Collins: Communication, togetherness, ‘heart’ missing

In the middle of John Collins’ explanation as to why the Hawks aren’t operating cohesively as a unit, his phone decided to pipe in.

“Because we’re losing,” Collins said of why that sense of togetherness isn’t as strong as it needs to be, after the Hawks’ 115-91 loss to Miami on Wednesday. “Nobody likes to lose. Not to say that’s an excuse, but that’s why we’re not as together as we should be because it’s hard to win in this league, and we want to win as a group, and when we lose it’s easy to go this way (apart), but that’s why I continue to say we need to go this way and be together.”

“I’m not sure I understand,” Siri’s automated voice chirped from behind Collins’ pocket, the timing accidentally perfect.

“That’s funny as hell,” Collins said, with he, reporters and staff in the room unable to contain a laugh. “Yeah, me, too, Siri . ... I don’t understand, I really don’t. We’ve just got to, the only thing I know we’re not, right now, is as together as we could be, so that’s the issue I’m trying to fix.”

Collins’ entire postgame interview was frank and insightful, despite the Hawks suffering their ninth consecutive home loss, which dropped them to 17-23 overall. As the Hawks continue to search for answers and hope for a turnaround in the season’s second half, with a rematch in Miami late Friday and a game against the Knicks today, here are some of Collins’ comments from that night:

… On what led to the Heat’s 16-0 run to start the third quarter:

“I feel like sometimes, with our team specifically, it’s a lack of communication. I feel like we weren’t talking out there, we weren’t communicating and giving our teammates the information that we all need to have to succeed.”

… On what the Hawks are missing that they need:

“Togetherness, communication, being together, like being on a string. But really, we need some damn heart. We’ve just got to come out there and play hard and want to win and that’s the biggest thing. We all have that, and we’re all together with that, then we can win and beat anybody. But we’ve got to start there.”

… On if he has a guess as to why that’s missing:

“No, I would love to say it and tell, I’d love to have somebody tell me, ‘Hey John, do this, this and this and the team will go on an eight-game win streak.’ I’d love it. I’d love to know, I just don’t and that’s why I keep on saying, the only thing I can do and I can implore my team to do is to continue to work and to try to be together as brothers. Because that is the foundation of a winning basketball team, is togetherness.”

pressure this year with higher expectations placed on them: “Yeah, of course. I’ve said that a couple times, that we have to adjust to the pressure that has been given to us for our success. Teams aren’t going to come into our gym and play us any easier, you know? Teams are scouting us, have scouted on us at high-profile, meaningful games and they’re going to use it next time they see us. We have to prepared for it.”

… On if the Hawks have felt more

JOHN BAZEMORE/AP “We’ve just got to come out there and play hard and want to win and that’s the biggest thing,” the Hawks’ John Collins says. “We’ve got to start there.”