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Monday, November 3, 2008
Growing up?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
HAWKSVILLE - The Hawks were down 23 in the first half of their home opener Saturday night, Marvin Williams and Josh Smith hadn’t made a shot and the electricity that lit the building up during the pregame introductions had disappeared.
I’d already begun writing the Hawks’ epitaph for the night, starting with their typical collapse after an impressive win in the season opener in Orlando.
Those stories aren’t hard to write, not when you’ve worked through a 13-69 season with the same team and learned how to write “this team stinks” 69 different ways.
But a strange thing happened on the way to my laptop. The Hawks grew up (and came back and won impressively). It didn’t just happen Saturday night, of course, the Hawks’ maturation process. It’s been a long, painstaking process, one I believe took root during that fateful 13-69 season.
It just became plain to see Saturday night. And it was in the way the Hawks methodically walked Philadelphia down and finished them off with huge plays in the final minutes of the game.
While some people left Philips Arena smiling and relieved that the Hawks once again found a way to salvage an ugly start, I walked away realizing that there is something to the theory that it’s worth taking some lumps by sticking with a plan (it’s just too bad so many folks who were involved in this process aren’t around to enjoy this side of things).
Take Smith’s performance Saturday night for the surest sign that these Hawks have grown up.
Two years ago a first-half performance like the one he had would have been the prelude to a disastrous night. But he rebounded by staying under control, making himself a presence around the basket and cranking up his defensive effort in order to make sure his contribution to the evening didn’t end with a horrid shooting first half.
(Remember this snippet from the other night: “It was so ugly early on …” said Smith, who rebounded from an 0-for-7 start to finish 6-for-16 from the floor and with 14 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two blocks. “I wanted to help them out in any way I could. I had to pick my game up in the second half and it started with defense. From there we started hitting shots and the crowd gave us a huge lift.”)
And he wasn’t the only one.
Zaza Pachulia left that night with Mike Woodson’s blessing and the game ball. And Joe Johnson left with yet another victim on the list of those who have yet to figure out that he is indeed one of the league’s most dangerous clutch players. Mike Bibby left with the respect and admiration of many of his teammates, who understand now what it means to have a veteran point guard to keep things straight (like Bibby did along with Johnson in the first half) when the young pokes are struggling.
We all (fans, observers, etc.) left with proof that nothing lasts forever, that whatever your memories of this Hawks team might have been up until now that they might be in need of some editing.
These aren’t the same Hawks you are used to. Where they go from here (2-0 for the first time in a decade) no one knows. But I think we can rest assured that it won’t be anywhere near 13-69, or anything like that.
