It's been emotional. That's all I can think to say right now about the Hawks'
start to the season so far. An emotional rollercoaster for those of us who take
each game wayyyy too personally.
The six-game winning streak was phenomenal, especially as the final two games
came without the services of Josh Smith. Hey, maybe we don't need him that
badly, I said to myself. Look how we're surviving without him!
Then of course we lost the Boston game at the last second, and the wind
seemed to fall out of the sails a bit. New Jersey was able to take advantage of
a tired Hawks squad, and it all culminated last night with the loss to Indiana,
where the team defense just seemed to lose itself after Al Horford joined Smith
on the sidelines with an ankle injury. Turns out, it's harder to win in this
league when you aren't at full strength - who knew?
Still, that's the hand the Hawks are dealt right now. With Smith out toinght
and Horford a game-time decision (that's the latest word), the Hawks are going
to have to figure out some way to keep teams from dropping 110+ on them going
forward or they are going to be in trouble.
The next two games are all of a sudden hugely important. At 6-4, there is no
reason to panic, and with Washington (1-7) and Charlotte (3-7) coming to town,
you'd like to think we can get healthy mentally (if not physically) against
weaker competition. But it's going to require more than just waiting around for
Joe Johnson to carry the team on his back, which seemed to be the case at times
last night. JJ is a great security blanket, but what made this team successful
to start the season was its ability to share the load, and they need to get back
to that no matter who is available.
I expect to see an angry Hawks team in action tonight - angry at themselves
for their defensive lapses over the past week, and anxious to prove they are
strong enough to survive the loss of their starting power forward and (possibly)
starting center.
Come down to Philips tonight and help this team get back on track!
Update: Horford is indeed out for tonight, but hopefully he'll be back Friday for the Bobcats game
