When are the doubters going to stop doubting these Atlanta Hawks? Probably never. But that’s okay with me if this team keeps winning. The Hawks earned their first conference final win in Atlanta franchise history dating back to 1968. It was in 1968 that the Hawks moved from St. Louis to Atlanta. The St. Louis Hawks went to four Finals in which they played all four against the Boston Celtics, winning one title in 1958. Spring forward 63 years and here we are Wednesday, June 23, 2021 around 11:00pm. The Atlanta Hawks just won their first Eastern Conference Finals playoff game beating the Milwaukee Bucks 116-113 at Milwaukee.
In the previous playoff series this year versus the NY Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers, the Hawks were underdogs, and it was the same last night as they were six point underdogs, but won by three points.
We came too far to stop believing in each other
Trae Young
Point Guard Trae Young has arrived on the NBA scene for all to take notice. The 22-year old Young is becoming one of the faces of the league, and is already the face of the Hawks. Young had 48 points on 11 assists and seven rebounds. The only other Hawks player to have 48 points in a playoff game was Dominique Wilkins in 1988. To go along with Young, the Hawks had three other starters with double figures. Forward John Collins had 23 points, Center Clint Capela chipped in 12 points as Forward Kevin Heurter added 13 points.
The team started out slow but picked up speed after halftime to capture the win. The Bucks couldn’t keep up with Young and just let him shoot at will, giving him five plus seconds to shoot on one made 3-pointer. Young even had time to give the Bucks a shoulder shimmy. Some people called this disrespectful, but I call it swag. This team, this city needs a player of Young’s caliber. This city is starved for a team that has an attitude and can back it up. This team showed swagger, and fast break after fast break with key baskets late to hold off for game one victory. And this team still hasn’t played its best game in this playoffs yet.
Game two versus the Bucks slated for Sunday, June 27 at 8:30 EST in Milwaukee.
Header photo courtesy of Athletic
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