NBA Finals Contenders: Atlanta Hawks Make a Quiet Statement

Few of us would call a week of 3-and-2 basketball a resounding success, especially when one of those victories required overtime against the lowly Charlotte Bobcats. But the Atlanta Hawks might beg to differ after surviving a barrage of formidable foes over the last six days. 

Larry Drew's team crammed five games into just six nights thanks to the shortened NBA schedule, unbelievably forced to play both the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat twice each in that span. The test of endurance culminated in a "back-to-back-to-back" sequence of games, with the final act coming Saturday night against 2011's Eastern Conference runners-up Chicago Bulls. 

Chicago was probably the last team Atlanta wanted to face on Saturday, and not just because those same Bulls overcame a 19-point deficit to break the Hawks' hearts by two points the Tuesday before, nor because those Bulls were 7-1 coming into Saturday's game.

Conventional logic suggests the Hawks wouldn't be eager to face anything but the back of a pillow on Saturday night. Not 24 hours earlier, the Hawks were taken to overtime by the Bobcats, and the night before featured a triple-overtime classic against a Miami Heat team missing Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. Apparently unaffected by the longer workdays, the Hawks poured it on Derrick Rose's Bulls 109-94.

Nobody likes to talk about "statement games," but boy was this ever a statement game.

Four days earlier, reigning MVP Derrick Rose had put together a fourth-quarter masterpiece, tallying 17 of his 30 points when it mattered most. The Hawks played exceptional defense up to that point, holding Chicago to 15, 11 and 16 points points through the first three frames.

And then Rose came alive.

But there wouldn't be much of a fourth quarter on Saturday night. The Hawks didn't let the game get close and gave the streaking Bulls only their second loss of the season. The display of dominance at Philips Arena was just sweet enough for fans to forget all about the week's earlier losses to Chicago and Miami. 

It was also a shot heard around the Eastern Conference, a shot the media and talking heads had better hear as well. It proved that when Atlanta kicked this week from hell off by handing the Miami Heat its first loss of the season, it was no fluke. Despite later losing to the Heat sans Wade and James, Monday's eight-point victory came when facing a fully-loaded Miami squad.

So if these Hawks can hang with the likes of Miami and Chicago, do they have a shot at making it all the way to the finals?

Yes, but not because they beat the Heat and the Bulls this week. The real cause for optimism is better illustrated by their two losses to said teams.

Nonsense, you say?

Sure, an epic fourth-quarter collapse against the Bulls isn't typically considered the virtue of champions. But it was a game the Hawks should have won. Their stout defense held all Bulls not named Rose to a collective 46 points (a feat made all the more impressive because the Hawks flew to Chicago from a veritable track meet in Miami the night before).

It's hard to find a silver lining in the triple overtime loss to Miami, but there's something to be said for the fortitude these Hawks displayed to the very end. Chris Bosh tied the game before the end of regulation on a deep three-pointer that even Bosh called "a lucky shot." The Hawks went on to fall behind early in each of the first two overtimes but managed to rally a comeback in each case, pushing the game to a third and final period.

Beating Miami and Chicago in convincing fashion can't be ignored. But losing to Miami and Chicago in unconvincing fashion is the real statement here. 

Apparently the NBA hired the ghost of William Tecumseh Sherman to schedule these games. But like the mythical Phoenix to which this city is often likened, the Hawks rose from the ashes this week to emerge victorious in the end.

The team showed the kind of heart that champions must show—the kind of bounce-back mentality that keeps teams alive in tight playoff series. They showed that with unrelenting defense and a commitment to sharing the ball on offense, this team may well be taking their talents to the NBA Finals in 2012.