March Madness (NBA style)!
Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat are stalking the Hawks for the No. 4 spot in the Eastern Conference playoff chase.
HAWKSVILLE - If you think the college kids are doing it big these days (and they are), check out Dwyane Wade in March.
The Heat superstar has all but ruined the good vibrations from the Hawks’ four-game win-streak, one that can reach five with a win today (provided they can beat back Portland at Philips Arena).
Wade’s not only been the best player in the NBA the past few weeks, he’s been the best player on the planet (sorry LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, but D. Wade’s my pick for MVP and I don’t care what his team’s record is right now).
“I don’t want any part of D. Wade in the playoffs, man,” one of our founding members wrote in an email yesterday. “He’s playing right now the same way he did during the playoffs in 2006. And you know what happened then.”
The Heat won the title that year riding Wade’s cape tails past Dallas in the NBA Finals.
While playing at an otherworldly level in March doesn’t exactly mean your team will get out of the first round of the playoffs in March, Wade’s current tear does pose a clear and present danger to the Hawks.
With the way both the Hawks and Wade (I mean Heat) are playing right now they are setting up a first round matchup in the playoffs. That means the home court advantage fight is going to come down to the final weeks of this season. And the team that gets it almost guarantees itself a win in the series.
That’s why every game the Hawks and Heat play between now and the end of the regular season, including their April 14 tilt at Philips Arena, becomes a battle of epic proportions.
The Hawks already know how important it is to “take care of home” court at all times. They knocked off the eventual NBA champions three times on their home floor during the playoffs last year but couldn’t find a way to even stay close in Boston.
You should expect more of the same in the playoffs this year, with the home teams ruling the roost. The Hawks would best served to be one of those teams. And that means taking care of teams like the Pacers the way they did Friday. Because most of the teams the Hawks will see between now and April 15 are of a much higher caliber.
Slip up against the likes of Sacramento, Minnesota or Indiana – all visitors to Philips between now and the end of the season along with heavyweights like the Celtics, Lakers, Spurs, Mavericks (okay, light heavyweights) and Magic and – and Wade will be kicking the Hawks’ door down for that fourth spot.
Every single Hawks game between now and the end of the season is its own one-and-done tournament.
Did someone say something about March (and a little bit of April) Madness?
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276 comments Add your comment
ray
March 15th, 2009
3:09 pm
Okay, that’s 43 minutes for Joe, and we’re up by nearly 20 with but a few minutes left in the game.
I’m sure it’s okay to sit JJ now….watch Woody say that he kept him in there so Joe could get 40 points. Heh.
Melvin
March 15th, 2009
3:09 pm
Roy is trying to boost his stats but the game is pretty much decided with 4 mins left in the 4th…
Astro Joe
March 15th, 2009
3:10 pm
O-tay.
Rod from College Park
March 15th, 2009
3:10 pm
Funny how everyone says Marvin is our best defender, but we are playing better defense without him. His is not our best defender, Josh and Joe are,
Blast
March 15th, 2009
3:10 pm
I am very impressed with the Hawks right now. Are they balling or what? They are making all these good teams look bad in Philips. Can they win all 7 home games?
Hope Marvin does not get his feelings hurt because the Hawks are playing so well without him. This was the game I thought the Hawks would lose.
Joe Johnson is back!!!!!!! Player of the week!!!!!!!
Najeh Davenpoop
March 15th, 2009
3:11 pm
I hope everyone who complains Josh Smith is just a low-IQ athlete with limited skills was watching closely in this 4th quarter. Great post footwork on multiple plays and a beautiful fast-break alley-oop pass to Al Horford.
Melvin
March 15th, 2009
3:13 pm
Good win by the Hawks. They have kept all their opponents under 100 pts during this 5 game win streak….
Sekou K. Smith
March 15th, 2009
3:14 pm
As long as Wade and LeBron play games in the same week Joe has no chance for Player of the Week Blast. It’s not fair but it’s the way it is. And the Hawks have made the Blazers look raggedy today. I’m a bit surprised at how easily they manhandled this team. I expected more from the Blazers.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 15th, 2009
3:15 pm
Great win for the Hawks — 2 blowouts in a row is real nice, and even more so when Miami is beating everything in their path (although I do wonder whether the game would have been closer if it wasn’t played at 10 AM Pacific time).
bigdave
March 15th, 2009
3:17 pm
Aye Sekou who is the light complexion lady in the red top thats down there with the media…?
Najeh Davenpoop
March 15th, 2009
3:19 pm
Philly looks like they are going to beat Miami… up by 8 with 2 minutes left. Miami has been outscored 23-8 in the 4th so far.
Melvin
March 15th, 2009
3:20 pm
Philly up by 7 on the Heat with less than 2mins remaining…
Reggie
March 15th, 2009
3:22 pm
Sekou
I was thinking along the lines of Karl Malone and Buck Williams, when it comes to Al Horford. Great win from the hawks. Know matter how well Dwyane Wade is playing, if we hold on to that 4th seed. I dont think the Heat can beat us.
bigdave
March 15th, 2009
3:23 pm
im liking what ive seen from the Hawks of late… they’ve played identically in these wins. its almost like we’ve found an identity… and its beat quality teams…
bigdave
March 15th, 2009
3:24 pm
well Bob just said the same thing…
terrell barron
March 15th, 2009
3:24 pm
Blazers must have hit the clubs last night. That’s a home court advantage in itself. lol! And Woody, please leave JJ at the 3. Let Marvin back him up if he comes back. Let Flip/Mo handle the 2. Thanks. And I said it before the season started that Evans should start. If Marvin does come back, he could make our bench that much deeper. With all that said, I know good and damn well he’ll be right back in the starting lineup as soon as he’s healthy. Hey Woody, if it aint broke, dont fix it.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 15th, 2009
3:27 pm
Miami loses. Hawks are now up 2.5 games. What a huge win.
Blast
March 15th, 2009
3:27 pm
Miami Heat lost, Detroit down 3 with 20 seconds left in game.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 15th, 2009
3:29 pm
If there’s any benefit to Marvin being out, I think it’s that Josh Smith becomes the focal point of the offense in the front court, which means more touches in the post, which means more open looks for the perimeter players and more shots closer to the rim. The Hawks have made it a point to get him the ball in the post during this streak, and as many people on this blog have noticed in the past the offense works much better when they play inside out.
Melvin
March 15th, 2009
3:30 pm
Miami and Detroit lost… Yes. The Hawks pickup another game on both of them…
Najeh Davenpoop
March 15th, 2009
3:30 pm
Detroit loses too. Darko got a double double in his return to Detroit. Hilarious.
Sam from da Swats
March 15th, 2009
3:31 pm
Wow, 12-1 without Marvin in the starting lineup. Where are all the Josh Smith haters?
ray
March 15th, 2009
3:34 pm
Sweet win, and yet another example of how to properly use the JJ ISO.
Simple: run enough effective plays through other guys, making them a credible threat, and eliminating the effectiveness of throwing double and triple teams at Joe.
It may have taken FIVE WHOLE YEARS to figure this out, but we’re there now. As long as we continue this, we’ll be okay.
It was nice to see us outplay the Blazers in nearly facet of the game (except rebounding, they always beat us in that segment). Our defense was definitely better, both schematically and by way of execution. PROPS TO SENOR WOODSON on that one, and the players of course.
Great game by JJ. He’s a beast when you let him do HIS thing, instead of making him do EVERYTHING, a point that my friend Niremetal has brought up repeatedly (but has been largely ignored).
Nice game by Josh and Al, though they struggle against such sizeable lineups. The fact that we still won by nearly 20 tells you something, though. And I see their haters are conspicuously quiet…
Basically, we did to the Blazers what most teams have been doing to us for the past 5 years: limited them to one effective offensive option. Sure, Roy more or less did his thing. And Aldridge had a decent night. But he wasn’t the amount of trouble he usually is, and only Outlaw was able to muster double digit scoring other than those two, despite McMillan’s extensive use of his bench.
All of our starters played fairly well at the least. It was nice to see Bibby get a few dimes and hit some shots. He’s been starving out there on the court lately (still takes too many 3s).
Gotta give Woody credit. He used, but did not overuse the bench. The starters were playing pretty well, especially in the second half.
It was great to see us FINALLY compete with, and beat the Blazers. I loved this one!
ray
March 15th, 2009
3:36 pm
Co-sign Najeh….
Blast
March 15th, 2009
3:42 pm
Portland turned the ball over 18 times! Hawks playing the kind of defence and rebounding that got them to a 6-0 start. Hawks are meshing just in time. Glad to see them crank up their play to playoff level at this time. Josh and Al seems able to read each other’s minds, Bibby is flipping up sweet alley-ooh’s for Josh to smash down, Joe is back to being a scoring machine, Marvin is our wild card, 6th man Flip is an assasin, and Mario finally gets to show the world how crazy he is. Damn! Life is good….Now if only Marvin would volunteer to come off the bench….
ray
March 15th, 2009
3:45 pm
Rod,
I disagree. It’s Josh and Al. Joe takes plays off on the regular. He rotates slowly sometimes, too. But that goes unnoticed a lot.
Having said that, Marvin is a better defender than he gets credit for. Try putting JJ on Lebron. See if he scores 35 then….Try putting Mo on any of those guys. There’s a reason he’s on the bench, dude.
Blast,
We’re great at home. And yeah, we could actually win all 7 games here. Remember, we beat the Celts down in the arena in the playoffs last year. But it’s the road that bothers me….Gotta be able to win on the road to go far…
Man that was a great win. And is Gardner a gunner or what? Young cat could have a future with this team. He ain’t scared to shoot, I know THAT…I’m even happy enough to ignore the inevitable nonsensical “COY” BS…
ray
March 15th, 2009
3:46 pm
Wondering where all the Josh Smith haters are…
Astro Joe
March 15th, 2009
3:47 pm
Najeh, Marvin has NEVER been the “focal point” of te front court’s offense. OK, maybe he was for like 4 games this season, but no more than that. I agree that Marvin and Smith rarely have good games together but when they are healthy and playing together, there is no doubt which one is most likely to take the majority of the shot attempts (and which one will ultimately be accused on being too passive).
Blast
March 15th, 2009
3:50 pm
1 win from 40! What rarefied air the Hawks are breathing in! Hawks trying to hang with the big boys! It’s great being a Hawks fan!!!!
Blast
March 15th, 2009
3:56 pm
You right Ray, the road worries me, but the Hawks have more home games to play now, and they need to keep that fourth spot to make it out of the first round.
Melvin
March 15th, 2009
3:57 pm
Ray, you will need to put an APB out on the Josh haters. They are sure to stay in hiding now that he’s found his groove again. I (along with you, doc and many others) try to tell them that he was going thru a slump and well surely return to form…..
Najeh Davenpoop
March 15th, 2009
3:57 pm
“Najeh, Marvin has NEVER been the “focal point” of te front court’s offense.”
That’s not what I was trying to say. It’s just that when Marvin is in, neither he nor Josh gets consistent touches, whereas when he’s out, the touches he gets tend to go to Josh. It has worked the other way around too, like when Marvin scored 30 against Denver when Josh was out a couple of weeks ago. Of course, the difference is that the Hawks are undefeated without Marvin and 6-7 without Josh.
Melvin
March 15th, 2009
4:00 pm
Those two loses to Charlotte and NYK may have cost the Hawks their 50 wins goal but I’m still hopeful. Hopefully we can sweep the Celts and Lakers at home while I’m in attendance…. Go Hawks
Blast
March 15th, 2009
4:02 pm
Today’s loss dropped Portland to 7th in the West.
Astro Joe
March 15th, 2009
4:03 pm
Najeh, OK. I agree that when Mo or Zaza start the other two get more touches. I think “focal point” was the term that didn’t quite sound right to me.
Melvin
March 15th, 2009
4:05 pm
Wow. They just showed Joe Johnson 3pt shot against the Celtics in the playoffs last year for the NBA commerical “where amazing happens” during the Mavs/Lakers game on ABC…. Hawks getting national exposures…. Yes Sir….
Ken Strickland
March 15th, 2009
4:09 pm
It’s really amazing and enjoyable to see the Hawks play the way we knew they were capable of playing. (1)We’re running, playing uptempo and getting easy baskets. (2)We’re going deeper into our bench and getting more production, which has allowed our starters to get more rest. (3)Having our starters start the 4th qtr rested has allow us to play better DEF, make our FT’s, all but eliminate unforced turnovers, rebound better, shoot better, get leads and hold on to them.
The change in this team, and the consistent OFF and DEF play, started with the change in approach of HC Mike Woodson. The recent attitude, approach, decision making and adjustments Woodson has made, along with the positive results, have revealed the main cause of the Hawks previous lack of consistency, energy, focus and poor OFF and/or DEF.
The question is, WILL HE FINALLY ACCEPT THE OBVIOUS, AFTER OVER 4YRS OF STUBBORN DENIAL/RESISTENCE? WILL HE FINALLY ACCEPT WHAT THE TEAM AND THE PLAYERS HAVE REPEATEDLY DEMONSTRATED IS BEST FOR THEM AHEAD OF WHAT HE WANTS TO SEE FROM THE TEAM? THE WAY THE HAWKS HAVE BASICALLY DOMINATED QUALITY COMPETITION THE LAST 5GMS IS WHY MOST OF US HAVE BEEN UNABLE REST ON THE FACTS WE MADE THE PLAYOFFS LAST YR, AND WE’RE THE 4TH SEED THIS YR. WE SHOULD HAVE PLAYED LIKE THIS ALL YR.
Blast
March 15th, 2009
4:10 pm
Looking at the seedings, whoever wins the West is going to be so beat up, that I can see the Championship staying in the East again. Those west matchups are going to be brutal. If the playoffs started today, in the 1st round Lakers would play Dallas, San Antonio would play Portland, Houston vs Utah, and Denver playing the Hornets. No matter how the season ends, west matchups is going to be crazy, man.
bigjohnhawksfan
March 15th, 2009
4:13 pm
We need to talk with Portland in the offseason about Prysbilla… *evil plan!*
ILL-logical
March 15th, 2009
4:25 pm
I need to get Comcast on the ‘phone because something has got to be wrong with my set: I saw a line up with Josh at the 3;Al at the 4; and ZaZa at the 5? And I thought I saw ZaZa dunk! Where is that number… or maybe I just need the number to the 8th floor at Grady.
terrell barron
March 15th, 2009
4:32 pm
Big John, I doubt they move Prysbilla with Oden’s health issues. But you never know.
REGGIE
March 15th, 2009
4:34 pm
Other Reggie: Can you like put a 2 beside your name because you are confusing me with these posts. I’m thinking I didn’t post that. Also please don’t compare Horford to Karl Malone. Seriously?
Great win for the Hawks. In no way are we a better team without Marvin. It’s stupid to think that. He just stretches out the floor even more for us with his solid perimeter game. He is another offensive option and a very solid defender. He could be our best man on man defender as he has showed when guarding Melo and LBJ this year and doing very well against them. Joe looks great and put up 30 tonight without having his perimeter shot. That’s very nice and Sekou is right about JJ getting Player of the Week. It won’t happen. Wade will probably grab it this week. Good win for the Hawks and for some reason I never thought we would lose this game right when it started. I just had a comfy feel about the game.
Take it to the Kings EARLY!
terrell barron
March 15th, 2009
4:35 pm
Wher you been Ill-logical? Zaza had a steal and through one down against Utah. lol!!
Reggie
March 15th, 2009
4:40 pm
ILL-Logical: We run Smith 3 Al 4 Zaza 5 at least twice a game when Marvin is healthy and a lot since he has been out. Also Zaza has dunked numerous times this season.
RLP
March 15th, 2009
4:40 pm
The Hawks have home games against the Celtics, Lakers, Magic, Spurs and Heat before the season ends. What a great time to be a Hawks fan. Maybe it is time to get some revenge for all of those close games against quality teams that we lost earlier in the season. And even if they lose some of these games the way they are playing now the games should still be interesting. If they continue to play like they are now I am picking them to beat the Celtics, Magic and Heat out of those games.They may beat the Spurs. And wouldn’t it be great if they could steal a win from the Lakers?
I do think the Hawks need Marvin back. I could see Woody putting Marvin on Roy today and shutting him down because of his size. But I also like how the rotation has changed since his departure. We need him to get back, if possible, and get in shape before the playoffs begin.
Rod from College Park
March 15th, 2009
4:48 pm
Ray,
I will have to agree with you. The two best defenders are Josh and Al. Marvin has never shut anybody down, so I don’t know where all this great defense he plays is coming from. I still think Joe is a better defensive player than Marvin also. Just my opinion.
Rollins Tree
March 15th, 2009
4:57 pm
Joe Johnson is back!! Funny how the team turned around after the Smith / Woodson fight. Whatever it takes right?
hawkfan
March 15th, 2009
5:06 pm
this is something interesting i found, Josh Smith says:
“I think Coach is doing a good job of subbing. Everybody that’s coming out there, it’s like an automatic gel. Flip’s coming out there and playing his butt off. Everybody’s helping out on defense, and when we do that, we’re at our best.”
hmmm, can i say that josh smith is seeing the difference in woodson letting the bench play like everyone here has been addressing all along
Mark
March 15th, 2009
5:08 pm
Ray, I have to admit Josh is playing much better. If he and Al average double-doubles consistently with
good post defense then this team might get out of the first round and may shock Cleveland.( Even though the league wouldn’t allow it. Especially to King James.) We just need JJ to get concentrate on getting and finding his shot early in games so that we won’t have to play so much catch up.
Ariose
March 15th, 2009
5:08 pm
Nice game, I was there……Portland looked lifeless in the4th lol. I wanted to see more Acie though…