Josh Smith would probably be the first to tell you that he didn't have a great game on Friday against the Rockets. But he was there at the end when it mattered most, and hit the game-winner with 0.7 seconds left to power the Hawks to their 11th win, tops in the league at this early point in the NBA season.
Smith finished with a pretty solid line of nine points, eight rebounds, four blocks, and three assists, but was limited by foul trouble to just 24 minutes of action. In fact, he had played just 30 seconds of the fourth quarter, before being inserted with 34 seconds remaining, and his team clinging to a five-point lead.
After the exceptionally gritty Rockets came from 10 points down with under two minutes remaining to tie it at 103 with five seconds left, Smith was there to clean up Mike Bibby's missed jumper for the win. Video after the jump.
Hawks buzzard Josh Smith has famously wasted quite a few Atlanta possessions over the years by taking ill-advised three-pointers. That phraseology is actually redundant when it comes to Smith: it would be considered ill to ever advise Smith to take a three.
Thankfully, someone showed Josh the light, and he hasn't attempted a trey all season. He convinces when he tells the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he hasn't even felt tempted to fire up a bomb. He found Basketball Jesus! Like a good son of the word, he should spread his experience. Which players would most benefit from a Brother Smith knock at the door?
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the lig. Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
If you're not a close follower of the NBA, then just six games or so into the season, we can't necessarily hold it against you if the name Tyreke Evans doesn't ring a bell. Besides being a rookie, Evans plays for the Sacramento Kings, a team that won just 17 games a season ago, and figured to be about as bad this year with stud scorer Kevin Martin sidelined indefinitely with an injury.
But after what Evans did to Deron Williams in leading his undermanned team to a road win in Utah on Saturday, he won't remain anonymous to basketball fans for much longer.
FanHouse previews a player to watch from each NBA team in advance of the 2009-10 season.
Forget the out-of-this-world athleticism. Forget the alley-oops (difficult, I know), forget the jumping out of the gym and forget the slam dunks that make you think "You know, I wouldn't necessarily give a T-Rex the edge in a fight with this guy." Forget the worrisome shot selection and coach clashes and the immature behavior. Forget all that for a second and get used to a new set of ideals.
Josh Smith is turning into a pretty great basketball player. And he's only 23.
The Hawks played hardball this summer with restricted free agent Marvin Williams, just as the Hawks do with most restricted free agents. Last year, Atlanta GM Rick Sund allowed Josh Smith to hang in the RFA win, only bringing the electric forward back when Memphis got Smith to sign a reasonable offer sheet.
It didn't come to that this season -- Marvin apparently talked to no other team seriously -- but it still worked out for Atlanta. Marc Spears of Yahoo! reports Williams will stay in the ATL for $40 million over the next five seasons.
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
Josh Smith would probably be the first to tell you that he didn't have a great game on Friday against the Rockets. But he was there at the end when it mattered most, and hit the game-winner with 0.7 seconds left to power the Hawks to their 11th win, tops in the league at this early point in the NBA season.
Hawks
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the lig. 
FanHouse previews a 
The Hawks played hardball this summer with restricted free agent 
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 
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. 
