<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>This is certainly not the way the Hawks planned on starting the New Year. Three straight losses in 2008, four straight dating back to the last game of 2007, wasn't in the plans. The Hawks' five-game home stand, which continues Wednesday against Cleveland, was supposed to be an opportunity to put a little space between themselves and the pack in the Eastern Conference standings. Yet here they are, with a 15-16 record and soul-searching for the second time this season instead of continuing a roll that was jump started during a 9-4 December. It would be a lot easier if it were one glaring problem that triggered all this losing. But that hasn't been the case, which makes the task of cleaning up the mess that much tougher. "It's hard because we've lost games in several different ways," Hawks point guard Anthony Johnson said. "It's hard to put our finger on one thing that we're not doing. That being said, we're one game out of .500 and we've been in this situation before. We're just one game away from being back on top and the locker room being in good spirits again." It wasn't all gloom and doom after Saturday's loss to New Jersey, a 113-107 game that saw the Hawks play the final four minutes without both All-Star and leading scorer Joe Johnson and third-leading scorer Marvin Williams; who fouled out within 24 seconds of each other. The Hawks played their best basketball of the season a man, or two or three, down in December. So they're more than capable of winning games without everyone contributing. "Part of the problem is we lose a few games and we sort of ... the swagger is gone," Josh Childress said. "In that stretch where we won five in a row, we'd just buckle down late in games and take care of the business at hand. So to me it's really a mental thing. It's a matter of coming out every night and taking care of our business." Sounds great. But that's exactly what the Hawks appeared to do against the Nets, leading by 14 early and at halftime and the end of the third quarter only to be outplayed down the stretch.</div> Atlanta Journal-Constitution
