Hawks sneak a playoff peek By SEKOU SMITH The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 05/11/06 The isn't the kind of NBA playoff experience Josh Childress had in mind. But until the Hawks reach the playoffs, the forward will have to settle for summer work like the kind he'll get Friday. He will be a guest reporter for NBA TV during Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals between the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Clippers at Staples Center. Brant Sanderlin / AJC (ENLARGE) Second-year Hawks forward Josh Childress will be a guest reporter Friday for NBA TV during the Suns-Clippers series. AP (ENLARGE) Hawks guard Tyronn Lue (foreground) played on two championship teams with the Lakers. "Hopefully, I won't be available this time next year," Childress said. "We need to be playing this time next year. As much fun as it should be working on the other side, somebody else can have this job next year." Last year Hawks coach Mike Woodson escorted rookies Childress and Josh Smith to playoff games so they could witness the increased levels of intensity and pressure in person. This summer, he doesn't have to prod. Because a month after their season ended, the Hawks have yet to truly embrace the offseason. Smith eyeballed the playoffs up close during the first round as a sideline reporter for NBA TV during the New Jersey Nets-Indiana Pacers series. And both Al Harrington and Salim Stoudamire took in playoff games in Los Angeles — Lakers-Suns and Clippers-Denver Nuggets — from the stands. "When you feel like you were as close as we were, it's hard to stay away," said Harrington, a co-captain for the 26-56 Hawks this season and a free agent this summer. "This is what we do, not just during the season, but all year long. If guys aren't already into their summer routine, they're probably getting ready to start. And that's the only way to make it to the playoffs. You have to start preparing for [the next season] today." Veteran point guard Tyronn Lue, who spent two months after the February All-Star break in street clothes recovering from a knee injury, didn't waste any time. While his teammates were watching first-round games, Lue was already knee-deep into his summer workout regimen at his offseason home in Kansas City. "I'm running and I want to work hard in the weight room and come back quicker and leaner than I was last year," said Lue, who bought Stoudamire tickets to a Lakers-Suns game two weeks ago at Staples Center. "We talked about it in the locker room [moments after the season finale in Cleveland]. If we come back ready to go, there's nothing that should keep us from being in the playoff chase. I want these young guys to experience what it's like to play on the biggest stage." Both Lue and Harrington have experienced the playoffs to the fullest. Lue was on two championship teams early in his career with the Lakers, and Harrington's Pacers fell to the Lakers in the 2000 NBA Finals. They understand what it means to be in the middle of the postseason fray, and now they know exactly what it means to be on the outside looking in. So too does Woodson, whose last working playoff experience was as an assistant coach during the Pistons' march to the NBA title two years ago. "I'm going to take some of these young guys and go to either the Eastern Conference finals or the [championship] finals and hope that some of this stuff rubs off on them," Woodson said. "Sitting at home and watching it on TV is not what it's about. For everybody lucky enough to be a part of our league, the playoffs, and ultimately a championship, is what you're working for." 资料来源 http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports/hawks/stories/0511hawks.html --

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