Stotts made a huge mistake twice

[Admin]

First he doesnt call a TO when we have the ball and the game is tied at the end of the 4th with 30 seconds left, JT takes it down and never gets a shot off or passes the ball. Thats just extremely shameful and he must be blamed for that.

Finally in OT and us down 3 wtih 15 seconds to go he has Diaw throw the ball in who makes a bad pass to a double covered player and we have a TO and the game is over. Both calls were very poor by Stotts.

Overall this was a very poor effort with all of the TOs. I hate seeing Jackson taking 10 3 pointers as well and the rest of the team takes 4 combined. Still, this is a new starting unit so it will take some time to gel. Still a promising game in most areas. JT and SAR just didnt have their shots tonight otherwise we probably would have won comfortably.

[MoonKnight]

Why was JV allowed to see the light of day late in the 4th quarter when we were getting back the momentum? JV played terribly. For the "vet" quarterback coming off the pine he plays just as recklessly as our small forwards doubling as 2 guards in Dion and SJ. I agree about Diaw being called upon to make that last pass. That is alot of pressure for a rookie and I would almost rather have him recieving the inbound pass b/c the rookie showed good ballhandling and court vision and could have then found an open three point shooter. I also though Stotts called the high middle court screen way to often down the stretch and in OT. Hopefully Stotts is still learning.

[Traceman]

Diaw inbound the ball was not very smart. Even if he wasn't a rookie, he had hardly played in the 2nd half. No way was he ready for the speed or intensity of the moment. I KNEW we were going to turn it over and we did.

As for the no TO, I can see that because calling timeout would have allowed them to set their defense by getting the players they wanted on the floor (You see what happened when we did inbound the ball off a timeout, Diaw threw it away). Unfortunately, JT blew the play with poor ballhandling and was never able to get a shot off.

The aggravating thing to me is that we just can't stop turning the ball over. That was the ONLY thing I wanted to see from us tonight and we couldn't do it. Its like a disease that you we can't get rid of. It might go into remission for a while but it will always come back. 27 freaking turnovers! Good grief! Some things never change.

[dj_me]

Now, I can't say a lot because all I saw where the stat lines moving; but, out of what I saw in that, it wasn't so horribly bad.

The way I see it, JT and SAR had really bad nights, that's why SJax had 20-odd points. Sure, it's nice to see that SJax can do this, but he is not meant to.

Other than that, the main thing that upset me was 25 f*cking turnovers. What the f*ck?! We had less than 10 in the first half, then go for 13 in the third? That's not cool!

As for Diaw throwing the ball in, I was actually hoping that he would get the last shot. He didn't shoot all night, but I believe that he would have made it. I don't fall in with this "he's a rookie" sh*t. He played pro ball in Europe. Sure, it's different; but it's more than coming out of college. He should be given the chance to prove that he can be clutch.

Major Pros -

Rebounding

We did keep it close

SJax showing he can step up when needed

Major Cons -

JT/SAR having off nights

Turnovers

Turnovers

Turnovers

[Weez]

I couldn't watch the game...but see the SAR had 16 BOARDS. 16! now, he didn't score jack...was this due to a) Terry and others not getting him the ball, b) him getting the ball but out of position, c) him getting the ball but not being aggressive due to his back/still recovering from surgery?

notice that Theo did have 5 blocks, Nazr 2, Diaw 2, the team 11 or something...and JT 9 assists with limited TO's...

[Diesel]

Reef was plenty aggressive. You can't be non aggressive and get 16 boards. A lot of times, Reef got the ball out of position (too far away from the blocks). I feel that whoever instructed Reef to stand on the arc should be fired. Then there's a mix. A few times, Reef was matched up against Lynch. Lynch goes about 6'8" 228. Reef should have been able to dominate him. In fact, I think Stinger felt the same way. However, Lynch took away the Lane and Reef just doesn't go baseline very well. I don't know if you can call that aggressive or not because he tried to go baseline, it's just not his best thing.

Also, from those 16 boards... There was a lot of rushed or unadvised Shots going up. JT would come down and put up a poor shot. Glover would do the same. SJack would do the same. It's fustrating because I'm watching the Hawks, I flip to Minnesota, I flip to Indy and all I see is that everybody else has a pro offense. What we have is another recreation of a celebrity allstar game offense.

[Diesel]

Reef was plenty aggressive. You can't be non aggressive and get 16 boards. A lot of times, Reef got the ball out of position (too far away from the blocks). I feel that whoever instructed Reef to stand on the arc should be fired. Then there's a mix. A few times, Reef was matched up against Lynch. Lynch goes about 6'8" 228. Reef should have been able to dominate him. In fact, I think Stinger felt the same way. However, Lynch took away the Lane and Reef just doesn't go baseline very well. I don't know if you can call that aggressive or not because he tried to go baseline, it's just not his best thing.

Also, from those 16 boards... There was a lot of rushed or unadvised Shots going up. JT would come down and put up a poor shot. Glover would do the same. SJack would do the same. It's fustrating because I'm watching the Hawks, I flip to Minnesota, I flip to Indy and all I see is that everybody else has a pro offense. What we have is another recreation of a celebrity allstar game offense.

[Playmaker0017]

Diesel & Weez,

Reef was agressive and was out of position a lot of the time, but I think his problem is dealing more with the fact that he hasn't handled a basketball in months. I think he is just out of rythm on the block.

As for going baseline.... it used to be his best move. His rookie and second season was ALL baseline. Sid Lowe made him stop doing this and standing at the top of the three point arc.

I'm not worried about Reef. It may take him a week. I'd like to see some hustle downcourt though.

My fear is JT! He looked AWFUL! He was out of control the entire second half. He just isn't a smart player. When everyone got out of control.... he fed into it... rather than resetting it all.

The other problem was Jackson. He is terrible. You can feed me the three pointer BS all day... but he hurt us the most on those runs. He CANNOT handle the ball. He moves well without it... but with it... well, 7 TOs is all I have to say.

The only one with true court presence last night was Diaw. So he made an ill-advised pass at the end. Jackson still got the ball under control and lost it.

Play.

[Gray Mule]

Diaw, for a non-scoring rookie, just trying to learn how to

play the N.B.A. game, had a very good game.

Dion Glover had a good game. Watch Dion, he will be the

most improved Hawk this season.

Hawks MUST learn to handle the pressure of the full

court press. They looked lost last night when that

happened, as though they had NEVER saw it before.

I thought Hawks did well when they played both centers

together. Theo & Nazr provide some inside muscle that

we sure needed. Hopefully, that's not the last time we

will see that this season.

Henderson would have come in handy last night,

especially late in the 4th quarter and in overtime. His

veteran leadership might have been enough to have

pulled this one out for us. Hawks fell just short, so

any little bit of gain would have made the difference.

[Traceman]

Reef wasn't getting the ball in good postion but that was because of how NO's D was playing him. Whoever was guarding him had plenty of help all night every time he got it (or tried to get it) in the low post. He saw double and triple teams all night. He might as well get used to that because smart teams are going to do that every game. He had better learn to pass out of the double team or learn to score before the double gets there because he won't see much single coverage this year. Teams had to respect Dog's ability to score but until Jax or Glover proves that they can score 20 a night, Reef is going to catch [censored] every night.

[Playmaker0017]

Trace,

I don't know if you watched last year, but teams played him the exact same as NO played him last night.

There was no "respect" given to Big Dog. They sagged in on Reef and allowed Dog to take the deep 'J'. Dog is good when closer, which means they played off of him and sagged to Reef.

The new rules that allow for zone have basically removed Reef from a lot of plays. They double and triple him BEFORE he gets the ball.

It was no different last year.

Play.

[Weez]

I don't want to get into a discussion of last year...but playing off dogg also worked well because it dared him to dribble a step forward for a slightly closer shot...and we know how well he dribbles...

[Traceman]

was last year, I will be very surprised (and pleased). Sure he was doubled and tripled on occasion last year but he got a lot more one on one opportunities last year than he will this year (or than he did year before last). If he shoots a higher % this year and still gets his 20, it will be because he has learned to pass effectively out of the double team and that sounds GREAT to me. If he sets up his wide open teammates with passes out of the double team, he will likely get doubled less often.