Anyone watching the game tonight?

[Admin]

Man Elton Brand is good. He isnt as polished offensively as Reef, but defensively he may be the best PF in the game. He is also a beast on the offensive glass. I wish that in the offseason we could work a sign and trade with LA to get Brand for Reef. As much as I love Reef, having a traditional PF would make us much better.

[Admin]

We are really playing well tonight by the way, in case you guys arent getting to watch it. Ratliff is absolutely on fire. They are feeding him the ball in the post and he is abusing anyone guarding him here in the 3rdQ. Nobody is jacking up 3's tonight and its really helping the ball movement on O. Nice to see us playing such good team ball again.

[KB21]

I think it's six of one, half a dozen of the other when comparing these two.

Shareef may not demand the ball much, but he there sure are a lot of times where he has positioned himself well to get the ball in the post only to NOT get the ball. He's also one of the best in the league at drawing fouls and getting to the free throw line.

Brand's long arms and wide body make him a better defender, but I think Reef's athleticism and better pure skills make him a better offensive player.

It sure don't seem like either player is going to play for a winner anytime soon. Brand will be stuck in LA for another year, so it will be interesting to see who will have the money to go after him when he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

I don't think the entire team is playing well though. Ira Newble's contributions off the bench tonight is a surprise, but both Jason Terry and Glenn Robinson have sucked wind offensively. Jason has had a string of games in a row where he hasn't played that well at all.

Mike Glenn sure can be annoying at times, but he certainly knows what he's talking about when analyzing the game.

[Admin]

QRich driving to the lane final 2 minutes for the lead and Theo rejects him big time. They kept coming at Theo and he kept saying not in my house. He is easily the key to whether or not the Hawks can win. Ira shot the ball beautifully tonight and JT was moving the ball and getting it into the playmakers hands very well. Glenn was shooting horrible most of the night, but picked it up in the 4th when we needed him. Dickau looked pretty good and the bench played wonderful. Great game from start to finish and a lot of fun to watch.

[Guest]

I do think sometimes Robinson and JT freeze

Reef out out.That needs to stop...but there have

been a decent ammount of times when Reef has

not delivered....but he still should get the ball

instead of being ignored.

[Guest]

The bench often doesn't produce.It's nice to see them

have a good game every once and a while.

[KB21]

Well, the ball certainly moved around better offensively tonight than on most nights. The Hawks didn't have guys just standing around chucking up shots like they usually do. Only 9 turnovers tonight as well.

[Guest]

I don't know whether to be happy or sad. Hawks Win. Hawks Win on the road...two things that you rarely hear in the same sentence. Granted the Clipps have truly been struggling of late, and much of the entire year, but I thought that their athleticism might give us troubles...alas the Hawks pulled through. However, it still takes more than one win to get me excited about this team's prospects right now...thus, I sort of want us to lose the rest of the games this season, resign JT, and most importantly, keep our top three draft pick. Thus, every win takes us further from that.

It seemed to me tonight that JT got pulled from the game when he wasn't playing correctly - however, he had six assts. to one to and stepped up in the forth.

I go back to my earlier post (several weeks ago) about Stotts's influence on JT - I like it. He yanks him when he plays out of hte system too much or is making bad decisions. In doing so, he teaches JT with reinforcement what not to do on the court while at the same time giving DD some much needed PT and burn. Diesel says we "can just trade DD" (in regards to Wilks)...but if he has no pt, no showcase, his stock would fall even further than it's current level (and I'm not sure who'd take him in a trade right now...maybe Seattle?). Make the guys play smart ball. When they don't, yank them. The season's over, so if it costs one game, so be it. Hopefully it'll teach them how to play further on down the line, this year and next.

[Admin]

While the kid is never likely to be a superstar player, he is learning quickly. His jumper is getting better every game and he is fearless going to the hole. He is always looking to get the ball into the post too, which is a huge plus. I really think that if JT continues to play the way he has and Dickau continues to progress we are going to have ourselves a very nice PG combo. We just have to get ourselves some help at SG and hopefully DJ coming back will solve that. Dion is nice at times but overwhelmingly inconsistent.

[hds428]

Honestly until last night I had'nt watched a full game since December, but I was pleasantly surprised by a pretty dang good game and a win to boot. Dolfan I agree about Brand, he's everything Reef should be. The only weakness I noticed on Brand's part is that he sortof disappears sometimes when he should be giving help, but that's the only major flaw I saw, if you even want to call it a major flaw. Miller did'nt impress me as much as I guess I thought he would, honestly I don't think he's much better than JT, all things considered. What really turned my head was Odom, that guy really had me drooling. I know some on the board don't like his offcourt issues which is understandable, but I think he'd be a much much better fit for the Hawks on the court than GRob. Theo has really impressed me lately, I think at this point he's my favorite Hawk. There was a debate here earlier in the beginning of the season as to whether or not Theo could be a difference maker, in the last few games he's really come into himself and is playing more like his old Phlukeadelphia days.

[KB21]

I think we have to approach this as if DerMarr will never play again. Right now, he can turn his neck to the right. He may never regain that motion again, which will effectively end his basketball career. I hate it, but that's how we have to approach things.

The most impressive thing about Dickau, IMO, is his court vision and court awareness.

As for what the Hawks need to do, I really think they need to get more athletic at the wing positions (shooting guard and small forward) and get bigger at center.

I think a pretty viable trade opportunity this offseason will be to deal Jason Terry in a sign and trade to Seattle for their lottery pick. With that pick, we could possibly add someone like Jarvis Hayes from Georgia. With the late pick, I'd take a long look at an unknown center from Indiana Southeast named Chris Garnett (6-11 275).

[Guest]

I dunno what you saw in Dan,but he shot 1-5 and

had like 3 turnovers in 12 minutes.

[KB21]

Nope.

Dan was 1 for 4, which is the worst shooting day he's had in the past 3 or 4 weeks in which he's been getting consistent playing time, and he only turned the ball over once. He had 4 assists in 12 minutes off the bench.

[Guest]

The stats I read were different.Those come from ESPN

or NBA.COM?

It really doesn't matter though.Since we are not

gunna make the playoffs we should consider

starting the small backcourt to see what Dan

has.....And get Nazr on the floor more.Why does

he never get any playing time?He's our best

rebounder/

[curtisdj79]

The big difference I see in Dickau and Wilks as compared to JT besides court awarness and vision is his ability to get the ball to players when they should get it. GRob never needs to dribble after getting a DD or MW pass. Shareef can use his 2 dribble post move. Theo can just go up.

JT's passing requires them to handle the ball much more. Often times I think he's still getting rid of the ball out of fear rather than when the play calls for it.

[Traceman]

than one TO. He had at least 2 and I think he had 3. He played well earlier in the game but he had a tough stretch in the 4th before Stotts came back with the starters. I like the way he's been playing lately though. If he keeps knocking down the open J, he can help this team.

[ATLien_]

I hate to tell you this but Jarvis Hayes is not coming out this year. He is going to stay for his senior season, but he also suffers from spell of dispearing on the court ala Reef.

I have been asking for Odom for a while, and everytime we play the clippers he shows me more of why he needs to be here. Did you see him dunk on Theo?

Theo is turning into a beast and is becoming our best player.

I really can't stand seeing what JT is becoming. He is becoming Reef at PG. I don't know whats changed but he is just not an explosive player anymore. It could be Glenn could be alot of things, but Reef and JT look nothing like they did last year. JT did show a some fire in the 4th quarter yesterday when Vernon Forrest was pumping them up. Maybe we should sign him to a 10 day contract at least we know he has a pair.