Punking the Hawks.

[Diesel]

I don't know why most teams don't know this already. Our weakness.. our kryptonite is Physical play. It's a sad dynamic. Teams play us Physically:

1. JJ disappears.

2. Josh starts shooting more Jumpshots.

That's the problem with this Hawks team.

Fortunately though, ROY AL Horford is starting to become an offensive force. Bibby is running pick and roll with anybody who will play with him. Bibby is making passes to whoever is wide open! I disagree with you all who say that the Bibby trade was meaningless. Our offensive recognition is starting to come up. Yesterday, Al got a few dunks going down the lane. Smoove is starting to recognize the pick and roll. It's good!!

[Plainview1981]

Win/losses is what matters. It remains that the Hawks can only beat bad teams. It not anywhere near as much Bibby's fault as it is that it would take a miracle for the Hawks to become decent or better.

[Diesel]

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Win/losses is what matters. It remains that the Hawks can only beat bad teams. It not anywhere near as much Bibby's fault as it is that it would take a miracle for the Hawks to become decent or better.

I think wins or losses are important but also important is improvement. If our young guys can improve under the tutoring of Bibby, I think that's significant. These past 4 games are so, I have seen offensive improvement with Horf, Chillz, Smoove, and JJ and their offensive recognition. We won't be competitive with the good teams if we cannot produce good offensive recognition.

[Plainview1981]

88 points on 39% shooting doesn't show signs of improvement. They struggled on offense against the Knicks and Spurs. They scored against the Kings and Warriors. But they're horrible defensive teams.

[Vafan]

You are right. Physical teams hurt us especially to a guy like Childress.

[Diesel]

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88 points on 39% shooting doesn't show signs of improvement. They struggled on offense against the Knicks and Spurs. They scored against the Kings and Warriors. But they're horrible defensive teams.

That may be true, however, statistics is part of the story. Like I said previously, our weakness is teams that play physically. For the Knicks and Spurs, there's a level of physicality that they have that makes it hard on us. We can overcome some of the problems we face with better execution but in order to execute better, we have to have better PG play. I think finally we're at a place where we have better PG play. Now it's just a matter of time.

[Swatguy]

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You are right. Physical teams hurt us especially to a guy like Childress.

Childress is not the problem, he is part of the solution. Chillz has never shrunken in physical play. He is the guy that will give up his body, take the hit and get up. He will go back in (the paint) and get some more.

JJ and Marvin shrinks. It seems Marvin may want to but is still a fearful puppy. Al is an Alpha Puppy and will be Alpha Dog. JJ just wants to shoot when he feels it. He needs to step it up, All Star.

[Diesel]

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You are right. Physical teams hurt us especially to a guy like Childress.

Childress is not the problem, he is part of the solution. Chillz has never shrunken in physical play. He is the guy that will give up his body, take the hit and get up. He will go back in (the paint) and get some more.

JJ and Marvin shrinks. It seems Marvin may want to but is still a fearful puppy. Al is an Alpha Puppy and will be Alpha Dog. JJ just wants to shoot when he feels it. He needs to step it up, All Star.

If anybody was punked Yesterday, it was JJ.

The fact that these were the guys who questioned your Allstar status... and you let them run roughshot over your team and you didn't score in the 2nd half kinda validates their claims...

You're right about Horf.

Horf (if Bibby stays around) will quickly become the lead dog on this team. Still, he had no answer for KG. KG is just on another plain. Yesterday, in the 4th, it was obvious that they could just keep feeding KG and we would never stop it. I don't know what Wood's defensive scheme was, but you have to double KG as soon as he gets the ball!!!

[Vol4ever]

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I don't know why most teams don't know this already. Our weakness.. our kryptonite is Physical play. It's a sad dynamic. Teams play us Physically:

1. JJ disappears.

2. Josh starts shooting more Jumpshots.

That's the problem with this Hawks team.

Fortunately though, ROY AL Horford is starting to become an offensive force. Bibby is running pick and roll with anybody who will play with him. Bibby is making passes to whoever is wide open! I disagree with you all who say that the Bibby trade was meaningless. Our offensive recognition is starting to come up. Yesterday, Al got a few dunks going down the lane. Smoove is starting to recognize the pick and roll. It's good!!

Good analysis and I agree with you.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

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Horf (if Bibby stays around) will quickly become the lead dog on this team. Still, he had no answer for KG. KG is just on another plain. Yesterday, in the 4th, it was obvious that they could just keep feeding KG and we would never stop it.

I don't know what Wood's defensive scheme was, but you have to double KG as soon as he gets the ball!!!

And leave Allen, Pierce, House or Posey wide open for threes?

LOL . . that's why Woody didn't do what you suggested. The Hawks get blown out if we double KG, because KG would've ALWAYS found the open man.

The Hawks played that exactly how they should've.

[Diesel]

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And leave Allen, Pierce, House or Posey wide open for threes?

LOL . . that's why Woody didn't do what you suggested. The Hawks get blown out if we double KG, because KG would've ALWAYS found the open man.

The Hawks played that exactly how they should've.

YES.

Do you see how easily KG was scoring on our bigs and getting them in foul trouble? When I played basketball, it was very simple. Give up the harder shot. IF KG is making layup after layup... on our guys, double him and force those guys you mention to hit the harder shot. If they can hit the shot with a man running at them, they would have hit it anyway. AND... make the pass a harder pass for KG to make. When you double him, control what options he has to pass out to. I wouldn't let him pass out to House or Allen, but I would take my chances with Pierce or Perkins. And if Rondo is in the game, Rondo is shooting and I'm covering Pierce and Allen!!!

I think Detroit plays Boston this week. I suggest you watch it. Detroit will show how to defend KG and they will probably hit him with a quick double.... and it will look like there are 6 defenders on the court.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

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YES.

Do you see how easily KG was scoring on our bigs and getting them in foul trouble? When I played basketball, it was very simple. Give up the harder shot. IF KG is making layup after layup... on our guys, double him and force those guys you mention to hit the harder shot. If they can hit the shot with a man running at them, they would have hit it anyway. AND... make the pass a harder pass for KG to make. When you double him, control what options he has to pass out to. I wouldn't let him pass out to House or Allen, but I would take my chances with Pierce or Perkins. And if Rondo is in the game, Rondo is shooting and I'm covering Pierce and Allen!!!

I think Detroit plays Boston this week. I suggest you watch it. Detroit will show how to defend KG and they will probably hit him with a quick double.... and it will look like there are 6 defenders on the court.

But that's not reality Diesel. Both Allen and Pierce heated up from 3. So just because KG was scoring, doesn't mean that you leave those caliber of shooters open to potentially blow the game open.

Doc opted to go with House for most of the 2nd half. You can't double KG in that situation. And if there is one knock on KG as a player, is that he refuses to take over a game with his scoring by staying down on the blocks. And sure enough, after KG hit "lay-up after lay-up", he took two junpers that he missed, which kept us in the game.

The Hawks problem last night wasn't defensively, it was offensively.

[DJlaysitup]

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...Like I said previously, our weakness is teams that play physically. For the Knicks and Spurs, there's a level of physicality that they have that makes it hard on us. ..

And that shouldn't surprise anybody at all. Our "core" players right now are basically a 1, a 2, three 3's, and a 4...size-wise. Pretty much everybody around the league agrees that Horford is a natural 4 pressed into duty at the 5 due to our team deficiencies.

Al is a beast and deserves ROY IMO, still he is PF sized. If Big Baby and some others I've seen in previous games are 6'9", then so is Al...unless the other guys are wearing elevator shoes. Standing straight up beside each other after a whistle a couple times last night, Al and Baby looked exactly the same height. That's even a better argument for Horford as ROY - a 6'9" rookie holding his own (for the most part) in the paint as a center.

Smoove can jump out of the gym - but he's 6'8". Again, not talking skill-set here so much, but body size-wise, he should be a 3. If he's a 4 - he's an undersized 4. Neither Marvin or Chillz are PF material. Even taking Zaza into consideration he is at best a 4/5...and he plays about 6'9" athletically speaking.

So we have a team that is more "college size" than "pro-size". Obviously I'm not comparing the Hawks to a college team talent-wise...that's not the point. The point is - we have what BK wanted. A bunch of 6'7" to 6'9" guys (with a PG now at least). It only makes sense that we will have trouble with "pro-sized" teams if their bigs are good, strong, and athletic.

A 6'9" - 6'8" - 6'8" front line will always have trouble against teams with good 7-footers. A good team can get away with an undersized guy or a guy playing out of position to a point - but usually they have an oversized guy at another position to make up for it. We don't.