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Monday, April 14, 2008
Beantown bound!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SMYRNA - That was some win that finally pushed the Hawks into the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade (fine, nine seasons but a decade sounds smoother).
The Hawks can thank the Wizards for doing the dirty work, a 117-110 win that eliminated the Indiana Pacers from playoff contention shortly after 9:30 p.m. Monday.
And to be honest, there’s no reason to fret over how they got in. The Hawks (despite all their failures) worked hard to get here. So not even a cynic like me (or even that rascal Blog Z) can knock them for the potholes they fell into along the way.
Show them (especially the players) some love for having the guts to get up off the canvas two months ago and make this push (the Hawks have gone 15-13 during this late season push with two games to play).
Give them some love for getting here despite all the hurdles, self inflicted and otherwise.
“This is a testament to the hard work and determination that those guys [in the locker room] have put into this season,” Hawks coach Mike Woodson said Monday, spending extra time praising his players for toiling under at-times ridiculous circumstance with all the off-the-court foolishness that has gone on for what seems like forever. “This is huge for us, not only as a franchise, but for the city of Atlanta and all of our fans. We’re going to get a chance to experience playoff basketball here and that’s a special, special thing.”
The players knew as much Monday afternoon, long before the Wizards put the finishing touches on their hand-engraved invitation to the postseason.
But they weren’t willing to cast off these last two games as meaningless just because there was a chance their fate could be decided without them actually having to play anything.
“We still have work to do in order to finish this season off right,” Josh Smith said, “but the beautiful thing is that no matter what we’ve been through or how people have talked bad about us, we’ve accomplished our original goal by making the playoffs. Now it’s about not letting this be it. We’ve got to be hungry for more.”
Hawks captain and All-Star Joe Johnson wanted to make the playoffs as much for that reason as he did for the rest of his teammates (well, all but Mike Bibby, who also has tasted the intoxicating flavor of the playoffs before).
“For a lot of these guys, they really don’t understand what the playoffs is all about until they experience it for themselves,” Johnson said. “These guys need to feel that, that’s when they’ll realize just how special it is to get [here]. Once they feel that, they’ll get that same hunger to get back there that I’ve had since I got here. It’s the same thing that has to drive us in that [first round series with Boston] and the same thing that has to drive us in the future.”
It’s also the same thing that drove Johnson and his teammates to this point, no matter how bumpy the ride has been.
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