“You never give up in the playoffs. You keep fighting. Anything can happen.”DIKEMBE MUTOMBO
Among the T-shirts designed by the Hawks over the season, is one sketched with the aggressive-looking winged critter in the team logo with the words “Birds of Prey” under the picture.
For this weekend, it’s a typo.
“Birds of Pray” might be better suited for Atlanta’s task.
Trailing 0-2 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals with the Knicks, the Hawks wrapped up practice with an encouraging scrimmage at Life University in Marietta, Ga. yesterday morning and headed north for today’s 3 p.m. Game 3 and tomorrow night’s Game 4 at the Garden. The task is enormous but stranger things have happened. Hey, the eighth-seeded Knicks are two victories from the Conference Finals, aren’t they?
“You never give up in the playoffs,” insisted center Dikembe Mutombo. “You keep fighting. A miracle happens. Anything can happen.”
The Hawks must stay positive, of course, and buoy themselves with the knowledge that they have yet to play anything even remotely resembling their A game in the series. And yet in each game they were right there with more than a fair chance to win. But a poor transition defensive segment here, a string of missed shots there and lots of Latrell Sprewell everywhere and the Hawks are pushed to the brink. No team ever has rallied from a 3-0 deficit.
“There were stretches [in Game 2] where we should have gone up by 10,” said Lenny Wilkens. “We were right there most of the game. We’ve got to get better shot selection and better movement. The movement was stagnant.
“That’s why it’s very frustrating, to know we can do better and we just haven’t,” Wilkens continued. “I thought maybe a lot had to do with their defense. their defense was pretty good but when I look at the video, hell, we missed so many easy shots. There were some shots there we’ve got to make.”
Actually, any old shots will do. The Hawks in their two games have shot .329, making just 51 of 135 shots. Individual numbers are just as ghastly for the most part: Tyrone Corbin (2-for-10, .200); Grant Long (3-15, .200); Steve Smith (8-33, .242); Mookie Blaylock (13-36, .361); Chris Crawford (8-22, .364); Anthony Johnson (3-8, .375); Dikembe Mutombo (7-18, .388). Only reserve Ed Gray, in 22 minutes, is over .500. Heck, he’s the only one over .400 with 7-13, .538.
“This is all new to me,” said Gray, appearing in his first playoff series. “It’s no big deal. We’re just down 2-0 and we have to make it to where we come out on top.”
Sounds easy enough. Let’s tackle that world peace thing next.
“It can happen,” Smith said of tying the series, not solving mankind’s problems. “Just like they came down here and won two games, we’re looking to do the same thing.”
The Knicks’ athleticism has worn down the bench-deprived Hawks who suffered a huge post-season hit when Alan Henderson suffered an eye injury in the final week of the regular season. And now Atlanta is cast into a back-to-back scenario, with games today and tomorrow, compliments of the friendly folks who run the league at NBC and TNT.