Gotta keep this win in perspective, we got LUCKY

[Admin]

The Nuggets had to miss half of their FTs and we got lucky to have hit such a high percentage on our 3's, but like they say ... live by the 3, die by the 3. Tonight we lived. Last night we died. Amazing what a difference hitting a few more of those can make on a game.

I watched the game throughout tonight and I really have to applaud our defensive effort for the most part, getting into the passing lanes and rebounding well. We still don't push the ball on offense and we really don't run plays on offense either and those are things that aren't going to change until we get a real honest to God starting PG.

Oh well, glad we got the win tonight. My game ball would go to Salim tonight. Really nice to see him get to play extended minutes and produce as well as he did.

[DJlaysitup]

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...Tonight we lived. Last night we died. Amazing what a difference hitting a few more of those can make on a game....

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Basketball is still a "skill game"...It should be. Of course you have to have your bangers - but basketball gives the skill players (shooters) a chance. I love Basketball.

[bootsybug]

man some people will complain about anything. sure they missed free throws, but how about giving us some credit for coming back from 17 down in the 4th quarter and hitting 9 of 10 shots during one stretch. we made our own luck. good grief.

[bhatta]

Although the Nuggets did sort of fall apart, luck really didn't have anything to do with scoring 37 points in the fourth quarter.

Just like luck didn't have much to do with scoring 13 in the third ..

[KB21]

Trust me. Dolfan23 is one of the few posters on the board that isn't going to go off on a limb and put the team down just for the hell of it. I think he's just stating that while we did a great job of roaring back into the game, Denver helped us a long by completely falling apart in that 4th quarter.

The only thing that really disturbs me about this team right now is that what I was seeing as game to game inconsistencies are starting to become quarter to quarter inconsistencies. I think once we get Marvin, Chillz, and Speedy back at full strength, those inconsistencies will end.

I'm very glad we got the win though. 8-9 looks a lot better than 7-10.

[GoDawgs21]

Point-Counter point. You say we got lucky. We won 3 out of 4 quarters against a team. We led at the halfway point. You say we got lucky because of Denver missing FT. How about Denver getting lucky on our 12 turnovers in the 3rd quarter? If it wasnt for that we dominate the game. Every NBA game you can point to something and say well if they had done that or that. The point is 4 of our top 6 were out, back to back nights, on the road, and we played well for 3 quarters and were able to get the win.

I will point out this is NBA life, for all of those fans saying if it wasnt for our missed FT we would have won the 3 other games, and if Denver makes theirs. We are what we are. You give games, you receive games. But we are 8-9 team that has played almost the entire season without 3 of our top players and 2 being starters. We are almost out of the dreaded west coast swing and we are getting our players back. Thats what we are. That makes me . Had you told me we would be at .500 almost 20 games or a 1/4 of the season in with no Marvin, Speedy, or Chill I would have laughed at you. I will always critque Woody, but for now he man is starting to redeem himself, a little.

[lifelong]

We're not a championship team, but come on, that was a GREAT win that we would NOT have gotten last year.

[Packfill]

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I'm very glad we got the win though. 8-9 looks a lot better than 7-10.

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Agreed.

[Admin]

the bottom line is that it took Denver becoming the first team in the NBA this year to shoot below 50% from the FT line as a team. It took us getting some VERY fortunate deflections off the rim on offense to where we got a lot of 2nd chance points that we don't normally get. It took Denver missing several dunks and layups. It took all of those factors to barely beat them.

I am as proud as anyone on here that we didn't fold when we got down big and came roaring back. My point is simply this though, we have won too many of these types of games where our poor overall play on offense and at times on defense is overshadowed by the opposition having an awful game and we get all excited about the win and then the very next game we get exposed for our flaws and get beaten down. Then for you guys that think I am being negative, just wait until you read some of the threads on here from the truly negative posters.

[DJlaysitup]

Man - any win is a good win at this point. We are much worse off than we were last year (when we got a total of 26).

Last night we had Josh Childress, Marvin Williams, Speedy Claxton, and Zaza out. We also had Josh Smith wearing goggles and Shelden in some sort of shoulder harness.

Add to that we now have Cedric Bozeman and Matt Freije to deal with - ???

It was a miracle.

(now I'm going to the Nugs fan sight to gloat...hehe.)

[Duff_Man]

You know you are a Hawks fan when: You make excuses for losing AND for winning.

[Diesel]

Come on Dol,

Stop making excuses for this win.

If you need a reason for us winning, try this... We used a good zone that Denver couldn't solve. We took advantage of a short PG who couldn't pass over our heads.

In basketball, there are some nights that the ball doesn't come off where you expect it... That doesn't mean that we didn't deserve to win.

[gutz]

Its about frigging time some luck goes our way for a change this season after all those losses by 5 pts or less. We fought back in the 4th qtr and finally some luck went our way. Great win! Now lets beat the hell out of the Lakers friday night and Marvin is coming back. Can't wait to see him in action!

[Admin]

Dont sit there and praise the same zone that we got abused in the previous night ... the same zone that Lenny critisized us for being in, calling it the easiest zone to break, and if I remember correctly the same zone that you agreed with Lenny about.

Yes we did a good job of playing the zone defense and getting back into the game. Congrats to the team for that.

Looking forward to those of you who are too overexcited about the win last night when the next time we play like this and our 3's aren't dropping and the other team isn't playing like garbage. THEN, we will see who are the real complainers on here. All I am doing is trying to get people to keep a level head about last nights win.

[exodus]

going into the game last night they were averaging 110 ppg. They scored 96 against the Hawks, 14 below their average. Even if they make 70% from the line the Hawks still would have held them 7 below their average.

Last year the Hawks gave up uncontested layups all the time. Pros don't miss those very often.

Last night Denvers shots in the lane were contested, therefore they didn't make a high percentage.

When you play tough D you give yourself a chance to win even when the offense is off. That is the story of the game and the season so far.

Right now the Hawks are 11th in the league in opponents ppg, and there is nothing lucky about that.

[Admin]

The point which some of you are failing to realize is that IF Denver doesnt set the record for this season for FT futility, we lose the game by 5-10 points or maybe more. That is something that our defensive play did not affect. Yes we played good D and we contested shots which I was very happy to see, but we won last night because of Denvers embarrassing FT shooting.

[Guest Walter]

...we had a near starting-quality team on the "IR" yesterday and pulled it out. Kudos. That is one remarkable feat.

W

[exodus]

And we lost games this year because of our bad foul shooting.

Sometimes you get lucky, other times you get unlucky. I don't understand your need to look a gift horse in the mouth. All the wins look the same in the standings.

We were playing without 4 rotation players for crying out loud. Is that lucky?

[GoDawgs21]

The point you are failing to realize is that we outscored them in 3 out of 4 quarters. We played better then them for 75% of the game. If I was a Denver fan I could say in the third "damn we are lucky to be winning right now. If it wasnt for those Hawk turnovers we would be down by 17 ourselves".

There is always if that or if this. How about we fouled Evans every time he was in the paint? It worked, he is a below 50% FT shooter for his career. It was like the hack a shaq. You act as if it was the whole team. We fouled guys proposefully becuase they cant' shoot. Evans missed 7 ft himself and Najara another historically poor free throw shooter mised 5. Take the two guys out that we fouled on puropse, and Denver shoots 14-19 from the line.

So we fouled two poor FT shooters on purpose if they got it in the paint. Got a baseball sceniro for you. Say two outs in a two run game. The 7 hitter is up, the coach intentionally walks the 7 and 8 guys to get to the pitcher's spot. Being an historically bad hitter the pitcher strikes out. The coach does this 3 times in the game. Then at the end of the game you say geez we were 0-3 with runners in scoring postion thats why we lost. NO, the team was counting on that pitcher to strike out.

Denver aside from the guys we hacked went 14-19. Sometimes stradigies pay off.

[Sothron]

As my father loves to say...

"I'd rather be lucky than good any day of the week."