TheNorthCydeRises

You mean like on this shot vs Miami in Game 7 last year? He got fouled, but the refs didn't call it.

LMAO @ that Denver announcer in that first clip. "Well now you see how this cat gets these many opportunities" . . . "See . . he's already falling down before anybody has had any contact with him." He has that fall down pat though. If he even gets breathed on, he's falling down.

Beat me to this thread post. It's nice to see Slam, a magazine notorious for just covering the top 10 popular teams, cover the Hawks ( because we've finally broken into the top 10 ).

Yes sir . . . he did. A lot of people complain about Woody not trying to play certain guys, but the 2 guys we need to compliment Crawford ( Zaza and Mo ) are the ones starting to step up lately. That's very good to see.

And look at the national media as of right now . . . - Smoove and Marvin defending Kobe . . . cover of ESPN.com - JJ going around Artest and Gasol . . . cover of NBA.com

That's pretty much how I feel about it. Once or twice a game is fine. But don't try to do it all the time. And definitely play less flashy on the road and just make the right play. It's funny though. People say that Jamal played well tonight, even though he shot 5 - 14 FG. He did play better than what that shooting % would indicate, especially in the 1st half.. But if JJ or Smoove would've gone 5 - 14 FG in a game, no way people would say that they played "well".

Test #1 . . . . .PASSED WITH FLYING COLORS This is what he needed to do tonight. The Hawks basically played their A-game tonight. And JJ was brilliant in that 2nd half LMAO . . of course, ESPN is going to make a big deal of the Kobe sprained ankle, even though they were down 10 at that point. It's OK though. The Captain did what he needed to do tonight. Next up . . . Test #2 @ Cleveland

Dang . . . no Bynum tonight? Well . . . that means if we beat them, this win won't count, because they're not a full strength. At least that's how some fans will spin this.

It's funny how people hate JJ's ISOs, but don't consider what Smitty would do when he'd back down smaller guards on the wings, as ISOs as well. The only difference is that JJ will face you up, and either pass the ball to an open shooter, take a 19 footer in your face, or drive into the lane and shoot a floater . . . . . . while Smitty will back you down, and either pass the ball to an open shooter, and take a turnaround 15 footer, or do a spin move and drive toward a lay-up. Both are ISO offenses Matter of fact, all Lenny Wilkens used to run, was pick and roll with Mookie and whomever . . . and ISOs ISO Smitty ISO Dikembe ISO K-Willis Most of those were post up ISOs, so I guess that makes them more acceptable than the JJ ISOs that he scores off of.

No debate against you, nor doubt in JJ's game whatsoever. You can't be anywhere close to being objective when it comes to JJ, so there's no debate. Like I said, my comments go far beyond any Hawksquawk haters on here. I simply want him to "flip that switch" in these next 2 games. He's going to have to do it anyway when the playoffs start, for us to have any shot to get past the 2nd round. This is simply a dress rehearsal for JJ. Like I said, he's done it all year on the road. Now it's time for him to do it in frnt of the home crowd. The last thing I want to hear, are all of those fake Laker fans cheering louder than our home crowd. JJ and the Hawks need to shut them up with the quickness.

What's more crazier that that . . . is the fact that the 28% guy takes more shots from that range, than the 48% guy ( 2.9 for Smoove vs 2.2 for Horford )

AHF . . . this goes FAR BEYOND anything that goes on with Hawksquawk posters. Joe Johnson is the most underrated and disrespected player in the NBA. And it's not even close. Even his peers know this. But a good number of Hawk fans, the Atlanta media, and even the national media underrate the guy. So now it's time to put everyone on notice ( if he can ), to show just how good he can be against a top level team. It's not like he HASN'T done that this year. But the majority of those games have been on the road, not on national TV, and has ended in a loss because we either didn't rebound well enough . . or the rest of the team didn't step up. I saw an article on NBA.com that broke down the list of current MVP candidates this year. Instead of discussing their top 10, they decide to discuss the next 10. Smoove actually was one of the ones that was discussed in that next 10. I personally have no problem with that. After what Smoove has done since the All-Star break, he deserves that attention. But unless I totally overlooked it, there's no mention of JJ anywhere in that top 20. Not a word. That's blatant disrespect to JJ. So now is the perfect time to rectify all of this. He needs to shut up everybody . . from Nique, to Bradley, to Schultz, to everybody who has downgraded that dude. He hasn't had a "WOW Game" in Philips for a while. Wednesday night against the World Champs is the perfect opportunity for it. And if he can pull it off again in Cleveland ( on the National TV stage ), then maybe, just maybe, people will start giving this dude the credit he deserves. If he goes for 35 or 40 . . . as long as he is hot . . that's all good with me. If he scores 21 points and dishes out 11 assists, I'll take that too. But it's the high scoring games, that get peoples attention, so I'd rather for him to come out hot and go for 35, while making sure that leads to a victory. He's going to have to switch into "superstar mode" sometime in the playoffs anyway, so he might as well try to turn that light on this week.

While this is a week that the fans look toward to, as being important for the Hawks in the playoffs . . . it's also important to YOU. This is your shot man. This is your shot to shut up all of these fans that doubt you and dog you for your play. Whether it be on offense or on defense, this is your time to prove your status in this league. If you come out on FIRE, do NOT be afraid to completely TAKE OVER THIS GAME. If your shot is off, then you show people why you're one of the most versatile players in the game, by setting up your teammates and playing lockdown defense. There are going to be at least 8,000 -10,000 fans in Philips on Wednesday night . . . just to see Kobe. It is YOUR JOB to make sure that they leave saying . . "Damn . . the Hawks sure did ball tonight." Make Kobe a friggin AFTERTHOUGHT. And when we go to Cleveland, we're going to need a game like what you played back in December, when your shooting kept us in the game. Kobe and Lebron are the measuring sticks for all good and great players in this league. Rise to the challenge . . . and don't let those cats completely outshine you.

We're going to need him in the playoffs. If Horford gets in foul trouble, Zaza is going to have to be able to step up and bang against the big boys. We need him getting some of his swagger back as the playoffs approaches.

These games are far more important to us, than it will be to the Lakers and Cavs . . . which is why you can't put a lot of stock in them if we beat both of them. Yeah, it will be great for us ( the fans ), and from the team I guess from a confident standpoint. But I doubt that the Lakers and Cavs are going to be looking at us like . . . "ok, we MUST beat these guys tonight or we may struggle in the playoffs." No. The games are far more important to us. The only question is . . . will there be 10,000 people cheering for Kobe in Philips on Wednesday night?

Al takes more shots from the 16 - 23 foot area ( 2.2 a game ) , than he does from the 10 - 15 foot area ( 1.5 a game ). From the 16 - 23 foot area, Horford shoots 48% . Other Hawks from that area: Crawford - 43% Bibby - 43% JJ - 41% Marvin - 35% Smoove - 28% League average from that range is 39.6% So Horford, instead of backing people down, should shoot that 17, 18 foot jumper. The 10 - 15 foot shot is basically a shot in the lane or to the side of the lane. Horford is usually a little further away from the basket when he catches the ball. Actually, Patrick Ewing is probably the wrong comparison to Horford. It's probably more like Chris Webber. Webber used to kill people in his prime with the 18 foot jumper.

I agree. He needs to stop trying to be Shaq, and be more like Patrick Ewing. Just stick with the face up 17 footer.

And rushed missed shots, give the other team the ball back early, enabling them to score quicker. I hate to tell you guys this, ( and I'm still reading this thread and responding as I go ), but some of you may want to look at how some of these teams play according to pace. Top 10 teams, according to pace: Playoff teams in BOLD RED 1) Golden St - 100.4 2) Indiana - 97.2 3) Minnesota - 96.2 4) Phoenix - 95.7 5) Denver - 94.9 6) Sacramento - 94.1 7) New York - 94.0 8) Houston - 93.8 9) Memphis - 93.4 10) Chicago - 93.3 See a pattern? Bottom 10 teams, according to pace. ( Playoff teams in BOLD RED ) 30) Portland - 87.6 29) Detroit - 88.9 28) Miami - 90.0 27) Atlanta - 90.4 26) Charlotte - 90.5 25) Cleveland - 90.1 T24) San Antonio - 91.4 T24) New Jersey - 91.4 22) Philadelphia - 91.5 21) Boston - 91.7 See a pattern again? The league average for team pace is 92.8 Only 6 of the 16 eligible playoff teams at this moment play at or above the league average. Playing fast does not = wins. The Hawks should play fast when they have the numbers or "nimbers", when they grab defensive rebounds. Coming down and taking quick shots does not help this offense, no matter who is taking it. Especially if those shots aren't open shots. I've proven multiple times that JJ is one of the top ISO players in this league. So even when he dribbles for 20 seconds, you may end up with a better result than trying to take quick shots. Ball movement is great, if you can set up people for easy shots. But just going fast just to be doing it, is not the formula for success in this league. People want to play like Golden State. But playing like Golden State on a nightly basis, would get us killed.

Swole . . . a bad shot is a bad shot, whether you take 20 seconds to shoot the ball . . or 2 seconds to shoot the ball. And if JJ takes 20 seconds to set up his man, and then SCORES, it's a GOOD PLAY, despite the lack of ball movement.

It's obvious isn't it? The JJ / Woody negativity ( despite this being on pace to be the 4th most successful team in Atlanta Hawk regular season history ), is bordering on insanity. And it's not just from the fans. It's from the broadcast group and the AJC as well. The ish is OBVIOUS. I love Nique . . . but Nique in his final year as a Hawk played MUCH WORSE ball than JJ did. Dude was much more erratic than JJ ever was. And he was branded "selfish" by his own coach. I know Nique loves Jamal like a godson, and Jamal can do no wrong in his eyes . . . but sometimes, he simply needs to shut his mouth when it comes to our captain. In this league, you have to let star players do their thing, because more times than not, they're going to make positive plays for you. That's what Nique expected when he was a star player in this league. Criticizing Woody and JJ for every single little thing they do, is straight up crap in my opinion. Objective commentating is one thing. Constructive criticism is one thing. Hyper criticism bordering on obsession is another. I haven't even read the other responses yet, just the initial post. So it will be interesting to see how the rest of Hawksquawk views this.

So how about being objective, instead of simply taking a shot on Marvin. If you watched the game, does Marvin get credit for slowing down Granger? No wise cracks. Just yes or no .. . and defend why you answered yes or no with evidence from what you saw in the game.

Just wondering.

Teague is playing better with the 2nd unit these days. But to justify him playing with the starters, he first needs to prove that he can be the co-leader of that 2nd unit. He looks better than he did 2 months ago though, no denying that.

Who do you get to replace them? And be REALISTIC in your choices. It's easy to whine and cry about our leadership, even though this Hawks team may be the 4th best in franchise history . . . . but hey, knock yourself out if you think this squad is void of leadership and can upgrade. I love how everybody counts this team out after a bad loss. . . but acts like we can win the NBA title after a great win.

Damn . . . if the Vols make it to the Final Four, we may actually have a shot to win this thing now. Please beat Michigan St.