Moderators lethalweapon3 Posted May 3, 2015 Moderators Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 “Seriously, Paul? We just tipped off!”As Rakim once said, “It’s been a long time.” As Staind once crowed, “It’s been awhile.” As Sam Cooke crooned, “It’s been a long time coming.” Is a change gonna come? For the teams meeting in today’s second-round affair at the Highlight Factory, the Atlanta Hawks and the Washington Wizards (1:00 PM Eastern, ABC, 92.9 FM in ATL), a trip to the NBA’s version of the Final Four seems eons ago, from a time when people endeavored to be the answer on the Soul Train Scramble Board.The last time the Atlanta Hawks enjoyed a chance to play for a berth in the NBA Finals, they were in the Western Division, way back in 1970. As for Washington, the last time they reached an Eastern Conference final, they were the borderline-non-PC Bullets, defending their conference crown in 1979 before the demise of Elvin Hayes and Wes Unseld (and the rise of the Celtics) short-circuited any chance to develop a basketball dynasty.The preseason favorites to claim the Southeast Division following the departure of LeBron James from South Beach, Washington (46-36) acquired veteran thorn-in-the-side Paul Pierce, got a career-best season from their former #1 pick, point guard John Wall, and wound up with the most victories since that 1978-79 Bullets team won 54 games.And yet the Wizards still finished 14 games behind division champion Atlanta, who managed a franchise record for victories (60-22) and caught the league off-guard with four All-Star talents and a protégé extraordinaire as a coach. Both teams now have a chance to do away with spotty decades-long legacies and earn a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals. But to get there, one has to one-up the other. It’s the Hawks with homecourt and a leg-up going into this series, winners of three straight head-to-heads against the Wizards before resting starters in the April 12 matchup. We’ve put Brooklyn in the rear-view mirror, but here’s a tidbit just in case you’re still a bit mad about that lost chance at a 2015 lottery pick. Know that while Hawks fans were hoping to keep the Nets out of the playoffs on the final day of the regular season, a few days before, the Wizards waltzed into Barclays Center, elected to give Wall and injury-riddled forward Nene some rest, and lost 117-80 to a Brooklyn team that was thrashed in Washington 114-77 in February.Wizards coach Randy Wittman has enough to deal with from Atlanta’s distinctively skilled starters without the prospect of a top-ten draft pick thrown into the mix. So Wall-less Washington allowed the Nets to dish out a season-high 29 assists, put up a season-high 42 fourth-quarter points, and hold the Wizards to a season-low 14 first-quarter points. If the Wizards handled their business in Brooklyn, the Hawks would likely have that lotto pick in hand.Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer ain’t mad, tho. Coach Bud sat all his starters two days later in D.C., allowing John Jenkins, Dennis Schröder, and Mike Muscala to cut their teeth against the Wizards’ top line. Despite building up a 25-point lead on the Hawks’ reserves in the middle of the third quarter, Washington could not keep Jenkins, Schröder, and Mike Scott from whittling the lead down to nine in the fourth, forcing Wittman to keep starters Wall, Bradley Beal and Marcin Gortat in the game until the very end to avoid a Washington-monumental collapse.It’s taken five seasons for Wall (career-high 10.0 APG, 2nd in NBA) to fully stake his claim as the second-best passing guard in the NBA. But when it comes to accumulating turnovers, it’s hard to tell whether Wall has reached his ceiling. That’s particularly true against the Hawks, who repeatedly disrupt the speed demon despite otherwise impressive stat lines this season (21.0 PPG, 9.8 APG, 5.3 RPG, 49.2 FG%, season-high 7 3FGs vs. ATL). One can only hope to contain John Wall and, so far, Atlanta has done exactly that.Wall averaged a whopping 5.6 turnovers in his first three matchups against Jeff Teague (21.7 PPG, 54.5 2FG%, 7.0 APG, 2.0 TOs/game vs. WAS) and the Hawks, then put a rotten cherry on that with ten turnovers against the Hawks’ second-stringers in April. Wall knows precision is essential against a Hawks team (18.3 regular-season PPG off TOs, 4th in NBA) that thrives off of transition opportunities, particularly given his relatively lead-legged teammates don’t always do the best job of getting back on D.This series features the two leading teams in assist ratios in the East this season (Atlanta’s 19.7 per 100 possessions, Washington’s 18.3 per-100). Yet despite an impressive four-game sweep of the Toronto Raptors last week, only the Bulls have a higher turnover ratio in the postseason than the Wizards (14.8 TOs per 100 possessions). The Hawks will be eager to deflect and disrupt the Wizards’ passing game and to get out on the break.Key to the series will be the relative execution and defense of the 1-5 pick-and-rolls. Both the Hawks’ Al Horford and the Wizards’ Gortat lead the playoffs with 5.0 PPG as the roll man on P&R possessions, the Polish Hammer benefitting even more from Raptor fouls and And-1 calls during Washington’s first-round series. While Gortat and Nene bedeviled the hack-happy Jonas Valanciunas and Amir Johnson in the opening round, they’ll be dealing with a far more experienced and mature frontcourt in Atlanta.Schröder will try to bounce back after a disappointing effort versus Brooklyn by improving his execution of the pick-and-roll. 53.3 percent of his playoff possessions have involved being the ball handler off of screens (3rd most in NBA; Teague’s 52.4% ranked 6th), but nearly a quarter of those possessions (22.5%) resulted in turnovers. Schröder struggled with Jarrett Jack in the opening round, and will have to do a better job staying in front of Washington’s Ramon Sessions.Mike Scott also had an underwhelming series, and will need to keep the Wizards’ Drew Gooden off the three-point line and the offensive boards. Gooden was 0-for-11 on 3FGs coming into this postseason, but hit half of his 14 three-pointers against Toronto.Horford and Paul Millsap’s early shooting touch will be crucial in keeping the Wizards’ bigs from entrenching themselves around the rim. The Wizards allowed the fewest points during the regular season (39.5 per 100 possessions) from the painted area. Atlanta’s interior shot atempts may not come primarily from the initial penetration but from cuts that come after kicking the ball out. Horford’s 1.64 playoff points per possession off cuts to the hoop leads all remaining NBA players.DeMarre Carroll has been arguably the biggest X-Factor to this point in the playoffs, and he’ll continue to have his hands full with what is essentially the Flava Flav of the Wizards. Paul Pierce (14-for-24 3FGs vs. TOR) draws so much attention with eccentricities that the wily vet frees up his teammates all across the floor. Pierce will do what he can to get the Junk Yard Dog in the kennel with foul trouble.Getting Kyle Korver and Carroll to sit would make it hard for the Hawks’ perimeter game to get going, but it would also force matchup issues for Atlanta whenever Otto Porter comes off the bench. The second-year forward struggled to break the rotation in the past two seasons, but broke out in the first round with the third-most floor time of any Wizard (58.8 2FG%, 5-for-10 3FGs in 32 minutes/game).Despite just one day off after clinching their opening-round series, the Hawks will have plenty of time to rest after their two-game homestand with the Wizards, given three days off before the scene shifts to D.C. To make things easier on the back end of this series, it will be important for the Hawks to hold serve for the opening games at home.Let’s Go Hawks!~lw3View the full article 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benhillboy Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 (edited) Nice start, I recognize these boys from January. Clicking like Dorothy heels. Edited May 3, 2015 by benhillboy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dnice Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Get them boards pero please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dnice Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Scott phucs the wiz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jy23 Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 JYD is absolutely killing it in the playoffs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastFreddie Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Demarre Carroll 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNorthCydeRises Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Great 1st half, except one thing .... defensive rebounding. Despite the Hawks shooting over 50% FG and from 3, and holding the Wizards to 40% FG ... it's the 9 offensive rebounds the Hawks have given up, that is keeping this game from being a blowout. If we shore up the defensive boards, we'll slowly extend this lead to close to 20. If not, they'll be in the game come the 4th quarter, and we'll have to battle to win. Off topic: Sage Steele looks REALLY GOOD today. Better than she normally does. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNorthCydeRises Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Oh well ... so much for the blowout. Also, the Wiz are running Korver around like crazy, with Beal running him through multiple screens. Keep that in mind if Korver struggles shooting in the 4th. Honestly, Bud may want to go with Bazemore a little earlier than normal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNorthCydeRises Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Ha ... and they immediately go on a 7 - 0 run in about 90 seconds, to push the lead back up to 11. Keep it rolling guys. And keep them off the offensive boards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNorthCydeRises Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Game of runs ... Wiz cut it to 1. Hubie: They're out scrapping Atlanta in the last 6 minutes. I agree Hubie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNorthCydeRises Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 23 2nd chance points for Washington off 13 offensive rebounds. Make it 26 points ... and now they have the lead ... smh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNorthCydeRises Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Hawks literally shooting themselves into a decifit. Stop shooting 3s and get something easy!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gray Mule Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Hawks can't score - literally. Time to do something good. Can't win if you can't score. GO TEAM ATL !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNorthCydeRises Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Wiz up 7 ... this game may be over. Hawks can't buy a shot, and have stopped attacking the paint altogether. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNorthCydeRises Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Horford got a superstar call right there. Pierce definitely drew that charge. But with 5 fouls for Horford, the refs swallowed their whistle. Down 2 ... need stops the rest of the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruckus Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Wow. That was effing pathetic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATLHawks3 Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 The day I miss the game, we lose. Dang. Seems like everything was going well until that 4th quarter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin capstone21 Posted May 3, 2015 Admin Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Those f'ing refs! Screwed us so bad ... DMC Was blatenly fouled taking a three at half and Beal travelled so bad but then went and hit three and that was when their offense got rolling. I was screaming at the tv. Those were big ... A lot of other horrible calls too We stopped ball movement ....our bread and butter .... No idea why and offense came to a halt Too many offensive rebounds given up ... Gotta box out better Taking too many threes when they were not falling at beginning of half and forth 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
volman Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 Scored less than 40 points in the second half. We went cold, that is the bottom line. Wizards shot well all game, and we went cold. Hawks in 6. Forgot how terrible the referees were all day. That was not their best day. Hawks still should have won but goodness this is not the way to start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruckus Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 We have given up a double digit lead in every game this post season I think. The bench has been horrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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