Hawks at Warriors, AKA My Weird Woody Weekend
Oakland– So on Friday before the Hawks played the Suns, Woody said this about Jason Collins and Joe Smith, two of his postseason-toughened veterans:
“When the playoffs come, they can be a big, significant part of it. I haven’t told them that, but I hope they can sense it. In the playoffs, your rotation thins and you tend to play the guys that have done it. They become more valuable in the playoffs.”
I wondered about both parts of that statement: the thinning of the postseason rotation and using those guys more. But then Woody played both Smith and Collins in the first half against the Suns and Smith played great and Collins wasn’t bad and I’m thinking, “Hey, maybe this is the start of something.”
But then of course Woody didn’t play either of those guys in the second half and in fact used no reserves other than Jamal Crawford. And while owning up to that mistake, Woody said this:
“I had to see something for myself. I condensed things last night almost like it was a playoff game, when your backs are against the wall and you have to have one. I blew out six guys trying to do it. I can tell you it won’t happen again.”
It was all very confusing for me. So I’m looking for some clarity from this game.
– Very interesting development in the Hawks’ Ilgauskas watch. Mark Heisler of the LA Times on Twitter: “Source says NBA has told other teams it won’t let Z go back to Cavs. May be woofing with no rule against it, maybe not.”
And this: NBA stopped just one now-common trade-buyout-re-sign scam-when Stackhouse admitted it–may be working on way to make it two.”
The Washington Post reported Z’s buyout from the Wizards will come sometime this week and that his “heart is in Cleveland.” If the league breaks his heart and won’t allow a reunion (a move the players association would fight) it obviously increases the chances the Hawks can land Big Z.
– Mitch Lawrence of the Daily News had this note today:
Of the top free agents for 2010, Atlanta’s Joe Johnson is the one considered the most likely to find a new team. The Hawks have heard the rumblings and already made it known that Johnson will get a first-year salary of around $17 million in a new multi-year “maximum” salary deal. He’s making $15 million now.
But a league source said the Hawks haven’t let that be known to J.J.: They haven’t negotiated with him since he turned down their extension offer before the season. And so far there have been no indications from J.J.’s camp about his intentions for free agency. At All-Star weekend, J.J. said he’d “love to” stay with the Hawks but was noncommittal about his plans.
– Former Warrior Jamal on if he tries to stick it to his old teams: “It depends on how I’m feeling.”
Well, how is he feeling tonight?
“We’ll see.”
– Talk amongst yourselves, Hawks fans.
MC
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422 comments Add your comment
We Blew a 17 Point Lead to GS
February 21st, 2010
10:59 pm
WE DID NOTHING AT THE TRADE DEADLINE..THE TEAM THAT WAS #1 IN THE CONFERENCE MADE A TRADE AND IMPROVED. NO COMMITMENT FROM OWNERSHIP. RICK SUND HAS DONE A GOOD JOB WITH THE HAND HE HAS BEEN DEALT. THE MAGIC HAS DWIGHT HOWARD BUT NO WAY CAN YOU TELL ME THEY ARE MORE TALENTED THAN WE ARE..THEY HAVE A BETTER COACH AND BETTER OWNERSHIP.
Tim
February 21st, 2010
10:59 pm
Josh Smith are you are serious?
He hasn’t hit a 3 all year, and decides to hoist up one with almost 9 seconds left!
This ISO Joe madness must end!! Everyone is just standing around and watching. No one sets a pick, no one cuts to the basket. How could Jamal get a technical foul with a tie game and the Hawks with the ball? Are you kidding me? And how many times did Joe get ripped by Monte Ellis?
From now on, if the Hawks are down by 3 at the end, take Josh Smith out of the game! There is nothing for him to do except what he just did.
Wabe
February 21st, 2010
11:00 pm
No, but Woody had HIS TEAM out there running absoultely lost when we hit the lulls. He doesn’t do much to get guys free, just tells them to get to there spot and take the handoff or an entry-pass. You’ve got to have set plays exactly for that reason. There’s nothing wrong with going through JJ at the end of games or when he’s hot, but to have the entire offensive system molded through the ISO-CONCEPT is not the best approach.
Greg
February 21st, 2010
11:01 pm
The Hawks are NOT going to be fine in the playoffs. This team has some serious flaws and there is very little, if any, coaching being done. If they go in as a 4 seed, it’s going to be anybody’s series with that 5 seed. And, if they are lucky enough to get through that, they won’t win more than a game or two in the 2nd round. Same as last year, at best, is not what anybody in the Hawks organization was looking for this year after keeping the team together and adding Crawford and Teague.
vava74
February 21st, 2010
11:01 pm
Section,
the matter is not Mo’s production but the fact that Woody shortened his rotation again after what he dis against PHO.
Mo has been playing badly – no doubt – but this team is the ideal oponent for Mo since they play small and his defense could have helped contain CJ watson.
BONE
February 21st, 2010
11:01 pm
The Bird and the Indian put that crackpipe down. The Hawks are not one of the best teams in the league.
darrell starks
February 21st, 2010
11:02 pm
YOU HAVE 2 BE KIDDING ME.
BIBBY 3POINTS
MARVIN 9POINTS
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!
Chuck Uga
February 21st, 2010
11:02 pm
Tonight’s loss is an unfortunate indication that these Hawks do not have what it takes to make it to the Eastern Conference Finals. They won’t. A contending team does NOT blow an 17-point lead after three and LOSE THE DAMN GAME. That was pathetic and proof this team loses focus during games. That is Mike Woodson’s fault. He is not instilling the killer instinct this team had earlier in the season. Hawks make a lot of us believe in them but it is obviously a mirage. Orlando and Cleveland own them today and will own them later. Even Charlotte plays with more focus. Sad.
Melvin
February 21st, 2010
11:02 pm
Against 2 subpar defensive teams, we manage to score a combine 28pts in the 4th qtrs. WTF, an Woody want to talk defense….
truthspitter
February 21st, 2010
11:02 pm
Zaza, Marvin, and Teague suck goatballs.
NUNNA YO BIZNEZZ
February 21st, 2010
11:03 pm
@RA,
YOU MUST BE MRS.WOODY!!
WHATEVER!!
TRUTHSPITTER,I HOPE U GO TO JAIL FOR THE COMMENT ON MURDER THAT YOU POSTED!!!!
Grandad
February 21st, 2010
11:03 pm
Truthspitter:
Why should those 3 be shot?
They were not in the majority of the comeback.
Teaguer played his best in a month.
Zaza got fouled @ least twice ev ery time he touched it. Did he shoot any FT’s ?
Marv didn’t play great, neither was he the goat.
When we were up 18…how much had our lead been reduced before Wdswn called a TO.
Did we ever run a set play during GS comeback.
Who was guarding Curry when we built uup our lead? Teague???
Steven A.
February 21st, 2010
11:03 pm
Sund allowing WOODY to FAIL! EASIER TO FIRE HIM!
Only reason RICK SUND did not give “WOODY” an extension was that he needs a reason to FIRE him.
i do not beleive he liked WOODY all along…and with GOOD reason. After the HAWKS get BOUNCED
in the first round, We will finally get a coach, ONE who has a Vision.
darrell starks
February 21st, 2010
11:04 pm
Woody is so stubborn why dont he try something new bibby, and marvin is not producing at all as starters.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!
lexluther
February 21st, 2010
11:04 pm
Josh Smith…..r u kidding me. What the hell you doing taking that shot. My GOD!!! What is it going to take to get this guy to play within his game. DAMN!!!!!
BirdDawg
February 21st, 2010
11:04 pm
JustChillFans, are you serious dude? Do you think all this teams problems, most of which have been the same for the last six years, are going to magically go away in the playoffs? I hope they do, hell, I hope the go away starting the next game with Utah, but reality doesn’t suggest as much. This team has improved, but they still haven’t really turned that corner and they won’t until Woodson is shown the door. It’s not the losses that frustrate us, it’s the way these guys are losing (i.e. lack of effort, no offensive gameplan, too much freestyle and Iso, etc.). This is what has the fans in an uproar, that they are losing the same way every single time and have been since Woodson has been here. The big men still put the ball on the floor too much in the post and Woodson hasn’t fixed that. The offense is too predictable and Woodson hasn’t fixed that. This team has too much talent to keep settling for the same old crap over and over again.
The Bird and Indian (Reggie)
February 21st, 2010
11:04 pm
Bone: I ask for you to thoroughly read my post, since you obviously didn’t.
Section 303
February 21st, 2010
11:05 pm
vava74, fair enough. I have just decided that guy is a nonfactor. He really does nothing bad or good, he is just kind of there.
I’m offcially hitting the panic button. This team is not as good as I thought. Loser organization, being a loser organization.
vava74
February 21st, 2010
11:05 pm
Basically, what I am saying is that there is no logic on what Woody did neither in PHO nor tonight.
We Blew a 17 Point Lead to GS
February 21st, 2010
11:06 pm
STEVEN A…GOOD POINT…I HAVE LIKED WHAT SUND HAS DONE SO FAR BUT REMEMBER…THE LAST COACH HE HIRED IN SEATTLE WAS BOB WEISS..US HAWKS FAN REMEMBER HIM…NOT A GOOD HIRE..
BONE
February 21st, 2010
11:07 pm
Oh I read your post the bird and the indian. The words Hawks and one of the best don’t go 2gether.
vava74
February 21st, 2010
11:07 pm
Even MC blog title tells us enough. He has seen a lot of BBall and he is bewildered!
Atlanta Killed Hip-Hop
February 21st, 2010
11:07 pm
Snap Music??? Soulja Boy? Girly Men in skinny jeans with funny haircuts makin nursery type rap songs??? Now the Atlanta Hawks??? Boy Atlanta is a joke, no wonder it has the highest gay population % of any US city.
Atlanta Killed Hip-Hop
February 21st, 2010
11:09 pm
GO MAGIC
Section 303
February 21st, 2010
11:09 pm
A lot of people ripping Bibby and Marvin. The deserve much of it, I agree. But, don’t forget, Crawford was no where to be found in the 4th quarter. If we are going to call him “The Difference” he should actually make a difference, right?
Josh Smith is not an All Star….I apologize for saying he was. Still the same stupid player he always was. Tiger does not change its stripes, I guess…
darrell starks
February 21st, 2010
11:09 pm
Bibby is now shooting 38percent for the year wow, by the end of the season he will be at 17percent for the year.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!
Ken Strickland
February 21st, 2010
11:10 pm
ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION GM RICK SUND? I’ve never seen a player decline like Bibby during a season. I still say Woodson will go to any length to keep from replacing him as his starting PG, and that includes not giving Teague a fair chance. Teague was the one that excelerated the pace and kept the Warriors on their heels when we got that 19pt lead.
Woody, as expected, immediately replaced him with Bibby and didn’t allow him on the court again. Woodson played Bibby 29mins and got 3pts, 1stl and 5ast. He played Teague 12mins and got 3pts, 1stl and 4ast.
BIBBY IS GETTING PROGRESSIVELY WORSE IN EVERY PHASE OF THE GM AS THE SEASON PROGRESSES, AND HIS DEF CAN’T GET MUCH WORSE. Playing Teague will not only improve his confidence and overall production, but the team as well. But our dumbazz HC is more concerned with his loyality to certain players rather than the overall team.
Woodson has simply stopped even trying to coach and has decided to ride the backs of 6 players into the ground down the stretch, no matter what. Next, we go into Utah having lost 6 of our last 11 gms.
darrell starks
February 21st, 2010
11:10 pm
Poor marvin he is trying.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!
SIMPDAWG
February 21st, 2010
11:12 pm
If Joe Johnson is the best player on this team, he cannot allow GS to deny him the basketball at crunch time. The way the Hawks are playing right now, they won’t make it pass the first round of the playoffs. Josh Smith posted great numbers but, he made costly mistakes at the end of the game. The Hawks needs somebody to penetrate the lane and draw some fouls. That’s the problem I have with this team. At the end of games no one is willing to drive through the lane and pick up fouls, hell GS only played eight players tonight. The Hawks what a joke!!! Atlanta teams has no heart.
BONE
February 21st, 2010
11:12 pm
Bibby might as well be a walking corpse
The Bird and Indian (Reggie)
February 21st, 2010
11:15 pm
SIMPDAWG: We only played 9 players, one of which being a guy that just comes in for the last couple minutes of a quarter. That could be a problem. What happened to 10 deep, Woody?
truthspitter
February 21st, 2010
11:15 pm
Atlantakilledhiphop is a transvestite
truthspitter
February 21st, 2010
11:16 pm
Hawks are looking like a 8th seed
Astro Joe
February 21st, 2010
11:16 pm
Y’all are funny! Seriously, go back and read the posts… quite entertaining.
Time and situation. 350+ NBA games and you don’t understand time and situation. I wonder if our coach ever took the time to teach time and situation. Probably not (right).
Thank goodness that Teague had a nice run against the league’s worse defensive team.
Horford is this team’s MVP. Dude goes to the bench (and Zaza plays next to Josh) and the offense goes into the toilet. Smith throws the same passes to Zaza that he throws to Al. Maybe Woody might want to explain that Zaza’s hands aren’t like Al’s hands, because obviously Josh hasn’t noticed that in the past 3 seasons.
All of those free throw misses came back to haunt the Hawks, huh? 2-7. Putrid.
Be careful what you ask for, because sometimes, you get a last second shot off the hands of the last person you’d want taking a 3-pointer with enough time for at least one if not two more passes. But hey, when you pass it to him, the assumption is that you want him to shoot, right? That’s why he took those long distance bombs all of these years… because his teammates set him up for failure. He’s just trying to be a good teammate and “make something happen”. Or better yet, get the guy who passed him the ball an assist.
350+ NBA games and still struggling with time and situation. Geez, maybe we need a high school coach to take over the team… as long as it’s not the coach from McEachern… because they don’t do much teaching there (or Oak Hill Academy).
So since Teague played so well against the league’s worse defensive team, surely he has earned a shot at Deron Williams, right?
Discipline, we still lack discipline and still lack that on-floor leader who can gain control of his teammates. Bibby has lost his confidence and his leadership position with the team. Al hasn;t yet stepped up to bark at guys on the floor. Joe may be getting ready to explode (finally he yelled at a ref, good for Joe). But let’s face it, most teams fall into the trap of playing Nellie ball because it is the desired way for individual players to play. And after the big 3rd quarter lead (playing Woody ball), the Hawks went right back to the playground and got schooled. Lack of discipline. Yeah, definitely a coaching issue but the coach can;t be the only voice who preaches discipline. There isn;t another elite team that doesn’t have an alpha male to shake up teammates at the appropriate time… just us. The reason we need Bibby to get back is not just because we need his 12 points/game, but because we need the swagger and leadership that he alone is capable of bringing. Woody must play him because we’re not winning without Bibby’s ability to calm this team and put guys in the right place on offense. But right now, he’s lost and the team is suffering. And no, Teague ain’t capable of leading this team anyplace good (not yet).
SIMPDAWG
February 21st, 2010
11:17 pm
In the off season the Hawks need to pursue Kirk Hinrich and cash from the Bulls for Bibby and Marvin Williams. Resign Josh Childress and replace Mike Woodson.
kwooden1
February 21st, 2010
11:17 pm
Crawford had a tough game, he hit some threes, but got really frustrated with the no calls.
truthspitter
February 21st, 2010
11:20 pm
I’m boycotting these bums until they gave us an honest contender
The Bird and Indian (Reggie)
February 21st, 2010
11:23 pm
SIMPDAWG: Kirk Hinrich? No thanks.
tidog
February 21st, 2010
11:24 pm
14 4th quarter points from a playoff team, and lost of composure from a playoff team = loss to a bad team. fortunately there are 29 games left to right this wrong. Golden State deserved and earned their win. We’ve been in more big games than they have but we lost our composure down the stretch and i ain’t talking about the tech specifically. This could be the best loss of the season cause we got 29 games left to oil this machine.
Season Ticket Holder
February 21st, 2010
11:25 pm
Sund doesn’t need Woody to fail before he fires him… just ask the coaches that have had back to back 50 win seasons, and been fired. Or the coaches that have won Coach of the Year one year and fired shortly later. If the coach is not the right fit, he needs to be fired. Woody hasn’t done any of those things and he still sticks around. Keeping Woody is an owner’s issue – there’s no desire to take this organization to the next level.
kwooden1
February 21st, 2010
11:26 pm
Astro I agree about Bibby but he’s going to be the weak link all year. Teams are going to attack him no matter how he’s playing. He has lost some confidence, but he hasn’t forgotten how to shoot. He will play better, but the HAWKS need to learn to be consistent with their style of play.
GO HAWKS!!
darrell starks
February 21st, 2010
11:29 pm
Im serious this time is it just me or what, but bibby is still playing on 1 leg, some one need to starte asking?
GO HAWKS!!!!!!
We Blew a 17 Point Lead to GS
February 21st, 2010
11:30 pm
LIKE HIM OR HATE HIM, OUR FORMER GM BILLY KNIGHT WANTED TO FIRE WOODSON…THE OWNERS SAID NO…THATS ALL U NEED TO KNOW ABOUT OUR ORGANIZATION. LOOK WHAT THEY DID TO THE THRASHERS.
BILLY KNIGHT
February 21st, 2010
11:32 pm
CALM DOWN PEOPLE.
JeJe
February 21st, 2010
11:33 pm
So on Friday before the Hawks played the Suns, Woody said this about Jason Collins and Joe Smith, two of his postseason-toughened veterans:
“When the playoffs come, they can be a big, significant part of it. I haven’t told them that, but I hope they can sense it. In the playoffs, your rotation thins and you tend to play the guys that have done it. They become more valuable in the playoffs.”
How the hell does your rotation thin but you play guys who don’t normally play? God Damnit this guy is retarded
David Smith
February 21st, 2010
11:33 pm
Yet another game this team has thrown away due to lack of focus and intensity in the fourth quarter. This team really irritates me at times with their Jeckyll/Hyde play during games and Woody continues to not adjust to what the other team is doing. These next 20+ games are crucial to our future playoff positioning and if we continue with performances like the one tonight then we may find ourselves being sent home in the first round.
truthspitter
February 21st, 2010
11:34 pm
The Hawks will lose by atleast 15 2morrow if you are a gambler put your life savings on that. The Hawks are pure bums and will not reach 50 wins and also go out first round definitely.
SIMPDAWG
February 21st, 2010
11:34 pm
The Bird and Indian (Reggie): What’s wrong with Kirk Hinrich? He’ll give the Hawks better offensive production than Bibby and he plays better defense. What about Josh Childress?
JeJe
February 21st, 2010
11:35 pm
HEY BIBBY AND MARVIN:
DO U EVER PLAN ON MAKING A CONTRIBUTINO TO THIS TEAM AGAIN?
U GUYS ARE A JOKE TO THIS LEAGUE AND UNFORTUNATELY WE ARE STUCK WITH YOUR SORRY ASSES FOR 2/4 MORE YEARS
JeJe
February 21st, 2010
11:36 pm
HOW DO U PUT JOE ON S.CURRY? LOL WHAT A JOKE. WHERE WAS MARIO?
ISN’T THAT WHY WE SIGNED HIM?