TheNorthCydeRises

Let Bumpy have his moment. If he thinks this is his way of making me eat crow, so be it. But everyone else knows what I was talking about. The type of effort that Al gave tonight, is what we'll need the rest of the playoffs, if we want to be champions. I specifically said that he and Teague simply needed to do more. They can't settle for being simply good. They need to be GREAT. Al was great tonight, and willed this team to victory. One of the last steps for Horford to take as a player, is to have games like these become the norm, instead of the exception. When these games become the norm, we're going to win a championship.

Al became a legend tonight. Regardless of what happens in the rest of the series, no one will ever forget his performance in this game. What a game. One more to go.

Al trying to become a legend.

Save us somebody ... anybody ... anybody?

Bazemore +9 for the game. Korver still terrible. Hawks down 3 ... 8 min left

Well then again, the Sunday game vs Brooklyn drew record playoff lows.

Then again though, that's why if we want to increase our popularity, we actually NEED the Cavs in the ECF, so that the "team that nobody cares about", can become the darlings of Lebron haters everywhere by taking him down. And we need the Clippers in the Finals for the same reason.

Those Christmas unis might look better if you kept that same design, but had the uniform be blue. That way, the lime green in the logo would look much better. As far as new uniforms go, maybe the team is going to make a full commitment to go back to red, and ditch the blue altogether. Our work basketball team last year did a reversible red and black uniform, with numbers and letters trimmed in lime green. That look actually worked.

Korver is being neutralized on both ends of the court. When defending Beal, not only can he not guard him in isolation, he's also being ran through a ton of screens trying to keep up with Beal. Combine that with the doubling the Hawks tend to do, it's really taking a lot out of Korver. So now when he goes on offense, and has to exude all of that effort just to get open, it's affecting his shot. Kyle is shooting 37% FG and 37% 3FG in this series. Most notably, he's only 6 - 19 FG in the 2nd half of games and 2 - 11 FG in the 4th quarter. With DeMarre shooting the way he has in these playoffs, the Hawks can afford to possibly reduce some of Korver's minutes, and give them to either Bazemore or Schröder. As long as Bazemore looks to slash FIRST and not jack up a 3, the Hawks could possibly get away with giving Korver a little more rest, so that he'll be fresher in the 4th quarter. And for those of you who think that Kyle's offense isn't needed, think again. In this year's playoffs the Hawks are 4 - 0 when Kyle scores 17 or more points. When he scores 16 or less, we're 2 - 4. And in the 2 games we won, we got a combined 32 points from DeMarre (22) and Bazemore (10) in Game 2 ... and 29 huge points from Teague on Monday night. So if Kyle isn't scoring, somebody better take up the slack. That doesn't happen often. If he's having an off shooting night, it's probably in our best interest to put in other guys who can score, or put in a defender to limit their offensive production.

Would it be fair to say that we normally need to beat teams before it comes down to the last 2 or 3 possessions, due to the lack of shot creators on the team?

Defensive ratings of those players in this series ( according to basketball-reference.com ) Teague - 108 Korver - 109 Carroll - 110 Schröder - 111 Fun ( or not so fun ) fact - Both Korver and Antić have the exact same Offensive and Defensive rating in this series: 91 Offensive Rating 109 Defensive Rating

See for yourself how our big men guarded their bigs: Nene's FGA http://on.nba.com/1QFSqnG Gortat's FGA http://on.nba.com/1QFSG5V

From what I can see, 2 PG lineup with Teague and Dennis was EVEN on +/- tonight. Good in the 1st half, bad in the 2nd half. Bud's sub patterns were all over the place tonight. Don't know if this is good or bad. He subbed in somebody a whopping 31 TIMES!! http://popcornmachine.net/gf?date=20150511&game=ATLWAS

Good Lord. How do you let Pierce get an open look like that. Thank GOD he used up all of his clutch attribute last game.

SUPERSTAR SHOT BY TEAGUE!!! LET'S GO!!

They're playing beautiful offensive basketball. They could do this all the time, instead of getting jumpshot happy

No more excuses for anybody. I don't want to hear anything about ankles, or fingers, or faces, or shoulders, or allegedly having to take a shit. If you're well enough to be on the floor, give MAXIMUM effort to try to overcome whatever ails you. Excuse time is over. Either they want to win or they don't.

We can still wi I agree. Win tonight, and we regain home court. Lose tonight, and the series is all but over. Only 8 teams in NBA playoff history has come back from down 3 - 1. The last time the Hawks were in this situation, and the higher seed in the series, was in 2012 vs Boston ... who ironically, had lost Rajon Rondo during that series. But even in that series, we could legitimately say that we were hampered by not having Zaza and only having about a 50% - 55% Al Horford. This year, we simply have guys with a few nagging injuries, but the other team has their best player out. If we can't take advantage of THAT, I don't know what to say.

And it's not only an attack from the point guards. It's an attack from the wings and big people that need to occur too. When Horford doesn't have his shot falling, he needs to go to the basket. Same goes for Millsap. Demarre is literally the only guy playing like he's supposed to be playing, on a consistent basis.

Excellent write up as usual Lethal. No more excuses for this team. Either they're going to do it, or they're not.

Kenny's analysis is more on point than anyone else that is on Inside The NBA. He knows the game. He's also one of the best 3 point playoff career shooters of all time.

Both teams are equally in trouble. Don't some of you get it? Everything that these "experts" have said about the Hawks all year, is starting to come true. - No "go to guy" to bail the team out when we're struggling. - Not big enough on the frontline to handle bigger teams - Not built for the playoffs - No superstar So why get mad when a team that supposedly had the easiest path to the Conference Finals out of all the teams, is doubted even more by the skeptics. They Need To Prove Their Worth 60 wins means nothing #1 seed means nothing 4 supposed All-Star selections mean nothing You want the Hawks to get respect. They have to play like a team worthy of being respected.

I love Horford as a player. But he ( and Jeff Teague ) suffers from the same thing that fans criticized Joe Johnson of, for the last 3 to 4 years he was a Hawk. And that is the inability, or UNWILLINGNESS to do everything in your power to win a game. And when the going gets REALLY tough, all 3 of those guys play SOFT, instead of playing TOUGHER. You can't play SOFT and expect to achieve big things. Just ask the Houston Rockets, who looks ultra soft right now and got ran out the arena tonight. And the leader of the softness is not Harden, it's that goofy playful Mo Fo playing center. Horford is averaging 16 pts - 10 rebs - and almost 6 asst in these 3 games vs Washington .. on 44% FG. While people may applaud those numbers, he needs to do more. More important, he has to WANT to do more. Honestly, (( bleep )) efficiency. He needs to produce numbers by any means necessary. If he's the cornerstone of the franchise and the best player on the floor, he needs to prove it. Lebron was nowhere near efficient today. But he battled and fought and put he and his team in position to win the game at the end. And he did it. To me, there are NO MORE EXCUSES for this team. NONE. And no one gets a pass. Not Teague. Not Horford. Not Bud. None of them. This is honestly the first 2nd round series in which the Hawks were expected to win. Even when the 8th seed Knicks blew us out 4 - 0 in the 2nd round, many picked the Knicks to beat us after they beat the #1 seed Heat in Round 1. Horford's legacy as a Hawk is on the line. Get us to the Conference Finals for the first time in 44 years, and he will be one of the most beloved Hawk players of all time. He will be part of the greatest regular season team in Hawks history that also made a deep playoff run. But lose this series vs a Wizards team without its best player, despite being the #1 seed, his legacy as a Hawk will be no better than JJ's or Steve Smith's or even Kevin Willis'.

Well then he needs to wear some Depends for the rest of the playoffs.

Oh wow man. Bud is acting like this game was meaningless, and he had to build up the self esteem of a few guys. And DeMarre, I can't get a hold on why he wouldn't want to go back in during that time. You were SPECIFICALLY brought here for that EXACT situation. So they want us to believe that both of them decided that because the bench brought us back, they should finish the game on the final possession on defense? You know what this sounds like? This sounds like some of the same babble that Pete Carroll gave when he decided to throw the ball, instead of giving the ball to Marshawn Lynch at the 1 yard line at the Super Bowl. I'm highly disappointed in both Bud and DeMarre, if they made this "mutual" decision. If we'd won that game in that fashion, it may have completely crushed the spirit of the Wizards. Instead, not only have the Hawks given them hope to win the series, it also gives them some leeway to possibly rest Wall a little more ... and forces us into a must win Game 4 situation. As a Bud supporter all year, I've been highly disappointed with his game and personnel management during these playoffs. Had Mike Woodson done some of the things that Bud has done in these 9 playoff games, the fan base would have DESTROYED HIM. This is the easiest path we've ever had to get to the ECF, and the coach is rationalizing that Korver and Schröder, who are 2 poor man defenders, gave him the best chance at getting a stop? This is the playoffs. We don't have time for screw ups like that. And unless DeMarre had some sort of bathroom emergency, you get your ass out in that floor and play 14 seconds of defense.