HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Zaza Pachulia and his Hawks teammates were tired of being bullied by their division rivals in Orlando, namely Dwight Howard.
The Magic swept the Hawks in the Eastern Conference semifinals last season, administering one of the worst beatings (physically and otherwise) in playoff history during the process.
So it wasn’t surprising to see the Hawks (Pachulia and All-Star center Al Horford were spotted at a local gym working out) hitting the heavy bag in the offseason with the Magic on the brain. They rebounded this season by winning the regular-season series 3-1, which may or may not mean anything when the two teams square off in their first round series, which begins Saturday night in Orlando.
To a man, the Hawks vow to put up much more of a fight than they did during the playoffs last season, per Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Players say they expect a physical series. But when it unfolds that way, will the response echo the line from the pledge in Animal House: “Thank you sir, may I have another?”
Quoth Pachulia: “We need to have that blue-collar mentality. We’re more dangerous when we play that way.”
He spent a little extra time in the weight room after practice Thursday.
Not a coincidence.
When asked if he expected bodies to be hitting the floor, he said: “Sure. That’s the history of the playoffs. You’ll watch all of the highlights on TV, and there’s always some blood.”
[veteran center Jason] Collins has more playoff experience (78 games) than anybody on the Hawks’ roster. It seems strange to cast a guy averaging two points and two rebounds as a key to the series, but that’s the case.
If the Hawks can successfully rotate Collins, Pachulia and Horford against Howard, that’s 18 fouls to work with. Less double-teaming inside theoretically means better defense on the perimeter.
“You’re obviously not trying to go out there and hurt anybody, but you definitely want to set a tone,” Collins said. “Keep body contact on him.”
Collins has been the designated hit man before in his career, against the likes of Shaquille O’Neal, Tim Duncan and David Robinson.
“I don’t think Shaq likes me too much,” he said.
Collins and the Hawks don’t have to worry about Shaq, not yet at least. Right now they have to be concerned with Howard, who has battled to keep his emotions in check all season.
Howard has taken a physical pounding all season, while dishing out just as much punishment. He’s generally had his way with the Hawks and anyone else that tries to use bullying tactics to take him out of his game.
But the Hawks think they already have the blueprint for success against Howard, and perhaps the Magic.
Even all the Hawks players grow there muscles, it does’nt matter..what they need is team strategy and the will to win.. Hawks have a lot of solid players with great potential but they play as they just want to survive and not to win anymore.. with no disrespect to them..if they continue to play the same like all season, Orlando will sweep them even the magic team have a lot of problems also on the floor with there playmakers and with just shooting 3s. I see it in 6 games, Orlando wins and most probably give a lot of problems to the Bulls in the 2nd rnd,.I don’t think Noah and Boozer can stop Howard but Rose would simply just dominate./
I dont think the hawks wont get swept but I still think they’ll lose the series.
If Orlando can play solid defense for 48 minutes then i think they could destroy the hawks. But this aint the same hawks team they faced last season. This hawks team is out for revenge and have confidence that they got the secret strategy to beat Orlando once and for all. However, i think Orlando aint going to take this series lightly at all because there fully aware that there dealing with a tougher team than last year. I think Orlando is going to destroy them unless the Orlando players mess it up and if howard gets into foul troubles. But i have a feeling Howard and the magic have a plan up their sleeves.