Atlanta Hawks
Georgia Sports Heart Break
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
I had a business associate call me from San Diego this week offering his condolences on the epic fourth quarter meltdown of the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl 51.
He asked me what happened, and I said you would have to live in Georgia and follow college and pro sports in this state to understand.
Natives could see this entire thing unfolding right before our eyes, and yet we knew it was coming and felt powerless because that is how we have been conditioned living in this state and following Georgia based sports teams.
Here are the numerous examples of classic Atlanta choke jobs:
January 4th, 1981: The 12-4 Atlanta Falcons led the Dallas Cowboys 27-17 with 6:37 left to play in the NFC Playoffs. The Cowboys rally and beat the Falcons 30-27. The 1980 Falcons were a good enough team to win the Super Bowl. The loss to the Cowboys killed momentum for the franchise as they only had one more winning season the rest of the 1980’s. It had to come from the hated Dallas Cowboys.
1982 Atlanta Braves: The 82 Braves started the season with 13 straight wins and in late July had a 9 game division lead over the Dodgers. Then the Braves proceeded to lose 19 of the next 21 games and backed into the playoffs after losing to the Padres on the final day of the season as Joe Morgan hit a homerun to lift the Giants over the Dodgers to give the Braves the NL West title. The Braves then proceeded to get swept by the Cardinals in the NL championship series. Do you see a trend starting to develop?
1996 Atlanta Braves: Up 2-0 in the World Series against the Yankees after winning first two games in Yankee Stadium. The Braves drop 4 straight to choke in classic Atlanta fashion. I am not even going to mention Mark Wohlers. Just throw a dang fastball.
1998 Atlanta Braves: This team won 106 games and go up 2-0 on the Padres in the NL Championship series and then lose 4 straight. The 97, 99, 02, and 03 Braves all won 100 games and choked in the playoffs.
2015 Atlanta Hawks: The Hawks won 60 games and were the top seed in the Eastern Conference. Get to the Eastern Conference Finals and get swept 4-0 by the Cavs. Hawks had some good teams in the 80’s that folded like a dove in a cornfield on a Saturday hunt.
Super Bowl 51: The one we’ll never forget. Beat the crap out of Seattle and Green Bay and roll into the Super Bowl clicking on all cylinders and for 43 minutes beat the absolute crap out of the New England Patriots. Leading 28-3 the wheels completely fall off. The 25-point lead evaporates and the Falcons lose in overtime on the biggest sports stage ever, and now will it will be remembered as the biggest meltdown in sports history.
If you are a follower of any major sport in the state of Georgia you know disappointment well. Dawg fans you know disappointment as The University of Florida owns you in all three major men’s sports Football, Baseball, and Basketball.
Atlanta pro sports has only one World Title the 1995 Braves, and decades of heartbreak.
I’ll leave you with this a long time avid Atlanta pro sports fan told me this joke on Tuesday. When I die I want 2 Falcons, 2 Braves, and 2 Hawks fans to be my pallbearers so they can let me down one last time.
Cheer up the Braves are about to report to Spring Training. I know that brings comfort Atlanta sports fans.
The Hard-A-Way
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
On a night early in February, a player for the Atlanta Hawks scored a career high 33 points in a game against the Houston Rockets.
That’s impressive enough as it is, but consider this as well: 23 of those points came in the fourth quarter, and helped Atlanta erase a 20 point deficit to secure a come from behind win. Now that’s the kind of game that makes people take notice. Tim Hardaway Jr. turned some heads earlier this month.
It was a kind of breakout game, though in reality it wasn’t so surprising to anyone who has been paying attention to the Hawks this season. Hardaway has been so crucial for Atlanta throughout this campaign.
He has managed to be a consistent force on a team that has struggled to stay consistent as a unit. He did have his struggles in December, but if slumps truly are contagious then he merely caught what every other player on the team had that month. Excusing that outlier, Hardaway has improved across the board.
The Hawks have kept Hardaway’s usage static for the most part the entire season and his efficiency has gone up along with his shooting numbers. He currently has the best offensive rating on the team for anyone who receives regular playing time. He is currently second on the team in overall net rating.
The real testament to his usefulness, however, comes from looking at the team stats with and without him. When Hardaway is in the game, the Hawks have outscored their opponents by 143 points; when he’s off the court, Atlanta has been outscored by 171 points.
It’s a compelling story of a player finally leveling out. Hardaway’s tenure with Atlanta has been an up and down one, to say the least. In fact, no one on the roster has had the kind of career turbulence that Hardaway has experienced as a Hawk
Atlanta famously (infamously?) acquired Hardaway in a three-team trade that cost them their first round pick at the 2015 NBA Draft. The deal brought jeers from across the internet and outrage from the Hawks fanbase. That only escalated when Hardaway opened the 2016 season on the inactive list and eventually found himself playing in the D-League.
He deserves a lot of credit for shutting out the noise and putting his head down and going to work on his game. The talent has always been there for Hardaway but he needed to learn that there was much more to the game than accumulating numbers.
Hardaway earned a spot in the rotation during the second half of 2016 although a groin injury in the final regular season game pretty much prevented him from having any impact in the playoffs. This season got off to a rocky start when he opened the preseason with a 3 for 30 shooting stretch. However, he battled through that and has seen his role continue to grow as the season progressed.
The trade can still be debated especially when you factor in that Hardaway will hit restricted free agency this summer while a draft pick would be under team control for a couple more seasons. Still, credit Hardaway for making the situation into where it is a debate worth having.
His breakout this season may be comparable to winning the lottery for Hardaway this summer. The NBA has placed a premium on wing players and Hardaway will likely be looking at a significant raise.
Due to his restricted status, the Hawks will have the ability to match any offer that Hardaway receives from another team. Whether it is with Atlanta or another team, Hardaway has earned it.
2017 Predictions
By: Drayton Hogarth
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
2016 was quite an interesting year for everyone, and that includes the sports world.
Many of our local teams experienced ups and downs and surprises of all kind. Now that we have arrived to the New Year of 2017, it is time to make some predictions for our area teams as we march forward throughout the coming months.
The Atlanta Falcons will finish this 2016-17 season with a playoff run. There are not many teams entering the playoffs playing at a higher level right now.
MVP candidate Matt Ryan has a plethora of offensive weapons he can utilize, as well as a solid line to protect him. In fact, it is a team that is good enough to make it to the Super Bowl, but that is where the dream will end as the Falcons will come up short against the New England Patriots in a shootout.
During the offseason, the Falcons will pick up another pass rusher in the draft to complement Vic Beasley. Plus, add in a couple more quality free agent signings, and the Falcons will make another Super Bowl run.
In Athens, Coach Kirby Smart will bring in the best recruiting class in Georgia history. Even better, the on the field product will be much improved as well, as the talent in the program is upgraded to levels that Bulldog fans have hoped for the last half decade or so.
Georgia will finally win the SEC East and challenge for the college football playoff. It’s gonna be the beginning of a fun ride, Georgia fans. Be scared, college football, the sleeping giant has awoken.
Coach Paul Johnson will be expected to challenge for the ACC title in 2017, but same as recent history, the Jackets will not be able to live up to the lofty expectations.
Johnson and his Yellow Jackets seem to do much better when the perception is that they will struggle. When people underestimate Tech, that is when they are at their most dangerous.
Georgia Tech fans will grow weary of this roller coaster ride and will make a surprise move of letting the long-time coach take his triple option offense elsewhere. Look for the Jackets to make a run at current Colorado State head coach, and former Georgia Bulldog, Mike Bobo as their next coach in 2018.
Tyson Summers will get the Georgia Southern Eagles back to the upper level of the Sun Belt. Look for the Eagles to go 10-4 with a loss in the Sun Belt title game, but win their bowl game.
Brand new Suntrust Stadium will see the Atlanta Braves continue to improve and be more like the competitive team that we saw finish the 2016 season. Having Freddie Freeman, Dansby Swanson, and Matt Kemp in the lineup for a full season will allow the Braves to be the best offensive lineup in the National League.
It will be the pitching that will prevent the Braves from making the post season. Look for the Braves to get to .500 or better in the coming season, with prospects for a strong run in 2018.
The Atlanta Hawks will make a deep run in the NBA playoffs and will finally beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, but only three times. Thus, they will lose in seven games to Lebron James and the Cavs—who will lose to the Golden State Warriors.
On the hardwood in Athens, the Georgia Bulldogs will either win two games in the NCAA tournament, or they will be replacing Mark Fox as the head coach of the hoop Dawgs. Oh, and there will be a new athletic director making that decision at the University of Georgia as well.
Look for Josh Pastner to get the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the NIT and continue to restore the Jackets to respectability in the college basketball world.
Well, that should do it for most of my predictions for the upcoming year. Go ahead and save this article to refer back to, and if I get even half of these correct, you can thank me later, maybe in 2018. Happy New Year everyone!
Reconstructed Hawks
By: Drayton Hogarth
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
After making a big splash in the NBA free agency market this past offseason with the signing of Dwight Howard, the Atlanta Hawks entered the season with championship aspirations, and to that affect the Hawks started the season very well, including wins over the defending world champion Cleveland Cavaliers.
Unfortunately, the team could not sustain that level of play and have fallen off of that pace of play. The good news is this team should continue to get better as the season goes along.
There are three reasons for that, team chemistry will improve the more this roster plays together, the players’ willingness to adjust is already in place, as well as the roster is setup more for the playoffs than the regular season.
With the major shakeup of the roster during the offseason, it was very likely that the team would have its’ share of struggles in becoming more and more acclimated with each other’s playing style.
The Hawks had grown stagnant with Jeff Teague and Al Horford as the leaders of the franchise. Both are solid NBA players, but neither could get the team to that next level in the NBA playoffs. Both players tended to disappear the bigger the playoff matchup; as witnessed by Horford being non-existent rebounding the basketball against the Cavs and Teague constantly looking to pass when the game was on the line.
Thus, the Hawks decided to shakeup their roster and go with the younger, but more athletic point guard in, Dennis Schröder. Additionally, the aforementioned Dwight Howard was brought in to provide a significant upgrade in rebounding and shot blocking for the Hawks.
Instead of the Hawks’ defense looking like a doughnut (get it? nothing in the middle). Now, with an enforcer in the paint the Hawks now can overplay on the wings, play passing lanes and get out into the open floor for easy buckets.
This Hawks team is turning into just that, a team. When Atlanta hit a losing streak, Coach Budenholzer went to a couple of his veterans in Kyle Korver and Thabo Sefolosha and informed them that he was making an adjustment to the playing rotation.
Instead of starting the sharp shooting Korver, Sefolosha would now be the starter and allow Korver to bring his three-point prowess off the bench. Instead of causing a team disruption, Korver and Sefolosha worked it out for the betterment of the team and Atlanta has a winning record since the move was made.
Wins over the Toronto Raptors and Oklahoma City Thunder are included, and even the losses have all been extremely competitive, so it appears that the lineup change will continue.
The Hawks have been much improved under Coach Budenholzer, now entering his fourth season as the head coach in Atlanta. Still, coming up short in the NBA playoffs has been the frustrating result of each season.
However, the moves made this offseason were made with an eye toward being more athletic and tougher for the postseason. Dwight Howard will provide the bulk of that, and of course Schröder will bring more speed and on ball defense, but the draft should make a big difference for this Hawks team come the playoffs.
Taurean Prince and DeAndre Bembry were both first round selections, and bring a great combination of size and athleticism to the forward position. It is no secret that Cleveland and Lebron have been the final obstacle in the Hawks path the last two seasons, as well as most of the NBA, but these two kids can bring some youthful exuberance, speed and size to keep up with the best athlete in the NBA; as well as twelve more fouls to take out on Lebron.
Sometimes a team has to take a step back before they can take two steps forward, and that is exactly what the Hawks need to happen. Now this team just needs to gel together and will have a legitimate shot to make a big move come this playoff season.
Atlanta Hawks To Fly Over Hump?
By: Drayton Hogarth
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Although we are smack dab in the middle of the football season, the NBA has tipped off its 2016-2017 season, and the Atlanta Hawks will do the same with a totally new look with the free agent signings of Dwight Howard and Kent Bazemore.
