Atlanta looks to save face in Game 7
By Doug Upstone
After a series in which the Hawks have been bombarded with criticism for their less than sterling play, they can do what expected of them; move on to meet Orlando with a win on Sunday against Milwaukee. After mostly 14 quarters of lackluster performances (give or take two) Atlanta players decided the team was more important than their individual efforts.
The Hawks had played loads of isolation basketball, with each pass essentially going into a black hole and they totaled a mere 31 points in the first half of Game 6. But coach Mike Woodson expressed to his club that despite another desultory 24 minutes of basketball, they trailed by only three points, as the Bucks werent exactly filling the funnel either.
Atlanta started the second half by being more aggressive on defense, ran the ball at every opportunity and found out about the joys of passing the ball three or more times per possession and low and behold, teammates were open and shots started falling. This style of play turned a three point deficit into a 15-point lead by the end of the third quarter and they were never really threatened again.
The bottom line today is we brought our hard hats and not our fishing caps, Josh Smith said. We established ourselves early. They gave us a fight, but we were just hungry tonight. I havent seen us play like this the whole series.
Atlanta returns home for the series finale where they are 36-8 and 27-17 ATS. This situation certainly favors them and Birds are 11-2 ATS in home games after a combined score of 175 points or less.
For Milwaukee it has to be tremendous sense of disappointment, letting an opportunity literally clang away from them. The Bucks were 3-17 shooting in the deciding third quarter as the normally reliable guard combination of John Salmons and Brandon Jennings scored 20 points and shot 21.4 percent. Bucks coach Scott Skiles said his team looked "panicky" at times, especially on offense.
"It's the first time we've been in this type of game and we didn't react nearly as well as we would've liked to have reacted, that's for sure," Skiles said. "Now we've got to find a way to go down there and get another one." The Bucks will have to really provide a superb effort and they are 12-4 ATS revenging a home loss this season.
BetUS.com has Atlanta as 9.5-point favorites with total of 186 and they are 13-3 ATS at Phillips Arena after two or more consecutive Unders and 9-1 OVER after a game outrebounding opponent by 15 or more.
As ESPNs Mike Tirico expressed to partner Hubie Brown, In a game of pickup basketball, the first six players taken would be five Atlanta players and Jennings. However it is a Game 7 and if Milwaukee can come out firing and make shots to keep the pressure on Atlantas shoulders, the Hawks arent known for succeeding under adversity. The Deers are 23-13 ATS as a road underdog this year and 8-1 UNDER in roadies revenging a loss of 10 points or more.
ABC has the last of the round one games at 1:00 Eastern.