Quick Thought: Ummm...great to see all the guys get to play?
Summary:
The farce that is/was Larry Drew's "Getting the team ready to play in the playoffs" put the Hawks in a deep, dark hole out of which no amount of Josh Powell, Etan Thomas, or Damien Wilkins could save them.
Also:
Since I've long since tired of repeating the same charges against the players, coaches, and front office after such a performance, let's stick to a list of positives from the game tonight, ok? Thought so. Hey, it's the end of the regular season. Time to grab some post game cake and ice cream, down some tasty beverage and get ready for the postseason.
That said:
We saw every single move in the Etan Thomas in the Post Collection tonight.
Pape Sy snuck on the court in the fourth quarter and somehow drew a charge, grabbed 2 boards and 2 assists in his 9 minutes.
There were times when Jeff Teague was twice as fast as anyone on the court.
Zaza Pachulia was only 8 points shy of a double-double.
I am sure going to miss how smooth and elegant Jamal Crawford's made jumpers and layups are....or maybe I won't.
3 Hawks either tied or set their season high in points tonight: Etan Thomas (8), Josh Powell (16), and Damien Wilkins (14).
Etan Thomas' (4) blocks was the 10th time a Hawks' player had that many blocks in a game this season, the first non-Horford/Smith player to do it, and only the 4th time since December 6th it happened.
Silver Lining:
The Orlando series starts Saturday night, on ABC, and I'm hoping I'll be there, ACL injury and all. I seriously hope that the team can flip the switch and get back to the type of basketball they are capable of playing.
Playoff preview coming Friday---see what Kris and I believe will absolutely happen in this series against the Magic. Hey, it has to be better than my preseason prediction (50 wins) or his (53 wins), right?
Bonus!
Here is the playoff schedule as release by the NBA, though the Atlanta Hawks PR dept:
ATLANTA HAWKS vs. ORLANDO MAGIC
2011 NBA Playoff First Round Series (best-of-seven)
(Eastern time)
Game 1 - Sat April 16 Atlanta at Orlando
Game 2 - Tue April 19 Atlanta at Orlando
Game 3 - Fri April 22 Orlando at Atlanta TBD ESPN 2D & 3D/SportSouth HD/99X
Game 4 - Sun April 24 Orlando at Atlanta
Game 5 * Tue April 26 Atlanta at Orlando
Game 6 * Thu April 28 Orlando at Atlanta
Game 7 * Sat April 30 Atlanta at Orlando