ATLANTA — Watching the Hawks stirs some old feelings. They often remind me of Mike Woodson’s better teams. Good enough to make the playoffs, which never should be taken for granted. Not good enough do much once they get there, which is a letdown given their high aspirations.
Nate McMillan, like Woodson, hasn’t been able to get his talented team to play cohesively for more than a week at a time. Trae Young is better than Joe Johnson ever was, but some Iso-Joe tendencies are creeping into his game. The Hawks have been solid overall on defense when center Clint Capela is healthy. Yet, he was on the court for five of the seven games in which they surrendered 70-plus points in a half.
The Hawks just can’t be trusted. They followed last week’s season-high five-game win streak with two ugly losses. The Hawks tried to blow the game in Oklahoma City on Wednesday. They won, but that makes three consecutive games in which the Hawks (25-24) faltered at winning time after they had seemed to break out of some bad habits.
