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
O'brien
March 20th, 2009
7:49 am
Ken Strickland, I was thinking the same thing. Woody went back to his old self. And this game would have been much closer if Dallas shot halfway decent from 3 (they shot 6-31), and they had good looks.
The last few games the Hawks looked good when he utilized their bench more, but he didnt tonight, and I dont know why. Bibby didnt have a good game, so he could have played Acie more, and Mario always disrupts the other team’s rhythm, so when the Mavs made a run in the 3rd, he could have brought Mario in.
Ray, what’s up with Josh trying to lead the fast break? I dont think that’s going to work in the playoffs. Too many turnovers.
That being said, great homestand for the Hawks. It’s going to be tough to win in Cleveland playing against Lebron (who gets all the calls), and the Cavs are 32-1 at home. The players need to step it up for Saturday, and Woody needs to step it up.
doc
March 20th, 2009
8:50 am
not enough speed in the lineup to keep up with him o’b. simple equation. he over expressed himself but those types of moments super charge the team only he has to realize he was handicapped by his coach insisting on bibby playing big minutes. acie must have done a very bad thing on the court last night to have gotten the hook so quickly and sent to the gallows. yup woody tensed up and his sphincter tine brought out woody and his best or worst, yes they won so who is to complain right? sometimes i think josh is too talented for this team and coach. that is also the type of stuff that brought out the explosion in josh the the other night. the guy is not a mule but he looks around and there are nothing but mules on the court to play with. he has to realize it and slow down with the rest of them because that is the way woody wants it. woody is a simple farmer wanting to slowly till the land.
JOSH = MVP!
ILL-logical
March 20th, 2009
9:30 am
Reading “Sunshine” Shultz’s column this morning called to mind a trend that has been re-occuring over the last 5 years in the Atlanta media: Francouering young sports figures.
Remember how Jeff Francouer was the second coming of Babe Ruth? well now we know that the kid was and is a decent ballplayer who,now that the pressure to replace Andruw Jones as the statistical leader of the Braves is off,can be what he is: decent.
And remember the enshrinement of Keith Brookings into Canton? Well that certainly turned out well. Of course the motive there was to assuage the anti Vick folks that one of “their kind” was really the star of the Falcons.
Now comes the crowning of second year pro Al horford as “the leader” of the Hawks. First, since there are no home grown talents or “our kind of people” on the Hawks ,someone had to qualify. But the question raised by this pronouncement is compared to who?
Is it the putive hero Joe? Or is it the one who “has lingering questions ” about what he is?
Allow me to cut to the chase: Al don’t fall for the BS; you are a good player in a not good organization located in a town that ,while starved for a winner, still wants a certain look for its heros. The scapegoating of players like Andruw,Vick and now Josh is no accident. You are just a means to an end, a mean and nasty end added and abetted by people like Sunshine because they can’t do any better.
Beware the idiots of March!
I MUS.WRITE
March 20th, 2009
10:06 am
Hawksta… You were’nt hearing things NIQUE actually said “Shot their wadd” Its not the first time either, I pointed that out last year and folks were saying ….”O its just Nique being Nique he didnt mean it like that” Really- How ever he meant it he should clean that up their are little kids watching and I wouldnt want to be the parent that has to explain what a WADD is……..Come on Nique.
While im on the subject If you are getting paid to commentate games atleast try to get the dam names right …..Can sumone tell me who Dirt Nowitsi is jeezuz
Terrel – U right on the muney -if Marvin was’nt hurt Mario and Acie wouldnt even sniff the court.
Sautee
March 20th, 2009
10:16 am
Enjoyed going to the game last night. Great to meet Ando, jhan and MannyT in person, and hang out a little. Big Ray and doc were there as well. A regular “bloggers reunion” at the Highlight Factory.
Clyde, we looked for you at halftime. Maybe Horford had too many blocked shots?
Just kidding, man, sorry we missed you.
Woody DID seem to revert to his old self with the bench (or lack of it). At least we won, but that’s a troubling sign.
We played NO defense in the first quarter. Dallas was going inside and KILLIN” us. Luckily, they started falling in love with missed jumpers.
Yes, we held them under 90 points, but I never saw the defensive intensity I hoped to see. You know, the kind we’ll need to win playoff games.
Ken Strickland
March 20th, 2009
12:10 pm
OBRIAN-I’ve always tried to be equitable and give praise when it’s due, and grief when it’s warranted. That’s why when I feel Woodson has stepped up and performed all of the duties of a HC, I give him praise. As you should know by now, I certainly give him grief when he doesn’t.
But the truth is, he’s a creature of habit and conditioning and just isn’t comfortable operating outside of his comfort zone. So when he’s pressured, or feels pressured, he reverts back to old habits, conditioning and/or comfort zone. That’s the only explaination I can come up with that would explain his unwillingness to maintain a style of play, an extended rotation and strategies that have been proven to benefit the Hawks and has consistently gotten positive results over the last few yrs. He seems far more comfortable operating a slowdown one dimensional style of OFF, favoring and overplaying his veteran players, making limited adjustments, refusing to develop and then ignoring his bench no matter how inconsistently the team might be playing or struggling under his perferred approach.
When the pressure of inconsistent play and team struggles become too much for him to deal with, he blames the players and/or the lack of DEF. He then seems to withdraw and start relying almost exclusively on his preferred veteran players, rides their backs until they’re exhausted and lashes out at the younger players and uses their mistakes to justify his attitude towards them. At some point, the players start to balk at the way Woodson is dealing with them and the situation, and a blowup between he and a player usually occurs, and/or a player only meeting takes place. Player only meetings are called because it’s awfully hard to include your HC in an attempt to correct team problems when the HC is the major problem. IT DOESN’T BODE WELL FOR A HC WHEN THE ONLY TIME HE CAN COACH HIS TEAM TO PLAYING AND WINNING CONSISTENTLY IS IF HE’S FORCED TO COACH OUTSIDE HIS COMFORT ZONE DUE TO THE INJURY OF A MAJOR PLAYER OR TWO, AND/OR THERE’S A MAJOR BLOWUP WITH A PLAYER.