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May 2008
Truth and rumors with Blog Z!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SMYRNA - Now that the Hawks have their new general manager (Rick Sund) and the top-secret double undercover search is finally over, we need to get to the truth.
And who better to assist us all in that endeavor than our resident dagger thrower Mr. Blog Z.
Five quick questions and answers with the Michael Jordan of smack talkin’:
Q. Did the Hawks really get turned down by both Dennis Lindsey and Chris Grant? Z. No. Lindsey never even had a formal interview. Grant, meanwhile, was close to getting the job but negotiations broke down before a contract could be agreed upon. It’s disingenuous for either man to say that they turned the Hawks down, because it simply is not true.
Q. But Rick Sund wasn’t the first choice, was he? He came out of nowhere. Z. That’s not entirely true. He was not the first choice. But he interviewed for the job weeks ago, not last Tuesday night. He was a member of the “short list” that never made it to the public. He was one of the original candidates and could have finished second if the Hawks had come to terms with Grant. But there’s a reason people wait to announce something like this. The contracts have to be signed first. And when it came time to sign, Sund’s name was on the bottom line.
Q. But so many people believe what they read about both Grant and Lindsey turning the job down. Isn’t that yet another black eye for the Hawks? Z. Look, people choose to believe nonsense all the time. I’ll admit it’s fun to believe the hype sometimes. Few of us can resist. But try and think about this thing logically. No other team has seen fit to make either Mr. Grant or Mr. Lindsey a general manager, so the Hawks’ decision to go in another direction isn’t really so radical. They could both turn out to be very good GM’s some day. But until then, we’ll never know. Lindsey’s been a candidate before elsewhere. But Grant wouldn’t get an interview for a GM job anywhere else. The only reason he made the Hawks’ list is because of his history with the franchise. Keep it real.
Q. So is Sund Michael Gearon’s sock puppet or what? That’s what the rumor mill says. Z. You better hope that’s now how this is going to work. And nobody hires a 34-year NBA veteran to be a “sock puppet.” The Hawks need someone capable of guiding the franchise in a way that no owner is capable of doing, and I don’t care who that owner might be. That doesn’t mean Sund won’t have to answer to the owners in some form or fashion, just as Billy Knight did before him. But that also doesn’t mean he’ll be taking direct orders from them on basketball issues either. He’s the man on all things basketball now, the same way Knight was up until the February trade deadline.
Q. That brings us to the fifth, final and most frequently asked question. What’s the call going to be on Hawks coach Mike Woodson’s and who makes it? Z. My gut says he comes back (Knight was going to be retained as well but wasn’t interested in a one-year extension). But I wouldn’t bet the mortgage on it. And Sund makes the call. He has to. If the ownership crew had decided to make Woodson a guarantee that he was going to be the coach next year no matter what, they’d have done it already. Sund’s two weeks of evaluation will be huge. If he sees red flags and believes a change needs to be made, then he’ll have the leeway to do just that. We’ll all know a whole lot more in two weeks.
Now that we’ve finished with those pleasantries, can we please get back to the other business at hand?
Sund has more pressing issues than our friend Blog Z. He has team to figure out, franchise-altering decisions to make and a culture to change.
Since the powers that be around here won’t let us do all Hawks all the time in the newspaper, there’s some spillover from our Sunday package on Sund that didn’t make the cut.
He addressed a few pertinent issues regarding this team that you might find interesting.
— Sund on how to handle negotiations with the Joshes (Smith and Childress, and isn’t it time we came up with a better way of identifying these cats?): “We made the playoffs with this team. There’s no question are goal is to keep them both. There can be difficult moments in negotiations but that’s because players need to do what’s best for them and the organization needs to do the same. But eventually it comes together if it’s handled correctly. And hopefully it will be.”
— Sund on team chemistry: “In most cases it evolves, chemistry, as opposed to being directed. That’s how success and leadership develops. You can’t tell me that the last month of the season and the playoffs that the chemistry wasn’t better than it was in November and December, and I obviously [wasn’t] pay close attention to it then. I think it’s good that they made the playoffs this year and it’s good they got a taste, but it’s also beneficial that they didn’t really get there either. I think these players will look at that and realize that we’re not there yet. But if we get there it will really be exciting and fun. And that chemistry hopefully evolves during that process. The main thing is keeping everyone focused on winning. The general manager has to do the best he can to make sure the entire focus is on winning. Trying to create a winning culture. Some of that can be a little bit more directed than evolved.”
— Sund on handling the post-playoff taste the Hawks are coming down from: “When they got beat, I’m sure they were ready to tip it off for October the next day. I hope the fans are, I hope the city is. But you can’t get too low on the lows and can’t get too high on the highs. Because there are going to be lows next year and you got to stay healthy. But I worry about both ends of the spectrum. Because if you’re not ready to be elite and you get too high on the back end of say a four or five game winning streak, you’re in trouble.”
— Sund on change for the sake of change: “The structure of the team has already been started. There was a game plan. I think it would be foolish for anybody to come in and try to change the game plan of a team that is already pointed in the right direction. And I used pointed because you want to become an elite team. If you do that you have a legitimate shot to compete at a championship level. Everywhere I’ve gone that’s been the goal. Our focus is to become elite and then you have a chance to compete for that championship.”
— Sund on what constitutes elite: “To me, you have a heck of a chance to compete for that championship in the playoffs by getting that home court advantage. Eight teams [four from each conference] start out on that platform. And if you can be one of those top eight teams you’ve got a chance. That was our goal in Detroit. Let’s become elite. The goal is always to become elite. You have to take that step first.”
— Sund on the Hawks’ apparent lack of extra curricular personality theatre: “That’s a huge plus and a real feather in Billy Knight’s cap. He did a great job with the character of this team. That helps because one of the real problems with everybody is the highs and lows of the season. And it’s accentuated a bit with younger players. It’s easier to deal with that when your core players are young but have good character. You’re still going your issues and your highs and lows and you just have to be able to deal with them.”
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First impressions …
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ORLANDO - The cynic (Blog Z) in me would have loved to come here and dish dirt on the Hawks’ new general manager after finally meeting the man face-to-face Thursday afternoon.
But I got nothing for ya.
He seems like everything he’s been billed to be (smart, thoughtful, funny and an absolute straight shooter) by those who have known him for years.
He owned up to his past mistakes (drafts and otherwise) and made it clear that no GM with a brain ever thinks he’s perfect. He also made clear that his skin is 30-plus years in the league thick and that he won’t shy away from his critics. He’ll need that with so many still skeptical of the Hawks and their most recent dealings.
So far he’s been true to every single word he’s spoken to me. When I told him Wednesday that I was headed to Orlando to steal a bit of his time for a Sunday piece I’m working on, he said he’d make time for me. And he did.
Roughly 30 minutes after I left the rental car garage at the airport we were sitting down in his hotel room trading questions and answers.
I even drove him from the hotel over to the Wide World of Sports complex where the predraft camp is being conducted (that he was brave enough to get in a rental car with me in this wretched, tourist infested town shows his courage. And yeah, I got us lost for a spell but he steered me back the right way and we found the gym with no problem).
This cat’s “old school” in every sense of the word. But he’s got enough new school in him to understand how much things have changed since he’s been in the league. And his candor is going to be a refreshing change for many (there wasn’t a single question he balked at answering and not a single topic that seemed to make him uncomfortable. And I like that). He’s going to be a totally different guy to deal with for the media and public compared to his predecessor, whom he showed much respect in our dealings.
I made a point of stopping and chatting with every NBA front office guy I could Thursday and asked each of them the same question (or some variation of it), “Tell me what you know about Rick Sund?”
Not one of the responses was a negative left hook to the gut. There was universal respect from Sund’s colleagues, including one Eastern Conference GM that called Sund a “true pro in every sense of the word.”
Sund’s been around this block plenty of times before, so there should be few surprises for him as he steps into the gauntlet that is the Hawks’ endless summer.
He won’t have to be a magician next month since the Hawks don’t have a draft pick to fret over. But he does have to dust off his negotiating skills toolbox. Sund’s going to have to make his mark this summer by putting together the right packages to retain two of his team’s best players (Josh Smith and Josh Childress) and figure out what to do with Mike Woodson and his staff.
He knows as much and doesn’t seem the least bit daunted by the tasks at hand.
After speaking with Woodson and members of his staff here Thursday, it’s clear that they are cautiously optimistic about their collective futures now that the new boss is in place.
After speaking with Sund again this morning over breakfast, he seems even more eager to get to Atlanta and get started.
His first 30-60 days on the job should prove terribly interesting, what with all the decisions to be made. Even more intriguing, though, will be the inevitable additions and subtractions to the Hawks’ basketball operation (roster, front office, coaching staff, etc.) that are made during these next 30-60 days.
The possibilities are endless.
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The only thing missing …
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SMYRNA - The only thing missing is the official announcement.
Chris Grant’s name has been plastered all over cyberspace, if it’s even called that anymore, starting with this space the day it was discovered that Billy Knight has resigned from his post as Hawks GM.
The former Hawks assistant GM and until notified otherwise Cleveland assistant GM has long been rumored to be “The guy” for the opening here. But he’s not returning calls, at least not mine. And his future bosses aren’t giving up any specifics.
But anyone with a keen eye for what’s gone on around here has to have figured out that all the smoke (including Mark Bradley’s prediction last week that Grant would indeed be the guy) has to know there’s a whole lot of fire behind this sudden rush of opinions flowing out about this prolonged search (in the absence of the greatest upset in sports history, Grant will be introduced to the public sometime this week).
So much of the steam the Hawks had after that playoff run against Boston has been lost in the weeks since Knight resigned. Had the Hawks put the finishing touches on this hire say two weeks ago there might have been some residual drafting to be done in regards to this issue.
But now, folks have had plenty of time to digest all the particulars of what they believe will happen. And quite frankly, so few of you (and NBA observers in general) seem particularly enthused about what’s going on.
I’ll admit that I don’t know Grant very well. We didn’t have much of a working relationship when he was here (I showed up shortly before he was hired away by the Cavs) and never had a chance to have one of those enlightening, philosophical discussions about the basketball that would have given both of us insight into each other’s thinking about the NBA game in general. But we got along fine and he seemed like a decent cat to me.
That said, I’ve spoken to quite a few people that I respect that know him and have worked with him that speak glowingly about Grant and what he’s done in his career. When he left here and I called around to check with some people I know in other NBA locales, they reminded me that he was making a move up, which is always indicative of a guy on the rise.
On the flip side, I’ve spoken to just as many people that I respect that know and have worked with him and aren’t nearly as enamored with Grant and what he’s done (but that’s standard for just about anybody and would have been true about every other person on the Hawks’ short list, which is a debatable topic itself since most of the names you’ve seen tossed about elsewhere were never on said list).
I have no idea what kind of job he’ll do if he is hired this week because he’s never done this before. The same could be said of any of the hires the Hawks might have made since it was clear that they wanted to go in a certain direction (first time GM) in this case.
That’s why his introductory press conference, whenever it comes, will be revealing in so many ways. He’s worked for each of the Hawks last two GMs, so it’s natural for us all to be curious about what it is exactly that he’ll do differently?
What’s his philosophy on the game?
What’s his vision for this franchise that he knows quite well?
And perhaps most interesting to me, who are the people he will bring with him to help change the culture of an operation that has known mostly misery and dysfunction for so long?
If this new GM is going to be the Hawks’ agent of change, than there has to be some significant change done to a basketball operation that hasn’t seen much of that in the past decade.
But so much about Grant and his time with the Hawks is unknown to the media and public.
Surely he was intimately involved in the Hawks’ scouting and drafting operation for so long that it’s hard to separate him from all the personnel misses (there were a few hits in there, too) of the recent past.
So there are more questions.
Was he a vocal member of the staff under Knight? Did he protest some of the choices being made as they were being made (one former Hawks staffer has never let me forget the error of passing on Chris Paul, and to a lesser degree Deron Williams, to this day)? Or was he simply a follower, a yes man if you will, making sure he maintained his position? Did he sit by and watch mistakes being made and not do any and everything to stop them?
No one knows for sure. And with Knight gone and certainly no more eager to discuss his tenure with the Hawks now than he was while on the job, we’re left mostly to our imaginations about what happened and revisionist history of those still leftover (I still have never gotten a straight answer from anyone regarding whose choice it was to take Shelden Williams over Brandon Roy - an even greater draft gaffe in my mind than not taking Paul or Williams a year earlier because there was a question as to who the best talent was in the 2005 draft. Everyone was in agreement in 2006 that Roy was the truth and would do exactly what he’s done. But like always, teams outsmarted themselves with foolish evaluations during draft workouts and meaningless projections, yet another argument for another day in this space).
As I sit here typing, I’m wondering if Grant will get roasted for all the same things you’ve been roasting Knight about in this space the past three years? Or do you give him a pass, since he wasn’t technically in charge?
It’s strange, really, when you think about it.
The Hawks are set to hire a new GM and I, like I’m sure most of you, have far more questions (not our usual and comforting rhetorical ones) than anyone might have solid answers about the guy set to take over the top job in Hawksville.
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Peace of mine
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SMYRNA - Chewing up 1,100-plus roundtrip highway miles in about 29 hours over the weekend is admittedly no way to celebrate your 26th (give or take a few years) birthday.
But I did it anyway, for the love of free stuff (furniture in this case).
Well, free until you stop for gas in an SUV and realize that $70 bucks to fill up the tank is going to be routine.
With that in mind, you can probably understand why I needed something to give me peace of mind as I burned up the road back and forth from the Honeycomb Hideout here in Smyrna and the Bat Cave (Mom’s basement).
But peace of mind can’t be achieved when someone else is always trying to get a piece of mine (3000 used the line first on Aquemini but I refuse to let him have it alone. I refuse), in turn forcing me to get my piece.
While I usually don’t endorse public sideswipes on colleagues or surrogate attacks, I have to admit to being a bit miffed at the “sourcing” of some of my media cohorts in regards to the Hawks’ ongoing general manager search.
Those “short lists” you probably read or heard about over the weekend are short on some key facts, many of which you won’t get from anyone because the Hawks’ shot callers (yeah, the owners) have gone into the subterranean bunker on this one, and perhaps wisely so.
We’re not going to play that foolish speculation game here. Any name I’ve mentioned here or in the paper has always been mentioned in the proper context (legit or pipe dreamer, etc). But I’ll never allow you to be misled by any outsiders (I love John Gabriel personally, in fact I believe his name was mentioned here first, and think he’d be a fine GM, but someone has to make contact with a candidate before he or she can make a “short list” for a job. And that’s no swipe at Gabriel, again, because I think he would indeed be an excellent candidate for this job).
Naismith knows that I wish we could all use anonymous sources freely, without penalty if they’re 100 percent wrong. It would make things loads more exciting, never mind that they’d be far more unbelievable since folks that insist on speaking to the press anonymously tend to always have their own agenda in play. But that’s just not the way it works in my world. I’ve never told you a lie before and I won’t start now. When the GM search reaches the point where there’s something concrete to report, it’ll be here.
I have had conversations with the people on both sides of the situation right now (owners and legitimate potential candidates not to mention several Hawks players and their surrogates) and it’s clear to me that the right types of candidates are not only out there but have been either contacted or in contact with the Hawks. Having spoken with one of the Hawks’ owners extensively, it’s clear to me that he understands just how crucial a hire this is and will be going forward.
The fact that the Hawks have gone underground with this thing should let you know just how serious they are about doing this thing in a way that doesn’t subject them to the public mockery that has so often accompanied the Hawks’ movements this time of year (and in the delicate matters like hiring and firing people). That said, if they make a hire that doesn’t seem to fit this team we would be the first group to let ‘em have it. That’s our job, to be not only observant but also to be critical (responsibly, of course) of any and everything that goes on in Hawksville.
That’s not our only job around here. We’re allowed to comment on all things, which I’ll get to in a second. But I want to make sure and warn you all to be careful what you read about YOUR team elsewhere, because it’s usually tainted with a strong dose of that stuff JK Rowling used to come up with the Harry Potter series. So be careful.
As for those other things I wanted to mention …
Was it just ya boy or did you think LeBron and Co. were going to finish the job the Hawks started? The talking heads keep knocking the Hawks (despite them doing what Cleveland did, save for the valiant road efforts) for not being a “good team” like Cleveland. But the Celtics still look vulnerable to me. Yet they keep finding ways to win games. I don’t know if they’ll get it done against Detroit or not, I’m guessing their magic runs out in what should be an absolutely grueling Eastern Conference finals matchup. I will give the Celtics credit, though, for being a grimy crew. Paul Pierce was ridiculous in the face of what would normally have been a Witness moment for LBJ.
As far as the comparisons to Larry Bird and Dominique’s epic battle, it was certainly in that neighborhood. I remember Bird getting crazy in the fourth quarter with his team’s season on the line. Sunday’s action was certainly fun to watch. And everybody I know that likes basketball, even a little, was watching. But I wonder if people will be talking about Game 7 of the Celtics-Cavs 20 years from now, particularly if LBJ never wins a title?
Game 7 tonight in New Orleans should be every bit as interesting. My gut tells me that this is Chris Paul’s time. I really believe that. But my head tells me that the Spurs simply will not succumb to a team that starts Peja Stojakovic. And if the Hornets are going to get this done, they’ll need someone else to pick up the slack for David West, whose back will be a factor.
Quick detour back to my weekend travels. What is the deal with people pulling even to each other on the highway and then staring each down as they pass or get passed? I must have done it 1,000 times. And I can’t for the life of me figure out why. After a while I started doing it just to make sure everybody else was still doing it. I know, I’ve got issues.
After years of planning my postseason life around this date the past few years, can you believe someone had to email me this morning to remind me that the draft lottery was upon us? Being completely neutral on this thing for once, I was trying to think who I’d want to see Derrick Rose or Michael Beasley playing for next year. Deep down, though, I’m really rooting for a train wreck like Memphis winning the No. 1 pick and then having decide whether or not to take Rose (keeping the city’s biggest basketball star in town) a year after taking Mike Conley Jr. (not to mention having Kyle Lowry and Javaris Crittenton on the roster, too). We definitely need a lottery train wreck.
Any who, let’s go to it people. I’ll be here all week (or at least until a GM is found and hired).
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Breaking the silence
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SMYRNA - Welcome to the alarmist’s paradise.
I know you’re in a panic about what comes next, or better yet who comes walking out of or through the door next.
I know it scares you, the prospect of what good is to come or what evil fate is set to befall your beloved Hawks.
(I received over 100 emails in the past 24 hours wondering if, and I’m paraphrasing here, the Hawks are going to blow this GM thing the way the Thrashers have their coaching search and GM situation? - a legitimate question and concern without a good, clear-cut answer right now.)
That loud noise you hear is every wanna-be NBA GM knocking on the Hawks’ door (in the backdoor fashion these things are usually conducted in when there is an opening that everybody seems to want but nobody seems to want to be known as openly campaigning for).
While other team’s hire and fire people with a list of successor’s always at the ready, the Hawks are actually doing the digging themselves.
They’re vetting candidates on their own for the open GM position (for those of you fresh out of the Fulton County lock up, Billy Knight resigned last week after six years on the job effective July 1).
And that means surrogates for each and every hopeful is working hard to push their guy.
No one is willing to break the silence on a list of potential candidates (though you might have already seen a preliminary list of six somewhere around here http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports/hawks/stories/2008/05/07/hawksnext_0508.html). I can confirm that there are more than a dozen legitimate candidates poking around this opening and probably twice that many guys with no shot doing the same.
Many of the legitimate names you already know. Several others, including the likes of Walt Perrin in Utah, Randy Pfund in Miami, John Gabriel in Portland to name a few - have yet to emerge … welll, until now.
Instead of making a mockery of the two dozen or so wishful thinkers trying to squeeze their way into the mix, I’ll show the respect they haven’t and keep their names away from here (someone has to wear the thinking cap this summer).
But that’s the dilemma we’re all facing here. With so many perceived quality candidates, I said perceived, there is no clear guideline for a process like the one the Hawks are embracing right now. It’s really a subjective thing, where the Hawks can’t rely on any quantitative data to show them which person is the best candidate for the job.
It’s going to come down to the feel the Hawks’ ownership group gets from each candidate they consider/pursue/interview. All you, as fans, can do is hope (or better yet, demand) that they get it right (insert superstitious lucky charms here) this time. That they are listening to the right people and not the folks with loaded agendas. That they are attacking this GM search with the zeal it deserves (and not the wait-and-see-who-falls-out-the-tree indifference that’s been afforded the hockey coaching search).
Because the wrong choice here, on a position so crucial and this pivotal to the Hawks’ immediate and long-term future, could be fatal blow for a franchise that is still basking in the glow of that surprising 7-game playoff run.
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Whatever you do, do it now!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SMYRNA - Now that the Real World Boston is over (no offense Beantown, but I’m good until next season), we can all return to our regularly scheduled program here.
It’s decision time now that the Hawks’ magic carpet ride has ended with a thud. It’s the only remaining question surrounding this team, where do you go from here?
And that includes Josh Smith, Josh Childress, Mike Woodson, Billy Knight, the franchise, the fans and just about anybody else (but in no particular order) connected to this team. I’ll address the status of Smith and Childress later.
(A brief aside - I know you were wondering why I’d abandon ship during the playoffs of all times, but the workload and travel load were so great that I wasn’t able to devote the usual time to this forum that it deserves. Rather than short-arm you with one of those cheap, three-graph joints I wanted to wait until I could do it right, the way I’d want a cat to do it, if was taking my time to come here and read and react. And kudos to Mark Bradley, D. Orlando Ledbetter, Matt Winkeljohn, Curtis Bunn, Steve Hummer, Thomas Stinson and all the other cats who dove in on this Hawks coverage during the playoffs. It was good stuff all around and a fun time trying to bring it all to life).
Much will be made in the coming days about the status of both Knight and Woodson, two men whose relationship has clearly taken a turn toward the darker side. No one I’ve spoken with is sure things between the two of them can be patched up (a peace broker would be ideal right now for the sake of all involved but don’t hold your breath).
Whatever the folks in power plan to do, they need to do it now. And I mean like, NOW! My old man always used a saying on me when he wanted to get me moving, “He who hesitates is lost forever.”
I called him a few minutes ago to find out where he lifted it from and he couldn’t remember if it was from his Army days in Vietnam or from one of the dorm philosophers he cooled out with back in the day (this cat has dropped so much wisdom over the years I’ll forgive him for, as Roger Clemens might say, “misremembering” where that one came from). Either way, the words resonated with me more this afternoon than ever.
Studying the moves and non-moves this franchise has made during the nearly four years I’ve covered this team reinforced that point to me. Indecision in the NBA often leads to bad decisions. I’m not suggesting the Hawks rush into anything. But I want to believe that someone has a detailed plan of action in place long before now as to how the franchise plans to proceed from here.
I’m all for the proper planning and all, but leaving all these folks (players, coaches and especially the main two guys) in limbo about the future only bolsters this franchise’s reputation for not acting decisively.
Whatever’s going to be done needs to be done and done swiftly so the next phase of whatever plan is being scripted and hatched can be put into place (if changes are going to be made, don’t drag it out. And if not, put the people that need to know at ease so they can continue to do their jobs and gear up for a critical offseason. Remember now, he who hesitates is lost forever).
Now, for my quick hit thought on two of the people in the crosshairs mentioned above (the other two will be the subject of a later post). And we can make this quick and easy based on the subject:
— Josh Smith and Josh Childress. I’m combining these two cats since the bottom line is the same. PAY UP! Just go ahead and pay these cats and get it over with. I’ve maintained since last summer that the Hawks should have paid both of these guys and locked them up early when they could set the price instead of playing out a season and allowing the market to do so. One other thing I feel necessary to mention is this, while some folks spend all their time nit-picking what these two can’t do, smart talent evaluators around the league are busy studying what it is they can do (quite a bit for both guys) and realizing that both of these guys have found a way to weather all the Hawks’ mess the past four years and thrive. They also found a way to help this team make the playoff run that kept the basketball world buzzing the past three weeks. But as often happens, teams don’t value their own players properly because they’ve overanalyzed their games and decided they can do better with someone else’s (the Suns are still trying to replace Joe Johnson in their lineup, a dilemma they could have avoided before he became a restricted free agent by paying the man what he was worth).
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Hawks last stand
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
BOSTON - The Hawks must be in love with this city.
Why else would they blatantly play for a return trip here the way they did Wednesday night?
Was it just me or were the Hawks lacking the necessary fire and energy necessary to win a potential series clinching Game 5 on the Celtics’ floor?
There’s no way you can take for granted that you’ll get another crack at running down the Celtics on their home floor - not after 23, 19 and now 25 point losses at TD Banknorth Garden.
After eight straight quarters of fast-paced success against the Celtics, eight quarters of dictating tempo and forcing them to chase you up and down the floor, the Hawks reverted to familiar road philosophy of taking punches instead of delivering them.
It started in the first quarter and continued all the way until the final buzzer.
Sitting here at Logan International Airport this morning, I’m still trying to figure out why it is they didn’t press the issue. You have to knock the champ out if you want the title (and I know the Celtics didn’t win anything other than the best regular season record). Dancing with him for 12 rounds and putting up a decent showing, for a while at least, never gets you anything other than a tail whipping and a long flight home.
Yeah, the Hawks have Game 6 to bank on Friday night. The last stand, if you will, comes a little more than 24 hours from now - hopefully the shot clocks and buzzers are all in working order.
But I wouldn’t have allowed my season to come down to a win or go home game on my home floor. Not if I had the momentum on my side for Game 5 and a chance to go for the jugular against a supposed juggernaut with a weak stomach (and make no mistake, the Hawks exposed some chinks in the Celtics’ armor that future opponents will exploit during these playoffs - namely their inability to defend in transition anywhere close to the way they can in the half court).
It was there for the taking, all of it, Game 5 and a legitimate shot to win this series. And the Hawks stood around and watched the Celtics snatch it away without so much as a forearm shiver to stop them - it worked in Games 3 and 4.
They’ll regret it later.
They probably do now, having watched the film and realized how things gradually slipped away in the second half Wednesday night.
Because they won’t get another shot like the one they had Wednesday. And once the moment passes … well, it’s just gone.
If there is a Game 7 here Sunday afternoon, and there is no guarantee of that, it will be nastier than anything these young Hawks have seen thus far.
Of that you can be sure.
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