Was it really worth it?

A few weeks ago, I tried to lay out how the Hawks could beat the Celtics in the first round, and Atlanta was able to force a game seven. But that is where the cookie started to crumble. Boston of course blew out the Hawks in the win-or-go-home game and now Atlanta faces the off-season. The result of a Celtics series win is what 99.8% of America predicted, the Hawks going home, but I would have been interested to see the numbers right after the Hawks won game six. People MAYBE started to believe. ESPN talking heads were saying that MAYBE the Hawks COULD pull off the biggest upset in NBA Playoffs history.
Alas, it was not to be. And the worst part about getting crushed in game seven: the Hawks are right back to where everyone thought they were entering the playoffs. Yahoo.com ran a headline “See how bad the Celtics beat Atlanta in Game 7.” ABC’s Jeff Van Gundy said that this blowout loss erased all of the goodwill the team built up in its three victories. ESPN.com claimed that Boston sent a message to Atlanta with the decisive win. People may have forgotten the three big home wins as they see the four huge road losses.
One thing that I fear for the future of the Hawks was that the owners would feel this was a sign of things turning around. Maybe the Hawks had reached and turned that proverbial corner. WAKE UP CALL! They have NOT. The Hawks were considered by most to be the worst playoff team in sports history. Yeah. ALL SPORTS! They were a sub-.500 team that reached the playoffs thanks to a weak conference. There were several teams in the west that were denied spots with better records. But the Hawks made the playoffs and won three games and they MAY have saved Mike Woodson’s job in the process. This feels similar to what happened with Dennis Felton at the University of Georgia. A great run at the end of the season when the bosses were really looking at the performance saved Felton’s job. Now the Spirit Group could be inclined to keep Woody around.
The Spirit Group has a little experience with this. Last season the Thrashers FINALLY reached the playoffs before getting embarrassed by playing just four games before leaving the Stanley Cup playoffs. But the goodwill of making the playoffs was enough to keep Bob Hartley around as well as Don Waddell. The team floundered this season and Hartley was axed and Waddell may not be far behind. The question is though, would the owners have preferred NOT to make the playoffs last year so the rebuilding effort would be entering year two instead of year one this off-season? The Hawks may have given the owners hope and they may try to build onto this sandcastle while the tide is slowly coming in. Don’t panic and give Bibby an extension just yet. For as good as he looked at home, in Boston he looked old against Rondo. Josh Smith is a talent, but is he MAX-MONEY talent?
Too many times a team comes together for a small moment and continue mediocrity when it should just let the bottom fall out so a rebuilding effort can begin. The Baltimore Orioles did it a few years back and only NOW have they decided to gut and rebuild the team. The Thrashers are going through it right now. (SELL OFF THE ASSETS, DONNY!) The Knicks did it when Isiah Thomas came on board when they traded for Eddy Curry and Stephon Marbury and now the team is in Cap-purgatory.
Bottom line, the three home wins represented a battle victory. But please don’t let a battle win lead to an overall war loss. Sometimes it is better to call a spade “a spade,” and start over. The Hawks need to do just that.