TheNorthCydeRises

Plenty of dirt cheap tickets on Stubhub for the Thursday night Charlotte game in the upper deck ( 95 cents to $3 a piece ). Plenty of $20 - $30 lower bowl tix for that game as well.$15 - 200 level seats for the Golden St game on Saturday night. I may have to take advantage of that myself.One day, I'm going to splurge for courtside tickets to a game. I want to see what that is like at an NBA game.

It has to be addressed AGAIN folks.NO JJ. NO Marvin. A new team that people seem to like. Winning at a 67% clip. Currently the #3 team in the East ( and should hold that spot at least until the end of the year ).But they're drawing at 2004 levels ( when we were the worst team in the league )What is the excuse now? ( since it's always an excuse ).LOL . . can people at least go see the Hawks before the world ends next Friday?Maybe we'll draw 15,000 when Durant comes to town next Wednesday.Come on ATL. Support these dudes a little better please.

The issue is why is Drew always trying to match up to teams, instead of forcing them to match up with US?Why doesn't he simply go with the "big" lineup all the time, and see what they can do? Have Zaza be one of the first ones to sub out, and move Josh to the PF midway in the 1st. Then bring back in Zaza to sub in for Al toward the end of the 1st/beginning of the 2nd.And I get tired of talking about Ivan, and why he isn't playing every night. Even though he turns the ball over a lot and fouls at a high rate, the team doesn't get hurt by those plays because he's also producing at a very high rate. I just don't understand why he can't make the everyday rotation.

Very good post. I'll add this. If you DON'T have that type of player, you need to be the type of defensive team that can continuously get stops to keep the game from getting out of hand. But even at that point, you need a guy who can make big shots at critical times. Game 5 of the Bulls series ( 2011 ) in Chicago. Hawks are going toe to toe with the Bulls going into the 4th, down by 1 ( 69 - 68 ). An absolutely spectacular 3rd quarter by Teague has gotten us right back in the game. If we win, we have a Game 6 on our home floor to close out the series and get to the EC Finals. Teague makes a lay-up to put us up 70 - 69 to start the 4th, and I have hope that we might pull off the impossible. Then the Bulls promptly go on a 9 - 0 run in a 3 minute span to put them up by 8. That gives them enough cushion to win the game. In that 3 minute run, Derrick Rose is literally responsible for 8 of the 9 points ( 4 points of his own, and 2 assists to others ). Rose would go on to score 11 points in the quarter and dish out 3 assists, and score 33 points for the game. Meanwhile, JJ only scored 4 points on ( 2 - 5 FG ) and only has 15 total points for the game. Teague was our leading scorer with 5 points in the quarter and dropped in 21 points. Smith was decent with 16 points, but missed all 3 of his 4th quarter shots. Al got a modest double-double with 12 pts and 10 rebs, but he also was a non factor in that 4th quarter, with only 2 points. Jamal goes scoreless for the final 3 quarters of that game and only scores 2 points total on 1 - 9 FG. In all, the Hawks get outscored 26 - 15 in the 4th, and we lose by 12. The difference between good teams and championship teams, is that they have at least one guy who can and WILL get it done with the game on the line. And everybody on his team ( and on the opposing team ) knows it. So the only way you can counter that ( most of the time ) is with a guy of your own who can match him shot for shot ( ala Dominique vs Bird in 1988 ). Until a team gets that type of player, their only hope is the Detroit Model of 2003, in which stellar defense keeps them in the game at almost all times. But even THAT TEAM had 2 huge clutch shotmakers in the form of Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton. So you look at what happened last night vs Miami. Everything was going back and forth like a good heavyweight fight, until the 2 Heat superstars took over the game. Wade had 10 points in that 3rd quarter. But he scored 8 of that 10 points in the middle of that 17 - 4 run by the Heat that blew the game open. Lebron was the playmaker, having 3 assists, including the big one to Battier for that 3. The NBA is definitely a game of runs. And if you don't have the offensive firepower to get you back into a game, you have to stay solid with your defense and don't turn the ball over. As far as how far can we go . . it depends on the matchups. We haven't played New York or Boston or Brooklyn or Chicago yet. We've lost to Miami twice, although competitive in both games. Who knows how Philly will look if and when they get Bynum back. We've looked great against the elite of the Western Conference. Hopefully that will translate to the East elite, when we get into the meat of our EC schedule beginning in January.

Got a little tense, but the defense came through again. 3 min to go and some fans are leaving the bldg

Easily the best defensive quarter I've seen the hawks play since Game 6 of the Milwaukee series. Grizzly bigs and Rudy are a non factor right now. Tolliver and Ivan need to give us 5 good minutes in the 4th, if they play.

Like I said, the defense in this game is stellar. I think that's an 11 - 0 run we're on now. Josh has Rudy completely on lockdown.

Hawks are really grinding. Defense has been stellar for the most part. Getting nothing from Devin though. Beautiful play from Josh to Al on that broken play.Smh. Zaza can't even stand up.

Wow. Hawks student section is here with the thundersticks. I like that.

Finally here midway in 2nd. Josh settling for 2 jumpers as I type this.

Like I always said . . . it is what it is in Atlanta. Friday night on a very warm night ( for December ) . . . and only 13,000 show up. Hawks are technically a top 3 team in the East right now and 1/2 game behind Miami for the SE Division lead . . . but draw like they're one of the worst teams in the league. Winning doesn't sell in ATL.

I guess Drew thought that Seraphin and Nene would be a bad matchup for Ivan, which is why he got a DNP last night . . . unless something was up with him that I don't know about.Not going to nitpick about that a lot, seeing that we got the win. At least Drew went with the big lineup in the 4th when that lead got cut down significantly.I'm making every effort to be in Memphis tonight to see the Hawks vs Grizzlies game tonight. I wish that Horford ( 41 min ), Smith ( 38 min ), and Teague ( 39 min ) could've had a little more easier time vs the Wiz. They could've used an easy game going into a battle with the league's best team tonight. It's going to be real strange watching the Hawks live in a very hostile enemy arena.Normally a Hawks game in Memphis would take place in the middle of the week with about 10,000 lukewarm fans in the building. Totally different atmosphere now there, with them being the best team in the league.

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Horford now leads the team in scoring at 16.6 per game.I was about to start a thread about Horford, but I'll just post my thoughts here. I think it's time for Drew to start making Horford the focal point of the offense. Start running more and more things through him. It's amazing that from a Usage standpoint, Horford is 4th amongst the main rotation guys, behind Josh Smith, Lou Williams, and Jeff Teague. Get him more touches Drew.If Josh will accept the role of playmaker-scorer, instead of scorer-playmaker, it'll only make this team better. Ironically, Horford's jumpshot has been off big time this season so far. But he is doing major work around the rim via post ups and especially by moving in the painted area and cutting to the basket. Smith has found Horford on numerous occasions on plays like these.I've said earlier in the year that a battle over who is "the man" may come down between Smith and Horford. But if Smith accepts a playmaker role in which he dishes out 5 assists a game, rather than try to score 20 points, that battle may not take place. Let Al do the interior/midrange scoring, and let Smith be the #2 playmaker on the squad behind Teague.

There are lots of players who you could've said that about at age 27.The reality is that we as fans may have to start accepting that this is as good as Josh Smith will ever be. Even if he eliminates the jumpers, he still doesn't have the offensive tools to take his game to the next level. Defensively, if he made more of a commitment to be a dominant rebounder, he could be more of a force in that aspect.But at 27, he's probably at the peak of his athleticism. And that athleticism will slowly decline over the years.

I want to see him get 27 rebounds . . not points. If he does that, we're going to win.More than likely, he'll get 20 points and 7 rebounds.At any rate, happy birthday.

That's the matchup I'm watching closely tonight. If Smith doesn't put a body on this dude, he could go off on us from a rebounding perspective. Josh should have his way offensively, but we have to keep this team off the glass.This team is #2 in the league in rebounding, and the best offensive rebounding team in the NBA. I would hate to see a repeat of what happened in the Cleveland game.

Good game by Jordan last night vs the Heat. 22 pts - 6 asst and played under control down the stretch of that game.

Not so fast my friend.Korver has been much better than what I've expected, but let's not get our eye off of what we're trying to do here . . . build a championship level team.It was bad mid-level contracts that got us in trouble in the past, on guys we thought were good for the team.- Bibby's 3 year deal- Speedy's 5 year deal ( which killed us for 3 years because of his injuries )- Marvin's 5 year dealAt Korver's age and seeing that he's basically a spot up shooter these days, he probably shouldn't be locked up to a long term contract ever again.It would be a little different if we had a championship caliber team, and Korver was a vital piece of that. But as long as we're not at championship level, this team shouldn't be hamstrung by any lenghty contracts of role players. In the new CBA, you're almost better off overpaying for a guy for a year, than locking that same guy up for multiple years and for more money.

I always wanted Varnado on this team. LOL @ his 2 game D-league stat aveages16 ppg11 rebs7 blksHe can't be any worse than Bismack Biyombo in Charlotte if he comes to the NBA.I say Ferry will sign a vet though. My money is on Michael Redd ( if he's healthy ). Or worse . . James Anderson. I'd be shocked if Damion James is brought in.

Rebounding? What's that?Ferry will probably call up Michael Redd, and see if he wants to make a little money before Christmas.

Mace, even you have to admit though that when we lose games like this, there is a pattern that usually happens. That's why people say the things that they say.One of the things that became evident in that game last night, was that Zaza was the one that simply didn't have it. He wasn't rebounding on the defensive boards at all, and couldn't make point blank shots. But instead of Drew taking Zaza out at the 9 min mark of the 4th, he takes Ivan out to insert Smith. The lead continues to dwindle, and he takes Zaza and Harris out and puts in Deshawn and Teague.At this point, Drew is doing what he's always done . . . "when in doubt, I'm going to substitute offensive minded players to see if they can outscore the opponent and win us the game."The sad thing about last night's game, was that Cleveland was a top 5 offensive rebounding team even before last night's game, so Drew had to know that's part of what they do. That's probably why Ivan saw time at SF.But when push came to shove, Drew reverts to what he's always done . . . sub offense for defense/rebounding.It's annoying. And that's why people always can point to some baffling sub pattern as to why the Hawks may have lost the game.

How about this Dolfan Ivan was +15 in 9 minutes. He also grabbed 2 rebounds in those 9 minutes. For the year, Ivan is our 2nd best rebounder amongst the main rotation guys, from a Rebound % standpoint. He's not as good as Zaza, but better than Al and Josh. And Ivan is our best defensive rebounder, from that same standpoint. I am against Josh Smith playing SF, if he's going to jack up a ton of jumpers. I'm not against him playing that spot, if he'd play the right way. Brooklyn takes the complete opposite approach when it comes to their best rebounder . . . Reggie Evans. Reggie is going to get his minutes, and will get rewarded when he makes an impact on games. Drew does the complete opposite with his version of "Reggie" in Ivan. Teague, Deshawn, and Devin grabbed 2 rebounds . . . TOTAL . . in 103 minutes. Peoria called this right on the money. Josh may have failed to box out, but this was a coaching loss from a personnel standpoint. When you score 111 points, but still lose, that's on the coach.

Oh wow.That's when you know JJ is feeling it.Anytime you can make that punk Paul Pierce look stupid, it's a good thing. And LOL @ what Nelson did to him. This should be the official "Paul Pierce Made to Look Stupid" thread. Anybody who makes that guy look like a D-League player, should be celebrated here.

5 - 10 games a year, plus playoffs . . driving 4.5 hours from Middle TN. I try to make it to at least one game a month, although I will fail to see them this month. I was actually in Atlanta on Saturday night, but didn't get into the city until 9 PM. I don't get a chance to listen to Steve Holman often ( Hawks radio play by play guy ), but I got a chance to listen to him on Saturday night as I was driving to ATL. That dude is hilarious when he's on a roll. He was clowning the Clips all night, and making the point that the national media would play the "Clippers were playing on back to back nights" card, as to why they played so badly vs the Hawks. He also pointed out that we also played on back to back nights, so that excuse doesn't fly.As for the fan base, the casual fan in ATL cares nothing about winning. They want to be ENTERTAINED more than they want to see a winner. Only the hardcore fans prefer a winning product over an entertaining one.That's why most fans in ATL loved Jamal Crawford more than they did Joe Johnson. Johnson was obviously the better player, but Jamal was the more entertaining one. The "tricky dribble" always brought out the "ooohs" and "ahhhs" in the Philips Arena crowd. ISO ball was boring, even if it was more efficient.The Hawks won 34 home games in 2010 . . 2nd most in franchise history. And some of those games were dramatic. And even that didn't bring the fans out on a consistent basis. It is what it is in ATL.The die hard sports fans in the city HATE being called a "bad sports town", but will give you a laundry list of reasons as to why the ATL sports scene, especially when it concerns the Hawks, is what it is.Meanwhile, the casual fan could care less who wins, just as long as they get to see the exciting player that they paid their money to see. And if the Hawks happen to play well, maybe they will cheer for the Hawks in the 2nd half. They came to see Blake and Paul. And when they didn't wow them, they're like . . . "OK, I'll cheer for the Hawks now".