I’ll admit it. I just jumped on the Atlanta Hawks bandwagon. Even if they can’t win another game against the Celtics I was impressed enough with the way they played in games 3 and 4 to jump aboard. Part of the reason is that my team, the Dallas Mavericks, is already disappointingly finished again.

Grit, determination, resolve. Maybe the best way to describe the Hawks attitude was seeing Zaza Pachulia get in Kevin Garnett’s face after an elbow from the NBA Allstar. The Celtics may be the best team in the East, but not this week. Definitely not the best team in the A-T-L! (when was the last time you could say that with confidence?)

I’ll be realistic. Joe Johnson needs to continue to be superhuman. Just like Dwayne Wade was vs Dallas in the 2007 finals, just like Baron Davis was vs Dallas in last year’s first round series, and just like Chris Paul was vs Dallas in this year’s first round. (hmmm, is there a pattern here?) Too bad the Hawks couldn’t play the Mavericks in the first round.

Some good home town reading from the AJC.com to get pumped for tonight’s game: (more…)