i got on board last season. i wanted a local team to root for and i don’t like football and i have a baseball team and the thrashers just seemed so bland. so i picked the hawks; the much-maligned consistently bad atlanta hawks.

and over the course of a season i fell in love. honestly i feel in love the day of the home opener when the hawks shocked the dallas maveriks. i watched a team scrap and claw and barely make it into the playoffs last year and the take the eventual nba champs to seven games.

there was more decrying of the hawks in the off-season, as they were unable to keep 6th man josh childress from departing altanta for greece. greece. apparently j-chill preferred to be out of the nba than in atlanta.

and then the season started. and this hawks team has been good. i have watched more than 2/3 of the hawks game this year, in person or on tv, and i have really fallen hard this season. they came out of the gate with a bang and have played up to par since then.

last week, against the paces they clinched the fourth seed in the nba’s eastern conference. we will be hosting a home playoff series and have a very good chance of winning and moving on to the second round of the nba playoffs.

this team is fun too. with no showy superstars, they go out and play every night, getting great contributions from the starters, but also from the trio that has come off the bench with a gusto this year; flip murray, mo evans, and of course, zaza pachulia.

so how about it atlanta? the hawks have lived up their part this season. now it’s your turn. get on the bandwagon. let’s get some buzz going. believe in these hawks.

NOW YOU KNOW!!!!!!!!!

since i decided to adopt the atlanta hawks before last season i have become a pretty rabid fan. i love this team and i absolutely love going to phillips arena (aka the highlight factory) to see games. in fact i’ll be heading there tonight to see the hawks play the grizzlies and hopefully catch the return of star forward josh smith (who had been out for more than a dozen games with an ankle sprain.)

i’ll be blogging a bit about my hawks-love (inlcuding big man-crushes on al horford and joe johnson) here but i am by no means a savvy basketball writer. so if you want to catch hawks fever with me, i figured i would take a brief moment and direct you to some places where you can pick up some really good hawks analysis and news.

to start with, the blog of ajc hawks beat writer sekou smith is the most important. sekou is one of the best beat writers i have ever read and if it is going down in the nba and it realtes to the hawks, sekou will report it.

continuing on with the official blogs to read, micah hart writes the hawks basketblog on hawks.com. as the team’s official “blogger” hart has lots of access to players for interviews, practice sessions and other behind-the-scenes goodies. well worth reading.

on the unofficial side i highly recommend peachtree hoops a dedicated hawks blog. peacthree hoops carries a preview before each game as well as a game report after each game with very good insight, analysis and other links. well worth reading.

i also really like zaza’s playground. it may not be as technical as p’tree hoops, but the author’s passion for the hawks is evident, as is his basketball i.q., and he can just be downright hilarious. if he gets on a mike woodson rant, watch out.

i also just start reading heavy koncak. it seems to be updated much less and i don’t have an impression of it yet, but with that name how can you go wrong?

so there ya’ go.

happy reading and LET’S GO HAWKS!!!

i love the hawks. my affair with atlanta’s once-hapless basketball franchise started last year. i decided to become a hawks fan because i a) wanted a local team to root for and i already had a baseball team, didn’t like football and thought the thrashers were boring and b) the hawks seemed like the kind of lovable losers that i could get behind (see aforementioned baseball team cubs, chicago.)

a funny thing happened on the way to the highlight factory though, i really fell in love with this team. first, live basketball is just great. it has an energy and intensity that comes from so much scoring and an intimacy that comes from their being no barriers between athletes and spectators that no other professional sport matches. second, the hawks are a good team. they have good, caliber players who play hard, don’t showboat and seem to get that they are there for the fans.

oh and we are good this year. 7-4 good with key injuries. have beaten top teams like the hornets and the magic good. played the world champs to a one point loss on their home court good.

so here is my plea to atlanta’s fans.

STAY TO THE END OF THE GAME!!!

seriously. is it that much to ask? last night the hawks played the wiz in a tight game. midway through the fourth quarter the hawks had battled back and the game was virtually deadlocked. marvin wiliams had come to play, the hawks needed a win bad after 4 straight losses and a god 1/3 of the crowd (many of whom had arrived late to being with) took off and left.

and then with 50 seconds left, game on the line, more people left.

and then we wonder why we don’t get taken seriously as a sports town…

p.s. – the hawks won. and i saw every moment including marvin wiliams burying a clutch three to seal the game with only seconds left on the clock.

Anybody think the Hawks will eventually win/Celtics lose this first-round series.

And if you haven’t been watching this series, the Hawks are a different team at Philips than they were in Boston. Josh Smith and Joe Smith are *definitely* worth the price of admission.

Who’s going Friday night?

i tried to tell you a long time ago. our hawks ended the nba’s longest playoff drought and snuck in as an 8 seed in the eastern conference finals.

the hawks open tonight against the celtics in boston. sekou smith has the match-ups, and you can see how hard it will be. the hawks have lost all the regular season games against the celtics by 10 points or more, getting blown out by 23 in the first meeting.

the celtics are arguably the best team in the nba, and one blogger is seriously hoping the hawks can just win ONE game.

the hawks are 15.5 point underdogs, which according to some is probably a good bet. i’d offer to bet my friends over at the boston metblogs but i am a realist.

either way they are in the dance and it’s nice to say i told you so…..