Atlanta/Orlando game thread

[TheNorthCydeRises]

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It's not just about proving a point. It's about developing chemistry. Horford and Law need chemistry with JJ, Smith, Speedy, whoever...

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Well then, put Horford in the starting lineup. Law too, if you want to do that. This is preseason. You can do things like that in preseason.

The last thing I want, is someone like Smoove turning an ankle, trying to block a shot in the final 2 minutes of a meaningless game.

You see Orlando doesn't have one single starter in the game now.

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This isn't football. These guys play year round, let them play. This is no different that the scrimmages they've been playing. In practice they play against guys who know their plays, this is their chance to develop real chemistry. Later in preseason you can play the bums if you're looking for a 15th man.

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Totally disagree with you. I'd rather play the starters more minutes in the final few preseason games, than in the beginning of the preseason.

Developing chemistry is one thing. Keeping key guys from getting freak injuries is another. These games don't count. In these first few preseason games, I'd much rather see a lot of Horford and Law, than a lot of Marvin and Smoove.

I can halfway understand Marvin being out there in the final minutes, just to give him some extra confidence. Guys like JJ and Smoove don't need it.

That 2nd unit needs chemistry too. They're the guys that's going to keep us in ballgames in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.

[mrhonline]

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Was Marvin getting to the line driving?

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Yeah, he had like three "almost" and-1's.

[oiatlhawksfan]

keep in mind...look what they won against.

[jerrywest]

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Nice to see them close a close one out instead of giving it away.

Teams have to "learn" how to win, so even though the W doesn't matter in the standings, it can't hurt with our young players and their development.

Only listened to part of the 1st, 3rd and last half of the 4th. Was Marvin getting to the line driving?

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http://www.nba.com/games/20071008/ATLORL/playbyplay.html

You don't get 17 FTA standing around. He was taking it hard inside. I hope its not a 1 game thing. Orlando got Foyle and Howard inside. Not too shabby.

[thesheedera]

Thanks (you too BT).

I understand the desire to keep the starters healthy, but the staff needs to figure out the lineup combinations that will help us win. Childress and Marvin have been greatly debated here recently. No surprise to me that they may get big minutes this preseason.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

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Solo only getting 4 minutes in a preseason game.

Both he and Sheldon should have gotten a lot more while Chil and Smith should have played less.

These guys need some court time and preseason is the time to do it when winning is not important.

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I totally agree.

[jerrywest]

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Only listened to part of the 1st, 3rd and last half of the 4th. Was Marvin getting to the line driving?

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Probably 10 of his FT's were from driving the lane. He got fouled a lot towards the end on loose ball or other fouls to try and stop the clock.

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Just once. Clock wasn't an issue until the last foul with a few seconds left. We trailed until Acie Law gave us the lead with 25 seconds left.

[mrhonline]

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keep in mind...look what they won against.

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Considering how good Howard was tonight, I'm impressed they weren't blown out. If he played like that every night, the Magic would never lose.

They were in this game from start to finish. That's what matters.

[exodus]

3 pages for a preseason game thread. Looks like everyone is ready for the season to start lol.

[BossTweed]

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Only listened to part of the 1st, 3rd and last half of the 4th. Was Marvin getting to the line driving?

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Probably 10 of his FT's were from driving the lane. He got fouled a lot towards the end on loose ball or other fouls to try and stop the clock.

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Just once. Clock wasn't an issue until the last foul with a few seconds left. We trailed until Acie Law gave us the lead with 25 seconds left.

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Well, there was at least one loose ball foul on a rebound where Marvin went to the line before the "intentional" foul, but I wasn't trying to say that he didn't earn his FT's. He was obviously much more aggressive, I just remembered him having 10 FT attempts when they started putting their second/third stringers in the game, and then Marvin got fouled quite a bit after that.

[jerrywest]

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keep in mind...look what they won against.

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Considering how good Howard was tonight, I'm impressed they weren't blown out. If he played like that every night, the Magic would never lose.

They were in this game from start to finish. That's what matters.

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The announcers were saying that the Orlando players were very tired in the middle of the 4th quarter. Our depth will be a major asset this year.

[Diesel]

I don't consider this a good victory.

Howard went out of the game with 7 1/2 minutes left on the clock... Orlando was up by 9.

He had dominated the post all game long.

If we're going to be contenders, we got to do better!

[mrhonline]

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He had dominated the post all game long.

If we're going to be contenders, we got to do better!

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This will be repeated on 29 other teams' message boards this season if Howard continues to hit that mid-range shot.

There's not a thing anyone can do about, except maybe Tim Duncan and Rasheed Wallace.

[Murat]

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I don't consider this a good victory.

Howard went out of the game with 7 1/2 minutes left on the clock... Orlando was up by 9.

He had dominated the post all game long.

If we're going to be contenders, we got to do better!

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I agree if Orlando wanted to win as bad as we did they would have won. Marvin getting agressive in the 4th Qtr against the SL squad again.

[Diesel]

The difference is that when the regular season starts, I don't think Orlando's coach will pull him with damn near 8 minutes to go. I think the 9 point lead would have been expanded on our Hawks. Augustine is young and he fouls a lot. I think we ought to send him a game ball.

Still, I like what I heard and read about Law and Horford and even Marvin played with a little more aggression.

But the victory is like when the some girl shows pity on prom night....

[jerrywest]

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I don't consider this a good victory.

Howard went out of the game with 7 1/2 minutes left on the clock... Orlando was up by 9.

He had dominated the post all game long.

If we're going to be contenders, we got to do better!

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Howard was incredible. The announcers were saying that he's in mid-season form, because he played all those competitive games this summer. He'll burn before the season ends. Foyle played well too. There bench don't hold a candle next to us.

This was a great victory if you followed the game. Only your boy Shelden sucked. Everybody else played very well. Howard was just unstoppable.

[mrhonline]

And, by the same token, I don't think JJ will play only 26 minutes. He was tearing Redick apart in that 3rd quarter before the latter was pulled.

It works both ways.

[jerrywest]

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The difference is that when the regular season starts, I don't think Orlando's coach will pull him with damn near 8 minutes to go. I think the 9 point lead would have been expanded on our Hawks. Augustine is young and he fouls a lot. I think we ought to send him a game ball.

Still, I like what I heard and read about Law and Horford and even Marvin played with a little more aggression.

But the victory is like when the some girl shows pity on prom night....

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We pulled all our starters too. Marvin would play SF with our bench to get the SG&SF minutes distributed among JC+MW+JJ. So, both teams played their bench and ours was way better. They were not trying to give the game away. Stan Van Gundy was mad as hell at the press conference.

Forget about the win. We got a lot out of this game. A lot. They only found out that Foyle+Howard will be awesome. Rest sucks. Even R.Lewis was terrible.

[HawksFan87]

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I don't consider this a good victory.

Howard went out of the game with 7 1/2 minutes left on the clock... Orlando was up by 9.

He had dominated the post all game long.

If we're going to be contenders, we got to do better!

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You are absolutely right, I mean it doesn't matter that Smoove had 22 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assits and 2 blocks. Or the fact that Marvin got to the FT line 17 times. Or that Horford was fantastic tonight. I mean Law only hit the game winning shot. You are right Diesel this game means absolutely nothing.

[jerrywest]

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And, by the same token, I don't think JJ will play only 26 minutes. He was tearing Redick apart in that 3rd quarter before the latter was pulled.

It works both ways.

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Also, JJ was letting others do the work and only played hard in spurts. Howard was playing with mid-season form like its 7th game of playoff. Hawks know now that their rookies are for real.