Official Game Thread: Hawks at Wizards: GAME 1

[Guest]

Just now, JayBirdHawk said:

I missed the game so I won't comment but the general tone from reading is...play better.

My biggest question is....

How did Prince play as a starter  in his very 1st NBA playoff game?

First, I'm not sure what your punishment should be for your AWOL Sunday.  We'll just have to revisit.

Second, Printz actually played really well IMHO.  Looked comfortable out there which, again IMHO, is a tremendous compliment for a rookie in his first playoff game.

[Peoriabird]

6 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

I missed the game so I won't comment but the general tone from reading is...play better.

My biggest question is....

How did Prince play as a starter  in his very 1st NBA playoff game?

Why do you keep missing these very important game Jaybird???  You know the team needs you!  But yeah Prince played very well offensively and defensively.  He looked more like a vet than some of the real Vets who were throwing the ball around like a hot potato!

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

Why do you keep missing these very important game Jaybird???  You know the team needs you!  But yeah Prince played very well offensively and defensively.  He looked more like a vet than some of the real Vets who were throwing the ball around like a hot potato!

Could @JayBirdHawk be the Derrick Rose of Hawksquawk?  Ha!

On the other hand, I had to jump out of chat yesterday so I was there ... but kinda not.  Does that make me the Dwight Howard of HS?  Boom.

Seriously though, and along the lines of what you mentioned, I was disappointed to see Millsap's comments re. the Zards being more MMA than basketball and we'll have to match their toughness, blah, blah, blah.

Millsap supposedly epitomizes toughness so he should never have to raise his level to the likes of freaking Morris and whatever else is in their frontcourt.

And I disagree with your 'hot potato' observation.  It was more a , "Not in de face!" performance.

[DS5]

Well...at least the Celtics lost. 

Man...I really thought Dwight was going to have a monster game, that he'd just turned the switch to playoff mode. Still early, but he and Paul need to do a hell of a lot more if we want to move on. Bud should put either Prince or THJ on Wall. He's just too big for Dennis to guard. And Baze...for someone who made his reputation on good defense, dude couldn't stay in front of Wall if his life depended on it. Start Prince on him, and then bring Thabo off the bench (and leave Dunleavy on the bench...forever) to make Wall's life miserable. You take Wall out of their gameplan and they can't really do much else. Hopefully Bud can see that too.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, DS5 said:

Well...at least the Celtics lost. 

Man...I really thought Dwight was going to have a monster game, that he'd just turned the switch to playoff mode. Still early, but he and Paul need to do a hell of a lot more if we want to move on. Bud should put either Prince or THJ on Wall. He's just too big for Dennis to guard. And Baze...for someone who made his reputation on good defense, dude couldn't stay in front of Wall if his life depended on it. Start Prince on him, and then bring Thabo off the bench (and leave Dunleavy on the bench...forever) to make Wall's life miserable. You take Wall out of their gameplan and they can't really do much else. Hopefully Bud can see that too.

I have no earthly idea why people consider him a good defensive player.  Well, I do know why.  People see him jumping and flailing around and, if he gets a deflection, it appears to be good defense.  It ain't.  It's just a sudden confluence of a kid off his ritalin and happenstance.

I believe Dennis can guard Wall.  For some reason, he was totally disengaged all game long.  We always identify playoffs as the 'second season'.  Well, Dennis now has all of 1 game in the playoffs as a starter.  Should we have expected another ramping up period for him?

Perhaps we should put Printz on Wall to start?  He's a rookie, of course, but considering we have Thabo available to slide in that role, Printz getting in foul trouble shouldn't be a concern.  Rough Wall up with Printz to start.  Put Thabo on him late?

[macdaddy]

Hopefully the wiz are a little overconfident now.   As many have said, we played pretty bad and still had a chance.   

But the truth is there.   We don't have the offense to make it in the playoffs unless Tim and Paul step it up.   

My concern with Hardaway is next year and whether we're going to invest big money in another SG who is a real inconsistent scorer.

The wiz bench in terrible.  We need to take advantage of it. 

[kurupt]

All Guards except Dennis sucked. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

This team doesn't have enough fire power to afford THJr and Bazemore going 6/21.  Schröder and Millsap are pretty consistently giving them ~40 ppg, but the rest of the team is always a rollercoaster offensively.

btw: this game showed why you cannot run your offense through/for Howard. He can't finish against anyone anymore. He has a big body and rebounds well and that's about it. There were so many chances for him to score or at least draw a foul, but Gortat and Co. just needed to contest his shots to make him disappear offensively. Still, he did what he could.

[Bankingitbig]

56 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

I missed the game so I won't comment but the general tone from reading is...play better.

My biggest question is....

How did Prince play as a starter  in his very 1st NBA playoff game?

Prince was great. Had a buzzer beater drive in transition that was beautiful and a beautiful scoop in lay up. He also hit a pretty big three late in the game to try and keep us in it. I don't recall him having any poor defensive lapses and his shot selection was good for the most part. There was one shot where he ISO'd at the low block for a jumper when we had enough time on the shot clock to get a better shot.  I'm excited to see a full year's worth of him in the starting role.

[Peoriabird]

5 minutes ago, kurupt said:

All Guards except Dennis sucked. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

This team doesn't have enough fire power to afford THJr and Bazemore going 6/21.  Schröder and Millsap are pretty consistently giving them ~40 ppg, but the rest of the team is always a rollercoaster offensively.

btw: this game showed why you cannot run your offense through/for Howard. He can't finish against anyone anymore. He has a big body and rebounds well and that's about it. There were so many chances for him to score or at least draw a foul, but Gortat and Co. just needed to contest his shots to make him disappear offensively. Still, he did what he could.

1st of all Bazemore played well, Millsap was consistently getting destroyed on defense and consistently turning the ball over. And as far as Howard not being able to finish...He finished 4th in the league in field goal percentage...Must have done something right.  Look...I know that y'all have your favorites but lets get real...It was 1 game and Howard and Hardaway had off offensive night.  To predict that those players will continue to repeat their performances throughout the series isn't supported by the historical data.

[Guest]

OMFG, what toolbags these guys are ...

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/1990s-rap-label-helped-inspire-wizards-turnaround-005941028.html

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Peoriabird said:

Why do you keep missing these very important game Jaybird???  You know the team needs you!  But yeah Prince played very well offensively and defensively.  He looked more like a vet than some of the real Vets who were throwing the ball around like a hot potato!

I'm not telling . Glad Prince played well.

1 hour ago, kg01 said:

Could @JayBirdHawk be the Derrick Rose of Hawksquawk?  Ha!

On the other hand, I had to jump out of chat yesterday so I was there ... but kinda not.  Does that make me the Dwight Howard of HS?  Boom.

Seriously though, and along the lines of what you mentioned, I was disappointed to see Millsap's comments re. the Zards being more MMA than basketball and we'll have to match their toughness, blah, blah, blah.

Millsap supposedly epitomizes toughness so he should never have to raise his level to the likes of freaking Morris and whatever else is in their frontcourt.

And I disagree with your 'hot potato' observation.  It was more a , "Not in de face!" performance.

Bite your tongue, DR? Tsk tsk.

So the Hawks got taken to the wood shed and didn't man up? Shame, shame shame.

[Guest]

53 minutes ago, kg01 said:

I have no earthly idea why people consider him a good defensive player.  Well, I do know why.  People see him jumping and flailing around and, if he gets a deflection, it appears to be good defense.  It ain't.  It's just a sudden confluence of a kid off his ritalin and happenstance.

I believe Dennis can guard Wall.  For some reason, he was totally disengaged all game long.  We always identify playoffs as the 'second season'.  Well, Dennis now has all of 1 game in the playoffs as a starter.  Should we have expected another ramping up period for him?

Perhaps we should put Printz on Wall to start?  He's a rookie, of course, but considering we have Thabo available to slide in that role, Printz getting in foul trouble shouldn't be a concern.  Rough Wall up with Printz to start.  Put Thabo on him late?

Was defense or offense or main problem?

By the box score we score we scored 107 points which should be enough to win.

The problem is we have these horrendous scoring droughts and then compound the issue by not being able to make a stop, so we easily and quickly go from 3 points up to down 14 in a 3 minute stretch. Then have to fight tooth and nail to get back in.

If we put Prince on Wall, that leaves Dennis to guard Beal with THjr sliding over to guard Porter. 

If Bembry could shoot and was playing more during the season, I would like to see Bembry on Wall. Actually, I would give Bembry Baze's spot right now. He wouldn't have to shoot long distance but he's great at moving off the ball and athletic enough to get to the basket.

[macdaddy]

8 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

I'm not telling . Glad Prince played well.

Bite your tongue, DR? Tsk tsk.

So the Hawks got taken to the wood shed and didn't man up? Shame, shame shame.

Hmm.  there's usually one reason someone misses a big game.  

[macdaddy]

Just now, JayBirdHawk said:

Was defense or offense or main problem?

By the box score we score we scored 107 points which should be enough to win.

The problem is we have these horrendous scoring droughts and then compound the issue by not being able to make a stop, so we easily and quickly go from 3 points up to down 14 in a 3 minute stretch. Then have to fight tooth and nail to get back in.

If we put Prince on Wall, that leaves Dennis to guard Beal with THjr sliding over to guard Porter. 

If Bembry could shoot and was playing more during the season, I would like to see Bembry on Wall. Actually, I would give Bembry Baze's spot right now. He wouldn't have to shoot long distance but he's great at moving off the ball and athletic enough to get to the basket.

Same problem all season.   Bad offense leads to easy buckets for the other team.  

[Guest]

33 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

And as far as Howard not being able to finish...He finished 4th in the league in field goal percentage...Must have done something right.

He did but that percentage is mostly due to lobs, dunks, put back offensive dunks, which is all good. 

But if he is required to do too much with the ball, it's really bad - he just doesn't have the same foot speed, power and lift to get around and over guys.

[Guest]

47 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

1st of all Bazemore played well, Millsap was consistently getting destroyed on defense and consistently turning the ball over. 

Millsap got his arse handed to him on a platter, then came with the weak sauce comment - no goodie, especially if you looking for a BIG  pay day. If you lsy down and die the rest will follow.

[Peoriabird]

2 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

He did but that percentage is mostly due to lobs, dunks, put back offensive dunks, which is all good. 

But if he is required to do too much with the ball, it's really bad - he just doesn't have the same foot speed, power and lift to get around and over guys.

The question was whether he could finish or not...Not whether he has great offensive skill.  But to answer your earlier question,  the pick and roll defense by the Dennis and Howard combination was the problem.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Was defense or offense or main problem?

Yes?

Nah, as @macdaddy said.  Poor O led to easy O for them.  Wall took the ball, full steam, from paint to paint more times than I'm comfortable talking about.  Dennis has to step up on D but that means other guys have to step up on O.  Lookin at you Timmay, Dwight and Sap.  I'm not making eye contact with Baze.  I'm looking in his direction, and I see him looking at me, but I'm pretending not to notice.

Howard has to win his matchup vs Gortat.  Don't need to be eye-popping stat-wise.  Just win the matchup  Gortat is clearly still simmering from their ORL days and he's bringing it every time he plays vs Howard.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Millsap got his arse handed to him on a platter, then came with the weak sauce comment - no goodie, especially if you looking for a nig pay day. If you lsy down and die the rest will follow.

Nzinga!!!!

Seriously though, Shaq said Sap will be the next $200 million man in Atlanta.  The TNT set basically laughed.

[macdaddy]

Just now, kg01 said:

Yes?

Nah, as @macdaddy said.  Poor O led to easy O for them.  Wall took the ball, full steam, from paint to paint more times than I'm comfortable talking about.  Dennis has to step up on D but that means other guys have to step up on O.  Lookin at you Timmay, Dwight and Sap.  I'm not making eye contact with Baze.  I'm looking in his direction, and I see him looking at me, but I'm pretending not to notice.

Howard has to win his matchup vs Gortat.  Don't need to be eye-popping stat-wise.  Just win the matchup  Gortat is clearly still simmering from their ORL days and he's bringing it every time he plays vs Howard.

Honestly that's about the best game i've seen Gortat play.   I always hated him as a player because he didn't really utilize his size very well.  Looks like he's figure it out.