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
Harpie
March 26th, 2010
9:42 pm
Disgusting! This team will lose out in the first round of the playoffs – they have an idiot for a coach; and most of the players, though very talented, are not too smart…
josh beckett
March 26th, 2010
9:43 pm
No hating UNC Fans I hate both the YELLOW JACKETS AND BULLDOGS. UNC is a great basketball college program but they have players who end up doing nothing in their nba careers.
kwooden1
March 26th, 2010
9:46 pm
VenomSpitter I understand what you’re saying but who is the coach is more important who isn’t the coach! From what I’ve seen Eddie Jordan is a far better coach than Woody, but Eddie’s team is terrible. Eddie’s system takes time to learn, which could be the problem with Philly, but in this league that isn’t an excuse. He’s probably going to be fired. Depending on what happens this summer, I will be for or against Woody staying. As for tonight (I didn’t see the game, I just listened) it sounded like this game fell on the players. No coach should have to motivate his team, especially a professional team.
GO HAWKS!!
Rod from College Park
March 26th, 2010
9:46 pm
Another great game by our starting small forward Marvin Williams. He has scored a grand total of 12 points in our last 3 games. Now that’s talent.
Nolan
March 26th, 2010
9:46 pm
Tough to justify firing the incompetent Woody when he “has raised our win total every year he’s coached!!!!!11″, but hopefully when we lose in the first round this year and completely waste Josh Smith’s coming out season, lose JJ to money, and sign Mario West to a 5-year deal there MIGHT be some actual talk of getting rid of our Gumpian coach.
I MAY NOT BE A SMART MAN BUT I KNOW WHAT ISO IS
josh beckett
March 26th, 2010
9:47 pm
I would lovvvvvveeeeeee to have Coach K. as hawks head coach the guy is very smart when it comes to decisions for his team. Too bad he’s staying in Duke i’d love to have him as coach for a great nba team like the hawks. (by great im being sarcastic hawks are fluke)!
Blast
March 26th, 2010
9:47 pm
“The Hawks beat the Spurs and Magic then lose to Bucks and Sixers. This team drives me crazy….”
Tells you Hawks are just not committed and motivated enough to be elite, which means; beat all the bad teams and have a winning percentage on the road. Hawks are cruising right now, and they are just not good enough to do that.
dub366
March 26th, 2010
9:50 pm
When the Hawks start playing basketball instead of that one on one s—t they will win,but we gotta get rid of potatoes head.Let me ask one ? when hawks call a timeout do Woody confer with his coaches i DIDN’T THINK SO.
Taylor
March 26th, 2010
9:52 pm
well being we turn it on against the good teams, I guess that’s good for the playoffs? =/
Nolan
March 26th, 2010
9:53 pm
Shoot if you watch the team, especially at games, half of them aren’t even paying attention to Woody when he calls a timeout. I’ve seen Smoove park himself on the scorer’s table, Bibby waves Woody off, and half the guys just stare off into the middle distance. What a leader.
VenomSpitter
March 26th, 2010
9:54 pm
Oh snap look at the look Woody gave the hawks after the game:
http://burningbunnies.com/images/mr_potatoe_ha9c.bmp
DAMN
Taylor
March 26th, 2010
9:54 pm
hahahahahahahaha venomspitter
josh beckett
March 26th, 2010
9:54 pm
Smart-ass Hawks re-sign slacker Marvin Williams to 5-year deal and they don’t even try to resign josh smith or horford long term this year. It tells you how committed the Hawks are to slackers and not hard working honest guys like Horford and Smith. Also Bibby has been a slacker and a big disappointment this year. And guess what he also got signed to a 3-year contract extension. What was the point of drafting Jeff Teague again? Maybe to fill a void for Bibby!
josh beckett
March 26th, 2010
9:57 pm
Woodson is a potatohead like VenomSpitter showed except he’s got a smaller brain and no coaching skills!
vava74
March 26th, 2010
9:57 pm
A brief thought:
Al has improved.
Josh has improved.
Craw is better than Flip.
JJ remains JJ.
We have been virtually injury free.
The result: we will probably finish with 3 to 5 wins more than last year when we had a LOT of injuries.
Why?
Several reasons come up:
we have now a higher profile: consequently other teams scout us with more attention and exploit Woody’s thin system:
On offense: exploit the switching defense finding the best match ups, rotate for easy threes, look for
offensive rebounds since ATL’s bigs switch to the perimeter.
On defense: play zone down the line, deny entry passes and wait for bad shooting nights by Craw.
A top Euro ball team could beat the Hawks just like the international national teams beat the USA a few times before the Hawks starte to prepare better and form a team with am OFFENSIVE SYSTEM since the Hawks play like those bad USA teams:
ISO offense with an inability to beat zone defense and bad perimeter defense against teams that rotate the ball and look for the open 3.
Rick Sund
March 26th, 2010
9:57 pm
We are not getting coach K or anybody. Woody has us in position to get HOMECOURT in the first round. Obviously you UNGRATEFUL fans don’t know what elite means.
ELITE MEANS – winning 50 games, Top ten record in the NBA, being mentioned on ESPN, having not one, but two allstars.
You fans need to realize that Elite is not defined by what a team does in the PLAYOFFS, but the REGULAR SEASON.
vava74
March 26th, 2010
9:59 pm
Before they started to prepare better
Billy Knight
March 26th, 2010
10:00 pm
I tolll ya’ll shouldda fired potato head!
Taylor
March 26th, 2010
10:01 pm
Quick Poll:
How many people think Woodson is coming back next year?
UGA
March 26th, 2010
10:05 pm
People, I’m telling you, if we play Miami in the first round, we are done. We can beat Charlotte or the Bucks but if we get Miami we are done!
UGA
March 26th, 2010
10:06 pm
I like Woodson, but if we can hire Avery Johnson then I’d be for that move.
Taylor
March 26th, 2010
10:10 pm
Why can’t we beat Miami?
o.O-Mac-Town -Macon, Georgia- Westsider-O.o
March 26th, 2010
10:12 pm
Atleast we have Tee Shirts with “Clinched” on them LMFAO…
josh beckett
March 26th, 2010
10:14 pm
@ RICKSUND you might be the dumbest individual i’ve seen. Elite means you are in a good enough position from the start of the regular season to win a championship. Obviously the Hawks only have semi-final talent. Wow what you do in the regular season determines whether ur elite or not? Its all about the playoffs and how far you advance and if at all winning a championship. What’s the good of winning 50 games when you don’t go far in the playoffs? Huh try to come up with another “why the Hawks are elite excuse” I’m a hawks fan and its sad to say but they’re not ELITE! Don’t listen to mr genius Rick Sund!
josh beckett
March 26th, 2010
10:16 pm
Being mentioned on ESPN doesn’t mean a sh*t! The Heat and the Bulls are always talked about in positive ways on Espn. Espn is completely biased! You don’t know your crap so called gm rick sund!
josh beckett
March 26th, 2010
10:19 pm
we will all see in the playoffs whether or not the hawks are “elite” like rick sund says! 50 wins my a**! If they’re not going deep into the playoffs there technically not “elite”. If they do go deep in the playoffs i agree they’re elite. Dont hate on me im just being realistic!
vava74
March 26th, 2010
10:21 pm
JoshBeckett,
this Rick Sund character is one of the best guys providing comic relief around here when we lose.
he’s just kidding!
Taylor
March 26th, 2010
10:22 pm
lol @joshbeckett thinking the Rick Sund character was real
Taylor
March 26th, 2010
10:24 pm
When do the clinched playoffs to out to the public?
o.O-Mac-Town -Macon, Georgia- Westsider-O.o
March 26th, 2010
10:25 pm
lmao@taylor
josh beckett
March 26th, 2010
10:26 pm
K i’ll stop sorry rick sund i get pissed because these awesome hawks are losing to the lowly 76 what ers? K if he was joking i’ll join in! Ha a good laugh is good in one of our lowly games of our season!
NUNNA YO BIZNEZZ
March 26th, 2010
10:28 pm
YO JOSH BECKETT,
RICK SUND IS PLANNING ON LETTING WOODY GO…
SO RIGHT NOW HE IS PUBLICLY CALLING THIS TEAM AN ELITE TEAM AND HE WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO..
AND WHEN WE’RE KNOCKED OUT OF THE PLAYOFFS THEN HE WILL COME UP WITH THIS EXCUSE OF SAYING THAT THEY WERE AN ELITE TEAM AND WOODY FAILED TO GET US TO THE FINALS OR HAD AN EARLY EXIT..
OUR LEGS ARE GONE!!
THIS GUY IS A GENIUS!!!
josh beckett
March 26th, 2010
10:29 pm
na taylor, im just tired of some fans supporting the hawks at wrong times. No is not a good time to cheer their success but instead to analyze what went wrong today vs the 76′ers (ps thats how many loses they average in a season: win 6 lose 76 games!) Lol good effort though by the 76′ers.
Taylor
March 26th, 2010
10:30 pm
76ers are messing up lol. Messing up their lotto chances
NUNNA YO BIZNEZZ
March 26th, 2010
10:31 pm
YOU MEAN THAT THIS IS NOT THE REAL RICK SUND ON HERE TONIGHT?????
AWWW MAN!!
HEY JOSH BECKETT…
NEVER MIND
Dominque
March 26th, 2010
10:31 pm
Hawks just needed more nimbers this game
josh beckett
March 26th, 2010
10:32 pm
Haha u though he wuz real? Wow~
josh beckett
March 26th, 2010
10:33 pm
How about the Nets? Anyone rooting for them to have the worst season in NBA History? I am!
Blake
March 26th, 2010
10:34 pm
Can somebody please explain how the Hawks can play their hearts out and beat Orlando then lose to the lowly seventy sixers.Do they really care or are they just settling to wait until the playoffs to turn it up.I don’t understand and It makes me madder than Hell!!!
northcyde
March 26th, 2010
10:35 pm
LOL . . . you guys still haven’t figured this team out yet, I see.
This team falls under the same spell that some of you fans do. They simply think that they ( the Hawks )are better than what they really are. And because of that, they feel that they can “turn it on” at any time and win the game. They get away with it sometimes, but they can’t do it enough to warrant believing that.
This is exactly how Denver, Utah, and Phoenix play on the road. Orlando too, to a certain extent.
Now if it’s a game vs a powerhouse team, they know that they’ll have to scrap and claw and fight to win the game. So they play hard and come out focused and win the game or at least make the game highly competitive. Some of the best road games the Hawks have played all year, have come against playoff caliber teams.
And actually, the Lakers are NOTORIOUS for playing down to their opponent. The difference, is that they ( and Cleveland ) CAN turn it on, and eventually win the game. And they can do it, because they can actually shut down their opponent for a 4 minute stretch in a game, and take it over.
Woody stays on this team about defense, because he KNOWS we’re not anywhere near where we need to be. If you play defense and generate turnovers or get consecutive stops, you can create offense.
It is what it is.
Taylor
March 26th, 2010
10:38 pm
y does josh beckett hate the jackets and the dogs
Ole Hawk Fan
March 26th, 2010
10:48 pm
ELITE TEAM………………………….PLAY-OFF……………………This TEAM SUCKS REAL TIME……………This team would lose to THE NETS right NOW………..in a series and HOW MANT WINS DOES THE NETS HAVE? Fire Rick Sund………………..Woody and Get RID OF THE Spirit Group…………………Bring In That Car Dealer who wanted to BUY This Team and The Trashers as well as Phillips.
UGA
March 26th, 2010
10:48 pm
We can’t beat Miami for a few reasons.
They beat us 3-1 this year.
Dwayne Wade.
We can’t guard Jermain O’neal for whatever reason.
They killed the Bulls at Chicago last night and are killing the Bucks at Milwaukee, which we don’t do.
Ole Hawk Fan
March 26th, 2010
10:49 pm
How Many Wins………………..
UGA
March 26th, 2010
10:50 pm
I hate to not be optimistic. I do like our chances against other teams, just not Miami.
Big Ray
March 26th, 2010
10:52 pm
Well, that was annoying. We let a team that has no business beating us…well, beat us. Woody keeps saying “This is the NBA, no win is a given.” While this is true, why do we play we did tonight?
A few things that point to us losing:
1)We had 19 turnovers, which is a lot for us. They had 15 with a rookie pg starting and playing 38 minutes.
2) They had 25 assists. We crawled our way to 18 assists. It was embarrassing how much better their ball movement was.
3) We shot 47%, they shot 50%. They have a total of THREE guys on their team who can actually shoot: Jodie Meeks, Louis Williams, and Jason Kapono. In case you were wondering, Iguodala is not a shooter, he’s a corer. Williams didn’t play, Meeks played 3 whole minutes, and Kapono got 14 points off of 5 for 12 shooting. We have no excuse for this, other than really crappy defense.
4)They had 15 steals, we had 5. Seven of their 15 steals were by rookie Jrue Holiday. Again, I’m embarrassed.
5) All else was equal. We couldn’t complain about refs, we went to the line about as much as they did. Rebounding was almost dead even. We made more 3-pointers. Our offense was balanced as far as shot attempts across the board, but it was poorly executed.
We simply failed to play defense worth a damn, and let a 25 win team with a 12-24 home record take us to task. Embarrassing.
Grandad
March 26th, 2010
10:53 pm
Earlier in the evening, I gave Wdsn his due.[Grandad March 26th,7:51 pm]
Whoops! Please allow me to quote the late, great, Emily Litella [SNL]:
“Never mind”
AG
March 26th, 2010
10:58 pm
Okay, I am now on the bandwagon…FIRE WOODY!!!!! If your team comes out without effort, sit their A$$ on the bench!!! As much energy as Mo is giving us, sit Marvin. When Smooth and Hortford are not boxing out, take them out for ZaZa. That is coaching, making adjustments, etc. Crawford was horrible, put his A$$ on the bench for a hot player!!!! You lose games to a team that has lost 5 straight and down by 9 with under 5 minutes (Tor), lose 3 times to a pathetic NY team 3 teams and a Golden State D-League squad. This loss to the 76′ers put that on the heap of bad losses. If you take just half of the games we really should have won, we would easily be in first. How many times in the history of any sport does your team go without major injuries? This was the Hawks season.
AG
March 26th, 2010
11:02 pm
Okay, I say it again, do the math when Marvin takes 10 shots. We are 7-1 in March and for the year have not lost more than 4 games when he took ten shots. Also, the last 5 games that went down to the wire, Joe took the potential game winning shot (under :10 seconds) and made 1 of 6 (we actually got a rebound and kicked it back to him to miss against SA). I don’t understand why we always run iso’s at the end EVERY quarter – except twice in the last three games, they ran a pick for a Bibby three at the top of the key.
northcyde
March 26th, 2010
11:06 pm
I watch the Hawks pretty much stress-free, because I know what to expect out of them. And I know some of you don’t like me telling you how to feel or act . . . but the minute some of you just simply ACCEPT the Hawks for who they are . . and not WISH for them to be something else . . your life as a Hawks fan will be so much easier.
Overreacting over every win and loss will simply cause you to have a stroke.
********
The Hawks will probaly come out like world beaters against Indiana, but let them back into the game, before we close it out.
Then on Wednesday, they’ll play like if they lose, they’ll literally die . . and beat the Lakers. I’ll almost guarantee that win.
Then on Friday, they’ll play the same way with the Cavs, and be right there with a shot to win the game in the final 2 minutes.
Then we’ll keep Detroit in the game, due to the back to back, but win
And even in the Charlotte game, the effort will be there, regardless of we win or lose.
But as soon as we fly to Detroit, that’ll be the game to watch, because the Hawks will probably have won 3 or 4 out of 5 games . . . and start believing their press clippings.
*********
And like clockwork, Utah gets destroyed in Indy
And Denver had to literally come from hell and needed a Melo jumper at the buzzer, to beat Toronto
It is what it is