The Hawks really feel they CAN WIN This Series

HAWKS WIN AGAIN! Series tied 2-2, History in the Making?

player of the game: JOE JOHNSON - 35 pts 6 ast 14/24 fGs 2/6 3 pts



JOSH SMITH - 28 pts 6 rebs 7 BLOCKS 8/16 FGs 12/13 FTs

This is Huge. Bigger than 2007 Dallas Mavericks (67-15) getting beat by Golden State Warriors (42-40) because this team is the 'least' of all 'leastern conference' teams. FOOLS! The Hawks aren't just a group of young guys with potential, these are induvidually talented men and they play well as a team on the court. We have our ALL-STAR duo JOE JOHNSON and JOSH SMITH, and although he didn't make the all-star team this year, he SURELY will as he leads the league in blocks for many years to come.

Can we say nobody, i say, NOBODY expected this situation to occur? The Hawks had been thrashed in Boston by 23 and 19 points, respectively, then came to Phillips Arena and won by 9 and 5 points, even MORE respectively. DO PEOPLE SEE AND REALIZE HOW THEY WON GAME 4? The game 3 we won was a statement, a glory road to take off the 'roadkill' label, the 'lowly' hawks perception, and now game 4 will take us off the disrespected highway, the 'underrated' label, and now people are forced to take another look at this team, the passion, skill, and opportunity these young guys are in.

An interesting observation: Now who got the better of the suns/hawks trade?

boris diaw - 05-06 most improved player award (in the absense of Amare Stoudemire, the same year nash got his second MVP award when Kobe should have got his first)

joe johnson - 2-time all-star, avg. 22.0 ppg 5 ast shoot 43% Fgs and 40% 3pts while leading his team to the biggest playoff upset of all time.

the two best records in the NBA this year, the Boston Celtics 66-16 and the Detriot Pistons 59-23 are both tied with the worst records in the playoffs owned by the Philly Sixers 40-42 and the Atlanta Hawks (the worst winning pct in playoffs of all time) 37-45

Boston Celtics 66-16 vs Atlanta Hawks 37-45 - -- -- 2-2 tied
Detroit Pistons 59-23 vs Philly Sixers 40-42 ----- 2-2 tied

ZAZA PACHULIA! ZAZA PACHULIA! ZAZA PACHULIA! ZAZA PACHULIA!

fNow, I will give this man some respect. Understand that we, the fans, have HATED this player since he came to our team, for many and no reasons. It wasn't his fault his 3rd year from the country of Georgia he was forced to start for the Hawks and was blamed for our 13-69 record that year. But that player has risen from the ashes, he went through the storm and he experienced his glory moment in the NBA.



We in da house! GO HAWKS! ATL STAND UP!

HAWKS WIN AGAIN! the could be the biggest upset in NBA History...series 2-2

player of the game: JOE JOHNSON -

4/26 ATLANTA HAWKS (37-45) BEAT the Boston Celtics (66-16) in GAME 3 of ROUND 1 of the Eastern Conference Playoffs!!

Player of the Game : Josh SMITH 27 pts 9 reb 6 ast 1 blk

runner-up: Al HORFORD 17 pts 14 rbs 6 ast

Joe Johnson 23 pts 7 rbs 6 ast

ATLANTA (AP) -- Led by high-flying Josh Smith, the Atlanta Hawks finally showed they can beat the Boston Celtics.

Good timing.Smith scored 27 points grabbed 9 rebounds with 6 assists -- and give him a perfect 10 in his own personal dunking contest -- to lead the Hawks to a 102-93 victory Saturday night that breathed life into their long-shot playoff hopes, cutting Boston's lead in the opening-round series to 2-1.

Atlanta earned its first playoff win since May 16, 1999, a Game 5 clincher over the Detroit Pistons. The Hawks were swept by New York in the next round, then spent nine long years trying to get back to the postseason.

After getting blown out twice in Boston, Smith and the Hawks seemed to take out all their frustrations on a 66-win Celtics team that finished 29 games ahead of eighth-seeded Atlanta during the regular season. When the buzzer sounded, streamers fell from the ceiling of Philips Arena as if the home team had just won a championship.

The Hawks, who went 37-45 during the regular season, are still huge underdogs. But for one night at least, Smith had the rim rockin' and the sellout crowd of 19,725 on its feet.Smith, one of the NBA's most athletic players, showed it off with five dunks -- none better than the last one. After a Boston turnover, Joe Johnson took off down the right side of the court and passed off to Smith breaking down the other wing. He took off a good 10 feet from the basket and slammed it through over Ray Allen.With the crowd still buzzing over that one, Smith pulled up behind the arc and hit a 3-pointer that gave the Hawks a 94-79 lead with just under 7 minutes left. He backpedaled all the way down the court, then slapped hands with the playoff-starved Atlanta fans on the baseline.Johnson added 23 points and Mike Bibby -- who riled up the Boston faithful with his comments about "fair-weather" fans -- bounced back from two dismal games by doling out eight assists.

Showing much better ball movement and a willingness to run with the Celtics, the Hawks improved from 10 assists in Game 2 to 28 on Saturday.Smith, Johnson and rookie Al Horford all had six assists.Kevin Garnett led Boston with 32 points, but the NBA's youngest playoff team had him kneeling over, looking totally exhausted, by the end of the game.

The Celtics had manhandled Atlanta all year, beating the Hawks three times during the regular season -- none of the games was closer than 10 points -- then routing them twice in Boston by an average margin of 21 points to start this series.With everyone thinking sweep, the Hawks made sure the series will at least get back to Boston for a fifth game. They'll try to even it up in Game 4 Monday night at Philips Arena.Horford, a rookie who knows a thing or two about winning from his two straight national championships at Florida, tried to fire up his teammates by showing them a video of Muhammad Ali's stunning win over George Foreman in 1974's "Rumble in the Jungle."This upset was hardly of that magnitude, but it did give the Hawks a glimmer of hope in a series that already looked to be over.

Horford even showed a bit of contempt for the big, bad Celtics after hitting a clinching jumper with 22 seconds remaining. He got right in Paul Pierce's face, prompting the Boston star to walk toward the Atlanta bench, jawing and flashing hand gestures before he was yanked back.Horford danced away and kept right on talking.

source - http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=280426001

Bibby, Hawks Avenge Home Loss in Philly

Revenge was a dish best served by veteran Hawks point guard Mike Bibby on Saturday night.

Roughly 24 hours after suffering through one of his worst shooting nights of the season in a home loss to Philadelphia, Bibby helped the Hawks return the favor by draining two huge shots in the final minutes to lift the Hawks to a crucial 92-85 victory over the 76ers at Wachovia Center
Bibby acknowledged that if not for his poor shooting Friday night, he went 1-for-11 in that loss, the Hawks might have been celebrating back-to-back wins over the 76ers.

"I'm the type of person you have to take the good with the bad," Bibby said after the Hawks' (36-41) sixth win in their past seven games. "People with regular jobs don't have perfect days every day. I'm no different. And this is an up-and-down job for every guy in this locker room."

The good came late Saturday, as Bibby was just 2-for-11 from the floor when he hit the first of his two game-changing shots.

The first was a 3-pointer with 2:57 to play that extended the Hawks' lead to 10 points (88-78) and squash a 76ers run that began six minutes earlier.

The second was a pull-up jumper in the lane with 34.4 seconds to play that finished off the 76ers, who clinched their playoff spot with Friday's win.

"I don't care if he's 0-for-15," Josh Smith said. "he's a shooter, and we trust him. In crunch situations, I want to him have that same confidence that he always does. And he gave it to us with those two shots that helped finish this game."

Bibby got an earful from both Hawks coach Mike Woodson and his backcourt mate, captain and All-Star Joe Johnson. Both of them kept reminding Bibby not to let up, no matter how many shots he missed.

"Mike kept telling me he was going to knock one of those shots down," Johnson said after leading the Hawks with 22 points, eight rebounds and six assists. "And I told him I was going to keep passing it to him until he did. He's been big for us all year [since coming over in a trade deadline deal with Sacramento], so there's no reason for us to go away from him now."

Woodson, who has guided the Hawks to the franchise's best win total in a decade, even called Bibby over during timeouts in the second half to prod him into shooting the ball again.
"I just kept telling him to shoot the ball," Woodson said. "Don't stop shooting the ball. And I hollered at him at one point and told him, 'you're going to make one of these in a minute.' And he came back and sank that 3-pointer and then the jumper to seal the deal."
The Hawks' magic number to clinch a playoff spot is three.
With road games coming up at Indiana [Tuesday] and New York [Friday], their opportunity is in their hands.

"These guys are hungry, man," Woodson said of his team. "They feel that urgency like we all do. ... We're in a great position to do something that a young team has not done in a long time in our league. And that's what we're pushing for."

source - By SEKOU SMITHThe Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionPublished on: 04/06/08
http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports/hawks/stories/2008/04/05/hawks_0406.html