AJC: Bucks at Atlanta Hawks: Game 1

[Hawksquawk]

Finally, it’s time. Now that I’ve partially recovered from the emotional trauma of stupidly getting my Blackberry wet yesterday and quietly weeping as I drifted into a fitful sleep . . . I’m ready. (Advice: Backup your smartphone data. Now.)

Got on The Google to find as much Hawks stuff as I could:

ESPN.com’s John Hollinger is picking the Hawks in 5, based in part on this research:

It turns out that in the first round, when the home-court team has won the regular-season series, it also has won the playoff series 41 straight times.

I repeat: 41 straight. Forty-one and oh.

The last team to defy the rule was the 1997-98 San Antonio Spurs, who lost the season series to Phoenix 3-1 but topped the Suns in a 4 versus 5 series in the playoffs; each team had won 56 games that season. It happened three other times in the 1990s, so the odds are slightly better than the daunting 41-0 figure indicates, but in the big picture we’re looking at a success rate of about 5 percent.

Brett …

View the full article