Live from the Hawks: Even John Hollinger is impressed!
Get off to a 9-2 start and you'll have a lot of friends. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
We’ve had some fun with our Facebook friend John Hollinger of ESPN.com. We’ve noted more than once that he picked the Hawks to win 31 games in 2008-2009 — they won 47 — and declared their bench “a FEMA disaster zone.” (It was actually pretty good.) More recently we’ve noted he predicted the Hawks will slide from those 47 victories to 44.
Well, fair’s only fair. And if we we tweak Big John for his less-than-glowing appraisals, we must also recognize him when he says something nice. And here it is: In his first power rankings for ESPN’s Insiders (link requires registration), Mr. Hollinger has the Hawks No. 1.
If you’re counting, that makes the third set of ratings that puts these Hawks at the top. Hollinger’s ESPN colleague Marc Stein and John Schuhmann of NBA.com made the same call earlier in the week. (Chris Mannix of SI.com is the contrarian: He has the Hawks No. 2 behind Phoenix.)
With early success comes, as day follows night (or is it the other way around?), increased media attention. I’ve noticed correspondents from ESPN.com (Hollinger again), NBA.com (esteemed former colleague Sekou Smith), CBSsports.com and Yahoo! Sports on hand for tonight’s game with Miami, and it wasn’t so long ago you’d go to a Hawks game find rows of empty chairs in the press gallery.
I’m not going to tell you I’ve been here for every game of the past few years, but I’ve seen a few. And not since the middle ’80s have I seen the Hawks playing at such a high level. (The Lenny Wilkens teams of the ’90s were never quite this good.) I expect the Hawks to win again. I expect them to win every game the rest of the season and finish 80-2.
Yes, I’m kidding. But I’m also excited in a strictly professional way. I love basketball. I love being able to see good basketball without leaving town. And you’re welcome to join me as we chat about Game No. 12 in what has already been a blissful season. To borrow the catchphrase from the Hawks’ failed 1994 postseason: Bring it on!
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356 comments Add your comment
Mark Bradley
November 18th, 2009
8:26 pm
Heat with a quick five points to cut it to 12.
J.J.M.
November 18th, 2009
8:26 pm
come on hawks dont let up
Opinion
November 18th, 2009
8:26 pm
Haha Mark, I did the same thing, stick to writing columns, your good at that as long as you keep up the Tech ones (forget about UGA there a waste of time)
Mark Bradley
November 18th, 2009
8:26 pm
Beasley blocks Josh. Don’t see that very often.
ryan
November 18th, 2009
8:27 pm
is it me or have josh, joe and al played at a completely different level than last year. and they were damn good last year
Mark Bradley
November 18th, 2009
8:27 pm
Joe follow jam off Marvin miss.
J.J.M.
November 18th, 2009
8:28 pm
whoaaa joe dunk
Mark Bradley
November 18th, 2009
8:28 pm
Joe doesn’t dunk very often, you know. And now Josh draws a charge from Beasley.
ryan
November 18th, 2009
8:28 pm
joe never does that
ryan
November 18th, 2009
8:29 pm
i mean dunk an off reb
Opinion
November 18th, 2009
8:29 pm
Joe was an idiot for not taking that extension from the Hawks, he ain’t worth more than $15 mil a year
J.J.M.
November 18th, 2009
8:29 pm
3s are saving the heat
Mark Bradley
November 18th, 2009
8:30 pm
Wade running banker cuts it to nine. And now a T on Josh.
Mark Bradley
November 18th, 2009
8:30 pm
I think he thought Wade cleared off on the drive.
J.J.M.
November 18th, 2009
8:30 pm
calm down josh
ryan
November 18th, 2009
8:30 pm
thats the josh i know and hate
Opinion
November 18th, 2009
8:30 pm
haha, so much for Josh being under control, we knew that wasn’t gonna last long
BONE
November 18th, 2009
8:30 pm
Josh we don’t need to give them points
Mark Bradley
November 18th, 2009
8:31 pm
Not a good trip. Joe fiddles around with it and passes to Horfy, who takes a 15-footer. And misses. And now Beasley at the line for two, Heat down eight.
Johhny Walking
November 18th, 2009
8:31 pm
Wade must have been caught with somebodys wife too. He looks offff. Win or Lose the HAWKS are on FIRE!!! Question is will the NBA ALLOW them to be this good when the PLAYOFFS come. They Hawks are clearly playing the best TEAM ball in the league right now. The league served em up real good against the Cavs last year. The King had only 2 fouls called the whole series. I really wish this was Legit. The Hawks really could have a chance at the Obrien trophy. Then again with 13,000 or less on game nights what can you expect.
ryan
November 18th, 2009
8:31 pm
jesus joe, you switch to a big guy and give him the dribble?
Opinion
November 18th, 2009
8:31 pm
I guess the hawks didn’t do shootaround after the half their shooting like garbage
Mark Bradley
November 18th, 2009
8:32 pm
Horfy leads the break and finds Joe for a layup.
Let’s see Greg Oden lead the break.
ryan
November 18th, 2009
8:33 pm
al can run the break no?
Mark Bradley
November 18th, 2009
8:34 pm
Crawford in early this half. And you can see why. Heat within six.
J.J.M.
November 18th, 2009
8:34 pm
marvin back to the bench lol
Mark Bradley
November 18th, 2009
8:34 pm
Horfy post-up hook. Not a center, huh?
Mark Bradley
November 18th, 2009
8:35 pm
Horfy is the only guy playing at the moment. Good thing he’s playing well.
He’s at the line when play resumes, Hawks up six.
ryan
November 18th, 2009
8:35 pm
beaslye with 4 thank god
Mark Bradley
November 18th, 2009
8:38 pm
Just had the Kiss Cam, and I was reminded that the late Jeff Denberg, my longtime AJC compatriot, always cracked up over that feature.
JJ
November 18th, 2009
8:39 pm
Our shooting from outside just has not been on track. Luckily we’re rebounding as well as ever and Horford is running the floor.
Should be interesting to see what we can do with both JO and Beasley with 4 fouls.
Kane337
November 18th, 2009
8:40 pm
Kind of a weak blocking foul on O’neal but we’ll take it.
Mark Bradley
November 18th, 2009
8:40 pm
Still no Jeff Teague tonight.
Kane337
November 18th, 2009
8:41 pm
Wade with a 3. Don’t let that guy get hot.
blazerdawg
November 18th, 2009
8:41 pm
crowd looks/sounds good on tv…Hawks look even better!
preston
November 18th, 2009
8:41 pm
Mark, I hate to bring this up, but do you see the hawks making any more moves this year to strengthen their team……..ok, specifically do you see the hawks moving Marvin at this point…..I mean, I see every starter improving and contributing to the hawks campaign this yr except Marvin, hec even Josh smith has shown tremendous growth since last yr, but Marvin seems to be digressing.
Mark Bradley
November 18th, 2009
8:41 pm
Great pass by Josh off an offensive rebound to Joe, who hits a three. Joe has 25.
Mark Bradley
November 18th, 2009
8:42 pm
Daequan Cook again. I’m convinced.
Joe with a twister in the lane. He’s making everything.
Kane337
November 18th, 2009
8:42 pm
Don’t put Teague in at the end of quarters. He likes to foul guys shooting from half court with no time left.
J.J.M.
November 18th, 2009
8:43 pm
hahahaha josh what was that
Mark Bradley
November 18th, 2009
8:43 pm
Josh with a behind-the-back pass that becomes a charge. Trying to do too much there.
Hawks by eight, 2:06 left in the period.
JJ
November 18th, 2009
8:43 pm
Joe with a “heat check”. I don’t know about that shot.
Josh trying to do a little bit too much.
Kane337
November 18th, 2009
8:43 pm
Man, another fast break opportunity goofed up by the Hawks.
J.J.M.
November 18th, 2009
8:44 pm
josh wanted to be on sportscenter top 10
Mark Bradley
November 18th, 2009
8:44 pm
Yes, Teague did do that against Jerryd Bayless on Monday. Almost gave him three free throws on the play.
ryan
November 18th, 2009
8:44 pm
mark my words. hawks go on a run
Opinion
November 18th, 2009
8:46 pm
Hey Mark, HORFY?????
Mark Bradley the next Bobby Cox, I love it
Mark Bradley
November 18th, 2009
8:46 pm
Instead Josh gets a seat on Woody’s bench.
J.J.M.
November 18th, 2009
8:46 pm
i would never give crawford “dap”
BugKiller
November 18th, 2009
8:47 pm
Mark,
I’m late to the blog tonight… but I tell you what, what a great opening.
If we didn’t know you were a Kentucky Boy before tonight, we’d sure as heck know it after your declaration (or believe you were from equally basketball-wonky Indiana).
It always makes it more fun for us, your readers (I still move we be called the Funky Bunch, or that you create a weekly article titled such), when a sports writer gets excited by what he’s reporting.
Kind of like Tony Barnyard with college football, or Sekou with basketball.