AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2006 > October > 03
Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Finally, blood’s been spilled
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I was joking with another NBA writer over the weekend about what I needed to see at Hawks training camp to convince me that they were ready to take that next step, and I told him that I needed to see some blood. I needed a good fight or something to let me know that these guys were serious about climbing out of the NBA basement. (I hadn’t witnessed so much as a shoving match since I’ve covered these Hawks, nice guys all of them but no one strikes me as particularly rowdy or nasty).
Well, it didn’t take long for some blood to be shed. While pulling into the parking lot for practice this morning I spot Hawks equipment man Zach Walsh rolling past me with Zaza Pachulia in the passenger seat holding a bag of ice wrapped in a towel over his eye. Turns out Zaza caught an inadvertent elbow to the dome from Lorenzen Wright during a defensive drill. He missed the rest of the morning session but was expected back for the night session, with 20 or so stitches to close up the gash above his eye.
I know it wasn’t Hearns-Hagler or Tyson-Holyfield. It wasn’t even a skirmish. But blood has been spilled. And even when it’s accidental, it sets a certain tone for the way things are going to be. Wright is a veteran who has been in his fair share of scrapes during his 10 years in the league. So even if he didn’t mean to split Zaza’s skull open a little bit, what’s done is done. And now everyone knows they better watch out. I know this puts Zaza’s dreams of gracing the cover of GQ in serious doubt, for the time being at least. But it’s like one Hawks staffer told me during practice this morning, “welcome to the NPA - No Punks Allowed.” I kind of like the way that sounds.
