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Hawks clinch fourth in East with win over Indiana

Apr 11, 2009 - 3:28 AM ATLANTA (AP) -- Josh Smith insists the Atlanta Hawks have only begun to earn some respect in the NBA.

"Critics didn't give us a chance at the beginning," he said. "That's what makes this so special."

Smith scored 30 points and Joe Johnson had 24 to help the Hawks clinch the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference with a 122-118 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Friday night.

Al Horford finished with 22 points and 15 rebounds as the Hawks earned home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Atlanta needed either a win or a loss by Miami, which fell by seven in Boston, to wrap up the No. 4 spot.

"Words cannot describe how I feel," said Smith, the only holdover from a team that managed just 13 wins in 2004-05. "Even last year, making the playoffs, people were counting us out, saying we weren't even going to even make the playoffs this year, but we proved them wrong."

Indiana, which had won two straight and four of five, was eliminated from playoff contention.

The Hawks won their third straight, all against sub-.500 teams, and are assured of home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs for the first time since winning a best-of-five series against Detroit in 1999.

Danny Granger had 35 points to lead the Pacers in scoring for the eighth straight game. Jarrett Jack, who finished with 17, matched Indiana's biggest lead at seven midway through the third, but the Hawks never trailed after Johnson hit two free throws to make it 76-74 with 4:04 left in the quarter.

"Hopefully we'll be able to come back next year and get our franchise back on top," reserve center Jeff Foster said. "Our intentions were to win this game, although our playoff chances were very slim. These last four games, we've been trying just to see what happens, but unfortunately we're not in the same position the Hawks are in."

Mike Bibby hit a 3 with 4:24 left to give the Hawks a 12-point lead, the game's biggest, at 113-101. Jack's 3-pointer with 21 seconds remaining cut it to 121-118, but Horford hit one of two free throws to end the scoring.

Atlanta coach Mike Woodson, in his fifth season, has increased his victory totals from 13 to 26 to 30 to 37 to 46 this year with two games remaining before the playoffs. He believes this team has a better chance to move past the first round after losing in seven games to the eventual champion Boston Celtics last year.

"This team is different from last year," Woodson said. "We had to fight just to get in and made a series out of the first round. This year is a lot different, and it started from day one. We are playing good ball."

The Hawks host Miami, which is fifth in the East and one game ahead of Philadelphia and two up on Chicago with three games remaining, in their regular-season home finale on Tuesday.

Atlanta improved to 30-10 at Philips Arena. The Pacers dropped to 11-30 on the road.

Johnson believes the Hawks, who are 14-24 away from Atlanta, still have a lot to learn.

"We can't relax even though we have home court," he said. "We have to figure it out on the road."