Sekou K Smith: Where

[HMFFL]

A road trip halfway across the country isn’t exactly the ideal place to try and find yourself.

But for the Hawks (actually for the Hawks’ bench), that’s exactly what’s going on.

What looked like a vibrant unit a month ago has suddenly gone missing, what with starters going down with injuries seemingly every game - the latest being Al Horford, who missed Saturday’s loss to Dallas with a sprained ankle.

The crew that made the pundits eat their words for calling them a “FEMA disaster” during the early stages of this season has struggled to find its niche as Thanksgiving has given way to Christmas.

Granted, the bench is only going to be as potent as it is allowed to be - and to be fair, the minutes have been up and down for the reserves as Hawks coach Mike Woodson tries to strike the right balance between working his starters and relying on his reserves.

It all works in lockstep. And right now the Hawks’ cadence is off. For example, the starters had to play huge minutes to get past New York Friday night, so it would have been ideal for them to get a good breather in the first and third quarters Saturday against the Mavericks. That would allowed the Hawks’ first unit the energy needed, if necessary, to make a late-game push for a win in a place they haven’t won in years.

As it was, the Hawks mustered the juice for that late-game push anyway. And if you missed the wild finish to Saturday’s game you missed a good one.

The challenge for the Hawks going forward is finding ways to keep from needing those sorts of late-game bursts to keep pace.

I know there is now way to eliminate the need for those things completely. But the Hawks finally have the personnel to mix and match their way to competitiveness every night.

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