There are about 10 teams that could spend days kicking themselves for not still being alive in the playoffs and being in a position to take advantage of the weak field that remains. But to return to talking about one of the teams that is still alive...
I'm hardly unique in comparing this year's Hawks to the 1991 Atlanta Braves, but the parallels keep getting stronger and stronger for me. I attended Game 5 of the 1991 NLCS in Atlanta against Pittsburgh, and the Braves lost 1-0 in a really depressing game - you may vaguely remember that David Justice stumbled over third base on his way to scoring a run that the Pirates appealed and then had overturned, even though replays seemed to show that the cleats of Justice's shoes did barely skim the base on the way past, and the Braves never came close to scoring again. But they had to go on the road for Games 6 and 7 and managed to win them both to reach the World Series...and the Hawks get to play one of these last two games at home. I'd be surprised if they reached the Finals after what happened last night, but it wouldn't *shock* me; much depends upon Trae's ankle, of course, but if Giannis remains out for the series, even a gimpy-ish Trae should be able to challenge Brook Lopez better off the pick and roll, and the jury is out on whether the Bucks can thrive enough again on offense for 48 minutes. We'll see!