Official Game Thread: Who-Dey-Hawks at Trivial-Blazers

[Peoriabird]

3 hours ago, Diesel said:

Here's the thing. I agree with you. 

Last night was an anomaly in my eyes... If we had Nate/Chris calling the shots... Maybe we win.. but I doubt it. 

What we need to plan for is that teams will focus on trying to get Trae Iso'd on defense.   Not that he's the worst defender, but offensively players mostly get an offensive advantage when they get Trae.  For instance, I can see the Lakers trying to get Lebron on Trae on a switch.  Whereas we will try to keep Trae on Monk

 

 

Those same isolation plays were tried in every playoff series last year and none of them worked

[Diesel]

2 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

Those same isolation were tried in every playoff series last year and none of them worked

Exactly.

We had a defensive game plan for that.  Guys knew where to go.  I believe it's the having to trust in new guys and 10 dayers that got us loopy now.   But we will get better... even with the same personnel (Core players).  I say don't fall for the KJ reaction because of these losses. 

[Atlantaholic]

7 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

Then why does he not do it consistently...Plus he actually said himself during the offseason that he needed to get in better condition to play on both sides of the ball.

Why does no one on the team do it consistently? At least Trae is giving us a historic offensive season what's the rest of the player's excuses. They have low usage rates so their defense should be better, right?

[Atlantaholic]

6 minutes ago, Diesel said:

In a time when 

Harden has won an MVP.

Westbrook has won an MVP.

Curry has won 2 MVPs.  One Unanimous.

Nash has won 2 MVPs over Shaq...

Barkley won an MVP...

Yall are trying to sell that you have to be a 2 way player to be great.   Or maybe the MVP is meaningless?

 

 

No one is saying you have to be two way to be great. We are saying you aren't going to be the greatest of all time conversation without playing defense. You keep strawmanning saying people are saying things they aren't saying and arguing a non existent point. lol. 

[Peoriabird]

6 minutes ago, Atlantaholic said:

Why does no one on the team do it consistently? At least Trae is giving us a historic offensive season what's the rest of the player's excuses. They have low usage rates so their defense should be better, right?

No excuse for Huerter and Bogdonovic! None!

[Spud2nique]

Just now, Peoriabird said:

Bogdonovic!

What do you have against him, and when is ur boy JC coming back?

[Peoriabird]

2 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

What do you have against him, and when is ur boy JC coming back?

Too expensive for a player with his limitations.

[Atlantaholic]

4 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

No excuse for Huerter and Bogdonovic! None!

Huerter, Bogi and Cam have all been bad. Like I said, Delon is the only one that has played well defensively in the perimeter. 

[Diesel]

5 minutes ago, Atlantaholic said:

No one is saying you have to be two way to be great. We are saying you aren't going to be the greatest of all time conversation without playing defense. You keep strawmanning saying people are saying things they aren't saying and arguing a non existent point. lol. 

This is what you said:

"Yup GOATS are two way guys, always. Lebron, MJ, Kareem, Magic, Larry Bird etc... At their best they were equally good defenders and offensive players. Trae can be the best offensive player of his generation though. "

You may have referenced Supes without having read what I said before.

I said that Trae has GOATish Qualities.   This was in response to Supes talking about how Lebron overcame his team's mediocre defense to sweep a Hawks team with better defense in the playoffs.  He then by inference was declaring Lebron a GOAT.  I just said that Trae has GOATish qualities.  Not that he was a GOAT but he checks off a lot of boxes.  I even placed him.. .I said he's either:

Nash, Westbrook, Harden or Kidd tier. 

Honestly, I think he's a better scorer than Nash, Westbrook, or Kidd was in their MVP season...  and He's a better distributor than Harden was in his MVP season... and he's a better leader than Harden or Westbrook. 

it may be by a pinky toe.. but I think in his young career that puts his pinky toe in the door of a GOAT conversation. 

Now... it may be that Steph Curry will be seen as THE GOAT.  When you look at what he has done, it's hard to keep him out of the conversation.   However, if Steph GOAT a whole Foot in the door, there's room for Trae. 

 

 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

3 hours ago, Peoriabird said:

You are a pretty wierd cat.  You always make every observation regarding the team and it's approach about Trae Young.  I was mocking the posters that think this team can win without playing defense and you are one of them.  You once said that the Hawks should play more like charolette and play to their strengths rather than focusing on defense which doesn't work.

There is not a single poster on here that thinks we can win without defense.  But when you can't play defense, you damn well can't have any offensive droughts.

We had one offensive drought and it cost us the game.

[Peoriabird]

Just now, TheNorthCydeRises said:

There is not a single poster on here that thinks we can win without defense.  But when you can't play defense, you damn well can't have any offensive droughts.

We had one offensive drought and it cost us the game.

Lol! Scoring 130 points means your offense is fine

[kg01]

3 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

Lol! Scoring 130 points means your offense is fine

No, it just means your opponent can't defend either.  The scoring drought cost us the game because it was a night we had to outscore them.  Nobody was defending.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

3 hours ago, Peoriabird said:

That must have been your brother Northyde.  Bottom line is this team cannot win with offense alone.  They are 2nd in the league in offensive efficiency and are below the Mason Dixon line.  Nate needs fine line ups that will work defensively and get the team to buy into playing defense instead of Gallo to the recuse when they get behind approach.

There you go P.  Start saying some names around here, so that no one misunderstands what you're saying and who you're talking about.   And use the @ symbol so that you can spell my name right.

As you start to type a name after the @ symbol, the names of the people beginning with those letters will pop up as you type.   So when you type @theno . . . my name will already pop up.  All you then have to do is click on it, and the correct name will appear.

 

 

But if you think that I believe that the team can win with offense alone, that's proof that you don't read any of my posts.

I actually AGREE with you that the Hawks should play bigger.  I've said that going on 2 years now.

But what I said about offense is this.  We are losing control of a lot of these games the minute Trae Young goes out, or Nate deploys the All-Bench All-Stars.  So if you can't stop anybody, you must keep scoring so that you're at least trading baskets and keep the game close.  Then if the other team blinks, you can pull out a win.   

Our coaching staff decided to give Trae a 5 minute rest instead of a 3 minute rest, and we got outscored 12 - 2 in the process.  In a tight game, you need to keep it close any way you can.  And if you know that the people you're putting in the lineup can't defend, you better be scoring the basketball.  That's exactly what Portland did to us last night.

[Peoriabird]

15 minutes ago, kg01 said:

No, it just means your opponent can't defend either.  The scoring drought cost us the game because it was a night we had to outscore them.  Nobody was defending.

Yep...the solution is always more offense

[Diesel]

26 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

Lol! Scoring 130 points means your offense is fine

In regulations... while shooting 54.5% from the field. 

(Added just for Effect). 

[ATLHawks3]

I'm really convinced that Delon Wright is miscast a backup point guard, and should instead be a wing. He has no natural point guard feel to his game at all. 

[kg01]

8 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

Yep...the solution is always more offense

You know that's not what I said, so I'll not respond further to this offense.

See what I did there? 

[Diesel]

23 minutes ago, kg01 said:

No, it just means your opponent can't defend either.  The scoring drought cost us the game because it was a night we had to outscore them.  Nobody was defending.

With 3 starters not playing... I think we did well offensively.. better than well.. damn good. 

Defense.  With 3 starters not playing and several guys out. ...the defense will struggle.   We're trying to make up for lack of personnel by putting bad lineups on the floor because they are regulars.

 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

2 hours ago, Diesel said:

I'm expecting Hunter back prolly in February.. right before the allstar break.  I think the league has screwed us by having us play so many game with 10 dayers.   I hope Trae is 100% after that hard fall. 

We will get it back and play better... I'm very excited about what we did on offense last night.   Even aside from Trae... our movement was good and our secondary guys did score (Hello Clint).   I look forward to us getting our better players back and being better. 

 

The 10 dayers get a A- grade from me, for the time they were here.  They played about as well as they could play. It's the main rotation players that are killing us. 

• Gallo going 3 - 14 as the main scoring option on the 2nd unit, cannot happen
• Trae, Cam, and Clint going 3 - 18 in the first half of a game, cannot happen. 
• Delon looking like a deer in headlight every time he needs to be decisive in his decision making, cannot happen.
• Our wings not being able to rebound or get any steals, cannot happen. 
• The wide open looks given up by some of our main players, cannot happen

And then the coaches have to prove that they can make the right decisions with the lineups, even if it means extending the minutes of players ( whether they be starters or bench guys ), who are making winning type plays.  The set rotations MUST STOP.   These guys need to coach by the feel of the game, and not by making sure a particular guy gets his minutes.

[macdaddy]

1 minute ago, Diesel said:

With 3 starters not playing... I think we did well offensively.. better than well.. damn good. 

Defense.  With 3 starters not playing and several guys out. ...the defense will struggle.   We're trying to make up for lack of personnel by putting bad lineups on the floor because they are regulars.

 

truth.

I'd make the case that JC and Bogi are our #2 and #3 best players.   Hell Cam might be #4.  Take those pieces off any team and see how they do.