ATLANTA – The Atlanta Hawks spent three miserable years totally rebuilding their team, all with the idea of finally making a big move this season.
Yet, as the All-Star break approached, they were limping along with one of the worst records in the NBA.
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Coach Lloyd Pierce was fired. Nate McMillan took over as the interim boss.
Suddenly, the Hawks looked like a totally different team.
It all paid off Wednesday night, when Atlanta clinched its first playoff berth since 2017 by rallying for a 120-116 victory over the Washington Wizards.
“This is what I came down here for, to try to help this team get to the next level,” said McMillan, who figures to get serious consideration for coach of the year honors despite his interim tag. “These guys have stood up and accepted that. I'm just thrilled to death that I can be part of this.”
The Hawks aren't the only newcomer to the playoff scene.
The New York Knicks snapped an even-longer drought, securing their first postseason berth since 2013 when Boston lost in Cleveland.
New York has been one of the NBA’s biggest surprises under their first-year coach, Tom Thibodeau, with a 38-31 record after seven straight losing seasons. The Knicks could have clinched their spot Tuesday in Los Angeles, but the Lakers rallied to beat them in overtime.
They got in a night later.
All-Star Julius Randle made it clear the Knicks have bigger goals.
“Check it off the list. We not close to done,” he wrote on Twitter.
The Hawks were 14-20 when Pierce was fired on March 1, just days before Atlanta hosted the All-Star Game.
Since McMillan took over, the Hawks are 25-11. The only team with more victories since the 34-game point in the season? The Phoenix Suns, who are 26-9.
“It just shows we had it all along,” said Trae Young, the face of the Atlanta franchise. “We just needed to believe in each other and go out there and do it.”
The Hawks fell on hard times after posting a franchise-best 60-22 record in 2014-15, when they reached the Eastern Conference finals in the team's deepest playoff run since moving to Atlanta in 1968.
With some questionable personnel moves by then-coach Mike Budenholzer, the Hawks slipped for two straight seasons before Travis Schlenk was brought in as general manager and given a mandate to totally overhaul the roster by owner Tony Ressler.
Schlenk relied heavily on the draft to build the core of the team, landing Young, John Collins, Kevin Huerter and De'Andre Hunter. For good measure, there was a shrewd trade to acquire rebounding machine Clint Capela.
Through the entire process, the Hawks were clearing out salary cap space with an eye toward making a big splash in free agency during this past offseason. Schlenk was able to sign Bogdan Bogdanovic and Danilo Gallinari, both of whom brought much-needed experience and leadership to their young teammates.
It took nearly half a season for all the parts to mesh together — and Pierce wasn't around to see it to fruition.
Schlenk made the coaching change after watching the Hawks continually blow leads in the fourth quarter. Of their first 20 losses this season, 13 were by 10 points or less. Only two of the defeats could be classified as blowouts.
Enter McMillan, who had 16 years of head coaching experience with three different teams and had joined Pierce's staff before this season to provide a seasoned assistant.
With McMillan at the helm, the Hawks are 12-5 when the margin is 10 points or less.
In the playoff-clinching victory, the Hawks rallied from a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter. Young and Collins hit huge shots, and Atlanta clamped down at the defensive end to hold the Wizards scoreless over the final 2 1/2 minutes.
“Really, where I've seen us grow is our finishes,” McMillan said. “We've been able to put together 48 minutes and finish those games.”
No one is more excited than Young, the charismatic point guard who was essentially handed the keys to the franchise in 2018 when Schlenk worked out a still-debated deal on draft night that sent that sent Luka Doncic to the Dallas Mavericks.
Young was an All-Star Game starter in his second season, and he's averaging more than 25 points a game in Year 3 of his blossoming career — all before his 23rd birthday.
He's still a bit irked that he didn't get picked for this season's All-Star Game in his home city.
“I feel like I haven't gotten the recognition and the guys on this team haven't gotten the recognition that we deserve,” Young said. “But that comes with winning.”
Now, he'll certainly get plenty of attention.
Young is headed to the playoffs for the first time — maybe even with the home-court advantage in the opening round.
With two games remaining in the regular season (both at home against a pair of the league's weakest teams, Orlando and Houston), the Hawks have a half-game lead for the No. 4 seed over Miami and the Knicks.
“Just knowing how hard it is to get to this position, to have to literally build our entire team to get to this position, makes it that much more gratifying that we’re here,” Young said. “But we're not satisfied, that's for sure.”
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Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at https://twitter.com/pnewberry1963 His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/paulnewberry
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AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney in New York contributed to this report.
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