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Friday, May 2, 2008
Atlanta Music Scene Offers Hawks Advice
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Down 3-2 in the best of 7 series, and coming back tonight to Philips Arena, we figured the Atlanta Hawks would appreciate some hometown tips.
And who better to offer some, here, than two Atlanta music notables who actually show up to games — frequently:
“Continue to show heart [like they did in Atlanta], offensive rebound and penetrate the perimeter,” rapper-actor T.I. says. “Most importantly, keep Ray Allen inside the 3 point line and KG outside the 3 point. They’ve already surpassed a lot of expectations.”
“Keep going to the hole,” adds producer Polow Da Don (above), actually a Hawks season ticket holder. “Just drive, drive, drive! Because one thing we’ve learned about Kevin Garnett [in the Atlanta games] is he’s not as mean as people thought he was. He’s not as strong as we thought he was and he’s not as physical as we thought he was.
“I think that’s just his image. Really, he can’t check Josh Smith. Josh Smith could be LeBron James — he’s just lacked that confidence. But he stepped up and led emotionally, and by example, Saturday and Monday. And [the Hawks] are breaking and exposing Boston, because they’ve been reduced to being physical.
“Now they just have to keep trusting each other,” Da Don — always passionate — continues. “Now it’s only a question of heart. I think they’ve beat Boston already. They actually couldn’t wait to get out of here. Now we have to finish the job. As veterans, [Boston has] the experience to know how to do that. We don’t. But all the Hawks need to know is when they hit that wall, keep pushing…Keep playing with heart. Like [Josh] Childress. Like Al Horford — he stepped up and made everybody believe in our team. We’ve always had the talent.
“I went on Hot-107.9 like 10 games into this season and said that. Said that we could be in the playoffs, if we had a leader. An emotional leader. And never before in Atlanta have I seen the excitement in a crowd, just the energy that I felt… And I was there when the Falcons were making their Super Bowl run too. But Saturday night I was looking around at [rapper] Young Jeezy and everybody, [R&B singer] Ciara was texting me, it was crazy. It was like it must have been like to watch Dominique Wilkins play. Atlanta felt like L.A. for a minute.”
Pretty sound advice, in your opinion? Seen any other music celebs at the Hawks games? Plan to be there tonight?
