First blood?
The Heat have to be tired of seeing Josh Smith strike this pose!
HAWKSVILLE - We haven’t seen any in this Hawks-Heat series yet, but I can’t imagine we’ll make it another four quarters without it.
Someone has to draw first blood.
And I don’t mean the kind that comes from an accidental scratch on someone’s arm or a stray pass that cracks a guy in the mouth and causes a trickle off the side of mouth, Dracula style.
I’m talking about blood produced by a good ol’ fashioned, wicked “hard foul” served up playoff style (I keep seeing Heat backup center and wrestling superstar in waiting Jamaal Magloire in the middle of the scrum). My gut tells me we’re going to see one tonight in Game 2 at Philips Arena.
That said, no one is interested in cheap shots. That’s not at all what I’m talking about. But sooner or later you figure someone is going to catch someone else with a clean blow that draws blood (the Hawks have already handled that, figuratively, by dotting the Heat’s eye with that 26-point whippin’ Sunday night in Game 1) and the sight of that plasma will serve to inspire someone to play above and beyond their pay grade.
Forget that yarn about a series not really starting until the home team loses on its own floor. A good playoff series doesn’t start until someone gets clocked upside the head and the blood boils on both sides
There has to be some genuine disdain for each other for teams to compete at the required level to win in the postseason (the Hawks had to get their noses bloodied, figuratively, in Boston twice last year before standing up to the schoolyard bully of the league. I’m sure you remember Zaza Pachulia’s nose-to-nose with Kevin Garnett).
A slower, more physical and much more deliberate style in this series would certainly benefit the Heat, even with the great Dwyane Wade on their side. Because they showed Sunday night that allowing the Hawks, namely Josh Smith, to get to the rim unabated is bad business.
The Hawks are prepared for the increase in hand-to-hand combat. They noticed a spike in Game 1, after their lead reached 20 points and kept climbing after halftime. But that was just an appetizer for a Pat Riley-run production.
“We’re going to be ready for whatever comes our way,” Smith said. “We’re certainly not going to back down to anybody. We never have. And we’re a physical team, too.”
We’ll find out just how physical tonight, because the Heat’s goon squad will be deployed before they allow the Hawks to run wild again.
SOUTH FLORIDA REPORT
Our friends from greater Miami have been hard at work digging into the psyche of the Heat since their Game 1 meltdown and the results have been interesting (fingers have been pointed at everyone).
Miami Herald columnist Israel Gutierrez spotlighted two guys I think could sway the Heat’s fortunes in this series if they find a groove.
Palm Beach Post columnist Greg Stoda touched on Wade’s strange, second-half disappearance in Game 1, a complete departure for the league’s leading scorer. Don’t expect an encore.
Sun-Sentinel columnist Dave Hyde has two nice hits, one on “Udonis Beasley” and another on the unique connection between Al Horford and his father Tito Horford.
LAY OFF THE YOUNG FELLA
Being the keen observer of player development that I am, I’ve noticed the similarity in the way Michael Beasley is viewed, treated and examined by folks in Miami and the way Josh Smith was, is and continues to be viewed, treated and examined around here.
And it’s the same foolishness being mistaken for true player development around the league. The last time I checked, the Heat picked Beasley because they were in the lottery and not the other way around.
The fact is, when you spend all your time focusing on what a guy does that you don’t like, you conveniently ignore all the things they do well. And Beasley’s a marvelous offensive talent with an ability to both score and rebound at an incredibly high rate when he’s allowed to just play. But judging from his season stats and all the stuff written about his up and down rookie year, you’d think he was some project instead of one of the best pure talents to come out of the draft in recent years.
All this hand-wringing being done over Beasley’s immaturity, supposedly on and off the floor, is a colossal waste of time. The Heat would be better off letting the young fella play a little bit and correcting his mistakes constructively while also benefiting from the unique blend of skills he brings to their team (a team, mind you, that was in dire need of all of the above this time a year ago).
But instead, in true NBA fashion, folks are busy trashing the kid’s name, game and reputation in the name of “breaking him down to build him back up.” I know that routine and the dues-paying system that is supposed to be in place. And like I always have, I think it stinks.
That’s also why I love what Thunder general manager Sam Presti is doing with his youngsters in Oklahoma City. Sure, there’s plenty Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook have to to learn. Allowing them to do it in an environment where they can play to their potential and through their mistakes is much more sound in the long run than that “old school” approach. The Thunder’s method should be the blueprint and the rule rather than the exception.
SELLOUT BLUES …
Much has been made about the Hawks’ spirited campaign to sell out tonight’s game, and for good reason. The Hawks rarely get the national stage to themselves, so when they do, they want to make a good impression.
And for the record, Sunday’s crowd in Game 1 was fantastic. But there’s cache with a packed-to-the-rafters arena that the Hawks simply cannot claim on a consistent basis. Our esteemed friend and blog regular Stoned Mountain (he doesn’t post as much but he emails me with his thoughts regularly) offered up his own view of the Hawks’ predicament a few minutes ago. I’ll leave you with his thoughts (which are sure to be controversial to some):
Interesting that the Hawks don’t sell out, and in fact don’t get talked about much. The reason is pretty straight forward, I think.
What the Hawks do best is not crowd pleasing here.
At the game Sunday I found myself the only person around me applauding defense – grabbing rebounds, steals, forcing the opponent to exhaust the shot clock. Team work ain’t a big hit here. The only thing that interrupted their chatter was the occasional Josh dunk. Hitting 3’s gets polite applause but not ovations. They get a little excited at a steal and break away, mostly because they think a dunk is coming.
Not ’til late in the game, when the verdict is in doubt, do they get animated.
Certain teams get them excited – the Celtics and Kobe and LeBron.
But DWade and his sidekicks don’t do it.
Not a basketball town.
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504 comments Add your comment
That foul is OFFENSIVE!!!
April 22nd, 2009
5:12 pm
I’ll be cheering in Section 318, where the DIE-HARD (and BROKE) fans dwell!!!
Let’s hope the boo-birds come out in force again tonight whenever dee waid has the ball!!
LET’S GO HAWKS!!!
Melvin
April 22nd, 2009
5:14 pm
David, you may want to try purchasing your tix thru ticketmaster before searching on stubhub. stubhub are generally resales which most are sold for profit… Just a FYI…
Dante Fitzgerald
April 22nd, 2009
5:14 pm
Ay,ay,aY… Goin 2 da game!!!!! Its gonna be anotha Slam dunk contest!!!
Melvin
April 22nd, 2009
5:16 pm
Samuel, i purchase some thru ticketmaster that way and i didn’t have a problem…
cheese
April 22nd, 2009
5:17 pm
hawks fans are not as passionate. a couple of months ago visited the bay area in california and went to a warriors game. it was a regular season game on a friday night against the sixers. the arena was full. the atmosphere was like a playoff atmosphere compared to the hawks. it seemed like everyone had a warriors jersey, t-shirt, sweater, or hat on. but here its just casual people wearing casual clothes. they dont need ryan cameron to lead on the cheers while the people in the seats lead. the warriors didnt even win 30 games and look at how much support that team gets compared to our hawks. stoned mountain is right, this just is not a basketball town. only if the hawks make it to the playoffs. just imagine if we brought that atmosphere every night during the regular season, i bet the hawks would have just a good home record as the cavs.
bigjohnhawksfan
April 22nd, 2009
5:19 pm
doc: agreed about the diverse crowd. Practically everyone around me during game 1 was Chinese!
And they cheered and booed as loudly as I did. I’ll take serious foreign (overseas) transplants over the lame domestic (other NBA cities) transplants (and night club crowd) anyday!!
是亚特兰大鹰 (”GO ATLANTA HAWKS!!!”)
scottbravesfan
April 22nd, 2009
5:28 pm
Atlanta is not a basketball town. It’s a football and baseball town. Look at this blog there are 51 replies during a day when there is a playoff game. Now go click on the Braves blog and see how many posts are on there during a time when the team is playing like crap and there is supposed fan blog boycott. The fans are trying to boycott the team since it’s playing so bad that they do not deserve a blog even though there have still been over 500 replies to it. The Braves blogs get 1500 to 2000 replies on average. The Hawks? Not so much. Even the Falcons blog doesn’t get anywhere near that many replies.
The problem with the city of Atlanta as a basketball town is this. Local white people on average just do not care about the NBA. You might get them interested in college but they have a negative perception of the NBA and somewhat rightfully so. And if you meet a white NBA fan in Atlanta they most likely are from somewhere like New England or New York and root for the Knicks or the Celtics. Black people on average do not support their hometown teams, at least not in Atlanta. They support the Braves more so than the Hawks and Falcons but there are even a lot of black Red Sox fans that show up when Boston is at Turner Field, which is funny because the Red Sox are one of the most racist franchises in the history of sports.Most of this group were Bull fans in the 1990s and now they switch between Laker, Celtics, and Cavs. I have seriously seen the same black person wear a Paul Pierce Celtics jersey to the Boston game and then when the Cavs are in town he shows up wearing a Lebron jersey and rooting for the Cavs. This happens a lot and more so among black fans than any other segment of the population that I have seen. Why? I have no idea? Not saying we don’t have good white and black fans but those are the observations that I have seen as an Atlanta sports fan who cheers for the Hawks, Braves, Falcons, and Thrashers.
scottbravesfan
April 22nd, 2009
5:30 pm
Samuel,
I have bought tickets through ticketmaster and then printed them out at my house it’s always worked fine.
the real OLD GOLD
April 22nd, 2009
5:37 pm
Wade got a college type constant loud “BOOOO” non-stop whenever he even touched the ball. The fans were pumped and talking much trash before, during and after the game with every heat fan in sight. I think Atlanta is as much a basketball town as any, but it’s also a smart sports city. The braves had to win to prove it, the Falcons will have to continue to win to prove it, and the Hawks need a deep playoff run, and the fans will come around. NOW YOU KNOW! GO HAWKS!
theArsonist
April 22nd, 2009
5:56 pm
Most of the Hawks fans now are nothing more than bandwagon. I had two people tell me to sit down because they couldn’t see do to my excessive fanhood. Like that was my problem. I have been a fan and partial season ticket holder since 85. It’s been 20 years since the hawks have had the city this excited and you expect me to sit down? Thats why people think atlanta is a pathetic sports town.
BTW, maybe someone could let us know where Randy Wittman, Jon Battle, Jon Koncak, Antoine Carr, Cliff “Good News” Levingston, Scott Hastings and Anthony Webb are these days. It’d be nice to see the Hawks invite them all down to a playoff game and let us show our appreciation. And if they can find those guys perhaps they can find the dread head who wore the tricolored hat who sat by the Hawks entrance during the OMNI days. And what was the sportscasters name from that time who always said “Bullseye!” ?
theArsonist
April 22nd, 2009
5:59 pm
@scottbravesfan, I’m black and i have never worn any jersey that didnt have the hawks, falcons, braves, flames, or thrashers logo on it.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 22nd, 2009
6:03 pm
“the true hawks fans that have been down forever sit in sections 113-117 (majority of long time season ticket holders).. they applaud Defense, offensive rebounds, etc”
Uh… you can catch me in section 412 tonight, same as Game 1, cheering on the good box-outs and defensive rotations.
Just because poor people like me can’t afford 100-level playoff tickets doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate the game or that we are not long-time fans.
I agree with most of the rest of what you said though…
tbhawksfan
April 22nd, 2009
6:41 pm
What a blog, the first part is crying for blood, the next part illiciting sympathy for the young millionaires. Pathetic and pathetic.
If Mia resorts to physical bball, OK. Why didn’t they bring it out in game one? Why is Mr. Smith stirring the crowed into a feeding frenzy with the sugestion of flowing blood. Then he gets all soft and sweet with the nurturing coaching style.
Hey, Cat, choose an emotional button and stick with it. Don’t jump from one emotional stimulus to another. it gets either confusing or superficial. Is it blood or love, I’m confused? Oh, it’s just Bball being marketed by the local media biatche.
Boy, I’m in for it now.
UGA
April 22nd, 2009
6:54 pm
GO HAWKS!!
Let’s get up 2-0!!
KevinA
April 22nd, 2009
7:56 pm
6 minutes away lol. This house is pumped up and ready to rock. Let’s kick some boooooodiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Kyle
April 22nd, 2009
8:11 pm
is it just me…or is every one of our starters better than their starters sans Wade? Like We are a much better team than they are
Lacsho
April 22nd, 2009
8:16 pm
Damn only Atlanta has a wild Hawk flying around the court.
Melvin
April 22nd, 2009
8:16 pm
The Hawk Spirit has stole the show…
Lacsho
April 22nd, 2009
8:20 pm
I hear you Mel. We need to pick up the pace. I don’t like this slow pace.
Melvin
April 22nd, 2009
8:21 pm
Hawks off to a slow start. Too many jumpers to start the game..
Kyle
April 22nd, 2009
8:21 pm
with the dunk JJJJJJJJJJJJoe Johnson
Sautee
April 22nd, 2009
8:21 pm
First team to 70 wins?
Wabe
April 22nd, 2009
8:21 pm
What was up with the Hawk flying around Philips?
Lacsho
April 22nd, 2009
8:22 pm
WOW JJ GOT A SLAM!!!
Melvin
April 22nd, 2009
8:22 pm
Joe Johnson serves up a facial on Jermaine O’neal… That was nasty Joe….
Melvin
April 22nd, 2009
8:23 pm
Agreed Lacsho. The Heat is trying to slow the game down so DWade can go one on one every possession…
Lacsho
April 22nd, 2009
8:23 pm
They need to pick up the defense intensity, and force some turnovers.
bigdave
April 22nd, 2009
8:23 pm
yuck… joe wit da yolk…!!!
fell ugly though… was supposed to be an AND 1…
bigdave
April 22nd, 2009
8:26 pm
WTF… THATS A T!!
bigdave
April 22nd, 2009
8:28 pm
WTF!!! TOUCH FOULS ON US…
freshd
April 22nd, 2009
8:29 pm
Where are all the hawks fans? All I see are empty seats. It”s not a good look for national TV. I know Kenny Smith and Sir Charles are gonna kill the hawks fans. These are the playoffs.
Lacsho
April 22nd, 2009
8:29 pm
Looks like Wade is going to get a lot of calls tonight.
Melvin
April 22nd, 2009
8:30 pm
Mo has 2 quick fouls. Will we see Super Mario get some mins to harrass DWade….
Sautee
April 22nd, 2009
8:30 pm
It’s starting in spades for the touch foul calls. Stern must have texted the refs during the last time out.
Brandon
April 22nd, 2009
8:33 pm
if thats Danny Crawford out there Dwayne Wade is sure to get a majority of the calls.
bigdave
April 22nd, 2009
8:34 pm
HOW IS THAT A FOUL ON JOSH?
DrewCat
April 22nd, 2009
8:34 pm
The offense really needs to pick up. Maybe Flip can get going in Game 2 after a sub par Game 1
Lacsho
April 22nd, 2009
8:35 pm
Here we go Mel
Brandon
April 22nd, 2009
8:36 pm
Josh Smith is carrying the Hawks right now…
bigdave
April 22nd, 2009
8:38 pm
SLAP HIM MARIO…!!!
Sekou Smith
April 22nd, 2009
8:40 pm
The loose Hawk has to be the funniest thing I’ve seen all year. Classic Philips Arena moment if there ever was one.
Macaroni Tony
April 22nd, 2009
8:40 pm
the nba wants to see a lebron and wade matchup. WE’RE not getting any calls. And we’re at home.
Interested Observer
April 22nd, 2009
8:42 pm
Intergrity of the game > Television Ratings…many of these calls are going DWade’s and the Heat’s way. Hawks need to bring the intensity to start quarter number 2.
bigdave
April 22nd, 2009
8:46 pm
SEE WE HAVE TO HAMMER THEM… THEY DONT GIVE US ANYTHING EASY… HAMMER THEM..
Lacsho
April 22nd, 2009
8:46 pm
Ryan Cameron needs to get the crowd going. Damn can we get a little music in Phillips. It’s like the Hawks are playing in a library or a museum.
Sautee
April 22nd, 2009
8:51 pm
Now we’re starting to compete at their level of intensity.
Thanks Zaza.
Lacsho
April 22nd, 2009
8:51 pm
Man Beasly is going to be a beast. I like what Bibby is doing, and Woody finally calls a timeout.
Melle Mel I agree with you we need to throw super mario in. I’m a little worried b/c everyone is going one on one. We play our best ball when we get at least three passes before the shot.
Melvin
April 22nd, 2009
8:52 pm
They gave the Hawks a few token calls at the start of the game but DWade is getting all the calls now…
freshd
April 22nd, 2009
8:53 pm
The hawks need to bring up the energy, they”re playing like the heat are gonna roll over for them. If they don”t watch out the refs will turn this series to MIAMI, because the NBA wants to see D-WADE AND JAMES.
Lacsho
April 22nd, 2009
8:54 pm
Smoove needs to get his damn head in the game, and stop dribbling. I hate to say this, but Smoove cannot guard Beasly.