AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2008 > April > 17
Thursday, April 17, 2008
National exposure time
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After years of yearning for a national stage, the Hawks are guaranteed four prime-time national TV dates now that the schedule is set for their playoff series with Boston:
Game 1 - Sun April 20 Atlanta at Boston 8:30PM TNT
Game 2 - Wed April 23 Atlanta at Boston 8:00PM TNT
Game 3 - Sat April 26 Boston at Atlanta 8:00PM ESPN/R
Game 4 - Mon April 28 Boston at Atlanta 8:00PM TNT
Game 5 * Wed April 30 Atlanta at Boston TBD TBD
Game 6 * Fri May 2 Boston at Atlanta TBD TBD
Game 7 * Sun May 4 Atlanta at Boston TBD TBD
- if necessary
They better show better in the playoffs than they did in the last three (really the last two) games of the regular season. The Hawks were brutal last night against a Heat team that looked more D-League than it did NBA (if it weren’t for those wholesome Heat dancers, the finest collection of female performance artists I’ve seen this season, I’d have covered my eyes rather than watch the train wreck on the American Airlines Arena floor).
As should have been expected, the Hawks struggled with their motivation (had the subs started and played a majority of the minutes we might have seen a bit different game and outcome).
The Hawks are gambling that they can just flip the playoff switch and get it going against the Celtics - “These games don’t matter,” Hawks captain and All-Star Joe Johnson said after the game. “We accomplished our goal and these last two games, just throw them in the bag and don’t even worry about them. We just have to be ready to get up and go for the playoffs.” - but I’m not so sure it’s going to be that easy for the youngest playoff team in the field.
After seeing the way the Hawks finished the regular season, they’re going to need a monumental effort in Game 1 to convince me that they’re capable of doing anything close to what they think they’re going to do.
.JPG)
-1.JPG)
Services »
