Hawks coach to shave head for making playoffs

ATLANTA -- Mike Woodson figures an occasion like this should be marked with an extreme gesture.

So before the Atlanta Hawks take the court for their first playoff appearance since 1999, the coach plans to shave his head.

For Woodson, it's a belated payback on a promise he made a year ago, trying to prod his team to the postseason. The Hawks didn't make it then, but they wrapped up the final spot in the Eastern Conference with two games to spare.

"I've never had a bald head," Woodson said before Tuesday night's game against Orlando, sounding a little worried but vowing to stick with his new look even after the playoffs.

The Hawks are feeling downright giddy, and who can blame them? After all, this is a team that endured a nine-year rebuilding job marred by all sorts of embarrassing moments along the way.

Isaiah Rider. A money-back playoff guarantee. A 13-win season. An ugly ownership squabble.

But the Hawks slowly have returned to respectability -- and that's all it is at this point -- by building through the draft (Josh Smith, Josh Childress, Al Horford), spending wisely in free agency (signing All-Star Joe Johnson) and making a key deal just before this year's trade deadline (acquiring a much-needed point guard, Mike Bibby).

"It feels great," said Childress, whose rookie season was a 13-69 debacle in 2004-05. "There's a real sense of accomplishment. But we've still got a job to do."

And what a job it is. The Hawks, who will finish at least four games under .500, open the playoffs against the top-seeded Boston Celtics, who have the league's best record (65-16) and took all three regular-season meetings by at least 10 points.