Mike Budenholzer’s son celebrates clutch 3 on behalf of all humanity
By Dan Favale
Inside 10 seconds to play of the fourth quarter, with the Atlanta Hawks trailing the San Antonio Spurs by three, Tim Hardaway Jr. came around a screen set by Kyle Korver. Thanks to Mike Muscala shoving Manu Ginobili to the floor, Hardaway was able to escape San Antonio’s typically airtight defense, getting enough daylight to fire off a wide-open three.
He swished it, and the entire Hawks collective went bonkers—no one more so than head coach Mike Budenholzer’s son:
We’ve all been here, elated in the moment, first fist-pumping, then compelled to spin around in circles as we rub our outstretched arms. I’ve been known to react in a similar, if more flamboyant, fashion whenever the New York Knicks don’t completely suck (which isn’t often), or when my Brooklyn-style pizza feast for one gets delivered in under 45 minutes during rush hour on a Friday night.
Budenholzer’s kid probably looks more adorable than myself, and the rest of you, when doing his happy dance. And the NBA needs adorable—not to mention variety.
Player and team celebrations have become all too predictable. J.R. Smith, when healthy, and Nick Young pretend to be human airplanes. LeBron James makes the push-up motion with his arms while standing vertically. Stephen Curry, along with everyone else and their third cousin’s fourth cousin, holds up three fingers after a made triple. Kristaps Porzingis makes bedroom eyes. Kawhi Leonard remains stone-faced. Dudes fist pump. They roar along the baseline after a made dunk. Benchwarmers wave towels.
Life in the NBA’s celebration circle is so maddeningly contrived. It’s important that we get these wholesome, innocent, unpredictable moments.
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Most players are too self-aware, too adult, to let their inner-spinning child come out and play*. So thank the basketball powers that be for the Hawks’ actual spinning child.
Coach Bud’s son is here to save us all from happy-dance monotony, and we should all be eternally grateful.
*Writer’s note: Isaiah Thomas has no qualms about releasing his inner-spinning child, and we should absolutely love him/award him some first-place MVP votes for it.
The NBA is fantastic. Here’s to another five-plus months of insanity.