AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2007 > November > 16
Friday, November 16, 2007
Don’t believe the hype
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Not about the Hawks’ mini-resurgence, that may very well be in the works now that they’ve gotten over their Wizards slump. I’m talking about the foolish hype about the demise of Blog Z (Sekou’s still in a Claritin-induced haze).
He might have been down the past few days. But banished from these parts for inactivity? Never. With two columnists (and two extremely interesting sets of opinions on basically the same subject - Hawks coach Mike Woodson) out in the same week on the Hawks, Blog Z was simply trying to let this space breathe a little bit (and no you haters, I didn’t go underground for Ohio State week either).
Well, time’s up.
It’s time to get back to the grind here. First up in the injury update for both Josh Smith (he’ll be back sooner rather than later) and Acie Law IV (probably a little bit later than Smith rather than sooner).
Smith’s injury was a freak thing. And since he recovers from injuries like one of those characters on Heroes, there’s no need to worry. Acie’s injury, which never should have happened (as so many have pointed out), is bit tricky. Ankle sprains usually turn out to be tougher to return from than people think.
Just look at Zaza Pachulia’s recovery time from his Oct. 18 spill. It took him almost an entire month to get back to normal. So we’ll just have to wait and see.
Acie’s absence will likely give us a glimpse into the true depth of the Hawks’ point guard situation. Anthony Johnson, the one time starter, will most certainly have to see some action now. And that’s probably a good thing, considering he’ll have fresh legs and a couple weeks worth of stored notes from watching his teammates play.
I won’t beat the up-tempo drum anymore (I think the results show my case to be rock solid). And I’ll stop griping about Salim Stoudamire needing more playing time (since he’s finally seemed to find his niche in the rotation). My focus is shifting away from those issues to take a much closer look at the Hawks’ going forward.
The first nine games were going to be my gauge for what this team really is capable of in the long run, and I think we’ve seen their yin and yang thus far. The yin being not only the three wins but also the telling showing in Detroit (a game the Hawks had every chance to win). The yang was no doubt Sunday’s throwback loss to Washington, a dark side that’s always one lackluster performance away.
This Seattle game serves as another mirage for these Hawks - on paper the Sonics are an awful team but in reality they’ve played very competitive basketball so far and could pop a team silly enough to believe that they can win just by showing up. Sleep on ‘em and Chris Wilcox, Damien Wilkins, Kevin Durant and the boys will ruin your weekend Hawks fans.
