🏀 Atlanta Hawks: A TRUE Underdog Story

The Atlanta Hawks have fully embraced being the underdog in this year’s NBA playoffs. [View in browser]( [FOX SPORTS INSIDER WITH MARTIN ROGERS]( In today’s FOX Sports Insider with Martin Rogers: The Atlanta Hawks don’t play perfect basketball, but they attack relentlessly and without restraint, to the point where no lead ever feels safe ... we take a look at why every day is Father’s Day for San Antonio Spurs guard Dejounte Murray ... and Miles Bridges surprises LaMelo Ball with the Rookie of the Year trophy. Numerically speaking, it doesn’t make a lot of sense, this gloriously refreshing postseason burst by the Atlanta Hawks. Who cares about sense? Forget the numbers. Ignore the expectations of how things were supposed to shake down. Embrace the fun. Atlanta’s run, headlined by the sparkling effervescence of Trae Young and the low-key stardom of John Collins, has surprised and delighted already and the best thing about it is that there’s no telling how much longer it can last. If momentum stalls, it could be just two more games, or it could be … well, who the heck knows, especially now, in the middle of the most unpredictable playoffs in recent memory. For as long as it goes, it will be something you won’t want to miss, because the Hawks don’t seem to understand the meaning of fear or pressure. They don’t play perfect basketball, but they attack relentlessly and without restraint, to the point where no lead, however well-padded, ever feels safe. [STORY IMAGE 1] “When you talk about an underdog, for a team that has no All-Stars, no All-Defensive players, no All-NBA players, this team is fighting,” Young told reporters after the Hawks’ incredible, improbable, reality-bending comeback against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night. “We’ve just had that chip on our shoulder all year and having that underdog mentality.” It is an unusual kind of chip because it appears to have made the group determined and resolute but still joyful, not angry. Atlanta plays with unstoppable energy rather than blind fury and it was enough to send them surging past the New York Knicks in the opening round, with Young targeted for taunting by the MSG crowd and responding by silencing them, time and again. Few predicted this, though, a 3-2 lead over the Eastern Conference top seed, the 76ers, who fell apart in Game 5 when they discovered that a 26-point lead and a 99.7% win percentage wasn’t enough to get the Hawks to drop their heads, quite the opposite. Young and Collins are supported by some fine pieces, like Danilo Gallinari’s calm head, Lou Williams’ clutch scoring and Clint Capela’s interior presence, and have ridden a surge in form that corresponded with Nate McMillan replacing Lloyd Pierce as head coach. [STORY IMAGE 2] That was in March and things looked a lot different back then. The Hawks were 14-20, mired in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, a team with plenty of ability and a serious dearth of backbone. McMillan instilled discipline, the group found its spirit and the players discovered they liked this new order. Since, they are 34-14, Young’s omission from All-NBA consideration is regarded as one of the bigger snubs and the Hawks are helping their fanbase forget about a dire recent postseason record. When things get tough, the Hawks turn to Young, even at times like Wednesday, when his touch had deserted him a little and he’d gone cold over the first three quarters. Never mind. Young finished with 39 points and never stopped coming for more. It instilled panic into the 76ers, who found that while the television audience enjoys seeing a spritely, pumped-up, fleet-footed point guard with ridiculous handles going for the jugular, there aren’t many defenders similarly enthralled. “This was a collapse of epic proportion,” [FOX Sports Skip Bayless said on “Undisputed.”]( “This was an all-timer.” [STORY IMAGE 3]( For sure, but it was Young and his cohorts who put the 76ers in that frozen mindset. To a lesser extent, they’d done it in Game 4, too, overhauling an 18-point deficit on that occasion. “We are kind of making a habit of this lately,” Young added. With Atlanta having traded away Luka Doncic to get Young in 2018, there have been all kinds of questions since, with the Slovenian star having blossomed into the NBA’s hottest young prospect. But with Doncic and the Mavericks eliminated in the first round, Young is finding that this playoff thing, sampled for the first time, is very much to his liking. In his first ever playoff game, Young hit the winning shot at Madison Square Garden, then was unstoppable in the series clincher. In 10 playoff games, he is averaging 29.4 points and 10.3 assists. “You couldn’t have diagrammed a better postseason debut,” [wrote the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Mark Bradley](. “Opposing fans haven’t rankled him. Opposing teams haven’t stopped him. Even after losses, Young hasn’t seemed irked. He’s having the time of his life.” [STORY IMAGE 4] [FOX Bet still has the Hawks as the least likely of the seven remaining teams to win the NBA championship]( their odds have shortened drastically, from +6000 to +1800. Seven-game series are supposed to end the hopes of the dreamers and favor the squads with all the built-in advantages. In this matchup, reality suggests the 76ers are deeper, more powerful, more experienced and better pedigreed. But they’re not hungrier, for no one is hungrier than the Hawks. It might be that no one is braver, too. And from the look of it, no one is enjoying themselves more. Maybe it’s starting to make a little sense after all. [STORY IMAGE 5]( Here’s what others have said ... Brandon Marshall, FOX Sports: “Let me show a little love to Trae Young. He was sensational ... This dude is an absolute sniper. When you got a young buck like this, a guy that has nothing to lose, he is dangerous." Lou Williams, Atlanta Hawks: “We’re a really confident group of guys who are kind of naïve to the process of winning basketball games. We never lack confidence. No matter what, we always feel like we have an opportunity to go out and give ourselves a chance to win a basketball game.” Nate McMillan, Atlanta Hawks Head Coach: “These guys just continue to show true character. Just no quit in these guys." Your Perfect Diet Could be Hiding in Your DNA Sponsored Content Want to squeeze in a few more reps on that last set? Hoping to finish that final lap with an extra kick? 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[FOX Sports MLB Writer Jordan Shusterman has the story](. - Every day is Father’s Day for Dejounte Murray, the San Antonio Spurs’ exciting, young point guard, [FOX Sports NBA Writer Melissa Rohlin writes](. - NASCAR returns to Nashville Superspeedway this weekend, a track which remains unfamiliar to many, [FOX Sports NASCAR Writer Bob Pockrass writes](. [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED] [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED]( We love to feature fun-filled videos with teammates, and that’s exactly what we have here! Check out this video from NBA TV, which shows Hornets forward Miles Bridges surprising his teammate LaMelo Ball with the Rookie of the Year trophy. Bridges hides the trophy behind Ball’s jersey and when Ball finally sees it and realizes what he’s looking at, his reaction is priceless. Well done! [VIEWER'S GUIDE] 2021 Copa America Soccer: Peru vs. Brazil (FS1, 8 p.m. ET) Neymar leads Brazil into Thursday’s Copa America clash with Peru. Brooklyn Nets at Milwaukee Bucks (ESPN 8:30 p.m. ET) Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets take on Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 6 of this second round Eastern Conference series. [BET OF THE DAY] [BET OF THE DAY] Odds provided by [FOX Bet]( Brooklyn Nets at Milwaukee Bucks: Nets -5.5 Coming off a memorable Game 5 performance where he recorded a triple-double with 49 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists, Kevin Durant will look to lead the Brooklyn Nets to a series-clinching win over Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks. Kyrie Irving will be out for the Nets in Game 6 with an ankle injury, but James Harden will be available despite his hamstring injury. Much like Game 5, this should be a close contest with Durant and Antetokounmpo taking center stage. Taking the Nets at -5.5 looks like a solid bet. [WHAT THEY SAID] “I'm just trying to be the best version of Trae Young” — Trae Young [FOLLOW FOX SPORTS] [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( Download FOX Sports App: [Fire TV]( [Roku]( [Google Play]( [App Store]( [Fire TV]( [Roku]( [App Store]( [Google Play]( Also available on these devices: [fireTV | AppleTV | ROKU | Google Chromecast | XBOX ONE | SAMSUNG Smart TV] [fireTV | AppleTV | ROKU | Google Chromecast | XBOX ONE | SAMSUNG Smart TV] Trademark & Copyright Notice: ™ and © 2021 Fox Media LLC and FOX Sports Interactive Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Please do not reply to this message. If you do not wish to receive emails like this in the future, please [unsubscribe](. FOX Sports respects your privacy. Click [here]( to view our Privacy Policy. Fox.com Business & Legal Affairs - Manager Digital Media P.O. Box 900 Beverly Hills, California 90213-0900