Props to JJ

[exodus]

JJ had 37 pts, 7 assists and no turnovers today. He was huge late in the game. People keep saying he doesn't play like a leader but when he does the silence is deafening.

He also held Roy to 18 pts on 22 shot attempts.

We outscored them at the line 30-17. We outscored them on the break 17-5. We even outshot them from 3.

There is no way we should have lost this game.

But Marvin, Smith and Horford were a combined 8-35 from the field. That just sucks. Childress had 4 of the teams 11 turnovers (along with his typical 1 assist). Lue was such a defensive liability that his 18 pts were meaningless.

The Blazers were not getting easy shots when Acie was in with the starters. When he left they immediately started scoring easy baskets. One of these days Woody will realize he just has to start Acie, play him big minutes and accept the consequences. I just hope he realizes it before it's too late.

[Admin]

in the 4th quarter when he said that people don't realize how important a PG is to a team. As much as I would love for us to have a defensive 5 like Daly it's more important for us to have a veteran playoff experienced talented PG that can lead us while Acie learns and AJ plays when Acie or the starting PG is playing poor.

Even though we lost this was one of the most exciting games of the year and I feel damn good that we were good enough to win even though Acie was the only PG against perhaps the wests best team.

My hope for the future comes from the fact that we seem to play better against the better teams so maybe if we sneak into the playoffs we will play like underdogs.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

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JJ had 37 pts, 7 assists and no turnovers today. He was huge late in the game. People keep saying he doesn't play like a leader but when he does the silence is deafening.

He also held Roy to 18 pts on 22 shot attempts.

We outscored them at the line 30-17. We outscored them on the break 17-5. We even outshot them from 3.

There is no way we should have lost this game.

But Marvin, Smith and Horford were a combined 8-35 from the field. That just sucks. Childress had 4 of the teams 11 turnovers (along with his typical 1 assist). Lue was such a defensive liability that his 18 pts were meaningless.

The Blazers were not getting easy shots when Acie was in with the starters. When he left they immediately started scoring easy baskets. One of these days Woody will realize he just has to start Acie, play him big minutes and accept the consequences. I just hope he realizes it before it's too late.

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Ex, that was what I was talking about the other day with Acie. He may be the type of player that is just more effective if he's the starter. The Hawks looked great in that 1st quarter with him running the show. And he looked good in the 3rd as well.

Woody just trusts Lue a little too much. Right now, he shouldn't evr play more than 20 minutes a game, unless Law or AJ are playing like complete garbage.

Lue is basically our Eddie House these days. That's a role I wished Salim could assume, but I think he's a lost cause now. But even with House, you know that he's only going to play a limited amount of minutes. That's how it should be with Lue, regardless of how he's shooting. If Acie isn't playing bad, he should be in there at the end . . unless you do need 3-point shooting. Then put Lue in.

I'm not totally upset with this loss because Portland's bench hit a ton of shots today. The offensive rebounds and put-backs Portland got didn't help us either. Woody just should've pulled Lue in that 4th quarter a little sooner. I think Woody subbed for him when Portland was up 94 - 87 with a little under 4 minutes to go. The defense immeadiatey tightened up, and we got right back in the game.

As for JJ, I think his created points number today was 49 - 50 points. I believe 2 or 3 of his assists were on threes. When JJ is creating that many points, no way we should lose a game.

The JJ haters are so funny on this board though. The back to backs definitey take a toll on him, because he has to do so much. But when he's somewhat rested, and has a superstar-like game, they run in their holes and hide. Never anything positive to say about him, after games like these either.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Damn . . if JJ had 37 points and 7 assists, that means he created 16 - 17 point from his assists . . which means he created damn near 55 points today.

That's a LeBron type impact on a game.

[Dexmethylphenidate]

Bingo. I really hate that [censored] Woody uses with him starting a player in the first and third quarter, but doesn't play them a lick afterwards even if they play exceptional defense and offense. If you intend to play him like a bench player then bring him off the bench... if he deserves a starting spot then play him like a starter with starter minutes. I don't know if any other coach uses this p.o.s that Woody use.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Other coaches do it all the time. But they usually do it with one of those big centers that just take up space, or a defensive minded forward or guard. They usually get subbed for more talented offensive players and play less minutes than that player.

The crazy thing about us, is that offensively, Lue is our most talented scoring PG. But you can't start him because he plays better off the bench. You also can't start him, because if there is a good offensive PG on the other team, he'll have a field day against Lue. Lue is an asset and a liability at the same time.

AJ is less of a defensive liability because he's stronger than Lue, and won't get pushed around easy. But he's too slow to contain the quick PGs and that slowness also hampers him on the offensive end.

Acie has the quickness and the strength to properly play the position, witout being a liability on either end of the floor most of the time.

But like I said last week, I think Acie needs Woody to give him the "keys to the Hawks offense", much like Memphis has done with Conley. He needs Woody to tell him that "you're our PG now. We're sticking with you no matter what. If you make some mistakes, that's OK. I'm committed to you."

Woody has no job security though, so I guess he's playing the guys that produced for him in the past. In his situation, he can't wait for a guy to develop, he has to play the people he's used to playing right now. That's why he plays JJ heavy minutes.

Still, it's obvious that this team will continue to be highly inconsitent, unless Acie is able to take over the offense. Lue and AJ aren't going to get any better than they are right now. Acie has a chance to rapidly get better, if given the minutes and the confidence to just do what he does.

It's like a young QB in the NFL. Sure, you could play the veteran QB because he has more experience. And the vet QB might even be better than the young guy. But it comes a point in time in which you have to decide whether the team will be better off with the young guy playing.

One thing is for sure. Acie isn't going to get better, if he doesn't get the minutes. Woody just needs to do what he was going to do back in November, and give the keys to Acie. Don't be fooled by the sporadic good games that Lue and AJ have. Go with Acie, because he potentially has the most talent, and will only get better with more PT.

[Diesel]

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JJ had 37 pts, 7 assists and no turnovers today. He was huge late in the game. People keep saying he doesn't play like a leader but when he does the silence is deafening.

He also held Roy to 18 pts on 22 shot attempts.

We outscored them at the line 30-17. We outscored them on the break 17-5. We even outshot them from 3.

There is no way we should have lost this game.

But Marvin, Smith and Horford were a combined 8-35 from the field. That just sucks. Childress had 4 of the teams 11 turnovers (along with his typical 1 assist). Lue was such a defensive liability that his 18 pts were meaningless.

The Blazers were not getting easy shots when Acie was in with the starters. When he left they immediately started scoring easy baskets. One of these days Woody will realize he just has to start Acie, play him big minutes and accept the consequences. I just hope he realizes it before it's too late.

The Duel between JJ and Roy was great... and JJ proved to be the better player yesterday... BUT Roy was all about getting everybody on his team to play well. I haven't seen the boxscore, but I think Portland had about 5 guys in double digits.

Still Props to JJ and he has earned a [censored] card today. He can [censored] about whatever he wants to [censored] about and he gets a pass all day long. Sekou should give him a call and get some quotes.

[Diesel]

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in the 4th quarter when he said that people don't realize how important a PG is to a team. As much as I would love for us to have a defensive 5 like Daly it's more important for us to have a veteran playoff experienced talented PG that can lead us while Acie learns and AJ plays when Acie or the starting PG is playing poor.

Even though we lost this was one of the most exciting games of the year and I feel damn good that we were good enough to win even though Acie was the only PG against perhaps the wests best team.

My hope for the future comes from the fact that we seem to play better against the better teams so maybe if we sneak into the playoffs we will play like underdogs.

I admit that Rodriguez had his way and the PTL broadcast was talking about how Smitty was all over Rodriguez...

Still, I don't think you need a great PG down the stretch. In fact, it was our PGless group that played the best down the stretch. Had we gone to this group 3 mins earlier, we would have won the game in regulation.

LUE's defense is atrocious.