How often has it happened? An Atlanta team draws the attention of a curious nation and, come the prove-it game, lays a royal egg. Remember Falcons versus Packers on Saturday night in the Dome? Or the Braves in just about any Game 5 of an NLDS? Or the Hawks in Games 6 against the Celtics in 1988?
It has happened so many times in so many ways that we Atlantans have come to temper our dreams for fear of crushing disappointment. Even as we hope for the best, we await the dropping of a second shoe. We await Danny White dissecting the Falcons’ prevent defense, Mark Wohlers throwing the slider, Cliff Levingston and his running lefty hook.
On Friday night, we awaited the Golden State Warriors coming to town and putting the ascendant Hawks in their place. We saw instead that these Hawks have risen to a place they’ve never once occupied in their Atlanta incarnation.
The Atlanta Hawks – best team in the whole wide NBA.
A massively hyped game was worth its billing. Golden State outplayed the Hawks over the first half, but not by so much that the visitors held the lead. The Hawks kept hanging close – mostly by stealing the ball in the backcourt, which rarely happens at this rarefied level – and after two quarters it was tied. The Warriors then had a big third period, scoring 33 points. The Hawks had a bigger one, scoring 37.
We repeat for emphasis: The Hawks scored 37 points in 12 minutes against the team that plays the NBA’s best defense. If you’re a Hawks fan, that’s the absolute best part: The Warriors, who pride themselves on guarding the opposition, couldn’t guard the Hawks.
Forget that rot about the Hawks not being “legit” because they lack A Go-To Guy. Mike Scott and Dennis Schroder don’t qualify as GTG’s – indeed, they don’t even start – but they destroyed Golden State. It wasn’t enough that the five starters were named the Eastern Conference’s player (sic) of the month for January; this team has a bench, too. Do you really need a GTG if you have five or seven or nine guys to whom you can turn for a big basket in a big-time game?
For all the astonishments the Hawks have dropped on us over the past dizzying weeks, this was the capper: Golden State would close the gap only to see it rebuilt, time upon time upon time. The Warriors’ guards – Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson – scored 55 points between them, but that wasn’t nearly enough to trump an opponent that put seven (count ’em, seven) men in double figures. No Go-To Guy? How about a Go-To Team?
The Hawks blew out to a 10-point lead to open the second half, but the next thing you knew it was tied. It took one possession for the Hawks to untie it. Paul Millsap fed DeMarre Carroll, generally the least of five options among starters, who hit a 3-pointer from the left wing. Not long afterward it was tied again, and Scott hit one trey, then another. And then, in the fourth quarter, came the sequence when you knew there would be no Atlanta Choke this night, knew that these Hawks are too good to gag.
Another working lead had been pared to three by a Thompson 3-pointer. Then Schroder, the backup point guard, nailed a trey of his own. Then he hit from 17 feet. The Hawks’ lead was eight with 9:12 remaining, and here we step back to appreciate both the audacity and the aplomb: In the biggest regular-season game in the history of Philips Arena, a 21-year-old from Germany scored five points on two possessions.
I’m sure doubters will remain, though fewer today than yesterday. Some will insist that LeBron will undo the Hawks in the playoffs, and if not LeBron then Derrick Rose. Really, though: Can we possibly say a winner 35 times in 38 games since Thanksgiving is no longer bona fide?
This doesn’t mean the Hawks are a lock to win the NBA title. No team is. But off the strength of this past month and off Friday’s massive test, you’d have to say this bunch is stamping itself as the team to beat. And maybe it’s stamping itself as something more – an Atlanta team that, when the bright lights are shining, doesn’t head for the hills.
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