How to TRY and stop the bleeding

[TheNorthCydeRises]

This is all assuming that the ASG doesn't do the most dramatic thing to shake up the Hawks, and still refuse to fire Woody.

1) Start Acie Law.

This is not a slight toward Bibby, seeing that Bibby will be in the game at the end on most nights. But if you start Law, you put a better defensive presence in the game at the point, to start each half. In the limited minutes he's played with the starting group, he's played well. Once Law comes back, a concerted effort should be made to play him 25 - 30 minutes a game, with the vast majority of those minutes coming with JJ, Al, Marv, and Smoove .

Law's role should be exactly like Shawn Livingston's with the Clippers, the year he was the starting PG, and Cassell was the backup/closing PG. He was the better defender, and the heir to the PG throne with the Clips. That's why he was the starter.

2) Use Bibby like Boston will use Cassell.

Right now, Bibby should be treated as a hired gun/playmaker. He can be that scorer and playmaker off the bench that can and will play the 1 and the 2. Against the 2nd teamers, Bibby could possibly be an instant offense type player. At the end of games, you can opt to play Bibby. Don't automatically play Bibby at the end all the time, but have him be your finisher if need be. Between playing the 1 and the 2, Bibby could still get his 30 minutes a game.

3) Only double GREAT scorers.

There's nothing more irritating to see, than the Hawks doubling average to mediocre post scorers, leaving a 3 point shooter wide open. For the 3rd consecutve game, our opponent has shot a large volume of 3s, and has hit over 50% of them. No way we can win playing defense like that. I DO NOT want to see one of our players scrambling to double Udonis Haslem tomorrow night.

4) SLOW THE (( BLEEP )) DOWN, and play more efficiently on both ends of the court!!

We may be bettter offensively ( points-wise ), but we're also wearing down more physically and mentally, by trying to play fast, uptempo, or whatever you want to call it, with this barely 8-man rotation. Fatigue, both mental and physical, may be one of the culprits in our 2nd half collaspes, along with coaching mistakes. Like someone wrote in another thread, it's the little things that are killing us recently. Things that should be easily correctable, are causing us major problems.

The Golden St. game reminded me so much of what Loyola Marymount used to do to teams As a ballplayer, it's kind of natural to want to play that style. But when you play that way, things can get very sloppy. But when you play that way all the time, you'll be a lot more efficent playing that style. LMU used to just wear down people, and blow them out at the end because their opponent just couldn't play at that pace. That's exactly what happened when they beat Michigan in the Sweet 16. And G-State did the same thing to us the other night.

* * * * *

And that's what it comes down to . . efficiency. Fast or slow, just try to be efficient offensively, not careless. We're a very careless team these days, with all of the stupid mistakes and bad turnovers.

Then play defense on the other end regardless of the outcome on the offensive end. We were doing this at the beginning of the year, even when we were playing like crap on offense. Our defense kept us in most games and we were able to pull some of them out.

Even when I was backing Woody, I've always said that he was a very stubborn coach. He doesn't believe in shaking things up a bit, to see if it can make the team better. It's time for a shakeup to see if different lineups can produce different results.

[cliche] But at the end of the day, [/cliche] the ultimate shakeup to try to change things, would be to fire the coach. Firing the GM right now, really wouldn't have an effect on the current product on the floor. And we can't trade for anybody. So the only thing that will help us, are a coaching change, or Woody putting a different mix in the lineup.

[KB21]

I don't think there is any avoiding what has to be done. This team has quit playing for Mike Woodson. If Michael Gearon cannot see that, then he isn't paying attention. Interim situations rarely spark a successful run, but a change has to be made. It should have already been made.

One thing I think this team needs to do is increase Al Horford's role in the offense. Al gives the Hawks a legitimate chance to have someone that can score in the post, plus he has range out to 15 feet. He's a good passer as well.