TheNorthCydeRises

Celtics in serious foul trouble on the frontline. Smoove should immeadiately attack the rim in the 2nd half ( lol . . since Woody has had him on the bench for about 15 minutes of PT now ). JJ tryin to get going now.

JJ and Bibby need to really step it up. They're the reason why we're down in this game. Everybody else is playing fairly well, especially Chill.

This is what people talk about with Salim. We don't have 6 minutes of straight playing time or 5 shots for him to get going. He has to be on right away and come in making shots. 0 - 2 for him off the bench right now. Bibby will be back in after this timeout . . and you might not see Salim for the rest of the game.

Hmmmm . . Bibby still in. Edit: Or maybe not. Salim in. He needs to hit his frist shot.

We're OK, outside of the 2 fouls on Smoove. See if Woody keeps him on the bench the entire game. Wow @ that turnover by Marvin. Down 8 . . could've been much worse. OK, with Smoove with 2 fouls, and Bibby not taking a rest yet, let's see if Woody opts to go with the JJ - Chill backcourt, or if he'll insert Salim or Law into the game to start the quarter.

LOL . . so far so bad. Interesting to see Boston immeadiately double Bibby, to get the ball out of his hands. Just have to weather this initial storm here.

Uh oh .. . did i see Zaza jumping out to greet JJ, like he's in the starting lineup? Damn Woody . . don't do this. I hope my eyes were deceiving me. Then again, this might be the adjustment of the year. But I hope what I was was wrong. Good Lord.

Playoff basketball folks. Philly is matching the intensity of Detroit, especially on the defensive end. I pray that we're right where the Sixers are right now in the 4th.

If the Hawks play as hard as the Sixers are playing right now, I will have few complaints about tonight's game. Might as well make this the official game thread, for those of us that want to post about the game while watching it. I hope the Sixer game doesn't go to OT.

Quote: Because for the first round, they allow local cable affiliates to carry the games as well. For example, here in PA, Comcast Sports Net in Philly is showing the 76ers game. You can get the local announcers. You have a choice. NBA has been this way for a few years. But what so I know? I only work for the cable company. OK. I guess here in Tennessee, we'll get the TNT broadcast only, because SportSouth is currently showing the U. of Tennessee Orange and White spring football game. It's only in the 2nd quarter right now and won't be over before the Hawks game starts. That means the people in the "local" Hawks area should get their choice of SportSouth or TNT.

I know that KG is a team player. I just said that Minny fans say that he wasn't a clutch performer. Yes, he definitely hasn't had a supporting cast over the years. - a young Stephon Marbury - Tom Gougliatta - Terrell Brandon, who ended up being injury prone and out the league - Wally Szczerbiak - Sam Cassell - Latrell Spreewell Only Cassell and Spree were able to help him get past Rd 1. If I'm starting a team, and i have to choose between KG and Duncan, I'm taking Duncan without even hesitating.

I agree that Shan couldn't dominate the D-League like Jeremy could. Jeremy's overall offensive game is better than Shan's. But people have to keep in mind that ATL isn't the only place Jeremy has played. He's been with Portland and San Antonio as well. That means he's been under some good coaching. So that also means that Jeremy has a MAJOR flaw in his game. And that flaw is on the defensive end of the court. That's the main reason why he doesn't play for us.

Well why would there even be a SportSouth listing for the game then? If you see Hawks live on SportSouth starting at 7 pm cdt or 8 pm edt, that may be an indication on where the game will be in your area.

Yeah i rather have Shan, because I think he can defend a little better than Richardson. J-Rich is virtually clueless on D. At best, I see Shan being a Wesley Person-like player. He's one dimensional though. Don't expect him to be able to do anything else but shoot the 18 - 25 foot jumper.

Duncan is better than KG. Duncan has the skill to be a 25 - 30 ppg scorer anytime he wants. But because he's such a team player, he'll sacrifice some of his offensive game, in order to make his teammates better. When Duncan as hurt, the Spurs are a borderline garbage team. None of those guys, outside of maybe Ginoboli, could be the lead star on a team. All of those players have the luxury of hardly ever playing against a double team because of Duncan's presence. The one complaint Minnesota fans had with KG, was that he wasn't clutch. He'd either defer to other people to make a key shot, or he'd missed the key shot . . almot every time. Luckily for KG, he has Pierce, Allen, and Cassell to take the big shots for him.

Yeah I'm definitely hyped about this game. Even if people think we have no shot tonight, I don't know how any true Hawk fan isn't really looking forward to see tonight's game. One thing about this team, they won't be afraid of Boston. The last two losses to them had as much to do with us just not executing, as it did Boston doing what they needed to do to win thoe games. I'm truly looking forward to see how JJ and Bibby approach this game. And I want to see if Smoove will play like he's playing for a MAX deal. This series will determine how much in demand he'll be in the offseason.

They have since Bibby came to the Hawks. They tend to make that extra pass to find the wide open shooter.

I thought Hoodstar was going crazy when I read this yesterday, until about 20 minutes ago. I'm 300 miles away from ATL, and here's what my cable listings says: It's saying that tonight's game will be shown on BOTH TNT and SportSouth. But get this. The current game being played right now between the Braves and the Dodgers is also listed as being shown on BOTH TBS and SportSouth . . . . . . but the TBS broadcast of the game is BLACKED OUT. Here's exactly what it says on TBS on the screen: "Due to Major League Baseball requirements, tonight's Dogers vs Braves game has been blacked out in the LOCAL area. Scheduled programming will resume at the conclusion of the game" So i think there is a possibility that tonight's game may indeed be shown on SportSouth to some of us in the South, whether it be to you guys in Metro ATL or to those of us around the rest of the South. If you don't get SportSouth, you'll definitely see the game on TNT. The question is, will somebody get to see a simucast of the game on 2 networks, or will you get to see only one network, which might be SportSouth, depending where you live. I have to say this though. Game 5 of Nashville vs Detroit, which was scheduled to possibly be shown on Versus, was shown on FSN South instead . . with the regular Predators announcers doing the game, along with FSN South graphics. Even though I'm in Tennessee, I am considered to be in the "local" area coverage of Braves baseball, with only the Nashville Predators getting priority over the Braves when they are scheduled to be shown on FSN South. This is why one of the networks for today's Braves game isn't showing anything. * * * * * * * Now during the season, my cable listing routinely showed that the Hawks games would be shown on FSN South, but I never get that game. I only get the SportSouth Hawk games ( about 70% of the time, with the chance of seeing a Mon - Thur Hawk game on SportSouth being at 50% ). To see FSN South Hawk games, I have to go to a sportsbar or watch the game online. For all of you in the ATL metro area right now, check and see if the Braves game is being shown on BOTH TBS and SPORTSOUTH. If it is, there may be a chance that you'll get BOTH the TNT and SportSouth coverage. I know for Tennessee Titan home Monday night football games, the game will be shown on both a local channel, and on ESPN. This may be the case tonight. For those of us outside ATL, I think one of the channels will be blacked out. This will be interesting. It would suck if some of us couldn't see the TNT broadcast. But I think this may happen to somebody tonight.

Quote: The truth is, you described the 2000 Philly team. If our team were to try this approach, we wouldn't have a shot at game one, two, three, or four. The key to winning a playoff game or series is to do what you do - better. We have enough talent to beat this team - but not the way you described. 1) If we ask Joe to take 41 shots - then nobody else is involved in the game. We play better when Joe is a part of the offense and the ball is being swung around the perimeter. The Go Joe offense takes everyone out of the game, puts a double on Joe, and we lose. Pound, I only used the Philly example to illustrate that a team that everyone writes off for dead, can actually steal the 1st game of a series. There have been many other road teams that have won Game 1, with their star player playing like a superstar. LOL . . I don't want JJ taking 41 shots, but he may have to take 20 - 25 shots. I don't know what Hawks team that some of you watch, but this team almost has no shot at winning a game, if JJ doesn't score 25 points or create 35 points total. Some of you act like we have this great balanced offense in which JJ doesn't have to look to be the main scorer all the time. Just go back at our 37 wins, and see how manu times that JJ not only led us in scoring, but also scored 25+ points in doing so. The GoJoe offense is only bad when JJ is missing a ton of shots. Otherwise, it's the reason why we win games. Quote: 2) The only advantage we have over Boston, the only advantage is our ability to get out and run. Josh, Josh, Marvin, and Al need to wear down those old legs of Boston. That might be the only way we get them to miss a jump shot. Once again, this is the playoffs. Even a running team like Phoenix can't run up the score like they usually do, because the defense becomes much tougher and the refs may or may not call the game like they do in the regular season. In fact, they let more things go. I'm not saying that the Hawks shoudn't try to run. What i am saying is that Boston isn't going to let us run like we want, and we're going to have to execute in the 1/2 court. That's when you put the ball in Bibby and JJ's hands, and let them either create opportunities for others, or take the shot themselves. Quote: 4) Again, this notion that we have to sacrifice everything we have done to succeed against the Celtics is just plain short sided. We have to commit as TEAM to defend the perimeter. We lost the last two games to Boston becuase they were making it rain from three. I don't see how one individual can defend the entire three point arch. Now what are you talking about? I'm not talking about one guy playing ALL of the defense. I'm talking about a guy ramping up his individual defense and taking on the challenge of possibly slowing down one of the star players. If we reduce the need to double KG on the block, by Smoove, Horford, or Marvin playing solid man defense on him without needing any help, those perimeter guys don't get open. And on the perimeter, guys have to know who they are guarding. You don't sag off of a 3 point shooter, even if he's 26 ft from the basket. But in the playoffs, you usually have one guy that really elevates his play on defense. THAT'S what I'm referring to. Quote: 5) I think the only way we win a game or this series is that we get more than expected from our top 7. We have to hope that the bright lights of playoffs will pull the best out of Josh Smith. Think about the coming out parties that Tracy McGrady, Mano Ginobli, Chancey Billups, Josh Howard, and John Starks have made. Josh SMith needs to sieze the moment. I expect Smoove to elevate his game, that's the reason why I didn't mention him. But think of what Daniel Gibson did for Cleveland in last year's playoffs. No one saw that coming. That's the kind of unexpected play I'm talking about. Or like when Brian Williams ( Bison Dele ) played like a man possessed, getting double-doubles all throughout that Denver vs Seattle series in 1994, when #8 Denver beat #1 Seattle. Quote: 6) The good thing about the Celtics is that they have Doc Rivers. He is no better of an NBA coach than Mike Woodson. LOL . . the vast majority of Hawksquawk will disagree with you. Quote: 8) We do need to play tough - but we can ill afford to have Al make any silly fouls. He is worth more to us on the floor than he is on the bench just to make a statement. If the game gets too ugly, however, we stand to lose much more than Boston. They run 10 deep and have a big three. We run 7 deep and have a big one. The thing about bringing out the goons is that you have to expect they will bring out theirs as well. And when that happens the advantage goes to Boston. I agree. That's why i think Zaza is going to have to be the mini-enforcer in game 1, or in one of these games. If Horford gets in early foul trouble, we're really going to have to do the previous 7 things I listed. ( LOL @ Diaw missing that lay-up in the Spurs game right now in double OT. Weak azz. )

1) Your star player has to play like a SUPERSTAR Back in 2000, in the Lakers vs Sixers series, almost everyone predicted that the Lakers would have no problem and sweep the Sixers in 4 games. They did win 4 straight to win the title, but the Sixers shocked the world and won Game 1. Iverson dropped 48 points ( by taking 41 shots ) on the Lakers that night. For the Hawks to have any chance in Game 1, or in any game this series, JJ must turn into what I call "Joe-zilla", the superstar version of JJ that terrorizes people like Godzilla used to do to Tokyo. He must be a DOMINANT offensive performer with his scoring and with his playmaking ability. We're going to need 25 - 30 points plus 6 - 10 assists from JJ to win a game or two . . or possibly more. He has to be the best or the 2nd best player on the floor at all times. If he disappears shooting wise, we'll get blown out. If he plays great, and does the unthinkable and leads us to beat the Celtics in the series, he should be forever known as The Boston Strangler. 2) In the playoffs, games tend to slow down, so you MUST execute in the halfcourt offense. The defense gets hella tight when the playoffs come around. Execution in your halfcourt offense is MANDATORY this time of year. Fortunately with Bibby, that has been less of a problem than it was before the All-Star break. JJ's ability to find the open man, and especially a shooter like Bibby, enables us to get good looks at the basket. Of course, we don't want Smith settling for jumpers that Boston gives him. We'd rather see him attacking the rim and forcing KG or Perkins to make a play on him. Don't be surprised if you see Horford handle the ball a little more in the high post area, and see the offense run through him. For a big man, he has pretty good vision and can find the open jumpshooter. 3) You MUST rebound the basketball, especially on the defensive boards, to prevent 2nd chance points. This is a reoccuring problem with this Hawks team. We can play great defense and get a stop, only to see a long rebound go back to our opponent. It happens way too many times with this team. The commitment to secure defensive rebounds should be paramount in Game 1. And while we love to run, you have to make sure you have the ball first, before you run. I really don't want to see any 6 rebound efforts from Smoove or Marvin only grab 3 - 4 rebounds. Those cats MUST hit the boards. As my sig says via the great Pat Summitt: Offense sells tickets . . Defense wins games . . Rebounding wins championships.. 4) Someone may have to sacrifice some of their offensive game, in order to be a force on the defensive end Offense is nice, but you must play defense in the playoffs. You can't get caught up in just scoring, while not exerting effort to play defense on the other end. For the Hawks, the obvious choice would be for Josh Smith to really make his presence known on defense, before looking to get a lot of points on offense. It would be no surprise to see him change his mindset a little. A guy that may have to do it though, is Marvin Williams. He's the guy that's going to be matched up against both Paul Pierce and sometimes KG. A decent defensive showing against both guys, can keep the Hawks in the game. 5) Someone unexpected has to make a huge impact on the game, not just play their normal game. With the Hawks going virtually 7 deep, we pretty much expect those 7 guys to do their thing. So an unexpected event could be Marvin starting the 1st half red hot . . like 7 - 8 FG. Or Horford going toe-to-toe with KG and getting a double-double in that first half. Or a Zaza being able to score and get a few key "and-1's" against the Celtics' frontline in the 2nd half. Or Chill's ability to get to the hole, creating easy baskets for us to keep us in striking distance or extend a lead. But if he plays, it may be Salim and his ability to knock down shots in a short timespan. 6) Can the coach direct a player to exploit a mismatch? When the Hawks go big, and put a . . . JJ, Chill, Marvin, Smoove, Horford lineup in the game, can the Hawks use that matchup to exploit possible mismatches. Rondo is a great perimeter defender, but there is no way in hell he can defend a 6-7 . . 240 JJ down on the block, or even a 6-8 Chill down there. Conversely, they may try to do the exact same thing to a Salim, if he were to enter a game. A lot of times in the playoffs, a game is won or lost based on which team can exploit a mismatch. It's the one area of strategy ( or adjustments ) that people say that Woody is the weakest in. If that's the case, it will be HIGHLY VISIBLE in the playoffs, and the commentators will either rip him or prasie him for what he does. 7) On the road, you MUST make your free throws. And you must make virtually ALL OF THEM in the 4th quarter. The biggest way to stop momentum or extend a lead, is to get to the FT line and make your damn free throws. When you look at that Boston game last Saturday, Boston shot 26 - 29 from the line. We shot 15 - 24 from the line. As Obi-Wan-GrayMule always points out . . . YOU MUST MAKE THOSE FREE THROWS!! On the road in a playoff game, you can't afford to leave any points off the board. 8) Who is willing to commit that one hard "playoff foul" on the other team's "star" player, that sets the tone for the series? It happens in every series. It's either an intentional foul, or just a bad looking foul in which someone goes hard after a player, but is out of control when they go after him. On past great squads, you knew that guys like Charles Oakley, Kurt Rambis, Anthony Mason, Dennis Rodman, or a Bill Laimbeer wouldn't mind at all giving up that type of foul. In today's "soft" NBA, that foul can get you ejected or suspended if you don't go after the ball. But it is still a necessity in playoff basketball. So the question is . . . who will commit that hard foul on a KG or a Pierce as they go to the hole? If we still had Lorenzen Wright, or even a Shelden Williams, I'd say one of those 2 guys would do it, especially Lo. But right now, I say it will be ZaZa. Horford is definitely willing to do it, but he's too important to what we do here. ZaZa is the guy who is big enough to commit a hard foul on somebody, just to let the Celtics know that "We're not f-----g around with you cats. We're not going to just lay down and die for you. We came to play!" That should be ZaZa's role . . . be the banger. If you foul, make it a "GOOD" FOUL.

LOL @ Anakin. Belkin wearing Celtic green and in a luxury suite with Danny Ainge or somebody from the Celtic brass. Wouldn't that be some ish. If that happened, Stern should immeadiately step in and exert whatever influence he has to get Belkin out from under our skin.

Quote: Quote: But I will say this, as soon as we win the title this year, we're going to sit down and discuss it. I promise you that. W T F LOL. . . Woody must've made a deal with the devil or something. Maybe he's going to be like Tonya Harding, and hire somebody to whack KG's knee with a crowbar when he comes to Philips next Saturday. I like that talk though. He has to talk like that, so that his players can somewhat believe it. As an athlete, even when everyone says that you're overmatched, you still believe that you can possibly get a win, if you execute. It would be sweet to knock off another New England team that everyone thinks is just going to run ruffshot through the playoffs.

Quote: Quote: When AJ and Lue was traded for Bibby, Acie should've kicked the door down and played well enough to stay in the rotation, but he didn't. LOL your revisionist history is pretty funny. Acie got hurt in Bibby's second game with us. Acie sat out for nearly a month. If there was ever a time to let Salim "audition" for the role of lead scorer off the bench that was it. My "revisionist" history is right on point. Woody went to Salim the very minute Acie went down in February. But as soon as Acie came back, Salim went right back to getting zero minutes. 2/22 through 3/10. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/gamelog?playerId=2786 At that point, it was up to Acie to do what he was supposed to do in the spot minutes he received in March and April after he came back from injury. I'm a big of an Acie fan than anybody on this board, but he was just too passive at the point in the minutes he did receive. That's when Woody decided to give some of the minutes he was allocating to Acie, and giving them to Chill. Now, Woody doesn't trust Acie to get the job done, and he may be seeing if he can possibly trust Salim again as a scorer off the bench. Salim didn't do anything in those final 2 games to hurt his case for more PT. So in Woody's mind, Salim may be the guy to go with in those 5 - 15 minutes he used to play Acie in.

Quote: Quote: no matter how you look at it 37 wins in a weak conference is lame and certainly below what i expected. I predicted 42 wins in preseason so obviously i was way off. I am in the same boat - 42 win prediction and at the end of the season I definitely think that number was acheivable (especially with the Bibby trade). When we made the Bibby trade, we were 22 - 28, and about to go on that road trip out west after the all-star break. If you look at our schedule from that point on, we did drop some games that we should've won . . but we won some we had no business winning either. The last 2 losses don't phase me too much, because JJ and Bibby weren't playing their normal minutes. If they do, we probably beat both Orlando and defintiely Miami, putting us at 39 wins. We dropped too many games before that Bibby trade, that we should've won, especially at home. We lost 3 OT games to Seattle, Washington, and Portland at home before the Bibby trade. Plus we lost a game to a depleted Cavalier team back in February. We really should have about 30 home wins. So there goes your 42 wins, if you add those 4 games we flat out blew, plus the 12 road wins we got this year.

Quote: Quote: LOL . . Woody is a lot dumber than I realize. If he is indeed seeing if Salim can be a primary scorer off the bench, it might change the dynamic a little vs Boston. corrected He has had Salim for 3 years and now, two games before the playoffs, he decides to let Salim audition as the primary scorer off the bench? I think he is, because now he doesn't trust Acie. In the past, with Lue here, it was easy to keep Salim buried on the bench, because both guys basically did the same thing. Now, it's kind of different. When AJ and Lue was traded for Bibby, Acie should've kicked the door down and played well enough to stay in the rotation, but he didn't. Now I think Woody is looking at possibly Salim to crack the rotation against Boston.