Big games loom for Hawks

[HMFFL]

The request was simple enough.

Joe Johnson wanted the Hawks' dress core relaxed for Sunday's flight from Philadelphia to Indianapolis.

So in walks smiling Hawks assistant coach for player performance and travel coordinator Pete Radulovic. He was to relay Johnson's request to Hawks coach Mike Woodson after Saturday's win over Philadelphia.

"They can wear whatever they want," Woodson said, shooting a smile back at Radulovic. "The way they played [Saturday], I don't care what they wear on that plane."

It was a rare moment of public appreciation from Woodson for the job his team has done the past three weeks, the Hawks have won 10 of their last 13 games in charging toward the first playoff berth for the franchise in nine seasons.

Tuesday's game in Indianapolis looms as the Hawks' next great challenge. Win there and again Friday in New York, and the Hawks can start making more travel plans, this time for Boston and a first-round playoff date with the Celtics.

Woodson has been careful to guard against his team looking past anything but the opponent at hand. But with five games remaining and the Hawks poised to achieve their playoff goal, even he is having a hard time not daydreaming about the possibilities.

"We started with babies four years ago and now these guys are growing up," Woodson said of the rookie seasons of both Josh Smith and Josh Childress, a brutal 13-win campaign. "They're in a position where they're playing for something. I'm just trying to push them to play at a high level now.

"That's what it's all about now if you're talking about making the playoffs and playing in playoff basketball games."

Friday's back-to-back set with the 76ers had all the staples of a playoff series; two teams with everything on the line having to face each other one day after another, which eliminates the chance of any real strategic advantage. The Hawks lost at home Friday, but won on the road Saturday.

"There was definitely a playoff feel to these [last two] games and really to all the games we've played the last few weeks," Johnson said. "We're a young team and we know that. We have a lot of guys who've never been in a playoff atmosphere. So guys definitely have to go up another notch or two, and I thought everybody did exactly that [Saturday].

"We came out with great intensity and I thought we played better than we did [Friday]. We had our backs against the wall and it was a must-win situation for us and we came out and took it."

That's the same approach the Hawks will have to take for the remainder of the season.

"Listen man, we know that nobody is going to roll out the red carpet for us to just walk into the playoffs," Smith said. "It's like everything else we do around here, we have to fight for it. And we we'll do that. We're going to fight Indiana, New York and everybody else we play for just that."

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