41.   Mutombo cannot believe the Hawks are about to make their exit.

42.   On one side are security hawks urging aggressive use of technologies that may encroach on individual privacy.

43.   Other than being in the final game of a long trip, the Hawks were about as ripe for plucking as a team could be.

44.   Perhaps the Hawks are fine, maybe even better off, without him.

45.   Second, the Hawks are boring.

46.   Rumors continue in Atlanta that the Hawks are interested in Suns forward-turned-guard Cedric Ceballos.

47.   So are foreign policy hawks.

48.   Still, some Republican hawks were heartened that Bush might be shifting away from the policy of so-called strategic ambiguity toward a more open commitment to defending Taiwan.

49.   That said, Babcock conceded that the Hawks are not finished.

50.   The depleted Hawks were without their top scorers, Steve Smith and Alan Henderson.