Atlanta Hawks at 76ers: Making Progress
Time for me to be macro again. The Hawks won 47 games last season. Beat Philly tonight and they’ll have 47 victories with 10 to go. Any way you look at it at right now, barring a complete and total collapse down the stretch that’s progress.
“Right now” is the hedge, of course, because it means more if the regular season leads to something better and not as much if it ends up going nowhere. But it’s something for now, and Woody deserves a moment to say he’s glad to see it.
“I am very, very proud,” he said. “I couldn’t be more pleased with a basketball team, considering where we started and I knew we would struggle because we were 18 and 19-year old kids trying to play a man’s game. And we grew. Ownership was patient, they let me and my staff continue to teach a system I believe in and now we see the benefits.”
Woody said matching last season’s victory total isn’t enough. Winning the division would be something to talk about. That’s likely not going to happen so the Hawks will have to put up 50 wins and take the next step in the postseason.
“Our goal was to win 50-plus games and win the division,” Woody said. “We are not outside of the realm of winning the division. Like I’ve been saying, Orlando is playing great we are probably going to have to win out and they are going to have to fall on their face for that to happen. But the goal is to still try to win our division, and in doing that win 50-plus games.”
A reporter actually asked Woody how would he prevent the Hawks from becoming complacent. Shoot, I can’t see how that would be a problem for the Hawks.
For one, the goal should be winning a championship and they haven’t come close to that. They also haven’t shown they are on the same level as the Cavs, Magic and Celtics.
“We haven’t done anything,” Woody said. “Last year we made a positive step based on two years ago when took Celtics to seven. Then we were able to host homecourt last season and win a first-round series. The next step to me is winning the division and getting to the Eastern Conference finals.
“So we haven’t done anything. Orlando, they have done something. Cleveland, they have the best record in the league the last two years. We still have a ways to go, man. We are still trying to learn to win at a high level, and as a coach I’ve got to continue to try to push them.”
– Woody’s message to the team at the shootaround was about finishing games strong. As noted in another nice piece by Ken S. the Hawks are having issues with that. They are “sloppy in that area,” Woody said, and “get so comfortable” with leads late. The Sixers, who are missing South Gwinnett High’s Lou Williams (back), should offer the Hawks a chance to see if they can keep a foe down once they get them there.
MC
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330 comments Add your comment
O'Brien
March 26th, 2010
9:24 pm
Hawks fail to execute down the stretch, imagine that.
And it would have been nice to see the bench get some burn in the second half. But instead, our guys (including Crawford) have played the entire 4th quarter.
Ree Roe
March 26th, 2010
9:24 pm
I’m so very very disappointed…
-REE Roe
Taylor
March 26th, 2010
9:24 pm
we just guaranteed ourselves the 4th seed lol
Hawks vs. 76ers
March 26th, 2010
9:24 pm
i am completely lost as to how this team beat Orlando …. no idea how that happened. I guess “very lucky” would have to be the word
Najeh Davenpoop
March 26th, 2010
9:25 pm
This was probably the worst execution down the stretch I have seen from the Hawks all season. No effort to move the ball, hideous turnovers, awful defense, no boxing out… they would have a hard time with the Nets playing like this.
BONE
March 26th, 2010
9:25 pm
no the hawks LOST this game, effort always beats a lack of
VenomSpitter
March 26th, 2010
9:26 pm
Not even the ghost of Dion Glover could save us LOL
http://i.a.cnn.net/si/images/basketball/nba/players/3343.jpg
Najeh Davenpoop
March 26th, 2010
9:27 pm
And please don’t tell me this game doesn’t matter. If Sacramento can lose by less than 30 to Boston tonight I will be impressed.
Taylor
March 26th, 2010
9:27 pm
winning 50 games and finishing 500 on the road is going to be tough
Hawk n the Ham
March 26th, 2010
9:27 pm
The milks gone BAD!!
Najeh Davenpoop
March 26th, 2010
9:27 pm
The ghost of Esteban “Steve” Batista would have been an improvement over the effort we just saw.
J.J.M.
March 26th, 2010
9:27 pm
how many turovers we had?
Taylor
March 26th, 2010
9:28 pm
Maybe this will be a wake up call? Or will they keep playing like they’re asleep
VenomSpitter
March 26th, 2010
9:28 pm
This team has lost at least 15 easily winnable games this season
Rick Sund
March 26th, 2010
9:28 pm
The Orlando wins means nothing now.
Hawks vs. 76ers
March 26th, 2010
9:28 pm
Home games left: Pacers, Lakers, Detroit, Toronto, Cleveland
Away: Cleveland, Charlotte, Detroit, Washington, Milwaukee
I guess there could be 4 wins in there somewhere but right now it doesn’t look possible
VenomSpitter
March 26th, 2010
9:28 pm
LOL pathetic they can’t even stop that.
Mark
March 26th, 2010
9:28 pm
Enter your comments here
Taylor
March 26th, 2010
9:29 pm
That attempt to foul showed the effort of the game
bigdave
March 26th, 2010
9:29 pm
Ray..
lol…
im actually open to reading all criticism tonight… hope the regular bashers are on their game..
Blast
March 26th, 2010
9:29 pm
This might be Hawks worst loss of the season. Turnovers, missed assignments, botched shots, stupid fouls, complacency…you name it. Hawks sucked in all those categories.
Oh, well. We have Sunday to make up fot it.
BONE
March 26th, 2010
9:29 pm
hawks they are sorry
Mark
March 26th, 2010
9:30 pm
Should we even care that this team is going to the playoffs?
VenomSpitter
March 26th, 2010
9:30 pm
A wake up call?????? The if the hawks haven’t learned by now to not play down to your opponent they will never learn.
Sid
March 26th, 2010
9:30 pm
Cough, cough, cough. Truly pathetic. Because of their laziness and stupidity they will be the #4 seed and flame out in the first round. Actually looking forward to all the laughs.
bigdave
March 26th, 2010
9:30 pm
damn near 20 turns and 30 something pts off them…
this was one of those games..
Melvin
March 26th, 2010
9:30 pm
How many times do teh Hawks have to lose games like this before they make adjustments….
Rick Sund
March 26th, 2010
9:31 pm
Marvin showed more UPSIDE tonight.
bigdave
March 26th, 2010
9:31 pm
ok… Hawks were on meth tonight.. commercial just confirmed..
Taylor
March 26th, 2010
9:31 pm
VenomSpitter
March 26th, 2010
9:30 pm
A wake up call?????? The if the hawks haven’t learned by now to not play down to your opponent they will never learn.
VenomSpitter
March 26th, 2010
9:30 pm
A wake up call?????? The if the hawks haven’t learned by now to not play down to your opponent they will never learn.
Just trying to hope lol
VenomSpitter
March 26th, 2010
9:31 pm
Whoa Blast the worst Hawks loss all year? Thats saying ALOT becuz we got alot to choose from LMAO
Hawk n the Ham
March 26th, 2010
9:32 pm
bigdave – a meth addict has more focus than the Hawks had tonight.
Eman
March 26th, 2010
9:32 pm
Why can’t this team beat the bad teams!!! Lack of effort!! They make f ing millions!!! F woody and his staff!!
bigdave
March 26th, 2010
9:32 pm
hold up… maybe this loss was Joe’s fault..
JeJe
March 26th, 2010
9:32 pm
What an embarrassment.
TO BE COMPETING IN THE EAST AND LOSE TO THIS GARBAGE PATHETIC TEAM THAT HIS IGUODALA DESTROYING US. THE GUY ISNT EVEN AN ALL STAR
JESUS CHRIST
FIRE WOODSON. HE GETS ALL CONFIDENT AFTER 1 WIN THEN DOES THIS BULLSH!T.
HE CALLS TIMEOUTS SO HE CAN CALL JOE ISOS
GOD DAMNIT
kwooden1
March 26th, 2010
9:32 pm
19 TOs, 76ers had 15 steals. GAME/SET/MATCH!!!
GO HAWKS!!!
bigdave
March 26th, 2010
9:33 pm
Hawk N Ham…
i believe it..
Rick Sund
March 26th, 2010
9:34 pm
We will be an Elite team when we win our 50th game.
kwooden1
March 26th, 2010
9:34 pm
The HAWKS are still a poor road team. Woody seemed to do pretty well with the bench, but clearly the passing was terrible. You can’t make 19 turnovers and expect to win a game.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 26th, 2010
9:34 pm
“Home games left: Pacers, Lakers, Detroit, Toronto, Cleveland
Away: Cleveland, Charlotte, Detroit, Washington, Milwaukee
I guess there could be 4 wins in there somewhere but right now it doesn’t look possible”
The good thing is, this is as bad as the Hawks can play. Realistically, they probably go 6-4 in those games, maybe 7-3. But they are now effectively 2 games behind Boston, so if they go 7-3 they need Boston to go 5-5. Boston’s remaining schedule looks like this:
Home: San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Houston, Cleveland, Washington, Milwaukee
Away: New York, Chicago, Milwaukee, Toronto
Not an easy home schedule, but three of those road games are gimmes, and they only have to split the home games to beat Atlanta if Atlanta goes 7-3. I could easily see them beating SA, OKC, MIL, and WAS at home and clinching the 3rd seed.
Long story short, this loss puts the Hawks way behind the 8-ball.
VenomSpitter
March 26th, 2010
9:35 pm
The Hawks are about this close to being an Elite team:
Hawks…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….ELITE TEAM
tyler
March 26th, 2010
9:35 pm
Nothing new to see here. These guys are what they are, and that’s a 4 seed that could win by 20 or lose by 20 to the same team on any given night. Gotta play better than this to get ANYONE excited about the playoffs. I don’t think we’ll make it to 50…….
Rick Sund
March 26th, 2010
9:36 pm
We need more fans like you bigdave. Why can’t all our fans be delusional like you and be happy with getting to the PLAYOFFS. You really believe in our POTENTIAL and UPSIDE. Bigdave knows that we are still LEARNING HOW TO WIN.
VenomSpitter
March 26th, 2010
9:37 pm
There is good news. Sund has more reasons why he shouldn’t resign Woody.
ANd where is that idiot Samuel. Evrytime he says Woody COY this team loses and then he vanishes.
VenomSpitter
March 26th, 2010
9:39 pm
LMAO @ Rick SUnd
josh beckett
March 26th, 2010
9:39 pm
Hawks suck fire woodson! How do we lose to the 76′ers? They SUCK! 105-98 sounds like zero effort considering the 76′ers are 20 games under .500! Enough said just fire Woodson. Any coach can do better than what he is doing. He is the NBA equivalent of Coach Hewitt. We lack depth from the bench other than Crawford. Get rid of West, Joe Smith, and Mo Williams all piece of crap. Bring in some good bench players who are clutch! Marvin Williams is the typical UNC player. Great times in college but play like crap in the NBA.
Melvin
March 26th, 2010
9:41 pm
The Hawks beat the Spurs and Magic then lose to Bucks and Sixers. This team drives me crazy….
Taylor
March 26th, 2010
9:41 pm
He is the NBA equivalent of Coach Hewitt
I’ve been saying that for a while. Perfect analogy
Taylor
March 26th, 2010
9:42 pm
Losing to the Bucks was not that frustrating as hot as they’ve been.
josh beckett
March 26th, 2010
9:42 pm
UNC i have tons of respect for your athletics programs especially basketball but you do not train them to be the best they can be at NBA level. Marvin Williams is an example of that. Complete crap for a starter would and should be a bench player!