Hawks-Knicks thread
Hello, all-
Hope you’ll be somewhere to see the game. I’ve got to get down there before I get stuck in SEC traffic.
Things I’ll be watching
1) What do the Hawks do with Al Harrington? The former Hawk busted out for 21 in the first game and had control of the game in the first half. Watch for double teams if he gets it in the post.
2) Same question with Toney Douglas. Expect him to see plenty of minutes off the bench, as Nate Robinson is squarely in Mike D’Antoni’s doghouse. Douglas also went for 23. Perhaps Mike Woodson goes to Jeff Teague, who knows a little about defending Douglas from their ACC days, and might be a good match in quickness.
3) Can the good feelings of unselfishness from Wednesday keep going? The Hawks assisted on 37 of 52 baskets as they moved the ball around and found open shooters. Given the way the Knicks defend (109.1 ppg defensively, third worst in the league), I’d expect they’ll have a chance to do so.
4) How many points does Joe Johnson get? His last three games – 9, 10, 12. (Mathemeticians among you will predict 15 points.)
5) Can they put the Knicks away early? With a Saturday night in Dallas awaiting them, the Hawks can use as much rest as they can get.
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468 comments Add your comment
NCBravesFan
December 4th, 2009
9:43 pm
Really, Hawks? Really?
BONE
December 4th, 2009
9:43 pm
Thats what I’m sayin Big Ray. Teague hasn’t done anything wrong and he gets yelled at and pulled. But Bibby just plays no defense and he stays out there.
Mactown'z Finest 478
December 4th, 2009
9:43 pm
If you look at the crowd closely, you’ll notice 85% of the people in the building are alabama and florida fans just enjoying the city for the weekend.
Wabe
December 4th, 2009
9:43 pm
This one’s a tough one to swallow. Really, this one is simply mind-boggling. The Hawks are better this year, but losing games like this really takes all the excitement out of them. Now, you’ve got a tough game lined up tomorrow night against a team that’s playing as good or maybe even better than these Hawks. What makes matters worse, we’re coming off a tough loss tonite with starters seeing heavy minutes.
Again, just frustrating.
Truth-Serum
December 4th, 2009
9:43 pm
Bottom line the hawks with Horford cant defend the basket.
Big Ray
December 4th, 2009
9:44 pm
Jody,
He didn’t. He only played one minute. This is why I laugh when people start talking about losing games because we gave the kid minutes. Ha! Explain THIS $hit!
Najeh Davenpoop
December 4th, 2009
9:45 pm
I switched to ESPN as David Lee cruised to the hoop and put in the and-1 layup, and what do you know, Hubie Brown is praising the virtues of the Hawks this year.
They must not have league scoreboards in Cleveland.
Truth-Serum
December 4th, 2009
9:46 pm
Sorry asise Nicks going to the rack and nobody to defend. Cant Horford defend the Rack? What the hell is he going to do in the high levels of the playoffs. The Hawks are a joke!
BONE
December 4th, 2009
9:46 pm
The Hawks fooled us again. Just a slightly above avg team that got off to a hot start. Well the Magic, Cavs, and the Celtics have nothin to worry about now
Truth-Serum
December 4th, 2009
9:46 pm
Joe always follows his shot
bigdave
December 4th, 2009
9:47 pm
damn…
BONE
December 4th, 2009
9:47 pm
HAwks are the only team that can make the Knicks look like the Lakers.
Truth-Serum
December 4th, 2009
9:47 pm
Chandler puts it in Al’s face!
Big Ray
December 4th, 2009
9:47 pm
I can hear it now. “See, I told you that Raptors game was BS, the Hawks suck.”
bigdave
December 4th, 2009
9:47 pm
bet Joe gives us nothing tomorrow…
BONE
December 4th, 2009
9:49 pm
THE HAWKS = THE BIGGEST UNDERACHIEVERS IN THE LEAGUE
Najeh Davenpoop
December 4th, 2009
9:49 pm
Dallas is going to wax this team by 30 tomorrow. Other than the Raptors game, they have played like sh-t consistently starting with the loss to New Orleans. Combine that with tired legs and a tough home court in Dallas, and that game is not going to be close.
Truth-Serum
December 4th, 2009
9:49 pm
Jerenovich just saind the hawks can do nothing to stop the drives to the basket. DUH. How far do you think we will go in the playoffs with all at the center spot?
Big Ray
December 4th, 2009
9:49 pm
It’s called a switching defense. The brilliant scheme of the switching defense calls for Horford to go and defend somebody on the perimeter.
Notice that he’s never near the rim when these guys are going to the basket. Why’s that? Switching defense. Sorry, but no alibi for that foolishness. Chandler was the only guy in the last 5-10 minutes to score like that on Horford.
Mactown'z Finest 478
December 4th, 2009
9:49 pm
LMAO@Rathbun and Nique tryin to make this lost feel better
BONE
December 4th, 2009
9:49 pm
And it’s becoming more and more obvious that Al needs to move to Power Forward. For the 500000000000 time AL IS NOT A CENTER.
Truth-Serum
December 4th, 2009
9:50 pm
Hawks are over achievers they dont have a center. its amazing what they done with out being able to protect the basket.
BONE
December 4th, 2009
9:50 pm
I feel sorry for the people who actually paid to see the hawks. Oh and now Teague gets in. F*CK MIKE WOODSON.
Mactown'z Finest 478
December 4th, 2009
9:50 pm
“well the knicks have lots of losses..but they played some really good teams down to the wire”
Najeh Davenpoop
December 4th, 2009
9:51 pm
Chris Duhon set season highs in points, dimes, and 3’s today.
bigdave
December 4th, 2009
9:51 pm
yuck.
Truth-Serum
December 4th, 2009
9:51 pm
We we lost this one under the basket!
Jody
December 4th, 2009
9:51 pm
Big Ray,
I didn’t think he did. In the long run, the team benefits from playing more now, but you can’t tell Mike Woodson that. The Hawks were not smart enough to go inside and they paid for it. If they have to rely solely on Josh Smith to protect the basket, this team is in SERIOUS trouble.
Melvin
December 4th, 2009
9:53 pm
Woodson should have gotten ejected from the game right behind Josh. Poor coaching tonight to match the poor play…
BONE
December 4th, 2009
9:53 pm
The MAvs are gonna bend the Hawks over 2morrow and pump them HARD. Now I wanna hear all the idiotic optimistic Hawks fans who say “don’t panic it’s just one game”
buick59
December 4th, 2009
9:54 pm
as I said a few days ago, lazy, unmotivated team going NOWHERE. Just another saga from LOSERSVILLE what a great city!!
Truth-Serum
December 4th, 2009
9:54 pm
Call blame that on switching Ray. Just own up to the fact we got a power forward playing center and its a weak link that teams attack us on. Even body knows Horford cant defend the basket. Get some coffee and wake up to reality.
Jody
December 4th, 2009
9:54 pm
I would be insulted if I were Jeff Teague. The coach lets his “veterans” throw the game away and then puts you in with 22 seconds left. Pathetic. Just pathetic.
Big Ray
December 4th, 2009
9:54 pm
See? When David Lee was driving, where was Horford? Near the top of the key, trying to keep one of those damn guards from drilling another 3 ball. Why was Horford up there? Switching defense.
If you want to blame one of the few guys who played decent in this game, go ahead. Yeah, what kind of center puts up 17 points and 14 rebounds, despite his team’s need to chuck long ball shots all game instead of giving him the ball?
Why can’t Al Horford guard all of the other team’s opposing guards? Doesn’t he know he’s supposed to play 1 on 5 on defense? Heh….
I’m out. The Dallas game won’t be pretty if we don’t get it together.
I thought Woody was a defensive coach. I guess the entire team decided not to listen to him, huh? Yeah, that must be it.
Najeh Davenpoop
December 4th, 2009
9:55 pm
The Hawks shot 55% from 2 and 18% from 3. They also out-shot the Knicks by 10 from the free throw line. They even out-rebounded the Knicks and protected the ball better.
What does this tell me? If the Hawks had been aggressive and attacked the basket all game, they probably would have won despite playing sorry defense all game and missing the DPOY. Instead, they got lazy and settled for jump shots.
I’ll say it again — the elite teams in the league would NEVER have lost this game. Even if they played like sh-t for three quarters, they would have found a way to pull it off in the end. The Hawks entered the 4th up by 1 and lost to a 4-15 team at home. To me, it doesn’t matter if they sweep the Cavs on the back-to-back at the end of the month. They are pretenders. Period.
BONE
December 4th, 2009
9:56 pm
Rick Sund was sooooo smart for not giving woody a contract. I think Sund knows that woody is bad but he just needed to make sure.
Wabe
December 4th, 2009
9:56 pm
Wouldn’t go as far as to call the Hawks ELITE. Even minus Smoove, you can’t lose games like this. Losses like these will come back to bite the Hawks later in the season when you’re fighting for seeding.
The Hawks are capable of beating elite teams in the league, but that doesn’t make you an elite team in this league. You’ve got to take care of business on a night to night basis – and these Hawks don’t seem like they can put forth the proper effort on a night to night basis.
The Hawks up to this point have found ways to get away from what’s working and go back to their old ways. They started tonites game with good ball movement – getting everybody involved. As the game progresses, touches for others become limitted and we see more dribbling than passing. This isn’t a coincidence – this happens on a consistent basis. It seems that every loss ATL suffers, we’re ranting about the same issues. JJ/Jamal going one on one, the lack of defense, no minutes for guys on the bench. IT’S NOT COINCIDENCE – IT’S BECOMING A TREND. When that shows up from both players and coaches – we’ve been on the losing end of most games.
Truth-Serum
December 4th, 2009
9:57 pm
*cant blame that on switching. Every one know Horford cant defend the basket. Its our most major weakness and it be notated by almost every announcer and sports publication. Tonight was no different. Wake up and smell the coffee.
O'Brien
December 4th, 2009
9:57 pm
Would anyone be surprised if the Hawks lose tomorrow night in Dallas? It will be our second of a back to back, and Dallas is a good team. Plus our starters played heavy minutes tonight.
So, after starting out 11-2, the Hawks have gone 2-4 (including losses to Hornets, Pistons, and Knicks). How can anyone suggest Woody is coach of the year?
By the way, with 2 seconds left on the shot clock, the Knicks scored from an out of bounds play. When have we ever seen Woody draw up a play like that?
BONE
December 4th, 2009
9:58 pm
The hawks should change their names to the ATLANTA PIGS IN LIPSTICK
Truth-Serum
December 4th, 2009
9:58 pm
Every announcer is saying it again that we lost it in the middle. I dont know what game you were watching.
Big Ray
December 4th, 2009
9:59 pm
Truth Serum,
It doesn’t matter. He can defend the rim, but not if he isn’t NEAR the rim. You must not be watching the same game I was watching. Horford was consistently playing defense at the top of the key. I kept seeing guys scoring baskets on our GUARDS, who were playing defense down on the low block.
Have my coffee, I’m already awake, dude. Aren’t you the same one who said Teague was Mr. Turnover? Dude didn’t even get the chance to turn the ball over. Wasn’t in there long enough. By the way, he averages half a turnover a game. A real turnover machine, I tell ya.
Hawks would have been fine if Josh Smith would have been in there. He and Al play off of each other. When one is missing, nobody steps up, and the other guy gets exposed because that stupid switching defense has them running all over the place.
The Knicks knew they could run a layup drill then, because Al would be near the top of the key, and they could run screens and layups all night. And they did.
Blame it all on Al if you want. This team sucked on defense, and the defensive scheme sucked, too.
Truth-Serum
December 4th, 2009
9:59 pm
How about asking Sund for a center?
bigdave
December 4th, 2009
10:00 pm
aye… Bibby a year older, and you bring in Crawford not known for his defense… hey, expect a drop of in defensive prowess…
jeckle and hyde team right now… way too inconsistent…
Melvin
December 4th, 2009
10:00 pm
So if Joe, AL and Marvin play 40mins tonight in a loss, how time will they play against Dallas tomorrow night… Yep, we have a COY candidate…
Almost forgot, Bibby and Crawford. 33 and 32 mins played tonight.
Big Ray
December 4th, 2009
10:00 pm
Yeah, but were they saying we lost it because of Horford? Nope. Stop the madness. Watch the game again. Take the center away from the paint, take the power forward out of the game, and you can run layups all night. But it’s all good. Blaming Al makes ya feel better, do what you gotta do.
Sam from da Swats
December 4th, 2009
10:01 pm
No defense because Josh was thrown out of the game….I’ve seen much worse from Lebron, Kobe, Sheed…
niremetal
December 4th, 2009
10:01 pm
Co-sign Ray. Although I think we might have been fine if Woody had tried using Horford and Zaza or Horford and Joe more often. Woody’s solution when Josh went down, though, was just to lean harder on the rest of his Top 6.
Jody
December 4th, 2009
10:01 pm
Truth-Serum,
No question the Hawks need more size, but they need some more things too.
Wabe
December 4th, 2009
10:01 pm
Orlando, LA, Boston.
Those are the only teams I see in this league of being ELITE. The Hawks are jocking for position amongst that next tier of teams – Cleveland, Denver, Dallas, Phoenix, etc.
Losses to the Bobcats, Hornets, Pistons, and now the Knicks disqualify any thought that these Hawks being of ELITE status.