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The Atlanta Hawks have let coach Mike Woodson go after advancing to their third straight playoffs.

Woodson’s contract had expired Monday, and the Hawks decided to go in a new direction for their coach.

Woodson’s Hawks had advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the second consecutive season, winning 53 games in the regular season, beating the Milwaukee Bucks in seven games before being swept by the Magic, as Orlando recorded the largest margin of victory in any four-game sweep in NBA postseason history.

The Hawks won 47 games last season, and had improved on their record every season since Woodson’s first with the team in 2004-05, when they won just 13.

Click here to read the full article – By of ESPN.com

Tom Glavine thought of his rocky first full season with the Atlanta Braves when the team announced Tuesday it will retire his number.

Glavine’s highlights with the Braves included two NL Cy Young awards and the decisive win over the Cleveland Indians in the 1995 World Series.

Before he enjoyed five seasons with 20 or more wins with Atlanta, Glavine went 7-17 in 1988. He says at that point there was no way he could know his No. 47 would one day be retired by the team.

“It’s not something you ever envisioned and not something I ever envisioned, certainly with the way my career started in Atlanta,” Glavine told The Associated Press.

The Braves will induct Glavine into the team’s Hall of Fame and retire his number on Aug. 6 before a home game against the San Francisco Giants.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

Jamal Crawford already got what he wanted most — a trip to the playoffs. On Tuesday, he picked up an extra reward for his unselfishness.

After willingly accepting a backup role for the first time in his career, the Atlanta Hawks guard was named the NBA Sixth Man of the Year in a landslide.

“You have to check your ego at the door,” the 30-year-old Crawford said. “It’s all about winning. You do what you’ve got to do.”

He had never been on a winning team until he was traded to Atlanta by the Golden State Warriors last summer. Of course, the deal came with a caveat: The Hawks wanted Crawford to come off the bench, which was quite a change for someone who had been starting his whole life, from youth leagues to the NBA.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

Even after signing Dunta Robinson, the Atlanta Falcons were still focused on defense in the NFL draft.

The Falcons selected Missouri linebacker Sean Weatherspoon with the 19th overall pick Thursday night and believe he’ll make an immediate impact on a unit that was ravaged by injuries, didn’t get much pressure on the quarterback, and gave up a huge amount of passing yards.

“We were very excited to have the opportunity to take an outside linebacker who’s going to ramp up our speed, our enthusiasm, our athleticism,” general manager Thomas Dimitroff said. “In our minds, this guy is going to be a four-down player for us.”

Weatherspoon was thrilled, too.

“I’m a falcon!!!” he tweeted before his selection was even announced.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of http://www.gainesvilletimes.com

High-flying Josh Smith dominated on the inside. Joe Johnson stepped up from the outside when the Hawks needed him.

The result: Atlanta has a 2-0 lead in a best-of-seven series for the first time in 40 years.
Johnson took control in the fourth quarter to finish off a 27-point effort, Smith finished one assist shy of a triple-double and the Hawks ran away from the pesky but outmanned Milwaukee Bucks for a 96-86 victory in the Eastern Conference playoffs Tuesday night.

Smith played as though he’s still upset about being snubbed for the All-Star game, when teammates Johnson and Al Horford were selected but he stayed home. He’s certainly a player capable of taking control of a series in many ways, as he demonstrated with his 21 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists, not to mention two blocks and two steals.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

Rick Dudley knows a thing or two about putting together a winning hockey team from his stints in Buffalo, Ottawa, Tampa Bay and Chicago.

He’s taken on another major project with the Atlanta Thrashers, a team that has made the playoffs only once in its 11-year history and faces questions about how long it can survive in this city.

Dudley was promoted to general manager Wednesday, part of a wide-ranging shakeup in which previous GM Don Waddell was bumped upstairs to team president and coach John Anderson was fired.

Despite all the changes, Dudley doesn’t believe it will take that long for the Thrashers to become a perennial postseason franchise — and put aside that speculation about going elsewhere.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

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Today’s regular-season finale for the Atlanta Hawks is more about the future.

“Win or lose, it’s important that we play well,” coach Mike Woodson says of the game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. “We’re a young team still learning to win at a high level.”

Woodson led the Hawks to their first playoff appearance of the decade in 2008, taking the eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics to seven games in the first round. Last season, Atlanta advanced to the second round.

The goal is to at least make the Eastern Conference finals, which could require upsetting the No. 1-seeded Cavaliers or the No. 2-seeded Orlando Magic.

Click here to read the full article – By J. Michael Falgoust of USA Today

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The first thing Bobby Cox said to me after the game was, “Don’t expect miracles now.”

And part of me felt like saying, “You mean we shouldn’t expect Jason Heyward to hit 162 homers and drive in 648 runs this season? Why not? He’s on pace to do it.” But the bigger part of me said (grudgingly), “Yeah, you’re right.”

We waited long to see what the new guy could do, and with his first swing he gave us reason to believe. But baseball, as we know, is a game of failure. The best hitters make outs seven times in 10, et cetera. And Heyward, who’s the best-looking rookie any of us has ever beheld, is nonetheless a rookie.

He won’t hit 162 home runs in 2010. He might not hit 25. (He had only 29 homers in the minors.) We — and I plead guiltier than anyone — spent yesterday falling all over ourselves to gush, but in the cold light of Tuesday morning we — and I’m talking to myself here, too — have to remember: The guy’s 20; he hasn’t yet figured out everything.

Although it must be said that the least surprised person at Turner Field on Monday was … Jason Heyward. Someone asked if he’d ever dreamed of hitting a home run as a Brave, and he almost laughed off the question. “If I played here in my home town, I’d hope I’d hit a home run in 81 games,” he said.

Click here to read the full article – By Mark Bradley of Atlanta Journal Constitution

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The Hawks, who will play the Cavaliers in Atlanta on Tuesday night and in Cleveland on Wednesday night, made the playoffs last year, but their 47-35 record did not scare any of the Eastern Conference’s elite teams.

By the time the Hawks met the Cavs in the playoffs, they had been slowed by a seven-game series against the Miami Heat and were swept in four games.

This season’s Hawks, led by Joe Johnson (21.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game), are playing at a higher level. They are 21-8 and showing no sign of drop-off.

They rank fourth in scoring and lead the NBA in point differential in their victories.

The Cavs still make their name on the defensive end of the court. They rank second in the league in field-goal percentage allowed, a fact that has contributed greatly to their four-game winning streak, three of which came at the end of a West Coast road trip.


Click here to read the full article – By George M. Thomas of Beacon Journal

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