AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2007 > April > 19
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Time to move on, sort of …
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Well, well, well.
Guess who’s taking home the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month Award for April? That’s right, none other than our very own rookie punching bag himself, Shelden Williams.
I’ll admit that I was as down on this dude as anyone midway through the season. But if his late season push was any indication, he’s got a chance to be a contributor (and not the total bust some were forecasting him to be two months ago).
That ought to be the last bit of real Hawks-related news out there until next month, when the draft lottery dominates every drip drop of our conversation until May 22. So maybe it’s time for us to move on, sort of.
The playoff schedule is out, as I’m sure you’ve already seen and analyzed. During my morning strut on the Silver Comet Trail (I try and put in a good hour every morning I’m in town) I had time to examine the matchups and come to some terribly premature conclusions about which teams will move on from the first round.
In the West I like Dallas, Phoenix, San Antonio and Utah (that’s my only upset special of the postseason, and that’s not too big of an upset considering how close those teams were throughout the season).
In the East I like Detroit, Cleveland, New Jersey (in the upset) and Miami (in a tight one over a Chicago team that I think is better and should have their number after last season’s sticky series. It’s just hard for me to go against Shaq in the playoffs).
As cute as the first round matchups might be, it’s the second round games that offer all the intrigue. The Elite Eight is always nice. But the Final Four (even if it just in each conference) is always better.
I’m planning on heading out to a playoff site next week sometime. So I’ll be bringing you some live playoff craziness, even if the Hawks are now the proud owners of the league’s longest playoff drought (eight years). And we’ll continue our daily lottery and draft chats until we get to both events.
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