Hawks at Bulls, AKA Big Ray and Woody’s Way

maybe

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and you also say AKA which means ‘Also known as’ correct? Your blog titles don’t make any sense.

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No disrespect to Big Ray, but the Hawks have finished better than 18th in the league in defensive efficiency once since Woodson got here. They were 12th last year. They’re 13th this season.

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@ MC, it was brought up on the last blog and I wanted to bring it up here. Why don’t you think Big Z has resigned with CLE yet? The national media all but assumed he’d return to CLE as soon as he got his buyout from WAS, but there seems to be some ambivalence now that wasn’t there on Z’s part. Why do you think that is?

Also, do you think there is ANY chance we make a run at Michael Finley?

-REE Roe!!!

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I think that Woodson is easy to tune out Sans Eyebrows. It is easy to loose focus when he is talking because you just keep asking, “Dear god, why?” Look at how much better they played team basketball; defense and ball movement, before the great eyebrow removal. Then look at post eyebrow removal. Coincidence? I think not.

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Now you see em, now they burnt off!

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Gotta love players rolling their eyes at ISO Joe. I’m sure Joe rolls his eyes when smith and horf get pushed out of the lane and settle for fall aways or leaners.

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Great feedback!! I really think that the team isn’t listening to Woody,; however, I don’t think that Woody has any influence on the offensive side of the ball. Iso-Joe makes me sick (literally I get sick) especially when I see the positive results we get from good ball movement… we can literally beat any team in the league when we have good ball movemnet! Bibby’s got 2 go!! He can’t dribble pentrate… he can’t d-up at all… he can barely hit a jumper anymore… what good is he??? If we had just one person on our team that could drive the ball and create easy shots for our bigs than we would be the 1 or 2 seed for the playoffs. Oh well… just wishful thinking!

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MC,

Very good, thought-provoking stuff. My take on the defensive “slippage” is very simple. Too much of the Bibby/Crawford backcourt in the 4th quarter, particularly when we have the lead.

Woody has played the Bibby/Crawford combo for the vast majority of the season in “clutch situations.” Just as many of us thought when the trade was made, that combo is terrific offensively (at least it was prior to the All Star break) and horrible defensively. Early in the season, that combo was so good offensively that any defensive shortcomings didn’t matter. Since the shots have stopped falling however, those defensive weaknesses, which have always been there, stand out like a sore thumb.

I think the solution is for Woody to figure out early in the 4th if the Bibby/Crawford backcourt has it going. If they do, roll with it until they stop making shots. If they don’t, figure out who has it going better between Jamal and Bibby (it has been Jamal more often than Bibby so far) and let Marvin replace the other one.

Marvin might get scored on but he rarely misses his assignment and he usually forces his man to take a tough shot. Same usually goes for Al and JJ (at least when JJ is focused). Smoove might miss his assignment on occasion but he makes up for it by covering for his teammates like no one else can. Bibby actually makes the right decisions and he knows where to be most of the time, he’s just slower than ever and he’s never been a great athlete or defender. Crawford is a good athlete, he’s just never focused on D long enough to learn how to play it consistently well.

Bottom line, all of the guys on the team have strengths and weaknesses and it is Woody’s job to put them in the best situation to be successful. If he truly believes that defense wins championships, then he needs to focus on having a good defensive team on the floor at the end of tight games.

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@MC, now you know that you MUST get that Milk Dud out of your ear. Because it is crystal clear to the vast majority of bloggers around here that the players follow Woody’s teachings to a tee. If Joe waits until a milli-second is left to shoot against the Bucks, that’s the way Woody drew it up. If Josh decides that he is better leading the break than finishing the break, it’s because of Woody’s strategy. In previous years, when Josh took 3s (~200 in about 2 years), it was because Woody insisted that he stand behind the 3-point line and demanded that when he received the pass nbe hind the 3-point line that he shoot. Or, that Woody asked his teammates to wait until there was a single tick left on the shot-clock before passing the ball to Smith and thereby forcing to heave up a shot. So you see, the players follow every instruction just like your bloggers follow every word uttered by their respective bosses, teachers, and wives (the true bosses).

You just don’t understand… too much South Beach sun over the years. But we’ll teach you. Woody is the reason for Atlanta traffic, a poor sewage system and all the faults related to the Hawks.

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I might be wrong,but I think Woody let’s Joe and Bibby off for not doing the right thing,especially in running the O and playing less than inspired D.Woody needs to get on their behind,just as he does Teague,Evans,and Josh.They know they are going to play so they don’t really listen to Woody.

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Good Stuff MC.

It has been suggested that when the bigs are more involved in the offense from early, they will give you more on defense. Although that should not be the case, I think it is true. Hopefully the Hawks will feed Al and Josh early in the game, and try to get them going, and the defense will follow. Plus that will open things up for our backcourt later on, because Josh and Al are good passers.

I also think another reason the Hawks dont reset when option #1 isn’t there, is because they’re so used to the isos, they just stand around and watch, because in their mind, they’re thinking the iso is coming anyway.

The issue now becomes what can Woody do to help these guys stay focused? This is Josh’s 6th year, Marvin’s 5th, JJ and Crawford close to 10 years, Bibby is up there too, so its disappointing that consistent focus is a problem.

Although we’ve seen veteran teams like the Pistons a couple years ago, and the Celtics this year have focus problems, the difference is those teams won championships first.

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I’m sick of Woody yelling at teague and not saying anything to Bibby and Joe.

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Ree Roe, Big Z can’t sign with Cleveland for 30 days after he was released by Washington. He could sign with any other team right away but has to wait 30 days with Cleveland. That;s why he hasn’t resigned.

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@ MC,

Interesting observation on Smoove’s (and the other players’) reactions to Iso-Joe. I never thought about the possibility that Smoove’s refusal to give the ball up on the break might have a direct correlation to his belief that the team was not sharing the ball enough. There is no doubt that he looks for his teammates on the break even if he sometimes makes a bad decision/pass.

It certainly seems to me that the players get stagnant and stop moving when JJ starts pounding it on multiple possessions. That said, I think the key is to find a nice mix with the Iso’s being no more than 33% of the offense.

Smoove said last night that JJ was feeling it late and that you have to keep going to him when he’s on like that. I agree 100%. Prior to that though, he certainly was not on and that is when it would be nice to see more ball movement.

I love JJ and I think he is a great player. I hope he retires a Hawk. But just as Jordan did, I hope he learns that he can impact the game by setting up his teammates just as much as he can by beating his defender one on one.

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Traceman, Joe made a similar comment to Sekou last year… something about “passing the ball and not seeing it again”. So it appears that it works both ways.

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Woody may be “all about the D”, but when Josh is on the bench, the D is pitiful.

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MC
Nice job, I like Sekou but because of your candor, you might be an upgrade

AJ
From the previous blog

They called that style of management you described as “OH SH!T” or CRISIS MANAGEMENT. No planning, just reacting to events as we are currently doing with Big Z. If our interest in Big Z is of the same magnitude as Stackhouse then we shouldn’t waste too much bandwidth. A HALF INTEREST = NO INTEREST. Only a strong interest (backup with money) = A REAL INTEREST. In Z’s case, even a real interest is no guarantee (that he will sign) but at least it’s being sincere and not deceptive.

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I watched Phil Jackson send a message to Pau Gasol the other day because Gasol was playing soft. So with less than 6:00 left in a close game against their biggest threat in the conference (Denver), Phil yanked Gasol. But who did he bring in? ANDREW BYNUM! Not Zaza or RandMO or Jason Collins… but ANDREW BYNUM.

I’m sure that Woody would love to “send a message” AND win the game which would help him secure another contract… but with our bench, he’s better off trying to send the message at half-time or between quarters. And the scary part is, this bench is better han any bench Woody has had. But of course, that’s like saying this bench is the best eyebrow shave he’s ever had.

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aj, it may surprise you but josh shot 29.9% from three land last year. if jj shoots 35% in the iso joe or even 40% which i hazard to guess he doesnt then it about equals out in points scored my friend. in fact josh might be ahead unless jj is above 40%, no? i dont know why you made u 20% unless it fit your argument better. uh, not the first time. heh heh

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The NBA is a player’s league. They make more money and they have more influence. It’s not like with Gene Hackman in Hoosiers.

Woody is a player’s coach. His instructions are natually not going to be followed down to every detail. He’s no Mike D’antoni who’s willing to bench someone for a significant stretch. It’s been over a year since Woody has benched someone (Josh for one half).

That being said, I think Woody is a good coach. His system has some flaws but works pretty well. He’s allowing the players to sort things out themselves and he’s actually growing with them and learning. Over rigid coaching can be a motivation killer. The hawks are a lot more resilient than they were last year in large part due to the good relationships…warts and all.

If we go .500 for the rest of the season, we’ll have 49 wins. Not bad for a team with a bad coach and no center. The hawks haven’t really gotten worse over the season, it’s just that other teams have caught up in terms of chemistry. It’s time for us to take our game to another level and “sort things out”. Go Hawks!

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doc, my bad… I was thinking of his previous seasons when he was around 25% (250 3FGAs in 2 years at 25%… unbelievable)… I didn’t realize he was all the way up to 30%. And I’d still take an iso play over a 3-ball at 30%… because until I see some iso percentages, I will keep my bias that Joe in iso is a better play than Josh launching a 3-ball.

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Najeh, part of Joe not getting to the free throw line is that he refuses to be the drama queen like the T-Mobile guy and react everytime someone breaths on him. Even on defense, we never see Joe “flop”. He plays the game with integrity and doesn’t act out fouls like so many others. And I’d like to think that the guy “wearing “Atlanta” across his chest would get the benefit of the doubt from the locals. Instead, we seem to hold him to a higher standard than the chuckers who sell-out the arena. Heck, we accept 250 attempts at 25% more readily than a 4-time All-Star.

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AJ

Using your example, I hope the Hawks doesn’t bring Waffle House money to The Cheesecake Factory at 7PM on Saturday night AND EXPECT TO PLACE AN ORDER

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The Truth… LOL!

Speaking of money issues, did we ever find out of if Belkin made his payment of $2.5M?

What really sucks is when you consider that Sund was able to obtain a $2M cash payment in the Andersen trade over the summer… and yet we could only afford 13 players during the bulk of the year.

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im ready to see hat they do against Chicago tonight. Tonite is a must win we need to get a win streek going. The hawks are avereraging 97.7 since Jan 1. Its a direct reflection of Jamal not lighting it up lately. I have said it before, when Jamal was consistent scoring 20 plus, all of these defiencies were not noticeable. Now that he is average, all our problems come to light. Remember earlier in the year, the Portland game on the road? Sactown? Jamal was scoring at an unbeleivable clip. Game winner vs Suns, meaningful minutes vs Boston all 4 times. I know that is not the only problem, but it helped when he was going off. I hope he catches fire again

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aj neither of us are betting men. heh heh so i guess the argument could stop there …. but it wont.

but before you jump in with your money where your mouth is thinking it is a sure bet you might want to read and weep on this one. the crow might be tough:

http://www.82games.com/gamewinningshots.htm

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I wuz watching the lakers nuggets game yesterday. late in the game denver had a time out with a camera in the huddle and Karl went on and on about not taking quick shots and passing the ball and trusting your teammate even if you have a shot clock violation in order to make the defense work. Karl was in his players faces and challenging them to do the right thing. After the time out Billips came down and immediately threw up a three [got fouled and shot freethrows]. then came down the next several possessions at blatantly failed to do what Karl had implored. moral of the story is……player play, coaches watch.

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Clarkekent, that’s not an argument for taking or not taking quick shots. Lebron does not have a ring either….so what?

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doc, I prefer salt and butter with my crow.

Seriously, i didn;t think we were talking “game winning shots” just iso plays in general. We’ll have a pretzel vs. popcorn stand-off on this one. And much like too much salt on either snack food isn’t good for you, too many iso-Joes and too many Josh 3s are bad for our health.

70 minutes to POPCORN time.. I may even enjoy it with one less shake of the salt contianer… in honor of my buudy the doc.

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Hawks punch drunk…

Month of February has been brutal, despite a 7-5 record that kept the Hawks treading water. A win is a win, but they sure have been ugly and don’t say alot about our playoff chances.

The Big Z wet dream is over, a meaningless smokescreen for those of lil’ pockets. Better target would’ve been Drew Gooden, but looks like LAC can use him. He would bring low post toughness and scoring we’ll need later but…u know the story.

Scrappy ain’t gonna get it…in Feb. we lost to the Thunder, got blown out by the Magic and Heat, outclassed by the Suns and Warriors, despite an 18 pt. lead, caught hell from the Twolves and Bucks….that ain’t how contenders do it.

Yes, a win is a win, but we’re still where we were at the beginning of the year – a couple pieces away.

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Good stuff MC,

Ill say it again our problem on D isnt the philosophy but our quickness on the perimeter, especially on the pick & roll. Joe and biby and even crawford are too slow laterally to guard quick guards like the one were playing tonight in D Rose.
I think an answer that solves multiple issues is to start Mo Evans over Marvin. That would give us more quickness defensivelyand allow Marvin to get more touches with the 2nd unit.
Let me know what you think MC.

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You start Mo Evans, and you’ll have a situation like you had in the 2009 playoffs. I guess people have forgotten that though.

It’s not like Mo is playing well enough to start over Marvin. And Marvin has been playing with the 2nd unit all year, but has been ineffective. You definitely don’t start flipping the minutes of Mo Evans and Marvin Williams. Even if Marvin was benched, you play him major minutes, and definitely more minutes than Mo.

I hope Woody doesn’t read the blogs or listen to the commentators and/or talking heads. He simply needs to coach this team the way HE wants to coach him. Not how everyone else wants them to be coached . . including me. He knows this personnel better than any fan or sportswriter out there. He knows what guys are doing in practice, and what guys aren’t doing.

The crazy thing is . . if we win tonight, we’ve won 4 of our last 5 games. Lose tonight, and we’ve lost 4 of our last 7. We’re a Dallas collapse from having a 4 game win streak right now. So a win tonight would be big. A loss just keep the talk going about what is wrong with this team.

The team doesn’t play perfect. Nowhere near perfect. They simply play like the Hawks. George Karl has the same problems with his squad that we do with ours . . . CONSISTENCY.

It may be frustrating to watch at times, but they’re going to win more often than not. And both teams will be a factor during playoff time.

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My biggest problem with ISO’s is this: If you give the ball to a single player (not just Joe) and have them go one-on-one (or one-on-two) then you are not only allowing the opponent to basically rest 2 to 3 players, but you are NOT involving the rest of the team. Every basketball player alive wants to be involved in the game. If you set a couple of screens then the screeners feel like they were involved in helping the team score. Do you think anybody but the shooter feels that way after ISO’s?

I can see it IF you are exploiting a mismatch, but too much of it and the other players start getting antsy. And apparently rolling their eyes.

I said in the offseason that the lack of touches by the frontcourt was a potential chemistry problem. The more games we lose, and the more ISO’s we run, the closer that reality looms.

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lets get it..

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O’Brien . . . I’m already content with the fact that it will be our starters who will determine if we live or die in the playoffs. I’m not jaded about all of this “develop the sorry bench” talk one bit, because I know where the strength of our team lies. Woody is definitely content with living and dying by the starters. I personally have no problem with that.

Remember 2 years ago? When people was mad at Woody for playing 7 guys in order to make the playoffs? People were crying about Acie and Solo and Salim not playing back then. But Woody definitely did the right thing in reducing that rotation, in order for us to make the playoffs.

So if he decides to go with just Crawford, and 2 other people off the bench, I have no problem with that. Those bench guys have done nothing but put us in holes all year, yet, people want them to play more?

And no . . Sund isn’t going to let Woody use that as an excuse if we happen to look bad in the playoffs. A first round exit means that he’s probably gets fired, regardless of the circumstances. A second round exit in which we lose in 4 or 5 games, probably means he gets fired.

But if we take a team to 7 games, and lose Game 7 in a competitive manner, he should get a new contract.

Hawk fans hate Woody because they don’t like how he manages the team. But these days, it’s not about how good you look . . it’s about if you WIN. And Woody has done a lot of winning since the acquisition of Mike Bibby. LOL . . these fans better get used to 3 or so more years of Woody . . whether they hate him or not.

No Deng or Noah tonight . . . let’s see if Horford and Marvin can be active tonight.

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northcyde

We’re not talking about “ineffective play”. We’re talking about a scenario where a player (JJ included) insists on doing the opposite of the coach’s instructions. Yes pull them if they insist on disrespecting their boss. However, this example may be a stretch for players like JJ (as with most of the star players Kobe included) since he has not shown those behavior tendencies. Early in Josh Smith career for example, I can remember occasions when Woody would pull him out of a game if he went off on the deep-in. In general, because of Woody’s growing relationship with his players, he is growing softer and softer with them. This is a common trap as to why many coaches ultimately get fired.

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Smooove!!!!!

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Boy, that looked bad. Rose at the very least hyperextended his right knee. Maybe worse.

That’s awful for the Bulls if it’s a tear. I hate seeing him beat us but I LOVE watching him play.

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Marvin with the lucky score

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OK . . we’re up 9 . . watch and see if the Bench can maintain this lead, when Woody starts subbing people out

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WGN HD>>>>Fox Sports South and it’s faster. WGN is real time…FSS is like a tape delay it’s so slow. Guys are attacking early on, good sign.

-REEspond to Roe!!!

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Marvin has got to hit some of those open looks.

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Knew rose would be back

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Did Acie speak to Woody before the game? lol!

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yooo zaza needs 2 hit the gym early and work on his shot

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Acie should punch woody in the face

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woody played Joe Johnson the whole first quarter. wow

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I can’t wait for Acie to show Woody how much he can do after spending time with 3 different coaches in 4 months.

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nice steal

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Oh I blame Acie for his own demise. I just would like to see acie punch woody lol

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PaFoolia Sucks

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2nd unit has no one that can create their own shot. Teague drives, but no one to kick to except crawford and occasionally Evans. ZaZa sucks!

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Bring in some starters. Bench has had enough run.

Is Acie in the game?

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perfect example of why Teague doesnt play and will never play with the starters unless he develops his shot .

Crawford uses the pick in the middle of the floor and teague doesnt slide to the corner and so his man is allowed to help on Crawford . .If teague could shoot he would be waiting on that shot in the corners like Mo and Joe . he has a long way to go to be able to play with the starters

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Marvin cant do that!!!

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woooooooooooooooooooooow

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EVANS, oh my goodness.

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Mo Evans, what?????? Behind the backboard????????

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shoot I cant do that

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Pachulia might be the worst backup center in the league. Maybe in the world. I can’t stand his azz

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I like how duck flew in there and did nothing

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Zaza needs to stop thinking menus and start thinking hoops again.

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lol@Woodson instantly walkin unto the floor to greet his team like he really has anything important to say.

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joe coming back in after timeout

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So far, ALL of our assists have come from the frontcourt.

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Northcyde, our bench played well against 2 rookies and 2 minimum waged vets (and Hakeem). What’s the problem?

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+1 mactown

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Quack Quack Quack

-REEligiously Roe!!!

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That path to the basket was way too clear. It always seem we have to work so much harder for our baskets than the opposing teams.

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fastbreak fail

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thats just a stupid break why not lay it up ? I would sub Joe out right now .

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lol who made up duck?

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The Cavs are beating the Knicks 101 59 in the 4th. Ouch!

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anybody was at the velvet last night?

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lol @ the possibility of Iso Mo.

-REE or Iso Roe???

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Iso Marvin.

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the duck is quackin!

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AJ,

You are reading something I never intended. Nothing against Joe on that comment, just noticing a statistical anomaly.

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why a timeout. woody is just gonna go iso joe

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ob, josh is no slouch under pressure if he doesnt have to stand there and think about it. btw his free throw numbers are coming up gradually.,

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joe coulda passed that

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Al should knock Flip on his butt and not let him have an uncontested layup. weak.

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Even though Jamal has bricked his last three shots, looking at him and Flip right now, I’d take Jamal any day, man!

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Super mario with the steal!

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mario with the steal

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Agressive talk from the Quackster?!? Wow!

-REElent or Roe!

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Pathetic offense. 59 points and 3 turnovers. Shameful.

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I guess when you have a 15 point lead, it’s odd to complain, BUT:

There were two different times in the 1st half that we had two on one breakaways and instead of playing solid and scoring, we threw bad lob passes, one by Joe and one by Mario (though Mario was fighting the clock).

I just HATE wasted possessions. Even with a goodly lead.

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FIRE MIKE WOODSON

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I just hope the Hawks dont have a typical let down and let this mediocre team back into the game, that would be disheartening. It would feel good to start blowing out teams again.

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It would feel great to at least get a blowout win in THIS game!

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Watching the game on WGN means no Dominique. lol!

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Astro,

I see you want it both ways. First you complain about Crawford 40% shooting then compliment the team for scoring 59 points in the 1st half…lol

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I meant to say “an outstanding DEFENSIVE backcourt”.

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Melvin, I’m thrilled that Crawford is up to 40%… no complaint here. I was afraid we’d have to trade him back for Acie.

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WGN used to have such great personalities. They pulled these guys off the streets.

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Josh’s never committed a foul in his life

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lol Kobe

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DANG Joe.

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FIRE TEAGUE, MORRIS AND COLLINS!

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That wasn’t pretty.

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And fire sorry asze Hore ford

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SLOPP-Y.

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you can’t stop him when he gets the Waddle going.

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Josh blocked tat with his knee.

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Brad Miller is a UFA this summer. He’d be nice for 18-20 minutes a game. In the current Zaza role.

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Astro,

I will take Brad Miller as well. Haywood is my 1st choice.

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if this is not a lack of offensive schemes I don’t what else to think…

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MAn ZAZA play defense u sack of sh.it

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I swear we’ve been taking jumper after jumper this half. Other than J.Smith, nobody seems to be attacking the basket.

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Why dont Joe take Murray in the paint…

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DANG Mo.

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Josh yelled at ZaZa, “go up!!!” so Za Za wouldnt take his patented power dribble..

Mo get up.. .you just blew the lay up..

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Why did Mo powerdrive his own head into the floor. I mean, he could have broken his own fall on that play….

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Take Mo out Woody… he may be concussed.

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Good defense by Teague.

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Teague playing in the 2nd half. Baldy has loss more than his eyebrows….

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yea.. so Woodson isnt drawing up rec ball, its okay for him to just let it continue…

after the miss Crawford just stood there and watched the rebound action while his man shot out for the break…

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got damn zaza u suck. fallin down everywhere

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You were right BONE we are clumsy, we let these BUMS back into the game.

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blow another one you bunch of clowns, pretenders

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SMH, now it’s a game again. 7 pt lead goin into the 4th…we should be up by at least 10-12 right now. Well at least we can see everybody’s favorite offensive set to close out the game. Anybody willing to keep score of how many times we see Iso-Joe in the 4th (besides MC)?

-REEalistically Roe!!!

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Why do the hawks always make the game of bball harder than it really is?

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Warrick WORKED Horford there

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ZAZA… where the F did that come from???????

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lol Zaza being used as a hurdle by D-Rose, so he’s not completely useless after all.

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ZaZa is reading the blogs

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LMAO…Marvin

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Go up strong Marvin, you are 6′9 with a 7 foot wingspan

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Marvin

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letz gooooooooo

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It’s as if Marvin is playing with skates on

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Ole Marv is having a pretty good game tonight.

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The Bulls announcers say Marvin is 6′10. That makes it even worse.

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i like Marvin in late… if you going to play its either Jamal or Bibby… but you leave Marvin in.. particularly for defense and hustle…

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Marvin needs two rebounds for double double

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aww shucky ducky quack quack

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Marvin is actually having a good game

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Oh snap Marvin is outplaying joe 2nite

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Marvin screamed on a layup. LOL

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would you look at those emotions on Marvin’s face on the and one call…..That’s the look of a weiner

winner*

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Marvin has looked good for the most part, at least since I turned on the TV.

Hawks are winning this game by dominating the glass and getting to the free throw line — in other words, exactly what they didn’t do during their recent stretch of playing like sh-t.

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lol @ acie

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Acie Law in for Rose.

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AC law is checking MArvin. LOL

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I wonder how good marvin would be if joe wasn’t on the team. I mean I know marvin gets discouraged becuz joe hogs the ball so much.

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If Marvin does that every night…..

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Lol @ Rod. Ay bruh that was Marvin letting out some pent up quacks…he was serenading the visiting crowd with the duckapella version of DuckTales

-REEalize I’m Roe!!!

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All Marvin did was hustle and chase the ball. The fact that he doesnt do that everynight is very disheartening

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LMAO…. I think Woody just trip AC up from the bench….

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Wow, what a balanced scoring attack tonight. JJ with 14 points and that’s only 5th best on the team lol.

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I like what we saw out of Marvin tonight, but let’s understand he was being checked by a much smaller Kirk Hinrich for most of this game. I said it earlier and I’ll repeat, he was SUPPOSED to have a block party in this game with Hinrich on him.

Hopefully we’ll see nights like this one from Marvin more consistently. As fans, that’s all we want to see out of Marvin.

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People talk about Teague havin no shot, but when I watch he makes quite a few of them considering the time he gets. I mean it’s not like he’s Acie “OMG, There’s a lid on the basket” Law.

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Acie and Teague are both holding their own, but Teague is winning this battle right now.

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wow we dominated the boards, even JJ had 9

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Nasty dunk by the Super Mario….

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SUPER MARIO!

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well said Nique about confidence as a player… especially a point guard..

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lol@James Johnson’s “futuristiq” haircut

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Damn, Mario got up there.

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lol @ james johnson being futuristic ..smh

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Anybody else think Acie looks, well, thicker even than last year?

Dude may be on the Ben Wallace regimen.

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Wabe,

“I like what we saw out of Marvin tonight, but let’s understand he was being checked by a much smaller Kirk Hinrich for most of this game. I said it earlier and I’ll repeat, he was SUPPOSED to have a block party in this game with Hinrich on him.”

I agree Wabe. That’s what makes it even worse. This guy is a mismatch every night and can’t take advantage of it. Traceman told me that they put smaller guys on him because they respect him soo much. LOL

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And not only balanced scoring, but balanced shot attempts.

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@ Najeh I agree, i think we get more mad at the way the hawks lose, not when they lose, you cant win them all

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You could make an argument that, in retrospect, Josh Smith should have been an All-Star.

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if the Bulls found a way to make a few baskets the game could have gone bad…

but good win…

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Hawks respond to “devastating” Dallas loss by beating a team on a 6 game road wining streak and the NEXT night beating a team that was 19-9 at home.

That is called resiliency… we don’t always show it within a game but these guys have proven the ability to bounce back after an emotional let-down. That should help during the postseason.

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Way to go Hawks! Marvin finally demonstrated a really solid game- Jeff Teague is showing signs that he’s maturing- Josh had an all around great game.

This was the Hawks team that started the season- I hope we can keep it up and finish the rest of the season the same way.

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Wabe…

those are the only 2 defined sets i see as well the rest are combinations of iso’s and improvisations. i find it hard to believe that when the offense is stagnant (majority of the time) its due to broken plays. so they just execute those 2 and thats it huh…? yea right..

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Woodson said he needs everybody and guys can’t take nights off. Has he watched Marvin for the past month?

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doc, Josh has had a brilliant season. He’s been capable of this type of production for at least 1-2 seasons. He’s added very little skill to his game, mostly major addition by subtraction. With the evidence of maturity comes more responsibility. Woody has put him in a point forward position since the season started and he maintained his new found discipline. And you can’t say that Woody has not found a way to better exploit his talents NOW that he can be trusted not to shoot from the high post but instead to pass or drive from the high post. But first, he had to show that he would run the play and not shoot a 20 footer.

But hey, everyone else seems to think we run one offensive play through Joe (or maybe two with the other play being through Jamal).

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Look at all you fans now.. Smh, wat a disgrace.

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Leaving games early is an ATL tradition. If a Braves game goes into extras people leave. Falcons OT, people leave, Hawks OT people leave.

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to JustChillFans, anybody who notices anything wrong in a serious or joking matter regarding the Hawks and calls it out “isnt a fan”

I call out everything, good and bad. To act like EVERYTHING is all good is being just as blind of a fan to act like EVERYTHING is all bad. Pot meet kettle. JustChillFans need to just chill his/herself.

This is the same person who acted like people weren’t “fans” for pointing out Bibby’s less than stellar play and then went into “where yall Bibby haters at now” after Bibby nailed back2back 3s as if that was the norm for him this year. What a load.

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Marvin should learn a valuable lesson in tonight’s win. If he would move and cut more toward the paint for easy buckets instead of moving toward the perimeter for long jumpers, he might get better results. Also I notice he played with a little attitude tonight (Hinrich must have pissed him-off). This should become his forte instead of playing like a nice “Boy” from UNC.

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I have a feeling that Big Z already knows that he’s going back to Cleveland. He has to wait 30 days before rejoining them, so he’s just laying low, and enjoying the vacation.

If money were a driver for him, he would sign as soon as possible.

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“It just doesnt work that way. Show some consistent positive results. These are NBA players, they dont deserve praise if they stink it up 6 games out of 7 and then have 1 good game.”

Agreed Mactown Sometimes I think people forget that this what these guys do for a living. Imagine going to your job for a whole month and only doing a good job one or two days that month. You would be out of a job before you eyes blink. Then someone mentioned it earlier, the Hawks had the nerve to raise season ticket prices 35 to 40%. I promise I will not renew if we don’t get an NBA level small forward next year.

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northcyde,

“But for any of you that walked out on the Hawks at the end regulation of that Milwaukee game, and didn’t watch the OT . . . please . . . just give your tickets to fans that actually give a (( bleep )) about the team.”

Tell those fans you want us to give the tickets to, to spend their hard earned money every year on a team who’s ultimate goal is to get to the playoffs and not win it all. Then maybe they will see how we feel. When people spend THEIR money, they have the right to do whatever pleases them. If they left early, maybe they has somewhere to go. This is Atlanta, not Utah, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Oklahoma City……..

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And The Truth, as happy as I was to see Marvin make a decent contribution tonight, I’ve learned not to get too high on the guy. He has these occasional “bleep” games, where he’s actually on the radar. But, would I take too much away from it? Not unless he comes out and duplicates it and puts this kind of performance together more consistently. And it would help if he did it against an actual SF.

I’m rooting for you Marvin, just not too confident in you. If that makes me a “Marvin-hater”, so be it. I’m just tired of seeing minutes wasted with mediocore numbers to show for it.

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Hawks record at home in the last 2 seasons:

54 – 17 . . a 76% winning percentage

LOL . . . of course they’re going to raise ticket prices. The Hawks are not in the top 15 in ticket prices around the league, so of course they’re going to raise the price to reflect the success of the team.

Some of you fans act like this organization owes you something. The Hawks or the AJC don’t owe you or me a dang thing. They’ve put a great product on the floor that will win almost 75% of their home games.

I drive 300 miles about 5 – 10 times a season ( not including playoffs ), to see this team . . REGARDLESS of who they’re playing. And if they’re going to raise prices next year, oh well. I’ll pay to see that product.

That’s the cost of success.

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LOL . . let me stop.

Me ranting on this board isn’t going to change a thing with the people that are used to hating on this team. I’ll just go back to supporting this team, our players, and our coach, until we play our final game in the playoffs.

I meant the “ASG”, not the “AJC” on that 2nd post. The ASG don’t owe Hawk fans a dang thing, seeing that they’ve put a very good product on the floor.

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Tell those fans you want us to give the tickets to, to spend their hard earned money every year on a team who’s ultimate goal is to get to the playoffs and not win it all. Then maybe they will see how we feel. When people spend THEIR money, they have the right to do whatever pleases them. If they left early, maybe they has somewhere to go. This is Atlanta, not Utah, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Oklahoma City……..

Rod . . . you and I know EXACTLY what that “walk-out” was about. Those same people probably were “disgusted” that the Milwaukee Bucks were even that close to begin with, even if they were on a 6 game win streak. They were also probably mad at JJ for missing all of those shots up to that point. Most of all, they’d just seen the Hawks blow a lead vs Dallas, and come out completely flat in the OT to lose the game.

That’s why they walked out before the game was over. They already had it in their minds that the Hawks were going to lose.

We’re talking a Sunday night . . around 8:30 PM, when JJ missed that shot. Those fans didn’t have anything to do or a place to go. They just had it in their mind that Milwaukee was going to beat us once OT got here . . . just like Dallas did.

When the Bucks went up by 5 to begin the OT, about another 1,000 fans left. At the end of the game, it was only about 7,000 of us in that arena, ( us and the kids ) LOYALLY CHEERING our Hawks, who had taken care of business. JJ, after the horrible 3.5 quarters of play, scored 9 tough OT points and led us to victory.

Props goes out to the kids at that game. They get mad too when the Hawks don’t play well. But at least the kids are LOYAL. You’ll NEVER see then walk out on this team, like they’re the Nets or somebody.

That “walk-out” was PATHETIC on just about every level. No justification for that whatsoever.

And you’re right. That IS Atlanta, and definitely not Cleveland, or Utah, or Oklahoma City, or Milwaukee. Because their fans wouldn’t dare do something like that, with their team fighting to win a game. You’d never see that in those cities.

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Mac . . the people who want “A+ basketball” will always have something to complain about. And that’s the point. No matter how well this team plays, or if they have to grind out a win, those “A+ wanting fans” will always whine and complain about something. It never fails.

If I’d view the team as the the “A+ wanting fans”, instead of simply accepting the flaws of this team and the limitations of these players, I’d think that the Hawks were a below .500 squad.

- JJ is constantly disrespected by Hawk fans and the sportswriters in ATL,despite being a 4-time All-Star, and having one of his best years as a Hawk.

- Woody is constantly bashed as being “dumb and stupid”, despite him being 95 – 65 ( 59.4% winning percentage ) in his last 160 games as the Hawks coach.

- Smoove, while he’s being loved right now, will be called a “low IQ player” as soon as has a bad game.

- Marvin will ALWAYS be bashed, regardless of how he plays, because he isn’t Chris Paul.

I’ve said that if Woody doesn’t get us to the NBA Finals, some of you will still want him fired, regardless of how we play in the playoffs. That’s a given. The same goes for JJ, if he’s not playing like a superstar ( even though people get mad when he actually tries to play like a superstar ).

People aren’t beyond criticism. But the criticism on here is “agenda driven”, from the fans, to the sportswriters.

Everything isn’t “rosy” . . but I be dang if we have a bunch of “dead roses” lying around either. This is a very good team that still has its ups and downs.

Fortunately for us, the ups occur far more frequently than the downs.
It is what it is on this board though.

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