I feel sorry for Baron Davis?

ON BASKETBALL

Rarely, if ever, do I feel sorry for a guy making $13 million a year. Heck, I'd be living in utopia with a $50,000 annual salary.

But my feelings don't have stringent rules, so I'm making the rare exception tonight: Baron Davis got screwed, and I feel for him. There, I said it.

If I were Davis, this is what I would have done when I learned, Tuesday night, that soon-to-be Los Angeles Clippers teammate Elton Brand was ditching me for the East Coast, specifically Philadelphia:

I would have put my head in my hands, shed some tears and asked myself, "Why??? Why did I leave more money and talent in the Bay Area for what now resembles a mediocre team in the Dominant West??

"Maybe I should quit basketball for my budding producing career."

Seriously. When Davis shocked Golden State by leaving for the Clippers last week, he did it with the understanding that Brand -- who, like Davis, opted out of his contract -- would re-sign with L.A. to form one of the NBA's premier inside-outside duos.

In fact, everyone thought Brand would return. When he opted out of his contract, he said he intended to stay with the team. He just wanted more talent, specifically Davis, to help the Clippers be competitive in the Western Conference. The franchise, of course, hasn't always done nearly enough to put a decent product on the floor. But Brand got his wish in Davis, a dynamic point guard who can do it all -- score, pass, run the fastbreak and bring attention to LA's "other team."

The table was set for the resurgence of the Clippers -- or maybe "surgence," since they've never been any good.

And now? They'll be lucky to finish in the West's top 10 or 11. And that's even if they're able to snag high-flying power forward Josh Smith from Atlanta.

To add to Davis' misery -- and don't let him tell you he feels otherwise -- one of the Clippers' best scorers, Corey Maggette, bolted for Davis' former team, verbally agreeing to a contract with the Warriors on the same day as Brand's committment to the 76ers. Maggette's departure was expected, but combined with Brand's shocking decision, it had to be a double punch to the gut for Davis.

Recently, Davis was featured in "ESPN The Magazine" asking Kobe Bryant how to build a championship-caliber team. Last week, he put Bryant's advice in action, sacraficing money -- he could have earned $17.8 million next season with Golden State -- to join what he thought was a winning situation.

Now, all Davis can point to -- at least positively -- is that he's still moving home, and his production company should benefit from his relocation.

But he won't win more games with the Clippers than he did with Golden State, and there's no way the style of play will be as loose and fun under Mike Dunleavy's watch as it was, for the most part, under Don Nelson. Davis and Nelson did tangle at the end of last season, but primarily it was a good relationship and the Warriors played the loosest, shoot-whenever-you-want style in the NBA.

Plus, Clippers fans can't compare to those rowdy, yellow-shirt-wearing Warriors followers.

What, basketball-wise, could possibly be good about the move now? Let me try some things:

-- Davis is definitely the franchise player for the Clippers. He'll be on the cover of the media guy.

... Davis was the franchise player for the Warriors. Nothing new about this.

-- The Clippers have versatile, young wings in Al Thornton and rookie Eric Gordon to help Davis carry the scoring load.

... Wait. Didn't Davis have, like, five of these guys with the Warriors?

OK, I give up. There really are no positives except that the Clippers have cap space to go after Smith. But the Hawks could match any offer sheet L.A. makes, and even if Smith did decide to leave, he's no Elton Brand -- not even close. He can jump really high, but his post moves are as honed as Ben Wallace's free throws.

At the moment, and at least until the summer of 2009, the 29-year-old Davis is in a worse basketball situation than he was just days ago.

He was abandoned by Brand, who got A) more money; and B) the chance to fly away to the Leastern Conference. Brand's Sixers will more than likely make the playoffs in '09 and possibly even win a series or two. Their future looks bright at the moment.

As for Davis'?

Well, maybe he should focus more on his production company.

Because he sure won't be winning any championships with his new team.

Hawks lay an egg in do-or-die Game 7

ON BASKETBALL

Mike Woodson should be upset with his players.

Not because they got obliterated by Boston in Game 7 of their first-round series.

Not because their season is over.

Not because they won't be able to play another game in front of their boisterous, rejuvenated fans.

No, the Atlanta coach should be furious because his team quit. Simple as that. As the Celtics' lead increased in front of their home crowd, the Hawks played with none of the attributes that created an unlikely Game 7.

No hustle.

No aggression.

No on-court communication.

No swagger.

Nope. The Hawks played their part Sunday, helping the Celtics recreate the Memorial Day Massacre.

The Celtics have played in hundreds of playoff games. But they have never given up as few as 24 first-half points. That's what they did.

The fact that I'm writing this before the start of the fourth quarter — and the Celtics lead by 36 points — speaks to how lopsided the game has been.

From the opening tip, there was no doubt who wanted to win this game more.

The Hawks' young players acted like they were lost. Josh Smith, 22, played as if he didn't sleep last night, fumbling the ball as often as a middle-school running back. Al Horford, the runner-up in rookie of the year voting, looked slow on both ends of the floor.

Atlanta is the more athletic of the two teams, but Boston snagged every loose ball, grabbed every 50-50 rebound. Even Boston's aging guards, such as Ray Allen, beat out Smith and Horford for rebounds.

Woodson and company should be embarrassed. Sure, nobody expected them to get this far, but at least play hard, at least compete.

It's sad when your strongest play of the game comes on a flagrant foul. That's what happened when Marvin Williams took down Rajon Rondo during Boston's huge third quarter, resulting in Williams getting thrown out of the game. The contest was so out of control by that point, the Celtics didn't even bother getting in Williams' face.

He exited the court ... and the massacre continued — with the back-on-his-feet Rondo leading the way.

Even if the Hawks had come out ready to play, they wouldn't have won. Boston was too good, too on top of its game. But things might have been a little more interesting. Maybe I could have held off on writing this until the game was actually over.

(By the way, another Boston missed shot just slipped through an Atlanta player's hands into those of a Celtic.)

It's amazing to me how bad the Hawks were on the road in this series. I know they're a young, inexperienced team. But a game is a game. The court remains 94 feet long, the ball is the same, the refs are pretty fair.

The series exposed just how immature the Hawks are. They were great at feeding off the energy of their home crowd, using its exuberance to come back several times and win all three of their home games. But when no one was rooting for them, they forgot how to play basketball.

And, sadly, on Sunday they forgot how to compete. This was exemplified several times when they didn't even attempt to chase down Boston fastbreaks.

What they need is a leader, a Kevin Garnett-type player who will get in Smith's face when he plays in a coma, who will tell Horford to stop being lazy and go after every missed shot. Veteran point guard Mike Bibby would seem like the man for the job, but he didn't show an ounce of leadership Sunday. Neither did leading scorer Joe Johnson.

That needs to be addressed before next season. A team can't go an entire 89 games with 12 road wins and expect to advance in the playoffs.

No one can question Atlanta's blend of natural talent and athleticism. It has the players to improve next year and make some noise in the playoffs.

But before any X's or O's are addressed, Woodson — if retained as coach — needs to sit down with his players and address a very simply matter:

That of showing up ready to compete in every game.

(And in case you're interested, Boston leads 91-55 with 5 minutes, 24 seconds remaining.)