The Hawks have lost three straight, all at home. They haven’t lost four straight home games since 2007, part of a seven straight losses.

Wednesday morning, Drew was still concerned with the Hawks lack of response to offensive runs by the opposition. The Suns used a runs between the first and second quarters and to end the third to build a 22-point lead Monday.

“The way we have responded to runs,” Drew said of his biggest disappointment during the current three-game skid. “I’ve told the guys we have to get past the point of when teams do make runs at us feeling like the game is over, particularly …

Atlanta Hawks 2011-2012 Regular Season Game #26
	@
17-7		16-9
Phillips Arena
February 8, 2012, 7:30 p.m. ET
SportsSouth, 680 The Fan, 93.7 FM, NBA Audio League Pass
Probable starters:
Darren Collison	PG	Jeff Teague
Paul George	SG	Joe Johnson
Danny Granger	SF	Marvin Williams
David West	PF	Josh Smith
Roy Hibbert	C	Zaza Pachulia

Hawks Injury report: Al Horford (torn pectoral) and Jason Collins (elbow) are out.

Pacers Injury report: Jeff Foster (back) and George Hill (ankle) are out

More SB Nation coverage: SB Nation Atlanta, SB Nation Indiana, Indy Cornrows

Preview:

Is this suddenly a rivalry? The 96-84 loss back January 11 was a physical game that turned borderline chippy at the end. The game was certainly taken seriously by the Pacers who have rocketed out of the gate to a 17-7 start so they should fully have the Hawks attention Wednesday night at Philips Arena.

Atlanta is searching for answers after a sudden three-game home losing streak in which they have fallen behind by at least 20 points in each game. With a tough February schedule ahead, the Hawks need to turn things around quickly or else risk undoing their great start to the season.

Indiana comes in having defeated the Utah Jazz 104-99 Tuesday night. Atlanta was off on Tuesday having suffered a 99-90 loss to Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns on Monday.

The deadline passed Tuesday evening with no moves from the Atlanta Hawks so the contracts of power forward Ivan Johnson, point guard Jannero Pargo and shooting guard Jerry Stackhouse have been guaranteed for the remainder of the season. Players on non-guaranteed deals needed to be waived by the close of business on Tuesday to clear waivers in time for the February 10 deadline.

Ivan Johnson was clearly the safest bet especially given his current situation as the team's backup center. Pargo and Stackhouse may see sporadic playing time but provide insurance should the team suffer another injury.

This development really doesn't affect the Hawks search for potential 10-day contract candidates. Atlanta currently has one open roster spot with 14 players currently under contract. Perhaps one reason they have not acted thus far was the team was waiting to see who would get released this week with teams shedding non-guaranteed players.

The possibilities aren't exactly encouraging but guys like Solomon Jones of the Clippers, the Lakers' Derrick Caracter and Washington's Hamady N'Diaye were some of the players cut on Tuesday.

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No real news on the Hawks continued search for a big man to help their depleted corp – but changes could be on the way in light of the current three-game losing streak.

In talking with Larry Drew following this morning’s practice, the coach said he is considering a number of changes to get the team’s energy back. It’s something he said has been lacking in the past three games.

“We are not going to panic,” Drew said. “This is not a time to panic. Is it a time for concern? Yes. My biggest concern is our energy. The energy I saw on that road trip, since we’ve been home I just don’t see that type of energy. That is my biggest concern.

“When you get in these types of situations, you’ve got to do something to generate some type of energy. You’ve got to find our mojo back. How we do it, we possibly have to look at some things a little differently and maybe shake some things up. As a staff, we are still …

The Atlanta Hawks have dropped the first three games of their current four-game home stand and thus are justifiably sliding in this week's edition of the NBA Power Rankings round-up. Honestly, SB Nation's Tom Ziller wasn't as harsh on the Hawks as I was expecting although their No. 8 ranking did come out before Monday night's loss to Phoenix.

Atlanta didn't fair nearly as well in Marc Stein's ESPN.com power rankings this week where they dropped five spots all the way down to No. 14.

Sorry, Hawks. Can't give you two All-Stars when you have four wins in 12 tries against .500-or-better teams. The consolation: Atlanta is a tidy 12-0 against teams with losing records to rank as the only unbeaten team in that category even after losing Horford. And it's 10-1 when Joe Johnson scores 20-plus.

NBA.com's John Schuhmann also drops the Hawks five spots down from No. 4 last week to No. 9 this week.

Atlanta (16-8) Pace: 92.6 (21), Off: 102.1 (11), Def: 96.0 (6) After consecutive double-digit losses at home, you have to wonder if the Hawks' ability to withstand the loss of Al Horford expired when we flipped the calendar from January to February. The rest of their pre-break schedule is pretty rough, with eight of the 10 games against teams with winning records.

Chris Sheridan of Sheridanhoops.com drops Atlanta four spots this week down to No. 10. Sheridan offers that this is probably a generous ranking and continues to insist that the Hawks are looking to shed payroll instead of add a center to the roster.

LAST WEEK: 2-2 THIS WEEK: 3 games KEY GAME: FRI at ORL Gotta love the cupcake diet: They are 13-0 against sub-.500 teams, 3-8 against everyone else. Now Jason Collins is out at least 2 weeks. How are they not in the now-dormant Chris Kaman acquisition race? Oh yeah, the dreaded luxury tax. They are looking to shed payroll, not add it. This is a generous ranking. Very generous.

For more on the Atlanta Hawks check out SB Nation Atlanta, follow Jason Walker and Kris Willis, along with Peachtree Hoops on Twitter and check out the Peachtree Hoops Facebook Fan Page.

Teams with players on non-guaranteed deals must make a decision by the end of the day or those players contracts will become fully guaranteed. SB Nation's Scott Schroeder runs down all of the non-guaranteed deals in the NBA and the Atlanta Hawks have three such players in Ivan Johnson, Jannero Pargo and Jerry Stackhouse.

February 10 is the actual deadline for contracts to become guaranteed but teams will need to waive players by the end of the day to ensure that they clear waivers before the deadline. Therefore a roster move may in fact be more imminent than we originally thought. van Johnson isn't going anywhere for the Hawks as currently he is the backup center and has impressed the Hawks with his play dating back to mini camp in the off season. Johnson is currently averaging six points and four rebounds in 15.7 minutes of action per game.

Jannero Pargo isn't as safe a bet since the Hawks now have Kirk Hinrich back in uniform. Pargo has been relegated of late to third string point guard but could still be valuable if Teague or Hinrich were to go down with an injury. Pargo has appeared in 23 games and has averages of 4.0 points and 1.5 assists per game.

Jerry Stackhouse was slotted for the end of the bench slot that was manned by Etan Thomas last season. Stackhouse's on-court contributions have been minimal but he has drawn praise at every opportunity from teammates and the coaching staff.

Atlanta may elect to waive Stackhouse and Pargo only to bring them back on 10-day contracts much like they did last season with Damian Wilkins. Atlanta currently has one roster spot available.

For more on the Atlanta Hawks check out SB Nation Atlanta, follow Jason Walker and Kris Willis, along with Peachtree Hoops on Twitter and check out the Peachtree Hoops Facebook Fan Page.

The AJC's Chris Vivlamore reported prior to Monday's game that although the 10-day contract period had begun in the NBA, the Atlanta Hawks currently had no immediate plans to add a player to the roster. The Hawks have reportedly been exploring options in the wake of Jason Collins elbow injury but seem to be taking their time in choosing a candidate.

In the meantime, Hawks coach Larry Drew isn't focused on roster additions but in leading his team out of its current three-game slide after returning home from a stellar road trip.

"Not a whole lot of news. Right now we are going as we are. We are a little small but we'll just have to play the hand that's dealt to us."

In reality that is the only way that Drew can approach the situation publicly and there are reports out there that the Hawks are looking to shed salary rather than add to it. Of course Drew wasn't offering up anything when asked about the roster situation and we all know that general manager Rick Sund never comments on such matters.

A temporary signing is likely but given the Hawks salary situation we probably shouldn't expect any kind of long-term solution.

For more on the Atlanta Hawks check out SB Nation Atlanta, follow Jason Walker and Kris Willis, along with Peachtree Hoops on Twitter and check out the Peachtree Hoops Facebook Fan Page.

After a great start to the season, the Atlanta Hawks have suddenly hit a bump in the road and with Monday's 99-90 loss to Phoenix, have now dropped three straight all at home. The quality of opponent has improved of late but this Hawks team has hardly competed in those three losses having fallen behind by more than 20 points in each. AJC columnist Jeff Schultz offers up his take on the Hawks current situation:

There are several reasons why this may have happened. The most obvious: Being undersized without two centers, Al Horford (potentially out for the season) and Jason Collins (sidelined for two weeks), has led to physical fatigue, which has led to mental fatigue.

Perhaps this slide is the post-injury hangover that we were expecting right after receiving the news that Al Horford was likely lost for the season. Perhaps Schultz is also right that there is a form of physical and mental fatigue that is starting to set in with the club as well. The problem with that is that this compacted schedule isn't going to offer much relief in the form of off days. It is also important to note that the Hawks aren't the only playoff contender that has hit a bump in the road this season. Teams like Orlando, Denver, Miami, Houston and Memphis have all had difficult times and the schedule is partly to blame for the inconsistent play.

There are other warning signs as well. Josh Smith talked the lack of ball movement before the game and talked about the team's tendency to go one-on-one a little too much (iso). After the game he revisited the topic once again and did not change his stance:

"Like I've been saying, the continuity of our offense and our inability to stop dribble penetration has been a thorn in our side," Josh Smith said. "If we correct those two things, nothing can stop us. You saw on those road games we had high assist totals. These last two or three games, it's been low and the offense has been real stagnant."

In this situation I don't mind Josh saying how he feels because he is right. The movement on offense isn't as crisp and perimeter defense has been bad but he needs to remember that the ball all too often stops with him on the perimeter as well.

In this particular game, Atlanta trailed 27-23 at the end of one and saw the Suns extend the lead in the second quarter. Compounding Atlanta's problems, Jeff Teague picked up his third foul midway through the quarter and he spent the remainder of the half on the bench. Kirk Hinrich replaced Teague and seemed to spark Atlanta's defense somewhat as he got physical with Steve Nash. Atlanta cut the lead to 52-48 with a Joe Johnson. Nash had an answer as he hit a running three-pointer at the buzzer to send the Hawks to the intermission down 55-48.

Atlanta has been plagued for much this season with bad third quarters and that was the case yet again. The Hawks initially pulled to within 60-58 but Phoenix and Nash slammed the door 29-16 in the third quarter to back control of the game. Atlanta's reserves made the final score respectable but this game was over long before the final horn sounded.

Josh Smith led the Hawks with 18 points and also added five boards, three assists and two steals. Joe Johnson added 17 points and three assists. Willie Green helped lead the reserves charge in the fourth scoring 12 of his 14 in the final period. Ivan Johnson added nine points and five rebounds while Marvin Williams finished with eight points and five boards but missed all three of his attempts from distance.

Steve Nash led the way for Phoenix with 24 points and 11 assists. Nash hit 9-12 attempts including 4-4 from three-point range one day before his 38th birthday. Channing Frye added 19 points while Jared Dudley and Michael Redd each added 10.

Atlanta held a slim lead in points in the paint 38-36 but had no answer for the Suns 11 three-pointers made. Phoenix also out rebounded the Hawks 45-35 giving up nine to Channing Frye and seven to rookie Markief Morris off the bench.

Atlanta will try to salvage one game on its current home stand when they host the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday.

For more on the Atlanta Hawks check out SB Nation Atlanta, follow Jason Walker and Kris Willis, along with Peachtree Hoops on Twitter and check out the Peachtree Hoops Facebook Fan Page.

Apparently, there is no place like the road for the Hawks these days.

After a recently-completed 4-1 road trip, the Hawks dropped their third straight home game Monday night, this one a 99-90 defeat at the hands of the Suns.

The Hawks (16-7, 8-4 home) have now lost to the Grizzlies (by 19), 76ers (11) and Suns (nine). Their four-game homestand ends Wednesday against the Pacers. A road game at the Magic (Friday) and a home game against the Heat (Sunday) are next for the Hawks, who are 4-9 against teams that entered play Monday at .500 or better.

The Hawks entered the game concerned about Suns point guard Steve Nash – and for good reason. Nash scored a game-high 24 points with 11 assists, better than his league-leading 9.9 per game.

“He is still one of the better point guards in the league,” Hawks coach Larry Drew said. “He’s very crafty. He gets the ball to the open man. He’s …

Recap coming soon. In the meantime let the post-game discussion begin

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