AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2008 > February > 27
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Down to 10
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Hawks will be without starting small forward Marvin Williams for tonight’s game against Sacramento at Philips Arena. Williams left the arena more than an hour before tip-off with flu-like symptoms.
Hawks coach Mike Woodson said he would insert Zaza Pachulia into the starting lineup and shift both Al Horford and Josh Smith over, from center and power forward, respectively, with Williams unavailable.
Without Williams the Hawks had just 10 players available for the game. Rookie point guard Acie Law IV missed his third straight game with a sprained right wrist. Law said Wednesday that he was scheduled to have another MRI exam on Thursday but was hopeful that he’d get a chance to play Friday, when the Hawks face the New York Knicks at Philips Arena.
Shame on us all!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SMYRNA - That’s right, shame on us all for still being here and still expecting anything other than what we see from these Hawks on a nightly basis.
That’s right, it’s our fault. It’s our fault for thinking anything would change with this little actual change, going on four years now.
That’s right, I’m pointing the finger right back at us (particularly at the cat in the mirror) for listening to anyone’s half-hearted speeches about what could make this thing work when it’s clear that it just doesn’t.
Even when the Hawks do things that make absolute sense [trading for Mike Bibby] it does nothing to change their fate.
When guys like Greg Anthony and Tim Legler [good guys and well intentioned dudes no doubt] proclaim the Hawks a playoff team, it’s clear that those proclamations are coming from guys that don’t watch this team on a nightly basis.
I mean, how in the world could a team that continues to lose games from ahead [they had the Spurs in a world of hurt early and I told anyone who asked at halftime that I knew they were going to lose the game].
You couldn’t explain this phenomenon to someone even if you tried. You’d simply have to show the game tape for them to comprehend how this is even possible to continue like this in such a futile manner.
Any win [like the one over Golden State] sprinkled in with all this losing is the equivalent of spraying Lysol on pile of trash. The vapors improve for a second or two and then it all starts to stink again.
If that sounds harsh, it should because that’s how it was intended to sound.
Hopefully it’s as brutal as the inconsistent mess folks have seen from this team these past three and a half years, and counting.
Everyone deserves a share of the blame. That goes for owners [whose ongoing feud continues to define this entire mess, regardless of what is said publicly], the front office crew [whose draft and player acquisition mistakes haven’t always been corrected in a timely enough fashion to offset the initial blunder], the coaching staff [for its refusal to adapt to the personnel, however incomplete it’s been at times, it has], the players [to a somewhat lesser extent since they’re often the pawns in this game but haven’t pushed themselves to the limits as often as I think they could or should have] and even us. Yes, even us, the seemingly innocent bystanders and supposedly impartial observers who have continued to drink the laced Kool-Aid that’s been served all this time.
Knowing how much serendipity is involved with success at a high level in any endeavor, I can forgive the occasional draft gaffe or late-game collapse that any organization deals with. No one’s perfect.
But the lack of institutional control [had to borrow that one from my previous days on the colleges beat] that’s gone with these Hawks is unconscionable.
Even if the Hawks make the playoffs, which miraculously remains a possibility, the damage has been done. Fixing it all, is an undertaking that’s going to require heavier lifting than has gone on around here to date.
Oh, and I still haven’t heard any word on the extent of Acie Law’s wrist injury but I will have some by shootaround for Wednesday’s game against Sacramento - I’m guessing he doesn’t play against the King or Knick Friday, based on the way he said he was feeling the last time I saw him. But I’ll have something official here before game time.
