Take Me Back To The Omni

This Hawks team has me reaching back. Way back. Back to the days of Dominque, Spud, Doc, Willis, and some epic battles with the Bad Boy Pistons. The old Omni. The red/yellow/white wave unis. Human highlights. Why?

• Best record in the East (tied with the defending EC champs who supposedly improved over the summer).
• Rare source of agreement between ESPN's typically divergent Marc Stein (gut/faith) and John Hollinger (stats/reason). Stein and Hollinger are like Locke and Jack a few seasons ago on Lost, at odds but sort of needing each other. And I like them both for what they bring to the table/island. And somehow they (Stein/Hollinger, not Locke/Jack) both have the Hawks ranked #2 this week.
• Cumulative and legitimate swagger. This team kicked it all off by pushing the Celtics around two seasons ago in the playoffs and have continued to parlay that swagger into experience and real-deal-ness. That kind of accumulated confidence over that much time can not and should not be discounted.
  

Weekend Roundup

Bango the Buck:
Scoring 55 points as a rookie is impressive, especially 8 games into the season. Brandon Jennings antics have just about upstaged Bango the Buck as the most exciting thing in Milwaukee, but doing it against the Warriors is about as impressive as this. I mean come on, he is using a trampoline.

Boston Celtics Countdown to 10 losses: 3
Mired in a two game losing skid to the formidable Hawks and Psycho T and the Pacers leaves RaSheed's prediction in doubt for the All-Star game let alone the entire season.

Sacramento Kings Wins: 5
Don't book that trip to Hawaii yet Spike, you might be using that money for courtside seats.

Atlanta Hawks - 'Nique or Keefe:
An 8-2 start with some really quality wins so far (POR, DEN, BOS) leaves us leaning 'Nique on this.

If the playoffs started today...Vol VI

I am excited for the NBA Playoffs and I am sure you will be too just as soon as all your Final Four teams get knocked out between today and tomorrow. Be prepared to hear chalk a lot over the next couple days...I mean a lot. So now that I've got you thinking brackets, here are some potential first round matchups, as always, if the playoffs started today.

Atlanta Hawks vs. Being Believed In
The Hawks have little to gain or lose at this point. The 4th seed is theirs. Miami is knocking on the door and they are mathematically eliminated from the 3rd spot. The Hawks have something they didn't have last year; homecourt in the first round. With that comes something else they didn't have; people believing in them. Do we have a case of the Warriors of years past where after taking the top seed to the limit, the next years are a bit disappointing because now they have loyal fans filled with local celebrities who don't care about the team but only want those camera shots coming in and out of commercial. (Did anyone count a few weeks back how many times they showed Bill Murray and Spike Lee during the Cleveland game? It was more than LeBron and that is saying something) So, with little to play for for the next 10 games, will the Hawks stay sharp? Will the Phillips Arena faithful be full of TI, Luda, Whitney and Bobby, Teddy Turner and the CNNers or will all those starving professionals dip into their rebounding portfolios for a game or two? Can they hold court as well as they did last year?


Boston Celtics vs. the rehab wing at Mass General
The list of injured Celtics (or not quite right yet post-injury) is better on paper than the list of healthy Celtics. And if it wasn't for The Truth, the injured C's might even beat the healthy C's. Rivers has already started the excuse bus in several interviews citing they "just need to get healthy" or "we need some time to get right". Sure he is right about the team being banged up. But is that what its all about or is their a little of prophecy being fulfilled?
We are starting to wonder if Mikki will get a chance to bully Pau in the paint like his forbearer, The Notorious P.J.B., and how well Teambury can chest bump at Staples.

Utah Jazz vs. Houston Rockets
They are still scheduled for their annual first round match up. There is still time to dust off the ol' highlights and reminisce before 7 games of Rockets with TEEMak vs Rockets without TMaq graphics. But just to be fair there might also be a couple Jazz with Boozer vs Boozer high-fiving in an Armani.

Dream Team-Up, Pt. 13

Team Name: Osh Josh B'Osh
Team Members: Josh Smith and Chris Bosh

Now here's a decent team. But- if we're honest- it's mostly just a funny name.

This pairing was conjured up before the mysterious Bosh injury. But maybe the guy above can take Bosh's spot. He looks tough and athletic.

Besides, his outfit sparked an idea. What if teams showed up to play, not in NBA or necessarily athletic attire, but more like themed costumes. Kind of like WWF meets The Warriors. Seeing Josh Smith and Chris Bosh play ball in overalls could be the best thing since the disaster that was letting the All Stars play in their teams' jerseys.