TheNorthCydeRises

Quote: I still love JJ and believe he's got the game to be a perennial all star, but I'm concerned that something's messed up in his head or his heart. Despite all the losing over the first two years he always had the right attitude and seemd to enjoy being the man on this bad team. But his attitude has been less than positive all season, and he no longer seems to enjoy being a part of this team, even though the young guys are older, we improved our talent with Horford (and Acie), and we made a move for a legit PG. He still seems put out. I can't really blame him for losing heart under these circumstances, I'm just surprised that if that's the case that it happened as our franchise started to gain some momentum as opposed to losing heart at some point during the last couple of dreadful seasons. Why don't you guys ever notice the obvious? Why does it always have to be some grand conspiracy theory on why a player struggles, or why the Hawks can't win? It was suggested right before the all-star break, that we maybe should shut JJ down for a few games. Why? Becaue he was hurting. Everyone assumes that because he isn't some vocal leader, that he's som.e sort of a malcontent or something. It could very well be that JJ's body just isn't letting him kick it into that next gear. Only former athletes will know what I'm talking about here. I tape every game I can, and you can definitey see that JJ isn't 100% when he either has a breakaway, or is on a 2 on 1 break with somebody. There's just no explosiveness there, like it was a year or two ago. He's never been a great athlete, but he looks even less athletic on some nights. He has to still be favoring that calf or leg, even if he doesn't say it publically. And he knows he can't shut himself down ( like Arenas ), because the Hawks are dead if he does. Ish, he can brely sit out during a game, without the Hawks collasping. So a 75% - 90% JJ, is better than no JJ. As for JJ not being overjoyed about the addition of the rookies, it looks like he was exactly right in wanting more VETERAN help. He's finally got it, but even that vet is more hobbled than he is, and is maybe only 65%.

Quote: He disappears when we need him, h's very unclutch, he can't guard superstar players, he's gets lockdown against double-teams. I think he would excel if he was the 3nd or 3rd option. I don't think we have to go get a superstar, I think Smoove, Marvin, or Horford need to take that next step to their game. Like I said . . Hawksquawk has VERY short memories. Year 1 of JJ in ATL: He's asked to play the point. When it is evident that it's not in the team's best interest to play the point, he's asked to be a playmaker type shooting guard. The result? He averages 20.5 ppg and 6.5 assists. When you look at the guys who scored a total of 1600 points, 500 assists, and had 100 steals that season, JJ is in a group that includes LeBron, Wade, Iverson, and Arenas. Kobe is usually in that group, but he didn't have the assists that year. Year 2 of JJ in ATL: He still has to be the playmaker on the team, seeing how our PG situation is still not settled. But he does something that no one expects, and that's really become more of a scorer. Although the season is a failure, JJ averages 25 ppg, 4 assists and 4 rebounds. He also shoots 47% FG, which is pretty high for a 2 guard/small forward that has to do it all for their team. Once again, he's in a select group of 2's and/or 3's that averaged 25 ppg or more, while shooting 47% or more. Only Wade and LeBron achieved that feat last year. Year 3 of JJ in ATL: The PG situation is still unsettled, although it is better than the previous 2 years. JJ is still asked to do everything. But this year, the shots don't fall as easy as they did in the past 2 years. More noteably, teams are looking to flat out shut JJ down, treating him like they would a megastar player. And it is immeadiately noticed by fans and media types, that JJ doesn't have the "pop" that he had in his game last year. So questions about him wearing down or possibly still being hurt come into question. This year, we've only seen flashes of the player that we've seen for the past 2 years. The big thing about JJ this year, is that he's not hitting the floater at a high percentage. That shot used to be money throughout his career. He doesn't have the lift and explosiveness thathe had last year, a lot like what you see from Wade this year. He may not admit to it, but he's not 100% folks. Some games you can see the pep in his step, but because he has to play heavy minutes in order for us to win, he'll wear down a little more easily. While he's not in the Kobe, Lebron group, he's definitely on that 2nd level. Let's see how he plays next year, before making sweeping negative generalizations about his game. It's just a shame that this fan base has always underappreciated what he's done here.

We have to survive this week. I'll give up the N.O. game if we can beat Miami twice, Charlotte, an Golden St. This team can't afford to give away any more games against equal or lesser teams. If we make a run, our run will start after next week. We have a home and home with Philly in early April. Those games also are back to back. If we're close to Philly, those are going to be the 2 biggest games of the season. Right now though, all of us are equal in the loss column, even though Philly is 2 games ahead of us in the standings.

To me, JJ is like Donovan McNabb in the eyes of most fans. A better comparison is Paul Pierce last year. Boston fans used to blame him too, because he didn't play at an all-stat level every night. Forget that the entire opposition used to focus solely on Pierce, the fans expected him to still play at a high level every game. That's not reality folks. Iverson, Kobe, T-Mac, Ray Allen, Gasol, KG, and just about evry other good player that was the sole scoring "star" of their team, has went through what JJ hs gone through this year. They've seen teams throw the kitchen sink at them, to try to limit what they can do. Sometimes they responded, sometimes they didn't. But it wasn't until each guy got adequate help, that they started to consistently win. The presence of Bibby will definitely help JJ in the long run. So will the maturation of our young players. He had a bad game ( half a game really ) guys. Simple as that But if he were to drop 27 tomorrow night, everybody will be right back on his jock. We see this all the time with Smoove, Marvin, Chill, or ( insert your favorite bench player here ). They have a bad game, and people want them traded. They have a good game, and they're future all-stars.

Quote: YES. Do you see how easily KG was scoring on our bigs and getting them in foul trouble? When I played basketball, it was very simple. Give up the harder shot. IF KG is making layup after layup... on our guys, double him and force those guys you mention to hit the harder shot. If they can hit the shot with a man running at them, they would have hit it anyway. AND... make the pass a harder pass for KG to make. When you double him, control what options he has to pass out to. I wouldn't let him pass out to House or Allen, but I would take my chances with Pierce or Perkins. And if Rondo is in the game, Rondo is shooting and I'm covering Pierce and Allen!!! I think Detroit plays Boston this week. I suggest you watch it. Detroit will show how to defend KG and they will probably hit him with a quick double.... and it will look like there are 6 defenders on the court. But that's not reality Diesel. Both Allen and Pierce heated up from 3. So just because KG was scoring, doesn't mean that you leave those caliber of shooters open to potentially blow the game open. Doc opted to go with House for most of the 2nd half. You can't double KG in that situation. And if there is one knock on KG as a player, is that he refuses to take over a game with his scoring by staying down on the blocks. And sure enough, after KG hit "lay-up after lay-up", he took two junpers that he missed, which kept us in the game. The Hawks problem last night wasn't defensively, it was offensively.

Quote: Horf (if Bibby stays around) will quickly become the lead dog on this team. Still, he had no answer for KG. KG is just on another plain. Yesterday, in the 4th, it was obvious that they could just keep feeding KG and we would never stop it. I don't know what Wood's defensive scheme was, but you have to double KG as soon as he gets the ball!!! And leave Allen, Pierce, House or Posey wide open for threes? LOL . . that's why Woody didn't do what you suggested. The Hawks get blown out if we double KG, because KG would've ALWAYS found the open man. The Hawks played that exactly how they should've.

Quote: I don't know if you saw that stat that Exodus posted but with Childress and JJ in the game together JJ really struggles, whereas he excels with Marvin in the game with him. That will be a very interesting stat to track over the remainder of the season. It's not worth having Childress in the game if he cripples JJ's game by messing up the spacing on the court. He does tend to hang out under the basket which is awesome for putbacks and passes underneath but our offense might really need Marvin out on the wing for proper spacing to be effective. I never thought about paying attention to that until Exodus posted those numbers but I will definitely pay close attention against the Warriors. Yeah I knew about that. Defensively, we tend to be a little worse as well. Bibby being on the floor should balance this out a little more. JJ does a good job in finding Marvin when the double team comes. And when Marvin is making his jumper, it's all good for us. But last night's poor shooting was not because Chill was on the floor. In the 3rd quarter, JJ missed 2 wide open 3's. Meanwile, Chill had 8 points in the quarter and could've had a huge quarter, if he'd made 2 of those lay-ups he got fouled on, and made all of his FTs. To start the 4th, JJ immeadiately took 2 tough shots that he missed. Then he turns it over going to the hole. That's when Bibby was about to check back in. I thought for sure that he was coming in for JJ, so we could go with Salim and Bibby in the backcourt. But Bibby came in for Salim. That decision didn't hurt or help us at the time because we didn't lose or gain any ground. JJ's turnover with 4 minutes to go, and us down 5, was a curious one. Instead of trying to get the ball to Horford, when Big Baby left him to go go double JJ, he tried to pass to Smoove who were under the basket and nowhere close to open. Garnett easily got the steal and the C's hit 2 FTS. I think with Bibby on the team now, JJ just needs to make up his mind quicker about taking the jumper as soon as he touches it. Just catch it and shoot it, to take the threat of a double team away, like Ray Allen does. Re-watching this game, you see how good of a defensive team that the Celtics are. They don't give up too mny easy shots. Celtics just have too many big time scoring weapons.

Without Chill last night, that game gets completely away from us. He was non-existant in the 1st half, but really came on in the 2nd. His energy kept us in that game, when everybody else was struggling.

Quote: This is a pattern of Woodson being unable to make substantial in-game adjustments. 2 questions: 1) Did Woody's lack of adjustments lose the game for us last night? 2) What adjustments would you have made, that Woody didn't make?

JJ definitely had a horrible 2nd half. The turnovers were killers. Sometimes I wish he'd just go to the hole or take his shot before the double team comes. But I see the Squawk have very short memories. Before tonight, JJ was averaging over 20 ppg and over 6 rebounds and 6 assists in his last 5 games. And he was shooting almost 60% from 3. But of course now, he's garbage.

That's probably his worst half as a Hawk. No need for the overreactions though. He'll bounce back like he always does.

Yep . . both JJ's poor shooting plus Pierce going off in the 2nd half was the difference tonight. His turnovers killed us tonight as well. Just a diasterous 2nd half for JJ.

Critical time right here. Down 6. Under 9 to go. JJ has to get it going, or either be a playmaker by getting peopl easy looks. Bibby canmt leave House open like that. Still no Marvin in the game.

Incredible that we're only down 3 here. If Zaza hits that lay-up that he blew, we're only down 1. Ok . . Woody hd Salim, Jeremy, West, Smoove, and Chill on the court at the end of that quarter. i hope that's not the group that starts the 4th.

Quote: But until then, I doubt they're gonna make a run. The Celtics are too good with those 3 on the floor at the same time. Pierce is killing us right now. Wow . . the Hawks were a stop from possibly tying the game until that last 3 by Pierce. And see Hawks fans . . this is the value of Marvin AND Chill. Marv had a good 1st half, Chill was invisible. Now Chill is playing well this half. Support both of these guys.

At least they're still battling. But if JJ stays cold, we're dead. When you get in Salim, try to do your thing. OK Smoove, no more jumpers.

Quote: Tonight is as crisp as I have seen them play this year in the half court and that includes the 2nd unit. Salim looked great while he was in there and it's really nice seeing him play and especially play with confidence. Oh well . . it was nice while it lasted. Now the Woody bashers will cry about how the guys weren't ready to start the half, even though they started the quarter just right

Quote: off of the opening tip? That looked like a play that was designed and practiced. Smoove looked like a jet rocketing to the rim like he did. No waaaaaayyyy! The players came up with that on their own. No way Woody could possibly design a play like that. Note: The Hawks are playing decent halfcourt offense as well.

It's so funny. - he still took Marvin out first. - he still took out JJ near the end of the 1st - he still tried to protect guys after they picked up their 2nd foul by immeadiately getting them out of the game ( Marvin and Horford ) - he even took out most of the starters at the very end of the half, to prevent them from picking up a cheap foul. So why no complaints about the sub patterns tonight?

Quote: Kenny the Jet said something interesting the other night about how JJ tries to get too cute with his passes sometimes and I think that our whole team tries to do that and tonight we are doing a good job of avoiding that and are having a lot of success. LoL . . then JJ throws a lazy pass to Bibby in the backcourt, then has another turnover. But he made up for it with the 3 point play in the end.

Very very nice run there. And welcome back Marvin. He's looking very good tonight on both ends of the floor.

Quote: Smoove seems to be good for every other shot and every other pass tonight. I like that he is being aggressive but I sure wish he wouldn't settle for that jumper and would drive it like he did on that big dunk earlier. Yeah I agree. Salim is keeping up with House pretty good. Can't let him get off. Ugh . . Zaza is so fuggin sorry !!

4 quick points by Salim" That's a good sign. I like when Smoove plays somewhat of a point forward from the high post. When h doesn't try to make spectacular passes, he's good in that role. Let's see if this group can play well enough to give JJ a decent breather.

Yeah ish. We are DEFINITELY going to need Salim tonight, with the way Bibby is limping. Lucky to be down only 6 right now.

He's looking to put up a big number scoring wise tonight. That's good. Marvin is playing solid D. Smoove is Smoove ( with spectacular and questionable plays ) It'll be nice if Salim can immeadiately knock down shots tonight.