Atlanta Hawks still confident after 1-1 in Eastern Conference semi-finals – NBA Play-offs News
The 2011 National Basketball Association Play-offs have now approached the second-round semi-finals series.
This year’s play-offs are no less than a roller coaster ride, as the results of several games were bolt from the blue for many teams and their fans. These surprising performances have not only drawn a lot of attention, but have
raised the expectations level too.
For similar reasons, Atlanta Hawks coach Larry Drew is happy with the current look of the play-offs. The eighth seeded Memphis Grizzlies have already eliminated the Western Conference Number one San Antonio Spurs from the contest.
Now in the Western Conference semi-finals the third seeded Dallas Mavericks have put the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers into a 0-2 hole.
After seeing such results, Hawks’ coach Drew has no doubt that as to why his squad cannot go further than anybody would have anticipated. He is pretty hopeful and has a good feeling about his own team.
Drew said on Thursday, “This thing is wide open."
Prior to the second-round of the play-offs, the Hawks took their revenge from Orlando Magic, as they knocked down the Magic and its mighty centre Dwight Howard in the quarter-finals. Orlando was the team who swept the Hawks last
year in the play-offs in an irregular fashion.
Now the Hawks are trying to pull out something similar in the Eastern Conference semi-finals against the Chicago Bulls. They shocked the Bulls by stealing the victory from them in Game 1, a team that has won 62 games during the
regular-season.
However, the Bulls came back strong in Game 2 and defeated the Hawks 86-73 on Wednesday night at the United Centre. This victory pulled the Bulls back in the competition, as they tied the series 1-1. Though the Hawks lost the second
game, but they are still full of confidence and are looking forward to the next battle.
The next two games of the series will be played in Atlanta and this will give them home court advantage over the Bulls. Game 3 on Friday has now developed as the most important night in the history of the franchise.
Atlanta’s' super-sub Jamal Crawford said, "We feel good about where we're at. We feel like we took their best punch."
While Hawks’ coach Drew said, "Whatever doubt might have been seeping into our guys' heads, that doubt was erased after Game 1. Even though we lost Game 2, there wasn't a knockout blow. There was all this talk about how they would
come out with all this energy and everything. Well, we didn't feel that. ... They didn't put us away."
On the other hand, after the shocking first game defeat, the Bulls played with a lot of intelligence in Thursday’s game. They led the boards 58-39, restricted the Hawks' offence to just 34 percent and hustled for every loose ball
and pulled the game in their favour.
Keeping both teams’ effort in mind, fans are expecting a fierce clash on Friday night, as both teams will look to dominate each other and the remaining course will become bit easier for the winner of Game 3.
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