Do they have anything left?

just too much freedom in our bigs game…

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With 5:56 left in the 3rd quarter two things happened. (1)Lebron James scored his 41st point and (2) I stopped watching. Cleveland’s HC double teamed JJ the entire gm. Yet, our dumb “A” HC allowed LJames to score at will without making a single adjustment.

Teams know our DEF strategy and how simple it is to take advantage of it. They simply run a pick and roll to force a switch and cause a mismatch. Once they’ve caused the mismatch, they clear out and let their PG/SG go one on one against our C/PF. Once our BIG is beaten, we’re usually left with a combination of Bibby, JJ, Evans or Flip to defend the basket, which explains the constant unchallenged layups. How many times did we give help to our BIGS by double teaming and forcing a pass out of the double team? Why was Josh Smith, our top shotblocker, as well as Zaza and Horford on the perimeter trying to defend LJames? With Horford playing hurt and Zaza getting ejected, why did SJones only get 1min of playing time?

WOODSON DIDN’T EVEN ATTEMPT TO COACH, MAKE ADNUSTMENTS, EMPLOY ANY STRATEGY OR PUT HIS TEAM IN A POSITION TO WIN. Hell, I’m through, and all of you Woodson supporters can take that sorry excuse of a HC and shove him down the toilet.

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Do they have anything left? who the HAWKS…me myself…i never thought they had anything at all when the HAWKS GM let his best player go overseas at the end of last season…HAWKS FANS get over it… GOOD GAME LBJ

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awww… good ole’ Steve Holman… “I’m Dewayne Waaaadee, I do commercials”….

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Lebron 16 free throws, Cleveland team 29, Hawks 11, and I don’t want to hear the Hawks weren’t going to the hole, because they were for the most part.

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i was at the game i sat in row 214 man it was crazy the hawks cant play any d i thought it looked bad on tv bron pullin up for 50 foot 3 pointers like hes at the free throw line josh smith cant hit a open jumper if his mamas life depeneded on it when josh got the ball its liek the cavs team went to the bench leaves him open and he misse sit every time boy u suck go cavs

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THE HAWKS BENCH DID BETTER THEN THE STARTING 5…

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know what really sucks is to hear these cleveland fans on here ohh what does Steve Holman callem ohh Front runners come on here like they a die hard Cleveland fan or something go find some pride some dignity you f*******g losers!

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Chris from Tampa …THE HAWK IS WALKING..HIS WINGS GOT CLIP..MAYBE YOU NEED TO FOLLOW..LOL

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I’ve played for years in first league in Poland. Since I was a kid, I always looked up to the NBA. Since a couple of years, I am living in Atlanta, because my husband had to come here for his work. I was glad to be able to follow the NBA from close now.

I am trying to get my daughters to enjoy the great game of basketball. And they do. As part of their basketball education, we support them to watch the NBA games. We talk to them, show them, explain to them that the calls don’t go every time the way they would like, when they play their games. The professional games are a good source to learn…. we thought.

Now they are already a bit older and they get more understanding of what is going on. They know the game well enough to see what is being called.

My husband already refused looking at any NBA games since game 2 in Cleveland. Today, my oldest daughter went to her room, upset, vowing she would never watch another NBA game again.

We, my husband and I, can’t blame her. She has had her share of bad calls in her young career, getting hurt, not being called a foul. The youngest one has had her part of bad calls too. Isn’t it a sign on the wall that even at those levels of mid and high school the officiating is so biased?

So what do you do as a parent, believing in the “Great NBA”, explaining your kids they can learn something by watching the game of the pro’s? At this moment, I am ashamed. I can’t explain to my daughters anymore to have respect to the officials. How is it possible to allow such a bad officiating?
My husband already resigned during the first quarter of game 2, today, my oldest daughter resigned in the third quarter.

Having read some of the comments on this blog, I am flabbergasted. Who does that Atlanta King guy think he is? Who does Mr. Lebron James thinks he is? He gets the foul called on him and yet is not satisfied. The refs allow (help) one team and are against the other.

My girls have, in their young career, already had their share of unfair calls. Now they see the same thing happening in what we always thought off as to be the “College of Basketball”. Don’t you commentators sometimes look back at how the “Dream” and other less successful teams, even the “Redeem Team” had to adhere to “NORMAL” officiating? A foul is a foul, a travel is a travel, etc. No discrimination if you are an NBA King or an unknown European player.

Shame on your commissioner of the NBA, I think Mr. Stern? Is he the only guy who calls the rules?
In every European country I’ve played, I know the referees are under control of a separate commission. Who is checking on the referees in the NBA? The ones who pay them, the likes of the so called, self proclaimed, by the media supported superstars, the kinds of Dwayne Wade, Kobe Bryant, and not to forget self proclaimed King Lebron James (the commercial with his throne is really over the top!!).

Even the national broadcasting channels can’t keep a neutral position. During both the play-off series the Atlanta Hawks have been playing, the only commercials and most of the interviews were of the opposing team. Why??? I can’t tell my daughters anymore it’s because the Atlanta Hawks didn’t make their name yet. They tell me, “But Mom, they finished 4th in the Eastern, so they can’t be that bad!”

Sure, they notice bad plays. They shiver when they see Josh Smith take a jumper (don’t we all??).
They notice when they come out flat! BUT THEY ALSO NOTICE WHEN THE OFFICIALS OF THE GREAT NBA ARE NOT DOING THEIR JOB!!!

Can anyone on this blog please tell me how I can explain to my kids they have to show respect to the referees when they play, when they see the same man in gray and black turning a game around like it has been happening the whole play-offs? And no, I am not just talking about the games against the Hawks. Other games have been and are directed in certain directions by the officiating. Do they do it on their own account? I don’t think so, because the crew is never the same. So it must be directed from above!

To Mr. Stern (please AJC, forward this comment to them, I don’t know their address), stop this manipulation – return to clean games! Let the best win, without interference of referees, other than the following the rules. The last few games I, and with me my family, have seen are a disgrace! All that is shown is a conspiracy to have certain players in the next round to have the most of commercial income. Not to show your youth that everyone can be a champion – no, your champions are determined by their commercial (read advertisement) value. The real idea of sportsmanship and the weaker who can pull themselves to a higher level is ridiculed with this showcase of NBA play-offs. I am following them already a couple of years, but I’ve never seen it so obvious as this year. I dare you to respond in all openness. I hope you will, but at the same time, I am pretty sure you won’t. Close your eyes for what is happening, you’ll take the money at this moment. Just don’t be surprised when in a couple of weeks, months. maybe even years, you see more and more reasonable people dropping out. I can’t believe that the real fans of the great game of basketball can take this any longer.

Please respond, if you think you have nothing to blame yourself about. I am waiting in anticipation.
Please explain to the youth of your county how it is that the rules apply to “almost” all the players the same way. Please explain to my daughter why she can get beaten up during the game, while the kinds of Dwayne Wade and King LBJ can get away with travels (cha-cha-cha’s and foxtrots are the most popular amongst the NBA it seems), double dribbles, fouls, arguing obnoxiously to the referees, while other (the normal kinds like a Zaza Pachula) get thrown out of the game because they just try to defend their case after having been bullied by the opponent and the referees the whole night.

I welcome all comments (well, not the mean and vulgar ones like some on this blog) so I can share with my kids.

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Sorry – Had to give my wife a go at some comments.
cleveland.con => that last part indeed spells it all out! You’re a bunch of “con’s”, paying Mr Stern Big Money so you can have a championship for the first time ever!!
cee => did you really watch the game? our guys were attacking! The only problem was they either got called for “phantom” turnovers (most of the time) or for offensive fouls (hmm, never seen sooo many offensive fouls called against one team, while the same standards don’t seem to apply to the other team – oh, I forgot, don’t look, don’t breath at the King, and certainly, don’t let there be any skin contact – he might get bruised! so you must be punished!!) And if a ref dared to call something against the King or his team, did you notice how he bullied them? To bad we hadn’t sound, but I am pretty certain he was threatening them with a pay cutt!!

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Don’t Get Your Hopes Up …..PLEASE…YOU GUYS NEVER STOOD A CHANCE AND YOU KNOW IT

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The bottom line is:

1) We are the worst team in these playoffs. We have no chance of beating any of these teams. We are such a poor team that we probably couldn’t beat 25 current teams in the NBA on the road.

2) This team is horribly constructed.

3) Woodson just wants Bibby back because he knows that with this same pathetic core we’ll win 43 games or so next year and the year after, so Woodson will retain his job

4) Let fat Bibby walk. THE GUY DOES NOTHING BESIDES SHOOT THREES. NAME 1 THING HE DOES BESIDES SHOOT 3S. sign Raymond Felton for cheap. Trade “Offenseless” Horford and trash for a big like Bosh. Keep Josh and Joe. Let Duck walk. he sucks

5) Recap: Bibby is fat and plays no defense. Let Duck walk and trade Horford, who is rail-thin and isn’t even a good defender. Would’ve been better off taking ugly Joakim Noah who has a 29 foot wingspan and is just as emotional a player

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WANDA SYKES was killin’ at the WHC dinner tonite. if you wanna laugh go to CSPAN.ORG for daggers thrown wanda-style!!!LOL

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If we keep this same starting 5 next year, I seriously will consider ceasing my fanhood for this club. Marvin and Bibby and even Al are not good enough to lead us anywhere.

SUND DO SOMETHING

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It’s really pathetic the direction this team is headed in.

1) We have no ownership plan, and they have no money

2) Our coach says the right things, but no one on the team respects / listens to him

3) We are scared to death of Cleveland, as no one on this team is willing to commit a hard foul

4) No player on this team scares anyone on any other team. This team is flooded with quiet, talented, and young players. We have no veteran leader and no player who will scare other teams (didn’t I say this?). This really is pathetic. All our !@#$ing owners care about is keeping this same pathetic core. Marvin was #2 overall–really? Averaging 14 ppg in his 4th season and getting 40 mpg? That’s b*!!sh*t — absolutely pathetic. Get Chris Bosh or Amare in here soon

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Nick from Cleveland …..enough said…thank you

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About tonight’s game… first of all, LeBron James is one of the two greatest athletes I have ever seen in person (Michael Vick being the other). There is no other player in the league, not even Kobe, that could do all the things LeBron did tonight. The Hawks were nowhere near perfect tonight, but even if they were, I doubt that LeBron would have allowed his team to lose. I developed a healthy dislike of Dwhine Dwyane Wade in the first round, due to his tendency to depend overly on questionable foul calls drawn as a result of his constant whining in order to take control of the game. But I can’t say anything bad about LeBron. The guy is just incredible. Straight up.

That said, Ken Strickland had a fantastic post at 11:50 that illustrated one huge mismatch in tonight’s game: Mike Brown vs. Mike Woodson. Brown’s strategy, to take advantage of the Hawks’ tendency to switch so that he could get his best offensive player (LeBron) isolated on the Hawks’ worst defender (Bibby) worked to perfection over and over again, and Woodson did absolutely nothing to stop it. I’m still convinced LeBron would have found a way to take over this game regardless, but the Hawks certainly could have made it much harder on him.

Besides that, losing Zaza in the 3rd quarter was a huge blow, because he’s really the only guy who can compete with Cleveland’s posse of long, tall big men for rebounds. Without him in the game the Hawks were just overmatched on the boards, and John Hollinger says as much in the Daily Dime on ESPN.com today.

I see that a lot of commenters watching the game on TV are blaming the refs. I’ll admit I had one of the worst seats in the house (about as far up as you can go right behind the goal) but I didn’t think the refs affected the game all that much. They definitely weren’t as bad as they were during the Miami series. Most of LeBron’s most momentum-swinging plays came on jumpshots from long range, not from driving to the hoop, and really the only egregious call I can remember is Zaza’s ejection (a technical was warranted, but that was way too quick to give him a double tech). The Cavs’ length inside was too much for the Hawks to handle, and I really can’t say enough about how good their overall team defense is. The Hawks had to work for every shot inside of 15 feet, and it didn’t help that they started panicking as the game went along and started relying more on jumpers.

Realistically this series is probably over in four. I can’t see the Cavs allowing the Hawks to steal that game, especially now that they smell blood in this series, and not after the demoralizing way in which the Hawks lost today. I picked the Cavs to win the NBA Finals before the playoffs started, and I haven’t seen anything so far that leads me to reconsider that prediction.

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Cavaliers fan hear. Hawks fans chill out. I read your blog to get a pulse of your city and feel for your team. Too much ref blaming. Instead disect your team. Why does Josh Smith take the open 3 when given to him instead of driving? Why doesn’t Bibby drive more often like Stuckey and your Tech alum Will Bymun did so effectively for the Pistons last round? Mo Williams is one our defensive liablities which aren’t many but your coach has failed to utilize this to his advatage. No Acie Law? Why not? I’m sure he plays better D than Bibby at the point. Why does it look like Flip Murray is the second best player on the Hawks besides JJ? I surely know better but this it is not a good look when Flip is your second best performer on a roster full of 1st and 2nd round draft picks. Its also clear that your fans truly don’t know how good Lebron and the Cavs are. The things Lebron is doing is no surprise to Cleveland fan. He does these things on a nightly basis. Also no player takes a much physical abuse as this young man. Look at how many times he drives to the hoop and get no call even though there is always contact when he drives. Players are not fast enough to get position on him and the refs swallow the whistle because they don’t know how to call the game on a player moving a fast as Lebron the size of Lebron. He’s so strong that most refs don’t think he is being fouled. This has been well documented, but as a Cavs fan and a NBA fan I’m used to no-calls. The Cavs decided to hang their hat on defense to overcome these shortcomings from the refs and it works. If we shut you down then the scoring will eventually come.
Like it or not Hawks fans its a learning and growing process. The Cavs went thru it. This is the Cavaliers 4th straight year in the playoffs and all four years we made it at least to the 2nd round. The Hawks are still learning and you have to be patient and grow with them and stop whining about the refs. Play hard and put yourself in a position that the refs won’t matter. Tell them that this is the playoffs and in each round physical play goes up another notch. The Hawks seemed ill-prepared for the intensity level. I’ts not just our series, look at the others. You will see blood, ejections, flagrants, questionable calls and debilitating injuries. I live in Cleveland and is a Cavs fan but I’ve always liked the Hawks and the city of Atlanta. Despite what some posters have said I would not mind at all living in the ATL. Nice Woman to man ratio. I could get with that. You have some fine looking women there. I have family there and always have had a good time visiting your city. My Mom was born there so its all good. Atl keep ya head up your team has a bright future!

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4-0 bring on the magics please , i’m bored.

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Biggest bunch of babies I have ever come across.
We have been on the other side of this coin ourselves for a long time, and accepted it with a lot more class than most of you.
Hawks have a very good young team, and with time and better coaching who knows? The Cave are one of the best teams in the NBA at the present time. To blame this series on the refs shows a lack of basketball knowledge, and frankly reveals an embarrassing lack of maturity.

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PONY ST:

Go soak your head braggart. No respect here. Lets see your response with LaBRON in N.Y.

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ready for the last spanking hawks?

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To: le brown james The King of Atlanta

You’re comments aren’t funny. They are lame. You are so giddy and happy. But they say ignorance is bliss. Proof: You are exhibit A.

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interesting game to witness last night. crowd did their best to inject some life into our guys but the shots would not go down. if they had lebron’s great night would have gone for naught. a lot of cavs’ fans there, but easily overcome by the noise of the home crowd.

as far as the refs there is no competitive balance and that is what destroys the game of the NBA in the end. you have to only shake your head and wonder why when it comes to crunch time they see a different game. yes i am pulling for the hawks, in three days i will no longer have them to pull for and frankly will pull for the cavs. if that occurs i will still see some of the lop sided officiating and smile.

zaza is cool he admits to the i in he, maybe over reacted. it was a terrible call and one that reminds me of an ole ploy in tag team where the two masked monsters get in the ring and double team the good guy while the official is distracted by some third party, the manager. in the NBA the manager is stern. zaza was being grabbed by varijou from the back while being run over by a mack truck in front. sadly, woody didnt come to his aide even to the press by saying, “if what he told me happened maybe he had a beef, i’ll check it and get back with you”. did anyone hear hubie the other night when he said as a coach he stood up for his guys? zaza didnt throw a swing, showed some passion and was clearly correct in his “admonitions” of the ref.

so as far as lebron? he was stupendous and it was one of his best games ever. he was unbelievable. gosh that guy just flips a 30 footer up as easy as he does a dunk and with as much precision. the cavs themselves played mediocre. i applaud lebron and he is going into “tiger” land. unfortunately, unlike tiger who does it on his own lebron has help in the officials. there is no way someone 6′9″ and 265 pounds that is at the lead of almost everything can be so sly as to play in 7 playoff games and end up with 8 fouls total for the 7 games and one of them is because he deliberately fouled to do a queen’s exit.

doubt chills would have stopped him but a longer arm might have changed the trajectory a bit and would have preferred it over the season. in the same breath like the effort brought by mo in his own way. wish there had been the ability to compromise and get chill here in addition to the flip mo squad. in the end it would not have advanced us further and that has to be the subject going further. teams on the rise take a few years to materialize. question is, what are the major parts to keep and what are the moving parts going forward? guess we have about 5 months to discuss it. ray and kirk alluded to it the other day. i repeat kirk’s view, we all will have our favorites so the summer will be developed around each of us arguing what their fave five will be. maybe that is the start of a blog in the near future … what will your fave five look like for the hawks next year?

so the grand season is coming to a close soon. would only hope we get the same type of desire from our guys on monday as the cavs may be sleeping and let one get away from them. there was effort but clearly outlebronned last night. we are not at full speed and nice to see the whole of the team on the court for one last time as it may be the end of their run as made up by bk. there may only be a mere resemblance to this years model when 2009-20010 season starts. i am committed and tix are bought. great effort by these guys as they didnt come up short in any way in my book this year.

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