Hawks are grounded: Elimianiton is on the brink after loss to Bucks

I was at the Hawks game last night and had to say that it was the most disappointing loss that I have ever seen up close and personal. This was the blog that I did for Score Atlanta, but it was never posted. Don't know why, but here it is anyway.


In order for the Hawks to take a 3-2 lead in the series against Milwaukee Bucks several things had to happen. They had to play with defensive intensity, have players such as Marvin Williams step up their game and play smart for 48 minutes.

The defense was strong, holding the Bucks to 40 percent from the floor. Williams played one of his best games of the year, scoring 22 points, four rebounds and two block shots. But the one thing that the Hawks did not do is play smart for 48 minutes, especially in the fourth quarter and that is what cause the Hawks to lose 91-87 and are now down 3-2 in the series.

“It’s a tough loss, but it’s still a seven game series,” said Hawks head coach Mike Woodson. “We got to see what we’re made of. Our backs are against the wall."

The Hawks were up as much as 10 at the start of the fourth quarter, but that is when the fallout began. Joe Johnson, who only scored 13 points, committed four personal fouls in four minutes and fouls out of the game with more than two minutes left in the game.

“We depend on him coming down the stretch,” Woodson added. “He wasn’t there tonight and that’s no excuse. Other guys on this team can make plays and we just did not get it done tonight.”

As a result of Johnson out, the Bucks took advantage as Erasn Ilyasova hit a turnaround jump shot to give the Bucks the 83-82 lead. And after a Al Horford missed jump shot, the Bucks sealed the deal with a Mike Delfino three-point shot to give the Bucks the 86-82 lead with 1:16 left.

“These guys have been through a lot,” Bucks head coach Scott Skiles said. “They just keep going on.”

This loss is disappointing just for the fact that the Hawks came out strong in the third quarter, outscoring the Bucks 23-18. But throughout the game the Hawks made bad shooting decisions and just like in Games 3 and 4, there was no offensive slow.

“We really weren’t getting any good looks,” Horford said who led all scorers with 25 points and 11 rebounds. “We kind of got exposed on the offensive end.”
They were also exposed on the defensive end at the beginning of the game as Bucks rookie Brandon Jennings went off with 14 points in the first quarter. He ended the night with 25 points.

“We executed well at the end of the game and hit some big free throws,” Jennings said. “You have to just have to keep fighting.

So now the Hawks backs are against are against the wall and they now have to go back the Bradley Center in Milwaukee on Friday to play Game 6. And everyone knows, including the Hawks, that they have only won one playoff game on the road since
2008.

What do they need to do? For one thing Josh Smith has to get his offensive game going as he scored only seven points. Also, the new Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford has to be more effective from the floor, as he scored 11 points on 4 of 18 shooting. There was no doubt that the Hawks players were more than disappointed after the contest but Horford and the rest of the crew are confident that they can force a Game 7.

“We’re going to go win,” said Horford. “No question about it. That’s the bottom line. We have to bring it back to Atlanta.

NFL Draft 2010 Day 1 Thoughts

I wanted to take this time to talk about the first day of the 2010 NFL Draft because it was interesting one to say the least. The beginning had no surprise with Sam Bradford, Ndamukong Suh and Gerald McCoy being picked first. In fact, there were no real surprises coming out of the first day with the exception of Tim Tebow being picked but I’ll get to that soon enough. But just like any event, there is the good, the bad and the ugly.

The good has to go to the Detroit Lions as they got their quarterback of the future with Sam Bradford and they traded up to the 30th pick to nab Jahvid Best. They are not going to make the playoffs this year but they are headedin the right direction.

The bad has to Jacksonville Jaguars for their draft pick Tyson Alualu, defensive tackle out of Cal. I don’t have a problem with Alualu because I think he will be a fine player. It’s that Jacksonville is on the verge of losing the franchise and they could have got fans in the seats if they drafted Tim Tebow. I know that Tebow is not worthy of a first-round pick let alone a top 10 pick, but this team needs a spark and Tebow would have brought that to his hometown.

And speaking of quarterbacks, the ugly has to go to Colt McCoy and Jimmy Clausen who did not get picked on Day 1. It doesn’t seem like a big deal but when you a team passes on you and picks Tebow instead, that hurts just a little.

Other things I took from Day 1 is that this one of the deeper draft picks in recent memory, so teams that have multiple second and third round draft picks can really make some noise.... I can’t believe Jonathan Dwyer is still on the board because I think there is only one running back better than him and that’s C.J. Spiller. ... I like Sean Witherspoon and I think he will be a great addition to a growing Falcons defense. I talk about him more in my next blog when I analyze all the Falcons picks. ... And finally, having the Round 1 of the draft on prime time was a good idea and I think the NFL should stick to it.

Thoughts on the Atlanta pro scene

Okay. It’s been a while since I blogged about the comings and goings in Atlanta sports. In fact, it was the beginning of the 2010 year when I posted my last blog, covering the Chick-fil-A Bowl. So I have a lot on my mind on the state of the all the sports teams in the area. Let’s dive right in.

If you don’t already know, I’m a huge Falcons fan and I have been covering the Falcons for Score Atlanta since 2006. I will get to the Falcons later but I want to start with the Braves because I think this team has a chance to be special this year. I was at the game as a fan on Wednesday and I was amazed how many people showed for the game. It wasn’t a sellout, but there was close to 40,000 fans, which was amazing considering the fact that it was a Wednesday night. The Bravos won in dramatic fashion with Chipper Jones hitting the go ahead two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning. I think that if the offense can produce better than what they did last year, this team will make the postseason. In a later blog I will talk about Jason Heyward and how important he is to the big leagues and not just the Braves.


The Hawks will make their third consecutive trip to the playoffs, but in opinion the playoffs start now with four games left in the regular season. They are tied with Boston for the No. 3 seed but the Celtics have the tie breaker advantage because they are the leaders of their division. The Hawks are one of the best home teams in the NBA with a 32-7 record. But road win have been tough to come by with a 17-22 record. No matter who they play in the first round, they should win because they are better than Milwaukee or Miami. The question is can they beat an Orlando or Cleveland team in the second round and get the monkey off their back?

Now on to the Falcons who are getting ready for the NFL Draft which takes place on April 22. I know that the Falcons will be more flexible in this year’s draft and what I mean by that is they will not focus on one side of the football. They an equal amount of offensive and defensive players because they have needs on both sides of the ball. That being said, I think they should draft either Brandon Graham or Sean Weatherspoon but with them picking at No. 19, both could be gone at that time. But I trust Thomas Dimitroff more than he knows so whoever the Falcons pick will make an impact right away.

Speaking of making an impact, I do want to mention atlantafalcons.com is looking for the new face of their site as the Taco Mac Insider contest is well underway. The three finalists are Niki Noto, Britton Lynn and Rebecca Hill and all three are extremely talented and it will be a tough decision. If I had to choose, I would have to go with Rebecca because she knows the team due to her working with the franchise as an intern last year and she is also a Falcons fan. But Niki and Britton have experience in journalism and have done a great job so far. Good luck to all three girls for making it this far.


That’s all for now. I will do a better job posting more blogs as I have a lot of stuff on my mind. I will be at the G-Day game tomorrow so I will have a full report on that and I have my thoughts on Tiger Woods and Mistress No. 11 Joslyn James so you don’t want to miss that. Have a good weekend everybody.