Watching them grow up together The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 03/03/06 Hawks center Zaza Pachulia is rarely mentioned when the discussion turns to the team's young players, mostly because he looks much more mature than his 22 years. Yet he's as young, on the floor, as any of the Hawks' other first- or second-year players. That's what makes his performance this season all the more remarkable, considering he'd never really played backup minutes prior to this season, let alone starter's minutes. Pachulia understands, perhaps better than anyone, how drastic the changes have been for him and his teammates since the start of training camp. "When you're a team as young as we are, I don't know what else you would expect," he said of the Hawks' early-season struggles. "We had not only a lot of new guys but a lot of new guys adjusting to playing new roles." So what does he credit for the Hawks' dramatic rise in production of late? How about the hard work of both the coaching staff and players paying off, and the improved chemistry of a team that started the season 2-16 and is 17-21 since, heading into tonight's home game with Sacramento? "We're just playing better, we're playing together," said Pachulia, who scored 17 points in the Hawks' win over Toronto on Wednesday. "Every single day we're together, we're getting better. We're not making the mistakes late in games that we made early in the season. When we do, we come back and make up for them instead of putting our heads down. That's just a part of the process. "But nobody is perfect, as we all know. The important thing is to want to get better and not to give up, to fight to get better. That's how it is now and that's why we are getting results." Reserves outplay Toronto's bench After being swamped by the Milwaukee bench in their last loss, Saturday night at Philips Arena, the Hawks' reserves are back to their productive ways. Josh Childress, Salim Stoudamire and Marvin Williams were the difference for the Hawks against the Raptors, outscoring their Toronto counterparts 35-9. "They were huge," coach Mike Woodson said. "They are a big part of why we are 8-6 in our last 14 games. They are just as important as our starters, as far as I'm concerned." The reserves also had 21 rebounds, seven assists and just four turnovers against the Raptors. Childress, Stoudamire and Williams all played during crunch time in either regulation or overtime. Childress played 43 minutes, trailing only Joe Johnson and Josh Smith. Veteran lauds work of Childress, Smith After watching his young teammates finish off the Raptors in overtime, co-captain Al Harrington gushed about the maturity Smith and Childress have shown during the Hawks' recent rise. Smith blocked seven shots and added nine points and nine rebounds in addition to guarding All-Star Chris Bosh after Harrington fouled out with 2:42 left in overtime. "Josh Smith has been unbelievable this last month," Harrington said. "He's growing up by leaps and bounds. We just want him to keep it going. We want to keep encouraging him because the sky is the limit for him." Childress, who fouled Morris Peterson on the 3-point shot attempt in regulation that allowed the Raptors to tie the game and send it to OT, scored five points in the extra session. He finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds. "That's 'Chils.' When adversity happens, it makes him step up big-time," Harrington said. "He got caught on that Reggie Miller leg whip [by Peterson], but he came back and played strong and got some big rebounds and did what he had to do to make up for it." Streak of overtime success a rarity The Hawks' 113-111 win over Toronto was their third overtime win in their last four games, tying an NBA record. No team has ever won four straight in OT. In the past six seasons, only one other team did it in three of four consecutive games: Houston in March 2004. 资料来源 http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports/hawks/stories/0303hawks.html --

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