Can we finaly shut up the Josh at the 3 nay sayers

[Peoriabird]

Road wins against the Grizzles and Thunder with this line up should be enough to convince posters that a Horford-Zaza-Smith front line is clearly our best front line. We win the rebounding battle with this line up getting the most minutes together and yes rebounds matter! You don't have to shoot that well if you play good defense in rebound the ball. Hopefully Drew understands this concept now. Zaza needs to pay at least 30 minute per game unless foul trouble limits his availability.

[MrMeltdown]

Josh did not even play against the Thunder but I agree that he needs to be the starting 3. Zaza is not good enough as a starter either, we need a better finisher and rim protector at the 5 if we are going to start Josh there full time.I am all for making a move for Gortat whose numbers are steady dropping and he is probably more available than ever right now.TeagueKorverSmithHorfordGortatI am with that starting lineup.

[Peoriabird]

Josh did not even play against the Thunder but I agree that he needs to be the starting 3.

Finally! Can I get some more posters on-board please to send that message to Drew of "No more Stevenson starting at the 3"! And certainly there should be no reason to play him 33 minutes in a game.

[hawkman]

Finally! Can I get some more posters on-board please to send that message to Drew of "No more Stevenson starting at the 3"! And certainly there should be no reason to play him 33 minutes in a game.

I liked Smoove at the SF tonite, but what's up with you and Stevenson dude? You really don't like that guy.

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

I just wanna be on record to saying that I was never a doubter of Smith at 3 and that was and still am a promoter of him at SF. Smith is going to play his game no matter the position and with smaller SF guarding him he is more effective on both ends. Not only does Smith at 3 work, but so does Horf at 4! Not saying I told ya'll so, but yeah... lolSent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jody23]

I liked Smoove at the SF tonite, but what's up with you and Stevenson dude? You really don't like that guy.

Not just tonight, but when Smoove has played the 3 this season he's been terrific on both ends of the floor and the Hawks are flat out a better rebounding team with him there. Defensively, with Josh at 3, the Hawks as a team have also been really impressive.

[DrReality]

Al has been playing great. Lot of confidence

[High5]

Josh made about 5 shots tonight that he could go a week or longer without making again, but I wouldn't mind trying out the big lineup for a while.

[BrazilianHawk]

Josh made about 5 shots tonight that he could go a week or longer without making again, but I wouldn't mind trying out the big lineup for a while.

This.

[Peoriabird]

but what's up with you and Stevenson dude? You really don't like that guy.

Don't like him starting or playing significant minutes at the 3 over Josh. And don't like the fact that he gets more playing time than Zaza. Stevenson at this stage in his career is a 12-14 minute per game player not a 25 minutes per game player.

[Peoriabird]

Josh made about 5 shots tonight that he could go a week or longer without making again, but I wouldn't mind trying out the big lineup for a while.

Its not just about Josh's offense at this position..It's about the team's ability to rebound and defend the interior. Any offense that you get from josh on the outside is a bonus. And as you saw last night, josh is a great perimeter defender also...just shut Rudy Gay down! Edited December 9, 2012 by Peoriabird

[IheartVolt]

Yea smoove manned up gay last night for sure.Dude could not get anything going and he waslooking flustered. Could josh put the same d on lbj is the question

[Jody23]

Yea smoove manned up gay last night for sure.Dude could not get anything going and he waslooking flustered. Could josh put the same d on lbj is the question

There is no one who can defend LBJ. With that said though, the Hawks are not going to find a SF who can surpass what Josh has done at that position on BOTH ends of the floor.

[High5]

Its not just about Josh's offense at this position..It's about the team's ability to rebound and defend the interior. Any offense that you get from josh on the outside is a bonus. And as you saw last night, josh is a great perimeter defender also...just shut Rudy Gay down!

I know it's not just about his offense, but it's not a "bonus" if he's missing 7 or 8 jumpers. We all know the shooter from last night is not the shooter we have most nights.

[Admin]

Finally! Can I get some more posters on-board please to send that message to Drew of "No more Stevenson starting at the 3"! And certainly there should be no reason to play him 33 minutes in a game.

You mean like the lineup where we outrebounded the better rebounding Nuggets with? Funny how you crawl out of the dark after the Hawks dominated the boards in the past 2 games against the best rebounding team and then a team who outrebounded us by 20 the previous match and we did it with the smaller lineup. Big or small it doesn't matter, it's ALL about effort from the Hawks bigs and the past 3 games they've given the effort.

[Admin]

Don't like him starting or playing significant minutes at the 3 over Josh. And don't like the fact that he gets more playing time than Zaza. Stevenson at this stage in his career is a 12-14 minute per game player not a 25 minutes per game player.

Yeah the guy playing great defense and shooting close to 45% from 3 should only get 12-14 minutes. :ahf:

[Jody23]

You mean like the lineup where we outrebounded the better rebounding Nuggets with? Funny how you crawl out of the dark after the Hawks dominated the boards in the past 2 games against the best rebounding team and then a team who outrebounded us by 20 the previous match and we did it with the smaller lineup. Big or small it doesn't matter, it's ALL about effort from the Hawks bigs and the past 3 games they've given the effort.

So you think the Hawks outrebound the Grizz going small?

[Admin]

So you think the Hawks outrebound the Grizz going small?

I don't know if we would have outrebounded them or not. What I do know is that the game didn't turn on the rebounds. It turned on Lou Williams catching absolutely on fire in that big 3rd quarter run. And it's not like Zaza had an amazing game. He had 1 point and 9 rebounds but 2-3 of those rebounds were offensive rebounds off of his own easy misses at the rim. We've also owned the Grizzlies over the past few years and haven't done that with a "big" lineup so yeah I'm quite sure we could have won the game had we gone with the same starting lineup that had outrebounded a better rebounding team in Denver 3 games ago.

[Jody23]

I don't know if we would have outrebounded them or not. What I do know is that the game didn't turn on the rebounds. It turned on Lou Williams catching absolutely on fire in that big 3rd quarter run. And it's not like Zaza had an amazing game. He had 1 point and 9 rebounds but 2-3 of those rebounds were offensive rebounds off of his own easy misses at the rim. We've also owned the Grizzlies over the past few years and haven't done that with a "big" lineup so yeah I'm quite sure we could have won the game had we gone with the same starting lineup that had outrebounded a better rebounding team in Denver 3 games ago.

I don't think the game totally turned on the boards either, but it was indeed very significant as Ric Fox and Dennis Scott pointed out after the game. Also, ZaZa may have only had one point, but his stellar defense on Zach Randolph was a huge part of winning the game. Deshawn couldn't have defended ZBo or Gay the way ZaZa and Josh did which was pivotal. I know you disagree and that's cool. The bottom line is, Hawks win.

[Guest]

Way to be selective about the games we win rebounding. Denver - small lineup, Memphis - big line up.

The reason we are out-rebounding teams has less to do with size than it is the effort of the players. Josh in particular has improved his rebounding: November 7.6 rpg, December 12 rpg, that is a huge 5 rebound difference. Al: November 9.3, December 13rpg.

Zaza has a 1 rebound difference. Our 2 stars are hitting the boards harder, plain and simple.

Josh's defense on Gay was amazing as was Zaza's on Zbo.

I don't like the constant line-up changes but I won't complain too much since we are winning. Some nights we need Stephenson more (wether it's his shooting or defense dependin on how many wing players team have) than we need Zaza. When Zaza tries to do too much on offense that's when he sits.