The eyebrows have it
Houston– The Hawks canceled practice today. They (and me) showed up at the Toyota Center and, no lie, it was overrun by schoolchildren. Just the thing I needed to remind me why I have no kids (knocked on some wood). So the team headed to San Antonio and I’m at H. W. Bush Airport waiting on my flight. I recommend the chipotle chicken wrap with a side of black beans at Bubba’s Bar and Grill in Terminal C.
Anyway, missing the Hawks today means no snooping around to get to the bottom of Woody’s missing eyebrows. Since Woody wasn’t willing to tell the story, a few theories have emerged:
– Smoove said Woody did it to keep the guys relaxed before they played a big game. Now, this could mean Woody decided to use it for that after the fact once he realized there was no damn way his players weren’t going to kill him for that look. Smoove says he was the first one to say something when Woody came into the locker room: “I think everyone else was afraid.”
– FSN South/SportSouth Hawks sideline reporter James Verrett heard that Woody’s barber recommended it because the barber said it would make Woody look younger. Umm, OK, then. And why the hell does Woody need a barber, anyway? That ain’t an ultra perm.
– Similarly, Al Horford Tweeted: “Woody wanted to go with a new clean look, so he shaved his eyebrows off. He says he looks ‘hot’”
– I assumed Woody lost a bet. He’s a Cowboys fan (he still has a home in the Houston area) and after the Vikings beat the Cowboys, he suddenly disclosed that he always liked the Vikings as a kid. He predicted a Viks win over the Saints. They lost. Then his eyebrows were gone.
Meanwhile, @alymeek has a very funny #whereswoodysbrows trend on Twitter. My fave, from @SmooveLadyHawk: “Woody dunked on LeBron so Nike confiscated them”
From a basketball perspective, the main thing to take out of all this eyebrows stuff is the Hawks are a confident and loose bunch. It’s cool for them to have fun when they go out and give a focused effort like Monday night. They need another one against the Spurs. It took them 11 years to win again at Houston, and they haven’t won at San Antonio since Feb. 15, 1997, an 11-game streak.
– The Magic lost at Memphis Monday night, so the Hawks lead the Southeast Division by a full game. Win tomorrow night, and the Hawks are set up for a monster week. They would break two long losing streaks on one trip. They could move up to No. 2 in the East. And they can send J.J., Smoove, and Woody to the All-Star game.
– According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Hawks (29-14) have more than two times as many victories as defeats this late in the season for the first time since the end of the 1996-97 season, when they were 56-26. Elias has been busy keeping track of these kinds of stats lately as the Hawks keep rolling.
– Horford needed six stitches for that gash that Rockets/former U. Kentucky hitman Chuck Hayes opened on his left thumb. Horford is fine.
– I just remembered the last time I was in the barber’s chair he asked me if I wanted him to trim my eyebrows. Glad I said no.
MC
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60 comments Add your comment
jerrywest
January 27th, 2010
11:35 am
Whether Josh is open for his jump shots or not isn’t the issue. The clear fact is that the ball goes in 27% of the time, which is equivalent to 3 pointers going in 18% of the time. Would you want him to shoot wide open 3 pointers at 18% rate? Those should be charged as turnovers in his stat line.
It is bad business, period.
Fresh
January 27th, 2010
11:37 am
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/basketball/nba/01/21/midseason.roundtable/index.html
2. Is there a sleeper team, one that could unexpectedly make a run for the title?
Thomsen: Given the Lakers’ length, depth and talent, along with the fact that they’re now as strong defensively as they’ve always been at the other end of the floor, I don’t see them (assuming they stay healthy) losing to anyone in the West. Should Kobe Bryant break one more finger, then the Mavericks, Spurs or Nuggets may be able to sneak by Los Angeles to the Finals.
In the East, the Hawks’ 3-0 record against Boston is creating hope that they may be that sleeper team. But those kinds of upsets are rare in the NBA: Each of the last 14 champions has been a No. 1 or 2 seed in its conference tournament. The Hawks are limiting themselves to 13 players while maintaining a $65 million payroll — $20 million less than the Celtics and about $15 million cheaper than the Cavs or Magic. In these disparities the Hawks find themselves in the role of the Minnesota Twins trying to match up against the Yankees — meaning they won’t have the manpower to deal with Cleveland, Boston and Orlando if all of those expensive contenders are healthy.
McCallum: I think it’s the Hawks. They’re nutty enough to think they could win; before they were just nutty. Do I think it will happen? No, because I like the Cavs. But I think it could happen because they have talent and things have broken extremely well for them. The “starting six” (off-the-bench ace Jamal Crawford gets 30 minutes a game) have all remained healthy, after all, and not many teams can say that. For the record, I don’t like the Nets’ chances of making a serious run.
Mannix: The Hawks have a couple of things going for them: One, they are fearless. They hate Boston, and their 3-0 record in the season series shows they have unlocked the secret to beating the Celtics. Plus, they don’t believe Cleveland, which beat them in back-to-back games to end 2009, is better than them, either. And two, the Hawks have a sense of urgency, considering that Joe Johnson and coach Mike Woodson can both walk at the end of the season. If they can avoid the Magic — the one player the Hawks have yet to figure out is Dwight Howard — Atlanta is a legit threat.
Forrester: Not really. The tragedy of the seven-game series is that it almost always ensures that the favored team will win. Any upsets to be had aren’t really upsets, but more mild surprises, such as when the Pistons topped the Lakers in the 2004 Finals or when the Magic dropped the Cavs in last season’s East finals. Should the Hawks find themselves matched up against the Celtics in the conference finals, then Atlanta will be Finals-bound. But as long as experience and talent remain king in the postseason, the NBA title is reserved for those teams that have planned and built for it, and this season those teams are the Lakers, Celtics, Cavs, Magic, Spurs or Nuggets.
jerrywest
January 27th, 2010
12:05 pm
The close games we lost, we would have won those if Josh was calculative enough to avoid low probability jump shots (27%). We would be in 1st place in the East right now. BIG difference.
Josh Smith left all his 3 pointer supporters in the alter this year. Soon he will leave all his jumper supporters gasping for air. Hoping for that day.
I MUS WRITE
January 27th, 2010
12:14 pm
If you’re a grown man yelling first -kill yoself- fall on your sword,eat the pills….jus kill yoself
jean
January 27th, 2010
12:33 pm
damn i hate spurs would be the best win for
Hawks Fan In New Orleans
January 27th, 2010
1:31 pm
so. is this Spurs game on national tv or what?
vava74
January 27th, 2010
1:50 pm
Impatience only spawns bad decisions.
We should be happy that Hawks are relevant right now and hope that they keep this up for years to come.
Winning the title is a very difficult quest even in optimum conditions and our Hawks only have the dimmest of hopes to reach that objective this year.
Our task should be to establish ourselves as a consistent top #4 seed/50-60 win ball club in order to win ATL fans and build the momentum which could persuade the ownership to enter deep into luxury tax territory.
Until that happens, we are only one player away (if JJ bails out and we do not manage to replace him with another of equal value – this means someone who is as balanced off-def as he is) from being a fringe playoff team.
Hence, we should concentrate in re-signing JJ, extending Al and finding a way to keep Crawford as well.
If we manage this, (maybe with one of two small adjustments) we could be looking at reaching and competing for the ECF for the next 3/5 years.
Ramon
January 27th, 2010
1:56 pm
Jerrywest, I’m willing to guess that JJ and Crawford take more ‘bad’ shots per game than Smoove. I’m willing to bet JJ shoots over a double team more than 3 fga a game. And I’m also willing to bet that Bibby at least shoots one-two contested threes with more than 15 seconds left on the shot clock, every game. However you want to say Smoove shot attempts are the reason the Hawks lost 3-4 games, still won’t take away from the fact that he is still in the top 2-3 on the team in offensive efficiency. You can go visit good Hollinger for that if you care to challenge that.
Ramon
January 27th, 2010
2:03 pm
Jerrywest, by the way in the last 5 games, Smoove is averaging 18 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 4 apg, 2.6 bpg, 1.8 spg, to go along with 56% shooting from the field, and 75% shooting from the free throw line. And you’re saying if it wasn’t for 2 long jumpers in those games, we would’ve had a better chance of winning. Well since the record is 29-14, I guess you could say we win 2x more when Smoove take those terrible jumpers than we lose. As I said before the season, I’ll say it again now. By the end of the year, Smoove will be the best player on this team and the team’s MVP.
dub366
January 31st, 2010
3:24 pm
Woody coaching is just like his eyebrows missing.