Hawks fighting with tempo...

[Diesel]

Quote:

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Like many of his Hawks teammates, Josh Childress is torn.

His instincts tell him to run as much as possible, even when everything else around him says otherwise.

He and the Hawks were caught in that matrix Friday night in their blowout loss in Boston, a game dictated by the dominant floor presence of both Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.

Yet Childress couldn't hide his anger afterward, knowing that the Hawks played right into the Celtics' hands by allowing them to dictate the terms of the game.

"I don't know how many times we have to go through this before we figure it out," said Childress, who should get every opportunity to run this afternoon with the Washington Wizards in town for a matinee at Philips Arena.

"Our opportunities to maximize what we do are going to come in transition. We have to be smart enough to know when to take advantage of that and also smart enough to know when we have to pull back a little bit and survey the situation for the best possible mode of attack.

"But allowing the other team to control the tempo just doesn't work for us."

It certainly hasn't in at least two of the Hawks' three losses, in New Jersey on Tuesday and in Boston on Friday.

The Hawks (2-3) still need to take into account who they've played so far. Their five opponents have piled up an impressive 20-5 record, including their games against the Hawks.

Dallas and Phoenix dictate tempo to most everyone they play. The Nets have the luxury of one of the league's all-time pace-setters in Jason Kidd, and Detroit has Chauncey Billups, who controls games in a fashion similar to Kidd.

Playing with a rookie point guard, the way the Hawks are now with Acie Law IV still finding his comfort zone, hasn't allowed them to establish a consistency that works at home (where they're 2-0) as well as it does on the road (0-3).

"If we stick to what we want to do, it doesn't really matter who we're playing or where we're playing," Marvin Williams said. "Phoenix came in here and tried to impose their will on us, but that's actually the style of game we prefer. It allows us to use our length and athleticism to the fullest.

"You still have to make shots and you still have to defend and rebound, like [Hawks coach Mike Woodson] always says. But if you're doing it at a faster pace, that's usually a plus for us."

All four of the Hawks' games last season against the Wizards, who won the season series 3-1, were relatively fast-paced affairs, mostly driven by Wizards All-Star point guard Gilbert Arenas.

The Hawks' 103-99 exhibition victory over the Wizards on Oct. 22 at Philips Arena was cut from that same mold.

And with the 0-5 Wizards trying to avoid prolonging their worst start since an 0-5 beginning to the Baltimore Bullets' 1966-67 season, the Hawks know full well that Arenas, provided he plays on the troublesome left knee he had surgically repaired in the offseason, will try to push the pace.

"We have to be ready for whatever comes our way," Childress said. "Whether they want to run or whatever, we just have to be prepared to play the way we want to play."

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[DrReality]

I think it is different that Chill is angry about it. In past years there was so much confusion that what we wer supposed to do or not was fuzzy. The fact that the team is talking about this, and that they are successful when they've turned it up is different. I think this is part of the team struggling with the identity that is in the process of emerging.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Well, they didn't do it again today, partially because they didn't defend well at all. Woody is just going to have to give the keys of the car to Law, and let him see if he can control / dictate the tempo.