeping or not giving their full effort once the playoff picture gets locked in and this becomes, to them, a mere exhibition game.
Could the Hawks avoid having the league's worst record? Time will tell.
NEXT GAME
The battle of the top lottery teams is in full swing as the New Orleans Hornets (17-55, fifth in the Southwest) visit the Atlanta Hawks (11-62, fifth in the Southeast) TONIGHT. The game starts at 7:30pm and will be broadcast on FSO and NBA League Pass.
TEAM NOTES
What do Tyronn Lue and John Goodman have in common? Why does Tony Delk wear #00? And what's the connection between Josh Childress and LL Cool J? Find out in the newest Pop Up Hawkvideos!
INJURY UPDATE
Michael Stewart
(back) andKevin Willis(back) are on the injured list.
Jason Galleske ofThe Des Moines Registerwrites: After Valley, Matt Bullard played for the University of Colorado and the University of Iowa before signing with the Houston Rockets as an undrafted free agent. His team won the NBA championship in 1993-94 before he played in Greece one season. He returned to the NBA's Atlanta Hawks for the 1995-96 season and returned to Houston a year later.He joined the Charlotte Hornets in 2001-02 and retired after that season.
Adrian Wojnarowski ofThe North Jersey Media Groupwrites: On Monday, Brown remembered new Atlanta owner Ted Turner sitting him down upon his hiring as Hawks coach, and telling Brown that he wanted to slash the payroll and lose for two years to try and get back-to-back No. 1 picks.