Atlanta Hawks
What a difference two days makes. Faced with an almost identical situation to the finale of their game Saturday night against the Grizzlies, the Hawks came through against the Magic on Monday at Philips Arena by learning from the their mistakes in the previous outing.
At Memphis, trailing by a point with 24 seconds remaining in the game, the Hawks held onto the ball till the final seconds, unable to come up with a good shot and losing when Tyronn Lue’s desperation runner was wide at the buzzer.
During that play, Antoine Walker (presumably the Hawks number one late game option) didn't receive the ball until there were six or seven seconds left, and was unable to take a shot as he was several feet behind the three-point arc. Monday night’s game told a different story. Trailing by one, this time with 33 seconds left, the Hawks wasted no time, pounding the ball inside to Al Harrington, whose spin move bank-shot on the left baseline gave the Hawks the lead with 16 seconds remaining.
And when the Magic scored on a Steve Francis layup a few moments later, the Hawks were back again in the same spot: 11 seconds remaining and needing a basket.
"We were in the same position the other night," said Hawks coach Mike Woodson. "Just from a coaching standpoint, it was nice to see us respond after the we gave it away the other night, I thought. We made big plays down the stretch, and that's what it's all about." Antoine and Al have been around a long time. They can't put it in other people's hands to make plays. They've been our go-to guys all year, and one of those two guys has to step up and make plays like they did tonight."
This time, Antoine took over. Dribbling back and forth on the left wing, Walker started to make his move towards the paint, then pulled up for a rainbow jumper over the outstretched arms of the Magic's rookie phenom Dwight Howard, swishing it sweetly through the net with two seconds remaining. When Grant Hill's shot attempt at the buzzer fell off the mark, the Hawks had a sweet victory that went a long way to erasing the memories of Saturday’s pratfall.
"I wasn't going to let the same thing happen to us that happened Saturday night without getting a decent shot up," said Walker, who finished the night with 12 points and 12 rebounds. "I just had the ball in my hands and I didn't want to hold it. I wanted to get a shot up. I was due to make one anyway (he was 4-13 from the field), I had been struggling all night. It was a big shot for us. It was a good win for us to finally be on the other side of the table."
For a young team like the Hawks, games like the one against the Grizzlies are very instructive on what it takes to win in the NBA. Consider Monday’s victory an example of a lesson learned.