Archive for March, 2011

Barring an incredible 8 game collapse on the part of Atlanta, coupled with an incredible 8 game performance by Philadelphia, it seems that the Hawks are fated to meet the Magic in round one of the NBA Playoffs. However, as the saying goes, “never say never.” Or maybe a more applicable one is “be careful what you wish for.”

The Last 8

The Philadelphia 76ers are currently four games behind the Hawks and have a semi-favorable schedule that does include 4 games against opponents with winning records. The Hawks have it worse, facing four top 4 seeds in their last 8 games. Maybe it’s a moot point right now. After all, Orlando is about as far behind Miami as Philly is behind Atlanta. So, the matchup most likely stands. However, the difference may indeed be how the Hawks and Magic play over their final 8 games.

In the case of the Magic, they already know their bread is buttered with Dwight Howard. If he’s happy and the perimeter jumpers fall, Orlando will go into the playoffs with a …

Continue reading Hawks vs. Magic – Playoff Preview, part I »

With ten games left in the season, the Atlanta Hawks certainly will not be able to match last year’s regular season record. Unless they play very well (and their opponents play very badly), they won’t match the record of the season before that, either. So with that in mind, what do we as fans want to see from our team? Now let’s be realistic – we all want to see different things. But in the interest of waiting for what many of us feel is inevitable, let’s explore some ideas.

One Final Push

It’s not easy for a team to maintain a steady pace towards the end of the NBA season, let alone make a strong final push. Right now, the teams in the East that seem to be doing this are Chicago, Miami, and Orlando, having gone a combined 23-7 in their last 10 games played apiece. Could Atlanta make a strong push to end the season? Would it matter? After all, the Hawks are 6.5 games behind Orlando, and the simple fact is this – even if they were to snatch the 4th seed away from the Magic, …

Continue reading Hawks fans: What’s your ten game wish list? »

There’s a place you can go, where the ride is bumpy, the hills are steep, the valleys are deep, and the track is unpredictable. It’s not a safari. It’s not a theme park. It’s the Atlanta Hawks NBA schedule. Why bother going to a theme park when you can just watch these guys play?

As much as we love our Hawks, they just can’t be tracked. Atlanta has had trouble reeling off more than two wins in a row, having done so less than five times this season, with decent sized game spans in between. We knew this second half schedule would be tough, but what’s with the whole “win big tonight, lose big tomorrow night?” It seems that not much has changed. The Hawks have enough talent and cohesion to easily top a lesser team one night, then don’t have enough of anything to even make it close against a team of fairly equal standing the next night.

Home is Where the Heart is?

In all likelihood, the Hawks just don’t know where their heart is. What made them explode against Milwaukee wasn’t …

Continue reading Hawks continue their roller coaster ways »

It’s happening again. The Atlanta Hawks are slipping, and they’re gaining speed as they go down the slope of losing. Sure, teams struggle and that is the nature of the game. Struggling like this is a different story, though.

Writing On the Wall

Rick Sund said the Hawks were essentially playing to stay within the 3rd to 5th seed range of the playoffs. Perhaps we can guess that this means retaining as much as the 5th seed in a conference that has experienced some major moves that have increased the talent level, is acceptable. Maybe this is a reasonable thought, considering that the Hawks would have been hard-pressed to make any moves that could match the splashy significant of the triumvirate in Miami, the acquisition of Carmelo Anthony in New York, or the move that brought Deron Williams to New Jersey. In fact, the only move the Hawks did make seemed rather vanilla to most folks. Sure, it was a good move, but it was never going to be enough. Sund indicated that what the Hawks …

Continue reading Atlanta Hawks – Slippery slope part II »

A tale of three team captains 

When the Hawks lose, you can ask Joe Johnson what happened. He is likely to tell you he doesn’t know. You can ask Al Horford. He’ll likely tell you what the problem was, and all but name who was responsible for it. You can also ask Josh Smith. He’ll tell you that the team will get their heads together, they are a tight knit group, and everything will be okay. Is any of this confidence inspiring? Why are they all saying different things?

Let us get one thing out on the table, and it is something that some of you/us have already been saying since the beginning of the season. It was a mistake for Larry Drew to name three team captains. Or do you disagree? Let’s extend that even further – it was a mistake to name Josh Smith as a team captain. Perhaps you disagree more vehemently with this than the first assertion. Perhaps not. Either way, can anybody prove this was a successful venture or even a good idea? These three team captains don’t think …

Continue reading Atlanta hawks: Is disarray here to stay? »

The storm, otherwise known as the Hawks’ March schedule, has begun. Up to this point, few fans had any rock solid confidence that the Hawks could weather such a storm, and the record against winning teams up to this point did little to dissuade pessimistic notions. Do we feel different about that now, though?

It’s All About Team

We can complain about having to rally from 19 points down against Chicago (at home, no less) but it probably makes more sense to revel in the fact that it was actually done. Atlanta hadn’t recently shown the ability to rally from that far down in a tough game, or even hold a big lead for that matter. Suddenly, they were able to do it against a team with a better record? While center Al Horford was clearly the hero in that game, there is something else that overshadows it. The Hawks were able to defend….as a team. Not only that, but they did it without Josh Smith, their defensive spark plug. Has the trade that brought Kirk Hinrich to Atlanta really …

Continue reading Hawks would like to fly above the storm »