A fresh start
I know you didn't see enough of rookie point guard Jeff Teague against Portland. Who wants to be their lunch money that he plays big minutes against Sacramento tonight?
SACRAMENTO – Before you finish your sentence complaining about Jeff Teague not playing against Portland and Joe Johnson playing too much, chew on one thing.
What if you are not alone? What if you’re not the only fan base whose general manager, coach, star player, sixth-man and last man on the roster drive you crazy?
What, you thought you cornered the market on being ticked off?
You are not.
Our good friend Nire passed along this message earlier today (or last night or whenever, being out west throws off my equilibrium, even after all these years of covering the league):
It’s always funny to me reading Blazers fan blogs and seeing how not alone Hawks fans are in our neuroses. Blazers fans have their own Mike Bibby (Andre Miller), JJ (Brandon Roy), Josh Smith (Travis Outlaw), Marvin Williams (Martell Webster), …
Pump your brakes
LaMarcus Aldridge will get a chance to get after Josh Smith (hand reaching for the ball) and the Hawks tonight at the Rose Garden. A knee injury won't keep him on the sideline (and major props to my man Salim Stoudamire – corner right – who is one of Portland's All-Time finest).
PORTLAND – Pump your brakes.
I’ll do it if you do it.
Because it appears we’ve gone a bit overboard with the panic room act after the Hawks’ loss Sunday in Los Angeles to the Lakers.
More than a couple Hawks reminded me before, during and after practice Monday that we’re still in the first, five-game stint of the season. We’re just three games in, with Game 4 up tonight against a strong Trail Blazers team at the Rose Garden.
“People had us winning the championship last year when we got off to that 6-0 start,” Hawks captain and All-Star Joe Johnson said and then laughed. “Everybody needs to calm down and just keep working. It’s a long season, man. Every coach I’ve ever had tells you that [the …
The morning after
The Hawks' frustrations were fueled by their own mistakes against the Lakers Sunday night at Staples Center.
LOS ANGELES – It probably feels just as nasty this morning as it did last night, that taste in the Hawks’ beaks after the Lakers kicked dirt all over them.
How a two-point game mushrooms into a 24-point rout in a matter of minutes would normally require CSI-level examination.
But not where the Hawks are concerned. The anatomy of their latest road debacle is similar to so many of its predecessors.
By now you know the routine. The Hawks trade punches, they make a decent game of it until things go slightly awry and the sky starts falling. The fall began with their disastrous third quarter, when the Hawks started handing the ball over to the Lakers like they were ordered to by the LA County Sherriff’s office.
And they wouldn’t stop giving it up. Play after play, they just kept turning it over. Josh Smith got his hands dirty, Al Horford, Jamal Crawford and Zaza Pachulia …
Business (trip) as usual
Don't let the beautiful views fool you, this trip to the left coast is a business trip for the Hawks.
LOS ANGELES – Jeff Teague’s Halloween costume aside, the Hawks are here in my favorite city for one thing and one thing only; business.
This is a business trip that they’ve been looking forward to since the NBA schedules were released in the summer.
And believe me, I’m as guilty as anyone of falling in love with the sights and sounds of this weather paradise (that’s sunset at Venice Beach above, courtesy of Hawksville’s resident suit man Big Kuntry) and forgetting, even if it is just momentarily, that there’s work to be done first.
The business starts at Staples Center today against the defending champion Lakers and weaves through Portland (Tuesday), Sacramento (Wednesday) and concludes dangerously in Charlotte (Friday), a place the Hawks haven’t played well dating back to last season.
That’s why, in my estimation, this is such a crucial stretch of the early season for the …
Woody’s words of wisdom
Jamal Crawford and Hawks coach Mike Woodson are on the same page now after a brief meeting of the minds after Crawford played just 12 minutes in the season opener.
HAWKSVILLE – Jamal Crawford was understandably a bit confused about his role as the Hawks’ sixth man after playing just 12 minutes in the season opener.
A prolific scorer sitting on the bench for most of a track meet that ended in a 120-109 win for the Hawks didn’t make much sense to anyone else either, including Hawks coach Mike Woodson.
So he did what any reasonable people manager would do, he called Crawford into his office Thursday (well before tonight’s game against Gilbert Arenas and the Wizards of Washington at Philips Arena) and dispensed a few words of wisdom.
“I had to let him know that he is a big part of what we’re doing here,” Woodson said. “I can’t sit here and say, ‘Jamal I’m going to give you 35 minutes a game.’ But I have to make him more a part of what we’re doing, without a doubt. Because he …
Depth revealed (sort of)?
Did you see enough of Hawks rookie point guard Jeff Teague in the season opener? Hawks coach Mike Woodson's rotation was 10-deep but as expected, the minutes were lopsided in favor of the starters.
HAWKSVILLE – Did you see enough of Jamal Crawford and Joe Smith Wednesday night?
How about Jeff Teague and Mo Evans?
Zaza Pachulia and Jason Collins?
I didn’t think so.
Sure, the Hawks did what they had to do in dispatching the Indiana Pacers in their season opener. But I expected more, namely in minutes for the reserves.
We’ve heard for weeks about all this improved depth and how much deeper this team is going to be this season. We saw it in the preseason.
But it wasn’t on display against the Pacers.
Sure, everyone played a minimum of 10 minutes and no one played more than 40 (though Joe Johnson was knocking on the door at 39:23). And they did win the game doing it this way.
But 13 minutes and 36 seconds for Crawford and 10:48 for Smith seems a bit light to me, particularly in …
Are you ready for opening night?
Al Horford and the Hawks insist they are ready to get things cracking in the Eastern Conference this season. We'll all find out soon enough. Horford and the Hawks face the Pacers Wednesday night at Philips Arena.
HAWKSVILLE – Answer the question.
Are you ready?
Are you ready for more of the craziness that is the NBA season and the Hawks’ role in it?
Are you ready for the season you love to hate, the team you love to hate and the game you just love to love?
Of course, you are.
You’ve been waiting what seems like forever, just like me and everyone else around here.
You couldn’t wait until the Hawks’ opener against the Pacers tonight at Philips Arena, could you?
We understand. Cleveland and Boston was a fine way to open the season, what with Rasheed Wallace posing a most frightening sight out there stroking shots from deep with the for flowing and sporting that classic Celtics uniform (and yes, that was Shelden Williams logging quality minutes for the Celtics early on, so …
Injury concerns for Hawks?
Smile Joe, you're rocking the new red jersey my man. And for once, an alternate uniform actually looks good.
HAWKSVILLE – After a reasonably injury-free preseason the Hawks came crashing back to reality Sunday.
Al Horford sat on a corner table with wires hanging from his ankle (courtesy of a twisting in Friday’s loss in Orlando) and Mike Bibby joined him later on wire duty (on his non-shooting wrist) after jamming it during a drill in practice.
That scowl on Hawks coach Mike Woodson’s face, also a product of Friday’s dismal showing against Magic, immediately turned into a look of worry.
Woodson hadn’t planned on either his starting center or point guard being questionable for Wednesday’s regular season opener against Indiana at Philips Arena.
But as of this morning there’s some concern that one or both of them will be forced to play at less than 100 percent against the Pacers.
“Al tweaked his ankle and he tried to go a little bit [Sunday], but he said it wasn’t …
The space between?
The Hawks saw far too much of Dwight Howard and friends Friday night in Orlando. And that's the way it's going to be all season for these (so-called) Southeast Division rivals.
HAWKSVILLE – Stay low any of you unlucky Hawks fans in or around Orlando this weekend.
After your team’s performance against the Magic Friday night (yeah, I know it was a preseason game and doesn’t actually count for anything) might get you run out of town.
For those of you like me that watched the game from afar, you’re probably still trying to get the tag of that 18-wheeler that steamrolled the Hawks (the carnage was all over Amway Arena at the end of the Magic’s 123-86 demolition).
I know there’s not much to be gleamed from a preseason game, especially one where you get beaten senseless (did the Magic miss from deep in the first half?). But this game had special circumstances. It’s the Magic and Hawks, the two teams that finished 1-2 in the Southeast Division last year.
You had to know the …
Cut Day!
The Mario West era came to an abrupt end before practice Wednesday. He was one of three players the Hawks cut to trim the roster to 13 players.
HAWKSVILLE – A group that numbered 20 just a few weeks ago is now down to just 13.
It was cut day at the Hawks’ practice facility Wednesday, and the scene was grim.
Mario West and Courtney Sims got the word that their time was up before practice, so there was already a feeling that something (or more accurately someone) was missing.
But the gut-punch came later when rookie center Garret “Big Glacier” Siler got his pink slip afterwards.
As his teammates filed into the locker room each one glanced at the big fella with one eyebrow raised. He returned fire with a hollow look in his eyes and the peace sign. Even though they all knew this was not only a possibility but most likely a probability, it didn’t make the event any easier to swallow. Othello Hunter is the only free agent camper that remains from the army of eight that showed …
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