I vote for rest.

[mrhonline]

I believe this wraps up the 4/5 matchup as Magic/Hawks, so the Hawks have 4 meaningless games to end the season.

Fri 08 @ Indiana 7:00pm

Sat 09 @ Washington 7:00pm

Mon 11 vs Miami 7:00pm

Wed 13 @ Charlotte 8:00pm

I could see playing the starters some minutes against Indiana on the 8th and against Charlotte on the 13th, but there's no reason to give any major minutes to Joe, Josh, or Al otherwise.

Teague/Jamal

Hinrich/Wilkens

Williams/Sy

Powell/Armstrong

Zaza/Thomas

Edited April 6, 2011 by mrhonline

[GameTime]

Our starters don't deserve it.

[Gray Mule]

Our starters don't deserve it.

Yeah. Maybe not. But, our bench deserves some extra playing time.

Can't have one without the other. Let's play the bench.

:thankyou:

[APE]

Our starters don't deserve it.

Agreed.

But I just want to see Pape Sy in action and Etan's passionate rebounds.

[GameTime]

Yeah. Maybe not. But, our bench deserves some extra playing time.

Can't have one without the other. Let's play the bench.

:thankyou:

Good point, but I don't like going to the playoffs with a losing streak. Maybe after a win IMO.

[MaceCase]

Hard for me to decide. The team could use the rest to heal up some nagging injuries but at the same time they are the type of team that has to be in a good rhythm to have any chance at success. I guess rest them and then run some tough practices right before our first playoff game to get out the kinks.

[buckeye242424]

Sit em'. The season is long enough. Besides, I don't want to hear fatigue as a factor to why we get knocked out of the playoffs.

[NineOhTheRino]

2011 NBA Playoff Bracket

Hawks should have rested sooner. May sound crazy but I would rather go through Miami and Boson.

Edited April 6, 2011 by NineOhTheRino

[swanlee]

Doesn't matter we are going to get knocked out of the first round anyway. The Magic will not let us get away with the stuff we tried during the regular season.

[ATLSmith]

Well, they sat Smoove last night already. I expect to see some extended bench minutes in the next few days.

Would LOVE to see Pape play for once....

[AHF]

Would LOVE to see Pape play for once....

I get the curiosity but I couldn't care less about seeing Pape play compared to seeing significant minutes for a bench player that could play a major role in the playoffs like Teague.

With JJ's hurt hand, he needs to be healing as much as possible before the playoffs. Being injured is no longer an excuse for him in the playoffs since it seems to be becoming a trend rather than an exceptional circumstance you can discount.

Edited April 6, 2011 by AHF

[Bawse]

2011 NBA Playoff Bracket

Hawks should have rested sooner. May sound crazy but I would rather go through Miami and Boson.

Yeah, that does sound pretty pretty crazy, considering Miami and Boston would run right through us in the first round. Orlando is our best bet. We have the tools to beat them, it's just a matter of execution.

[niremetal]

The starters should be banned from the floor for the next week and a half. We rested our starters the last couple games last year and had zero problems with "rust" to start the series against Milwaukee.

[NineOhTheRino]

Yeah, that does sound pretty pretty crazy, considering Miami and Boston would run right through us in the first round. Orlando is our best bet. We have the tools to beat them, it's just a matter of execution.

Yeah but I have a feeling that a 2nd round matchup vs Chicago will get real ugly real fast for the hawks. That team is too physical. It took Al playing like crazy man to squeak out a win. Know that Al is back playing like a 12-yo schoolgirl I see the Hawks getting manhandled.

Edited April 6, 2011 by NineOhTheRino

[Guest]

Josh Smith May Sit: Atlanta Hawks' forward Josh Smith did not play last night in the Hawks' 97-90 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, and it looks like he may end up sitting out the next five games to rest up a bothersome right knee.

Smith, who banged his knee in late February has been dealing with pain and swelling in the knee and with the 5th seed in the East assured, the Hawks are starting to look at the post-season and getting guys rest and healthy for their first round match up with the Orlando Magic.

The Magic win over the Milwaukee Bucks combined with the Hawks loss to the San Antonio Spurs locks both teams into the 4th and 5th seeds respectively, meaning no combination of wins or losses can change their playoff seeding.

"We just want to try to get as much of the swelling out of it as we can and get it as strong as I can before the playoffs," Smith said to Michael Cunningham of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The Hawks acknowledged last night that the move to rest Smith was more precautionary with eye towards the first round of the playoffs, with Hawks' coach Larry Drew saying if last night's game were a playoff game Smith would have played without limitation.

Drew wouldn't say specifically that the Hawks were shutting down Smith, but with nothing left to play for over the next seven days, it's more likely than not that Josh Smith has played his last meaningful minutes of the 20110-2011 NBA season and that the Hawks are looking more towards the playoffs.

[MaceCase]

Any word on JaCo? Kind of sad but I fear that the series will rest on him being effective.

[jhay610]

Any way to get Robert Sura, Jr. on a 10-day to help us play out the string? He is really good this time of year.

[mrhonline]

Any way to get Robert Sura, Jr. on a 10-day to help us play out the string? He is really good this time of year.

I wish I could rep this post more than once...

[APE]

Joe's got to rest until he's 100% ready to go or as healthy as possible. It's not like he had a similar injury a year ago.

[NineOhTheRino]

Joe's got to rest until he's 100% ready to go or as healthy as possible. It's not like he had a similar injury a year ago.

I don't know if the fans will give him an injury pass this year. Last year's elbow injury was legit but man I think Hawks fans are sick of excuses. I know I am.

Edited April 8, 2011 by NineOhTheRino