By David Schuster–

ATLANTA (WSCR) I walked into the Atlanta Hawks locker room Thursday morning half expecting to see the team’s shrink trying to calm down their players. But that certainly wasn’t the case, as it was just the opposite of tense. Rather it was loose and there was a lot of laughter. Don’t these guys know that their backs are up against the wall and are facing elimination? Who knows, maybe they were laughing about their soon to be vacation plans. But the reality is that the Hawks still think they can win this series and the Bulls are going to have to drive the stake through them this evening.

As for the Bulls locker room, the mood was quiet as most players were speaking in hushed tones. Maybe that was their way of being focused and already locked in, but it was some nine hours before the game.

This has always been something that I have been fascinated about covering sports over the years. Trying to read the mentality of the players is not an exact science. A lot of times you can almost see into the future, but other times what you expect to happen from the body language just doesn’t materialize.

So enough of the psychic face-reading, Game 6 will just boil down to who wants it more. The Bulls definitely don’t want to have to win a Game 7 on their home floor Sunday, so they should be sky high. They also know that if they vanquish the Hawks on Thursday night, they can ready themselves for the Miami Heat on Sunday.

Basketball speaking, I think the Bulls come out tonight and assert themselves early and win by 10.