AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2008 > April > 07
Monday, April 7, 2008
Final Daze!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SMYRNA - You can’t help but be intrigued by these final days of the Hawks regular season, can you?
The possibilities (including the twists and turns in the standings) of how things might turn out are enough to keep me in a daze from night to night.
One minute it looks like the Hawks have the eighth spot locked up and then they lose a must-win home game to Philly. Then, of course, they go to Philly the next night and get it back, only to see Indiana creeping up on them on the left.
That sets up Tuesday’s game against the Pacers at Conseco Fieldhouse as the Hawks’ Game of the Century (where are we at now, IV or V?), this week.
They need a win over the Pacers to reach their magic number (39 wins does it) and also to put another game’s worth of distance between them and their chief rival for that eighth spot.
All that said, the Hawks still look like the team to beat for that spot. But they can’t afford any “slippage (a locker room favorite word, one passed down from Mike Woodson)” the rest of the way.
That means finding a way to grind out a win in a tough environment Tuesday night and then again Friday night in New York.
As much as I hate to point out the shortcomings of the past, but I can’t help but think back to the many games the Hawks coughed up this year at a time like this. They gift-wrapped two games against Portland, another against Seattle and many other that if they’d handled business (or had a guy like Mike Bibby on the roster then) they’d already have their playoff slot locked up.
Ifs and buts aren’t going to solve the Hawks’ current dilemma, though. Grinding will. And they don’t need SWAGGER to get this done. They need a STEADY effort on both ends of the floor to get this done.
I know it sounds a bit simplistic. But it is what it is!
