Atl/Orl Game RECAP

[Employee8]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2004101301

Hawks 96, Magic 88

October 13, 2004

MACON, Ga. (AP) -- Al Harrington had 23 points and eight rebounds, and Antoine Walker scored 14 points to lead the Atlanta Hawks to a 96-88 preseason victory Wednesday night over the Orlando Magic.

The Magic (0-2) featured marquee rookies Dwight Howard, the first overall selection in the NBA draft, and Jameer Nelson, the 2003-04 national college player of the year.

Howard fouled out after committing six turnovers while scoring 8 points in 25 minutes. Nelson scored 2 points while committing five fouls in 25 minutes.

Steve Francis scored 18 points -- making 10 of 15 free throws -- and Stacey Augmon added 12 points for the Magic, who went more than seven minutes without a basket near the end of the game.

Mike Woodson made his debut as Hawks coach, bringing with him the defensive schemes that gave last season's NBA championship to the Detroit Pistons. He was an assistant to Larry Brown in Detroit.

The Magic, who had the worst record in the league last season at 21-61, made six of their first seven shots, but went 9-for-30 to finish the first half. The Hawks (1-0) missed seven of their first 10 shots, then went 18-of-33 to lead 51-49 at halftime.

Orlando, playing for the second consecutive night, did not use Grant Hill, who played 16 minutes against Memphis on Tuesday. He did participate in a morning practice, but Magic coach Johnny Davis is taking a cautious approach, given Hill's recurring ankle injury.

But what about THE REST OF THE TEAM???? AAAAAAAAARRRRGGGHHH!!! GET ME SOME DAMN STATS ABOUT OUR OTHER PLAYERS!!!! And Walker scored 14 points but on WHAT SHOOTING? 4-10?? C'mon!

[ersimo2889]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/boxscore?gid=2004101301

Here we go, here's the boxscore. 'Toine had 14 points on 6-10 shooting, which is not bad at all. Josh Childress had 3 points and 5 fouls.. ouch. Jon Barry also had six assists.

Anyone know why Josh Smith didn't play? He was the main guy I wanted to see.

[Employee8]

Hmmm...Walker had 3 steals and 5 personals against him which shows that he was very active on the defensive side of the ball....

Of course I hope that he takes only 3-4 3's a game 'cause I like this BALANCED Scoring(in our case anyway...lol).

FT shooting is going to be a problem however....It was a problem last year for Toine and it seems like it will continue to be so this season... Of course, he was never a good FT shooter to begin with, anyway....

[Plainview1981]

I'm really worried about Childress....Seems as if he

hasn't been productive in anything yet. Nice game for

Harrington and it looks like Crawfish and Baxter had

nice efforts. I'd like to keep Baxter on IR if possible.

[f_town]

[keith]

I was at the game and Josh Smith was put in the game late in the fourth quarter.He scored 2 points off of an alley-up dunk from a great pass from Barry.Al Harington looked very impressive and Walker played nice also,he didn't force many bad shots and he took advantage of Howard with some veteran tricks.Kenny Anderson and Barry make up a solid backcourt. Crawford and Baxster played well,but Collier and Diaw played poorly.Kevin Willis got some good minutes and held his own.Childress started the game at shooting guard,but looked like the rookie that he is.Even though it was a preseason game it looks like the Hawks match up well against the magic.Orlando doesn't have anyone who can match up with Harrington.They started Stacy Augmon on him,then they tried Turkulou and Boggins,nobody could really slow Harrington down.The Magic look like the Rockets of last year minus Ming.They will not be a high scoring team.The Hawks should finish second in their division behind the Heat and ahead of the Magic and the Bobcats.When Howard matures as a player in three years the Magic could become a threat.I don't know what Type of coach that Woodson is,but I hope that he doesn't try to make the Hawks into a defensive minded slow tempo Pistons grinded out type of team.

[Weez]

listening to the game on the radio, a few thigns were apparent.

- we played Diaw a lot at pg, where he did well for the most part. The game was 'called close' in that Diaw got several (at least 3 i think) offensive fouls, generally with the ball in his hand. He easily shot over NElson often, though the rookie played hard, fought through screens incredibly well etc...the height advangtage gave him fits.

- Barry fit well with the team.

- it sounded like Willis was REALLY active out there, productive in his minutes.

- Orlando has new things in mind with Stevie seemingly asking for more time at the offguard...thus they played Nelson and Franchise together quite often. interesting.

[Plainview1981]

Quote:

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ut I hope that he doesn't try to make the Hawks into a defensive minded slow tempo Pistons grinded out type of team.

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You are going to be uphappy to know that is what he plans

to do. I think he might try and run abit more... But it will

be a defense first team to be sure.

[Plainview1981]

I heard they might start Nelson...

Nelson/Francis/Mobley/Hedo/Cato

[JTFan31]

I think Al will be my new favorite player. I like his high socks, bring some memories guys? You know me, a big JT fan and now I can remember him a bit with Al's socks.

[Packfill]

Quote:

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I heard they might start Nelson...

Nelson/Francis/Mobley/Hedo/Cato

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That would be a really small line-up. As partially evidenced last night, the Hawks forwards would use and abuse that Orlando line-up.

[arenas809]

Quote:

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I heard they might start Nelson...

Nelson/Francis/Mobley/Hedo/Cato

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Ya, Hedo at PF?

No.

[arenas809]

Quote:

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I'm really worried about Childress....Seems as if he

hasn't been productive in anything yet. Nice game for

Harrington and it looks like Crawfish and Baxter had

nice efforts. I'd like to keep Baxter on IR if possible.

---

I'd trade Childress for Skita...

[Nicholasp27]

chill is a rookie

many good players looked poor in summer league and preseason

and he looked pretty good on Sunday...he just has to get more comfortable in games, which will come...

btw, delk has an injured knee, which is why he didn't play Sunday or yesterday

[MoonKnight]

I hope he was b/c I think this season is a test to see if he can be "Tha Man" and emerge as this team's #1 threat. I realize that most of the O sets have not even been implemented at this point but I hope AH was the focal point of the O. I prefer AH being the #1 O threat instead of AW.

[Wretch]

Dumping a rookie without giving him time to show his potential/lack of is the quickest way to screw up a rebuilding project. We could be dealing away a bomb, could be dealing away THE bomb.

Who knows. Until we see A LOT more of him, I have nothing to say about trading him.

[Employee8]

Quote:

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I hope he was b/c I think this season is a test to see if he can be "Tha Man" and emerge as this team's #1 threat. I realize that most of the O sets have not even been implemented at this point but I hope AH was the focal point of the O. I prefer AH being the #1 O threat instead of AW.

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It all depends on matchups. Since NO ONE could guard AL on the Orlando team, then He would be the focal point of the Hawks offense. Same thing if there's a matchup that favors Toine.

I think they are going to be Co-#1 O Threats(like 1a and 1b)....

[keith]

I know that defense wins game in the NBA,but I don't like the style of play of the NBA these days.Scoring has been down since the Bulls glory years.Coaches over coach,too many young players with no offensive skills and the refs letting too much physical play to go on.even though I hated the Bad boy Pistons of the early 90's they averaged 106 points a game and still were known as a great defensive team.I remember in the 87-88 season The Hawks averaged 108 points a game an allowed 99 points a game,they were considered a great defensive team back then also.I just started back to support the Hawks.I was devastated when the Hawks traded Dominique Wilkins in 94 and I didn't like Babcock and Lenny Wilkens either.I respected some of the Hawks players over the years since the trade like Steve Smith,Mutombo,Shareef,and Jason Terry,but never really pulled for them to win until Babcock was fired and the new owners gave Dominique a real role in managment.It looks like the Hawks have a decent team this year,but they will have to play todays defensive style to win games.a 85 to 79 win is probally as good as a 104 to 98 win.

[Weez]

part of the problem is the need to win now by coaches, gm's, and players. you don't see a team 'struggle' through very long with a player/coach tandem...and instead have a high rate of coach turnover, leading to a decrease in stability throughout.

add to that the NBA limit of 3hrs of practice per day (supervised, much like the NCAA I believe) and you get a decline in the product.