Home sweet home?
How loud does Joe Johnson have to holler before someone shows up to see the Hawks rock the house at Philips Arena?
HAWKSVILLE - Ask Joe Johnson the difference between the Hawks at Philips Arena and elsewhere and he’ll give you a simple answer.
“This is home for us and we have to act like it,” he said. “So we’re feeding off our fans like anybody would in this situation. Our crowd is where we get our energy. That’s what’s fueling us right now. And that’s the way it’s supposed to be.”
A 25-7 home record can be improved to 26 tonight with a win over Sacramento. That would push the Hawks’ record on their current seven-game home stand to 6-0, one win away from matching the seven they piled up (with just one loss) during a December home stand they used to vault to a 21-10 start to this season.
Still, it’s hard for me to imagine Johnson bragging about the home crowd when there have been so many empty seats lately. So this is what home sweet home looks like?
It’s strange, for all the bellyaching that’s gone on (here and elsewhere) about wanting a legitimate NBA team to root for in this town, it seems few people are actually willing to venture out to Philips Arena to see it in person.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking anyone that roots from afar. In these economic times, watching the Hawks in HD from the crib is every bit as righteous as showing up for games. If the choice is making your car payment or buying those Hawks tickets, there’s really no choice. And unlike Polow Da Don, Jeezy, Dream, Ciara and all the other A-listers that show up most every night, funds for things like Hawks games are limited these days.
It’s just that there have been sellouts for certain teams and then crickets for others. Again, nothing out of the ordinary when the Hawks were a laughingstock. I just thought it would change now, with them being a legitimate playoff team.
Polow and Jeezy are down with the Hawks ...
The Hawks have had just nine sellouts this season. They are averaging 16,494 fans, which is impressive when some of the league’s stalwarts (Detroit and Sacramento) are struggling to put fannies in the seats. I guess I just expected more with all the chatter about wanting a big time team to fit a city that felt it was so deserving.
I’m sure this conversation will be useless next week, when the Celtics and Lakers are in town. But that has as much and more to do with the opponents than it does the Hawks, who are still chasing that 50-win pipe dream like it’s a possibility – even if cats like me abandoned the mere mention of such foolishness weeks ago.
The worst part for local fans who have suffered through years of frustration is that you haven’t had a chance to see your team play lights out basketball the past week. However fantastic it looks on the screen, it looks even better in person. As the Portland game ended Sunday I turned and chatted up some of the regulars who sit behind me every game and they said as much.
... Cici is too!
Once the playoffs start there’s no doubt in my mind the city of Atlanta will represent. That’s never going to be a problem. But on nights like tonight, when the lowly Kings stroll into town, you can count the people in the stands for the national anthem on two hands (this is Atlanta and unless it’s Kobe or LeBron, the crowd will arrive fashionably late as always).
Then again, it’s taken the Hawks the better part of a decade to crawl out of obscurity and back into the realm of the relevant in the NBA. Maybe we should allow the same for the crowds at the building formerly known as the Highlight Factory.
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306 comments Add your comment
Sautee
March 17th, 2009
9:32 pm
Home sweet home, indeed.
Blast
March 17th, 2009
9:37 pm
The NBA thought it was doing the Hawks a disservice by making them play all those road games, but Hawks have persevered, and are now reaping that benefit with all these home games late in the season.
Screw the NBA and the refs, man!
Go Hawks go!
cp
March 17th, 2009
9:38 pm
They started out kind of sloppy but got it together. Good win… I love Nique but I’m glad I will only be able to hear him for only a few more games. With league pass I never know if i’m going to get Nique or the opposing teams play by play guys. I honestly forgot how brutal Nique was. Bob would make a point and Nique would contradict that point with something that made no sense. I love Nique but can we please get the Stinger back in the booth with Bob next season. I hope Marvin will be ready come playoff time. We will need every weapon we have.
niremetal
March 17th, 2009
9:43 pm
cp,
With ya on Nique. Some guys just weren’t meant for the mic. On the various Hawks broadcasting teams, though, no one compares to Steve Holman in my book. I still wish someone could post his “They cannot stop Joe Johnson!!!” call from last year’s playoffs.
Sam from da Swats
March 17th, 2009
9:43 pm
Another win without Marvin….
Ed
March 17th, 2009
9:44 pm
It was great to see Acie get 19 mins tonight & the Hawks were at their best when he & Flip were on the floor…+28 for Murray & +26 for Law.
ray
March 17th, 2009
9:48 pm
Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about. We beat those guys silly on the boards, which always helps.
Josh and Al continue to rule the hardwood. I thought Al was going to get a triple double for a minute there. It’s nice to see so much of the offense going through these guys, rather than watching them get lost in the shuffle. One of the biggest dividends paid is that this frees up JJ to do his thing one-on-one, and even on a night that he struggles, the team can still win.
It was good to see Bibby getting his stroke back. As I said a few blogs ago, we’re still going to need that from him as the season comes to a close, and when the playoffs start.
Nice to see Woody continuing the prudent use of his bench. Mario provides a spark, and Law looks solid by the numbers alone. Nice to see he has some confidence in his shot. I think the two turnovers he had are the first two he’s had in the last 5 or 6 games, if not more. You gotta love that!
Is it just me, or does it seem like Thomas Gardner has yet to meet a 3 point shot he didn’t like? LOL! Watch him, he’s a gunner, and may well be a guy we can seriously make use of in the future.
Nice win, Hawks. Nice indeed. 40 wins, and 2 more gives us our first winning season in years. Let’s do it!
KevinA
March 17th, 2009
9:53 pm
Lets not forget Evans, 5/7 and 12 points. The depleted bench continues to play well. Flip, ZaZa and Acie went 9/17 and 23 pts. While we miss Marvin it’s nice to see the team effort.
Melvin
March 17th, 2009
9:54 pm
Look like my prediction of 45-50 wins this season is attainable…
doc
March 17th, 2009
9:55 pm
missed most of the game, tuned in at 96 to 88. wow did they blow them out at the end.
got to wonder:
when is woody going to be fired,
bibby traded,
josh traded as well?
JOSH = MVP !
bring on another big one to slay.
Reggie
March 17th, 2009
9:56 pm
Sam seriously come on. Give us your analysis on the game or something. Is Marvin all you care about? If you had any basketball intelligence you would see his improvement in the last few months and what he has done. You listed his last games stats. Did it ever occur to you that’s when he got hurt. I’m sure you wouldn’t mention the other games he became confident and our second scoring option and created all those shots for himself. I don’t think Marvin is a superstar but he is a rising 22 year old forward who will be an established starter for years to come and dare i say a possible future all star. Please just give the guy a break and talk about something else for once.
KevinA
March 17th, 2009
9:57 pm
Not wanting to bash JJ to much but Al may have got that triple double if Joe wouldn’t have taken over that last 7 min. he played. As soon as he went out the young studs took back over.
ray
March 17th, 2009
9:59 pm
Sam From Da Swats,
Give it a rest, will ya? Were you counting when we won games without Bibby? How about Josh? Al? How about Speedy, huh? Come on, man. Even Marvin’s happy we’re winning, I guarantee it. Where were you in those games when either Josh or Al was missing, and Marvin picked up the slack in scoring? Got some stats for you coming right up….
Sam from da Swats
March 17th, 2009
10:03 pm
I’m just saying, another win….great to get another win.
KevinA
March 17th, 2009
10:03 pm
It sure is fun to watch 6 wins in a row at crunch time. We are not backing into this play off run. We charging baby!
Sam from da Swats
March 17th, 2009
10:05 pm
Speedy? Dude don’t even let that name even be a part of this or any Hawks blog ever. Mention him on one of those girly fashion blogs that you like, but not here!!
KevinA
March 17th, 2009
10:11 pm
Doc, lol It seems like a lot of jobs should be secure. Hope the owners will keep this team together, even if it means coming up with a little more jack.
brewdawg
March 17th, 2009
10:13 pm
Sekou,
Correct me if I’m wrong, but to finish with 50 wins, the Hawks would have to go 10-4 to finish right? That’s not exactly a “pipe dream” if you ask me.
wxwax
March 17th, 2009
10:13 pm
40 wins. Outstanding.
Da Real Real
March 17th, 2009
10:17 pm
So this is what it feels like to have a team that wins at home, it almost feels like its an guarantee that the Hawks will win when they play in Phillips. Personally Sekou, I agree with you about the turnouts but its usually like that during the weeks in da A (checkout Turner Field when the Braves have a long home stand…most of the crowd shows up throughout the weekend & that includes Friday). Feels good seeing the team play well at home, and seeing guys pick up the slack.
Oh and another thing…40 WINS!!!!!!!. I know we can get 2 more wins. So much for all those predictions by the so called experts. GO HAWKS!!!
A Thinking Fan
March 17th, 2009
10:28 pm
Good Win! Go Hawks!!!
Reggie
March 17th, 2009
10:39 pm
Kevin he could have gotten the trip-double but you can’t be mad at Joe for taking over because he finally did get hot and pretty much let it get out of hand so the bench could get some time. Joe other than the first quarter still looked solid tonight but didn’t have the intensity from last week. That’s why he made some poor passes. We had an unusual sloppy game with turnovers. JJ had 6 I think. Bibby had about 5. Smith had 3 or 4 and quite a few more. We can’t do that against the Mavs. Good win for the Hawks but we have to bring the energy back for Dallas and AT Cleveland. If we could take these next two down we would get some people talking.
KevinA
March 17th, 2009
10:39 pm
Thank god were on a roll. Let’s see we have Dallas, Clev, Minn, Spurs, Boston, Lakers, Philly and then Orlando. Exciting basketball to come. Tough test for the Hawks.
ray
March 17th, 2009
10:44 pm
Sam From Da Swats,
Here ya go:
Josh Smith went out with injury from 6 minutes into the game against Toronto on Nov. 7th until he returned against Memphis on Dec. 3rd. During that stretch, we won 6 of the 12 games. In those wins (without Josh), Marvin averaged 17 points and 7 rebounds per game. And he STILL wasn’t anymore than the 3rd option on offense, behind Joe and Bibby.
ray
March 17th, 2009
10:45 pm
Reggie,
Smith had 3 turnovers. The starting guards themselves had 10 between them.
KevinA
March 17th, 2009
10:45 pm
I agree Reggie, Joe plugging away hurt us early but it was good to see him get back on track. We just got into a running game that were not suited to. I just hope we rely on Al and Josh early against Dallas. We play better inside out.
KevinA
March 17th, 2009
10:48 pm
Ray, whats your win lose guess over the next 8 games.
ray
March 17th, 2009
10:50 pm
The biggest thing is the differentials we had: Rebounds + 16, Assists + 11, FG% + 16.6
Reggie
March 17th, 2009
10:56 pm
Thanks Ray I was just guessing. Kevin I say we should go 6-2 but possibly 5-3. I see us loosing to Cleveland on the road and L.A. at home. But we could lose to Orlando or Boston.
ray
March 17th, 2009
10:57 pm
Kevin,
I hate making predictions. But here ya go anyway: 5-3…..although I wanna lean towards 4-4. Why? A combination of revenge and the need to hold onto home court advantage.
Samuel
March 17th, 2009
10:57 pm
WOODY=COY
Sam from da Swats
March 17th, 2009
11:04 pm
ray, now give me Josh Smith’s stats while Marvin has been out. Also, we won 6 out of 12. ray, your stats were good. Don’t get me wrong, Marvin stepped up, but we lost 6 out of 12. We are now 7 and 0, basically without him. I count Detroit because he really wasn’t playing most of the game. Good point ray. To everybody here, I’m just saying we don’t totally need him, that’s all. If he comes back, bring him off the bench. ray, get those stats for me.
kirkinga
March 17th, 2009
11:07 pm
Hawks win a tune up game before some tough games ahead on the schedule. 10 players played tonight and made contributions.
Just as important, they gain another game on the Pistons who are now 5.5 games behind with 17 games remaining. I’ll be bold and pick the Lakers tonight over the Sixers and they too will be 5.5 back.It’s starting to look more and more like a 2-team race for the 4th spot in the East.
I’m sure there are more thrills and spills yet to come for the Hawks, but if they can manage to play at least .500 ball the rest of the way they should keep the spot.
Go Hawks!!
Najeh Davenpoop
March 17th, 2009
11:18 pm
I think it’s pretty clear at this point that the Hawks’ bench is a lot better and a lot more resilient than many expected. Woody is finally giving them a chance to play and they are making him look smart for doing so.
ray
March 17th, 2009
11:18 pm
Reggie,
You’re even more optimistic than me. I saw us losing to L.A. and Cleveland at home, and Boston on the road. Thing is, we could actually win against Cleveland at home. Or L.A. But those are the two best teams in the league right now (pretty much all season). And they do well on the road. Still….one hopes…
Here’s the bottom line, though. I’d rather we lost a few games like that to the top two or three teams in the league than lose games we should win. Or poop out in the first round of the playoffs.
We’re the 12th best team in the league right now with our .582 winning percentage. Yet, we just beat the 7th, 8th, and 9th best teams. In a row, no less. Continuing to play like this, we should beat Memphis, Milwaukee, Toronto, Indy, Miami, Minnesota, and Philly. All of those teams are worse than us and while they present tough matchups, we’ve beaten them before. That’s 7-7 the rest of the way, and gives us a total of 47 wins. Good stuff in MY book.
The path to 50 wins? Beat Boston when they come to visit. Revenge served HOT! Beat a hurting San Antonio here at home. Beat Dallas here at time. All three games will be tough, but doable.
niremetal
March 17th, 2009
11:25 pm
Ray,
I’ll give you the same advice you gave me almost exactly a year ago, when DecDawg was going around trashing JJ and I kept letting myself get baited into arguing with him: Better to stop trying to teach pigs to sing.
doc
March 17th, 2009
11:32 pm
no najeh he is not looking smart. the blog guys that have been crying for a more creative and versatile coach that used the bench are looking smart. that means about all but one guy. thank goodness josh finally got through into woody’s head.
JOSH = MVP!
ray has just carved out the road to the elite and a few votes for woody as coy. you go guy. seems everything will meet in the middle.
darrell starks
March 17th, 2009
11:40 pm
Enter your comments here
darrell starks
March 17th, 2009
11:41 pm
GOOD WIN DEFENSE DEFENSE DEFENSE. GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ray
March 17th, 2009
11:44 pm
Sam from da Swats,
What, you can’t find them yourself? Where were you earlier in the month when I was defending Smith against over half the blog? I had his stats in several of my posts. Smith had a mostly crappy-to-average February and was in the same funk early in March, before turning it on right around the time he got into it with Woody. By the way, he had 19 and 12 WITH Marvin in the game with him. So your point is….
We have a rule around here. You want to talk stats, you do the research. It’s only been five games. Come, on. I’m sure you can do it, playa.
Just consider one thing. When we lost Josh (and later Al), it was much earlier in the season. The team had less chemistry then, and Woody wasn’t using his bench the way he is now. Do you think that makes a difference? I do. Having said that, it is harder to win without your starting center (Al Horford), or a guy who is your 2nd/3rd offensive option and one of your best defenders (Josh Smith).
Again, I feel like we win without Marvin more because we know how to do it this late in the season, and because we never really featured him so much in the offense, not because Marvin doesn’t have the capability. What if we treated him like Indy does Granger (the offense is built around him)? What then? Would it be the same? Careful, as stats don’t tell the entire story.
Sam from da Swats
March 17th, 2009
11:45 pm
Niremetal, sneak dissing is not good for you. Your ignorance is the bait. I’m just making a point. I’m happy for my team. I just hope they see the moves that need to be made for the future. We won’t go far in the playoffs if we have to play Lebron. The NBA gave him another terrible ticky tack call at the end tonight against Orlando. They’re starting that b.s. again. You know he’s going to have a license to do whatever in the playoffs. Thanks ray for the stats, just good analogies.
ray
March 17th, 2009
11:50 pm
Najeh,
It does make him look smarter, even if we’ve been hollering about it all season (and in seasons before this).
Doc,
I finally let the cat out of the bag. I’m definitely a Hawks homer.
Sam from da Swats
March 17th, 2009
11:53 pm
I’ve posted stats ray, and it still doesn’t matter. If the offense was built around Marvin, we wouldn’t be at 40 wins, I tell you that. Please ray, don’t compare Marvin to Granger. It’s no comparison. I do the research now without posting because its no use. Marvin is averaging the same thing as last year, but all I hear is this improvement. I’m done with it. Let’s just keep the win streak going, get to the playoffs, go to the second round, and watch them cheat us right and left on calls for Lebron and watch him whine when he doesn’t get a call.
otrhawksfan
March 18th, 2009
12:09 am
if i wasnt driving this truck up and down the east coast i would be there. Thank god for sirus radio and nba audio league pass. I will be there more and more next year and hopefully for a playoff game. I’m starting to see a lil more out the o lately. maybe woody has been holding back on how the hawks will score or get the mismatches he wants. Go Hawks Go!!!!
otrhawksfan
March 18th, 2009
12:13 am
by the way marvin did shut down lebron the last game with his size.
DecDawg
March 18th, 2009
1:01 am
Matt,
You rang? Don’t blame me for you not being able to take constructive criticism of JJ’s game. He has his flaws just like everyone else on the team. I just realized that you were like a groupie. And we all know groupies find it hard to see flaws in the apples of their eyes…
Ariose
March 18th, 2009
1:37 am
Didn’t see the game. I was too busy failing an Astronomy test…….well, you never know……I get to drop one anyway so it doesn’t really matter………
Anyhoo!!! Nice to see that we blew them out. I’m pretty sure the team has 50 wins on the brain at this point. I say we’re going to beat Dallas and San Antonio for sure…….Boston and LA(Lost to Philly at home tonight) are toss ups but if KG and Big Baby don’t come back, we’re going to murder them lol. Gotta beat the scrubs too, they’re alll hungry for the playoffs but it doesn’t matter we gotta handle our business.
~Sir Links A Lot~
darrell starks
March 18th, 2009
1:59 am
SAM WHATS UP with you and marvin the guy is only 22 years old and he does have potential on the up swing every year he improve his game before he couldnt shoot a three now if you notice he is good at it because in the off season he work on it give him time SAM the guy is still young and he have improve his game. GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
doc
March 18th, 2009
7:01 am
ray, we win without marvin because there are guys that can step into his position and make up for it. it isnt to say he isnt a good ball player. we dont have that capability on the bench when either josh or al go down. the bench is stronger in the 1 to 3 spots but notoriously weak in the 4 and 5 spot. jj and mo are more than capable at three, marvin is not the same player that josh is at four. you know i wonder how long it is going to take hawks fans to realize there are not many players in the nba that can come close to doing what he can do when healthy, certainly no one on this team. the dude is a bargain. al is a huge bargain. zaza is the most under rated big in the league at his pay and minutes, another bargain. not many teams have three small bigs underneath that go like these guys.
JOSH = MVP!
Macaroni Tony
March 18th, 2009
7:24 am
Hollinger Power Rankings is a big joke. I remember when the season started you had his predictions that the Bobcats would end up with a better record then us(the Hawks). Now in the rankings he still has us in the 12th spot, I don’t understand….
Great Win last night…..
I just don’t understand these writers have there one sided love for certain teams.