Live from Hawks-Bucks Game 3: The weather outside is …
Even this Milwaukee dance team, shown warming up, has seen sunnier days. (Photo by M. Bradley)
Milwaukee — I’m sitting in the Bradley Center. There are two things good I can say about the Bradley Center: First, it has a nice name; second, it has a roof. Other than that …
It’s raining in Atlanta. I know. It was pouring when Airtran Flight 420 departed — 75 minutes late — from Hartsfield-Jackson this afternoon. From the forecasts, I wasn’t sure we’d depart at all. So I guess, in that sense, I’m glad I’m here.
Then again, “here” is Milwaukee. Where it’s 45 degrees — 45 degrees! — and windy and foggy and raining. It might be possible to find a bleaker setting in April in the Northern Hemisphere. Then again, it might not.
I mentioned the weather to Dominique Wilkins. “What do you expect?” he said. “It’s Milwaukee. It’s just … dreary.”
Students of history will note that I, M. Bradley, was in this city last month to cover Georgia Tech in the NCAA tournament. And it snowed then. But somehow you expect snow in a Midwestern city in March. It’s now spring. And it’s a balmy 48 degrees. Give me a break.
About the series: It has been a bore. The Hawks won the first two games easily, and at issue tonight is whether the Bucks can win the game that keeps them from getting swept. They’re passing out red towels at the Bradley Center that read, “Fear the Deer,” but I don’t believe the Hawks arrived shaking in their sneakers. (Shivering from the cold, perhaps. But not from terror.)
The Hawks’ dressing room is scheduled to open in five minutes, so I’ll duck down there and see if anyone appears to be suffering from a phobia of antlered beasts. I’ll check back momentarily. And send some hot chocolate, would you?
Update from the Hawks’ locker room: Not much to report. (At playoff time, no news is always good news.) Mike Woodson said: “I like the way we handled our business at home. Now we’ll see what we can do here.”
Woodson also had this observation: “It was 39 degrees when we got on our bus this morning [for shootaround].” Then he laughed. Or maybe he just shivered.
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358 comments Add your comment
J-Smoove
April 24th, 2010
9:07 pm
This is awful… Braves look like the Bad News Bears and the Hawks are looking like the Atlanta Dream (WNBA team for those not aware). Hawks will win in 5 and hopefully won’t play like this against Orlando
Josh Smith should apologize
April 24th, 2010
9:07 pm
Josh Smith should apologize to all Hawks fans, especially season tickets holders.
Tonight Josh Smith’s performance has been a joke for a veteran. Tough shooting night, but the defensive and rebounding effort have been no existence. On 3 consecutive trips down the floor, he was beat at the rim.
Mark Bradley
April 24th, 2010
9:08 pm
Offensive foul by Josh Smith. About time to pull the starters.
jcwfalcon
April 24th, 2010
9:08 pm
Mike…Smoove uses a Garmin. And we all have a hardtime finding the right Peachtree…and the right spot ON that Peachtree. Smoove comes to play some of the time and didnt play well tonight. But lets be real, we dont want a linguist…we want effort and coaching.
D Hawks
April 24th, 2010
9:09 pm
Might as well get all the starters off the floor. They haven’t done anything anyway. Let ‘em stew on this performance for the last 8 minutes.
adrain
April 24th, 2010
9:09 pm
bradley what do u call this. This team has no heart
D Hawks
April 24th, 2010
9:09 pm
Great minds think alike MB.
Mark Bradley
April 24th, 2010
9:10 pm
Jeff Teague checks in. His team is 27 points down.
chem
April 24th, 2010
9:11 pm
The Hawks aren’t trying. Josh Smith gave up on this one a few minutes into the 3rd quarter. Woodson has no sway with this team. He can’t even get effort in a playoff game.
jcwfalcon
April 24th, 2010
9:11 pm
Maybe they are constipated from all the meat, cheese, and brew?
jcwfalcon
April 24th, 2010
9:12 pm
Maybe Woody should shave his eyebrows to motivate them for game 4?
D Hawks
April 24th, 2010
9:12 pm
Joe is the only one who showed up tonight, and he’s too quiet to rip his guys a new one for their performance. Would LeBron or Kobe have put up with this performance from their teammates?
S Uga Fan
April 24th, 2010
9:13 pm
Greg…. you really dont know why they are not blaming him? And Mark ask Woody if he is willing to do the right thing and resign! Hire Avery Johnson before someone else does! Great coach!!
jcwfalcon
April 24th, 2010
9:14 pm
Or maybe shave something else to show them what they need to grow on the road?
Shane
April 24th, 2010
9:14 pm
You know what there is to do in Milwaukee Josh Smith?
Get your tail kicked and embarrassed by 30.
HawksFan11
April 24th, 2010
9:15 pm
Mike Woodson’s scheme isnt good for this team. For his scheme to work u need great iso players. josh and marvin and bibby are not those. horford joe and craword are. 93-65? Wow this is so pathetic. In game 3 u usually want to make it really competative so you can wear them out for game 4. Jennings is laughing on the bench and doesnt even have toplay the whle 4th. Now we got to worry about jennings doing the same thing he did tonight in game 4. Joe brought it tonight but was the ONLY one. Josh Smith is so pathetic at times its scary. He gets to shooting jumpers and going to the hole out of control. Right now you would have to say the bucks are the favorites for game 4. Right?
Kingbyrd
April 24th, 2010
9:15 pm
This series will go 7 games because we can’t play on the damn road. Trade Marvin Williams!!!
adrain
April 24th, 2010
9:15 pm
Boycot Game 5
chem
April 24th, 2010
9:15 pm
Maybe Josh Smith and Co. can’t bring their “special juice” on the airplane. This team has horrible energy on the road…
ATL embarassment
April 24th, 2010
9:17 pm
Lose the red uniforms. Doesn’t anyone remember how horrendous the Hawks were the last 10 years they wore red. Stick with the blue unis on the road.
jcwfalcon
April 24th, 2010
9:18 pm
Problem is this team isnt REALLY a contender. I wish we were, but we arent. It would take A TON of luck for this team to make it to the finals.
Bigger problem is our best player, on this team that isnt even a contender, wont be back. Even biger problem is the ownership group will not open the pocket book to replace our best player with another max contract player. Next year our 6th man of the year will be the starter, and we will bring in a couple of bench players.
Given these factors, I dont know if it matters if Woody, Avery Johnson, or John Wooden coaches this team next year. Whoever it is, they wont have a top player that will allow them to finish in the top 4, and will be lucky to make the playoffs.
I dont like it, but thats how I see it.
dissapointedfan
April 24th, 2010
9:18 pm
has anyone else noticed the loud air horn everytime the Hawks are on offense?!
Oh and dont watch the game on fox sports south because there is like a two second delay
Sherwin-Williams
April 24th, 2010
9:18 pm
If I were the Hawks mascot, I’d be really worried that someone might break out some motivational paint for game 4. CYA…literally!
U B
April 24th, 2010
9:19 pm
Hawks showed why they will NEVER be a championshiop team tonight.
houstondawg
April 24th, 2010
9:19 pm
This definately show the Hawks can not play with the big boys.
When you get blown out by a team in the playoffs this bad, I can take a two point loss but this is embarrassing.
This shows you Mike Woodson will never be in a championship team, you can see they were way out coached inthis game.
Case closed, don’t expect the Hawks to go far in the Playoffs, might not even win this series, Bucks might get some serious momentum,
j
April 24th, 2010
9:19 pm
this is brutal … reminds me of the Heat series last year … what the hell was the game plan tonight? certainly not letting them jump on us for a 20 point plus lead … i knew we’d probably lose one on the road but at least keep it close. we stand no chance in the second round if we get this kind of performance (if we make second round) … UNACCEPTABLE guys … you take care of business on the road, not just at home
D Hawks
April 24th, 2010
9:21 pm
If they can’t motivate themselves after this pitiful performance, this coach and half of “the core” need to go. They’ve gotten many of us to drink the kool-aid, now it’s time for them to put up or shut up about how good and how ready they are to move to the next level.
KP
April 24th, 2010
9:21 pm
This is pathetic! I am so sick of this team not competing on the road in the playoff’s. If your going to lose….dont go out without a fight! I would have been ok with a loss tonight, however to again totally not even compete!? How can you look like a top tier at home and then not even show up on the road?
ATL embarassment
April 24th, 2010
9:21 pm
What really causes this kind of lackluster effort on the road? This Milwaukee team doesn’t have a fraction of the talent that the Hawks have. The Hawks absolutely should not lose AT ALL to a Bogut-less Bucks team, much less by 20+. They’re not even competing. No way Cleveland, Orlando or Boston would lose by 20+ to Milwaukee.
wordy
April 24th, 2010
9:22 pm
Mark- here is your homework, explain in your follow up column why the Hawks are so good at home but so apathetic away. I can’t figure it out. It’s so damn consistent it’s maddening.
jcwfalcon
April 24th, 2010
9:22 pm
But, on the bright side, playoff basketball beats the abyssal teams of most of the last decade. It stinks Atlanta teams always peak out at the 2nd or 3rd tier, but it could be worse and at least they give us some hoops to watch in April.
Real Talk
April 24th, 2010
9:22 pm
this is an embarrassment to the NBA getting blown out on National TV by 20+ points let alone the city or Atlanta
Real Talk
April 24th, 2010
9:23 pm
this is an embarrassment to the NBA getting blown out on National TV by 20+ points let alone the city of Atlanta
The Late Chuck Daly
April 24th, 2010
9:24 pm
What every happened to my NO-LAY UP RULE during the NBA playoffs?
Bill
April 24th, 2010
9:24 pm
This is an immature team.Period mature teams with championship aspirations take care of business.
The Hawks will win this series and be lucky to win one against Orlando.
With the Braves going in the tank the Falcons carry the only hope for Atlanta pro sports.
j
April 24th, 2010
9:25 pm
this is pathetic, similar to the Heat series last year … no way do you receive 3 days rest and put up a stinker like this … why the hell can’t we ever play on the road? i expected us to lose one on the road BUT i also expected the game to be close. To the Hawks players, this is UNACCEPTABLE
J.J.M.
April 24th, 2010
9:25 pm
hawks are pure garbage and will never be an elite team….how the hell you can only win by feedin off the home
Kingbyrd
April 24th, 2010
9:25 pm
I have no faith in this team when it come to playing with the big boys. The deer will take us to 7 and an the magicians will finish us of in 5.
Real Talk
April 24th, 2010
9:25 pm
I am not buying tickets to game 5 which could have been avoided
S Uga Fan
April 24th, 2010
9:26 pm
I am waiting to see if MB has the nerve to blame the coach in his article! Surely he saw the same game we just did!! Let’s see!!!
ATL embarassment
April 24th, 2010
9:26 pm
Maybe performances like this are why the Atlanta Spirit haven’t given Woodson a new contract. A lot of coaching is motivation and the Hawks clearly weren’t motiviated in this game. This isn’t a Wednesday night game in December. This is the playoffs!
houstondawg
April 24th, 2010
9:26 pm
Its preparation by the coaching staff, you can even see no emotion from the coaching staff.
Players feed off their coach and game plan. Mike Woodson is a mediocre coach. Good enough to get by, but to take this team to the next level, I seriously doubt it. Alot of talent on the Hawks, bad coaching, Van Gundy would be a great replacement for this team, way better coach than Woodson.
jcwfalcon
April 24th, 2010
9:27 pm
Real Talk- I feel your pain, but it isnt THAT big of an embarrassment. I am lazy and have watched a lot of almost every NBA playoff game this year. 3 out of every 4 games has been a blowout. My point is no one will really care, the article will say “Bucks come back in series to take game 3 convincing and is still down 2-1 in the series- Game 4 Monday.” and thats all. Plus no one really sees the Hawks as title contenders, so a major failure isnt a big deal.
Harpie
April 24th, 2010
9:27 pm
DISGUSTING!!!!!! AND – WOODSON IS AN IDIOT!!!!!!!
j
April 24th, 2010
9:27 pm
they need to throw this game away, learn from it, and take care of business in game 4 … nothing to do in Milwaukee, GREAT, mentally prepare yourself for Game 4 … no excuses
jcwfalcon
April 24th, 2010
9:30 pm
S UGA fan, sadly I dont think the time for a nice Bradley piece that calls out Woody or even the team is now. The team plays in Milwaukee on Monday. They probably wont read the paper, and barely gloss over ajc.com (if at all) between tonight and Monday. If you want to write something to get their attention, IMHO, you do it so that will be what they see on in the paper the day they get back to the airport from Milwaukee. Thats when they will probably be interested and receptive to the local pulse for their performance while they were away.
J-Smoove
April 24th, 2010
9:31 pm
Is this the FIFA World Cup??? What are the Milwaukee fans and Bogut chanting that stupid “olay” cheer for??? Hawks will bounce back in game 4 and end it in the ATL in game 5. Bring on “Superman” and the Magic. Even the Cavs and Lakers lost game 3 on the road…
Harpie
April 24th, 2010
9:31 pm
After watching the Braves, and then the Hawks, today, I am sick to my stomach.
j
April 24th, 2010
9:32 pm
i’m not taking part in a boycott of my team though … these teams are in the playoffs for a reason, and that’s exactly what happens when you don’t credit any team you go up against. The hawks will learn from this tonight, trust me … Game 5 should be the game that finishes off the Bucks
SAL
April 24th, 2010
9:33 pm
The Hawks cannot win big games on the road. It’s as simple as that. Thank God we have home court advantage in this round!