A very merry blowout
Greetings, all-
Somewhere over the Midwest – Pretty brutal loss last night. The defense was nonexistent, or, as Mike Woodson put it, “awful.” I suspected the Hawks wouldn’t have it last night. For one, Denver has just run over everyone that has come into the Pepsi Center – the Nuggets have now won 23 of their last 24 there going back to the regular season. In losing by 20, the Hawks have pretty good company – the Lakers lost by 26, Utah lost by 11, Miami by 18.
I agree with what Dan said in the game thread. The game was lost in the first quarter – the Hawks spent the whole game chasing. They could get the lead down to 8, 10, 12, and then the Nuggets dropped some more 3-pointers on them. Perhaps if they could have tied it up, they might have gotten some more energy from that, but I think they just didn’t have enough in them. I imagine the Nuggets believe no one can beat them at home, and that is a powerful thing.
Here’s the thing – the Hawks beat the same team by even more points last month. (without J.R. Smith and Kenyon Martin, of course, but with Chauncey Billups) Denver was on a back-to-back (as were the Hawks), but also on the road and playing its fourth road game in five days. It showed. The Nuggets are not that bad.
Wednesday, the Hawks were on a back-to-back Wednesday, obviously tired, and it showed. The Hawks are not this bad, either. The notion that the Hawks have all these flaws – and I acknowledge there’s a difference between saying the team is flawed and having issues with coaching decisions – because they got torched by Denver doesn’t fly, given that they were obviously good enough to do the same thing to the Nuggets a month and a half ago.
It’s a disappointing result – it was interesting to me that Al Horford said the team wasn’t “tough enough” and that “we didn’t respond” – but I think the team shakes this off. As much as I figured the Hawks would lose Wednesday, I think you’ll see a much better performance Saturday against Indiana. The Cleveland back to back, in my opinion, will be a better barometer than Denver was.
Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah to everyone. I hope you are able to spend this time with the people closest to you.
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114 comments Add your comment
JeJe
December 24th, 2009
6:56 pm
What a perfect day on the AJC. No Big Ray
TRUTH-SERUM
December 24th, 2009
7:06 pm
GeeMack, It looks to me that there are a lot of teams that got this close and couldn’t finish. Sunds last team Dallas is a classic example, as is phoenix and Utah, and Philly of late. When you get in striking range you got to step it up.
I have to agree with you Mack! Atlanta is ready for a championship and the Hawks are the ones closes to it.
TRUTH-SERUM
December 24th, 2009
7:13 pm
Teague is still making very rookie mistakes that hurt the team. Youthful athleticism doesnt counter wisdom and experience. Most of the guards that have an immediate impact are drafted to have that impact and most are drafted as the 1,2,3 guard in the draft not the 7th point guard and 11th guard drafted over all. Thats usually a project draftee. Teague will get his chance but he seems lost and abused when he faces an experienced guard. Its not time to throw him to the wolves or he wont have any confidence.
TRUTH-SERUM
December 24th, 2009
7:13 pm
and before you go there, every rule has an exception.
TRUTH-SERUM
December 24th, 2009
7:15 pm
Happy holi days Doc.
TRUTH-SERUM
December 24th, 2009
7:17 pm
MERRY CHRISTMAS GEEMACK,RLP,JEJE,KEN,O’Brien,JODY AND MYCHEL.
TRUTH-SERUM
December 24th, 2009
7:17 pm
AND BIG RAY TOO!
calico
December 24th, 2009
8:33 pm
No defense by Joe and Bibby how are you going 2 double on Melo when J.R. Smith is your man & Lawson killed us 2
.
Big Ump
December 24th, 2009
9:24 pm
Happy holidays Truth- Serum, Big Ray, Grandad, Samuel, Rod from College Park and the the rest of the Bloggers.
Blast
December 24th, 2009
9:50 pm
Some folks making the blog so boring right now, I won’t even bother posting a comment.
Merry Christmas, Hawks fans.
Big Ray
December 24th, 2009
9:59 pm
Happy Holidays, everybody!
Even YOU, little JeJe…
Big Ray
December 24th, 2009
10:03 pm
Right back at ya, Truth Serum ! You and your family be safe.
terrell barron
December 24th, 2009
10:04 pm
In Denver, in the 2nd game of a back to back would be a tough game for ANY team. Not taking anything from this loss whatsoever.
doc
December 24th, 2009
10:11 pm
truth ty picked one slot ahead of teague didnt look like a project last night but a coached up and ready to do damage when chauncey went down. i thought teague was better and matched up well against ty last year, wonder why he failed so miserably last night.
calico as i said earlier you just need to go find mr ron artest if you want to stop melo without a double team.
Melvin
December 24th, 2009
10:11 pm
Last night game was good example of why or how much the Hawks missed or could use J.Chill. We had two wing players (Melo/JR) scoring at will and we couldnt have Joe play both of them. Marvin and Mo are not the good defenders that we thought they were. A lineup of Crawford, Joe, Chill, Smoove and Horford would have been nice to see. I will keep my finger cross this summer for it to happen….:)
Oh well, Happy Holidays to everyone in blog land…
terrell barron
December 24th, 2009
10:14 pm
Gotta agree with Wabe. Who we gonna bring in to be that “dominant force”? Other than Dwight, who’s better than Big Al in the Eastern Conf? Horford at center is the least of our problems.
terrell barron
December 24th, 2009
10:16 pm
Melvin, you till talking bout Chills?? Let it go man, let it go. lol!
terrell barron
December 24th, 2009
10:20 pm
Still, not till.
Melvin
December 24th, 2009
10:26 pm
TB,
It was just a random thought….
ant banks
December 24th, 2009
11:12 pm
i am not so much as pissed about the hawks losin’ this game as i am when they lose to new orleans, wit’ out cp3, lose to ny knicks, and lose to detroit, without there main players. we should be 23-5.
playin’ against above .500 teams is a crap shoot, but to lose to garbage teams is inexcusable. WE SHOULD BE 23-5 RIGHT NOW!!
Big Ray
December 24th, 2009
11:23 pm
Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post: “The game ceased being a game — like, you know, with five-on-five competition — and it became one man’s crowd-rising, hair-raising exhibition (think Evel Knievel with a jumper). In the fourth quarter of the Nuggets’ 124-104 victory over the Atlanta Hawks, J.R. Smith would collect a pass and the Pepsi Center fans would pop out of their seats, their “aaahs!” increasing until Smith’s release — for then they became capital-A “AAAhs!” The Denver guard sank four fourth-quarter 3-pointers and was
JR Smith:
10-for-17 on the night from beyond the arc en route to a game-high 41 points, five short of his career high. “It’s like throwing rocks into the ocean,” said Smith, who became the first player in NBA history to tally multiple games with 10 or more 3s in his career. “I really established that (rhythm) early. They started doubling off me and going on (Carmelo Anthony). Everything else was like throwing darts.”
They were doubling Carmelo, not Nene. There you have it right from the man who ripped us a new one….
ant banks
December 24th, 2009
11:36 pm
BIG RAY,
that did not have anythin’ to do with the shots that we missed. hittin’ tres like that is an anomaly, there was no real way to defend jackin’ tres from half-court. i think that the hawks could have done a betta job drivin’ to the hole, reboundin’ offensive and defensive, but other than that dude kept rollin’ 7’s.
Ken Strickland
December 24th, 2009
11:44 pm
Happy Holidays everyone. I didn’t get to see last nights gm, but it seems I didn’t miss very much.
TRUTH SERUM-you really go out of your way to make what has so far proven to be a extremely weak case for replacing Horford at C. I did see the highlights of JR Smith going off on us shooting 15 or 25FG’s and 10 of 17 3Pt FG’s for 41pts. When I read the graphic way you described those dunks Nene had over Horford, I just knew he had dominated Horford. However, when I looked at the box scores, I was shocked. Horford actually outscored him 18 to 15, out rebounded him 11 to 8 and had 1 block to 0.
HOW CAN ANYONE ACTUALLY WATCH THAT GM, AND IN THEIR MINDS, REDUCE THE SUM TOTAL OF WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED TO A COUPLE OF DUNKS, AND IGNORE THE DAMAGE DONE TO US BY JR SMITH?
Please answer the following question. OTHER THAN ORLANDO’S DWIGHT HOWARD, NAME ANOTHER C THAT’S OUTPERFORMED, OR BEEN MORE PHYSICAL, THAN HORFORD THIS YR IN HEAD TO HEAD COMPETITION? There are a number of players that have higher RPG averages than Horford, but only DHoward was able to outrebound him in head to head competition.
If you really want to know what we need most in order to become a championship calibur team, you only have to look at our PG position. While I love Bibby’s ability to limit turnovers and hit the clutch 3, it doesn’t compensate for his extremely poor DEF and the pressure it puts on JJ and our fronline players. His inability to penetrate, break down DEF’s and create easier scoring opportunities for his teammates also limits us, especially in clutch situations when teams double JJ.
I’ve noticed as Teague’s mins have increased, it seems he’s being required to constantly look over to the sidelines for instructions instead of being allowed to focus on what’s going on in front of him. I’ve also seen the same thing with Crawford, which slows the OFF down and hurts us.
Indiana will be an excellent test to see how well we recover form last nights whipping.
JeJe
December 25th, 2009
12:11 am
LOL
“I recommend it to these guys all the time,” coach Mike Woodson said.
Wow, Woodson recommends watching basketball to professional athletes. Thanks, Coach!
Its even more pathetic when guys like Kobe watch all day but we need our moron coach telling guys to watch.
The worst part was where Marvin said he does not like to watch basketball., LOL it shows. What a pathetic excuse for a basketball player. When the guy scores 10 points, that’s considered a good game for him. 0 bball IQ, cannot block a shot, take a charge, or make a contested jumpshot
JeJe
December 25th, 2009
12:21 am
Merry Christmas to all. Will not speak ill of this team for at least 8 hours.
richbrave
December 25th, 2009
8:01 am
doc:
Merry Christmas my man. Miss you and the old gang. Post up on the D.C. blogs mostly now. Just love following the Wizards. Maybe Leonsis will blow up the squad after an extensive shake-down assessment called the 2009-2010 season.
Clyde
December 25th, 2009
8:49 am
MERRY CHRISTMAS
doc
December 25th, 2009
9:01 am
rb miss your energy but i know it is hard to keep up with it all. peace bro, happy holiday my friend.
merry christmas all, make it a love fest today … just because.
Ken Strickland
December 25th, 2009
12:33 pm
I hope the Hawks enjoy Christmas because they’ll have to really toughen up to weather the next 11gms. We start out with the Pacers, then do a back to back with the Cavaliers. We’ll have the same Knicks team that embarrassed us in our last meeting, then we go to Miami to take on a Heat team that’s capable of defeating anyone, especially at home. After that, we encounter Boston, Orlando and then Boston again in a 4 night stretch, and then we tackle the Suns.
This 11gm stretch is going to give us a really good idea of what this team and it’s HC are really made of. When it’s over, I can’t wait to see how everyone is going to pass judgement on both. Will Bibby’s poor DEF and limited OFF continue to get overlooked, or will Woodson, JJ, Marvin, Smoove or poor undersized, playing out of position Horford receive most, if not all of the blame?
Ken Strickland
December 25th, 2009
12:43 pm
RICHBRAVE-maybe the Wizards need to hire BKnight as their GM and have him blowup their roster and rebuild that team like he did so successfully with the Hawks.
doc
December 25th, 2009
1:56 pm
look out ken you are agreeing with truth on something. you guys might get cozy after all especially on christmas day.
yeah it is a tough stretch and one we should hope to get through at a little better than .500.
Ken Strickland
December 25th, 2009
3:48 pm
DOC- I’ve read some insightful comments from TRUTH SERUM. He just has this unsupportable issue with Horford and the idea that a championship can’t be won without a specific type of center, and that’s just not true. And I’m aware that you’re just being your usual instigating self.
At this point, I think the Hawks would be better off in the long run giving Teague the bulk of the mins at PG and letting him make his mistakes along the way to becoming the PG we drafted him to be. There’s absolutely no way Bibby is going to improve his weaknessness, especially his DEF, or come up with anything to help this team get better at the PG position.
Teague has the ability and potential to improve in every phase of the gm, and that will help this team get better. Also, Marvin has too much OFF potential, especially his outside shooting, to allow him to drift or disappear like his does. It’s time to add something to the OFF that can be called upon to get him more involved. Woodson shouldn’t become content just to use him as a DEF specialist and totally ignore his OFF potential like he seems to have done so far this yr.
I MUS WRITE
December 25th, 2009
4:15 pm
Merry Christmas and Happy New Years blog family………. Cheers! I want in for 2010!!!
Mychelfromatl
December 25th, 2009
4:18 pm
The best thing that can happen for the Hawks this Christmas would be for both the Magic and Cavs to lose.
doc
December 25th, 2009
4:19 pm
glad you recognize ts’ value but i know you and didnt doubt it at all. it is just like looking at a dog fight sometimes ken. merry christmas and glad you are with us. we go a long way back on these blogs, surprisingly so. hard to believe that time passes that quickly. you must be getting old.
marvin almost looks like a golfer with the yips any time he shoots, his stroke is gone as is his rhythm, cant tell if it is his set up or what but it just doesnt look smooth. if i say what i really think of marvin this year i might go rod on you. heh heh
Mychelfromatl
December 25th, 2009
5:17 pm
Looks like the Hawks are gonna get their first Christmas gift with a Magic Loss. Now LA needs to beat the Cavs.
JeJe
December 25th, 2009
6:46 pm
LOL we have to play the Cavs on a b2b.
Don’t worry though – we have Al Horford, a true center, one of the best, according to some people on here.
We also have Marvin Williams, who “average 14 ppg” (when he really doesn’t), and who is apparently a defensive specialist according to some of the geniuses on here.
LOL
bigdave
December 25th, 2009
7:58 pm
please tell me Moon is just hot tonight…
RLP
December 25th, 2009
9:04 pm
Mychelfromatl:
You did not get your wish since the Cavaliers beat the Lakers. Too bad it would have been nice. As it stands we have three teams in the East behind the Celtics with 8 losses each. Only the Lakers out West has fewer losses.
Sautee
December 25th, 2009
9:54 pm
“We are defenseless in the post.”
“Im not blaming Horford. ”
Hmmm……. then it must be the coaches fault!!!!!
doc
December 25th, 2009
9:56 pm
to be included in the big four in the east has a nice ring to it, doesnt it? even if we have a sorry coach, midget undersized center, hot headed immature power forward, a point guard with one leg, a three who cant stay on his feet and regularly shoots air balls, a dark hole for a shooting guard, a number six player that knows not how to defend and a bench our own coach refuses to use. just the same we somehow have stuck it out for one third of the season to challenge for the top. guess i need to give all the credit to the gm my boy rick for keeping it and putting it all together. oh yeah, he is the sheets too, because he cant get a true viable center at a garage sale price. go hawks!
tyger
December 25th, 2009
9:58 pm
Hawks are …
1. Too small
2. Weak on the road still
3. Not coached up
4. Good but not great
5. Pretenders
JeJe
December 25th, 2009
10:04 pm
LOL we have to play the Cavs on a b2b.
Don’t worry though – we have Al Horford, a true center, one of the best, according to some people on here.
We also have Marvin Williams, who “average 14 ppg” (when he really doesn’t), and who is apparently a defensive specialist according to some of the geniuses on here.
LOL
JeJe
December 25th, 2009
10:05 pm
LOL
“I recommend it to these guys all the time,” coach Mike Woodson said.
Wow, Woodson recommends watching basketball to professional athletes. Thanks, Coach!
Its even more pathetic when guys like Kobe watch all day but we need our moron coach telling guys to watch.
The worst part was where Marvin said he does not like to watch basketball., LOL it shows. What a pathetic excuse for a basketball player. When the guy scores 10 points, that’s considered a good game for him. 0 bball IQ, cannot block a shot, take a charge, or make a contested jumpshot..
Truth-Serum
December 25th, 2009
10:49 pm
Ken Strickland
December 24th, 2009
11:44 pm
Ken, I don’t know what facility they have you housed at, or what treatment program you are under, or for that matter what doctor, but I think its working. Stay under treatment.
This is the first time I read one of your blogs and you did not come across as psychotic, deranged or out of control emotionally. Keep taking the medicine.
I heard woodson and the Hawks have a restraining order against you. I truly believe that once you are released from your cage, and your doctor say a note of sanity you will be allow to write Woodson and visit Phillips again. Its those little martian men in you head that make you stalk Woodson.
Have you stalked any one else beside Mike Woodson?
Anyway merry Christmas. I hadn’t heard from you and there was no voice of anger. It was a quiet and peaceful day.
I was hoping they’d let y’all out to get some air and its nice they let you use the internet.That was very nice of the nurses, it being Christmas and all.
Couple quick points. In case you missed it. I know you guys dont have internet during cage time. That explained why you thinking and understanding is light years behind the progressive thinking here.
This observation that horford is a power forward is not my ideal (all though I agree with it as do countless of others). I am not trying to present a new Idea. The view that Horford is a power forward and that he is and will be ineffective again true centers and particularly the centers on the teams that we are trying to over take is a view share by 95% of the professional experts who predicted the hawks would finish 4-7th seed and win 44-47 games largely as a result of us not addressing this during the off-season. I know the little green men are telling you this is truth-serums Idea but Big UMP said he has silver bullets for you and your little men.
No Ken I did not create the perspective of Horford being a pf who is out of place as a center, that’s a analysis shared by many professionals. What ever little martians are flying spaceships around in your mind telling you, “must get woodson, must get woodson, must get woodson”, don’t believe them. Tell them no! Woodson is in the coach of the year running. When you hear them say,” Horford is a center and defensive power house” tell they you lie! Horford is a power forward masquerading as a center because Sund is too cheap to go after and real center.Then wipe the slobber from your face, blow your nose, take your medicine and crawl back in your cage!
Keep taking your medicine, I think its helping. Merry Christmas.
Truth-Serum
December 25th, 2009
11:16 pm
*Sund is too cheap to go after a real center.
Truth-Serum
December 25th, 2009
11:17 pm
*sends a note of sanity
Truth-Serum
December 25th, 2009
11:23 pm
*that explained why your thinking and understanding is light years behind the progressive thinking here.
*that’s an analysis
Truth-Serum
December 25th, 2009
11:26 pm
doc
December 25th, 2009
9:56 pm
DOC! hehehehehahhahaha
Cyber fist bump!!!
Ken Strickland
December 25th, 2009
11:45 pm
TRUTH SERUM-I appreciate your concern for my mental well being. If I ever get to the point where it becomes necessary to seek help, I’ll certainly take your advice. After all, based on your detailed account of what it takes to successfully get through the program, it appears you’re either currently in treatment, or you’ve completed the program.
You used these so called experts to support your idea that Horford isn’t adequate as a center. Well, are these the same experts that predicted we wouldn’t make the playoffs the last 2yrs, and would have difficulty maintaining the 4th seed this yr because of competition from the Wizards, Bulls and Heat? YOUR HORFORD ARGUMENT IS STILL WEAK.
JEJE-as bad as Marvin has played offensively this yr, it’s amazing how you and certain others have managed to overlook his contributions on DEF and the fact he’s still outscoring Bibby. That’s significant when you consider Bibby plays about the same MPG as Marvin, gets to control the ball and the OFF and call his own plays, while Marvin is the 5th OFF option and has no plays called for him.
HOW IN THE WORLD CAN ANYONE THAT’S NOT BLIND, OR BLINDED BY IGNORANCE, BRING UP THE ISSUE OF PLAYING POOR DEF WITHOUT 1ST MENTIONING PG MBIBBY?
Consider the following: BIBBY/TEAGUE
MPG-28.0/10.8, PPG-9.7/3.8, APG-4.1/2.1, RPG-2.5/1.1, SPG-.9/.7, BPG-0/.2 and TO-1.21/.69. Is there anyone foolish enough to think Bibby is going to improve upon these numbers, or his DEF? Is there anyone foolish enough to think Teague can’t improve significantly on Bibby’s numbers if Woodson gave him the same MPG and latitude he affords Bibby? Is there anyone foolish enough to believe we wouldn’t be a better team going into the playoffs with a seasoned JTeague starting at PG? How could we not be better off with his superior quickness, speed, penetrating ability and DEF?
Personally, I think we’d be better off bringing Bibby off the bench as our backup SG playing next to Crawford.