You know when we’re in the middle of the NBA offseason and we’re talking about past Conference Finals appearances, but the NBA offseason is at a standstill, so let’s have some fun.
Although the Hawks have been an NBA Play-in Tournament team in recent seasons, they were two wins away from making the NBA Finals in 2021. After beating the New York Knicks in five games and then upsetting the Philadelphia 76ers in seven games, the Hawks were matched up against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks, who were the heavy favorites in the series.
But that didn’t quite happen. Kevin Durant made a shot as time expired in Game 7 of the second-round matchup between the Nets and Bucks, but by a slim margin, his foot was on the line and it counted as a two-pointer rather than a three-pointer. Milwaukee won the game and went on to beat the Hawks in six games and then win the NBA championship. While the Hawks gave Milwaukee everything they could, one could even argue that if Trae Young hadn’t gotten hurt they would have won the series, would they have been in a better position against Brooklyn?
When it comes to the most iconic basketball shots of the 21st century, CBS Sports Brad Botkin class Durant’s No. 14 “toe on the line” shot and he talked about the fallout from that shot, including on the Hawks:
“One of the league’s all-time great ‘what if’ shots, Durant was literally an inch away from eliminating the Milwaukee Bucks with a remarkable turnaround shot to give the Brooklyn Nets what appeared to be a one-point lead with one second left in Game 7 of the 2021 Eastern Conference Semifinals. However, upon review, Durant’s “big toe,” as he called it, was barely on the line, turning the three-pointer into a two and tying the score instead.
If Durant wears size 17 shoes instead of 18, the Nets will likely win this game and this series and end up facing the Atlanta Hawks in the conference finals. The hypotheses can go a lot of different ways.
For one, Giannis Antetokounmpo doesn’t have a ring. Maybe Chris Paul does. Or maybe Durant gets his first ring away from Steph Curry and the Warriors, which would have given James Harden his first ring and Kyrie Irving his first away from LeBron. In that case, maybe Durant, Irving, and Harden are still playing for the Nets. Instead, they play for the Suns, Mavericks, and Clippers, respectively.
Or the conference finals play out differently and the Hawks make it to the Finals because the Nets were injured (Harden left the game after a minute and had to sit out Game 4 with a hamstring strain, while Irving missed Games 5-7 with a sprained ankle). How can you talk about Trae Young if he’s already been to the NBA Finals? Hell, the way the Hawks played these playoffs, they might have won the whole thing if the Bucks hadn’t stopped them.
Alas, none of that happened. Instead of ending the series, Durant didn’t shoot and only sent Game 7 into overtime, where the Nets failed. And the rest, as they say, is history.”
I think this is an interesting, if pointless, discussion. If the Nets were still injured going into the Hawks, Atlanta could have very well won and then gone on to face Phoenix in the Finals. Durant was playing like the best player in the league in those playoffs and the Hawks would have had no answer for him. Since that Conference Finals appearance, Atlanta has been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs twice and missed out entirely last season. While I think this team could be better this year, that series seems like a long time ago. I don’t know if their future would be different if the Nets won this series, but it probably isn’t any worse.
