My Thoughts After 2 Games

[JackB1]

Is Boston that good are are we that bad? Hard to tell. We seem to be able to play good and hang close to them for a while, but then they put the gas down and take off and there is no way we can catch them. The difference is the two bench's is huge. They could start their #6-10 players and probably still be over .500. Garnett is a stud. The whole team plays such great D, they only need to score 15 pts each from their stars to beat you. Our leading scorer last night had 13 points! That ain't gonna win you many games.

Now onto the Hawks performance so far.....

We have been a terrible road team all year, so playing on the road against the best defensive team in the NBA, I wasn't expecting much.

Horford had a great game 1 and then a solid almost double/double in game 2. The kid is the ONLY consistent player on this team, except for maybe Chillz (when he stays on the baseline).

JJ is looking very ordinary against this defense. He said before game 2 he was going to be more aggressive and drive more, so where was it? When are we gonna see some fire from JJ? He is still our best player, but isn't quick enough at finding the open man when he is pressured.

Bibby....I don't know what you were thinking shooting off your mouth. Bibby is too hot & cold and I prefer the steady game of Law, but we need Bibby's 3's from time to time. Bibby also looks sloppy handling the ball and also looks sluggish compared to Law. He is a bad defender and gets crushed on screens all the time. Overall he has been a huge disappointment so far.

Marvin....seems to have the ability, but doesn't take enough shots and it's aggressive all the time. His game is too one dimentional right now. He hits the open 20 foot jumper, but that seems to be 99% of his whole game. He should be rebounding more and driving more.

I am undecided on him, but would love to see what a REAL coach can do for him.

Smoove.......like Marvin, I would LOVE to see a REAL coach get ahold of him and teach him properly. Has tons of natural ability, but his small brain limits him greatly. Has to stop playing like he is on the playground. When he dribbles, he seems out of control and often has bad shot selection. Really needs help with his mental game and thankfully that is easier to fix than the physical game. LOVE Smoove's heart and desire to win, but we should build around Horford at the #4 and I don't know where that leads Smoove. I dont know how he would play at the #3, but a lot depends on if and what center we can get.

In summary, the Hawks have played pretty poorly so far and I think they can doo much better at home. Whether or not they can make up the 25 points they have been losing by is doubtful though. Boston will be trying to demoralize us by winning on our floor, so it won't get any easier on Sat. Again.......without JJ and Bibby putting up big numbers and hitting 3's, we have no chance.

[Traceman]

There are some things that we can improve upon to make the games more competitive but the reality is they ARE this good. They lost TWO games all season to teams with records below .500 and they only had ONE loss to a non-playoff team (CHA).

If we are going to be a little more competitive, we are going to have to value the ball and share the ball on offense once we are in the half court set. Going one on one and taking quick J's is not going to work against this team. We have to make them pay for doubling JJ (and Bibby at times) by rotating the ball all the way around to the weakside for the open shot.

We also are going to have to cut down on the turnovers. Boston is forcing a lot of the turnovers but we are making too many unforced turnovers on top of that. J Smoove has to understand that you can't try to thread the needle by making a spectacular bounce pass in traffic. He needs to make the sound, sure play. The reward is just not worth the risk. Bibby needs to understand the same thing. JJ just needs to understand that he is going to be doubled on virtually every possession and he needs to better anticipate where the double team is coming from so that he can exploit it. He is holding the ball too long waiting to see where the double team is coming from and it is causing him to turn the ball over.

Really, if we play hard, execute better and cut down on the turnovers, we are still going to lose this series but it could allow us to steal a game and gain some momentum going forward.

[JackB1]

Quote:

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JJ just needs to understand that he is going to be doubled on virtually every possession and he needs to better anticipate where the double team is coming from so that he can exploit it. He is holding the ball too long waiting to see where the double team is coming from and it is causing him to turn the ball over.

He has done this all year and doesn't seem to catch on. Very frustrating.

[Traceman]

of that habit. Make your move quick before the double gets there or pass it quick to keep the D guessing. It is okay to hold it SOMETIMES to draw the defenders to you but he does it seemingly ALL the the time.

[mattlanta]

Sorry, but uh... what kind of question is that? The Celtics are just that good, man!