Resist the temptation to overanalyze this loss.

[Plainview1981]

Miami shot lights out on 3s and Wade was unstoppable. They would have beaten anybody tonite. We didnt play a bad game. Even if we hit our free throws at 80% we still would have lost. We made 2 or 3 charges, but Miami answered each one.

If we truly are the better team, we should be able to win 1 in Miami and get back to Phillips tied at 2-2.

C'mon now.

Playing bad defense... Missing shots... Turning the ball over... Getting out rebounded....Missing free throws. That's what you consider playing a good game?

Edited April 23, 2009 by Hotlanta1981

[Bahamut]

You're right, but none of us should've expected the Hawks to win all four home games.

How this team plays in Miami will go a long way to determining the future of Woodson, Bibby, and Murray and Joe.

Fixed :hush:

[somegsuguy]

C'mon now.

Playing bad defense... Missing shots... Turning the ball over... Getting out rebounded....Missing free throws. That's what you consider playing a good game?

Agreed. This wasn't a good game at all. How can you be down double digits going into halftime on your home floor? Everytime we got a stop, we didn't box out and gave up second chance points. On the other hand, we were one and done for the most part on the offensive side of the ball. We kept leaving guys open on the perimeter, didn't box out giving up rebounds left and right, and constantly complaining to the refs about every call offensively and defensively.

[FrankWhite]

I just want to know why Flip played so much and Marvin so little?

Marvin starts to heat up and immediately gets subbed for with a guy who can't buy a basket (but still shoots). Classic Woodson.

[Walker]

Marvin starts to heat up and immediately gets subbed for with a guy who can't buy a basket (but still shoots). Classic Woodson.

Absolutely right! You wonder sometimes if Woodson can even think or has any idea of anything going around him at all. It blows my mind...

[dlpin]

C'mon now.

Playing bad defense... Missing shots... Turning the ball over... Getting out rebounded....Missing free throws. That's what you consider playing a good game?

Only reason why Atlanta was outrebounded was because Miami wouldn't miss, so there were fewer defensive rebounds to be had (Atl got 20 of 26 on its end, 13 of 47 on miami's end).

Atlanta had fewer turnovers, more points off of turnovers, and more second chance points than Miami, which shows that they out hustled miami.

When Udonis Haslem is hitting 20 footers with a hand in his face, when Wade is hitting fade away 3 pointers with 2 on him, there is nothing you can do about it.

[Plainview1981]

Only reason why Atlanta was outrebounded was because Miami wouldn't miss, so there were fewer defensive rebounds to be had (Atl got 20 of 26 on its end, 13 of 47 on miami's end).

Atlanta had fewer turnovers, more points off of turnovers, and more second chance points than Miami, which shows that they out hustled miami.

When Udonis Haslem is hitting 20 footers with a hand in his face, when Wade is hitting fade away 3 pointers with 2 on him, there is nothing you can do about it.

There was no energy from the players tonight. Go look at what below average Joe said in the articles on AJC. You could see this coming 5 minutes into the game. The Heat are a bad basketball team. They were barely over .500 in this weak conference. The Hawks were supposed to be good at home. But if you look back to that Boston and SA game... The Hawks haven't been playing well anywhere lately.

They played no defense out there. Guys were open. They never took Miami out of a comfort zone. IF you don't pressure them, that allows them to get into a rhythm.

[dlpin]

yeah the heat are a bad basketball team.

But even bad basketball teams win when they shoot 58% from 3 points.

I can't think of any teams who ever lost a game after shooting 58% from 3s... and it's not like they were wide open 3s. Wade had a hand in his face in all the 3s he hit. I mean, what do the Kings victories over the lakers and denver, the Clippers win over Portland, the Thunder win IN San Antonio and Minnesota's win IN Utah have in common? The bad teams shot over 40% from 3 point land.

Point being, in this league the absolutely worst teams can beat the best ones if they get hot from the field, and there is nothing that can be done about it.

[AtlMoveTheBallMore]

I agree, LOL_Hawks.

Atlanta is clearly the better team, and it would be a great disappointment if they lost this series.

We are not the better team. We have nobody who can contain Wade, and Beasley is better than Horford and Smith. We don't pass the ball to open players enough in the half court, which is the #1 thing you have to do in the NBA, take open shots whether there is 1 second gone in the shot clock or 2 seconds left. You have to find the open man. Joe makes horrible decisions. He is a good scorer but takes too many shots down the stretch.

We will not win this series. The Heat now will win both games in Miami. We have a team that likes to party and they are going to South Beach.

[Plainview1981]

yeah the heat are a bad basketball team.

But even bad basketball teams win when they shoot 58% from 3 points.

I can't think of any teams who ever lost a game after shooting 58% from 3s... and it's not like they were wide open 3s. Wade had a hand in his face in all the 3s he hit. I mean, what do the Kings victories over the lakers and denver, the Clippers win over Portland, the Thunder win IN San Antonio and Minnesota's win IN Utah have in common? The bad teams shot over 40% from 3 point land.

Point being, in this league the absolutely worst teams can beat the best ones if they get hot from the field, and there is nothing that can be done about it.

The heat have had plenty of open looks. If the Hawks come out and play tough minded, the Heat probably don't find a comfort zone. But they found one. The other team can also notice when the Hawks are playing without energy. It's just so clearly visible. The Hawks also played bad on the offensive end. Look, in game 1 they only scored 90 points and was 4-14 in 3's. That continued tonight.The Hawks gave the Heat a chance to take control of this series and that's what they did. The Hawks don't win meaningful games on the road.... Why would it start now? All of a sudden?

Edited April 23, 2009 by Hotlanta1981

[Diesel]

I don't know how hotlanta hate has become "truth". I was upset by the loss too.. very much so... but then I watched the game over and came to some conclusions... Technically, we did a lot of things right.

When Wade is shooting out of his mind, calling for the ball 30 feet out... what are we supposed to do? Had we lost our defensive discipline and opened up the lane for him to drive all night long, you guys would have complained about that. Had he gotten Al, Smoove, and Zaza in foul trouble because we're trying to double him on the perimeter, you guys would have talked about how stupid Woody is. I think our defense on the perimeter was what it needed to be 90% of the time. Cook is a three point shooter and our guys have to make an effort to stay with him.. but Beasley?

Their rebounding is just an effect of their efficiency. We're not a good enough offensive rebounding team to have overcome their defensive rebounding especially when JO, Haslem, and even Magloire has their head on straight.

For the one Marvin Williams nuthugger crying about Flip... It's the same minutes Flip has been playing. Flip does one thing when he's on the floor... attack the defense. Marvin is a stationary shooter. When Flip was attacking the defense and passing off to Smoove for the dunk nobody complained. You got to allow your shooters to shoot. We live by the shot, we die by the shot.

And for the lone joe johnson hater who is going to trade Joe Johnson on his video game :computer8: .... Dude.. get over it. Joe Johnson has the hardest draw in the nba... He's one on one with Dwayne Wade on a Dwayne Wade good shooting night. I mean gosh.. Joe plays excellent defense and Dwayne Wade hits a 30 foot off balance bank shot with a hand in his face? And you want to talk about Joe being inferior? How about acknowledging that Wade had a very good night and we could have had a rugged defender like Diaw on him and it would not have made much difference.

[Plainview1981]

I don't know how hotlanta hate has become "truth". I was upset by the loss too.. very much so... but then I watched the game over and came to some conclusions... Technically, we did a lot of things right.

When Wade is shooting out of his mind, calling for the ball 30 feet out... what are we supposed to do? Had we lost our defensive discipline and opened up the lane for him to drive all night long, you guys would have complained about that. Had he gotten Al, Smoove, and Zaza in foul trouble because we're trying to double him on the perimeter, you guys would have talked about how stupid Woody is. I think our defense on the perimeter was what it needed to be 90% of the time. Cook is a three point shooter and our guys have to make an effort to stay with him.. but Beasley?

Their rebounding is just an effect of their efficiency. We're not a good enough offensive rebounding team to have overcome their defensive rebounding especially when JO, Haslem, and even Magloire has their head on straight.

For the one Marvin Williams nuthugger crying about Flip... It's the same minutes Flip has been playing. Flip does one thing when he's on the floor... attack the defense. Marvin is a stationary shooter. When Flip was attacking the defense and passing off to Smoove for the dunk nobody complained. You got to allow your shooters to shoot. We live by the shot, we die by the shot.

And for the lone joe johnson hater who is going to trade Joe Johnson on his video game :computer8: .... Dude.. get over it. Joe Johnson has the hardest draw in the nba... He's one on one with Dwayne Wade on a Dwayne Wade good shooting night. I mean gosh.. Joe plays excellent defense and Dwayne Wade hits a 30 foot off balance bank shot with a hand in his face? And you want to talk about Joe being inferior? How about acknowledging that Wade had a very good night and we could have had a rugged defender like Diaw on him and it would not have made much difference.

I'm laying alot of this loss on Joe's offensive performance.

What about Joe's pathetic offense? 5-13 shooting? 4 turnovers? 5-9 in free throws? 0 assists? Joe is a poor man's Tmac. And we see how much Tmac accomplished in his career. Very little. Yeah, Joe got out of the first round before... But that was riding Nash's cotails. I'll be glad when he is playing for somebody else. Streak scorers are a dime a dozen. It's been worse this year because this year his play has been very much like Antonie Walker. When some people are upset, they see this. But after awhile... They go back to defending him.

As for the team...

They played with no energy from the start. No doubt Miami easily picked up on that and was very aggressive. You run a team out of the gym and then come out the next game and play flat? That's typical Hawks right there. They play basketball like Andruw Jones plays baseball. You can see how poorly fundamental they are and deep down that has got to frustrate the heck out of you.

[jhay610]

The Heat did hit a ton of shots but the Hawks also didn't come out with the same intensity, energy and urgency as they did in game one.

The difference was night and day - in game 1 they wanted to blow Miami out of the building as soon as possible; in game 2 you could tell they were content to let them hang around - only all of a sudden Wade hit that barrage of shots in the 2nd and the Hawks were fighting uphill the rest of the game.

I dont expect Miami to keep shooting like that but the Hawks will be hard-pressed to win this series if they don't bring their home-playoff-vs-Boston-2008 intensity every night.

[Diesel]

I'm laying alot of this loss on Joe's offensive performance.

What about Joe's pathetic offense? 5-13 shooting? 4 turnovers? 5-9 in free throws? 0 assists? Joe is a poor man's Tmac. And we see how much Tmac accomplished in his career. Very little. Yeah, Joe got out of the first round before... But that was riding Nash's cotails. I'll be glad when he is playing for somebody else. Streak scorers are a dime a dozen. It's been worse this year because this year his play has been very much like Antonie Walker. When some people are upset, they see this. But after awhile... They go back to defending him.

As for the team...

They played with no energy from the start. No doubt Miami easily picked up on that and was very aggressive. You run a team out of the gym and then come out the next game and play flat? That's typical Hawks right there. They play basketball like Andruw Jones plays baseball. You can see how poorly fundamental they are and deep down that has got to frustrate the heck out of you.

It you want an explanation of Joe's scoring. He was constantly doubled everytime he picked up the ball. Then there were BS offensive foul calls when he was aggressive. There was no excuse about the free throws... however, to say that that makes him poor man's Tmac is jumping to a poor conclusion. Joe is effective, when we have more than Joe scoring. He's not Kobe... although we knew that going in. The other thing is that you can't underrate Miami's defense. Hell Wade was third in dpoy voting and probably will be a first teamer all defense. It's got to mean something.

My point is that it took a lot for Miami to win this. One of the best three point shooting displays in playoff history. Us shooting 63% from the charity stripe. Joe Johnson missing significant PT with foul trouble.

From this, you can become a pessimist or you can be optimistic and believe that there's no way that Miami can keep this up... for if they could, they would be better than a 43 win team on the season.

[Plainview1981]

It you want an explanation of Joe's scoring. He was constantly doubled everytime he picked up the ball. Then there were BS offensive foul calls when he was aggressive. There was no excuse about the free throws... however, to say that that makes him poor man's Tmac is jumping to a poor conclusion. Joe is effective, when we have more than Joe scoring. He's not Kobe... although we knew that going in. The other thing is that you can't underrate Miami's defense. Hell Wade was third in dpoy voting and probably will be a first teamer all defense. It's got to mean something.

My point is that it took a lot for Miami to win this. One of the best three point shooting displays in playoff history. Us shooting 63% from the charity stripe. Joe Johnson missing significant PT with foul trouble.

From this, you can become a pessimist or you can be optimistic and believe that there's no way that Miami can keep this up... for if they could, they would be better than a 43 win team on the season.

If the Hawks were a good road team it would seem easier to disgust that Miami simply will not keep up this shooting. A home they might not have to. The Hawks can't do anything consistent on offense AT HOME. How can you believe they will do so in Miami? These are not the SA Spurs. A team that has proven themselves over and over again. This is a team that was 10 games under .500 on the road.

If this game was in Miami.... The Hawks lose by 25 or more. I knew this teams bad FT shooting would comeback to haunt them. If you look over these two games, the Hawks haven't done anything besides take advantage of their athletic ability. As I've said many of times, that's all they can count on. People think they shoot the 3 well.... But they don't do it aswell as people make out. None of Bibby, Joe or Flip are consistent at shooting the three.

Joe is lacking something... That something Tmac lacked. He just not the guy you want as your leader and leading scorer. He just doesn't have "IT" to lead the team to places. It's a continuation of Joe's mediocre season in which he has shot poorly.

Lastly, Wade is a good defender, but he is 6'4 and Joe is 6'8. Loe draws double teams, but lots of scorers draw double teams. If Joe can be shutdown by double teams this way, then what's the real point of paying him like a superstar?

[Kimsey]

It's now a best out five with the Hawks still owning homecourt. I expect to atleast split the next two in mia.

Once Wade was forced to play pg it was a wrap, Bibby in my opinion had no business on the floor at that time. Don't understand why deviate from game 1 game plan period. Double wade at all cost worked well the last game. Watching wade abuse Flip and Mo in the 2nd quarter before it was too late was dumbfounding. Fast break will always be our friend but Woody doesn't seem to flow with this plan.

Joe was terrible in about all phases. He shot a 25 footer over a double team (selfish shot) with a foot on the line while misses a wide open team mate down low for a possible and 1 or easy dunk.

[bumpyphish1]

Joe was terrible in about all phases. He shot a 25 footer over a double team (selfish shot) with a foot on the line while misses a wide open team mate down low for a possible and 1 or easy dunk.

I think he did that out of frustration, having missed those two FT's. The game was decided at that point.

[DrReality]

This is exactly how this team has played all year, up and down. Don't know why it would changed for the playoffs. Can't tell what part of it is the players and what part is the coaching.

[Kimsey]

I think he did that out of frustration, having missed those two FT's. The game was decided at that point.

I don't care if he did out of exctasy, bad shot. He took the shot with 3 and 1/2 minutes left. The score was 98-91 and he had an extra wide open JS in the paint.

They only scored 2 points in the final 4 minutes. All in all we had a great chance to extend the game at the least.

[AtLaS]

This is exactly how this team has played all year, up and down. Don't know why it would changed for the playoffs. Can't tell what part of it is the players and what part is the coaching.

It's obviously the coaching. We have NO way to get easy shots if we aren't in transition, and Miami took that away from us, as expected after game 1.

When we are in a half court set all we can do is run ISO's, we have no offense at all. Nothing is new. Woodson has got to be the worst offensive head coach the NBA has ever seen. I mean, it was literally sad to watch the game how bad our offense was. Miami literally handed us the game with about 5 straight possessions with missed shots, yet we'd come down on the other end and take a fadeaway or some other BS shot.