So maybe we – and by “we,” I mean “me” – got carried away by the doings of the 2021 playoffs. The 41-win Hawks played above their station, upsetting the fourth-seeded Knicks and the top-seeded 76ers. Those Hawks came within two games of the NBA Finals. Those Hawks went from a deep rebuild to being all but rebuilt, or so we/I thought.
The Hawks followed that breakthrough by backsliding. They won 43 regular-season games, a slight improvement that never felt that way. They landed in the NBA’s play-in tournament. As quickly as they played themselves in, they dealt themselves out. Through four games against Miami, the East’s No. 1 seed, they had done the minimum to stay alive: They won one game by one point.
Three hours before Tuesday’s Game 5, it was announced that Jimmy Butler, the Heat’s best player, was out with a sore knee. Point guard Kyle Lowry, who missed Game 4 with a tender hamstring, likewise was a non-participant. For a minute or two, we – again meaning “me” – thought: If the Hawks win Game 5, they would have Game 6 at home, and who’s to say if Butler/Lowry would be available for a Game 7?
