Marvin Williams questions preseason logic

[HMFFL]

When Marvin Williams first saw that the Hawks’ preseason schedule he thought it was a joke. After all, it included a three-game road trip the first week and a trip to Detroit as the finale.

“Who would do that?” he said. “You play at Orlando, then Phoenix and then Portland (in Kansas City) in the span of five days and it already feels like one of our long road trips during the [regular] season. There’s nothing ‘preseason’ about it.”

With a daunting 10 of their first 16 regular-season games on the road, the Hawks couldn’t have asked for a better cheat sheet than that preseason slate. It concludes tonight at the Palace of Auburn Hills against the Pistons.

Despite his professed desire to win every preseason game, the best Mike Woodson’s team can do is finish 4-4 with a win tonight.

Rather than wins, Woodson has accumulated a wealth of data about his team, particularly his newcomers, and how they respond to the trials and tribulations that come with working on the road in the NBA.

After winning just 12 road games a year ago, Woodson has placed a strong emphasis on improving his team’s fortunes away from Philips Arena.

Solve that problem and maintain a strong presence at home, he theorized, and a 50-win season goes from a pipe dream to a realistic benchmark for a team trying to achieve new heights.

“Anybody can see that of all the ways we have to get better, and there are plenty of them, finding a way to win on the road is right at the top of the list,” Woodson said. “If you just go back to last season and look at all the games we played on the road where we had chances to win and didn’t, for whatever reasons, it changes your season around dramatically if you find ways to pull those games out.

“Learning how to focus and maintain away from home is something that veteran teams tend to do better than younger teams. And we’re not young anymore. We should expect to win our share of road games and then be expected to take care of our home as well.”

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