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Philippines, 17 May 2024 |
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NBA Playoffs - Hawks? valiant stand falls short as Pacers advance By Ben Franklin PhilBoxing.com Mon, 05 May 2014 INDIANA -- Nobody expected the eighth-seeded Atlanta Hawks to give the East?s top seed, Indiana Pacers, a run for their money. Nobody imagined the Hawks would beat the Pacers in Game 1 of their first round matchup, more so, Game 5 in their home building where they only lost five games all year. The Hawks not only punched the bullies in the mouth and shock the NBA world with a 101-93 win at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis in the series? opening game, they made the contenders look like pretenders for majority of the series by extending the Pacers? highly-touted defense with their 3-point shooting led by Kyle Korver, they were also two minutes away in Game 6 at home from completely erasing them from the postseason altogether. In the end, however, asking the Hawks to win Game 7 on road proved to be too ambitious as the Pacers managed to get their bearings together just in time to advance to the second round with a 92-80 win. The Pacers were simply too big, too talented, and too deep for the short-handed Hawks who finally came back to earth after a hot-shooting series from range, by hitting only 30 percent from the field, and going 11-44 from beyond the 3-point line. "At some point, something had to give as far as them having the legs to make jumpers. I just thought we grinded them down so much throughout this series that when you get to a Game 7, those jump shots just weren't falling,? said Pacers All-Star Paul George who led all scorers with 30 points and 11 rebounds. Fatigue definitely seemed to finally befell the overmatched Hawks as All-Star Paul Millsap went 0-9 to start the game and was held to 15 points, on 6 of 21 shooting. Kyle Korver chipped in 19, while Jeff Teague who has had a fabulous series, was limited to 16. There?s no reason for the Hawks to hang their head low though. The Pacers did what they were supposed to do, while the Hawks more than accounted for what many expected from them without their franchise player Al Horford who suffered a season-ending shoulder injury early in the season. From Korver?s record-setting 127 games with at least a 3-point field goal made in a game, to the emergence of Teague as a true leader, the way they closed out the regular season to snag the final seed from the Knicks, to the gutsy fight they put up against the Pacers in this series, the Hawks have had a good year considering all the changes and setbacks they faced this season, and have a bright future ahead of them. Their immediate future, however, involves vacation trips as their season finally came to an end Saturday night in Indianapolis, while the Pacers move on to the second round to host the idle Washington Wizards at home on Monday. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ben Franklin.  |
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