Archive for November, 2009

What’s up?

Hope all are well and enjoying the last day of Thanksgiving break. Looks pretty good for the Hawks this afternoon, you’d think. Detroit is without Rip Hamilton,  Tayshaun Prince and most likely Ben Gordon and have lost seven in a row.

Nothing is beyond possible in the NBA – remember Golden State beating Dallas on the road with six guys last week. Every team on a losing streak has to win at some point, and all that. But this would look like a game you’d think the Hawks can go for the kill early and play the second unit.

I’m actually on my way to the Falcons game helping out Darryl Ledbetter, so I don’t think I’ll be on much, but will be curious to read what you all have to say.

Happy armchair coaching!

Continue reading Hawks-Pistons »

Greetings, all-

We’ve got a pretty good test for a number of reasons.

You’d have to think this is a game the Hawks should win, particularly if they’re torqued off about how they finished last night. The Hawks are a better team than Philly, plus the Sixers are missing point guard Lou Williams. Philly has lost eight of 10.

One thing to watch will be how the Hawks respond from the patterns of their second-half debacle, particularly how well they move the ball in the half court.

On to the game.

Continue reading Hawks-Sixers »

Happy Thanksgiving, all-

I hope you all have had joyful times of sharing with family and friends today before settling into some Hawks basketball. (and thanks, Honest Abe, for the kind words about the story. And, while I’m on that topic, thanks to all of you all for making me feel welcome in your space and for all of your encouragement. It’s made this a lot of fun.)

7:10 p.m. Mike Bibby will go. He tested out his ankle at shootaround and evidently feels good enough to go. He said he can go as long as necessary.

“I wouldn’t be dressing if I couldn’t,” he said.

Also, he and Joe Johnson have all-red Jordans, and it looks like those wearing headbands (Bibby, Josh Smith, Teague) are going red.

Also, Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said he told Dwight Howard to be more aggressive with the ball. Remarkable stat — In the last five games, Howard’s shot totals – 5, 7, 4, 13, 5). He averaged 12.4 shots per game last year and 11.9 a year before that.

The Hawks’ PR staff says Mike Bibby is a …

Continue reading Magic-Hawks »

Greetings-

Hope you are doing well. It looks like Mike Bibby will play, at least from what Jeff Teague said. For what it’s worth, Bibby looked fine walking around the practice court and locker room. (For the time media were allowed into practice, he was sitting on a trainer’s table)

Mike Woodson said he’d like to know by Wednesday if Bibby can go.

To address some of the debate you all are having about Teague and his minutes, I’ll share something with you that Woodson said last week about playing time that I think might shed some light into his thinking. I’d asked him about Randolph Morris playing well at the end of one of the games – at home against New Orleans – and here is what Woodson said.

“He was excellent. He had a little pop to him and came in and played four great minutes, I thought. Guys have got to be like that. I can’t promise minutes. I’ve gotten away from that the last two years. I tell guys, ‘I’m not promising you anything. You’ve got to earn your minutes, you’ve …

Continue reading Talking about minutes »

Greetings, all

I’m at the homestead for this one and will be watching on the television as you all will.

Some thoughts and on we go.

Why the Hawks win tonight

1) Marvin Williams has gotten himself in a groove and has an exploitable matchup against Peja Stojakovic.

2) The Hawks asserted themselves as the better team a week ago. Their fourth-quarter run from the last game may linger somewhere in the Hornets’ collective memory.

3) Joe Johnson and Josh Smith played below their capabilities Friday. Bibby’s numbers weren’t outstanding, either. It’s unlikely it happens two nights in a row.

Why they won’t

1) They’re just due. It’s the second game of a back-to-back with a flight in-between. The Hawks haven’t had back-to-backs in the streak except for the start. Further, the Hornets have been home all week and come into the game on a day of rest.

2) Houston took a lot out of the Hawks Friday night. The Rockets are a relentless bunch, as the final three minutes of the game revealed.

3) …

Continue reading Hawks-Hornets »

Question: Who is Houston’s leading scorer? (Answer below)

What’s up, folks?

Sorry to jump on so late today. I have to get cranking on a couple different things – a story about the Hawks’ second team for tomorrow and then a notes column for Sunday – so not much time today.

Hope you all are doing well.

A couple links:
Sekou’s blog off of last night’s game.

Ken Berger’s column for CBS Sportsline. (I met Ken after the game last night at Manuel’s with AP writer Paul Newberry and former AJC staffer and now nba.com freelancer Matt Winkeljohn. Ken bought my Sprite, so kudos to Ken.)

Matt’s story for nba.com.

A little shout-out to the Hawks in Ball Don’t Lie.

A Fox Sports column by Charley Rosen.

The view from South Florida and the Sun-Sentinel.

Lastly, you can check out Al Horford on TNT tonight at 8 p.m. for the pregame with Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson.

Looking ahead

Mike Woodson’s take on the Rockets:

The fact that hey don’t have Yao (Ming), they have become …

Continue reading Come in, Houston »

What’s up, folks?

Another big one coming this evening with the two teams with the best record in the East taking the floor. Some gleanings to share

Worth noting:

1. This is just Miami’s third road game of the season, having played nine of their first 11 in Miami. The Heat has won both games on the road, at Indiana and Washington.

2. I’m always leery of “Player X does Y when Team Z wins” and not just because I don’t like algebra. It stands to reason when the team wins, a player’s numbers will be better. I guess causation is the issue. At any rate, one player to watch is Heat forward Michael Beasley. He’s actually scored more when they’ve lost, but been otherwise more productive when they’ve won.

In seven Heat wins: 6.1 rebounds, 1.3 steals, 1.3 assists 1.0 blocks.

In three Heat losses: 3.3 rebounds, 0 steals, 0.7 assists, .7 blocks.

3. Joe Johnson has had a nice two-game run distributing. It looked to me like he was trying to get other guys going early against Portland. He …

Continue reading Hawks-Heat »

Greetings, all-

Hope you are well. As things sometimes go in my life, I was just about to post a new blog but I was messing around with it and it all disappeared. That’s how I roll. So this will probably be not quite as in-depth. Trust me, it was awesome. (I am being cynical.)

Anyway, I’ll give you some links and invite you to join in a contest.

Links

1) Sekou has started at nba.com and has his blog up.

2) nba.com’s new power rankings are up. The Hawks are in the top slot. For some of you guys who’ve been around, that must qualify as mind-boggling.

3) nba.com’s David Aldridge caught up with Billy Knight. Knight looks back on the Marvin Williams over Chris Paul draft – “Sure, if you had taken one of those guys, there could have been a whole domino effect of things that happened. But that’s not what happened.” – and gives his take on the Joe Johnson trade.

4) Interesting story in the Oregonian about Brandon Roy and Joe Johnson. (One matchup to watch, obviously. Another is Greg …

Continue reading Whaddya know? »

Okay, here’s your game blog, folks.

Nothing too significant from pre-game stuff that I heard. Sorry I can’t write more; I gotta crank out some stuff before tipoff.

Any predictions?

Continue reading Hornets vs. Hawks »

BOSTON - Only by a half-game over Miami, but pretty strange, I bet, for some of you to read.
I’m at Logan, waiting for a 7 a.m. flight back home. While I’ve got a few minutes, I figured I’d dump a few more quotes on you and look ahead. The big news is that Chris Paul won’t be in the lineup, out with a sprained ankle sustained Friday against Portland in new coach Jeff Bower’s debut. That obviously tilts the balance a bit in the Hawks’ direction.

Some links:
Boston Globe story on http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2009/11/14/atlantas_growth_spurt_was_the_biggest_factor/;
Boston Herald game story.

My http://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-hawks/with-huge-rebounding-night-197066.htmlfiled after the print deadline.

From the locker rooms at the TD Garden:
Kevin Garnett: “They draw one on ones a lot, a lot of isolation basketball. Jamal Crawford and Joe Johnson are two of the best at that. I thought team-wise, they spread us out and they did a good job. Kudos to …

Continue reading Your first-place Atlanta Hawks »