ATLANTA -- One after another, they strolled into the winning locker room at Philips Arena. The home locker room. On the flat-screen TV against the wall, the Cleveland Cavaliers were losing to the Washington Wizards.
"Damn," one member of the Hawks said as he made his way across the room.
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| 'I think we can beat any team in this league,' Joe Johnson says. (AP) |
You know down is up and up is down when the Hawks (10-2) have the best record in the Eastern Conference ... and the team that swept them out of the second round in last year's playoffs, Cleveland, lost to a 3-7 team with LeBron James wearing a wrap on his injured left wrist.
"If we stay healthy and keep doing what we're doing, I don't think anybody could sweep us," said Josh Smith, on his way to an All-Star season after terrorizing Miami in all phases Wednesday night in Atlanta's 105-90 victory over the Heat. "We'll make a series out of any team."
It's a long season, and nothing is ever easy for the Hawks. Never has been. But an eighth of the way through the NBA season, it might be time to add a fourth team to the East's Big three of Boston, Cleveland and Orlando. The Hawks are tied with Phoenix for the best record in the NBA, and that is not a typo.
"I think we can beat any team in this league," Joe Johnson said. "It's just up to us. We've got to believe that we can beat those teams."
Belief is something that doesn't come easily in Atlanta, where the sporting populace hasn't embraced the Hawks since Dominique Wilkins was dunking, Doc Rivers was playing, and Mike Fratello was coaching. A reported sellout Wednesday night was well shy of that in terms of actual humans present, but maybe this was a sign of progress. On Monday night, the place was barely half full to watch the home team on a four-game winning streak defeat Portland, one of the best and most entertaining teams in the West.
That streak is at six now, and the Hawks are a perfect 6-0 at home. Having grown up in the Atlanta area and seen the Hawks grow together in a sea of ambivalence, Smith has all but given up on national recognition and local support.
"We're cool," said Smith, who had 16 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists, two steals and two blocks, taking over with a ferocious second quarter. "You don't have to talk about us at all. We just want to stay within ourselves and keep playing Hawk basketball and keep playing unselfish. Those teams that you name, they have a right to be talked about because they've accomplished a lot in this league. We're just trying to get to where they're at."
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Recap: Hawks 105, Heat 90 Del Grande: No. 2 in Power Rankings |
Somehow, they're on their way. The team's fractured ownership group is still in court, haggling over a dispute that began when Boston-based co-owner Steve Belkin tried to veto the trade that brought the Hawks their best player, Johnson. The power is split among Belkin, an Atlanta-based group led by Michael Gearon, and a Washington, D.C.-based group led by Bruce Levinson and Ed Peskowitz.
In the past, personnel moves for the Hawks have been more convoluted than for any other team in the league. All three groups had to vote and majority ruled. Even when everyone agreed on how to spend the money, where to find the money was another challenge. The Hawks were among the worst teams in the NBA last season in terms of actual attendance, getting only 12,145 through the turnstiles per game, according to NBA documents.
"The court issue and the ownership controversy have absolutely nothing to do with the running of the team," Peskowitz said from his courtside seat Wednesday night. "Nothing whatsoever. We've come from 13 [wins], to 26, 37, and 47. I don't think any other ownership group in the history of the NBA has done that. If we win more than 47 games this year, it'll be six years in a row."
Peskowitz said general manager Rick Sund has complete autonomy. But if I were Sund, I'd be happy my roster is intact. Split-second decisions that have to be made at the trade deadline do not wait for petty grievances to be aired among owners with different priorities, and they don't wait for 11th-hour votes to be taken. "We've put together the team that the GM recommended," Peskowitz said. "It just has no bearing. ... We take our direction from him."
Barring injuries or other issues, the next big decision ownership will have to make will involve Johnson, whose acquisition was the catalyst for this mess in the first place. Johnson turned down a $63 million extension this past summer, preferring to wait until he can sign a longer deal as an unrestricted free agent next July. The Hawks fully intend to keep him, but it's possible that Johnson will have come and gone from Atlanta before the team's ownership dispute is resolved.
Whereas off-court dysfunction is a way of life for the Hawks, the on-court drama has dissipated. Smith's long-time feud with coach Mike Woodson has been overtaken by his All-Star caliber play. Like a married couple, maybe they both just got tired of feuding. Smith was a rookie and Woodson was the coach of a 13-win Hawks team in 2004-05. Johnson came on board in 2005-'06, and the team hasn't taken a step back in win total since.
"That just shows the maturity of this team," Johnson said.
Continuity is great, and it's paid off for the Hawks. But maybe all they needed was to acquire the most accomplished loser in the NBA, Jamal Crawford.
For nine years -- in Chicago, New York, and Golden State -- Crawford compiled the longest streak in the NBA without making the playoffs. Trust me when I tell you there is no happier player in the league. The Warriors are in chaos, the Knicks are hopeless, and the Hawks are the best basketball thing that has ever happened to Crawford. And vice versa.
"This seems like the perfect match," Crawford said. "I think we're helping each other, honestly. They're helping me get to the playoffs and once we get there, hopefully I can help them advance."
Crawford didn't just lose. He lost spectacularly. His first year in Chicago, the Bulls won 15 games. The first year after he was traded to the Knicks to witness the Isiah Thomas-Larry Brown-Stephon Marbury cataclysm, the Bulls made the playoffs.
"When you lose that long for nine years, you question everything," Crawford said. "You question if you're the reason why ... This makes me appreciate everything because I've seen the worst of the worst."
Maybe that's the secret to the best-kept secret in the NBA.
srsteelers 
