[外電] Some satisfaction in a sweep
Some satisfaction in a sweep
By SEKOU SMITH
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/29/06
When Hawks forward Al Harrington shows up Thursday night in
Indianapolis for Reggie Miller's jersey retirement ceremony
he'll be prepared for the worst from the crowd at Conseco
Fieldhouse.
And rightfully so, because there's little to no chance fans
will cheer the co-captain of a team that's just swept their
beloved Pacers in a season series.
It's a small price to pay for Harrington, who led the Hawks
with 23-points in their thrilling 94-93 win over the playoff-bound
Pacers, his former team, Wednesday night at Philips Arena.
"I don't care if nobody says one kind word to me," Harrington
said after the Hawks, 22-48, snapped a five-game losing streak.
"We needed this win more than anything else. We had to have it
tonight."
It was the Hawks' first season sweep of the Pacers in 21 years
and their first four-game sweep of any team since the 2002-03
season, when they swept Cleveland.
"I guess I wish we could play them 80 times this year," said
Harrington, who missed two free throws with 9.8 seconds to play
that would have given the Hawks a three-point cushion. "That's a
great team over there, but for some reason we just seem to play
well against them. Now that we've got the sweep, we just need to
move on and get another win Friday," when the New Jersey Nets
come to town.
"They play hard, they play so hard they're liable to beat anybody
on a given night," said Pacers guard Stephen Jackson, whom the
Hawks traded for Harrington in July of 2004. "I love the way they
play."
The Hawks almost let Wednesday night's game slip away. Leading
86-75 with six minutes to play, they watched as Peja Stojakovic
shot the Pacers back into the game.
Stojakovic, who led the Pacers (35-35) with a game-high 31 points
on 12-for-19 shooting, drained four of his seven 3-pointers over
the next five minutes and 50 seconds to bring his team within a
point.
With two chances to win the game and needing just one basket,
the Pacers never got the ball back in Stojakovic's hands.
Jermaine O'Neal missed a turnaround jumper and Fred Jones bricked
a 3-pointer that the referees ruled came after the final buzzer
to end the game.
Hawks coach Mike Woodson raced on to the floor and hugged Josh
Childress after the buzzer, a move that surprised Childress since
he didn't make a play late to help win the game.
"I didn't know where that came from," a smiling Childress said
after scoring 13 points off the bench, "but I think I understand
it. We've been struggling for a while now and like the rest of us,
he was just happy that we found a way to get it done at the end
of a game."
Woodson was just happy to see his team finally stop someone,
anyone, after what seems like weeks of playing Matador defense.
"Tonight our defense was where it needed to be in terms of how
I like to play defense," Woodson said. "Our defense was pretty
solid, even though Peja hit some three's. He hit some big bombs
and you just have to live with those. But for the most part our
interior defense was solid.
"We only gave up 13 layups tonight as opposed to the 33 we gave
up last night (in a 125-117 loss to lowly Charlotte). And that
was the difference in the game right there."
Harrington 嘴賤XD
資料來源
http://www.ajc.com/hawks/content/sports/hawks/stories/0330hawks.html
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