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
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216 comments Add your comment
404atlhoops
April 10th, 2010
9:09 pm
I never seen so many AND 1’s on three pointers in my life
Ricky
April 10th, 2010
9:09 pm
Blatche’s recently-increased scoring average is really kind of deceiving. This guy is averaging a lot of points, but he’’s really more of a volume shooter. Tonight, he’s taken 23 shots already and has 22 points. If Al Horford had taken 23 shots, it’s almost a guarantee that he’d have more than 22 points.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 10th, 2010
9:10 pm
Blatche strikes me as the kind of player who would be really good if he was on a team with a strong coach and a couple of veteran presences in the locker room who could get him to play smart. He’s got a ton of talent. In a situation like the one he’s in, though, he’s got a really good chance of becoming the next Antoine Walker or Derrick Coleman, a super-talented forward who never quite figures out how to win.
Ree Roe
April 10th, 2010
9:10 pm
Jamal!
-REEgis & Roe!!!
cp
April 10th, 2010
9:11 pm
Najeh Davenpoop just imagine if the Wiz would have kept that 5th pick instead of trading it for Miller and Foye.
Big Ray
April 10th, 2010
9:11 pm
I think it’s a good opportunity for Smoove to be a good team player. That, and next time he hits the court, he should be trying to beat everybody for every rebound.
Nice that Zaza is playing well enough to allow Woody to do this.
Yes, this is your Hawks bench, folks . Give credit where credit is due.
Meanwhile, Crawford makes you take back all those ugly “he sucks in the 4th quarter” comments from last night, huh?
Sleepy
April 10th, 2010
9:12 pm
Crawford 5 pts at halftime and 28 now ……explosive
Mel
April 10th, 2010
9:12 pm
hard foul!
VenomSpitter
April 10th, 2010
9:12 pm
Oh man ZaZa
bigdave
April 10th, 2010
9:12 pm
goon.
Big Ray
April 10th, 2010
9:12 pm
McGee, get your punk a$$ off the ground.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 10th, 2010
9:12 pm
I want to see some hard fouls like that from Zaza in the playoffs.
VenomSpitter
April 10th, 2010
9:12 pm
Zaza u didn’t have to kill em
Nique's Revenege
April 10th, 2010
9:12 pm
smack!
J.J.M.
April 10th, 2010
9:13 pm
mcgee tryin to dunk
Nique's Revenege
April 10th, 2010
9:13 pm
quit tryin to flop all the time then. at least our players are goin for the ball
Big Ray
April 10th, 2010
9:13 pm
Tall a$$ spider monkey.
Looks like he came straight off of National Geographic.
Blast
April 10th, 2010
9:13 pm
I like the fact that Woody stuck with Zaza, Mo, and of course Jamal in the 4th. They came out blazing, man.
Big Ray
April 10th, 2010
9:14 pm
McGee wishes he had Marvin’s butt. Fall wouldn’t have hurt that bad, then.
Big Ray
April 10th, 2010
9:15 pm
Definitely diggin’ Mo Evans.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 10th, 2010
9:15 pm
Great ball movement to beat that press.
Sleepy
April 10th, 2010
9:15 pm
weak call he clearly is using his arm to push off
bigdave
April 10th, 2010
9:15 pm
good job Woodson trusting the line up change…
Big Ray
April 10th, 2010
9:16 pm
Blast ,
I agree. Excellent decision by Woody to keep this “mixed” lineup on the floor. Three bench players, two starters.
Can’t say Woody doesn’t recognize and effective lineup in this game, and can’t say he isn’t using his bench.
Hawks vs. Wizards
April 10th, 2010
9:16 pm
here’s a thumbs up to the Hawks for a really good 4th quarter and (though it’s not sealed yet) back to back wins!
drmaryb
April 10th, 2010
9:17 pm
ZaZa is like ROCKY BALBOA! He put that BIATCH on his Azz! Why can’t we do that to
King James & DWade?
Big Ray
April 10th, 2010
9:17 pm
Clutch coaching by Woody on the road.
Hawks getting offensive rebounds and hustling after the ball when it really counts.
bigdave
April 10th, 2010
9:17 pm
Al is too cool or school…
stumbling etc.. and gives it up like, i wasnt stumbling..
Big Ray
April 10th, 2010
9:18 pm
drmaryb ,
I sure wish we could. But knowing Stern, he’d see to it that the entire team got suspended from the playoffs and 10 games into the next regular season.
Nique's Revenege
April 10th, 2010
9:18 pm
Maybe he will.
nice coaching for a change
Big Ray
April 10th, 2010
9:18 pm
LOL@Bigdave
bigdave
April 10th, 2010
9:18 pm
agreed drmary…
team acts scared of the queen..
bigdave
April 10th, 2010
9:19 pm
lol… Mario with the steal..!
Nique's Revenge
April 10th, 2010
9:20 pm
horford and rocky tag team down low bust up queen james and dwight
no respect for them just bust them up
Big Ray
April 10th, 2010
9:21 pm
Hell yeah, I’ll take that road win!!
Great coaching by Woody, nice performances by our bench (Zaza, Crawford, Evans).
Solid play by JJ, and Horford played well down the last stretch of minutes.
Good job, Hawks!
404atlhoops
April 10th, 2010
9:21 pm
Hawks stepped up and played some D holding Wizards to 17 points in the fourth quarter. Good job Hawks.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 10th, 2010
9:22 pm
Good win. Nice coaching by Woody to leave the big lineup in for the 4th quarter.
It’s still early in their game, but Milwaukee is beating Boston. A Milwaukee win would clinch a tie for the 3rd spot for the Hawks, meaning their magic number for the 3 seed would be 1.
Ricky
April 10th, 2010
9:23 pm
Nice to see a strong fourth quarter by the Hawks on the road. Hopefully they can keep this strong play going.
cp
April 10th, 2010
9:24 pm
Good win. Jamal and Joe were big tonight. Bench played well again. Gotta do a better job on the glass though.
Ricky
April 10th, 2010
9:25 pm
Boston is in a tight game with Milwaukee right now, but hopefully Milwaukee can gift wrap another Celtics loss for the Hawks.
darrell starks
April 10th, 2010
9:26 pm
I want 2 congratulate woody for finaly making adjustment and understanding that he had 2 go big with ZAZA, AND HORFORD 2 match up with BLATCHE who is 6′11 and MCGEE who is 7′0 GREAT JOB WOODY.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!
drmaryb
April 10th, 2010
9:28 pm
No KG tonite?
Boston tanked the season about seven years ago to try & get that extra
Ping-Pong ball for the Lottery Pick to grab Dwight Howard & ended up with the
#5 pick instead.
Stern was pissed & chastised the GM. I think Doc was the Coach then. Then they got
KG in a block-buster. That was Kevin McHale throwing an assist to Bird.
Then McHale got busted for tampering with Joe Smith on a re-sign deal & lost a 1st round
Draft pick the next year.
Looks like Boston is tanking again & conceeding the three seed to Atlanta to avoid the
Heat in round 1.
Just reminiscing.
darrell starks
April 10th, 2010
9:31 pm
This game should teach woody a lesson that he have 2 match up and make adjustment specialy come playoffs time in order 2 achieve as a coach, and hopefuly he don’t go back to being the same old woody.
GO HAWKS!!!!!
bigdave
April 10th, 2010
9:37 pm
perfect blend of starting and bench players… the bench is good enough to help this team if you let it help you…
darrell starks
April 10th, 2010
9:38 pm
Come fourth quarter i like this line up against cavs, and magic in the playoffs, we have 2 go big point blank period in order 2 even have a chance for the nba finalls.
JAMAL, JOE, JOSH, HORFORD, ZAZA
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!
drmaryb
April 10th, 2010
9:40 pm
Were gonna get a veteran PG. This summer! There are a lot to choose from out there!
Hell, ill take the big guard – Gilbert Arenas. He’s a good man, just made a silly prank/mistake!
Stinger just Endorsed Woodson as the right coach for this team. I listen to EXPERTS!
Not Loser Bloggers!
drmaryb
April 10th, 2010
9:44 pm
Great Bench Play tonite! JT0, ZaZa, Evans, Crawford, Joe Smith!
Congratulations to the Bench & Coaching Staff!
Nique's Revenge
April 10th, 2010
9:45 pm
ugh, quiet please
had dumb thugs on the team before, didn’t work out
drmaryb
April 10th, 2010
9:45 pm
Enter your comments here
drmaryb
April 10th, 2010
9:47 pm
Make no Mistake! This is Joe’s Team!