“We are professionals, that’s what we do,” said Johnson. “It would be good for us to come out and try to send a statement early. Kind of dictate how we want the tempo to be. The days off definitely helped my thumb.”

“We’re playing in a hostile environment with their fans,” added Coach Woodson. “It should be that way, but we just gotta go in and play like we played the last two games.”

Sekou Smith went deeper with Woodson’s feelings on the long layoff in the middle of the series in a recent entry in his Hangtime Blog on NBA.com.

First place halfway through, three potential all stars, a great home record and still half a season to go. What did you expect from the Hawks? Did you expect them to be in first place, be one of the highest scoring teams in the league or having one of the best home records?  Did you expect them to beat the Celtics three consecutive times and get two wins in Boston? Did you expect the national media to pick up additional Hawks games throughout the year?

The players, coaching staff and ownership are not shocked one bit. The team has worked hard, learned to play well together, and is progressing nicely in the 2009-2010 campaign.

The Hawks started off hot and with the exception of a four game slide, have been a consistent team in the win column. It seems the team has learned not to let bad habits linger for long, and has figured out how to not one bad game snowball into a bad week or month. While there are times where the starts are slow and shot selection could be better, the good far exceeds the bad and this team has earned the top spot in the division. Can they hold it?  Here are some quotes on the first 41.

COACH MIKE WOODSON

“I like the direction that we are going, losses are tougher to swallow because expectations are high.”

JOSH SMITH

“Feels good, we just have to stay focused and not look at the standings and come out and play.”

MO EVANS

“We feel like we are right where we want to be and we still gave away few games that we felt like we should have had.  If we learn and put this chemistry together we can go really far.”

MARVIN WILLIAMS

“We’ve gotten off to a pretty good start, our goal was to get 50-plus wins and get home court advantage throughout the playoffs. We can’t have too many let downs.” 

ZAZA

“We had a good first half and we are looking forward to a better second half.”

JOE JOHNSON

“Our effort has to pickup in the first quarter, we can’t have mishaps in games we are supposed to win so we need to come out and handle business.”

OWNER BRUCE LEVENSON

“We couldn’t have asked for anymore than what we got this first half … I like this team I like this locker room.”

OWNER ED PESKOWITZ

“The team has just come together and is much better.  Jamal has made a great difference you can see a lot of chemistry, it’s really exciting. This team is really really competitive.”

THE GOOD TIMES OF THE FIRST HALF

The Hawks have had some memorable moments in the first 41 games this year here are a few:

Beating the Celtics three straight times, Jamal Crawford’s buzzer beater against the Suns, Smooth’s buzzer beater against the Rockets, the red jerseys, winning in Dallas, the largest crowd in Philips Arena History against the Cavs , the return of Mario West (Feel free to fill in the blanks).

THE BAD

Some things did not go the Hawks’ way in the first 41, but the sting of the not so good should be used to motivate the guys to not let them happen again.  I’m sure we all remember these:

The entire game against the Magic in Orlando in Orlando, The first half in Miami, the fourth quarter against Cleveland (10 points), two home losses against the Knicks, and who could forget Nate Robinson in overtime!

WHAT TO WATCH FOR IN SECOND HALF

Trade deadline- Is the team fine as currently constructed or will Gm Rick Sund pull the trigger on a move to make the team more devastating?  What do you think?

Mesmerizing  the Magic-The Hawks are in first place against the Magic, but Orlando owns the tie breaker. Figuring out how to beat this team will be huge for the standings and for a mental standpoint.

Beating Beatable and Bad Teams-With the Cavs, Celtics, Magic and Hawks close together not giving games away will be crucial in the second half.  If a team has a losing record they should be beaten. You can’t win them all, but imagine if the loses to the Knicks, Pistons, the Hornets without Chris Paul, had gone in favor of the Hawks.

“BOB-HAWKS”

Five former Hawks will be in the house on Friday as Acie Law, Stephen Jackson, Boris Diaw ,Nazr Mohammed and Flip Murray all return to the highlight factory as the enemy.  Charlotte is a very dangerous team and this will be a highly competitive game.  Great plays, three pointers, and blocked shots will be coming from both teams. Flip Murray was replaced by Jamal Crawford so that will be a production battle to watch. Flip was a fan favorite…but Jamal is better.

HoopsWorld: The ‘Big Three’ has become the ‘Big Four’
NBA TV: Will use Fan Night crew to call Hawks game on Dec. 29
Dime Magazine: Top 5 Coaches this Season (Woodson #1)

Dime’s praise of Woody leads to the next point. Team success should lead to more individual honors. Although no Hawk is on pace to be voted into the starting line-up for the All-Star Game (help change that by voting here) you would have to think Joe is a lock and Smoove is making a strong case to make his first team as well.

As we inch closer to the midway point of the season, we are going to put an early plug in for the conversation starting “Midseason Awards” that appear in many media outlets.

Smoove – Defensive MVP (Leads NBA in blocks, top-25 in steals and rebounds)
Crawford – Sixth Man Award (Top ppg of anyone who hasn’t started a game)
Woody – Coach

At the current pace, all of these seem very realistic. While the increased attention can produce increased pressure, the balance and depth of this year’s team makes them well equiped to handle it.

Note for tonight:
Take away Utah’s trouble against the Timberwolves (they have lost to Minnesota twice this month) and they are one of the hotter teams in the league. They have beaten both Orlando and the Lakers in the past 10 days and won eight of their last 11 games.

The Hawks started off last week in first place. This week, the Hawks begin the week with the best record in the league. Not bad.  While no one was happy about the loss in New Orleans over the weekend or the seven game winning streak ending, no one was in panic mode either.  Jamal Crawford remained confident after the team went 3-1 last week, “let’s start another one.”

I had a chance to go to the game in New Orleans and to the lockeroom afterwards. No one pointed fingers or blamed the end of the streak on playing on back to back nights. Josh Smith who had another stat stuffing night, said that all credit was due to the Hornets as they came out and hit big shots.  Smoove was adamant that there was no lethargy from playing on consecutive nights and that the team had opportunities to win.  I love it, no excuses. Josh smith said he wanted to be an All Star this year he is well on his way on and off of the court.

Coach Woodson

Call me crazy but coach already should be in the pot for Coach of the Year (I know it’s early but hey, think big) and without question, should be the frontrunner for Eastern Conference Coach of the Month. Eleven wins in the bank with a shot at 14 for the month makes him legit.

Great boost for Marvin

After a slow start Marvin Williams has scored in double figures in three straight games.  If Mike Bibby will be banged up for a minute, Marvin’s three point shooting will help.  He’s feeling good about his outside shot as he has hoisted up 10 money ball shots in the past two games. Keep shooting.

Mike Bibby

The loss of Mike Bibby was felt in New Orleans after he left the game early with an ankle injury.  If you want to know what “Bib” means to this team, it is evident.  He is crucial to getting the team in their offensive sets early in the shot clock, helps with spacing on the floor, and directs traffic after makes and misses by the opposing squad.  Get well soon sir.

With the next game  coming up on Thanksgiving, the Hawks have time to reflect and duplicate the success of the last two weeks and should be rested and ready  for another string of consecutive wins.

Monday the Hawks held their first official event of the 2009-10 season by hosting the team’s annual media day at Philips Arena. A plethora of TV, radio, and print outlets were on hand to get their first glimpse of the new squad and take their first opportunity to get their take on the season yet to come.

Hawks.com was on the scene to capture the whole multimedia experience, some of which we’ll be posting over the course of the next few weeks as we begin the countdown towards opening night, and some of it we’ll post now. Here you go!

Embedded video from <a href=”http://www.nba.com/video” mce_href=”http://www.nba.com/video”>NBA Video</a>

Embedded video from <a href=”http://www.nba.com/video” mce_href=”http://www.nba.com/video”>NBA Video</a>

Here too is a photo gallery from the afternoon.

Everyone was all smiles today, but tomorrow the real work gets underway with the first practice of training camp. We’ll be there, twittering all the while, so if you aren’t following us at @atlanta_hawks, you definitely should be!