The Atlanta Hawks are considered one of the NBA's rising teams, as evidenced by consecutive playoff appearances for the first time in 10 years. The Hawks, however, were easily swept in the Eastern Conference semifinals by the Cleveland Cavaliers, who spent four games exposing Atlanta's numerous flaws and weaknesses. The Hawks are approaching a critical time for their franchise, with Mike Bibby a free agent and third-year forward and former lottery pick Marvin Williams seemingly without a role.
Hawks legend Dominique Wilkins, the team's vice president of basketball, said the Hawks need two key components to challenge, Boston, Orlando and Cleveland for Eastern Conference supremacy.
By theory, the NBA Draft Lottery (Tuesday at 8:00 PM ET) is left to randomness. But what if basketball karma dictated the results? Good triumphs over evil. Fairness and compassion reign. Robert Horry does not exist. It's a wonderful world.
Close your eyes and imagine how the ping pong balls would bounce if karma ruled tonight's lottery ...
Facing an 0-3 series deficit, the Hawks knew they had to come out swinging against the Cavaliers on Monday night, and to their credit, they actually did ... for a quarter or so.
Eventually the Cavs caught up, and even though this was by far the most competitive game of the series, the Cavs still cruised to an 84-74 victory, the eighth time in eight playoff games the Cavs won by double digits.
Cherry Picking recaps the previous day's NBA playoff action.
The Cavaliers are making a solid case for the NBA to institute a mercy rule. Not only have they won all six of their playoff games by double-digits, they've done so without allowing an opponent to score more than 85 points even once. They led the Hawks by 30 heading into the final quarter before finally taking their foot off the gas -- Cleveland's reserves gave back 10 points in the final quarter before the Cavs won by "only" 20.
Had Mike Brown allowed his starters to play the final quarter, it's possible the Cavs could have challenged Denver's 58-point margin in Game 4 of their first-round series with the Hornets, especially considering the Hawks lost Joe Johnson to a severely sprained ankle in the third quarter.
Perhaps inspired by watching a pair of road teams steal home court advantage on Monday, the Hawks came into Tuesday's game in Cleveland with no fear -- and for at least the first two quarters, the game looked like it'd probably go to whichever team got hot near the end.
Unfortunately for the Hawks, the first two quarters was all the time the Cavs needed to shake off nine days of rust, as Cleveland's modest five-point lead at halftime exploded into a 27-point lead by the final buzzer.
Cavaliers 99, Hawks 72: Recap | Box Score | Scoreboard Cavs Lead 1-0 | Next Game: Thursday @ Cleveland, 7 PM ET
After the Hawks forced the eventual champion Celtics to seven games in the first round of the playoffs a season ago, they had matured enough this year to win a Game 7 and advance to the second round for the first time in 10 years. We'll find out in a hurry if they'll be simply happy to get there, or if they can actually provide a challenge to Mr. MVP and the only unbeaten team left in the post-season: the Cleveland Cavaliers.
MIAMI -- There were apologies, no I-shouldn't-have-done it tone in his voice Friday morning when Hawks forward Josh Smith was asked again about his late-game showboating Wednesday that clearly riled the Miami Heat. In a series that has grown both increasingly physical and combative, Smith was happy to fuel the fire before Game 6 begins Friday night.
Smith used Atlanta's lopsided Game 5 victory and a breakaway layup to demonstrate his crowd-pleasing, between-the-legs dunk in front of the Heat bench with just under four minutes remaining. Smith missed the dunk, disappointing the Atlanta crowd and ticking off the beaten-down Heat players. And their memories are good.
Miami's Dwyane Wade called it, "very insulting.'' Smith said Friday he didn't care what Wade thinks.
NBA Playoff 4-5 matchups are often the best of the first round. Usually the two teams are within a few wins of each other. They're not a level of David and Goliath, and both teams are usually mortal enough to make it interesting. Such is the case with tonight's matchup of the Atlanta Hawks and the Miami Heat. As such, we're rocking the live blog action again tonight. Join us after the end of Orlando-Philadelphia for Hawks-Heat. Joe Johnson. Dwyane Wade. Make this happen.
If Cleveland-Detroit is the Rolling Stones, and Utah-LA is the Beatles, then Atlanta-Miami is the Velvet Underground. You're not going to catch it on the radio, but if you dig music, it's essential that you take a listen.
This is the matchup that will get the least publicity bu features what may be the closes matchup. The Hawks shocked everyone by actually, (gasp) improving on last year's success. What's more, they finished with homecourt advantage in the first round. And next to the Heat, they're the playoff experienced club. It's a crazy world we live in. Meanwhile, the Heat are a reclamation project. Dwyane Wade 2.0 is a one-man army and the world is his enemy. Something's gotta give.
FanHouse's NBA Guide gives you a daily look at all the games that matter ... and some that don't.
HEADLINER Boston at Detroit, 7PM ET, ESPN
For all its splendor, the Boston juggernaut has been no more than mortal on the road. This is expected; very few teams trot out magnificently clean road records, no matter their strength. Boston is a normal elite team in this case. That makes for some interesting propositions, given the correct conditions.
The Atlanta Hawks are considered one of the NBA's rising teams, as evidenced by consecutive playoff appearances for the first time in 10 years. The Hawks, however, were easily swept in the Eastern Conference semifinals by the Cleveland Cavaliers, who spent four games exposing Atlanta's numerous flaws and weaknesses. The Hawks are approaching a critical time for their franchise, with Mike Bibby a free agent and third-year forward and former lottery pick Marvin Williams seemingly without a role.
By theory, the NBA Draft Lottery (Tuesday at 8:00 PM ET) is left to randomness. But what if basketball karma dictated the results? Good triumphs over evil. Fairness and compassion reign. 
Facing an 0-3 series deficit, the Hawks knew they had to come out swinging against the Cavaliers on Monday night, and to their credit, they actually did ... for a quarter or so. 
Perhaps inspired by watching a pair of road teams steal home court advantage on Monday, the Hawks came into Tuesday's game in Cleveland with no fear -- and for at least the first two quarters, the game looked like it'd probably go to whichever team got hot near the end. 
MIAMI -- There were apologies, no I-shouldn't-have-done it tone in his voice Friday morning when Hawks forward 
NBA Playoff 4-5 matchups are often the best of the first round. Usually the two teams are within a few wins of each other. They're not a level of David and Goliath, and both teams are usually mortal enough to make it interesting. Such is the case with tonight's matchup of the Atlanta Hawks and the Miami Heat. As such, we're rocking the live blog action again tonight. Join us after the end of Orlando-Philadelphia for Hawks-Heat. 
FanHouse previews the 
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