Hawks co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. has learned that in today’s world no place is “off the record.” In a world of cell phone cameras nothing done in public is hidden.
Gearon was speaking at a charity event in Atlanta that had nothing to do with the Hawks on Wednesday. Maybe he thought this wouldn’t be public, but it turns out the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Falcons writer was there and he got a recording of what Gearon said.
As every fan and owner does, he played the “we don’t get enough national respect” card, but he threw in a shot at KG for fun.
“Did you see what Al Horford did last night? The timeline for recovery for his injury is another three months. He’s not even supposed to be playing and Josh [Smith] should not be playing. Zaza [Pachulia] can’t stand up, but if we can get past this round there is a chance that we can get him back. So this is a team that is overcoming adversity. I wish . . . some of the national media or even some of the local media, more the paper than the TV guys, recognize how hard these guys are playing based on how injured they are.
“On top of all that, we don’t get any calls, which I know everybody always hears. But I’ll give you a stat. Last night, we are playing this old physical team. They are old. I know what happens when you play basketball, old guys foul. [Kevin] Garnett is the dirtiest guy in the league. We are playing Boston last night and they had two fouls the whole first half. We had five times that and we’re athletic.”
Is calling KG dirty really a shock to anyone? Even KG? Elbows and cheap shots are part of what he does. Intimidation and physicality is part of his game, particularly if you are an undersized guard.
People will talk about this being bulletin board material… no it’s not. First off, nobody has bulletin boards in the locker room anymore. They could put video of his comments on the high def televisions, but there is no corkboard to stick things on.
Second, the Celtics don’t really need this for motivation. Do you really think KG is going to be more fired up for Game 6 because of this? He’s fired up because Horford being back does change the series and Game 6 is really their Game 7 — if Boston has to travel back to Atlanta they are in trouble. What a rich guy in a suit said is not the motivating factor here.
Finally, if you want to get more calls tell your team to attack the rim and stop settling for jump shots.
And by the way Gearon, we all realize what Horford is doing. Him not playing is why I picked the Hawks to fall to the Celtics in the first place. His return changes everything, it just may not be enough to get out of the hole the Hawks dug themselves.
