March 8, 2021 –
BY MATT EDGAR
680 THE FAN, ATLANTA – Things are starting to ramp up quite a bit in our little ole world of Atlanta sports. The Braves are more than a week into Grapefruit League play. The Yellow Jackets have won six in a row as they head into the ACC Tournament and are looking at a pretty decent seed in March Madness. We are less than two weeks away from racing being back at Atlanta Motor Speedway with our first of two races this season. Spring practice is fast approaching on The Flats and in Athens. Heck, the Masters is only five weeks away and the NFL Draft is only three weeks after that! Very exciting stuff for sure and much to look forward to as the Spring starts to blossom in the ATL.

Let me throw another nugget at you. What about out Atlanta Hawks? The Atlanta Hawks you ask? They have become an afterthought, I get that, but I have a funny feeling about this team in the second half of the season. Call it a hunch, but I’d bet money these birds make a real run in these final 36 games. By “run” I mean they play themselves into the 5th or 6th seed in the East. Between the coaching change, the team getting healthier one body at a time, and Trae Young being fueled by his All-Star snub, I really believe this team will finally reach a lot of the potential we saw when this squad was assembled in the offseason. As bad as things seemed for them in the first half of the season the Hawks are only a game out of the 8th spot and two games out of the 6th slot. If they can avoid going 2-6, or worse, on that dreaded eight game West Coast swing I feel really good about my hunch.

While we’re hooping it up, I have another hunch. I think Pastner’s’ boys make a run of their own in Indianapolis. These Jackets are peaking at the perfect time, are getting some nice rest before the ACC Tourney begins on Thursday and with their three headed monster of Wright, Alvarado & Devoe, this is the type of team set-up for real success in March! When I say “run”, I’m betting they at least make the Sweet 16. By the way, just getting into the Big Dance is definitely not enough as far as I’m concerned. If the Jackets go one & done, I actually look at the season as a failure in many ways. When you consider that four of our top five players in minutes played are Seniors, this is the type of season we were supposed to have! We’ll worry about Pastner having to start over next season down the road, let me enjoy my Spring fling first!