TheNorthCydeRises

Josh's numbers in this series so far 18.5 ppg 7.8 rebs 4.5 asst 1.5 stls 0.3 blks ( only 1 block in this entire series ) 50% FG 29% 3FG 48% FT Plus he has been instrumental in slowing down Paul George. He gets a pass from me if he keeps playing like that. Of course the 3 point attempts ( and some of the long 2's ) need to stop . . . especially when the Hawks need a critical basket. But I'm not going to dog him just to be dogging him. If I dog him, it's going to be for a reason.

. . . at least until he does something extremely negative this series. If these are his last days as a Hawk, he's playing at a high enough level as to not get much criticism from me. I honestly wish he'd play like this all the time. People would be much more tolerant of him. So until he does something really horrible in this series that leads him to having a bad game, or the Hawks losing, we need a temporary "cease-fire" on Josh.

We may not sign him to a big money deal, but someone probably will. And Josh and his people know that. But honestly, I'm not even worried about this subject right now. We have a game to win tomorrow night. And I hope Smith keeps playing at an above average level the rest of this series. 18.5 ppg 7.8 rebs 4.5 asst 1.5 stls 0.3 blks ( only 1 block in this entire series ) 50% FG 29% 3FG 48% FT Other than his 3FG%, FT%, and BLKS, he's had a very solid series. Easily his best playoff series in his career so far.

His name is in the news, and you probably have one of the few "highlight" vids of Jason Collins on Youtube. So the hits you're receiving isn't surprising. If something ever happened regarding Speedy Claxton ( or his wife ), you'd start receiving hits on that vid too.

One series does not erase 9 years of what Josh does good or bad. He had a great game last night. He's had great playoff games in the past too. And those games did not determine how good or bad Josh can be. If he turns around in Game 5, and scores 12 points on 5 - 16 FG, by going 1 - 6 on 3FG, people will be back trashing the dude. In Game 4 vs the Bulls 2 years ago, Smith went for 23 points - 16 rebounds - 8 assists. We all know that Josh has the capability of playing like an All-Star, with even having a superstar type game every blue moon. But MAX players are supposed to be guys who can carry your team as the offensive focal point on a nightly basis. Josh isn't a MAX player. He's an above average player that fluctuates from great to horrible, depending on his shot selection and his effort. He has a good matchup this series as the "post up SF" vs George. Hopefully, he will continue to excel vs George as the series goes on.

Arguably Josh's best playoff game as a pro. He's had better statistical games, but not in a game of this magnitude. The fact that he's shot 16 FTs in this game, is noteworthy in itself. If he played like this all the time, he'd OWN Atlanta. Great game Josh. Way to bring it tonight. And thank you too Korver. Finally made some shots tonight. Huge shots at that ( via Josh assists )

Somebody needs to tell that writer that the Hawks have also won 3 or 4 games IN INDY during this home streak. I think the Pacers have only won the season series vs the Hawks ONE TIME in the past 7 years. We traditionally OWN the Pacers.

LOL . . . this forum doesn't miss anything. Although when the name "Pinky" was mentioned, I thought you were talking about him or her

I guarantee you that the Charlotte Bobcats would trade places with the Hawks in a heartbeat. There's nothing "great" about cheering on a bad team. Being where we are right now is nowhere near being the "worst position in the NBA". The problem with teams like ours, is that we fall in "love" with certain players . . . instead of flipping them for better talent. Our plan was to stick with our "core" through thick and thin. We'll see what Ferry can do this summer, to bring in the right mix of talent in order to get us to that next level. In the meantime, it is what it is. We're a top 12 - 15 team that has no shot to beat one of the top 5 teams. But don't fool yourself, it's better than being a bottom 20 team, with no shot to beat anybody, nor less make the playoffs.

I gotta pick on you a little bit. - How far is the drive? - Why are you still bitter about Game 6 that happened 2 years ago? - And why are you deciding to NOT go to the game? Your username is "hawksfanatic", yet, you're bypassing a playoff home game . . . a game in which the Hawks desperately need to win? You know that the crowd will probably be less than a sellout, especially if tomorrow's weather forecast is correct. But when even a die hard fan like you decides to give up on the Hawks before the series is even over? That speaks volumes about our fan base. And it's the reason why people always blast ATL fans. Not sure where you live, but as far as fans in Metro ATL ( within an hour's drive of Philips ), if they're not at the game on Saturday, they really shouldn't complain about anything else this franchise does. If die hard fans can't support this team in a must win situation, you know the casual fans won't. And if that's the case, why should management even attempt to go all out to put a winner out on the floor? They won't. They'll say that they will, but they'll do the bare minimum to get there. That means instead of spending on bringing in one of the top free agents, they'll decide to build strictly through the draft. That means instead of bringing in an established or big name coach, they'll continue to give assistant coaches a chance to be head coaches ( so that they can pay them near the bottom of what coaches make ). Fans want the team to win first. That's fine. But there are plenty of teams around the league that would KILL to be in the playoffs right now, down 2 - 0, with a Game 3 coming to their building. When I see statements like the ones you made, it just leads me to believe that even most of the die hard fans just aren't passionate about basketball, and definitely not this team. This is Game 3. The series is not over ( no matter how bad they've played ). And this MIGHT just be the last time you'll even have the option of going to a Hawks playoff game, if Ferry doesn't rebuild this team the right way. Stay home if you want. I'll make the 4.5 hour trek, probably in the rain, to support my team.

Look at Milwaukee right now. UP by 9 over the Heat. They had a good gameplan in Game 2, by attacking the paint with their big men, and having Jennings and Ellis scale back on their machine gun ways as shooters. But as soon as the Heat took the lead, Jennings went in to "gun mode" and shot them out of the game. Now, both Jennings and Ellis already have 6 assists, despite only having 5 points on 6 shot attempts between them. But they're continuing to attack on the inside, and lo and behold, Dunleavy and Redick decide to show up tonight as shooters. The Hawks need to go BIG, either by starting Petro or Ivan. Put Josh down on the block vs George and make him defend Josh down there. Bring Korver off the bench with the 2nd unit, to see if he can get hot vs a more favorable matchup for him ( if George goes out of the game ). But as long as Larry believes that small ball will win it for us, we're not winning anything.

The ironic thing is that the switching defense used to ALWAYS work against the Pacers. I distinctly remember when Jim O'Brien was the coach, that he praised the switching defense because it kept the Pacers off balance. Then again, back in those days, everybody except Mike Bibby was 6 - 7 or taller ( and somewhat defensive minded ), so the switching was more effective. Employing a switching defense with Jeff Teague ( 6-2 ), Devin Harris ( 6-3 ), and Kyle Korver ( 6-7 ) . . who are all average to below average defenders . . . is just stupid. The (( bleep )) works !! . . . But only when the (( bleep )) has players who are tall enough to guard at least 3 positions and give a damn about defense.

Overmatched is what we were in 2010, when Orlando dang near had a 2 year stranglehold on us. We only beat them twice out of 8 games during that span, getting dominated in most of those losses. So when we faced them in the 2010 playoffs, it was no surprise that they beat the mess out of us again. That was a team we didn't match up against. Indiana is far different. Indiana is simply out working us, and out coaching us. There's no way that Paul George should be looking like Brandon Roy in his prime against us. No way. Drew needs to start putting together a lineup that can at least make life difficult for him, even if it means sacrificing some of our "precious" outside shooting. In essence, Kyle Korver needs to go to the bench . . . . IMMEDIATELY. But as long as Drew keeps believing that a few 3's by Kyle is so vital to this team, that we can afford to sacrifice rebounding and defense, the Hawks are doomed. There's no way in hell this Pacer team should sweep us. No way. Hopefully, these guys will play with a little pride, and Drew will coach with a lot more sense, and get this series back on track. I hope we do what Milwaukee did to us in 2010. We dominated the Bucks in those first 2 games. Then they held serve on their home floor, and even came to our place and took Game 5. If we can do that, I'll like to see the pressure on the Pacers to win a Game 6 in Atlanta, when they would've lost 13 games in a row @ Philips Arena ( if we win Games 3 and 4 ). It's up to Drew to make the right adjustments to have the Hawks win games. And it's up to Horford, Smith, and Teague to play at a higher level, once we get back home.

I haven't bought a ticket yet, but I do plan on being there on Saturday night, despite corporate wanting the facility to work on Saturday. LOL . . I might have to be a no-show at work, so I can possibly see Josh one final time in a Hawk uniform in person. I did it for JJ in Game 5 vs Boston last year, so I can at least do it for Josh this year.

He all but called them "soft". The problem is, he put a "soft" lineup out on the floor. I mean, did he really expect Kyle Korver to even begin to contain Paul George? Did he expect Josh to battle toe to toe with David West? Did he expect Horford to battle Hibbert, the guy who ripped his shoulder apart? The Hawks are definitely soft. But Drew coaches "soft". And that was no more evident than trying to protect Horford in the 2nd quarter by not picking up a 3rd foul. I don't like the fact that Drew constantly calls out these guys, but act like some of the moves he makes aren't hurting the team. Paul George played 44 minutes in Game 1. Horford played 28 minutes. It's funny that Drew called out the team for not having "playoff intensity", when his coaching and sub patterns looked a whole lot like regular season rotations, and not playoff type rotations in which your star players play heavy minutes. I don't dislike Drew, but he does irritate the hell out of me at times. He act like his (( bleep )) don't stink, even though he's one of the main ones smelling up the room.

The people who are against Smith see him as a liability, and not an asset. Like you, I hope he has a monster game . . . and not turn into a scary monster that hurts his team. The fact is, we don't know which "monster" we're going to get from Josh.

Nets played hell's soft last night. Bulls showed what playing tough can do for you. They couldn't stop Lopez, but they shut down Deron and JJ, until he tried to ball a little in the 4th quarter.Hawks need to learn from the Bulls and play with toughness and urgency on Wednesday.

Message to Coach Drew: Quit playing "soft" lineups, and the team won't play "soft".

Dolfan, I disagree. Drew plays the people that fit whatever matchup that is in his mind. The constant changing of lineups, even when people were healthy, kept this team in a complete state of flux. It's been obvious since last season vs Miami, that Ivan Johnson should've been receiving at least 20 minutes a game. Remember this interview last year? The dude is a better offensive scorer than Josh Smith, and plays harder than anybody on the team. Yet, Drew had him buried on the bench for 1.5 seasons until he was forced to play him when Zaza went down. Sound familiar? It should. Because it was how Jeff Teague finally got a chance to show what he could do, once Hinrich went down and Drew was forced to play him. Zaza's last game this season was the Laker game on March 3rd. Ivan has played at least double figure minutes since that time. So from March 4th until now, here are Ivan's numbers. 9 ppg 5.3 rebs 1.2 stls 1.2 turnovers 56% FG 73% FT In 20 minutes of play. That's pretty damn good for a reserve big man on a team that is desperate for decent frontline play off the bench. That production is better than what Zaza was giving us. And that production is right in line with what Ivan produces on a Per 36 Minute basis 15.7 ppg 9.3 rebs 1.9 stls . . ( which leads the team ) Drew doesn't play his best players. Drew thinks he's the smartest dude in the room and tries to cook up offensive matchups that he thinks will get him a win. He tries to get defense lacking players to play better defense, so that he can keep his offensive philosophy intact. Forget simply putting out a team that can grind things out and get wins by doing the little things. We have to literally outshoot people to win. Well, someone needs to tell Larry that the NBA just doesn't work like that all the time, especially during the playoffs. You're not going to win games hoping that Kyle Korver is going to slow down All-Star SFs. You're not going to win games by playing mini-me basketball against one of the most physical teams in the league.

What point did JJ prove to you on Saturday? That he can be an efficient scorer if others around him also stepped up? JJ was 7 - 13 FG for 16 pts - 4 rebs - 4 asst . . . in about 28 minutes of play vs the Bulls. He deferred to Lopez and Williams in the 1st half, and also got in a little foul trouble. In the 2nd half, he turned it up and scored 12 points, which led all Nets in that half.

Too bad there isn't a player who can offensively take over a game on this team, like we had on the 2011 team that beat Orlando and pushed Chicago a bit. Is anyone on the Hawks capable of going off, and dropping 25 points in any game in this series, and lead us to victory? As Rick Pitino would say, if he were the Hawks coach: "Joe Johnson isn't walking through that door fans. Jamal Crawford isn't walking through that door and Kirk Hinrich isn't walking through that door. And if you expect them to walk through that door, they're going to have on different uniforms." One of the realest coach quotes of all time http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRik9erWgQ8

Teague by the numbers ( amongst PGs ) PER - 17th NBA efficiency - 18th MINUTES - 18th PPG - 16th REBS - 42nd ASST - 13th STLS - 16th BLKS - 4th TURNOVERS - 11th He's a decent PG. Definitely the best PG we've had since Jason Terry. Top 10? No way.

Teague may not be in the top 10 PGs in the playoffs - Curry - Westbrook - Deron - Paul - Parker - Conley - Lawson - Hill - Miller - Jennings - Nash OK . . he's in the top 10 amongst playoff PGs, somewhere around the Hill & Jennings 8 - 10 range.

So in other words . . . Teague is an athletic Jason Terry, without the efficient 3 point shot?

Easily the worst post of your Hawksquawk career. Curry is a beast of a PG, who has to be the team's #1 option AND the playmaker. You don't average 22+ ppg and almost 7 assists, and not be a no brainer as a top PG. He averaged 26 ppg - 7.4 asst - 4 rebs after the All-Star break. Those are SUPERSTAR type numbers. Curry is definitely a no-brainer, while Teague struggles just to be in the top 20 amongst PGs