Atlanta Hawks at Wizards: Suspenseful Standings
Washington–The Hawks aren’t watching scoreboards in Milwaukee or anywhere else because, really, what’s the point? With just three games left in the regular season the Hawks still don’t know if they will get the Bucks, Heat, or Bobcats in the first round of the playoffs.
“We are just concentrated on what we need to do,” Woody said. “Everything else will take care of itself. I think this thing is going to come all the way down until Wednesday, I really do.”
Further muddling all the playoff jockeying is neither Milwaukee nor any of the “bad” teams are laying down.
The Bucks somehow have won four in a row since Bogut’s injury. The ramshackle Pistons followed up their victory over the Hawks by going into Miami and beating the Heat. The Wizards turned back the Celtics here last night thanks to Shaun Livingston (remember him?).
This game is shaping up like the last time the Hawks were here, and remember how hard they had to work for that W. In addition to Livingston, guys like Andray Blatche, JaVale McGee and Nick Young are giving the Wiz a lift. This is the kind of thing that can happen with bad teams when guys aren’t sure about their futures.
The Celtics are in Milwaukee late tonight. If they lose and the Hawks win, that will give the Hawks a two-game lead with two to play. But the Hawks have to finish ahead of Boston so they still wouldn’t have the No. 3 seed locked down. The Hawks play at Milwaukee on Monday and the Celtics don’t play again until Tuesday.
Eventually Woody might have to make a decision on resting his regulars for the season finale against the Cavs.
“It all depends on how it plays out,” he said. “I’m not big on resting guys but I did it last year and it didn’t hurt us.”
MC
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
216 comments Add your comment
drmaryb
April 10th, 2010
8:06 pm
Josh passing to Marvin, but Marvin didn’t cut to the basket? Ball goes to camera man!
Josh has 6 assists…should be 8. Horford fumbled the other pass in paint.
Great offense. Now let’s play some Defense too.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 10th, 2010
8:08 pm
Considering how well they executed on offense and how sloppy the Wizards have been with turnovers and passing, the Hawks really should be up by a lot more than 2. It can’t be that hard to get a hand in Nick Young’s face. If they clamp down on defense just a little, they should be able to pull away.
Big Ray
April 10th, 2010
8:08 pm
A few observations:
1) The entire team is having moments of lazy defense. But some of the more egregious examples are in the backcourt, to include Crawford on Nick Young and Joe Johnson on Mike Miller.
2) Josh looked better in the one-on-one situation that ended in a taken (and made) jumper, than Marvin did in the final seconds of the first half.
3) Teague pushes the ball and gets his teammates invovled. Still needs to work on the jumper. However, some of those “silly fouls” are results of him switching correctly or getting caught on a pick and roll. Example: him fouling Al Thornton. Put Bibby or Crawford in the same situation and either it’s a foul, or Thornton scores. Only Joe does well in those situations.
4) Our ball movement overall has been decent, thanks to Josh Smith and Mike Bibby, mostly.
5) The Wizards are a talented team that could not play as well as they are without the influence of Flip Saunders. They’ll be dangerous next season.
drmaryb
April 10th, 2010
8:12 pm
Flip Saunders is a nice coach.
cp
April 10th, 2010
8:12 pm
Very entertaining game so far. Josh Smith and Bibby are playing great. Lets hope Bibby continues to shoot well in the second half. Joe is solid out there. The bench came in and did a good job. I really wish Joe Smith would come in on his jumper some. He gets plenty of looks but he is out there too far. Teague missed a few shots but at least he was being aggressive. Dude is a very good passer. Guys knock down some of those wide open shots he is creating for them and he easily has about 5 dimes now. The only problem I see so far is our defense and the rebounding. Guys have got to block out and they have to put in more effort on the defensive end. Still a very entertaining game…. Blatche is a good player but he has that me me me type attitude. When he learns to become a team player I think his game will be even better. I forgot what game it was but he got mad at his teammate because he grabbed the rebound that would have game him a triple double. Then on the free throw line he asked YI to let him rebound the miss. It was very funny but that’s some Ricky Davis type stuff.
richbrave
April 10th, 2010
8:12 pm
Najeh Davenpoop
April 10th, 2010
7:33 pm
“should we go after shaun livingston this summer?”
With the problems Arenas is having, I’d be surprised if they let Livingston go, although he would help any contending team.
There’s a real possibility that LIVINGSTON would prefer to be elsewhere next year. That said, the WIZZIES haven’t offered anything other than a standard extension for the year to LIVINGSTON due to the stalemate over ownership. Nothings being done by IRENE or TED at this point while the franchise spins round the bowl headed toward a swisher finish. As I said last night, It’s a frickin’ mess. If D.C. doesn’t lock him up, he would be a great pick-up for the HAWKS. Couldn’t happen to a nicer club. HAWKS on top in a tight race.
Big Ray
April 10th, 2010
8:12 pm
One more thing: even though Al Horford is often a better man-to-man defender than Josh Smith, it’s Smith who seems to give Andray Blatche more trouble on defense.
Smith is quicker and bothers his shot more. Blatche is a little quick for Horford. At the same time, Horford gives that narrow-arse McGee fits…
Mod
April 10th, 2010
8:15 pm
Yep, definitely know who “Darren Collison” is. IP address doesn’t lie. I’ll let y’all figure it out, though.
drmaryb
April 10th, 2010
8:15 pm
Blue-Ray
(Perfect Picture)
Don’t Bite! Ignore that FOOL!
cp
April 10th, 2010
8:15 pm
I wonder if the person who is posting as Darren Collison realizes that he wasn’t even the highest rated pg on his own team for the past few years. It was Holliday last year and the kid who plays for the Thunder before him. Might want to do some research next time.
richbrave
April 10th, 2010
8:16 pm
I see the “d” is tightning up for the HAWKS. They concentrated on BLATCHE and LIVINGSTON in the second period. SAUNDERS has shifted the offense to flow to NICK YOUNG. Time for WOODY to adapt again for the second half. Gotta’ go. Later.
Darren Collison
April 10th, 2010
8:16 pm
The Dream is a Hawks fan.
cp
April 10th, 2010
8:17 pm
McGee really needs to get stronger. He gets pushed around way too easy.
Big Ray
April 10th, 2010
8:17 pm
Now who is supposed to be guarding Nick Young?
Nevermind, it must be Horford’s fault for letting the kid shoot all of those 20-25 footers. Yeah, that’s it.
drmaryb ,
Exactly. Josh isn’t the only one who should have more assists. Joe should have about 4, and Teague should have 3 or 4. Oh well.
Big Ray
April 10th, 2010
8:19 pm
drmaryb ,
I keep forgetting your “scroll on” rule. Thanks for the reminder. So many of these conversations would be so much more interesting in person. But then mall ninjas can’t be mall ninjas….and we don’t want to prick that fantasy bubble, do we?
drmaryb
April 10th, 2010
8:20 pm
CP
You’re right! Blatche has some character issues. It seems like he’s using the team to furhter his personal agenda. Not very smart Career-Wise.
Darren Collison
April 10th, 2010
8:20 pm
Lol dude CP is soft like all ACC players..and ask Russ and Jrue and they’ll say I helped them the most outta everyone.
Braves losing tonight because Lowe is trash
Blast
April 10th, 2010
8:23 pm
Hawks starters not playing well at all.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 10th, 2010
8:23 pm
Sluggish start to the 2nd half. Hawks are two steps slow on defense and not focusing on offense. Time to call a timeout.
VenomSpitter
April 10th, 2010
8:24 pm
man the hawks suck on the road
Darren Collison
April 10th, 2010
8:25 pm
Woodson dresses nice. That’s all he is good at.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 10th, 2010
8:26 pm
Really, how many wide open jumpers are the Wizards going to get in this game? This one comes on the first possession out of a timeout…
VenomSpitter
April 10th, 2010
8:28 pm
Man seriously why are thje hawks so bad on the road.
They better not lose a home game in the 1st rd of the playoffs or its over
Najeh Davenpoop
April 10th, 2010
8:29 pm
Another WIDE OPEN jumper… this is pretty pathetic.
Grandad
April 10th, 2010
8:29 pm
CP/ Defending the real D.Collison. He played the poit.
Westbrook & holliday played the [2].
Teams drafting knew there would be an adjustmant period.
The real DC Started 2 the [1] for 3 yrs. after backing up
Farmar his freshman yr.
VenomSpitter
April 10th, 2010
8:29 pm
Flip Saunders is outcoaching Woody lol
Najeh Davenpoop
April 10th, 2010
8:30 pm
This isn’t about home vs. road. This is about lazy vs. not lazy. Putting your hand up when you are standing in front of a shooter doesn’t require having the crowd on your side.
Grandad
April 10th, 2010
8:30 pm
*point
*@ / dang sticky shift key
Najeh Davenpoop
April 10th, 2010
8:31 pm
Marvin WTF
VenomSpitter
April 10th, 2010
8:31 pm
Another terrible team the hawks are strugglin with
J.J.M.
April 10th, 2010
8:32 pm
mo should start over marvin
cp
April 10th, 2010
8:32 pm
Defensively the Hawks are allowing the Wiz to shoot 55%. That is not going to get it done.
404atlhoops
April 10th, 2010
8:32 pm
This not looking good. Hawks are playing absolutely zero defense.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 10th, 2010
8:33 pm
Horford has had a really subpar game on both ends of the floor.
Darren Collison
April 10th, 2010
8:34 pm
Zaza is a beast when he’s not setting illegal screens and fouling guys left and right
drmaryb
April 10th, 2010
8:34 pm
Blue-Ray
(Clear Image)
I almost busted that FOOL in his pie hole, but I gave him Grace & Mercy instead.
Kindness to the enemy is like heaping fiery coals upon his head.
Being ignored HURTS like a Motha!
LOL!
Let’s enjoy the game & root for the home team! Go Hawks 50 +
J.J.M.
April 10th, 2010
8:35 pm
I wonder how many times joe gets fouled and the refs dont call it
VenomSpitter
April 10th, 2010
8:35 pm
man this team is so undisciplined on defense and that reflects the coach
Gerald
April 10th, 2010
8:35 pm
I really wouldn’t call this team “terrible”. They’re actually playing pretty well right now. Look at what they did to Boston last night on their own home floor. The Hawks desperately need to get wins over teams like this though.
cp
April 10th, 2010
8:35 pm
Very true drmaryb. I hate to see a guy so talented be so selfish like that. Grandad trust me i know. I like Collison. I was just pointing out to the guy who keeps making the silly post that the kid wasn’t even the highest rated guard on his own team. And can Joe get the benefit of any calls?
Darren Collison
April 10th, 2010
8:35 pm
If Mo takes Marvins spot it’ll take all of his confidence away. He’s a soft Tar Heel
Big Ray
April 10th, 2010
8:38 pm
Disgusting play on defense. We look like we could care less about winning this game.
Ree Roe
April 10th, 2010
8:38 pm
I see we’re struggling on the road (again). Why don’t we throw Teague in? I KNOW he’d turn things around for us…SMH
-REEalty sold by Roe!!!
drmaryb
April 10th, 2010
8:38 pm
D E F E N S E!
Big Ray
April 10th, 2010
8:39 pm
All of what confidence? You can’t take away what isn’t there.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 10th, 2010
8:40 pm
That possession had the trifecta — wide open jumper, offensive rebound, and another wide open jumper.
Big Ray
April 10th, 2010
8:41 pm
How much freakin’ confidence does it take to play defense?
Marvin draws the foul. Not bad, although an “And 1″ is out of the question where he is concerned.
Darren Collison
April 10th, 2010
8:41 pm
Blame Roy Williams for Marvin being a softy
Najeh Davenpoop
April 10th, 2010
8:42 pm
Horford is playing like sh-t today.
cp
April 10th, 2010
8:43 pm
Marv has 2 rebounds through 3 quarters smh. He has to rebound better.