LIVE BLOG: Hawks try to close out Magic (honest)
Now accepting all predictions for the final score of tonight's game five: Hawks vs. Orlando.
ORLANDO — I keep thinking of the opening verse to the Talking Heads’ song, “Once in a lifetime.”
You may find yourself living in a shotgun shack And you may find yourself in another part of the world And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile You may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife You may ask yourself, “Well, how did I get here?”The last time the Hawks played a playoff series, they lost by a combined 101 points. To Orlando. But now they are own a 3-1 lead and can close out the previously favored Orlando Magic tonight and move on to the second round.
How did they get here?
They haven’t played great in every game. But they have been consistent in two important areas: 1) Defensively, players have stuck with coach Larry Drew’s game plan to not double Dwight Howard, which has enabled defenders to harass the Magic’s three-point shooters (who are a collective 21 for 96, or 21.9 percent); 2) They have given strong, consistent efforts and played physical in four straight games.
Josh Smith has received his share of criticism in recent years, but he was on target with this comment: “Every possession is not going to be perfect. What you do to make up for that is effort plays, and we’ve been doing that the whole series. Guys have been playing with an unbelievable passion that I haven’t seen all season long. We’re playing as though we have something to prove.”
If the Hawks can finish this thing, they’ll experience some rare franchise history. Consider:
♦ Since relocating from St. Louis to Atlanta in 1968, the Hawks have played 23 playoff series as the lower seed. They were 2-21 in those series coming into this first round (they’re the East’s No. 5 seed, Orlando No. 4). Atlanta’s only previous series wins over a higher seed came in 1978-79 (2-0 over Houston in a best-of-three) and 1995-96 (3-2 over Indianapolis in a best-of-five).
♦ The Hawks won best-of-seven series in the first round the last two seasons over Miami (2008-09) and Milwaukee (2009-10). The last time they won a best-of-seven in fewer than seven games? That would be 1969-70: 4-1 over Chicago. Then again, they lost 14 straight best-of-seven series after that Chicago series, ending the streak against the Heat.
But all that seems ancient history right now. And I maintain that if the Hawks win this series, regardless of the perceived weaknesses on the Magic’s roster, it’s a more significant postseason triumph than the first-round wins over Miami and Milwaukee.
As always, I’ll be blogging live from tip-off, at least until I have to start banging out the game column.
So how confident are you feeling? Predictions beginning in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . .
By Jeff Schultz
♦
Earlier today: Digi-Blog previews Hawks and Magic, game 5
Earlier today: Cam Newton offered $1 million if he can pass lie detector (Update II)
♦
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476 comments Add your comment
Corch Myer
April 26th, 2011
9:03 pm
Alternative yeah you have said that about 30 times so far- are you nervous about your Hawks backing you up??
Section 212
April 26th, 2011
9:03 pm
Here comes a heavy dose of #12 in white….
DrGreg
April 26th, 2011
9:04 pm
I hope you are right there Rocker. Unfortunately I believe either of these teams will get bounced without much trouble in the second round.
HawksFanNorcross
April 26th, 2011
9:04 pm
Jeff did Joe drink his invisible juice tonight
Alternative Rocker
April 26th, 2011
9:04 pm
Remember they lost 6 straight at end of season then led Magic 3-1 ? They can turn it on. I’m telling you, they probably are saving their effort to win it at home. Could be a smart move.
gadawgs
April 26th, 2011
9:04 pm
True but you go back home having given the other team alot of confidence and a belief that they are still in it. You should never let a dangerous team hang around and yes Orlando is a dangerous team. We should have closed it out tonight and be waiting for Chicago.
Alternative Rocker
April 26th, 2011
9:05 pm
All the Magic starters have 3 or more fouls.
jackie
April 26th, 2011
9:05 pm
J richardson got other things on his mind
Luke Cage
April 26th, 2011
9:06 pm
I’m still here rooting for the hawks, LETS GO HAWKS, LETS GO HAWKS
Coach D.
April 26th, 2011
9:07 pm
How many more days off are the Bulls going to have if they win tonight & the Hawks have to play 6 let alone 7? Play with some passion! Corch been a lifelong Hawks fan, will continue to be one, but MAN is it tough to be a fan on nights like tonight!
Corch Myer
April 26th, 2011
9:07 pm
that’s pitiful
Alternative Rocker
April 26th, 2011
9:07 pm
Arenas walked.
Section 212
April 26th, 2011
9:07 pm
Arenas is using Kirk bad tonight and last game.
Coach D.
April 26th, 2011
9:08 pm
Down by only 22….lol
Coach D.
April 26th, 2011
9:08 pm
Go ahead & white b—– # 12
Corch Myer
April 26th, 2011
9:09 pm
everybody walks AR
JC
April 26th, 2011
9:09 pm
I don’t believe I”m the only who feels that this Orlando team can come all the way back and beat the Hawks in this series..especially the way the Hawks are playing tonight and even how they closed out game 4..very lucky to be up 3-1 thus far..tonight’s a blow out and Atlanta better win Game 6 or else they will lose this series!!
Alternative Rocker
April 26th, 2011
9:09 pm
I expected the Hawks to lose tonight. its hard to win a NBA game on the road. Magic will find that out Thursday night.
TROTTINGHOME
April 26th, 2011
9:10 pm
Good night Irene…and don’t let the door hit you in the azz
jackie
April 26th, 2011
9:10 pm
Hawks look so out of control
Alternative Rocker
April 26th, 2011
9:11 pm
JJ or Horford should be taking shots not J.Smith.
Section 212
April 26th, 2011
9:11 pm
See you on Thursday night!
Corch Myer
April 26th, 2011
9:11 pm
JC there is no doubt in my mind if they both play their best game the Magic will win the series
Corch Myer
April 26th, 2011
9:11 pm
But the Hawks have been outplaying the Magic
Section 212
April 26th, 2011
9:12 pm
Joe is horrible
Jeff Schultz
April 26th, 2011
9:12 pm
Lead up to 28. Its so over.
Corch Myer
April 26th, 2011
9:12 pm
Is Richardson Crawford’s man?
Hawks are and will always be
April 26th, 2011
9:12 pm
quitters.
they’ve quit, they’re already looking to game 6
Atl teams = Playoff chokers
April 26th, 2011
9:12 pm
Only the Hawks can take a 3-1 series lead and lose the next game by 30. Only an Atl team.
Ben
April 26th, 2011
9:13 pm
More proof fabricated motivation (re: disrespect) can only motivate you so much. My fear is that this series is doing what so many Hawks teams have done in the past. Create false hope.
Bottom line, Jamal has gotten more pub in this series than our franchise (and highest paid NBA) player this series. Typical.
Hawks have given up in this game. We’ve seen these 30 point blow outs ALL YEAR. Guess they didn’t watch the game film where Portland came back from 23 down the other night.
No heart.
Alternative Rocker
April 26th, 2011
9:13 pm
This is embarassing though. I agree that they are showing no heart tonight.
Section 212
April 26th, 2011
9:13 pm
What is the playoff record for lowest point total? We will threaten that record tonight…Again embarassing the ATL
JC
April 26th, 2011
9:14 pm
Good, Championship teams, have no problem winning NBA playoff games on the road..look at the aging Celtics!! that’s what happens when you have the best coach in basketball on your side..Hawks need to go out and grab their former star point guard and bring him back to ATL to coach!! this team has enough talent to go all the way just don’t have the right coach in place..
Alternative Rocker
April 26th, 2011
9:16 pm
Its simply that Horford,J.Smith shots not falling and Richardson,.Nelson,& Reddick shots falling tonight. The exact opposite of last game.
Corch Myer
April 26th, 2011
9:16 pm
He never saw a shot he didn’t like – kinda like Nique
Hawks Have Quit
April 26th, 2011
9:16 pm
“its hard to win a NBA game on the road. Magic will find that out Thursday night”
Exhibit A, NBA Playoffs 2010, Game 3: Orlando Magic 105, Atlanta Hawks 75 @ Philips Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
Exhibit B, NBA Playoffs 2010, Game 4: Orlando Magic 98, Atlanta Hawks 84 @ Philips Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
yeeeah, not falling for that one. Good try though
DF
April 26th, 2011
9:16 pm
Hmm…wonder why the Hawks lack fan support? Probably because every time things are looking up we have to come back down to earth and let crap like this happen. This is pathetic. There is seriously no other team in the NBA that would let something like this happen.
Luke Cage
April 26th, 2011
9:16 pm
I mean its one thing to lose but to lose when its obvious that you quit because your up 3-1 and playing with no energy and very lathargic makes no sense, LD has to take a major portion of this travesty, play the backups, they can’t play any worse, GO HAWKS!!!
Alternative Rocker
April 26th, 2011
9:17 pm
All teams have trouble on the road. Look at L.A. & New Orleans tied at 2-2. Spurs diown 3-1.
Corch Myer
April 26th, 2011
9:17 pm
This is the first decent shooting night for the Magic all series
banks
April 26th, 2011
9:17 pm
Jeff what is the vibe like on the Atlanta side line and what is LD saying during timeouts
Coach D.
April 26th, 2011
9:18 pm
Law of Probabilities = Magic would hit some 3 pointers sooner or later. Hopefully they won’t make any on Thursday.
Alternative Rocker
April 26th, 2011
9:18 pm
Different year, different players. Magic don’t have R.Lewis and Hawks don’t have Bibby.
Time
April 26th, 2011
9:18 pm
@Ben, guess you didn’t watch the Portland game the other night to see it took them till the 4th quarter to make that run down 23. There’s still time. I’m not saying it’s going to happen. But it’s entirely possible. Nothing shocks me with these Hawks anymore.
And this was a game they were destined to lose from the start. Close out games are very rarely won on the road by any team. Orlando, was always going to heat up at some point. And we were due a bad shooting game at some point.
Still confident in my pre-series prediction of Hawks in 6.
jackie
April 26th, 2011
9:19 pm
well maybe this terrible display will shame them into a win at home
Corch Myer
April 26th, 2011
9:19 pm
you would think so
Luke Cage
April 26th, 2011
9:19 pm
@Alternative Rocker
I’m a lifelong Hawks fan also, but even when your shots aren’t falling there’s no excuse to not play defense at all!!
JC
April 26th, 2011
9:19 pm
I agree with you, Corch Myer..you CANNOT let a team back into a series when you have em on the ropes! Look at what the Celtics did to the Knicks on Sunday in a VERY hostile enviroment at MSG in NYC…Doc Rivers is the BEST coach in basketball..let’s bring him back to the ATL where he belongs to bring us a long awaited Championship!!
Colonel
April 26th, 2011
9:19 pm
Alternative Rocker: Yeah, all teams have trouble on the road. Magic have trouble winning win they can’t shoot by a bucket at the end of the game. Hawks… well, they seem to be having a little more trouble than others.
Gainesville#1
April 26th, 2011
9:20 pm
How yall noticed that every night nique is saying is haveing an off night tonight?