Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
In my mind, there are three ways you can tell a team has quit. First, the players stop doing what made them good in the regular season (Hello Josh Smith!). Then, the coach realizes he's never going to reach his team and fails to get on them for a disgraceful performance (Hello Mike Woodson!). Finally, with the season about to end, people on the team start talking about all the ways everyone around them has let them down.
It appears the Atlanta Hawks have finally reached that final stage. First, it was Joe Johnson throwing this grenade at Hawks fans after they booed the team in last Friday's blowout Game 3 loss.
"That doesn't bother me, and I hope it doesn't bother anyone in this locker room," Johnson said. "It's about us in this locker room. We could care less if [fans] showed up."
Johnson sort of backed off his comments, but then again, he kind of didn't. Besides, the shot was already fired.
Oh but don't worry, Mike Woodson one-upped Johnson today, taking a shot at management for not spending as much money as Cleveland or Orlando.
"They've all gone out and they've spent money," Woodson said. "Not that our owners haven't. They've done it gradually and we've grown gradually as a basketball team for that. Do we go to the next step? I don't know where we go."
Both Johnson and Woodson make decent points, but they also still have games left to play. The least you could ask them to do would be to save these criticisms for this summer. That way, they'd be parting shots before they both go to other teams.
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