Article:Hawks may have pulled off rare double

In a twist stranger than the George Brett Pine Tar incident, Bartman interfering with Moises Alou and the plot for Ishtar, the Atlanta Hawks won two games against the Miami Heat on the same day. Permit me to explain, if you came in late.

This all happened back on December 19th, when the Hawks thought they had won over the Heat 117-111. That was not the case. The Heat protested the game, stating that the Hawks stats crew ruled Shaquille O’Neal —who’s now with the Phoenix Suns —had fouled out with 51.9 seconds left in overtime when he actually had only five fouls. Can we say "misremembered?"

NBA Commissioner David Stern upheld the protest, fined the Hawks $50 grand and made the two teams replay the last 51.9 seconds of the contest. Sort of reminds me of Billy Martin when Brett hit the homer in that July 24th, 1983 game. Martin had a couple of aces up his sleeve, in that  appealing the play in saying the umpires had no way of knowing Brett and the other runner had touched all the bases. Martin was stunned when the umpires produced affidavits saying they had. Maybe the NBA had the players in the make up sign affidavits saying that they were there at the time of the incident.

No matter. The Hawks not only prevailed in the mini-game, the first in the history of the league since 1983, they won the night cap 97-94.

The moral of the story, kids is this: CHECK YOUR MATH! Make sure your ducks are in a row from bill to tail. This could either propel the Hawks into a post season spot for the first time since 1999 or keep them home. Next time, guys, ignore Ernie Banks. Let's not play two.