HAWKS get the win...... There are some reasons to be concerned

[A_voice_of_Reasoning]

Hawks get a big win, but I have some concerns about the mental lapses and turnovers in crucial situations.

The Hawks came out hard and fast, hitting the boards, moving without the ball and playing pretty good defense.

What is hard for me to understand is why at times, the hawks seem to play to the level of their competitors. The Hawks have to learn how to close a team out. It's no way that Cleveland should have made the game last night as close as it was with key players out and the poor shooting they displayed.

I'm could be mistaken, but I seem to remember the Hawks having 5 turnovers in straight possessions. These are the times when a good floor leader in needed.

J-Smoove reminds me Rasheed Wallace at times, with all the complaining to the Ref's and 3 pt shooting. When J-Smoove goes to the hole strong, there's not too many in the league that will be willing to step in front of him.

J-Smoove seems to get caught in a one one one battles. Lebron took the ball to the hole strong and dunked on him. J-Smoove now fells that he must try to take the whole team to the hole and creates a turnover.

The Hawks have shown that they can play ball, but for some reason the plan gets lost......

If they can give the effort like the first 2 qtrs of the Cleveland game, They have a great chance of beating the BIG 3 of Celtics..

[tonegully]

If you notice those turnovers you are talking about is when we didnt have a PG on the floor. bibby or acie. i blame that on woody's subing.

[A_voice_of_Reasoning]

If you notice those turnovers you are talking about is when we didnt have a PG on the floor. bibby or acie. i blame that on woody's subing.

I believe you are right.....

Definitely a coaching error.....

[lunar]

nah, he's talking about josh going 1 on 3 in the half court. he literally abandoned the gameplan and that started the cavs run. if he would have been smarter with the possessions even if they weren't made shots, we would have been better able to stop the cavs.

but that was the only flaw in the game and probably the only reason this wasn't a blowout.

also, the cavs missed z and boobie. varejao is not a starter in this league and delonte can't hit that spot up jumper like boobie can. they are going to be very hard to beat when those two get back.

[Iman]

The Hawks are not a great team but we just beat a team that lately had been great. I'll take it. Their key players Lebron and Mo had great games and we shut down the rest of the team, supposedly that was somewhat our strategy.

Josh seems to always start years off slow. His injury will likely cause him to take even longer to figure out what he's doing this year. Since he is such a key to how we play, we'll be inconsistent when he's inconsistent. But it's obvious that Josh plays on emotion as does most of our team so I think that's why we rarely have easy wins or bad losses. We'll probably barely beat 5 or 6 of our upcoming 7 home opponents. That's just the type team we are.

[uga2006]

[quote name='Iman' date='Dec 14 2008, 04:57 PM' post='356442'.

Josh seems to always start years off slow. His injury will likely cause him to take even longer to figure out what he's doing this year. Since he is such a key to how we play, we'll be inconsistent when he's inconsistent. But it's obvious that Josh plays on emotion as does most of our team so I think that's why we rarely have easy wins or bad losses. We'll probably barely beat 5 or 6 of our upcoming 7 home opponents. That's just the type team we are.

I agree that Smith is a slow starter and will take some time to get his rythym going but he just has been making dumb mistakes. For instance the first few minutes in the game he took the ball up the court out of control while the whole Cavs team was around him. Not to mention all the jumpshots and 3's.

Here's a quote from Woody I found on ESPN that sums it up "Josh is five years in the league now, man," Woodson said after Smith's 5-for-19 shooting effort in the loss to the Rockets. "And it comes down to time, score and situation. That's the bottom line. We're not telling him he can't shoot 3-pointers but if you miss four or five jump shots, something has to go off in his head that says, 'I have to do something else."

Edited December 14, 2008 by uga2006

[TheNorthCydeRises]

J-Smoove reminds me Rasheed Wallace at times, with all the complaining to the Ref's and 3 pt shooting. When J-Smoove goes to the hole strong, there's not too many in the league that will be willing to step in front of him.

J-Smoove seems to get caught in a one one one battles. Lebron took the ball to the hole strong and dunked on him. J-Smoove now fells that he must try to take the whole team to the hole and creates a turnover.

I told the guy next to me at the game last night, that Smoove wants to be Rashard Lewis so bad, instead of Shawn Kemp. If he'd just change his mindset, he'd be a MONSTER. After LeBron dunked on him, he just got caught up in the hype of the game. That was the 2nd time that game he'd been dunked on, and he was determined to score on the other end. SMH @ those behind the back dribbles in the post, where he lost the ball both times. Woody gave him a quick yank out the game.

[frosgrim]

I'll take back to back wins on a back to back any day any time.

Both teams were sloppy. I am not going to take the TO as indicative of rested play.

Smith, however, does need to play within himself. Hopefully he'll get there as the season progresses and he understands how he fits into the team.

[DrReality]

When you take into consideration how many games we've played on the road . . . . started out great, stumbled and now trying to regain our form. We have the great chance to accomplish that in this home stand. Having a vet like Neke would help too.

And our GM has a history of going after big guys.