TheNorthCydeRises

SmooveHawksFan. . . the reason why Chicago is getting so many illegal defense calls against them, is because they're shading an extra man toward JJ even when he doesn't have the ball. They've been whisteled at least 1 a game it seems like. They're almost playing a Box-in-1 on JJ. Teague is benefitting from weaker defenders playing him at times. And Teague has taken full advantage of them. That's very nice to see. But don't get it twisted. Chicago's entire defensive gameplan revolves around stopping or limiting what #2 does. What JJ needs to start doing, is looking to shoot a standstill jumper as soon as he catches the ball before the double comes, ala what Melo does.

Congrats Mr. Horford. Now show em why you're All-NBA tonight.

He's the Lindsey Lohan of Hawksquawk posters. Always doing stuff for attention, then acting all innocent when people call him out. Pick a side Ben. Tonight and possibly Sunday night will be the most important Atlanta Hawk games that you've ever seen in your LIFETIME. And who knows if and when we'll be in this position again. So pick a side. Either you want JJ to ball tonight, greatly increasing our chances of winning . . . or you want him and the Hawks to fail, so that you can boo JJ. smh . . . such an attention wh-re

Teague is playing excellent basketball. Way above any expectations I had for him this series. He's not the team leader though . . yet. Until Drew completely trusts him to run the offense, he won't be the team leader. The Bulls haven't tried to lock in on Teague and completely shut him down. With Kyle Korver still guarding him at times, they either don't respect Teague, or is scared to death of putting a weak defender on JJ and Jamal. It got to the point last night that Korver didn't even play in the 2nd half. Teague has done his thing though in one on one situations. It's just that when teams try to stop you, the double and triple teams come at you. Teague hasn't seen that yet.

DVR is a wonderful thing, isn't it Niremetal? The videotape tells the truth. Truth that the human eye THOUGHT it saw, but is proven to be a figment of their perceived imagination. Or better yet, an extreme case of "confirmation bias". LOL . . let's ignore the fact that JJ got hacked twice in that quarter. Nope . . blame it on the captain. As for the "hero ball", that's what he's paid to do. And to be honest, he doesn't play hero enough throughout the game, instead, settling until the 4th quarter to try to do his thing. I don't know what playoff games some people have been watching, but the only ones we've won, are games in which "the hero" has come out aggressively and scored buckets. The Hawks are 6 - 0 in the playoffs when JJ scored 20+ points So I think people need to start hoping that "the hero" shows up in these next 2 games . . if we even get to a 2nd game.

And speaking of Zaza . . it didn't help that Drew took his most physical player out and played the small unit, right at the time in which Chicago had their "goons" out on the floor. You do not get regular season type calls in the playoffs. The Bulls play old style Eastern Conference roughhouse basketball. The Hawks either have to adjust to that style, or this team has to run and shoot them out of the gym.

It's playoff basketball folks. Chicago fans were complaining that Rose didn't get enough calls in Game 4. So the refs hooked him up tonight. On the flip side, GSUteke is right. The difference between JJ and Teague going to the hole, and Rose going to the hole . . is that Rose is going to the hole EXPECTING to get hit. JJ and Teague go to the hole to score a layup, but most of the time to shoot the floater. Rose goes hard and fast, like a young Iverson or D-Wade, so it almost forces the refs to make a call. When it comes to JJ, sometimes he simply needs to go as hard as he can to the hole, and go looking for someone to hit him, so that he can score from the FT line. But he makes the floater 50% of the time, so he'd rather shoot that instead of going all the way to the rim. But once again, you have to go hard to the rim in the playoffs, if you expect to get the call. Especially on the road. The truth is that the Hawks are just a little too soft, except for Zaza. This team needs to toughen up . . and fast. Either that, or they need to get back to playing "Highlight Factory" style basketball, and start running this team into the ground. We have to be physical with the Bulls, but we're not going to win playing their style of basketball. Gotta do what we do best . . . run . . . and make jumpshots.

Bump

LOL . . it's amazing how schizophrenic our fans are on a game by game basis. 4 days ago, people were ready to trade Smith for scraps and blow up the team. Now we're asking who would we rather play in the ECF? LMAO . . gotta love it. The fans are just as schiophrenic as the team. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong . . . but have the Hawks EVER won 2 road games within a particular round of the playoffs? I'm thinking hard to think of an instance in which we did, but I'm coming up blank. But that's what these guys will have to do, if they want to advance to the ECF. Can they do it? I think they can. But to my knowledge, it's never been done in franchise history.

Joe Johnson, for the most part, has been the one constant for the Hawks in these playoffs. It's been said that stars must play better on the road, because compimentary players tend to play less inspired on the road, than at home. The stars on the team need to show up tonight, especially to hold off any initial surge that may happen at the beginning of the game. If someone on this team gets it going, they need to feed him and fan him tonight. And it doesn't matter who that player is.

No . . it's going to take JJ for going for 20 points or more. Because the team effort doesn't materialize if he isn't scoring. If he's scoring, the game probably stays close. And if he's scoring, that will open up more things for other people. You had it right the first time. If JJ gets 20, we have a good shot at winning this game.

Right now . . the Lakers are down 24 points to the Mavericks at halftime. And it's not because the Lakers have horrible BBIQ. It's just that the Lakers players, other than Kobe, aren't getting it done, especially on the defensive end. On the flip side, people will say that the Mavs are playing excellent basketball, because they're moving the ball. And that's true. But it's easy to play great when you have guys like JT, Peja, and Dirk constantly knocking down jumpshots. When that happens, they have no problem in moving the ball to the open guy, because he's likely to make the shot. It's not like that for us. If JJ is doubled, and he passes to a wide open Marvin for a 21 foot jumper, does he make the shot? How about if the pass goes to Smith for a wide open 19 footer? And while Horford made the jumpshot outside of the paint better than anyone else in the league, he's only shooting 32% from that range in the playoffs. Even in shots in the paint that are not at the rim, he's shooting a dismal 27% in the playoffs. That's from our guy who has led the Hawks in FG% the past 3 years. No way we can win if he's playing like that. He'll have to quit shooting altogether, and allocate some of those shots to JJ and Jamal or even Teague, if we want to win tonight. That's why Drew's motion offense is somewhat ineffective with this team. Even when we get open shots, we're liable to miss them. And we don't have a great 3 point shooter on the team, especially with Hinrich hurt. And as much as people hate the ISO that JJ and Jamal do, what other options do we have, when we have guys that can't make open jumpers, or guys that can't effectively score in the post? We need a big that plays like a big. And to get that, we may have to part with one of our talented players to get him. As much as a loose cannon as a guy like Demarcus Cousins is, he'd make the Hawks a much better team if he were our center. If it took giving up Horford or Smith to get him, I'd do that in a heartbeat, just to balance out this team. Until that point . . it's JJ and Jamal . . or bust.

Our problem isn't simply just low BBIQ on the court. Look who coached those teams as well Phil Jackson Pat Riley Larry Brown Greg Popovich Doc Rivers And the main players on those teams Shaq and Kobe Shaq and Wade Kobe and Gasol Billups, Hamilton and Big Ben ( with Prince and Rasheed playing significant roles as well ) Duncan, Parker, and Ginobli Pierce, Garnett, Rondo, Allen The fact is that championship teams not only have smart coaches, they have superstar talent, or at least multiple all-star talent playing on those teams. And every one of those teams, with the exception of the Pistons, also had the dual perimeter threat to go along with a dominant to very good inside presence. When you look at the Memphis series, they have a borderline DOMINANT low post player in Z-Bo and a decent center in Marc Gasol. And while they're not necessarily a great defensive frontline, they're a very good offensive frontline. And most of the perimeter people on Memphis can play good to very good defense. It's the perimeter defensive prowess of Memphis, that makes them a DANGEROUS team in these playoffs. On the flip side, while the Thunder have two very good players, they don't have that inside-outside balance that most championship teams in the past has had. The team to watch . . are the Dallas Mavericks They have the superstar in Dirk . . they have a damn good #2 off the bench in Jason Terry . . and Tyson Chandler anchors the middle on defense, making it difficult for the opponent to score in the lane. And they can put four legit 3 point shooters on the floor if they want to. If it's Dallas vs OKC, look for the games to be a track meet. If it's Dallas vs Memphis, the Grizzlies will make Dallas grind it out and may get Chandler in foul trouble. So it's not only that the Griz have a higher BBIQ, it's just that they're constructed much better than we are. - JJ is very good, but not a superstar player - Jamal is very good, but hella streaky - Smith is very good, but way too erratic - Horford is very good, but doesn't play like a legit big Those 4, if they did at least one thing very well, would make us a threat to get to the next level. The problem is that they don't consistently do anything very well. They only do it pretty good. And sometimes they do it bad. And most of the other players on this squad are average to horrible, so it's not like we can get production out of those guys either. That's why Teague is such a big surprise, because he's at least producing. So you not only need BBIQ . . you need - the star players - the great head coach - the competent front office that knows how to construct a winner - decent complimentary players - and once you have all of that, the BBIQ to make everything work on the court.

Save that pre-eulogy until they are faced with an elimination game. If we win tonight, people will be right back on the bandwagon, believing that this team can win. I want to see if our stars can get it done tonight. They haven't gotten it done the past 2 games, so it's time for them to step up. But let's just wait to see what happens in about 9 hours, and see if they have any fight left in them.

Think about what is at stake tonight: IF WE WIN - A major adjustment has been made that led to something being done well offensively or defensively, which could bode huge to how the rest of the series is played - The series goes back to Chicago tied 2 - 2, a situation we haven't been in as a franchise in the 2nd round, since the epic Atlanta vs Boston battle back in 1988. - The Hawks guarantee that there will be a Game 6, which could be close out game for the Hawks to get to the Eastern Conference Finals - It increases the possibility of more people in Atlanta taking notice to what the Hawks are doing, which may add to the fan base IF WE LOSE - The Hawks go down 3 - 1, and probably lose this series in Game 5 - If they lose in Game 5, it will affirm that major changes probably need to be made, which may lead to one of the main core guys being traded - Change can be good, but we're talking about the ASG, so it could also make us worse - People around Atlanta will simply think that these are the "same ol Hawks", and not care what they do the following year ( unless we acquire a popular player ) To me, tonight's game is about as big of a game as I've ever seen as a Hawks fan. Only Game 6 of the 1988 Boston series ( in which we could've closed out the Celtics at home ), and Game 7 of that series, have been bigger games than what we'll play tonight. It'll be interesting to see how this team does tonight, seeing that Chicago fans may be in full force tonight. It's not going to sound like a home court advantage. It's going to sound more like a high school game, in which the fans of your crosstown rival make up 30% - 40% of the fans in attendance. So whenever they do something well, the home team will know about it via cheers from the other side. If these guys lay an egg tonight, and lose badly, it could have ramifications that extend far past this year. We will be at the mercy of the ASG either going out to find the right people that will improve the team ( as long as it's within their budget ), or they'll stick with what they have now, possibly guaranteeing that we'll be just a mediocre playoff team. If they do the latter, the fan base of the Hawks will never grow, and they may lose some existing fans. These guys need to show up in a big way tonight, just to keep the attention of the people in metro Atlanta.

LOL @ being a good teammate. He played the "good teammate" in Game 3, and it saw us getting blown out because he only took 12 shots, while other people were missing shot arfter shot, outside of Teague. People talking about him freezing out Teague? Where are you guys getting this from? If Teague plays the point, he should still be aggressive, but he also should look to get the ball to our main guys when they are open. That's what a Rajon Rondo does. He doesn't shoot the ball every time. It's unbelievable that some of you don't want JJ to be more aggressive. To me, that's what "forcing the issue" means. It simply means that he's not going to just sit in the corner to wait on the ball, or give the ball up as soon as 2 Bulls run at him. If he's aggressive, he may just create better scoring opportunities for other people. I just want JJ to stay true to his word. Please "force the issue" today. Don't let them dictate what you should do with the ball. You force them to change up their defense, by making aggressive plays out of the double team.

You guys are about to see what JJ means when he says that he's going to "force the issue". It doesn't necessarily mean a steady diet of ISO basketball. All he was referring to, was not giving up the ball as soon as he is doubled. If he stays true to his word, he's going to try to be the aggressor, instead of letting the defense dictate what he should do. Far too long he has let the defense determine what he should do, instead of him simply being on the attack. So if he does something with the ball as soon as he gets it, whether it be immediately taking the jumpshot, or going quicker to the hole before the double team is fully set. that's what he means by "forcing the issue". The Bulls WANT the ball out of JJ's ( and Jamal's ) hands. They can live with other people scoring ( like a Teague ), if our main guys aren't going to get the ball. And don't get it twisted folks. As soon as the Bulls want to clamp down on Teague, they will. Jeff has yet to see an aggressive double team, like what JJ and Jamal are seeing. If that happens today, he'll also have to decide to either "force the issue" or give the ball up. People should be thankful that JJ is looking to be more aggressive. JJ taking 12 to 15 shots in a game is NOT going to see us beat the Bulls. We need our main guys to get it going. So if JJ has to "force the issue" to get it going, or get other people better shots, then so be it.

Totally agree with JJ. I'm just mad that it took him this long to realize this. For all of the talk about him being a ball hog, he shoots less than just about every main scorer in the league. The Hawks have made the mistake all year in running an offense in which the open guy takes the shot. We don't have good enough shooters to run an offense like that, if we're not getting layups out of the halfcourt sets. We can't win if JJ is only taking 12 shots. This team has enough problems scoring the basketball as it is, so our main guy must be much more assertive in his offensive approach. And that means not wasting his dribble, and do something with it. He has to go . . and go quick. He should already have in mind what shot he wants to shoot, before the pass even gets to him.

I'm just glad that all of you guys immediately dissed that dude. With ATL's reputation as a "non-rabid sports town", I'm glad the die hards shut that dude down with the quickness. Anybody bailing out on this team now during the playoffs, when the outcome is still in doubt, wasn't a fan in the first place. Having said that, I'm kind of fearful of what the Game 4 crowd will look like. There were a little too many Bulls fans in the building for my liking the other night. With the way the Hawks lost and the Bulls won, you have to wonder if even more Bulls fans will be in the building tomorrow night. The Hawks haven't helped themselves at home this year, with all of the bad losses. But we can't have "fans" bailing out on them during the most critical time of the season.

The reason why JJ's assists are down, is because the people who he is passing the ball too, aren't making shots.

My old tagline used to say . . . "I want to see more Shawn Kemp, and less Rasheed Wallace, out of Josh Smith". Well . . 4 years later . . Rasheed it is for Smith. And it's sad to see too. My hope for him to terrorize the lane like Kemp used to do, has been almost extinguished with Drew's decision to play him at SF, and give him the "yellow light" to shoot jumpers. This freed up Josh to finally do what he always wanted to do . . jack jumpers ad nauseum. And while he started the season off great, his shooting has significantly declined since Christmas, and is almost at rock bottom in these playoffs, only making 17% of his jumpers outside of the lane. So if he refuses ( or can't ) play like Kemp, I wish he'd at least play like the 2004 version of Shawn Marion . . a guy who was an energizer bunny that grabbed rebounds by the boatloads, and always cut to the hole to receive passes in the lane for layups and dunks. He shot the occasional outside shot and 3, but he mainly lived in the paint. Marion was also a terror on the boards and a force to be reckoned with on the defensive end via steals and blocks. Marion's skillset back then is probably the closest thing to what Josh is today. So if we can get him to play like Shawn, we'll be OK and win this series. But I'd wish he'd play like this . . if this was Josh, he would've taken a jumpshot on the 1st one and a baby hook on the next. But watch what Kemp does on both plays.

The problem is . . Al played well in very short stretches last night. 4 of Al's 6 assists came in the 1st quarter. He grabbed 9 rebounds in the 2nd half . . but only shot 1 - 7 FG during that time. And in a game in which a ton of jumpers were missed on both sides, the 14 rebounds he grabbed is even diminished somewhat. The problem with Al is that he's our BIG . . but he's playing like a 2-guard. The only thing he's doing like a big, is defensive rebounding. But he's not mixing it up in the paint at all, he can't hit his patented jumper, and he's getting outworked by the opposing big. I guess if we'd come back to win the game, you could give Al more credit for the rebounding he did do in the 2nd half. And if he made a key play down the stretch, the inadequate play of most of the game could be overlooked somewhat. But to see the activity of the Chicago frontline, combined with what we did, was just atrocious. Yes, Smith was definitely CYO or Rec League bad. No doubt on that. But Horford wasn't much better. Smith's mistakes stick out like a sore thumb, but it's the "softness" of Horford that's starting to show itself more and more throughout these playoffs. I want the guy back that used to flex on people when he made a play on the inside, not this Mehmet Okur clone. And I have to give you credit, because you've been talking about this very thing for 4 years. That, and the fact that he refuses ( or can't ) take people off the dribble and drive to the hole. It's almost like the lane is painted with kryptonite paint, and it zaps all of his power if he gets inside of it. And I'll +1 you for that sir. A lot of people were ready to abandon JJ, and give all of the leadership and responsibility to Horford. But in these playoffs, he's shooting a dredful 22 - 72 ( 31% FG ) on shots not directly at the rim. He's not making his midrange jumper, nor is he making the very few shots that he takes in the paint. If it isn't a layup or dunk, he's been dredful in these playoffs offensively.

The stat about JJ and Jamal making only 1 shot within 5 feet is correct. The thing is though, JJ had been making a point to live in the lane before Monday night's game. So even if JJ isn't scorching hot from midrange and deep, he could still shoot 9 - 17 by making 4 or 5 floaters in the lane, while only hitting 1 or 2 threes and 2 or 3 midrange jumpers. Hollinger has watched JJ and the Hawks to know this. He's just being an idiot about it. He did get one point right though. The Bulls, and everybody else, is not going to have th luxury of JJ being out of the game, unless he pick up some quick fouls. Drew has pretty much committed to playing him 42+ minutes a game. And JJ and Jamal are literally taking turns on when to look for their own shots. We Hawks fans know that those types of shots won't fall at that clip. But then again, the Hawks were the best midrange shooting team in the league, mainly due to Al Horford. So let's say JJ and Jamal only combine for 37 points tonight. What happens if Horford's midrange shots start to fall? Or how ahout Marvin's? It's funny how the media thinks we played a perfect game, even when Horford nor Smith were big offensive factors. A 10 - 15 point Bulls win wouldn't shock me. But nor would another Hawks win tonight.

This is not college basketball. There is no such thing as an "Elite Eight" in the NBA playoffs. The "Elite Eight" in college basketball means that you've already gone through 3 rounds of the tournament, playing at least one game vs a top level opponent during the 2nd round or the Sweet 16. If anything, the Conference semifinals are equivalent to the Sweet 16. And a team that consistently makes the Sweet 16 in college is NOT an "elite" program in Division I basketball. It's a good program, but not an elite one. The Hawks are a good team. But reaching the 2nd round, and having a 1 - 8 record in the 2nd Round with 7 or 8 blowouts, does NOT make you an elite team. This team has to reach the Conference Finals to even be talked about as being "elite". As far as monies being added, I'll go back to what I've talked about over the years on here. And people don't like when I talk about it. But as long as fan attendance isn't in the top 10 in the league, despite us being in or close to the top 10, the monies that people talk about will NEVER be spent on upgrading this roster. We were 22nd in attendance this year, with attendance dropping for the 2nd year in a row. If the owners can't recoup what they pay out in Luxury Tax, by having Philips sold out 80% of the time, they're just not going to spend that money. At that point, we're forced to make wise personnel decisions on young players and veteran free agents. With us having a 64 million dollar payroll between 7 players next year, it's going to be extremely hard for the Hawks to add quality players to the mix, without trading someone SIGNIFICANT, or making damn good evaulations on draft picks and free agents. Oops . . we've traded "you know who", plus another guy we could've chosen in the 1st round this summer. So we're only left with trade options or minimum free agent pickups. It is what it is. We're not elite, and we don't have nowhere close to an elite front office. What we have to hope, is for the guys we have on the squad now, can keep improving as players. If Teague makes a significant jump next year, along with improvements from Horford and Smith . . with JJ playing at the level he's playing at now . . we'll still be a playoff team that can make it to the 2nd round. But don't believe that Sund definition of "elite", because we're not elite yet. One win in Chicago does not make us elite. Win the dang series first.

I did something that I'd never done before 2 weeks ago. I attended back to back NBA games. IMe living in Middle Tennessee, I'm about 4 hours from ATL and 3.25 hours from Memphis. So I made the decision to attend BOTH Game 3s. Zoomed down to ATL that Friday night, got to Philips Arena right at tip off. Hawks played inspired basketball, until they let the Magic back into the game. Jamal was great, and the crowd went crazy when he banked in that 3. Left the arena, partied for a while in ATL, then headed back to Tennessee. Got about 6 hours rest, and made my way to the FedEx Forum in Memphis. LOL . . got there right at tip off again. Saw the Grizzlies play a great 1st half, until San Antonio made their run. Like Crawford, Z-Bo makes an improbable 3 with the shot clock running down, and the Griz get their 1st playoff home win. Beale St was rockin afterwards. If not for my job making us work this Saturday, I'd seriously think about doing that again. But I'll try my best to make it to ATL on Sunday night. LOL @ an ATL - MEM final. ABC would try to forefeit the rights to the series, and put it on ESPN instead. But I would love to see that. And I would try to be at every game. But as much as I like the Griz, my allegiance lies with the Hawks. The white #2 JJ jersey would be in a hostile environment, but I wouldn't care. One thing about the Memphis crowd though, I'm glad to see you guys channel the energy you brng to U of Memphis Tigers games, and transfer that to the Grizzlies. And as much as I like the A-Town dancers . . the Memphis dance team is off the charts.