The Atlanta Braves and the NBA's Atlanta Hawks are kindred spirits who are supporting each other in their accomplishments this year's seasons.
That trustworthiness was evident Saturday night when many Braves fans and players not only acknowledged they were awarded of the Hawks' approaching deciding game number seven in the first round of the playoffs of the NBA, although they confessed they were rooting for the Hawks.
"I like the Hawks, I'm cheering for them," said catcher Brian McCann. "I think what they've done this year has been awesome, and I hope they go to Boston and they win Game Seven "It's cool," added Atlanta-born right fielder Jeff Francoeur. "They've got to play perfect, but the pressure is all on the Celtics. I think, no matter what, this city should be proud of what they did. Hopefully, we can start sinking some money into the team and go get a big guy," he added. "We do that, we're a two, three, four seed in this league."
John Smoltz an ace of the Braves was also excited about the game of the Hawks. "That's certainly been exciting to watch, a packed stadium, just euphoric kind of atmosphere," he said. "I'm sure they haven't been used to that during the year. They raised it to an incredible level. In Game Sevens you always know that anything can happen, but somehow, some way, I hope they feed off of this and pull off what would be one of the greatest upsets in sports."
On the other hand; Tom Glavine is rooting to whoever wins and he declares he was a little bit more of an faithfulness to the Celtics but insists giving credit to the Hawks, which has put up a good fight. So he roots for whichever team moves on. Both Glavine and Smoltz saw something similar between the Hawks this year and the '91 Braves team, who won the NL West, subsequently defeated Pittsburgh in seven games in the National League Championship Series and then loose against Minnesota in a seven-game World Series.
Glavine declared also that no one expected the Hawks getting to the playoffs and nobody expected either to take the Celtics to game number seven. So whenever someone makes an unpredicted victory or unforeseen run in general it is going to sketch a relationship of what the Braves did in 1991, because nobody including the Braves players, expected to do what they did.
Smoltz also said that the situation will be similar to the Braves '91 team if they keep going. The Braves did that by going step by step and they got to the World Series. Hopefully, the Hawks can keep going, which will be unbelievable for the fans and the city.
Smoltz subsequently offered some suggestions to the team. "If there's any one game that they have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain, this is it," said Smoltz, whose 15 postseason wins are the most of any pitcher. "They will never, ever play a game the rest of their lives where there will be this much to gain and this much not to lose. So, if you can go in with that mindset and believe that you absolutely almost know what's going to happen, willpower is pretty incredible sometimes."
