Hawks Squawks: Hawks 119, Spurs 114 (OT)
– The playoffs have been a foregone conclusion for the Hawks for a while now so clinching is a bit anti-climatic. But, man, what a way to make it official.
– The Hawks came back from 14 down, the largest deficit they’ve overcome to win this season. “Fantastic,” Woody said of clinching. “We’ve still got a lot of work ahead of us. There’s still a lot of work to do before the playoffs. We’ve got to keep rolling. We’ll handle the playoffs once we get there.”
– The Hawks handled a Spurs team that wasn’t going to be an easy out no matter what the standings say. They have a history of winning in Philips. They are desperate to make the playoffs. Ginobili went for 38 and maybe 10 of those came with guys in his grill. Duncan had 29 and 13. The Spurs got calls. The Hawks started terribly.
– The Hawks still won because . . . well, because of pretty much everybody. J.J., Al Jamal and, I’ll be danged, Marvin all made winning plays–and I probably missed somebody.
– “We all play off of each other,” Jamal said. “Whoever is going good, we give it to him. There is no jealousy.”
– Jamal is going to the playoffs for the first time in his 10 pro seasons. “It’s unbelievable,” Jamal said. “I’ve waited a long time for this. I’m not taking this opportunity for granted.”
– The Hawks ended a seven-game losing streak to the Spurs. “It was good,” Bibby said. “We played hard. That’s been a top team and a top coach for years. We pulled it off. It’s a good win.”
– It was a good W. Give fans in Philips Arena an assist, too. They were hyped. It was fun.
– Give Horford credit. Duncan gave him all kinds of problems for most of the game but then Horford got even late– and I don’t just mean that big dunk on Duncan. He had 10 of his 18 rebounds in the fourth quarter and overtime, made a big jumper, had a big steal and made two clinching free throws.
– “Duncan frustrated Al early, then Al picked it up and hit his stride,” Woody said. “He had timely baskets and when we needed a rebound he was there.”
– Mo had the most luck against Ginobili. The guy is a real pro. He stays ready, likes to mix it up and will make shots.
– What the heck got into Marvin? Woody has been on him lately about deferring too often. “He needs to not take a backseat to his teammates,” Woody said before the game. “It’s not about calling plays. (Shoot), I played 11 years and I got one or two plays called for me.”
– Marvin seemed to get the message. He scored 18 points in the first half—more than he’d scored in eight straight games coming in. Richard Jefferson blocked his shot but Marvin got it back and dunked. He made a fastbreak layup despite George Hill banging into him. And he made that jump shot at the halftime buzzer.
– Hard to believe that Hawks team going toe-to-toe with the Spurs late was the same group that looked so lost at the start. “They came out and established themselves in the first quarter and we didn’t respond well,” Woody said. “In the second quarter, we picked it up.”
– The Hawks hung in there by playing some D. They played the Spurs even in the third and had an advantage in the fourth. The Spurs wouldn’t go away, using a 7-0 run to take a 94-93 lead. “They are always going to be there at the end,” Jamal said. “You just have to give yourself a chance.”
– I’m out, Hawks fans.
MC
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124 comments Add your comment
Astro Joe
March 22nd, 2010
3:19 pm
Funny, Bibby is averaging the same amount of minutes in March as he did in December and January. But hey, if you are just noticing his reduced role on this team, congratulations.
Grandad
March 22nd, 2010
3:32 pm
Section 303:
Biggest problem with his jumpers…they are set shots.
He needs to shoot in rhythm. Fixable.
KevinA – Best we can hope for if Joe wishes to go to NY:
(and that is up to him, not us) Gallinari plus picks
[NY - doesn't have a 1st round pick this yr.].
What? You want Wilson Chandler? Do they even still have him?
Josh Childress – you have more leeway, providing he actually wishes
to leave Greece. Which he may not. It’s, once again, up to him…
not us!
GeeMack
March 22nd, 2010
3:38 pm
KevinA
In other words “a bird in the hand”(a winning season, a playoff bert,& possibly a champioship run this year. Is worth 3 in the bush (resigning JJ, who we could get as a FA to help win a title.
GeeMack
March 22nd, 2010
3:42 pm
Grandad
If a player has never been past the 2nd of the playoffs, and he has only been on 2 winning teams in 6 yrs, you haven’t earned the right to be tired.
The Truth
March 22nd, 2010
3:52 pm
northcyde
“The fact is in this league, you have to “pay to play”, if you’re serious about winning an NBA Title”
My sentiments exactly; Perhaps the reasons why I’ve been so critical of the ASG. This sympathy for them is not enough when the Hawks are on the verge of doing great things with this franchise.
Ken Strickland
March 22nd, 2010
3:53 pm
CLYDE-Drugs and crooked politicians aren’t the only thing keeping Birmingham from being a good professional city. First, the entire state is obcessed with college football, and neither Auburn or U of AL will go along with having competition for their fan base. Secondly, Birmingham’s population pool is too small to support an NFL franchise. The state has done nothing while all of it’s bordering states, except Mississippi, have acquired NFL and NBA franchises. With the strangle hold Auburn and U of AL have on the state in football, and the close proximity of Memphis, Nashville and Atlanta, the Ham has been squeezed out.
While all of it’s bordering states have lotteries, the same ignorance, stupidity, selfishness and corruption that’s held the state back in other areas, has prevented Alabama from having a lottery. How else do you explain Alabama’s governor Riley appointing a committee for the expressed purpose of shutting down Country Crossing near Dothan and preventing any gambling that would compete with the Indian casinoes?
The governor’s effort to limit gambling in Alabama is based so much on corruption and greed that the chairman of the anti gambling committee appointed by Gov Riley was spotted gambling at a casino in Mississippi just before state officials launched a raid on Country Crossing, and had to resign. High ranking state officials will do anything to limit gambling competition with the Indian Casinos, and continue the flow of tens of millions of under the table kickbacks from Ga, FL, MS and TN officials, as well as Indian casino’s within the state. STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES!
ksleezy
March 22nd, 2010
3:54 pm
This is a message for Marvin Williams: Friday and Sunday are the two best games I’ve seen from you back to back. I was there both nights, great effort on both ends of the floor. Keep taking it to the hole, then when they start backing off to keep you in front of them drain it, but always think drive first. Tell Josh the same!! lol.. Great job to all you guys, I can’t wait to see you in the playoffs for the 3rd year in a row. Congrats!!!
Hawk n the Ham
March 22nd, 2010
4:19 pm
Ken Strickland – Yeah Bham has been brought down by a severe case of corrupted-tician-itis. I couldn’t believe the ‘nimber’ of Birmingham and Jefferson County officials who have held office within the last 10 years, who are now serving prison time. Our most recent mayor just got sentenced to 15 years for taking bribes on county bonds. And the sad thing is, I doubt he will be the last. You know this state is in a bad funk when the top news everynight has to do with the state government cracking down on the local bingo machine halls, because the governer is in deep with the Mississippi casinos to block gaming in Bama.
Northcyde – The deal with the dome is that the mayor who just got convicted was setting up this whole dome thing, when the county and city never really had the money to fund the project. If I’m not mistaken, it would only seat about 56,000 or so. Small dome. It would only be good for basketball tourneys and….hold your breath…Monster truck rallies! LOL.
I’m a transplant here via ATL. I like working and living here. Just sometimes I have to stoop and shake my head.
cp
March 22nd, 2010
4:26 pm
Great game last night. Like others have said, Woody has to realize when the switching d is being exploited and try something else. Coming out so flat is also baffling. I forgot who said it last night but they think it might be because of the home crowd. I have no idea what it is but come playoff time I don’t think they can afford to come out flat in a 7 game series because the energy it takes to come back from those deficits. They have to find a way to come with better intensity……I just laugh when people go way out of their ways to defend Woody on here even when nobody is criticizing him. No matter what the blog is about its a few who want to defend Woody and question other posters even when there has been no mention of Woody what so ever. I saw no comment about Teagues playing minutes last night yet somehow people are getting blamed for thinking Woody is bad coach for only playing him 4 minutes. Its fine if you think Woodson has done a great job but damn do we have to keep reading about how great he is and how people who want him gone are clueless even when they are not talking about him.
I MUS WRITE
March 22nd, 2010
4:33 pm
Yeah Marcus i so Samhand going “HAM” lol…..I think he just put himself into the 1st round if he wasnt already there. I like the fact that he has nice post moves/hands and he is actually playing Center and not shotting from deep like other 6′11 guys these days.
Clyde? I swear u are an alien- Blo Wright plays better than Horford….Since when -he is a wack sandwich with a side of potatoe salad. Did i mention he’s outta the league and im glad -the man has been stealing money for the past 5 years -He stinks …7ft practical joker
The Truth
March 22nd, 2010
4:36 pm
Hopefully with the emerging Marvin, maybe Woody can truly exploit the SF mismatch in the playoff. With the much talked about Al Horford being perceived to be an undersized center, our very own Marvin could counter that perception with his size advantage at the SF position. For example, I don’t think Pop expected the Hawks to out-rebound the Spurs 51 vs. 41 but Marvin rebounding made the difference. He also had a “monster” rebounding night against Charlotte. So while Crawford is called “The Difference” on offense maybe Marvin will become the “The difference” in rebounding for the Hawks. What we also need from Marvin is to leverage his size advantage even more on the defense-end to compensate for our “so-called” small frontline. All of this would make Al and Josh job easier.
Clyde
March 22nd, 2010
4:38 pm
Hawk in the Ham you right. They shut down the dog track in Shorter putting 8,000 out of work. I use to go all the time. The people of Alabama need to do more to draw more people to their state. The University of Alabama ain’t gonna cut it.
The Truth
March 22nd, 2010
4:40 pm
Ken Strickland
A very good prospective about the plight of Birmingham; it is sad what greed and corruption can do to a state.
Hawk n the Ham
Didn’t B’ham elect a new mayor recently?
Hawk n the Ham
March 22nd, 2010
4:45 pm
Truth – 2 months ago they sworn in the new mayor.
Hawk n the Ham
March 22nd, 2010
4:52 pm
Speaking of mayors…..Did you see where the NY mayor has asked for $800K in funding to provide trailers at state prisons for ‘Conjugal Visits’?? LMAO!
Hawk n the Ham
March 22nd, 2010
4:53 pm
*I meant ‘governer’* oops
Sautee
March 22nd, 2010
5:10 pm
From Sekou Smith:
“Outside of Howard, there isn’t a better low post [young] big in the East and maybe the entire league,” an Eastern Conference advance scout told me Sunday night. “People can talk all they want about him being undersized and how he should be a power forward, but he’s as good at center as you’re going to get in terms of what he does for his team every night. I’d take him as is.”
Yep.
So will I.
northcyde
March 22nd, 2010
6:19 pm
from the previous blog:
@ KevinA
the whole “let’s just get something back in return” deal, may not be the way to go either. When owners play “cheap” with their star players, it almost always come back to bite them. Honestly, I can’t think of one instance in the past 10 years, in which a team took a “lesser” player in a sign and trade, and it turned out to be a good deal for them.
LOL . . I guess the closest would be JJ for Diaw, because Diaw did help Phoenix get to the WC Finals when Amare went down. But even he didn’t turn out to be a good solution in the long run, because as soon as Amare came back, he became less and less effective as a player.
So if the Hawks obtained, say, Gallanari and Eddy Curry ( because they’d use his summer of 2011 expiring contract as bait ) in a sign and trade, that doesn’t keep the Hawks at our current level. That’s not a team improvement type move. You’re almost better off doing nothing, in that scenario.
And JJ doesn’t even have to approve of a sign and trade. He can sign with NY outright.
Sautee
March 22nd, 2010
6:40 pm
northcyde,
Don’t leave the draft picks we gave PHO out of the equation. Robin Lopez has been elevated to starting center. The OTHER draft pick became Rondo.
So the true equation was Joe Johnson=Diaw, Rondo and R. Lopez.
Legend
March 22nd, 2010
7:11 pm
“Outside of Howard, there isn’t a better low post [young] big in the East and maybe the entire league,” – Horford nutt hugger.
There are many guys who are just as good as or better than Horford offensively and the majority of centers are better than him defensively.
Alabama’s governor Riley
March 22nd, 2010
7:20 pm
Its amazing how you can treat some one so nice and they turn on you. The Bubba Crew has had its head quarters here since the “Get Woodson” campaign began shortly after the “Get Michael Vick campaign. Now Ken wants to dis us. Youre Bubba Crew just may have to move if you dont change your tone ken!
Sautee
March 22nd, 2010
7:30 pm
“Outside of Howard, there isn’t a better low post [young] big in the East and maybe the entire league,” an Eastern Conference advance scout told me Sunday night.
Why would an Eastern Conference advance scout from ANOTHER TEAM be a Horford nutt-hugger? To what end exactly?
Is this another conspiracy theory taking shape?
KevinA
March 22nd, 2010
7:51 pm
northhcyde
Honestly, I can’t think of one instance in the past 10 years, in which a team took a “lesser” player in a sign and trade, and it turned out to be a good deal for them.
Acie and Speedy for Jamal – are you kidding?
You at times have incitefull thoughts but then you go off the reservation.
Ken Strickland
March 22nd, 2010
8:01 pm
Just so you know, I feel I can come down on the ignorance and corruption in AL since I was born and raised there.
CLYDE-say it’s not so, did they actually close down the track in Shorter? Gov Riley’s actions against Country crossing outside of Dothan eliminated over 1200 jobs, not to mention the additional jobs that would have been created by the additional support industry that would have been created.
As bad as AL has always been educationally, economically and politically, it has always had Mississippi to look down upon, until now. Even Mississippi had enough sense to do whatever it took to move forward and create new industries. AL went Republican, and has been steeped in more corruption, greed and incompetence than normal every since.
Believe it or not, AL is the only southern state where the northern part of the state is highly industrialized. Over 50+yrs ago, north AL had a viable steel industry in Birmingham, Anniston and Gadsden(who’s Goodyear tire plant was once the worlds largest), the TVA(TN valley Authority), military(Redstone Arsenal), automotive(Chrysler) and space industry(Marshall Space Flight Center) in Huntsville, Decatur(Monsanto & 3M chemical manufacturing), Sheffield, Florence and Guntersville.
AL politics has been so corrupt over the yrs that former Gov George Wallace refused to allow the last 20-30 miles of I-20W leading into Birmingham to be finished. That was his way of punishing the city for not voting for him. The junior college and trade school systems are so corrupt they may need to be all but dismantled and restructured.