Joe Johnson (photo. Zach Wolfe)

For the longest time, it seemed like the Atlanta Hawks could do no wrong. All season, they’ve been near the top of the Eastern Conference standings. Behind the play of All-Star Joe Johnson and up-and-coming stars like Josh Smith and Al Horford, the Hawks were the league’s biggest surprise, defeating elite squads like the Celtics, Nuggets and Mavs. But then December 19th hit.

Since losing that overtime game to the Bulls on the road, the Hawks have been on a downward slide. Their 17-point loss to the Heat on Monday marked their fourth straight loss and their sixth defeat in their last eight games. Their slump prompted the team to have a players-only meeting yesterday to figure out how to put an end to their skid.

“It was just guys talking about what we need to do,” Marvin Williams told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution yesterday. “It was all positive, all positive things.”

With the exception of losing to the Bulls and Knicks, all of the Hawks’ recent losses have come from legit teams like the Cavs (twice) and Nuggets. During their two-week long slump, Atlanta has started to develop some bad habits like constant defensive lapses, selfishness of offense and simply, just a lack of effort.

In the past eight games, they have allowed their opponents to shoot over 48 percent from the field and have given up 101.9 ppg (for the season Atlanta has held opponents to 98 ppg). Although they’re sixth in the League in points (104 ppg), they’ve only averaged 99 ppg in their past eight. They also average over 17 fast break points for the season, yet they’ve only managed 8 fast break buckets in the past three games.

Their defense has also been terrible as of late. They fell behind by 25 points in the second quarter against the Heat on Monday. During their New Year’s Day meeting against the Knicks, they blew a double-digit, third quarter lead and failed to stop Nate Robinson, who exploded for 41 points in his first game back since being benched for a month. The diminutive guard drove past the Hawks’ guards with ease, while the rest of team failed to rotate or help out. Atlanta’s offense has been stagnant and they have not played good team basketball. They managed to dish out only 11 assists as a team against the Heat, resorting to going one-on-one versus rotating the ball.

While the Hawks have been going backwards, they are extremely fortunate that they are still in fourth place in the Eastern Conference with their 21-12 record (the Heat have the next best record at 17-15). Although there’s no need to hit the panic button yet, the Hawks need to regroup immediately before they lose all the positive momentum they built earlier in the season. They must focus on playing both team defense and team offense. With a roster filled with several talented players like Johnson, Smith, Horford, Mike Bibby and Jamal Crawford – the Hawks’ Achilles heel could be those players deferring back to individual, selfish basketball.

This next week will be a good test to see how well the Hawks can bounce back. They play Boston twice and Orlando.