Hawks at Magic, AKA They Can Get Four Ws in One
Orlando– If the Hawks beat the Magic tonight at Pyramid Scheme Arena, then a) they finally figured out Orlando b) Woody coaches the East All-Stars, c) the Hawks extend their lead over the Magic in the Southeast Division to 1.5 games, and d) they stay in front of Boston for No. 2 in the East through the weekend. Lose, and none of those things happen.
So while finishing this week 2-2 would be good, 3-1 means some national shine. And, as Hawks PR Man Arthur Triche notes, it means Woody will be forced to come up with a story to explain his missing eyebrows to the hundreds of reporters who will ask him about them for four straight days on All-Star weekend.
– The smallish Hawks might get a large dose of the Magic lineup featuring both Dwight Howard and Marc He's not Dwight, but he's big too. (www.totalprosports.com)
– Van Gundy is one of the league’s unfiltered coaches. He speaks his mind and tends not to care who takes offense (though, after the way Shaq cracked back on him last season, perhaps sometimes he should care). And so even when he praises the Hawks for their season thus far, he does it like this:
“They’re a very talented team. Their first eight or nine guys are outstanding, and they’ve played the entire year injury-free. So, they’re one of the few teams that hasn’t had to make any adjustments. They get the same eight or nine guys out there every single night. They’ve been together for a long time. They’ve had no injuries this year. It’s rolling along. That has a lot to do with it. They’re a good team, and they’ve faced no adversity whatsoever.”
The Orlando Sentinel’s Josh Robbins says Van Gundy’s tone wasn’t jerky when he said that, he was just being matter-of-fact. I covered Van Gundy, so I know what Robbins means. Nothing Van Gundy said isn’t true (except maybe the “no adversity whatsoever” part) but it seems to me Van Gundy managed to get his digs in, too. He’s never boring, at least.
– Al returns to Gatorland and gets some love.
– Talk amongst yourselves, Hawks fans.
MC
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294 comments Add your comment
O'Brien
January 30th, 2010
8:31 pm
Why do we do that? Does Woody not realize the Magic will make us pay
Melvin
January 30th, 2010
8:32 pm
Hawks settling for jumpers…
O'Brien
January 30th, 2010
8:34 pm
Hawks 4-7 on FT. This is one of those games where the Hawks will have to play a perfect second half to win
BONE
January 30th, 2010
8:35 pm
LOL AT BIBBY. KERMIT FACE
Melvin
January 30th, 2010
8:36 pm
BS call. The Refs are bailing Howard out…
Blast
January 30th, 2010
8:37 pm
With game so close, see how quiet Orlando fans are.
O'Brien
January 30th, 2010
8:38 pm
Whats up with the Hawks? We are playing undisciplined defense.
Woody needs to get on them. We cut it to 3, and now its back to 9. This could get ugly in a hurry if Magic start making them 3s.
Blast
January 30th, 2010
8:38 pm
That’s how they kill you! Offensive rebounds leading to open three’s.
BONE
January 30th, 2010
8:38 pm
BADD SHOT AL
Hawk n the Ham
January 30th, 2010
8:39 pm
We need a change of pace on offense. This is horrible.
BONE
January 30th, 2010
8:39 pm
WELL THEY HAD THEIR CHANCE.
vava74
January 30th, 2010
8:39 pm
We have a huge mental problem: al shot the ball scared and howard’s defense was not that good!
BONE
January 30th, 2010
8:40 pm
THIS GAME IS OVER. BIBBY IS SOOOOOOOOOOO DUMB LOL
Hawk n the Ham
January 30th, 2010
8:40 pm
Howard almost dunked Bibby, LOL. This is sad :-/
vava74
January 30th, 2010
8:41 pm
And Josh is not taking the rock to the hoop when Rashard’sdefense is also not do great
Sautee
January 30th, 2010
8:42 pm
Awful shot by Al
nvnvnv
January 30th, 2010
8:42 pm
Hawks play scared against Dwight.
vava74
January 30th, 2010
8:42 pm
Howard offensive foul…
Sleepy
January 30th, 2010
8:42 pm
We are doing a horrible job on the board our entire frontline is scared of Howard. They have 9 rebounds between them.
JB
January 30th, 2010
8:42 pm
Bibby you gotta tackle him man!
Blast
January 30th, 2010
8:43 pm
That was funny. Bibby should have just let Howard make that layup.
Sleepy
January 30th, 2010
8:43 pm
Howard has 11 rebounds by himself
BONE
January 30th, 2010
8:43 pm
GAME OVER……… AGAIN
nvnvnv
January 30th, 2010
8:45 pm
So shook.
JB
January 30th, 2010
8:45 pm
Lol Josh
O'Brien
January 30th, 2010
8:46 pm
Hawks are getting some good looks, but we cant knock the shots down.
And it seems like Horford and Josh are intimidated by Howard.
Hopefully we can get it to single digits by end of the quarter.
Hawk n the Ham
January 30th, 2010
8:46 pm
We sweep the Celtics. We can take the Cavs down to the wire. But the Magic, we have no answer for. Bad, bad matchup.
nvnvnv
January 30th, 2010
8:46 pm
It has been pathetic watching Hawks vs Magic all year.
Ree Roe
January 30th, 2010
8:46 pm
Well it was nice to be #2 in the East for a few hours…smh
-REEcently Roe
BONE
January 30th, 2010
8:47 pm
I TOLD YA’LL WE CANNOT BEAT THIS TEAM. ESPECIALLY WITH WOODY’S GAMEPLAN. WE NEED A REAL PG TOO.
Melvin
January 30th, 2010
8:47 pm
What happen to the Hawks offense???? You know, the one that they dont have to worry about…
BONE
January 30th, 2010
8:48 pm
HOWARD IS DEEBOO AND HE’S SNATCHIN EVERYBODIES CHAIN LOL
d.carter
January 30th, 2010
8:48 pm
We have no offensive movement at all…. every other team we play has an offense that looks better than ours… The only thing thats holding us back is our total lack of an halfcourt offense,,, we throw it down to al like he is moses malone… we should be solid pick and roll all the time like phoenix… This iso joe ish is soooooo tired
nvnvnv
January 30th, 2010
8:49 pm
They’re extremely intimidated. Those are shots they usually hit. Always looking over their shoulder for Dwight. Sad.
niremetal
January 30th, 2010
8:49 pm
ISO-Mo. That’s new.
BONE
January 30th, 2010
8:51 pm
HOWARD IS DEEBO AND HE’S SNATCHIN EVERYBODIES CHAIN LOL
nvnvnv
January 30th, 2010
8:51 pm
I would hate to watch a playoff series against Orlando. Need to start playing with confidence. Even when Gortat is in, they’re still shook by Dwight just looking at them from the bench.
d.carter
January 30th, 2010
8:51 pm
woody doesnt make any adjustments at all…. against the magic josh should be in pick and roll with al spotting up at 15 feet, which will make Howard pay if he slacks off to help
d.carter
January 30th, 2010
8:53 pm
Woody suxs as an offensive coach…….
BONE
January 30th, 2010
8:53 pm
HOWARD IS DEEBO AND HE’S SNATCHIN EVERYBODIES CHAIN LOL
MY GRANDMA GAVE ME THAT CHAIN
d.carter
January 30th, 2010
8:53 pm
my problem with joe is this…. he takes to many shots and never gets to the ft line… most teams leading scorer gets to the line more than anyone else on the team… i dont know if joe has taken more freethrows than anyone else on the team
niremetal
January 30th, 2010
8:54 pm
That was one of the most absurd foul calls I’ve ever seen.
Sleepy
January 30th, 2010
8:54 pm
jamal 6 free throw attempts
OUR ENTIRE STARTING LINEUP 3 FREE THROW ATTEMPTS
This against a ultra soft perimeter orientated team like the magic …..wow
Hawk n the Ham
January 30th, 2010
8:54 pm
Woody said about the Magic, “…we haven’t figured them out yet.”
It needs to say, “I haven’t figured out how to coach against them yet.”
Melvin
January 30th, 2010
8:54 pm
Woody doesnt play a true backup PG (Teague) or PF (Joe Smith)…
BONE
January 30th, 2010
8:56 pm
MY GRANDMA GAVE ME THAT CHAIN
nvnvnv
January 30th, 2010
8:56 pm
Yeah. Will never understand Teague getting no minutes when the rest of the team is playing so awfully. Teague aint scared.
Clyde
January 30th, 2010
8:56 pm
Yall can say whatever yall want to but Horford and Zaza ain’t gonna cut it. He made the Allstar team but tonight he showed he can’t get the job done. We need to do whatever we can to get Stoudamire.
TM
January 30th, 2010
8:57 pm
Marvin is the ONLY outside shooter in the NBA that consistently misses jump shots. I don’t know what his shooting % is, but if you take away his layups and dunks… i bet it’s under 20%.
He SUX! and is the main reason this team is not going to do anything in the playoffs. A good team and coach exploits him in every critical point of the game.
nvnvnv
January 30th, 2010
8:57 pm
Not happening.