Official Game Thread: Magic at Hawks

[Spud2nique]

This is really pretty btw, as far as being balanced offensively. 

[Sothron]

1 hour ago, shakes said:

What’s the Chicago connection?    Why are we watching the same exact basketball games lol?     I’m a Chicagoan, was a Bulls fan, became a Hawks fan and this year the Bulls have piqued my interest again.      Was a diehards Blackhawks fan, but quit on them cold turkey when they traded Panarin.  

 

 

Mrs. Sothron is from a town outside Chicago and is a lifelong Chicago sports nut like the rest of her family. I root for Chicago teams unless they play Atlanta teams and vice versa for her. I have always loved the Blackhawks though going back to the 80's. They finally fired that bum coach and are 3-0 under the new coach so there's hope again.

[benhillboy]

4 hours ago, Spud2nique said:

This is really pretty btw, as far as being balanced offensively. 

Yeah I know it was the Magic but still.  When the Hawks win the three point percentage, FT attempt, rebounding, and turnover battle they can’t lose.  Happened so many times in the playoffs.

[Diesel]

It's good to see us defend the home court.   It's also good to see us beat the teams that we are supposed to beat.   Let's keep the streak going!!  Let's Go Hawks!!!!

[TheNorthCydeRises]

9 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Collins with 9 freethrow attempts, Trae with ZERO? No one can tell me this isn't intentional with Trae.

With the way the refs are calling these games, the bigs are getting more foul calls when they get bumped than the small guards are.

They did give Trae a few calls in the 4th but it probably killed them to do so.

[Gray Mule]

Unlike some, I love it when I get to tell everyone, "I told you so."  Therefore, "I told you so!"  The old man didn't suddenly forget how to shoot and how to score.  He was in a terrible, long time slump.  Well, Lou Williams is back!  Check out our recent home games.  

[Diesel]

15 minutes ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

With the way the refs are calling these games, the bigs are getting more foul calls when they get bumped than the small guards are.

They did give Trae a few calls in the 4th but it probably killed them to do so.

I see a pained look on the refs face everytime Trae is hit with an obvious foul and they have to call it. 

[kg01]

1 hour ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

With the way the refs are calling these games, the bigs are getting more foul calls when they get bumped than the small guards are.

They did give Trae a few calls in the 4th but it probably killed them to do so.

I don't know that this is the case.  I think the refs have targeted every 'primary' player on every team, big or small.  Some have adjusted, most have not.  Check out Randle's numbers in NYK, for example.  He's strugglin'.  May not be a fair example because I never thought he was as good as he showed last year anyway, but I digress.

All that said, there is another tier of player that is mega-targeted and I'm sure no one will disagree that Trae is in that room.  Harden and Lillard are in that room lookin' for the way out.

Trae seems to be on his way to figuring it out.  But, sadly and unprofessionally, the refs continue to be resistant.  I'm fine with calling the game loose.  I'm not ok with purposely ignoring actual fouls.  That's vindictive and I'll hear no arguments to the contrary.

But the real reason I'm posting is to let the world know the Hawks are undefeated during #SoloKGChatB*tches

[macdaddy]

Man no love Lou or Gallo here after 2 weeks of folks saying they are washed?   And Nate has made good adjustments having Lou in as a 2 guard a lot.  

Man that Mo Bamba bowl over of Trae in the backcourt was ridiculous.   It's so obvious what and who they were 'educated' on in the offseason by the league. 

[kg01]

9 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Man no love Lou or Gallo here after 2 weeks of folks saying they are washed?   And Nate has made good adjustments having Lou in as a 2 guard a lot.  

Man that Mo Bamba bowl over of Trae in the backcourt was ridiculous.   It's so obvious what and who they were 'educated' on in the offseason by the league. 

And in true anti-hero fashion, I expect Trae-mendous to rise to the occasion and crash whatever party the league is trying to have without him/us.

Trae gon' walk un in dat camp, crakin' a cold one like ..

Then the Baptist gon' fall in like ...

Adam Sliver's all ...

[AHF]

17 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Man no love Lou or Gallo here after 2 weeks of folks saying they are washed?   And Nate has made good adjustments having Lou in as a 2 guard a lot.  

Man that Mo Bamba bowl over of Trae in the backcourt was ridiculous.   It's so obvious what and who they were 'educated' on in the offseason by the league. 

We need both to keep moving towards their career norms for sure.  Makes a big difference when they are productive in their minutes because both are pure scorers and if they don't give you that it gets very ugly, very quickly.  Lou is closer to what we can expect from him (some good games, some bad games) but Gallo still has a way to go (which isn't a bad thing as it means he can do more).  Gallo's 10 points each of the last two games are still materially below his 13.3 ppg last season and he is currently on pace for career lows in (per minute) assists, steals and blocks so there is definitely upside if he regresses to the mean.

[Sothron]

12 hours ago, Sothron said:

LJ jersey so far: 

All Braves postseason wins, perfect record.

5-0 in Hawks games.

2-0 in Bulls Games.

I tried to sneak it off just now but Mrs. Sothron reminded me the Bulls and Lakers starts in 30 minutes, why bother to take it off just to put it back on...

LJ jersey now 3-0 in Bulls games. 

 

[AHF]

4 minutes ago, Sothron said:

LJ jersey now 3-0 in Bulls games. 

 

I'll fully admit that I did not expect Caruso and Ball to so significantly improve that team's defense.  They are turning out to be much better than I expected even though I still remain a bit skeptical of their upside and the potential that they are a bit over their heads early in the year.

[JayBirdHawk]

31 minutes ago, Sothron said:

LJ jersey now 3-0 in Bulls games. 

 

So when the Hawks and Bulls are in the ECF - how exactly does this work  

[Spud2nique]

5 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

So when the Hawks and Bulls are in the ECF - how exactly does this work  

’s collide

[Sothron]

10 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

So when the Hawks and Bulls are in the ECF - how exactly does this work  

It is like when they play in the regular season. We sit on opposite sides of the couch if not the room and try not to bitch about the refs or cuss out the other team. Classy.

[marco102]

41 minutes ago, AHF said:

I'll fully admit that I did not expect Caruso and Ball to so significantly improve that team's defense.  They are turning out to be much better than I expected even though I still remain a bit skeptical of their upside and the potential that they are a bit over their heads early in the year.

I believe the Bulls were the 11th ranked defense last year.  It's not really surprising.  It's just no one noticed they were good last year. 

[AHF]

39 minutes ago, marco102 said:

I believe the Bulls were the 11th ranked defense last year.  It's not really surprising.  It's just no one noticed they were good last year. 

They added one of the league's worst defenders in Derozan at wing to a lineup with an already weak perimeter defender in Lavine.  Add Vucevic's lack of rim of protection and I expected they would be worse on that end but they have been significantly better (6th best DRtg and 4th best points allowed per game).  

Demarr Derozan in particular has just been bonkers this year.  His WS/48 is double his career average (and a career high duh).  His PER is a career high and more than 35% higher than his career average.  Career best or near best BPM, ORtg and DRtg. His TS% is a career high.  His 3pt% is a career high and he is shooting 3's more than 3x more frequently than the last 3 seasons when he shot 15%, 25%, and 25% before making the leap to 37% this year.  I think it is safe to say that when the 82games numbers are dropped for this season, this will be the first year in about 6 years that his team will be better with him on the floor than with him on the bench and that it will be a significant advantage.  

Can he sustain it?  I am not betting on it but he doesn't need to keep up this blistering pace to have this end up being the best season of his entire career.  Tip of the cap to you, Mr. Derozan.

[shakes]

1 hour ago, JayBirdHawk said:

So when the Hawks and Bulls are in the ECF - how exactly does this work  

 

This discussion has been had a lot recently.

It's not an issue for me, I am fully committed to my Hawks fandom.  It was easier for me since I already disavowed the Bulls during the Derek Rose injury fiasco and the terrible reign of Pax and Gar Forman.    When I became a Hawks fan I was already without a team for a number of years.

 

Now that the Bulls are good I'm slowly embracing them again.  helps that they have my favorite player in the league not named Trae Young in Lonzo.   Lonzo is actually the reason I started following the NBA again after basically taking the previous 15 years off (aside from a couple early Derek Rose years in Chicago).

 

So if Hawks and Bulls meet I will definitely  be rooting for the Hawks.  Besides I am 52 years old, I already lived through 6 Bulls titles during my sports fan prime.  Time for ATL to feel that love.

[warcore]

1 hour ago, Sothron said:

LJ jersey now 3-0 in Bulls games. 

 

So you're sayin' I need to bust out my Grandmama jersey for Hawks games going forward?