Jeff Schultz

Smile, Al Horford: You just rescued the Hawks in the NBA playoffs. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Three hours before tip-off, three hours before the performance that would reaffirm what Al Horford means to this basketball team, the Hawks’ center had no idea if he would be able to play.

“I got to the arena around 5 o’clock, and I didn’t know if I was going to play,” Horford said in a corner of the locker room late Tuesday night. “It was pregame. I was real uncertain. I was feeling tight. I couldn’t get my full range of motion in my pec and my shoulder.”

The Hawks already were in relative crisis mode. They were down 3-1 in a playoff series that they had once led 1-0. They had flat-lined in Game 4 in Boston. Now Horford can’t play?

The only thing preventing this from devolving into slapstick would’ve been Alan Henderson walking through the door and saying, “Don’t worry guys, I got this” (before sneezing and throwing his back out again).

Fortunately, tragic comedy was averted. Horford climbed …

Continue reading Al Horford on Game 5: ‘I didn’t know if I was going to play’ »

Al Horford, in his first start in four months, was Hawks' best player early and late against Boston. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

With his dual-personality basketball team facing playoff elimination Tuesday night, Hawks coach Larry Drew started a center (Al Horford) who was coming off his first game in nearly four months and a forward (Marvin Williams) who had played his way on to the bench for much of this season.

“We wanted to give a different look and see if it jump-starts us,” Drew said.

This is where the average Hawks fan inserted the just-rearranging-the-chairs-on-the-Titanic joke. Because, well, what is an Atlanta sports fan if not someone with a sense of impending doom?

But something weird happened. Actually, more like something Hawks happened. Philips Arena was Sybil Central again.

They trailed by 10 early. They led by 12 late. They blew the lead (of course). They got it back (of course).

They led 87-83 with a minute left, but left Paul Pierce wide open for a 3-pointer …

Continue reading Horford leads way, as Hawks survive for another day »

Can the Hawks force a Game 6 after being humiliated in Boston? (AP photo)

(This is an early column that will serve as the live blog for tonight’s Hawks’ playoff game against Boston. It will updated afterward. Hawks coach Larry Drew said after this morning’s shoot around that center Al Horford and forward Marvin Williams will start, joining Joe Johnson, Jeff Teague and Josh Smith. Kirk Hinrich will come off the bench. The move allows Johnson to go back to the shooting guard position and get away from defending Paul Pierce, possibly reserving more energy for the offensive end. Whether it works is another matter. By the way, checked with a pal, Todd Fuhrman of the Caesars Palace sports book in Las Vegas. He said that while he hasn’t posted odds on this, he would make the Hawks an 11-1 underdog to win the next three games of the series. I would’ve thought it would be even higher but the fact two out of three games would be at Philips Arena might be a factor.)

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Timing is …

Continue reading LIVE: Hawks hope to redeem themselves, extend season »

Ovie Mughelli's contributions to the Falcons were outweighed by his salary. (Curtis Compton/AJC)

In the least surprising move of the Falcons’ offseason, they have released fullback Ovie Mughelli, effectively saving them $3 million on the salary cap.

In doing so, the team also eliminated one of the final remnants of the abbreviated Bobby Petrino era.

Few recall this but when Falcons owner Arthur Blank made the ill-fated decision to hand over the reins of his football team to Petrino in 2007, a major move that offseason was the signing of Mughelli. Petrino wanted a bulldozing fullback for his offense.

The former Baltimore Raven was a logical choice. What wasn’t logical was that Blank and then-general manager Rich McKay gave him a six-year, $18 million contract, a record for a fullback.

Mughelli wasn’t an awful player. But when you weigh his salary vs. his contribution to the team, it was a bad signing.

It didn’t figure that Mughelli would see the final year of his contract. The …

Continue reading Mughelli, a reminder of Petrino era, cut by Falcons »

Just because Jonathan Vilma can fly doesn't mean can get away with everything.

It’s not pretty when a person becomes so desperate and is caught up in denial that he turns delusional. That appears to be the case with New Orleans linebacker Jonathan Vilma.

Earlier today, I sent out a link to ex-Saint Anthony Hargrove’s declaration to the NFL that he was told to lie by assistant coach Gregg Williams and Joe Vitt in 2010 about the existence of the team’s “bounty” program.

That three page declaration, obtained by Yahoo, is listed below. It clearly illustrates the dishonesty and coverup in the Saints’ organization about the program, and as we’ve learned lies and coverups can lead to greater penalties that the crimes themselves might have resulted in.

Anyway, the one thing I didn’t expect to happen was that Vilma and I would get into a back-and-forth on Twitter. Vilma has been suspended for the entire 2012 season. He and NFLPA consider this NFL investigation a bunch of hooey. I’ve …

Continue reading Jonathan Vilma tries to tackle me on Twitter (missed) »

Michael Bourn was doubled off first to end the Braves' loss to Philadelphia. (Jason Getz/AJC)

Once the confetti finally settled in the aftermath of the Braves’ four-hour, 11-inning, 28-run, 36-hit, is-that-really-Tim-Hudson-grabbing-a-bat marathon win over Philadelphia the night before, the Braves were left with one painful truth Thursday: The Phillies still own them.

This doesn’t mean the Braves won’t reach the postseason this year. It doesn’t even mean they can’t win the National League East Division. But Philadelphia didn’t leave town without reaffirming the pecking order.

We may see a blur of replays of Chipper Jones’ walk-off two-run blast that ended Game 2 of the series. We may remember the pyrotechnics of Wednesday’s 15-13 victory for several years. But it was the Phillies who bounced back to win Thursday’s game 4-0. That wrapped up yet another series win over the Braves — and ultimately, that’s really the big picture.

“Somebody said at the beginning of the series that …

Continue reading Braves’ progress won’t matter until they can beat Phillies »

Chipper Jones was mobbed by teammates after his game-winning homer (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Good morning. Did anybody go home?

I talked to a the elevator operator and few other stadium employees and they all look a little bleary-eyed. After Wednesday night’s crazy, E-ticket of a game — you know it’s special when 40-year-old Chipper Jones says it’s the greatest game he ever has been associated with — the Braves and Philadelphia have a short-turnaround today and close out their three-game series with a rare noon game at Turner Field.

Today’s game will have a lot of to live up to. The Braves won 15-13 Wednesday on Jones’ two-run, walk-off homer in the 11th inning.

To recap in Twitter-form: The Braves trailed 6-0, led 8-6, trailed 12-8, led 13-12 and were tied after nine innings. (I think that’s under 140 characters.) Braves highlights: Jones’ two-run homer, Brian McCann’s grand slam in a six-run fifth, Jason Heyward’s go-ahead, pinch-hit two-run single in the sixth, Martin Prado’s …

Continue reading LIVE: Braves try to follow wild Game 2 with win over Phils »

Jonathan Vilma has some free time to admire this.

(4:10 p.m: Updated and rewritten)

The NFL Players Association needs to re-brand itself, perhaps as the Union of People We Feel Like Representing. Because how is it that a players’ union, whose stated mission includes looking out for the well-being of all its membership …

• Ignores all evidence uncovered in a two-year NFL investigation into a bounty program.

• Ignores the public admission of a former assistant coach, Gregg Williams, who orchestrated and partially funded the program.

• Ignores an audio recording in which Williams is heard instructing his New Orleans defensive players to deliver repeated head blows to the opposing quarterback and running back and then references a specific wide receiver, saying: “He becomes human when we [bleepin’] take out that outside ACL.”

Where’s their union?

The NFL did the right thing again Wednesday. Following the suspensions of coach Sean Payton and other team officials for “Bounty Gate,” …

Continue reading Bounties wrong and Saints, Vilma and NFLPA just don’t get it »

Chipper Jones sees something in these Braves that was absent in 2011. (Curtis Compton/AJC)

(Updated: 10:05 p.m.)

When the Braves started this season 0-4, a number of thoughts went through the minds of fans, not a single one of which was: “Do you realize that we could still go 158-4? That would be a record.”

But when the first month of the season ended Monday, the Braves were operating in relative bliss. (Well, bliss interrupted by the implausible wrecking ball of the Pittsburgh Pirates, but bliss nonetheless.) Until a 9-3 loss to the Pirates, they were 14-4 following that 0-4 hiccup, a nice place to be with the Philadelphia Phillies coming to town.

It’s not merely that the Braves suddenly found themselves winning games but that they were winning them in ways that suggested this stretch won’t be viewed as some aberration at season’s end.

That projection may seem just as knee-jerk as those who were panicking at 0-4. But consider the words of Chipper Jones when he …

Continue reading Loss aside, these Braves look way ahead of last season »

Josh Smith, here taking it to hoop against Greg Stiemsma, paced the Hawks with 22 points, 18 rebounds (Curtis Compton/AJC)

(Updated: 10:50 p.m.)

If they win this series, if the Hawks somehow manage to bury the Boston demon one postseason after burying the Orlando demon, it can’t be the Josh-and-Joe show. It has to be this guy, or that guy, the other guy or … wait, which guy was banned in Korea again?

It has to be like what happened Sunday night.

Boston cuts a 19-point lead to 10. What happens? Kirk Hinich hits a three-pointer. Jason Collins hits a pair of shots (wait, Jason Collins?). So starts an 11-2 run that re-inflates the lead to 19.

Later in the fourth quarter, Boston cuts the lead to eight. What happens? Jannero Pargo drives for a hoop. Tracy McGrady sneaks past three seemingly comatose Celtics for a rebound and a jam. Suddenly the lead is back up to 12.

This is how you win a playoff series. The Hawks won only one game Sunday night, not a series, but Game 1 was …

Continue reading Hawks do it their way to take Game 1 over Celtics (updated) »