The Atlanta Hawks are buckling down on defense, as evidenced by Monday's 80-74 win over the Orlando Magic, and one reason is D. Wilkins.
No, not Dominique, the front-office man and TV analyst who was a scoring machine in his day. (At the other end of the court, he often caught his breath rather than played breathless defense.)
His nephew, Damien Wilkins, was a serviceable NBA player, out of work since last season, when the Hawks signed him Thursday to a non-guaranteed contract. Before you could cry "nepotism," Wilkins was in Miami on Friday night, harassing (with others) LeBron James enough to limit him to 11 field-goal attempts. The Heat was held to 89 in a 12-point win that was way closer than it sounds.
Wilkins logged an effective 11 1/2 minutes in Orlando, taking care of the Magic's perimter players while four teammates, led by Jason Collins, restricted Dwight Howard to 11 shots. (Fun stat: Both he and LeBron made five baskets.)
Damien, son of ex-NBA guy Gerald Wilkins, will not make Hawks Nation forget about injured Joe Johnson, out for another month or so. But he is more than just the roster replacement.
With points harder to come by in Johnson's absence, any defensive spark will keep the Hawks alive in lower-scoring games. Players against whom he is matched up will be crying uncle.
At courtside, Uncle Dominique may even get to cry out some superlatives.
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