Inspiring And Frightening

The Hawks finally showed up for a game during this series tonight against Boston. In doing so they stole a game from the Celtics who were favored by 400 points to win the game. In doing so they gave their fans a much needed confidence boost. In doing so they managed to awaken a sleeping dog who will in turn bite the Hawks on Monday night.

Eight hours before game time there were still good seats left at Phillips Arena. This left me worried that the over/under of 11,000 paying people in the arena would be an under. If that were the case it would have been an embarrassment for the Hawks and the NBA to have a half empty arena on a Saturday night marquee game on ESPN. I had stated in a previous blog that if this occurred then the Hawks should be moved immediately before the series was over to Oklahoma City. Then I had an even worse image. The image of an area filled half and half with Celtics fans and Atlanta fans. This was more likely than most would have thought. This occurred during the Cubs fateful run through the NL Playoffs where they clinched the divisional series in Atlanta in front of a stadium half full of Cubs fans. This would have been a typical Atlanta sports event where the transplants into Atlanta from the northeast who are escaping the Siberian winters crowd into the arenas to cheer for the "home" team.
So I had this ugly image this afternoon of half the crowd at Phillips wearing green t-shirts and Garnett jerseys.

Luckily and proudly I am able to say that neither of the above two things happened tonight. The Celtics walked into an arena favored by 400 to win on their way to an inevitable sweep and found that the arena was filled to near capacity with 19,000 fans--and few friendly faces. I could see in the crowd a few folks wearing green, but they were overshadowed and overpowered by Hawks fans who oddly enough must have not gone to any other game this year. Why? Because those in crowd wearing Hawks gear were wearing the gear from previous years with the red, white, and gold color scheme as opposed to the new red, white, and blue colors. Atlanta fans are truly (as a group in general) fair weather fans. Old gear notwithstanding, Atlanta fans blew the roof off their building as they carried their team (could any of them name more than three players on the team?) to an unlikely 102-93 victory.

I implored the Hawks to show some fight in Game Two after their sleep walk performance that resembled the Puerto Rican Olympic team against the first Dream Team in 1992. They didn't. They played totally out of control and with no inspiration in Game 2 and got roasted. I learned from a reliable source that the Hawks stayed in a hotel in Boston that also housed the best meat market bar in Boston. The Hawks stayed there for four nights, which for them was plenty of time to set off a course of events that will lead to at least six paternity suits. So getting toasted (in more ways than one) made sense.

In Game 3, the Hawks played with a combination of intensity and control that has not been seen since the Dominque Wilkins days. They withstood numerous Boston rallies, but the Hawks controlled the game's pace. Josh Smith finally showed us our first true glimpse into why the Hawks blew a high draft pick and many ugly years on him by stealing the show with a team high 27 points. Smith, who had only been known for being a slam dunk champion a couple of years ago, played up to his talent level for the first time as a pro. Horford continued his coming of age story in this series by getting 17 points and 14 rebounds. The Hawks shot 47% from the field and 56% from the 3-point arch. They played with heart, energy, and passion for the first time in the series. They played without fear or awe for the first time in the series for the whole game (not just seven minutes in Game 1). It was inspiring all the way up to when the Hawks hit the wasp's nest with a stick.

With 22 seconds left, Horford made the game clinching shot by stepping out of Paul Pierce's feeble attempt at fouling him and in the process Pierce ended up on the floor. Inexplicably for a team that truly is no match for their opponents, Horford started taunting Pierce. Pierce got up and started to walk towards the Hawks bench and jawed back and flashed a few gang signs. The stare on his face resembled Rocky's stare against Apollo in the last round in Rocky II. Count on Pierce to drop 60 on Monday. Horford should have been given a technical and he should receive a firm lashing from Coach Woodson. Horford is a punk kid who has no business taunting anyone of the stature of Pierce. It is ill-advised to be on a lesser team and taunt the star player on the better team with more games to play. There is no excuse. None. It is as advisable to do this as it is advisable to stay in the hotel with the best meat market bar in all of Boston for four night straight. But, this is the Atlanta Hawks: brash, inconsistent, young, temperamental, unpredictable, borderline insane and now just down 2 games to 1 to the best team in the NBA.