Remembering The 2008 Hawks

Athlon reminisces about the 2008 Hawks almost pulling off a historic upset

Transcript

00:00In 2008, the Atlanta Hawks almost pulled off the greatest upset in NBA history.

00:04The 07-08 Atlanta Hawks were, in large part, underwhelming.

00:08Despite the roster being full of memorable players, the team managed to finish just 37-45,

00:14sneaking into the 8th seed and lining up to play the Big 3 Boston Celtics.

00:18And in the first two games of the series at TD Garden, things appeared to be heading towards

00:22a sweep, as the Celtics would win both games by 20+.

00:25But as soon as the series went to Atlanta, things changed.

00:28In Game 3, Josh Smith went off, scoring 27-9-6, and rookie Al Horford was a menace in the

00:34paint, with 14 rebounds, as the Hawks managed to take one back from Boston.

00:39In Game 4, it looked like the Celtics had the game wrapped up, leading by 10 heading into

00:43the 4th quarter.

00:44But it was time for Iso Joe and Josh Smith to take over, as they would score all of the

00:48Hawks' 32 points in the 4th, including 20 from Johnson, and they would steal Game 4 in

00:5397-92.

00:54Game 5 was another wire-to-wire win for the Celtics, and the Hawks headed back to Atlanta

00:58on the brink of elimination.

01:00But in Game 6, the entire Hawks roster stepped up, as six different players were in double

01:04digits, and the Hawks would eke out another win, 103-100.

01:08And as an excited Zaza Pachulia would scream to the fans after the game,

01:12We're going to Game 7, baby!

01:15Game 7!

01:16Game 7!

01:20Well, they got absolutely smacked in Game 7, as they were held to just 26 points in the

01:25first half.

01:26Marvin Williams got ejected for hard fouling Rajon Rondo, KG trucked Zaza Pachulia, and the

01:31Celtics would win 99-65.

01:33The Celtics would go on to win the NBA championship that year, which means that the 2008 Atlanta

01:38Hawks are, to this day, the worst team to ever push an eventual NBA champion to an elimination

01:44game.