Almost doesn’t count. The Hawks played a solid 2 quarters and 9 minutes of basketball. You simply can’t go on ten minute scoring drought and expect to win against Cleveland. And I kept saying before the game that somebody should break LeBron’s but I wholeheartedly believe that if he played with no arms tonight, he still would have been the best player on the floor. I mean his photo just smiled at me when I looked up “unstoppable” in the dictionary. And Joe…I’m going down to Philips Arena dressed in my Delonte West costume on Monday just to kick his ass. When he got pissed off, it was fucking great. I mean damn. If he played like that all game. He didn’t just come down and score…he pulled up in Delonte’s face and yelled at him, took him to the rim. I was just thinking in my head, “What kind of superstar avgs 20+ a game regular season but fails to show up playoff time?” Josh…I don’t even know what to say. My favorite part of watching him tonight was watching him and LeBron line up at half court for the jump ball. Zaza…you are justified for the simple fact that you work harder than anyone else. You are okay in my book. Next time, just deck LeBron on your way out so maybe the Hawks stand a chance. Flip…if only Joe played with your aggressiveness. Great showing tonight. Bibby…if I see you play some lock down defense one time on anyone (I feel like a JV bench riding center could drive the lane on you), you never have to score again. I don’t care if you make Z lose his dribble at the top and he calls timeout. Just defend someone. Al and Marvin…Great effort. I know I always trash Marvin (and don’t get me wrong, I still think we should have gotten Chris Paul) but that is what i think of when I think of the Hawks. Heart. Fuck highlights, I want that passion that the Hawks have played with since last year’s playoffs. I want it back and Marvin and Al brought it tonight. And I have tried not to trash Woodson because I think that he is always learning something new about the Hawks. If he’s not yelling at a ref or stating some obvious fact (We have to play defense…thanks Einstein. What kind of defense?), he is standing on the sideline with a Wade Phillips-like expression on his face. But he pushed me over the edge in this series. He is just the the most confused angry coach on the sideline. Draw up a play. I can honestly state that I have never heard during that “Wired” where they listen to a coach’s mic him say anything that I couldn’t have said. As a player, you know that in order to score points, the ball must go in the basket. You know that if the other team is up and you want to catch up, not only do you have to score but you have to get a defensive stop. Coach, what do we do about LeBron? Why does Josh keep shooting instead of playing down low? Why does Bibby watch people run past him into the lane? Why does Flip shoot from half-court for buzzer beaters instead of Joe? Why has LeBron literally run through the lane untouched at least every game of this series without being hit hard? Why do you look just as scared as we do? You’re not even on the court. LeBron’s not dunking on you. You coach the team and stop pulling off crazy antics like shaving your head just because we get to get beat by Boston or worrying about what Jon Barry has to say. Worry about how to stop LeBron because Jon Barry did not torch your team tonight.

I think most people would agree Lebron has surpassed Kobe, amazingly. Sorry.

Are you actually WATCHING the games?!?
However, that being said, I’m not punching their ticket to a championship just yet…or even to the finals. They SHOULD get there…but the Lakers will be a very tough matchup for them if they make it too…which isn’t guaranteed EITHER. They’re struggling against the Yao-less Rockets, and they’ll have a VERY tough Nuggets team rested and waiting for them.

Like I mentioned before…all this talk of ‘finals’ is WAAAY premature. I won’t really begin thinking about that until it HAPPENS, because once again, counting out the Magic/Celtics and (most likely Nuggets) really isn’t smart. Even THIS series isn’t over yet, and the Rockets series definitely is FAR from over. Last I heard you have to win FOUR games, not three. I’ll begin thinking about all those other teams once the Hawks are closed out, which, while it seems like a foregone conclusion, they are NOT.