The Hawks lost Game 3 to the Cavs, and now they’re all-but-eliminated. No NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in a best-of-seven playoff series. That doesn’t mean Atlanta won’t become the first ever, just that the possibility they advance back to the Conference Finals for the second season in a row is highly improbable.
But Atlanta’s Game 3 ills weren’t only relegated to Cleveland’s scorching shooting from deep (the Cavs connected on 21 triples after setting an NBA record with 25 in Game 2). No, their half-time act, the Sky Squad, also failed to impress the collective crowd during their performance.
We counted four missed dunks in the video above, but here are two of them:
https://i.giphy.com/l396Ho5WXpfWuCuwo.gif
https://i.giphy.com/l0K4jgiqQwMvhLO24.gif
The very last bungled dunk attempt in the video above even had one dunker celebrate prematurely, like he was channeling Nick Young. Here’s the dunk in question, involving two Sky Squad teammates:
https://i.giphy.com/3oEjHJ9NX2nQIu1pMA.gif
And here’s his teammate celebrating to the crowd without realizing his teammate missed following through on his acrobatic alley-oop, and even landed awkwardly on his noggin.
We think the guy was OK, but this is just a continuation of what the Cavs did to the Hawks in this series. It’s not like Atlanta was playing that poorly, either.
Here’s the lede to the USA Today recap of the game:
Jeff Teague had 14 assists and no turnovers after three quarters. Al Horford was 11 of 15 shooting from the field. Atlanta shot 47% from the three-point line. Kyle Korver came out of his postseason doldrums with 18 points.
And even Al Horford got away with a charge when he posterized Kevin Love.
But Cleveland was just too hot from deep and the Hawks couldn’t compete.
Atlanta will play Cleveland in Game 4 of their conference semifinal on ABC this Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET. It might be the last we see of the Hawks this year.
(h/t reddit)
