Fear the Hawks? Maybe this time

[Cobb]

ATLANTA -- On to the next round, and on to the most pertinent question regarding the Atlanta Hawks: How relevant will their postseason flameouts from 2008 (blown out in Game 7 in Boston) and 2009 (swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers) be in 2010?

 

Josh Smith, why don't you tackle that one:

 

"Irrelevant. We've got Jamal [Crawford]. We're healthy, the depth is there, and we don't have to rely solely on the starters to get the job done."

 

That is the state of the Hawks in a nutshell, and Exhibit A to back up Smith's point was Sunday's box score from Atlanta's 95-74 dismantling of the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 7, showing a team-high 22 points from the player Smith referenced: Crawford, the newly minted Sixth Man of the Year.

 

But there's more to the Hawks that makes them a different team from the one we've grown accustomed to seeing on the wrong end of a pulverization in the past two postseasons.

 

Exhibit B also comes from the box score, the 16 points and 15 rebounds posted by the guy a lot of people may have forgotten was chosen to the Eastern Conference All-Star team.

 

A question: Would you rather have a center averaging 15.6 points and 9.9 rebounds, shooting 56 percent from the field and 74 percent from the line? Or would you take his counterpart, a guy with a flashier nickname but with averages of just 9.8 points, 9.3 rebounds and 5.5 fouls, not to mention his 48 percent field goal percentage and his 38 percent success rate from the line?

 

If you chose the former over the latter, you just selected Al Horford over Dwight Howard.

Full Article

 

Really interesting article. Check it out!