I’m going to be making a number of posts about the Hawks over the next few days. If you’re reading this blog then you’re probably fully aware of the fact that I don’t do a very good job of putting out new material on a consistent basis. I’ve written a lot about the Hawks but I haven’t posted any of it yet. Annoyingly, I always end up with a lot of material that I can’t post because too much time has passed. Usually this is because I have a frustrating habit of biting off more than I can chew. Often I spend a lot of time working on a project and by the time I’m 75% finished a few months have passed. I’m trying to avoid that situation here. Anyway, if you’re a Hawks fan you’ll find these posts interesting. And if you ever feel like reading a ridiculously in-depth review of the 2008 NFL playoffs, give me a holler; I’ve got what you need.
The Song Remains the Same
What an awful way to end what had been a very fun and exciting season, one filled with much hope. It may end up being the end of more than just the 2009-2010 season for this Hawks team that has grown and developed for 6 years. For many local fans wanting to get behind the Hawks, this year’s playoff run has the feeling of “here we go again.” For these folks it has been just another instance of an Atlanta sports team letting them down. It’s provided more reason for them to be resistant and to doubt. For me, a die-hard fan of all Atlanta teams, the feeling is different, yet similar at the same time. While my interest in and loyalty to my teams is not greatly affected by their success or failure, I certainly have a sense of “here we go again.” Once again, something that should have been a positive, something to feel good about and bring excitement, has turned into something to feel bad and embarrassed about. Once again one of our teams is being trashed and laughed at across the country, and the fans of the team and the city of Atlanta are included in the mocking criticism. Once again, there have been hard feelings between the fans and one of the star players of a local team. Once again it seems like the process of becoming a legitimate and respected contender has been stopped short of the goal and things will be moving backwards now, until sometime in the future when the quest will be taken up again.
Low Highlights
Anyone who knows me knows that my passion for my hometown teams is something that I cannot change or turn off. For passionate Atlanta sports fans there are two issues that cause us all heartache. The most obvious is the lack of success of our teams throughout their histories. The other ever present problem is that the interest in and support of the local sports teams in and around Atlanta is as weak and tepid as in any area of the country. There is one issue that continues to cause diehard Atlanta sports fans pain, and this one is less discussed. This is the fact that so often during the few moments of success in Atlanta sports history the high points have been tainted or dampened by negativity, discontent, and humiliation.
I’m sure it goes back long before I came on the scene but naturally I tend to dwell on the moments which I was a part of. There have been many moments. When you think of all that the Atlanta Braves accomplished during their stretch of 14 consecutive division titles, you’d imagine that it should bring a sense of pride to the area, and it should have been something that created a lasting bond between the people of the area and the team. Yet all the near misses and disappointments became the legacy of that would-be dynasty. Somehow the Braves became linked with the Buffalo Bills. Then there were the empty seats during the playoffs in the later years, bringing derision on the fans of the Braves and the people of Atlanta from around the country. I have to tell you that one of the things that bothers me the most about that long run of continued success is the fact that the one World Series title the team did achieve came immediately after the strike. Think about the fact that on the one night in Atlanta sports history when one of our teams achieved a world championship—game 6 of the 1995 World Series— the two central heroes were players who many fans and many locals resented and were not entirely happy with. Only days before, Dave Justice had criticized Atlanta fans for being spoiled, and he was actually booed by some fans during game 6, hours before he would homer to drive in the only run of the game. Tom Glavine, who held the Indians scoreless over 8 innings in game 6, was the mouth piece of the Players Union during the strike and many fans in this area resented him for that and never really forgave him.
There have been, of course, many other bittersweet moments. In 1998 the “Dirty Birds” pull off one of the all-time upsets in the NFC Championship Game to reach the Super Bowl for the first time in team history. And what happens? One of the leaders of the team gets arrested for soliciting an undercover cop the night before the big game and then gets burned on the field as the Falcons get embarrassed by the Broncos. During one of the Hawks best seasons, back in 1993, the greatest Atlanta Hawk of them all, one of the most beloved athletes in Atlanta history, is traded away to the Clippers. I don’t even need to get into Michael Vick. Hell, even the hockey team has been in on the curse, whether it’s Danny Heatley’s DUI and the death of a teammate, or finally reaching the playoffs for the first time and getting swept in humiliating fashion. It’s just sad.
A Great Season Ends on a Sour Note
So now a new chapter in Atlanta sports history has been written. Again, success that should have brought pride and increased interest moving forward has instead been met head-on with disharmony between the fans and the team, and the jeers of fans and critics across the country. The Hawks’ climb from the bottom of the NBA back to respectability has been drawn out and at times wrought with problems, but their growth had been steady. Starting from rock bottom in Mike Woodson’s first year as head coach back in 2004, when the Hawks won only 13 games, the team has made improvements each season. They doubled their win total the next season, Joe Johnson’s first in Atlanta, and then won 30 in 2006. In 2007 the team finally made it back to the playoffs for the first time since the 1998-99 season, and shocked the world by pushing the eventual champion Boston Celtics to 7 games in the first round. Last year the Hawks finished with a winning record and won a playoff series for the first time since that 1998-99 season. There was a lot of momentum going into this year.
This year the goals were to win 50 games, again achieve one of the top 4 seeds in the East, and hopefully reach the conference finals for the first time since the franchise relocated in Atlanta. The regular season goals--winning 50 games and claiming one of the top 4 seeds in the East—were done with room to spare. While many (including yours truly) had conceded midway through the regular season that it was probably going to be very, very difficult for the Hawks to win 2 playoff series and get to the conference finals this year, there were still other goals that could be accomplished in the postseason. There were steps to take that could signify further growth and hope and momentum for the future. The first goal was to take care of an overmatched first round opponent in convincing fashion. That was something the Hawks had been unable to do the year before, when they were blown out twice on the road, lost once at home, and needed 7 games to defeat a middling Miami Heat team. Another goal was to play better overall on the road in the playoffs and be more competitive and consistent from game to game. In the second round, unless the Hawks somehow ended up playing Boston, many Hawks fans understood that it was highly unlikely that the team would be able to advance further, as the Cavs or Magic could beat the Hawks even if they played their very best. However, there was hope that the Hawks could make things difficult on one of those teams, something they hadn’t been able to do against Cleveland the year before, as they were swept in 4 straight, losing all 4 games by double digits. It wouldn’t be a happy ending but it would mean something to defend the Highlight Factory and maybe force Orlando or Cleveland to 6 games or so.
Just as the gap between the top 2 teams in the East and the Hawks became clearer as the regular season neared its conclusion, it also became clear that the #5-#8 teams in the East were much better than previously thought. Still, the Hawks would be expected to take care of business against any of those teams without too much trouble. It ended up that the Hawks would be playing the Bucks, a team that would be without their best player and the only guy who could have posed a matchup problem for the Hawks (Andrew Bogut). Taking the next step for the Hawks would be to swiftly and decisively dispose of this lower seeded team with no hope of making noise in the playoffs.
Everything started off according to plan, as the Hawks won the first two games at home easily, just as they should have. But things didn’t go well in Milwaukee. For whatever reason, the Hawks’ problems on the road, particularly in the playoffs, cropped up again, as they lost handedly in both games 3 and 4. The Hawks still held home court advantage, but they were not protected from the criticism of analysts and fans around the country. Hawks fans and people in the Atlanta area weren’t pleased with the developments either. But there was still confidence that the team would find itself in game 5 and put the pressure back on Milwaukee. For almost the entire game it looked like that would indeed occur. But then something that had been a recurring problem during the regular season reared its head at the Hawks at the worst of times. They blew a 4th quarter lead and lost at home in game 5 to fall behind 3-2 in the series, sending the raucous crowd at the Highlight Factory home disgusted.
It was one of the tougher losses I’ve ever had to take as a Hawks fan. But in the time between the end of game 5 and game 6, the thought occurred to me that perhaps this would end up coming to some good. I understood that even if the Hawks swept the Bucks in 4 games it still didn’t mean they would have a shot at getting past the Magic. If the Hawks simply mowed over a crippled underdog and then got ousted by the Magic it might bring a kind of unsatisfied ending to the whole season, one that might not keep momentum going towards next year. However, now that the Hawks had their backs against the wall, and had dug this hole, if they could dig themselves out of it, perhaps it could springboard them into the next round. Even if they weren’t able to upset the Magic it would provide some momentum towards the future. It really appeared that this was exactly what was going to happen, as the Hawks took control of game 6 in Milwaukee, winning in a rout to bring it back to Atlanta for game 7, and then ran over the Bucks in the finale to take the series. The Hawks had put the disappointing road losses and the stunning game 5 loss behind them and gotten past Milwaukee the hard way. The fans who were momentarily disheartened by the 3 game losing streak were now rejuvenated. Those around the country who had mocked and bashed the Hawks after losing games 3, 4, and 5 were now withholding judgment again. The next step for the Hawks was to put on a respectable performance in the conference semifinals and hang in there against the Magic.
But the goodwill and momentum that the Hawks gained from the comeback against the Bucks was defaced brutally almost as soon as the series with Orlando began. Eventually all the hope and sprit behind the team would crumble from the Magic’s continuous pounding, as they demolished the Hawks in 4 games. It started in game 1, when the Hawks took one of the worst beatings in NBA playoff history, losing by an embarrassing and soul crushing 43 points. But the Hawks did their best to put it behind them and they came out in game 2 and gave Orlando everything they had. They had a sizeable lead for much of the game and trailed by just a point at the start of the 4th quarter, but by the final buzzer they had again lost by double digits. The Game 2 loss may have somehow been even more demoralizing than the loss in Game 1. It wasn’t just that the Hawks had played with all out effort. They had played close to as good as they could have, and it hadn’t been close to enough. I believe that this was a more serious blow to the team’s psyche than the 43 point loss in game 1 had been.
There was still reason to hope that the Hawks could use their home crowd to help them get back in the series in Atlanta in game 3, but I think the players were very much doubting whether or not they had any chance of actually winning the series. Surprisingly, the Hawks didn’t appear to get any boost of energy or confidence at all from playing on their court, as the Magic dominated game 3 from start to finish. In the end, the Hawks had lost by 30 at home, and they were now down 3-0. The crowd booed the Hawks’ effort, in particular directing their anger and annoyance at Joe Johnson, who was not having a good series. After the game, things continued to unravel, as Johnson told reporters that he didn’t care whether Hawks fans showed up for game 4 or not. As expected, some fans booed Johnson early in game 4, and Johnson’s poor play continued. Even though the Hawks were clearly the desperate team, the Magic were able to hold them at arm’s length throughout the final game, as they wrapped up the most lopsided series in NBA history with a 14 point win. Suddenly the future of the Hawks was cloudy and it was impossible to ignore the thought that this version of the Hawks had reached its end, with the ultimate goal never even within sight.
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