TheNorthCydeRises

Melo's conscious: I hate Phil Jackson . . and I want to blow up on him. People keep holding me back. But if keeps taking that slick (( bleep )), I'm going to do it. And all hell will break loose. He's not going to blame ME for this (( bleeped )) up roster that he constructed or this TRIANGLE that doesn't work in a league full of slashing guards and spot up shooters. The backstory What led to Phil's comment . . . is this article by Ding . . . blasting Melo's desire to win or change his ways. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2691601-phil-jackson-knicks-stymied-by-wanting-carmelo-to-be-something-he-is-not The situation in New York is about to hit a critical point. Either Melo will ask for a trade, or Phil Jackson will force himself to get fired. The Hawks only have one shot at this. Take your shot NOW Wes and Bud. This team is too inconsistent offensively to contend for anything, as currently constructed. If it doesn't work, we can put ourselves in position to completely reset in 2 years . . . which would be a disaster financially to the franchise, but an option we can do. Toss those draft picks at New York + Baze + Splitter . . . and see if they'll bite. Continue to do it, when no one else is offering anything close to this. Do nothing, and we accept our 2nd round rate as fodder for the Cavs . . or some other team playing better than us.

If we don't watch out, we may be the 7th seed. Pacers are surging and are only 1/2 game back.

It's the THABO EFFECT. Record of the Hawks with Thabo in the lineup: 26 - 18 Record without Thabo in the lineup: 4 - 4 In the year that you talked about when the Hawks went to the ECF 2014 - 15 Record with Thabo: 43 - 9 Record without Thabo: 17 - 13 In a game like last night, we needed someone who can slow down the great Gordon Hayward. Bembry can't be expected to shut down a borderline All-Star like Gordon. And Baze is simply incapable of doing it. So from a perimeter defense standpoint, it's Thabo or bust. When he comes back, he needs to star and Baze needs to go to the bench . . . or have a quick hook if he's playing bad, and put THJ in Baze's place.

So who is going to slow down "White Joe Johnson"? I think you need to step up sir

The irony of the Hawks making a tremendous comeback in HOUSTON on Thursday to win the game . . . only to see the Falcons lose in similar fashion in HOUSTON, for the worst loss ever, 3 days later.

This one is the perfect gif. Want to cry because you're so disappointed, but can't bring yourself to it because you have too much pride.

I'm not a Falcons fan, but I can't imagine the feeling that true Falcons fans are feeling right now. I had a similar feeling back in 1988, when Joe Montana drove down for the game winning drive against the Cincinnati Benglas. But this is far worse than that loss I experienced. To have complete control of the game going into the 4th, only to lose it without scoring another point, is unbelievable. Brady's legacy is complete. He should retire right now, to be honest. Once again though, my sympathies to all of you Falcons fans. I know you guys and the city wanted this so bad.

Did I call that or what?

He has shown glimpses of this is previous games. And unlike Prince, he doesn't get lost on defense by ball watching, although he did struggle early on with fighting through picks. The Hawks were down 20 with 8:28 to go, when Bembry made those 2 baskets. And on the 3 pointer by Hardaway Jr that cut it to 2, it was Bembry who fought hard for a defensive rebound, pushed the ball up the court himself, and found THJ with a cross court 1-handed pass. His best play of the night though, may have been the steal ( or forced bad pass ) after the Hardaway dunk. Instead of getting back on defense, he immediately runs toward Harden. Capela thought he could just casually toss the ball in to Harden after the dunk. But Bembry's hustle and IQ forced that turnover which essentially sealed the game for the Hawks. The icing on the cake was the final basket, in which even the players were confused if Ariza had made that 3 to tie the game. But not Bembry. He goes down the court, and gets behind a clueless James Harden. And once Baze figured things out, he passed to Bembry for an easy dunk to end the game. Despite the fact that Bembry doesn't have a reliable 3 point shot, he has to play. And if he can handle the ball and make good decisions with passes, I agree that Bud has to consider him to be the possible backup PG, especially when Delaney is playing like garbage ( like he was last night ). His defense and basketball IQ is just too good to keep off the court. Plus he can score the basketball, if allowed to look for his offense. Maybe the situation for the Hawks rookies in the near future will see Bembry be the defensive / offensive slasher ( like Thabo does at times ), and Prince be the offensive first player, who may be a liability on defense. Good job man.

To pay Hardaway Jr, we may have to part with Millsap.

Sonya is 50 yrs old . . . going on 35

Ayesha: "Whoa. Whoa. WHOA!!! I was only defending my man! And like a regular fan, I think the NBA and refs are against my team whenever we get bad calls!! Plus they wouldn't let us off the bus in Cleveland before the game, over some bull s-it!! I hate them!! And Steph gets pushed and beat up all the time and gets no calls, while Lebron gets ALL the calls!! And another thing!! I get dissed more than Lebron and Stef put together!! I get "slut shamed" and used to "slut shame" other women at the same time!! And I'm SICK OF IT!! I'm a "hench hoe"? OK . . OK . . I'll be that!! For Steph . . I'll be that!! Now I have a roast to fix for MY MAN because he's hungry after making Marvin Williams trip all over himself. Matter of fact, Ima go put on this sexy outfit and cook in it . . . cause I'm Ayesha Curry dammit, and I can do (( bleep )) like this!! So hate on that!!"

They're not getting Wade or Melo without trading Love. Cleveland isn't trading Love for either of those 2. When I look at last year's stats for Cleveland, I didn't know that Dellavedova averaged 4.4 assists last season. On a per 36 min basis, that's 6.5 assists, almost equal to Lebron's 6.8 assist per 36 that season. So to play how they want to play, they do need that 3rd playmaker on the team. The 3rd playmaker will enable Kyrie to play off the ball a little more, while also being a facilitator. What the Cavs SHOULD DO, is to split up Lebron and Kyrie, and play them separately more. Lue should force them to play without each other on the floor more, even if it means they lose a few more games in the short term. Those 2 need to be the playmakers, if a 3rd guy isn't brought in. The other thing they can do, is start Kyle. With Lebron and Kyrie in the game at the same time, it'll either get more open shots for Kyle, or open up the lane even more for James and Kyrie to slash. We'll see if Lue will figure it out. Right now, he's failing big time and not getting enough criticism.

The one thing in this Lebron situation that few people have acknowledged . . . is that Lebron is RIGHT about what the Cavs need. They do need a backup PG. Honestly, they need JR Smith back. His presence is missing much more than people want to admit to. Decent defender. Big shot maker ( maybe the best shot maker on the team ). He's erratic as hell, but when he's on, he can take over a game. Shelvin Mack would be a perfect backup PG for them. But I hope they get someone like Chalmers, who won't help them at all from a playmaking standpoint.

Bye Baze Veteran Defense Nice stroke Stop fighting it. Come on over to the dark side.

Good win . . . but you do have enough to complain about. Defense was definitely less than stellar.

He always does though. Some of his biggest games have come against the Hawks . . . and in Atlanta. Just glad that Millsap has it going as well. Hopefully we'll stay close until and if Melo cools off Which doesn't look like the case . . . 30 foot 3 as a type this by Melo.

Millsap off to a good start. Always a good sign for the Hawks.

I'm just glad that we have afternoon games again. That would give us a chance to be on national TV, if we're good enough.

Make that trade right after the game BudCox. Don't let Melo leave Atlanta.

Definitely not turrible. In fact, the Hawks could probably keep Sap AND go after Jones, if they wanted. Jones is 25, which may limit how much upside he really has. And he really hasn't improved any part of his game since coming into the league. He reminds me of Marvin Williams. Solid player that only does something spectacular every blue moon. Here is one of those "blue moons".

Sap is a top 10 defensive player in the league though. He makes many more plays on defense, than he gives up.

Question: Do you make this post if Sap didn't have a bad game on Friday night, and the Wizards didn't blow us out? My point is . . . we have too many knee jerk reactions ( going both ways ) after a big win or a big loss.

To your point . . . Hawks are 1 - 6 when Millsap scores 11 or less points Hawks are 1 - 12 when his +/- is ( -5 ) and below Hawks are 19 - 0 when his +/- is ( +7 ) and above Hawks are 11 - 4 when he scores 21 points or more When Millsap is just average ( 12 to 18 ppg ) . . Hawks are 14 - 4

Why do this? And he had a horrible game tonight. But when his team needed him, he delivered. The Hawks can definitely use what he can bring to the table. Especially if they're not going to defend the 3 point line.