It's only one game, but I am REALLY 'disappointed'

[TheDude]

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If someone would have told me we would hold Philly to 88 pts on opening night, I would have marked that down as a double digit win. Philly handed us the game about 10 times and we couldn't take advantage of it. If not starting off 20-4 we would have won the game. I think we are missing Al's offense more than I thought. We really didn't get destroyed inside, I don't think our defense was that bad. It's not just Speedy, we missed open shot after open shot after open shot.

Philly looked horrible also. We came out as flat as a team could possibly come out, if Philly would have played Charlotte they would have gotten spanked by 30.. I mean we had no passion at ALL. I mean the players looked like they knew they were gonna lose, even at the beginning of the game! (EXACTLY LIKE LAST YEAR during our 2-16 start), and we had no chemistry to speak of. Our offense just stood there and did nothing and I blame that on Woodson.

Do y'all think the new ball had something to do with our horrible wide open shooting?

On a positive note Chill looked great, and JJ looked great in the 2nd half..

Why do we always begin the season with no passion? Like all the players just have a "disappointed" look on their face. It's the first game of the year!.. get fired up! I blame that on Woodson actually.

BTW something we never really talked about before this season is that we don't have a vocal leader, AH is the only person on our team last year that even RESEMBLED one. It seems like noone says anything to each other, and I think that is a BIG problem. JJ should be our leader but he doesn't talk, not that that is a bad thing but we need some1 with experience to step up and get our team together. That's why Cassell turns every team he goes to into competitors..

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excellent post, someone who actually watched the game

[Guest Walter]

I mean come on. Lo isn't anybody's savior. We couldn't score or defend the post at all and Lo isn't a great defender (or do you not recall his stay here prior). He's adequate, but he's even less of an offensive threat than ZaZa.

We took those low percentage perimeter shots because we cannot create in the post. Lo certainly can't do that. We'll still be taking them and we still won't be able to defend the post.

W

[TheDude]

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I mean come on. Lo isn't anybody's savior. We couldn't score or defend the post at all and Lo isn't a great defender (or do you not recall his stay here prior). He's adequate, but he's even less of an offensive threat than ZaZa.

We took those low percentage perimeter shots because we cannot create in the post. Lo certainly can't do that. We'll still be taking them and we still won't be able to defend the post.

W

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savior? save from what? keeping teams at 88 points? zaza had 15 points in the paint (hence offense) and we missed a boatload of drives in the lane but that's offense and has nothing to do with defense in the paint...

if we dont start off the game in la la land and speedy actually plays like he's seen a basketball before and sets up the offense better, we're in this game and good chance to pull it out.....it was our offense tonight overall that cost us this game..there was not good offensive play setup (pg job) and we missed some open shots. that's it.

[Guest Walter]

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keeping teams at 88 points?

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Obviously you didn't watch the game closely. Iverson and the Sixers were all but toying with us after they went up by almost 20. Did you not see Iverson smiling and laughing as we brought the ball up in the 1st half. He was enjoying himself, almost hamming for the camera it seemed. Philly isn't a top team so when they beat you by 13, look at ease doing it, and you look at a loss as to how to make them take you seriously, not good.

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zaza had 15 points in the paint (hence offense) and we missed a boatload of drives in the lane but that's offense and has nothing to do with defense in the paint...

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ZaZa scored maybe two actual post baskets. 7 of his 15 pts were FTs. AT least two of the other 8 were off set shots near or just inside the key (range). ØNE was a hook putback off a rebound. I don't know what the other one was but it was late in the game when the game was decided. In fact, there wasn't a single set play where ZaZa scored in the post. Just one put back and two set shots from 12' or so. HELLO?!?!?!? THAT IS NOT POST OFFENSE! Neither are "drives" post offense!

Indeed, our lack of it is why we shot so many perimeter shots (and missed more than usual) and why we missed so many drives. Nobody will ever respect our post offense and we will be forced to score in less efficient ways made increasingly less efficient because of our lack of a post offense.

W

[Duff_Man]

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keeping teams at 88 points?

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Obviously you didn't watch the game closely. Iverson and the Sixers were all but toying with us after they went up by almost 20. Did you not see Iverson smiling and laughing as we brought the ball up in the 1st half. He was enjoying himself, almost hamming for the camera it seemed. Philly isn't a top team so when they beat you by 13, look at ease doing it, and you look at a loss as to how to make them take you seriously, not good.

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zaza had 15 points in the paint (hence offense) and we missed a boatload of drives in the lane but that's offense and has nothing to do with defense in the paint...

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ZaZa scored maybe two actual post baskets. 7 of his 15 pts were FTs. AT least two of the other 8 were off set shots near or just inside the key (range). ØNE was a hook putback off a rebound. I don't know what the other one was but it was late in the game when the game was decided. In fact, there wasn't a single set play where ZaZa scored in the post. Just one put back and two set shots from 12' or so. HELLO?!?!?!? THAT IS NOT POST OFFENSE! Neither are "drives" post offense!

Indeed, our lack of it is why we shot so many perimeter shots (and missed more than usual) and why we missed so many drives. Nobody will ever respect our post offense and we will be forced to score in less efficient ways made increasingly less efficient because of our lack of a post offense.

W

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Sene is at least bringing the post offense to Seattle in the...oh wait....

[Guest Walter]

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Sene is at least bringing the post offense to Seattle in the...oh wait....

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...and yet he's already contributing as much as SW despite being 3-4 years younger and playing as many years of basketball overall as SW played in college.

AND, he can legitimately play center and potentially change a game defensively.

I mean come on. Sene won't be NBA-ready for 3 years but his post offense is your defense of SW? Please.

W

[Buzzard]

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I agree that Speedy needs to hit his open jump shots. I also agree that we need sometype of lowpost offensive threat. ZaZa's post game was nonexsistent against Daly. Joe's shot was off and no one else in the starting lineup can shoot. Hope Marvin can come back soon.

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I already posted this once in another post but this is exactly what I think...so here it goes again...

I 2nd this. We sorely needed more offensive output tonight and both players (MWill and Lo) would have provided this; along with some boards and defensive pressure down low...

ZaZa and Chillz played well. We just needed a lot more help. Hopefully some of the others will step up soon. I am not worried about JJ at all.

It is just the 1st game of season. No need to panic. Look at what happened to Miami last night at home and then Chicago tonight after they thrashed the Heat last night. Its still early, but a decent start is always a great motivator. For fans and players alike...

[Sothron]

I hate to say this but you guys mentioning Claxton needs to hit open jump shots need to look at his career stats and scouting reports on him. He has zero outside range and is not even an average shooter.

[Buzzard]

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I hate to say this but you guys mentioning Claxton needs to hit open jump shots need to look at his career stats and scouting reports on him. He has zero outside range and is not even an average shooter.

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I just want assist and dives in the lane from him; along with good hands and decisions. We got enough players hoisting threes already...

[Guest Walter]

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I 2nd this. We sorely needed more offensive output tonight and both players (MWill and Lo) would have provided this; along with some boards and defensive pressure down low...

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...Chill played well and MW would bench him. MW likely wouldn't have produced much btter than Chill. Same with Lo. He's not as good offensively as even ZaZa so even if he's lightly better defensively it's not much of a gain to have him in 15 MPG.

Philly toyed with us. The score could've been worse. I don't think a similarly productive guy who would've benched our best performer tonight in Chill and Lo Wright would have made THE difference in this game.

W

[HAWKS1986]

Speedy isn't a great shooter, but he should be able to hit five or six shots from the perimeter a game. And he should be able to involve his teammates more than he did last night.

I am little surprised in 27 minutes Speedy had ZERO ASSISTS.

[Buzzard]

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..Chill played well and MW would bench him. MW likely wouldn't have produced much btter than Chill. Same with Lo. He's not as good offensively as even ZaZa so even if he's lightly better defensively it's not much of a gain to have him in 15 MPG.

Philly toyed with us. The score could've been worse. I don't think a similarly productive guy who would've benched our best performer tonight in Chill and Lo Wright would have made THE difference in this game.

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So Shelden and Smoove were playing so well; MWill and Lo would not have taken any minutes from them? This post is the only funny thing I saw tonight. Thanks for the laugh...

[Jackets333]

Well part of the reason Speedy had no assists is because no one could finish. Anyone who blames this game on defense doesn't know what they're talkin about. Webber had less than 10 pts. You know Iverson is gonna score 30, he does it every night.

You don't win NBA games scoring 75 points, you just don't. There was no resemblance of an offense on the court tonight. A team like this should be runnin and gunnin. Half court sets are not gonna work. Play like the Suns. Up-tempo. That's the only way this team will win.

[Diesel]

Don't touch the panic button...

There's some misconception going on already.

1. It was Shelden's fault.

Shelden didn't play enough minutes to be a factor either way. Moreover, for you who question us getting Shelden (TP), who is the Big that you would have taken again? Patrick Obryant?

2. Philly toyed with us

In the 2nd half, we dropped the lead to 9 and Philly was not playing. Unfortunately, we couldn't buy a shot.

3. The problem was our defense

The defense has it's share in the loss of course. But before you start talking about our defense, I think you need to consider that we couldn't hit a shot. We shot 33 percent from the field. One of the things that made us capable to compete last year is the fact that we could shoot high percentages... Well, somebody has to step up.

Where do we place blame?

1. Speedy.

A starting pG has to do much better. I know Speedy is not a shooter, but he has to penetrate and score.

2. Smoove.

Half hearted efforts don't win games.

3. Coach Woodson.

We went back to an old familiar thing. Letting Lue or Salim jack up threes. Lue jacked up so many threes that it was sickening. I was actually sick of watching Lue shoot. Lue would slow down the offense and that kills our offensive game. Our game is based on Speed...

We couldn't penetrate a zone. I think we did it one time. That more than anything is why we looked so horrible. There was nothing awe inspiring that Philly did. They were just the best bad team on the floor. We however, couldn't beat a sorry zone. Which one of these guys was supposed to be better than Al again??

[terrynoonan]

You're right. Josh Smith is supposed to be better than Al.

You act like we won 50 games with Al or something.

Are you saying that a sh!t sandwich with candy sprinkles is better than a regular sh!t sandwich. I think you are.

This makes the Braves philosophical problems seem child like.

I thought we could compete with Woody but he is the worst coach that I have ever seen on any level. I used to ref little kids too!

There is no moment to moment accountability. That's why you get down 15-2. When you think it's a long game and you can come back. Play every possesion like you remember what happened on the last one.

[drzachary]

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Don't touch the panic button...

There's some misconception going on already.

1. It was Shelden's fault.

Shelden didn't play enough minutes to be a factor either way. Moreover, for you who question us getting Shelden (TP), who is the Big that you would have taken again? Patrick Obryant?

2. Philly toyed with us

In the 2nd half, we dropped the lead to 9 and Philly was not playing. Unfortunately, we couldn't buy a shot.

3. The problem was our defense

The defense has it's share in the loss of course. But before you start talking about our defense, I think you need to consider that we couldn't hit a shot. We shot 33 percent from the field. One of the things that made us capable to compete last year is the fact that we could shoot high percentages... Well, somebody has to step up.

Where do we place blame?

1. Speedy.

A starting pG has to do much better. I know Speedy is not a shooter, but he has to penetrate and score.

2. Smoove.

Half hearted efforts don't win games.

3. Coach Woodson.

We went back to an old familiar thing. Letting Lue or Salim jack up threes. Lue jacked up so many threes that it was sickening. I was actually sick of watching Lue shoot. Lue would slow down the offense and that kills our offensive game. Our game is based on Speed...

We couldn't penetrate a zone. I think we did it one time. That more than anything is why we looked so horrible. There was nothing awe inspiring that Philly did. They were just the best bad team on the floor. We however, couldn't beat a sorry zone. Which one of these guys was supposed to be better than Al again??

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You're 100% right on all counts, Diesel. I wonder how much Speedy was set back by his own injury.

[Plastic Man]

i think also we (especially smoove) settled for the j while our team stood around the perimeter. other than zaza and chillz, we didn't even attempt to rebound.

[gsuteke]

after one game the Negative Nancy's have all crawled out of the woodwork.

figures.

[terrynoonan]

I know what you are saying gsu but there was NOTHING positive last night.

It was the kind of eye opening effort that gets a coach from a city that will not tolerate this fired 5 games into the season.

Anyone who knows anything about basketball knows that these things we saw last night are a harbinger of many, many more clueless nights to come.

That hurts man.

The Braves were a little like this before John and Bobby.

We have to get the right people.

God I want a new owner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Final_quest]

It didn't look good last night, but I'm gonna wait a few more games before I hit the panic button.