TheNorthCydeRises

Or too bad that our guards can't finish at the rim.

Living at the line is what got the Hawks back into the game. Had they kept getting to the FT line, they would've won the game. The Hawks do have to make more shots though. Specifically Hardaway Jr, who is getting a complete pass from most fans right now, with the focus being on Millsap and Dwight. Hardaway isn't getting $15 a year, let alone 15 million, a year if he plays like he played on Sunday.

Agreed. The Wiz don't scare me at all. The Hawks played like crap. I don't expect to see a performance like that again this series. Bud will probably have to make a key adjustment to win the series though, whether it be playing Thabo instead of Dunleavy ( for his defense ), or giving the tougher Humphries some minutes over Moose.

But Wall shot 3 - 9 FG on midrange jumpers. So his assertion about giving Wall the midrange jumper is flat out wrong. Beal is a different story. He shoots a whopping 51% on midrange jumpers. He's a guy you MUST close out on, or make sure you fight through the screen as hard as you can. But even with Beal, you'd rather give him a ton of midrange jumpers, than to let him get hot from 3.

We have the tools at our disposal to see exactly if this is true or not. 1ST QUARTER - 3 point make over Hardaway Jr ( Millsap lost his shoe ) - Missed 3, with Millsap running out at him - Missed 18 ft jumper with Millsap on him - Dunk on a fastbreak ( in which Millsap lost his shoe AGAIN, and was putting it back on as Morris was streaking down the other end ) 2ND QUARTER - Missed 11 ft turnaround post up jumper over Ilyasova - Midrange step back made jumper, with Calderon and Dwight in the area. ( Millsap is 10 feet away, shading toward Jason Smith ) - Airballed a 16 ft jumper with Millsap closing out on him hard - Missed a tip shot off of an offensive rebound ( Millsap fails to box him out ) 3RD QUARTER - 3 point make off of a broken play ( Dwight is the closest to him, and closes hard out on him, didn't matter ) - 11 ft made jumper in the paint over Millsap - Missed 9 ft jumper ( Millsap closed out hard on Beal, who passed to an open Morris. Dwight was in the area when Morris shot the ball ) - Made a driving floater in the paint over Millsap ( poor defensive effort by Sap here ) - Missed a 13 foot jumper while going to the basket. ( Millsap had switched on Beal. Morris drove past Dennis, but was met in the lane by Dwight, who contested the shot. Wiz would get the ball, because they called a push off on Millsap on the rebound. ) - Bad turnover by Dennis leads to a fastbreak, in which Morris is rewarded by Wall with a dunk over Hardaway - A beautiful alley-oop by Wall leads to a Morris dunk right on Millsap, who was caught napping on the play - Misses a 3 pointer ( Millsap sinks into the lane to prevent a Wall drive, then closes out hard on Morris to contest the 3 ) 4TH QUARTER - Morris misses another 3 ( Ersan with the late closeout ) - Morris misses his 3rd straight 3. ( Millsap leaves Morris to keep Oubre from getting an open corner 3. Oubre tosses it back to Morris. Taurean Prince closes out hard on Morris, forcing a pump fake. Prince still contest the shot with a 2nd jump. But no one blocks out Beal, who gets the score off the offensive rebound ) - Morris misses an open 9 ft jumper ( Moose leaves Gortat and closes out late on Morris. That led to Gortat getting the offensive rebound, but came down on Prince's knee and went to the ground In all, it looks like in a direct matchup of Morris vs Sap, Markeith was 3 - 7 FG for 6 points. The problem is that those 3 makes and 6 points came in the critical 3rd quarter . . over Millsap. And it was Markeith's baskets that broke that game open. We could've survived if it were just Wall getting his points. But Wall was getting his, plus creating for others like Morris. Wall had 15 points in the quarter, while Morris had 11. Verdict: You BOTH are right. Morris didn't destroy Millsap throughout the course of the game . . but he did destroy him in the most crucial point in the game.

Wall's shotchart on the year. No red zones anywhere on this chart. He's an average to below average jumpshooter, although improving in those areas. You WANT him shooting jumpers, and not getting to the basket or creating for others.

Dwight ABSOLUTELY plays that coverage on the pick and roll against Wall correctly. Why? Because Wall was only 3 - 9 FG from the midrange in that game. What you DON'T want to do, is a) Let him get to the rim b) let him get into the lane, where he can toss a lob to Gortat or another big for an easy dunk. You actually WANT to turn Wall into a midrange shooter, because that's something that he normally doesn't do at an elite level.

Most people would say NO, but consider this. There have only been 43 players in NBA history that have scored 20,000 points in their NBA career. 33 of those guys are in the Hall of Fame. 7 other active players, plus JJ, have done it. - Lebron - Dirk - Paul Pierce - Pau Gasol - Vince Carter - Dwyane Wade - Carmelo Anthony The above players have all scored over 24,000 points and are virtual locks to be Hall of Famers. Why? Because the 33 previous players that have scored at least 24,000 points, are in the Hall. I see no reason why the above 7 players won't get in either. 5 of them have NBA Titles on their resume. The other 2 may be two of the most exciting ( Vince Carter ) and prolific scorers ( Carmelo Anthony ) of all time. The only 2 players who have scored at least 20,000, but are not in the Hall of Fame? - Antwan Jamison - Tom Chambers Right now, Joe Johnson ( points wise ) is in that bottom tier with Chambers and Jamison, with 20,033 regular season points. And like those 2, neither has a championship to put on their resume. And he's never been considered to be a top 15 player. But the one thing that may get him in, is his ability to perform in the clutch. In the past 10 years, no one has made more game winning shots ( 8 ) at the buzzer than JJ. And that's not including game tying clutch shots or shots made to put the team up in the last 20 seconds of the game. What may get JJ in, is the reputation that he will be known as one of the most clutch players in NBA history, and not all of his NBA accolades. But the 20,000 mark is an important milestone for a Hall of Fame player.

It's because Bud is in love with Moose, and prefers to play him. Moose may be better offensively ( not by much though ), but he's too soft on the defensive end and on the boards. As for Millsap, I didn't like his comments after the game AT ALL. This is the playoffs man. Man the F--K up and get physical right back at them. You're also playing for a big money contract. You better prove to the rest of the league that you're worth that money. When you get hit in the mouth, you're supposed to hit back. Hit back in Game 2.

Dwight had a great season this year. Much better than what people expected. He was easily a top 10 center in the league this season and still got his double-double. He shot a career high FG% and managed to shoot 53% FT. Had the wings on this team been more consistent and just played average, we'd be at least a 50 win team. Instead, the entire team ( outside of Howard and Millsap ) were schizophrenic as hell, which led to our yo-yo season. "Playoff Dwight" has always been traditionally better than "Regular Season Dwight". Hopefully Bud will try to establish him offensively, early in games ( hasn't done that so far in this Washington game in the first 6 minutes in the 1st quarter . . with the guards turning the ball over left and right ).

He says that he was wrong for saying that the Hawks would not make the playoffs. Then he says that the Washington Wizards will not only "beat us like a dog" ( subliminal Mike Vick reference, in my opinion ) . . . but that the Wizards will also reach the Eastern Conference Finals LOL . . . Charles will never change, even though he's in the city all the time . . . probably his making the rounds at Cheetah.

ISO MF JOE !!!! GAME WINNER. LOL . . . just took Jamal Crawford all the way down from the 3 point line into the lane and scored on a floater. That's why Quin and the Jazz wanted him.. True veteran.

Having said that . . . how about some of our old style uniforms, with our new color scheme? They would have to get NBA approval on that though. Or a Baylor style "volt green" get up?

Nah . . everybody can't rock the bald head. http://www.complex.com/sports/2011/05/the-ugliest-heads-in-nba-history/

First off . . . who is THIS? Damn. Second . . . not a fair fight. At least find someone in the same line of work. Like this lady . . .

Olivia has those "I will hypnotize you, and you will do what I say" eyes.

If Baze is under control, I actually wouldn't mind that. He's a much better defensive option at PG, than Calderon or Delaney. And it gives the Hawks the ability to go big at that position, even if they're playing "small ball".

But Bud loves Moose as well, so he'll get some run too. Lord . . he's going to try to go 11 deep . . . in the playoffs. Don't do it Bud.

Bench should be Calderon Baze Thabo Ilyasova with a quick hook on Calderon and Baze, if need be. Bud will be tempted to play Dunleavy, because of his shooting, Regular season crap isn't going to fly in the playoffs. The Cavs took us lightly, just like the Hawks took the Nets lightly when they beat the hell out of us.

If Bud thinks he can go 10 deep in the playoffs, he's going to be in for a rude awakening. The opposing team will significantly cut their rotations down, when their bench players aren't performing. You keep your best players out on the floor as much as possible. Especially with Bud having a tendency of playing all 5 bench players together. That regular season rotation stuff never works in the playoffs. Guys like Millsap and possibly Dennis, better be prepared to go at least 38+ minutes per game. I fully expect Wall and Beal to play that much, if not more.

He needs to be punched in the mouth, have all of his teeth knocked out, and have dentures put back in. I don't know why Mitch picked the Hawks. He NEVER has anything good to say about them. I guess he's just not a believer in Wall Ball.

I drank the kool aid and believed with my heart, instead of my head. I can still get to 57 wins though. Just need them to get to the NBA Finals and win a few games. Yeah, it does.