Diesel's truthful breakdown of the game...

[Diesel]

1. We play very good defense

For about 1.5 quarters between the end of the first and the 3rd, we held Cleveland scoreless in the paint... Our rotations are good. The Cleveland commentator kept mentioning that we are not the "same old hawks"... Kudos to Woody!

2. Joe got screwed on the tip

BS.

3. Our scoring and their lack of FT shooting won this gmae for us

Tonight, we successfully lived by the three.

4. The refs were giving Cleveland the calls

I think it was good that we faced this. If you breathe on Lebron, he gets the call. Moreover, on a couple of occassions, Lebron carried. Whereas on our side... How many times have I ever seen the palming the ball called?

5. If Smoove can drive to the hole, he would be unstoppable

Smoove is a lefty, but tonight, he drove going to his right. That confused the Cavs. I think that will put some fear into everybody we play.

6. IN the 3rd-4th quarter, we went almost 12 minutes without JJ scoring. However, Chillz, Zaza, Frieje, and Smoove stepped up.

7. We need to install more offensive plays

One thing that I liked about Cleveland is that they had Offense. Our offense was non-existent for but a few plays.

8. We can't stop the high pick and roll

That play beat us all night. I guess because of our defensive rotations, we just give the lane to the picker.. Gooden was very good at slipping the screen and being one step away from the goal..

9. We have a lot of fight in us

We came back from deficit about 4 times. Eact time, we didn't look like we were nervous at all. Our team has poise!

[Wurider05]

Quote:

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4. The refs were giving Cleveland the calls

I think it was good that we faced this. If you breathe on Lebron, he gets the call. Moreover, on a couple of occassions, Lebron carried. Whereas on our side... How many times have I ever seen the palming the ball called?

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I saw on several plays James committed offensive falls by pushing off severely. On one play he did it twice and they called a foul on us. This is what makes me angry how certain player gets the calls and then they wonder why they get thier asses handed to them in international play. A foul is s foul, a walk is a walk regardless of who does it. It is things like that that cause teams tight games.

[Plastic Man]

yep. our superstars are spoiled here. oh well the special treatment didn't get lebron a win last night. i'm proud of our guys for not using poor officiating as an excuse to lose.

[chillzatl]

I disagree about the offensive sets. Well, let me put it this way. I don't disagree that we need more. I just disagree that it's as simple as learning a few and we're ready to go. We're doing the things that our staff know we can do well. I don't think our lineup is ready for much more. It's not like Cleveland has a huge amount of plays they run. For the most part they do the same things we're doing, ie, get the ball to their best player and let him make plays. They run a lot of pick and rolls and a lot of isolation plays to find the open man, like we do. I think they've got a few more players who are capable of executing than we do right now, so they can spread it around more.

[Spiral]

Yeah, I love how LBJ elbows Zaza in the face and it's a foul on Zaza. Then LBJ falls into Smoove's legs causing him to fall down and there is no call. I guess that one didn't matter as much because Joe hit that long crazy 3 right after it.

[Diesel]

I agree with what you're saying. I noticed however, that JJ is starting to get some of those kind of calls. It's bad Period... But I'm glad JJ is getting some status in the league.

[Diesel]

What I'm saying is that we have some unorganization on the offensive side. Anytime, the play clock runs out on you with no shot attempt... that's a team in need of offensive play calling. Any time, the clock runs down and you put up last minute shots... That's a team in need of offensive play calling.

I would love to see us run pick and roll more. Hell, we can be like the old Utah team. They only had one play in their rep. However, they perfected it.. inside and out. We don't seem to have a steady offense. Lue knows how to move the ball around and find an open shooter, but that's not offensive play making. I saw one or two good plays tonight. One was with Shelden driving to the hole for the dunk. The other was some type of two man game with JJ and Zaza.

Maybe it's just early, but we need to be able to have offensive "smarts" then we can start talking about being a playoff team.

[Sothron]

I think we are seeing Joe Cool emerge as one of the more respected and feared players in the league. His play on the summer team has IMO helped not just his confidence but put his face out there to be treated with more respect.

[DrReality]

and there was another time when he almost tackled one of our guys and it was a no call. Total b.s.

Generally speaking, I have thought that the Hawks have been getting more respect from the refs.

[DrReality]

Hope that when Marvin returns he will add a dimension to the offense that will help it expand. He can pull up and shoot or drive to the basket or dish out to Shelden, Smoove, Speedy.

In ways I think his absence has been good for the team in that it is giving minutes to others and making them step up. In the long run, it will help our team.

[KB21]

I think it will be a combination of a couple of things that will achieve this. First, Speedy has to get himself up to speed with his teammates and within the offense. I think once he integrates himself, you will see a difference due to his ability to get into the lane on anyone. Second, I believe that the return of Marvin Williams will give the offense a major boost. Right now, Joe is the only player on the team that can create for himself. Marvin has that ability and showed that ability in the summer and before his injury in the preseason. His ability to hit the perimeter jumper as well as put the ball on the floor, go to the basket, and get to the free throw line will really be a big boost for the offense.

[Final_quest]

When is Marvin's expected return date?

[frosgrim]

Just read in the AJC that Marvin might be back in a another 3 weeks.

As far as the Hawks offense, the lack of diversity in plays might simply be that its early in the season and they will keep adding in over time, but I do agree the lack of creativity in the offense is really frustrating.

I would like them to run a few more plays for Sheldon or Smoove in the high post area. I think both of them could be effective up there.

Speaking of Sheldon did anyone notice the huge scar he has on the top of his head? Don't take this as a knock on Sheldon, as I actually like him, but is he a Down's syndrom kid? Most Down's kids have developmental issues, but there is a fraction that don't and Sheldon's appearence would suggest that he may have it.

[emeans]

When Marvin gets back this team is going to be scary!! Marvin will add to the offensive arsenal bigtime. JJ will not have to be the man on every night, Marvin can take some of that pressure.

This team is shaping up to be pretty good!! I can't wait until Marvin gets back!!

[thesheedera]

If its 3 weeks, he'll be back in time to get a game or two in before our extremely important west coast swing. That would be great, especially since the first two games are up in his hometown area.

I don't think we should expect too much from him right away, but it will be great to have him back in the mix.

[Plainview1981]

Quote:

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1. We play very good defense

For about 1.5 quarters between the end of the first and the 3rd, we held Cleveland scoreless in the paint... Our rotations are good. The Cleveland commentator kept mentioning that we are not the "same old hawks"... Kudos to Woody!

2. Joe got screwed on the tip

BS.

3. Our scoring and their lack of FT shooting won this gmae for us

Tonight, we successfully lived by the three.

4. The refs were giving Cleveland the calls

I think it was good that we faced this. If you breathe on Lebron, he gets the call. Moreover, on a couple of occassions, Lebron carried. Whereas on our side... How many times have I ever seen the palming the ball called?

5. If Smoove can drive to the hole, he would be unstoppable

Smoove is a lefty, but tonight, he drove going to his right. That confused the Cavs. I think that will put some fear into everybody we play.

6. IN the 3rd-4th quarter, we went almost 12 minutes without JJ scoring.

However, Chillz, Zaza, Frieje, and Smoove stepped up.

7. We need to install more offensive plays

One thing that I liked about Cleveland is that they had Offense. Our offense was non-existent for but a few plays.

8. We can't stop the high pick and roll

That play beat us all night. I guess because of our defensive rotations, we just give the lane to the picker.. Gooden was very good at slipping the screen and being one step away from the goal..

9. We have a lot of fight in us

We came back from deficit about 4 times. Eact time, we didn't look like we were nervous at all. Our team has poise!

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I think you hit the nail in the head on almost everything. I kept expecting the team to lose this one in the second half and I just knew it was going to change after Lue missed the big ft's.

About the offense... I think half of it is that Woody isn't a good offensive coach and the other half is that the Hawks don't have enough creators on offense.

The hawks scoring is probably coming from about 70% hustle. That will work for some games, but times will get tough if you can't score in a structured manner.

I thought there was a time or two that the Hawks played scared againest Lebron in the second half. On one play that just stopped defending him once he got into the lane and he got an easy dunk. Perhaps that can be blamed on all the "fouls" that he gets in his favor.