TheNorthCydeRises

Wasn't the Cleveland game on a Tuesday? The excuses have to stop. We're currently a top 7 team in the league, but 20th in attendance? Wow. And last I checked, we were like 2 games behind Orlando in the division. So if Orlando wins 62 games, and the Hawks win 55, that's the reason why people don't go to Hawks games? Hogwash. And the commute that ATL people have to make to Hawks games, is no different than the commute people have to make to Rockets, Mavericks, Bulls, and Warriors games. I haven't looked at the attendance numbers, but it wouldn't surprise me one bit if Golden State's attendance was higher than ours. LOL . . the team won 31 home games last year . . . .31. But they're still not good enough for people to watch on a nightly basis?

It IS sad. This team wins 70 - 75% of their home games, and some people act like they don't win 50% of their home games. We have one of the highest scoring teams in the league, yet people want to throw out THAT EXCUSE that we're not exciting? Come on now. Even the loss vs the Knicks was an exciting game. I gues watching a solid player like JJ make jumpshots isn't eciting enough. That's why we have Smoove, to provide the excitement.

Exactly. If Teague was a solid defensive player, Woody would definitely play that guy. It's his defense, along with his problems with finishing around the rim, that's mainly keeping him off the floor, just like it did with Acie. That's why Woody didn't potentially sacrifice wins earlier in the season, to try to develop Teague. LOL . . if the fan base can't handle a 3-game losing streak, how in the would would they handle Teague playing 15 minutes a night, but still losing games?

The main problem with our bench is that they can't stop ANYBODY. I've been saying all year that even when we have 2 of our bench in the game, that a team may go on a run, even if Crawford is making shots. I've seen games in which Craw would have 11 pts in the first half, but still have a +/- rating somewhere between -4 and -8. It doesn't seem possible, but it happens all the time. They just don't stop people. Our bench could shoot 50%, and still be inefficient all around, because they're letting the other team shoot 63%. It's been happening all year. The bench had that very good 5 game stretch in which the starters got out to real big leads, and the bench was able to either extend the lead, or at least hold ground. What is eventually going to happen, is that Woody is going to severely tighten this rotation even more, causing people to hate him. JJ will go back to playing 40 minutes, along with Josh Smith, if he can stay in the game. I still say Marvin is the key to all of this. If he can get his shooting back on track, JJ will get him the ball when he's being doubled, and Marvin will knock down the shot. That'll keep Woody from relying on Crawford for ISO offense so much. LOL @ the Steelers blowing ANOTHER 4th quarter lead. God I hope they lose.

And just to drive that last point home even further . . . Starters EFF rating: 2nd ( 25.9 ) . . . only Phoenix with 26.4 is ahead of them Starters Deff rating: 3rd ( 5.0 ) . . . only the Lakers ( 6.6 ) and the Boston ( 6.2 ) are ahead of them. Last 3 games ( lol . . check this out ) Starters EFF rating: 17th ( 23.2 ) . . . Bench EFF rating: 24th ( 15.6 ) Starters Deff rating: 11th ( 2.3 ) . . . Bench EFF rating: 27th ( - 16.9 ) Yet, people want this bench to play more? LOL So maybe the solution for Woody and the Hawks is to play the bench LESS ( including Crawford ), and live and die with the starters, much like the Lakers do.

Exactly. Even when we pulled Crawford, and then Bibby, Nate couldn't be stopped. The Bibby - Crawford - JJ - Smoove - Horford lineup has been our best group all year. We will continue to play that group, because it's our most potent offensive unit. If you don't like that unit, you better hope Marvin get his jumpshot back. If that happens, there will be less of a need to play Crawford and Bibby at the same time.

JJ. . easily. Like coachx said, the decade really didn't start until 2007 - 08. We're the Pacers, if we don't have JJ.

Not surprised at that at all. The bench has either played great or played horribly. Our starters win games for us, not the bench. The people always clamoring for more of the bench to play, aren't really seeing what's going on. Matter of fact, go through all of the stats. ppg - 5th ( because of Crawford ) total reb - 28th asst - 21st stls - 8th ( because of Teague and Zaza basically ) blks - 20th tos - 4th ( which is great ) Dreb - 30th ( as cited ) Oreb - 15th ( Zaza ) FG% - 14th 3FG% - 13th ( only shooting .335 though ) FT% - 5th ( mainly Crawford ) EFF - 10th ( which is good, because when they play well, they're great ) Deff - 20th ( a -2.4 ) . . . The Deff stat stands for Difference in efficiency between us and our opponent. The -2.4 is significant, because although our bench is efficient, it shows that our bench routinely gets outplayed . . which is what I've been saying all along. Look at some of the teams below us, that has a worse Deff number than we do. Phoenix ( 23nd . . . -3.1 ) Chicago ( 26th . . . -5.2 ) LA Lakers ( 27th . . -6.5 ) All are teams that are known to have bad benches. Meanwhile, guess who are the top teams in this category. San Antonio ( 1st . . . 9.8 ) Cleveland ( 2nd . . . 6.4 ) NY Knicks ( 5th . . . 3.8 ) . . because of the firepower that Al Harrington, and now Nate Robinson brings to the group. Of the top 15 teams with the highest bench EFF ratings, only Atlanta, Phoenix, and Philadelphia also have negative Deff ratings. 3 teams that heavily rely on their starters to win games. Once again mrH. Good stuff.

Which is what I've said all along. Give him a 5yr - 80 to 90 million deal. Good stuff mrH.

But people have been wanting to see the bench all year. When they don't get into the game, people whine and cry. When they mess up, people whine and cry. It's been obvious to me all year that our bench is nowhere near as good as people think they are. If they were, the 2nd unit of other teams wouldn't routinely handle our bench. Our bench is essentially Jamal Crawford. If he's off ( like he's been the last 2.25 games ), then our bench tends to be horrible. If JC plays anywhere near how he's been playing throughout the season, we win the Knick game easily and maybe have a better shot at winning one of the Cleveland games. I've never trusted the dude, because I know how streaky he can be. Personally, I'm hoping for Mr. Consistency ( Marvin ) to get back on track. I want to see the Marvin that would routinely get us an automatic 12 - 18 ppg, by hitting his midrange jumpers. He looked to be turning the corner a little in the Knick game, because he got his shot going a little bit. We are what we are . . . a jumpshooting team. If the jumpers aren't falling, we need to drive. If we drive, and we can't finish or can't get calls ( which we aren't ), we simply need to shore up the defense.

And in most of those close games, it was either JJ or Bibby or Josh making huge plays or shots for us. That's why I'm not deeply concerned about the 3 game collaspes. The first Cleveland game we definitely should've lost. We played well enough defensively to possibly win, but we couldn't do anything right offensively. The 2nd Cleveland game, we should've won, but we had to battle a lot of ish up there, including the refs and a horrible shot clock operator. The Knick game we should've won, but it took a Kobe-esque performance by Nate Robinson to beat us. The fact that we routinely destroy teams is an indication that we're a very good team. All teams go through a little adversity during a season though. We simply have to watch them, and see how all of this plays out. People were ready to push the panic button after the Hornet, Magic, and Piston losses . . then we go on another winning streak. We have a much tougher stretch of games coming up, but I think this team is mentally tough enough to hold the fort and win some of those games. That's the one good thing about being 10 games above .500 . . . . you do have a little room for error, especially if the people ahead of you aren't pulling away from you.

Let's be real folks. The weaknesses of this team has always been there. It's just that the guys who were making shots earlier in the year, aren't making them in the last 3 games for some reason. Defensively, we're just not getting the job done. That's where the tightening up needs to happen. Also, the Hawks need to start securing defensive rebounds a lot better. 4th quarter shooting the last 3 games ( OT stats in Knicks game not included ): Johnson: 1 - 3 . . 5 - 10 . . 2 - 4 . . . . TOTAL: 8 - 17 ( .471 ) Bibby: 0 - 1 . . 1- 3 . . 1 - 3 . . . . . . TOTAL: 2 - 7 ( .286 ) Horford: 0 - 3 . . 0 - 1 . . 0 - 1 . . . . . .TOTAL: 0 - 5 ( .000 ) Smith: 3 - 5 . . 0 - 2 . . 2 - 2 . .. . . . TOTAL: 5 - 9 ( .556 ) Williams: n/a . .n/a . . 2 - 5 . . . . . . TOTAL: 2 - 5 ( .400 ) Crawford: 1 - 3 . . 0 - 2 . . 1 - 5 . . . TOTAL: 2 - 10 ( .200 ) Evans: n/a . . n/a . . 0 - 1 . . . . . . . . TOTAL: 0 - 1 ( .000 ) People blame JJ, but JJ is obviously doing his job. It's the complimentary players, especially Crawford, that need to be better. When he's looked upon to be our 2nd guy, he's the one that really needs to help JJ. He did a great job of that in the first Cleveland game for 3 quarters. But recently, he hasn't done his job. Other people simply need to step up folks. On both ends of the floor.

Time to break up the hysteria a little. Enjoy.

The Memphis win we won't get credit for, but after starting out 1 - 8, that team is now 16 - 16. That means that they're 15 - 8 in their last 23 games. They remind me of the 06 - 07 Hawks.

Nice try . . but I watched that game. Orlando played like pure ish for about 44 minutes in that game. Then they mount a rally at the end to get within 2 possessions, but fell short. They couldn't even begin to stop Derrick Rose. Even the so-called elite teams play like ish sometimes. I just love how our "haters are quick to point out anything negative about us, but give other teams a pass when they mess up. LOL @ Phoenix . . . getting DESTROYED at home against Memphis. Losing by almost 30 now with a minute to go.

OMG.. . Orlando loses @ Chicago. How dare they lose to an inferior team? I think Vince Carter hurt his knee at the end of that game too. Don't know the severity of it yet though. Hawks lose no ground to the Magic. You know what folks, the elite teams may not be so elite. It may be only 2 or 3 teams that finish with 58+ wins, while you'll have a lot of teams at or slightly above the 50 win mark. Back in the day, winning 55 games would almost guarantee you a top 2 seed.

All I'll say is this is how 50+ win teams play. This is the Hawks real taste of adversity all year, losing 3 straight. Let's see how they come out of this. With the Boston - Orlando - Boston stretch of games coming up, they don't have time to sit around and feel sorry for themselves. The nature of the NBA season says that you have plenty of time to make up for a bad week, if you get back doing the things you're supposed to be doing. I still say that the 4th quarter remedy is to limit Jamal Crawford's minutes if he's cold from the field. He's a great offensive threat . . when he's on. When he's cold, he'll absolutely kill you, because his play on the defensive end can't make up for his cold shooting. People don't like Marvin, but that's exactly who Woody is going to have to go with to close out these games. If it makes anybody feel better, the only other teams in the league that haven't lose 3 in a row this year, are Orlando, LA Lakers, Cleveland, and Dallas. Everybody else has dropped 3 in a row. And my how things change in this league on a week by week basis: - Denver has lost 5 of their last 6 games, with their only win coming against us. - San Antonio is surging, because they're beating up on very weak teams ( lol @ their schedule in the past 10 games ). - Cleveland is RED HOT, winners of 12 of their last 13 games. - Portland fought through their early season problems, and then the injuries, and have won 5 of their last 6 - Phoenix, after starting out 14 - 3, went 7 - 9 last month ( and had to beat the Lakers and Celtics just to get to 7 wins for the month ) - and the Hawks have lost 4 of their last 5, with 4th quarter collaspes being the prevailing theme in 3 of the losses. This is the NBA folks. The real NBA, in which other good teams struggle at times too.

If anybody recorded this game, how about making a Lakers - Kings 2002 West Finals type conspiracy video? Damn, I wished that this game would've been shown on TV in my area so I could've recorded that game. Oh well . . let's see what Napolean and Stu Jackson does with this. Regardless of what happens . . . Happy New Year Hawks . . and take your frustration out on the Knicks.

Did you read that dudes entire Wiki entry? Mauer's first NBA Finals game, was Game 3 of the Miami - Dallas series in 2006. LOL . . . oh reallly? When you see that, it kind of makes what you say even more intriguing. We all know what happened in that 2006 Finals series. It was the Dwyane Wade free throw shooting clinic. All of those calls he started to get, changed that series.

Like I said . . . .

LOL . . . damn. Someone needs to investigate the timekeeper. What's his/her name, and see if he/she owes anybody any money.

Damn . . . and tell me Smoove didn't get fouled BY LEBRON when he went to the hole?

Exactly. I wasn't impressed with that team at all last night. Shaq looks like a shell of himself. Marvin straight up SHUT DOWN Lebron. I know Lebron got at least 2 FGs off of switches in which he had either Bibby or Crawford on him. When Marvin guarded him straight up, he was forced into taking tough jumpers. Marvin was EXCELLENT on defense last night, and the crowd in the arena knew it. I'll definitely agree with the notion that the Hawks beat themselves last night. That horrible 4th quarter, along with not securing offensive rebounds ( especially in the 1st half ), contributed to that team's demise last night. And as Gray Mule always points out . . . MAKE YOUR DAMN FREE THROWS!!! We missed 10 last night. And I know 7 of those had to have come in the 2nd half. The Cavs don't scare me AT ALL after that performance last night.

I agree. No way he belongs on that list. If he belongs on the list, you better put Tyrus Thomas and definitely Yi Jilian on that list as well. LOL @ 5a and 5b . . . that's a hater right there.

It does when you don't have people who can consistently create their own shots. Horford's low post game is getting better, but it's not reliable offense yet. Smoove likes to face people up and drive to the basket, but he tends to go in a little too weak to get the calls. So it's pretty much up to JJ and Crawford to create shots on this team. People want less ISO and more motion. But when people can't hit wide open shots in the motion offense, then ISO is the alternative. And if your two best offensive players happen to be pretty good ISO players, then that would seem to be the way to go, when you need a score. WIth ISO Jamal, he's almost always going to shoot the ball. With ISO JJ, he reads the defense, and will readily pass out of the double team to open shooters. If he's not doubled, he's shooting the ball. For the record, JJ has 51 three-point assists on the year ( as of 12/26 )