Hoopsworld article... Hawks Playoffs...

[T21]

Here's the Hoopsworld article written by Mike Moreau...

"As the playoffs loom on the horizon, and teams are jockeying for positioning and seedings, most of the talk is about teams at the top who can win it all and teams at the bottom trying to get in. That's where all of the conversation tends to focus.

But, there are two teams in the middle, one in each conference, who will be dangerous at playoff time, and who will be not only a tough out, but also a threat to make a run to the conference final. And they just happened to play each other Monday night.

Eastern Conference: Atlanta Hawks

Last year, I wrote a fictional piece before the first round on how the Hawks would beat the Celtics in 7 games. It was spooky how close that came to becoming reality. Forget their recent mediocre play; having taken the champs to the brink, no one can tell them they can't contend.

Statistically, the Hawks aren't as impressive as some other teams. They are middle of the pack in about every category, but they have a swagger to them that makes them scary, and they have enough of a combination of start, scoring and interior toughness to take anyone to the brink – or send a favorite over the edge.

Joe Johnson can take over and close out a game, Mike Bibby can get hot at any time, and Josh Smith is capable of huge performances. Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia give them interior toughness, and Marvin Williams provides solid play at the other forward, with Flip Murray and Mo Evans, both playoff seasoned vets, coming off the bench.

This season, the Hawks are 3-0 against the Detroit Pistons and 2-1 against the Miami HEAT. They are 1-2 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, losing by one point on March 1st. And although they are 0-2 against the Boston Celtics, those losses were by one point and three points. No intimidation factor there.

Atlanta has not had the regular season many expected, but make no mistake about it: the Hawks can beat anybody. And keep in mind that last year, they beat the Celtics more times in a playoff series than the Lakers did".

Western Conference team picked by the author is New Orleans Hornets.

... Well, we must admit that Hawks thrive under pressure and often need a challenge to perform at their best! Just look at the make-up of our team and you'll see that this man has got the point!

We've just seen flashes of potential, streaks here and there... Hawks are not a team built for regular season, it's too boring!

But come Playoff time, things change rappidly and our true strenghts come to play especially in PO's series'!!!

I truly believe that we can make some noise this year!

[DrReality]

This is unpresidented ink. He is right that they are capable, but on any given night they can stink up things. Got to be more consistent.

[jhay610]

Atlanta has not had the regular season many expected, but make no mistake about it: the Hawks can beat anybody.

The way that reads implies that we have underachieved...Hollinger and Friends had the Hawks missing the playoffs in that ESPN preseason panel.

[Diesel]

The way that reads implies that we have underachieved...Hollinger and Friends had the Hawks missing the playoffs in that ESPN preseason panel.

On the one hand, we have underachieved. If you look at our early games, we started what 6-0? Then the injuries hit.

The point is that when all cylinders are clicking with this team we are hard to beat.

I recall that while we were still hurt and Sick, it was guys like Ex and Hots coming on the board saying "I knew that we wasn't that good... just lucky." Well, now all of that is blowing up in their face. We just beat two of the better teams in the West, one who had a 12 game streak going. Back then, I said, just wait til we get all of our pieces healthy. Well, now we have most of our pieces healthy and we're beating good teams. Just wait til the playoffs. When we come out of the first round, our momentum could take us to the finals.

[T21]

On the one hand, we have underachieved. If you look at our early games, we started what 6-0? Then the injuries hit.

The point is that when all cylinders are clicking with this team we are hard to beat.

I recall that while we were still hurt and Sick, it was guys like Ex and Hots coming on the board saying "I knew that we wasn't that good... just lucky." Well, now all of that is blowing up in their face. We just beat two of the better teams in the West, one who had a 12 game streak going. Back then, I said, just wait til we get all of our pieces healthy. Well, now we have most of our pieces healthy and we're beating good teams. Just wait til the playoffs. When we come out of the first round, our momentum could take us to the finals.

That's the whole point! If you read between the lines and truly know what kind of a ballclub the Hawks are, you can understand that there's so much more to this team than just the record, stats, etc.