The Atlanta Hawks have advanced to the Eastern Conference finals. How I’ve waited to write this statement! The Hawks moved to Atlanta in 1968. Entering Friday’s game six vs Washington, they had never gotten past the second round of the playoffs. Note my use of the phrase had never. At roughly 10:00pm on May 15, 2015, the Hawks laid to rest nearly 50 years worth of demons. Of course, the exorcism didn’t come easily.
After looking forward to game six all day on Thursday, I ended up arriving late to the party on Friday. Circumstances dictated that I remain at work until nearly 7pm, which resulted in my listening to most of the first quarter of the game on the radio in my car. Of course sometimes a curse can become a blessing, and I spent a little quality time with the long time voice of the Hawks, Steve Holman, who nevers fails to entertain.
I made it home just in time to witness an early lead evaporate. The Wizards, who trailed by seven points midway through the period, ended up leading by one at the end of the first quarter. I immediately began to slip into “here we go again” mode, but forced myself to remain upbeat as the second quarter got underway.
Toward the end of the first half, Paul Millsap took over. Using a variety of post moves and jump shots, he led the Hawks back into the lead. At the half Atlanta led by six points, largely due to Millsap’s fifteen points.
During halftime, my wife Dena returned from a trip to Taco Bell with Mexican pizzas, tacos, a burrito, and some nachos. I know, it souds like a lot. But due to my deeply held belief that is it very wrong to throw food away (thanks Sesame Street!), I polished off every last scrap just in time to settle in for the second half.
After an up and down third quarter, the Hawks led by eight points. In the fourth quarter, I began texting with my brother Matt after every significant play. Here are a few of the texts I sent during this most stressful of periods, which I feel will do a better job of expressing my feelings than anything else:
-Regarding Pero Antic, to me the Hawks most polarizing player:
“Keep it going, and keep Pero on the bench where he belongs”
“Antic is the kiss of death. Get him out of there!”
-During Washington’s comeback from a ten point defecit:
“Blowing it.”
“Blown.”
“No lead is un-blowable.”
-After a pair of horrible foul calls against Jeff Teague:
“They’re cheating for Washington.”
“The refs are ridiculous!”
-During the last few minutes, as the lead changed hands a number of times:
“For the love of God, please!”
“Gotta be kidding me!”
“I can’t take this.”
-After Al Horford missed a free throw in a 94-91 game to give the Wizards one last chance:
“No chance he was going to make both.”
“It always comes down to this. Keep Paul Pierce out of there.”
That’s right. Paul Pierce. Paul F*****g Pierce. Nearly every game in the Hawks-Wizards series had come down to Pierce with the ball and a chance to either win the game or tie it. With six seconds to play, Washington prepared to inbound the ball. Surely, I thought, the Hawks would do whatever it took to deny him the ball.
The inbound pass went to John Wall (whose broken hand I’d become supremely tired of hearing about by then). Wall was double-teamed, and it looked like the clock might run out. But with a couple of seconds left, he was able to lob a pass to Pierce. Then this happened.
It seemed that Pierce had done it to us yet again. But if you watched the entire video clip, you’ll know what happened next. If you didn’t, here are a few more texts which will tell the story:
“That was still in his hand!”
“This should not count!!!”
“Yes!!!!!!”
Yep, for once the refs made a call in our favor. The fact that it was the correct call in no way guaranteed that they would make it. But in this case they did. Pierce’s miracle shot was waved off and the Atlanta Hawks advanced to the conference finals. As happy as I was, I felt even better for Holman, who’s been through so many tough seasons. Listen to his call of the final moments of the game here.
In the aftermath of the Hawks win, I’d like to call attention to a man who has become my favorite member of the team over the last few weeks: Demarre Carroll. In a game where Kyle Korver was held to just two points, and the Hawks got just 14 combined points from the bench, Carroll led the way with 25 points and 10 rebounds. It was a performance that will go down as one of the best in Atlanta postseason history.
That wraps it up for now. I’ll be back in the coming days with more on the Hawks, as well as a Braves check in and the finale of my top 20 Atlanta sports stars list. As always, keep the faith Atlanta! Conference finals here we come!
Edge of the Abyss: Pro Sports in the ATL 