HAWKS BEAT HEAT IN GAME 7 BLOWOUT

In what may go down as the least dramatic seven game series in professional sports history, the Atlanta Hawks finally advanced to the second round with a 91-78 home blowout of the Miami Heat.  All seven games of the series were decided by a double digit margin, only the second time in NBA history this has occurred.  Ultimately, the Hawks advanced four blowouts to three and earned the dubious task to facing a rested Cleveland Cavaliers team in the second round.

The Hawks had a two point lead after the first quarter, but put the game away as they outscored Miami 29-18 in the second.  The Heat never really threatened after that, and dropped to 2-3 all time in game seven situations.  Joe Johnson paced the Hawks with 27 points, while Josh Smith added 21 and just missed a ‘double/double’ with 9 rebounds.  Ronald Murray’s 15 and Mike Bibby’s 11 rounded out the Atlanta double digit scorers.  As usual, Dwayne Wade led his team in scoring with 31 points, while Michael Beasley added 17 off the bench.  The only other Heat player to score in double digits was Udonis Haslem, who posted a ‘double/double’ with 14 points and 13 rebounds.  Beyond these three players, it was the same old story for the Heat as the remaining nine players to see action combined for a woeful 14 points. 

Despite the game 7 loss and the lack of scoring support, Dwayne Wade said after the game that he was encouraged by his team’s play this season:

"I'm very encouraged by this season. The team that won 15 games last year came back to win 43 games this year and took Atlanta to seven games in the playoffs. We've got something to build on."

Interestingly, this was the first game 7 ever played in Atlanta in any sport—a fact made even more surprising with the Braves’ dominant run during the 1990’s and early part of this decade.   The Hawks hadn’t won a game 7 since 1961, when the franchise was still based in St. Louis.  For this reason, Josh Smith opined:

"It feel like the monkey's off Atlanta's back. Not just the team's back. The whole city."

The talented young Hawks grabbed everyone’s attention last season by forcing the eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics to 7 games.  The series win over the Heat, however, was the first for the franchise since 1999.  Like many NBA teams on the rise, the Hawks have already built a strong home court but struggled to a 16-25 record on the road.  That could pose a big problem in the second round series against Cleveland—the Cavs lost only twice at home all year, with one of those losses in the final home game with LeBron James and other starters not in the lineup. 

In any case, Atlanta will now head to Cleveland to open their Eastern Conference Semifinal series at the Quicken Loans Arena on Tuesday night.  Games 1 & 2 will be on the Cavs’ home floor, after which the series will head to Atlanta’s Phillips Arena for games 3 & 4 beginning on Saturday night.