Tonight is a huge game for Marvin

[TheTruth]

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why in gods name does joe johnson have to take every big shot in every hawks game this is freaking bs. Make someone else hit the shot Joe Johnson was well defended and he put up an air ball this is ridculous......

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So true. How ridiculous. Joe is straight getting owned by Roy. Joe is not Kobe...draw up a play for someone else every now and then damnit! Marvin Williams has been stroking it lately, damn. Get him isolated and he will knock it down. But grief, you could depend on Kobe and Jordan to make those shots because they had elite talent and really, really wanted the ball in crunch time. Plus, they had a rep for knocking down those shots for years. Joe Johnson is NOT that. He's a good player--even a star, dont get me wrong. But EVERY friggin time we need a big shot, it's "Give it to Joe, stand around and watch."

I bet McMillan said this to his players during the timeout before the Hawks tried the game-winning shot, "The ball IS going to Joe. Every other Hawk will stand around and watch. Therefore, I want you Roy to continue guarding him, and we need another long-armed body on him...Hm, you there Outlaw. Surround him with Roy as well. If you do this, Joe will force a tough shot, miss, and we win. I guarantee it. Ok, break."

And that's what happened.

I gotta feel for the Hawks players. They played their hearts out in the entire first half and some of the 3rd quarter. But for some reason, we move away from what had been working for the first half and decide to be lax defensively. We allow just 19 and 18 pts respectively in the first two quarters, but allow 26 and 31 in the last two. How pathetic. Yeah, turnovers hurt us bad in the second half, but damn...

Three straight plays to Outlaw for three pointers. Outlaw made the first two, and had it not been for Smoove's block, would have been another. Joe Johnson abused Roy last time these teams met, but Joe was getting abused by him in the 4th quarter--and it was happening early in the 4th quarter. Woody, make a defensive switch. Seriously. Josh Smith sat too long throughout the second half, and Horford sat out a tad too long as well. This is getting old...

NONE of that suffocating defense the Hawks had in the first half was there for any extended or consistent basis in the second half. *Sigh* What a disgusting loss to a team we should have beat BOTH times already. Good friggin grief.

[Peoriabird]

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Damn.

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Sorry, I am going to have to break my silence regarding Joe Johnson. He is not that good! He is not clutch! I don't know why Woodson has so much faith in him because he has only come thru one this year. Everyone knows that it is coming! Joe doesn't produce! Why do we continue to think that Joe can guard the other team's best offensive player and can then hit the winning shot game after game? Joe is not that good!!

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2 simple questions then.

1) who do you pur on Roy at the end?

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How about a trap? or a zone? Marvin William? Anybody but Joe Johnson!

2) who do you have create and make his own shot at the end?

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There is alway an option of passing the ball to set someone else up! There are 4 other players on the court you know!

[hussamga]

I remember when there was 7min left in game, after couple 3's by outlaw...i was like WTF we playing like theres only 1min left...

Our guys definitely hesitate on offense down the stretch...since we dont have a high % threat on offense...its give it to joe, and whole offense stands still watching him...

For me we lost when we stopped the double off the screen on Roy and allowed him to go 1 on 1...no bodies to make him pick up his dribble early or even take a charge..sorry, you cant contest every shot up top, gotta make people pick up the dribble before they want to.

Zaza didnt play so bad..he got beat on help for Roy couple times, but Josh got beat 2x and joe like 3x down the stretch. He got caught in no mans land 1-2x too, but that was pretty much pick n roll issues which our whole team sucks at.

We got outscored by 16pts in second half, 41-57.

[Plainview1981]

I'm actually not as mad about the final shot as his bad defense and not so great play in the 4th all around.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

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1) who do you pur on Roy at the end?

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How about a trap? or a zone? Marvin William? Anybody but Joe Johnson!

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2) who do you have create and make his own shot at the end?

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There is alway an option of passing the ball to set someone else up! There are 4 other players on the court you know!

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Your answers pretty much prove that even you don't know what else to do in that situation.

As for who to defend Roy? He blew right past Smoove once, drew an and-1 on Mario to close the 1st half. Beat JJ off the dribble in the 4th. And as for Marvin, no way he has the lateral speed to stay with Roy.

AJ did rotate to double and help out JJ on that last shot, but the ref called the foul on JJ.

If you double Roy from the jump, you risk leaving a shooter open . . which is why they got back in the game.

A zone at the end of a game? You'll give up a lay-up if you're out of postion, and you'll let the man catch the ball uncontested. Teams NEVER play zone in that situation.

As for who gets the ball outside of JJ, he's the only guy on the team , other than Lue, Law, and Salim, that can get a decent look off of a created jumpshot in that length of time. A better play could've been called, but the same guy is going to get the ball if open.

Tough loss, no doubt on that. JJ, because he didn't make the plays at the end, will get most of the blame.

It's situatons like these, that we really need Acie to develop into a solid PG. He's more likely to get to the hole than JJ is, and once he gains confidence, he'll be able to have the ball in his hands durng those situations.

But unless you have "the closer" or Salim in the game, it's going to be JJ all the way to make the shot or find the open man.

[Plainview1981]

When it gets down to it, Portland's players are just more talented than the Hawks players. They can shoot, get to the rim, defend, make cluch shots when the Hawks have very few players that can do those things.

[Peoriabird]

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Your answers pretty much prove that even you don't know what else to do in that situation.

As for who to defend Roy? He blew right past Smoove once, drew an and-1 on Mario to close the 1st half. Beat JJ off the dribble in the 4th. And as for Marvin, no way he has the lateral speed to stay with Roy.

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Didn't he blow past Joe 3 time? So your solution is to give Joe a 4th chance?

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AJ did rotate to double and help out JJ on that last shot, but the ref called the foul on JJ.

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Again proves how bad a defender Joe is!

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If you double Roy from the jump, you risk leaving a shooter open . . which is why they got back in the game.

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Worked for 3 1/2 quarters

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A zone at the end of a game? You'll give up a lay-up if you're out of postion, and you'll let the man catch the ball uncontested. Teams NEVER play zone in that situation.

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Obvious the man to man defense didn't work either the last 1/2 of the 4th quarter!

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As for who gets the ball outside of JJ, he's the only guy on the team , other than Lue, Law, and Salim, that can get a decent look off of a

created jumpshot in that length of time.

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They had 24 seconds to get a good shot on the next to last possession so what in h_ll are you talking about?

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Tough loss, no doubt on that. JJ, because he didn't make the plays at the end, will get most of the blame.

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He played terrible tonight!

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It's situatons like these, that

we really need Acie to develop into a solid PG.

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How did I know that it was going to come to this!

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But unless you have "the closer" or Salim in the game, it's going to be JJ all the way to make the shot

or find the open man.

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Name me one time Joe has passed the ball at the end of a game!

[TheNorthCydeRises]

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When it gets down to it, Portland's players are just more talented than the Hawks players. They can shoot, get to the rim, defend, make cluch shots when the Hawks have very few players that can do those things.

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I wouldn't say that they're more talented, but they do have the right mix on that team. If we take the ball out of Roy's hands, they have people around him that can knock down the long 3, or a guy like Outlaw who can do both knock down the 3 or create his own shot.

[Final_quest]

Only watched the 4th quarter tonight. I don't get how you let Roy beat you like that. After 1 or 2 layups put him on his ass when he gets in the lane. He turned the game into a layup drill, and that foul call was BS. I couldn't get to0 upset with that phantom call, which was not a shooting foul if it was foul at all. You can't let the game get to that point.

The defense sucked. Double team or foul the guy who is cruising into the lane and getting right to the rim.

[DJlaysitup]

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..Double team or foul the guy who is cruising into the lane and getting right to the rim.

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Hmmmm, that's an interesting idea. Like when they always double team our best offensive player at crunch time - we could do the same to them

Who would have thought of that?

Then...and I know I'm getting advanced here...maybe you trail the second best scorer and otherwise play zone? But heck, what do I know?

[TheTruth]

Agreed. Funny thing is, the Hawks WERE double teaming Roy quite a bit during the first half which allowed us to contain him during that time. However, we got away from that as well and didnt play suffocating defense like we did in the first half. Hmm, I wonder who makes those defensive calls...