Official Game Thread: Hawks at Kings

[Buzzard]

1 minute ago, Marvin24Williams said:

Schlenk in shambles, hes about to trade Huerter out of fear

Rondo sitting has me thinking something minor could be up.

[Threezus]

7 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

Trae had a clear path to the rim, but he hesitated and let Fox strip him.

No, you're right. I'm not sure why he did that.

That was possibly the softest thing i've ever seen him do and im not sure why he did it at all.  Did fox get in his head that much this game that he had him 2nd guessing himself in clutch time?

[bleachkit]

JC underutilized in this game.

[Threezus]

7 minutes ago, Marvin24Williams said:

Schlenk in shambles, hes about to trade Huerter out of fear

Hell im more in fear that he keeps him i've been wanting Huerter, Rondo, and Hill gone for a good minute now.

[bleachkit]

1 minute ago, Threezus said:

That was possibly the softest thing i've ever seen him do and im not sure why he did it at all.  Did fox get in his head that much this game that he had him 2nd guessing himself in clutch time?

Sometimes small guards will hesitate in the lane to throw off the timing of a shot blocker, but he didnt need to right there, basket was wide open. Weird.

[terrell]

6 minutes ago, Threezus said:

That was possibly the softest thing i've ever seen him do and im not sure why he did it at all.  Did fox get in his head that much this game that he had him 2nd guessing himself in clutch time?

Not just that..Trae is at a point, where anyone can get whatever they want off of him.....

Even the Heild miss(Trae guarding him) was a wide open shot..

Edited March 25, 2021 by terrell

[bleachkit]

9 minutes ago, Buzzard said:

Rondo sitting has me thinking something minor could be up.

Nah, I doubt it. 

[bleachkit]

Is everyone asleep? Nobody stayed up to watch the end of the game?

[Threezus]

1 minute ago, terrell said:

Not just that..Trae is at a point, where anyone can get whatever they want off of him, and its concerning.

Even the Heild miss(Trae guarding him) was a wide open shot..

Yeah i agree which saddens me because at the beginning of the season he was putting in alot of effort on defense.  I thought he was putting in a bit of effort right after nate took over as well for a few games.  But it seems he reverts back to getting lazy on D after he gets settled in and things start to go status quo.   He doesn't have to be above avg on d as long as he is putting in the serious effort there thats enough as long as you are being somewhat of a nuisance and annoying.  But not even trying at times is not gonna cut it on that end.

[terrell]

Just finish the road trip at 3-5 at least and Im happy..I knew it was gonna be tough after that Clippers loss....Get me 2 more wins Hawks..lol

[terrell]

4 minutes ago, Threezus said:

Yeah i agree which saddens me because at the beginning of the season he was putting in alot of effort on defense.  I thought he was putting in a bit of effort right after nate took over as well for a few games.  But it seems he reverts back to getting lazy on D after he gets settled in and things start to go status quo.   He doesn't have to be above avg on d as long as he is putting in the serious effort there thats enough as long as you are being somewhat of a nuisance and annoying.  But not even trying at times is not gonna cut it on that end.

Unless he’s nuclear on offense, I just don’t see how Hawks proceed in the post season with him being THE GUY.
God I hope Hunter keeps on his trajectory..........

[bleachkit]

6 minutes ago, terrell said:

Unless he’s nuclear on offense, I just don’t see how Hawks proceed in the post season with him being THE GUY.
God I hope Hunter keeps on his trajectory..........

Hunter only had 2 points. Hopefully he can get going soon. He's moving good on the court.

[Spud2nique]

Tough one tonight. Our bigs play really well that throw down by Collins had me out of my seat as I knew it was coming and Capela dunked the hell out of it a ton. Having said that, we couldn’t get stops and Fox was going to town on us, haven’t seen him play this well in a while or ever.

I like Holmes toughness but that push shot is annoying as hell and that shot putt looking 3 he put up was just the ugliest thing ever. He boards really well though. The Kings played well tonight and Haliburton showed up for @Gray Mule . 
 

Trae’s shot with 55 left had me like NOOOOOOOOOOO YESSSSSSSSSS!!! Bogi made a few tough shots and is getting into the flow. Hunter swatted the hell out of a drive by the Kings that had me geeked.

Our offense seems to be flowing well but we need to get back to it defensively and play 48 minutes not try to turn it on in the 4th quarters.

That’s 2 straight losses after 8 straight wins. Let’s get back at Golden State on Friday. I’ve circled ️ this game on my calendar ever year and it’s a BSPN game, I want it badly. They aren’t a very good team but we can’t play down we gotta beat them and beat them good.

Go Hawks!

[TheNorthCydeRises]

3 hours ago, terrell said:

Unless he’s nuclear on offense, I just don’t see how Hawks proceed in the post season with him being THE GUY.
God I hope Hunter keeps on his trajectory..........

 

For Trae to be nuclear, he must shoot the ball.   If you want him to be the ultimate facilitating PG, he must pass the ball way more than he shoots.  If you're waiting for Hunter to be "the guy", he must improve pretty drastically with his isolation offense and his ability to make tough 3 pointers. 

Players who are "the guy", don't necessarily need other people setting him up.  ( That's the main point argument against paying John Collins the max, by the way ).   Not even judging Hunter right now, seeing that he's been out for so long. He's going to be rusty.  But until he or others become that "other guy" who can take over the game, Trae is that guy . . . period. 

 

It looks like Trae was 6 - 17 FG going into the 4th quarter, while not making a 3.  Just reading the comments, I see that drove you and Peoria crazy, and possibly had you doubting him.  In the 4th, he was 5 - 7 FG for 13 points with one BOMB of a 3 that tied the game late. 

That's the ultimate hero ball shot.  A shot that only the most confident scorers take ( Trae, Lilliard, Curry, Luka, Harden, Irving, Durant ).  To take a shot like that, you have to literally have no conscious about how many you missed previously.

I think some of you want to take that characteristic away from Trae.  I say that we NEED for him to have that characteristic.  Those are the types of shots that actually win you playoff games, not prevent you from winning it.

As a fan base, we're not used to seeing ultra aggressive offensive players.  We've been taught that guys must work the ball around and get the best, wide open shot possible. But if you don't have a guy who isn't wiling to take a shot like that, you're not winning in the playoffs.

 

 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

5 hours ago, Buzzard said:

That was a great game and solid 4th. We needed more of that scoring from Trae all game. I think he is gun shy due to the early season berating. Plus he wants to get his teammates involved early. He is still young as hell and he will figure it out.

 

 

He took 24 shots, so he definitely isn't gun shy.  But you're right.  He's being coached to get his teammates involved early.  What should be happening is that we should see if HE can get going early, which will open up everything for everyone else.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

It is troubling to see Collins only get one shot attempt in the 2nd half.  Nate must do a better job of freeing him up for open shots, specifically midrange jumpers.   Also in the offseason, I really want to see Collins work on his isolation offense off the dribble.  That's the next level to his offensive growth. 

When he becomes able to get the ball from 20 feet from the basket, and basically do anything he wants ( shoot a jumper . . drive to the basket . . back someone down, then facilitate for others ), he'll become a very potent offensive weapon that isn't solely reliant on a PG setting him up.

I think that's what some want to see from him, before being comfortable with paying him MAX money.

 

[Peoriabird]

It's funny to me how different Hawk fans see Trae especially during tonight game.  Some thought he had a great game...Some thought he should have shot more while other thought his shot selection was very poor which led to poor offensive possessions. I'm a firm believer in getting ball to the guy who has it going which was Bogi but Trae doesn't do a good enough job of finding those players game after game.

[BrazilianHawk]

Trae was GREAT in the 4th, until he wasn't. Those last two possessions did the Hawks in and I still can't understand what he tried to do in the last one. Was he trying to get fouled just below the rim? Why would be stop the play like that? It was an obvious layup but he just decided to stop. Talk about a brain fart. And no, I don't think Trae should shoot a lot more in the beginning of games. He was awful to start the game, so the right think to do was getting his team mates involved. If this is by Nate's design, I don't know, but i certainly hope so. I don't mind him having a lot of shots in the 4th as long as he makes some of them, but he just showed us he's capable of killing the entire Hawks offense by making boneheaded plays like those last ones.

Clint must feel bad right now. The guys spoiled one of the biggest of his games in a Hawks uni.

JC was 5 for 11 in the game, and only took one shot in the entire second half. Was that Nate? This is a head scratcher for me.

Huerter is DEFINITELY not a PG. The end of the 3rd shall remain in Nate's memory for a long time. Even Goodwin would do better than that. Huerter played too much last night, but because he was hitting some shots, Nate decided to keep him on the floor. I don't really have a problem with that, but maybe Snell would have done a better job in the 4th. 

I wish Hunter would hit some shots but being his second game back it's ok to miss some. I might have gotten spoiled by the way he was playing prior to his injury . That was a really poor showing but the D on Fox helped some. We need more, though, and I'm certain it will come in the right time.

Snell should have had a lot more shots. I don't understand why he was kept in the bench for so long in the 4th. Was is that because Bogi was playing really well? I think Snell at the 3 would do just fine alongside Bogi. Gallo was meh but at this point we all know he's gonna have games like that. No biggie.

Solo played as many minutes as he should. Good job on that, Nate. 

And Dunn... yeah. Thanks, Schlenk. 

All in all it wasn't the worst of the losses, but after seeing Trae hit all of those floaters in the fourth, I can't help thinking those botched plays on the last possessions were the reason the Hawks lost.

 

We could have won, but some guys (and I'm not talking about Fox) just didn't have it tonight. On to the next one, GO HAWKS!

 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

3 minutes ago, BrazilianHawk said:

Trae was GREAT in the 4th, until he wasn't. Those last two possessions did the Hawks in and I still can't understand what he tried to do in the last one. Was he trying to get fouled just below the rim? Why would be stop the play like that? It was an obvious layup but he just decided to stop. Talk about a brain fart. And no, I don't think Trae should shoot a lot more in the beginning of games. He was awful to start the game, so the right think to do was getting his team mates involved. If this is by Nate's design, I don't know, but i certainly hope so. I don't mind him having a lot of shots in the 4th as long as he makes some of them, but he just showed us he's capable of killing the entire Hawks offense by making boneheaded plays like those last ones.

 

 

I fell asleep during the 3rd, so I can't comment on exactly what happened at the end of the game.  I can only see one of the last 2 shots that Trae took.  The most controversial one I can't see, but I'll speak on the shot he took around 40 seconds left.

On that play, he wasn't fully past Fox, but he gotten at least parallel to him.  Holmes is under the rim in front of Collins, but he has his eyes completely locked on Trae.   Trae makes the decision to take about a 12 foot floater ( a little beyond where he normally takes it ), and it hits front rim.

The shot wasn't contested by Fox, and he was still far away from Holmes, so he was open when he shot it.  He just didn't put enough power behind it.  And seeing that he was going 2 for 1, I personally don't have a problem with that particular shot.  I'll even make the case that if he drives any further, he runs more of a risk of turning the ball over in that situation.

Now that other shot that everyone says that he stopped on, I haven't seen that, so I can't comment.

[BrazilianHawk]

54 minutes ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

I fell asleep during the 3rd, so I can't comment on exactly what happened at the end of the game.  I can only see one of the last 2 shots that Trae took.  The most controversial one I can't see, but I'll speak on the shot he took around 40 seconds left.

On that play, he wasn't fully past Fox, but he gotten at least parallel to him.  Holmes is under the rim in front of Collins, but he has his eyes completely locked on Trae.   Trae makes the decision to take about a 12 foot floater ( a little beyond where he normally takes it ), and it hits front rim.

The shot wasn't contested by Fox, and he was still far away from Holmes, so he was open when he shot it.  He just didn't put enough power behind it.  And seeing that he was going 2 for 1, I personally don't have a problem with that particular shot.  I'll even make the case that if he drives any further, he runs more of a risk of turning the ball over in that situation.

Now that other shot that everyone says that he stopped on, I haven't seen that, so I can't comment.

Yeah, the short floater doesn't bug me too much, and as we had a 2 for 1 is was definitely an option, as he was hitting all of those. It was short, bummer, but not the end of the world.

I just re-watched the last possession, and the play was bad from the start. Bogi had to throw the ball to Trae beyond the middle line (kudos to the Kings). JC set a screen and Trae managed to get past Fox. Trae had an open layup, but as he was going for the shot Fox was able to tip the ball away from him. I thought Trae had one dribble too much and lost a little bit of time, just enough for Fox to tip it. 

 

It's not like it's all Trae's fault, but he had it and couldn't shoot it because the ball was too low when he tried to take it for the layup. 

 

There is plenty of other reasons we didn't win this one, but because this was one of the last plays this is what we think was the worst play. But we didn't lose it just because of Trae trying to take one more dribble at the last second, that's for sure.