Atlanta Hawks: Hawks vs. Magic

Channel 216 to watch. The Orlando channel is blacked out.

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Oh I found one thanks

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http://www.atdhe.net/

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Does LD have more than one suite?LOL

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Josh shooting long jumper

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This wack offense is not creating good shots. Drew and this offense are making the Hawks look worse than they are

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All are shooting nothing but jump shots. Nobody is attacking the paint.

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Is Marvin playing tonight?

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It don’t matter what kind of gimmick you run, you still gotta make shots.

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wow this offense looks HORRIBLE…way to much moving around and no open shots whatsoever….All I see is passing and more passing killing the shot clock

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My guide had a different game listed on directv – with posts above I have the game on

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Let me add that Marvin is playing but he’s invisible on the court. Besides taking the ball out of bounds, he’s doing nothing. Bibby still can’t guard anybody.

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unpleaseant listening to these pompous battards deconstruct the hawks

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Anybody who thought that the Hawks could compete with the Magic.

U ARE OUTTA YA DAMN MIND

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im sorry but the team i see now is not ready for the nba season

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This team is not ready for war.

Hell they ain’t even ready for a food fight.

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I like this Crawford and Crawford backcourt….

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The NBA looks like garbage with the idiot refs controlling the games it has turned into Stern and his slaves and this Hawks offense is pathetic the defense is not bad so-far

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Jason Collins has size and although he’s not some great player, you see the difference size can make.

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Melvin, Marvin had a steal in transition, that’s not that bad.

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Dwight is 1-6 from free throw line.

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At least Mo Evans knows how to get to the rim … Crawford & Crawford look like an explosive backcourt duo.

Other than that, the Hawks do not look good. I hope this isn’t THE offense we have all been waiting for.

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Bibby is done. At this point make him an assistant coach or something. Dude has nothing left. Way too many jumpers and no attacking the rim. This is where we need Teague.

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aye.. Jordan can play point.. im sorry.

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wow how does jordan crawford not get more playing time

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Take note folks, the Hawks increase the size in the lineup and the Magic respond by doing the same.

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lmao josh powell

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The screens are causing problems for Orlando.

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OMG if Jordan hit that I would have went KRAZY

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Jordan will pull from anywhere I see. The Hawks are lucky to be down only 7.

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JC2 is a monster! I’m scared…LOL!

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PLEASE put Bibby out of his Misery

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yeah where the hell is marvin

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Larry Drew would be a stone fool to keep Jordan Crawford from getting regular minutes this year. The kid can flat out play.

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Jordan Ice-Man Crawford!

This kid shot from 42′ and almost nailed it!
He has an arm like Brett Farve with a laser on it!

He can really make that shot!
L.D. told him, “Don’t do that ISH again!”

LOL

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Great to see Coach leave Jordan in the game, after that
42 footer!

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Best Hawks lineup
PG-Crawford
SG-Crawford
SF-JJ
PF-Josh
C-Al

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Bass is absolutely abusing Powell.

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Collins playing very spirited. I’m impressed!

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Well, Collins does look better than he did last year…

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Collins size makes it more difficult for the Magic. I want to see him and Horford in there together.

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Melvin..

we’re about the only matchup at SF that would have a defender 5′ shorter than his opponent.

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Rashard is (or very close to) 6′10. Marvin is 6′8.

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It’s blacked out on NBATV. I got Comcast.

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the difference is certainly visible..

Bibby is glued to the perimeter were as any other Hawk at PG penetrates creating open looks..

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Oh. Ohio. Anyone get it in Atlanta?

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Did you see the Hook on Gortat’s nose with that mohawk?

He look like a damned HAWK!

Dang, dude need money to get a girl.
I ain’t even gonna’ lie about it!

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Im watching it on NBAtv. I have directv.

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Starters are 1 – 14 FG . . . lol, damn.

Like I said about Jordan. That dude just has an “it” factor about him. You get that guy playing time regardless, whether it be at the 1 or the 2.

Good Lord . . JJ is now a 70% FT shooter now?

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i think LD is going to get fired after this season because we are seeing NO OFFENSE that got the highlight factory hyped up like last season. Im starting to think maybe firing woody was a bad decision.

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omg this team sucks

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Bibby in the game and playing PG with his mouth.

awful.

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When it’s all said and done, the adjustment the Hawks may have to make concerning Orlando, is to bring Al Horford off the bench. Still play him heavy minutes ( 35+ minutes ), but bring him off the bench to protect him from foul trouble. He simply cannot guard Howard. Let Zaza play him for the first 4 or 5 minutes of the game ( or until he gets 3 fouls ), and then bring in Horford.

1 – 16 FG for the starters. If you add Jamal’s 1 – 6 FG, the top 6 guys are 2 – 22 FG.

LOL . . “Smash” steady jacking up jumpers. Just because you’re open Josh, doesn’t mean that you should shoot it.

Just put Jordan back in.

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Dwight had Etan buried under the basket.

popcorn muscles.

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Etan is not going to be effective against Dwight. The only guy who can hold his position against Dwight is Twin.

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this dude is going IN on Coach Drew’s dream…

wow.

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Are these Refs wearing Magic jerseys under their uniforms?

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As bad as were playing we are only down 10

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lol @ Bibby looking like “Big Play” Ray Buchanan post 2000.

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are hawks mentally incapable of running a motion offense or are they just physically lazy

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LMBO @ “Popcorn Muscles”!

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$120 million for 2pts

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I think our starting unit is unbalanced. Bibby and Marvin can barely be considred offensive threats right now.We need to shake it up. Start Teague and Mo. Or Teague and Pape Sy if/when he gets healthy. We cant keep getting buried by the magic in the 1st qtr. every time we play them. I would bench AL, but start Twin over Zaza against Howard.

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I think inside, the Hawks are physically overmatched. Hence, their getting absolutely nothing inside or going to the basket and when they play the top teams this year, their going to have this problem.

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lol @ Lewis for real though

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teague/jordan/joe/josh/al

jamal/mo/marvin/zaza/collins

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Boy Larry Drew is a sorry arse head coach in the making. He sucks even worse than I thought and Josh Smith shooting jumpers again? I mean most of you uninformed bloggers cried about Josh possibly moving to the SF position, what’s worse Josh shooting jumpers or playing SF? Larry Drew is one ignorant SOB along with that DumbSund of a GM and ASG (A silly Group) for owners this team is a royal piece shi…

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Gone but not forgotten and from the looks of things yall will be screaming for some ISO in a few days. LOL!! These guys have no legs. LD killed them the 1st two weeks of Camp. LOL!!

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The Hawks two pf lineup (one undersized) won’t cut it against the good teams.

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Josh playing Dwight pretty well.

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LOL @ Samuel STILL sucking off Woody

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U can’t let Al go 1 on 1 with Dwight wtf are they thinking?

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Poor Al, bless his heart.

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This looks like ISO to me.

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For the way he’s played, Jordan Crawford should be getting more time. Same thing for Twin.

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ISO Joe. That’s what i’m talking about. sit him down LD.

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These guys are lazy as hell

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They are talking BAD about Jamal.

His defense is almost as bad as Bibby’s.

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I DONT CARE ABOUT OFFENSE!

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you see that three by vince marvin was sound asleep on that play. LD wheres this defensive scheme now? all i see is the other team scoring and we arent taking any bold man shots. We could have got doc rivers but nooooooo rick sund wants it cheap.

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Za Za is really weak defensively.

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jason looks much better than zaza

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LOL at Collins hardly jumping

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I’ve seen Bibby play better defense than Jamal tonight.

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This new offense is a thing of beauty. Porkchop with the alleyoop to Gortat.LOL!!

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folks, we havent even seen the cream of the east yet, the celts and the heat. anyone having fum or see the blue sky yet?

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Little to no production from your starting sf and pg, exactly like last year.

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The magic always make 3s against us

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iff we cannn make it to the playoffs, be HAPPYYYY , we don’t deserve any more, it’s sad

F……..U…….C……..K YOU DRUMARY and your JJ, we SUCK

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Calf Rope!!!

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Ramon, It does meet thier request for a young player, an established player, Picks, and future cap space.

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HAWKS***

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This commentator basically calling LD stupid, lol.

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DREW SHOULD HAVE NEVER BEEN MADE THE HEAD COACH!!!!!!!

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These commentators are making me angry.

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STOP CRYING EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!! IT’S FREAKING PRESEASON!!!!! GOSH!!!!!!!!!!

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I wonder who gives the best BJ’s out of Sund, the ASG, and Larry Drew because they all suck?

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With Woodrow at the helm the Magic beat the Hawks by a record margin in the playoffs. I dont think Sund wants his number. Samuel when the Magic were drubbing the Hawks by 50 you were no where to be seen.You only showed up if the Hawks won so you could ride your boys jock Since your man crush isn’t here anymore you seem to take joy in watching the Hawks lose. That behavior is disgusting. You’re more of a Woodson fan than a fan of the team. Why don’t you boycott the Hawks until Woodrow gets a new job so you can go ride his jock on his new team

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Ken,
Can we get you perspective Sir.

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Well dang, has Twin (Collins) move in front of ZaZa in the rotation…lol

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cp,
I think I told yall over and over that the Magic were at least 20 points better than us. Yall are the ones who said it would be different with a new coach. Ask Ken, wherever he is. He had all the answers as to how to stop the Magic. Guess nobody told LD.

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Pachulia hasn’t looked good at all. I have no idea what happened to ZaZa. He isn’t the same player he once was for the team.

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Well fellas…. De Ja Vu.

We just don’t match up well with this Magic Team.
They have so many shooters and their defense is not to shabby either.

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Everybody needs to calm down.

The Magic are the only team in the NBA that we match up HORRIBLY against.

It shouldn’t suprise anybody that the game turned out like this.

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Nah Woodson wasn’t the only problem. The talent on the bench is an issue and has always been an issue. Sund had opportunities to upgrade the talent on the bench and he didn’t. I have been complaining about the lack of a back up sf and lack of productive big man off the bench all summer. Ill say now what i said then, we should have brought in Dampier and Boone. The way Shaq is looking for Boston he should have been brought in. We have cheap owners and a GM who is known not to make big splashes. If you offer guys deals and they turn us down I can understand it but I don’t know if serious offers were ever made.

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Whats worst the way we started the 1st quarter or the way we started the 3rd quarter?

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We don’t need to add another big name star (e.g., Carmello or CP3). We need a solid 9-man rotation where each and every man is worth a d*mn.

Oh yeah, and a system that works …

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I bet Stan Van Gundy didn’t have to break a sweat all game. I don’t blame the local Atlanta area for not wasting network time on these embarrassing Hawks preseason games. TNT might need to think about broadcasting the game on Thursday because its going to be worse when the SUPERPOWERS come in, SMH @ the Atlanta Hawks SO SADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

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drmaryb (*_*)
Do they have playgrounds at Princeton?

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This morning Cannibloggin had this astute observation:
Fundamentals It preseason. This game means more to the hawks and not much to the Magics. Kinda of like a has been scrub getting psyched for Money Maywether who is only tuning up for the money fights. Believe me. Magics are not concerned about the hawks!

Guess the Magic didn’t care tonight. They don’t play professional ball or give an honest effort. It’s just preseason to them….IDIOT!

They obviously know how to play, when to play and play PROFESSIONAL basketball. The Hawks are just in it for a paycheck. I’m disgusted.

Awful effort tonight!

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I dont think Jamal wants to be here. He played very uninspired.

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hmmm..

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Great Comments by everyone tonight!
Everyone is entitled to their valid opinions …
This is a blog not a classroom:

A forum for healthy discussions …
Even the idiot bloggers can show us what an idiot sounds like,
so we can not be an idiot as well.

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Big Ray, it ain’t about winning and losing. You don’t get doubled up on rebounds and lose by 30 b/c you’re 1-2 free agents short or your system is a bit off. You lose that badly b/c you just don’t care. It’s so obvious it’s a mental toughness, energy problem. They just don’t believe.

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they just looked so bad again tonight its scary

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The Hawks Dont Suck, They Just Dont Play Well At Times, Mainly Against Orlando, and People Are Saying Thats The Only Team We Dont Match Up Well Against, Well People What Will We Do If We Have To See Them In The Playoffs??? And Dont Say Lose

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Tomorrow night’s open practice should be interesting. I just wanted an honest effort…even if they lost by 20, not this total lack of D and effort. It’s just deflating to a fan to watch. It’s gotta change.

If they don’t buy in this team will not only be broken up, it’ll be destroyed by Feb. We’ve got to come together and play some real inspired DEFENSE or it’s over baby!

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cp ,

Shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Owners that want to make dynamic moves hire guys who have creative/clever minds. Guys who like to roll the dice. The ASG wants nobody like that. How many articles have we seen for the last two or so years that talked about Sund being slow, deliberate, and conservative? Exactly.

If the ASG wants something different or something better, then they have to make a change in the front office. But I’m betting they don’t want that. They’re “committed to their core.”

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Fundamentals, are you saying this ownership group has the want and passion to do a fire sale on the Hawks’ players? I just don’t see that ever happening. They love them some ‘Core’.

Mmmmmmm……..Core……………

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Did this core “peak” last year???

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I know right@venom…..I cant believe it’s the same ol story with the Magic though. This is just brutal. Pre-season or not.

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We will have a very dangerous situation on our hands with JJ this year. He just signed a long term deal and has become use to being mentioned as an allstar. A few games like this and I can see some real grumbling start to happen. LD will be walking on thin ice as far as keeping control of the locker room. We better start winning. Preseason or no.

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I Like Josh Powell though. A definate upgrede over Joe Smith. We just need teague back so we can bench Bibby. Nelson abused him soooo bad.

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Samuel, are you saying Joe might blow up and make some demands? I’d love to see that. Bust’em up Joe, bring Al “Boss” Horford with you while Smoove is shaving. Teach’em a lesson, make them winners again.

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“drmaryb (*_*)
Do they have playgrounds at Princeton?”

Why don’t you google that?

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Go Rangers

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“Wasn’t Drew supposed to remedy all that. Why else would you change coaches after winning 53 games?”

I know you are the driver of the Woody bandwagon, but at the very least, you have to acknowledge that firing Woody and hiring Drew are two separate events. The majority of us who wanted Woody fired didn’t have Drew at the top of our lists to replace him. I was underwhelmed by the Drew hire, but he did say all the right things over the offseason, so I’m not going to let a few lackluster preseason games define whether or not he is going to work out. But you are being dishonest if you think all of us who wanted Woody gone are staunch supporters of Drew. It is quite possible, believe it or not, to like both or dislike both.

Time will tell whether this move is more like firing Dan Reeves (an average but not great coach) and replacing him with Jim Mora (a historically awful coach), or like firing Rick Carlisle (a coach who could win 50 games) and replacing him with Larry Brown (a coach who could win a title). Or, who knows, maybe it’s somewhere in between. But I don’t think how Drew does has anything to do with how good of a coach Woody was. Woody was what he was — a generally likeable, stand-up guy who could relate to the players but who couldn’t make adjustments or come up with schemes to put his players in the best position to succeed. You can only go so far with a guy who is going to get outschemed by every good coach.

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The core getting some minutes in a blowout.
DHoward hasn’t played to a crowd like this since his high school days.

Seriously, what positives come out of this game? Good thing it’s a long season.

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I’m glad that it’s only pre-season, because the team hasn’t scored 95 points since the first pre-season game. Let’s hope that Teague can stay on the floor for 35+ minutes without any foul trouble, because he appears to be the lynch-pin to this offense.

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Brandon Bass….just a high motor player….

We are overmatched at EVERY position!

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Al most likely signs with us if the team and his super agent (Arn Tellem) can work it out. The reason being? Money. Chances are, Al makes more if he signs before November 1st, I think. The new CBA is undoubtedly going to cut into salaries.

That said, would Al consider going somewhere else? As a businessman, he would have to. But, he would have to like the city, like the organization, like the pay, and like the role he would have with the team. Hey, he would have to like the coaching staff and team, as well. I can’t think of a team that wouldn’t welcome Al Horford (unless they already have all they could ever want at the C and PF spots).

I say he signs. If he doesn’t, look out. Because then we have to play the game next offseason. Which, scarily enough, we might actually do. Why? Well, if the CBA cuts down on the salaries that players can make, then signing him later (or matching another contract offer) might be less expensive than signing him now. Then again, some team could front load the hell out of the contract, and make it more than we could possibly comfortably deal with (remember, Joe’s contract gets more lucrative as it goes along..this year is the cheapest year of that contract).

On the other hand, Al might feel that we’re not committed enough to him, or to winning. So, he wants out anyway, and we work a sign and trade. Here’s the trap we’re in:

Without him, we have NO semblance of a low post big man. Sorry, but as great as Josh Smith is or can be, he can only be a hybrid PF, not a goon or anything resembling a traditional big. And, we won’t lose nearly enough games to have even a frog’s hair chance at winning a top 3 spot in the NBA lottery, which means we aren’t going to be able to draft a very good “ready to play” big man.

Our best bet would then be working out a sign and trade with Al. And how do you suppose that would go? Probably not well at all, if a more traditionally sized starting center who can battle with Dwight is what you’re aiming at. Not well at all.

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A First!

Atlanta Hawks Team Preview up next. Yeah!

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ken, here is a lobby from the earlier blog “more of the same”, kind of appropriate tonight as well:

ken just calls em like i sees em.

heat, celts improved, magic the same if not better because of their own stability and they all three thrash us this season. last year i said, us third over boston, not this year. not sure we get three wins against these three teams together all year not counting the last game of the year with miami yup suggesting upwards of ten losses just against those teams alone. shoot last year i had the gall to suggest we could take cleveland with fair refs. that is not happening that way against the heat as wade and laqueen have proven they can beat us by themselves with one hand tied behind their backs. i am just not bold enough to suggest the combo wont be better, almost exponentially. plus the vets they got are ballers, not like ours.

i also think the west will be tougher as the jazz look better and the thunder are now maybe at or just below big elite whereas they werent even on the horizon last year. throw in the tx teams; houston, san antoine and dallas; the lakers, thunder, suns and blazers and any trip out west can turn into a death march. some of those teams will sweep us home and home unless these guys wake up. i also think the bulls are better, milwaukee has an id and the bobcats may surprise based on their showing against the magic that showed they have guts or a coach, along with the wiz. so overall, on comparison to others the path will be steeper than last year. throw in an unfortunate injury and you will taste crow ken.

at the risk of piling on, you might want to go back a read the following comments by canniblogging.

,northcyde and others, still thinking this is a 50 win team overall and 32 win team at home based on what you see thus far in the preseason? wonder when we will see bring back woody as sign off? shoot clyde might even come up with a t shirt to say the same. now wouldnt that take the cake?

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Brandon bass was available 2 years ago. But we waited all summer long for Joe Smith. And then we signed Josh Powell this summer. Great moves there, ASG and Rick.

We gave Bibby 3 years guaranteed. And I’m starting to wonder if he can duplicate last year’s nimbers.

I haven’t seen any games yet, so I can’t comment on specifics. But I can see why teams will try and for e us to make jump shots consistently.

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well MC, is it all about them waiting to get their legs back or having the lights turn on or are they that poorly organized and ready to play at the speed you have to play in the NBA?

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And all of that has nothing to do with how good or bad of a coach Larry Drew is. I don’t doubt his Xs and Os. Don’t ask me why. Maybe it’s because the players support it so much. I think he’ll be a good coach. But will he get the chance to prove that his system works, and that for it to work better, it will require some personnel upgrades? If the owners/front office don’t buy into the coach, they aren’t going to let go of this core notion.

And in my mind, this is the absolute last year for Marvin Williams. So much blamed on Woody in his case (whether right or wrong). If he doesn’t get it done this year, take his secret “Core” decoder ring away. I’m just sayin’…

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O’Brien, the problem is, when your GOOD players want to come! Bass chose to go to Orlando, the most we could offer was the mid-level exception. I have no proof that the ASG did, but I believe they did. Bass went to an established winner, so did Shaq, Barnes and Jermaine O. That is the same reason they had to over pay JJ to come and stay!

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Doc ,

Heh…it’s about us and Orlando. The rest of the preseason has been mostly scrubs and a rookie playing (rookie looked fairly good), with 6 of the top 9 players out with nagging injuries.

Ready for the season? Nope. But ready or not, those guys start playing real games in about a week. The learning curve might get ugly for a little while. We’ll see.

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and management is content with that.

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“How was Phil’s scheme a few years ago before he was given Pau and Kobe was ready to jump ship. Pops scheme didn’t get the Spurs any farther than we did. They are getting old so all the scheme in the world can’t save them. They need players to compete with the Lakers and the Thunder of the world.”

Nobody is saying a great scheme can turn D-League players into champions. But a scheme can turn a collection of good players into a great team (the 2004 Pistons), a collection of decent players into a good team (last year’s Rockets), a collection of bad players into a decent team (the 2003 Jazz), and vice versa (like the early 2000s Clippers). What you are failing to understand is that you need both. Maybe the Hawks don’t have the players to win a title, but they have the players to not get blown out in the worst playoff series loss in NBA history. Woody didn’t get the most out of this team. Plain and simple.

And as for your argument that Phil Jackson’s scheme didn’t mean anything to the 2005 and 2006 Lakers, how do you know that team — which made the first round of the playoffs — wouldn’t have lost 50 games without that scheme?

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amen to that ray, the learning curve better steepen quickly.

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Kwooden1,

Bass was a RESTRICTED free agent. Orlando offered him 4 years, $16 mil. He accepted, and Dallas chose not to match.

Do u really think if the hawks offered him the mid-level (over $5 mil), he would have turned it down?

And when was the last time the hawks used their mid-level?

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I bet Larry Drew has some good oral skills

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Really liked what I saw from Joe today. He got to the line a bunch of times and aside from a few ISO-Joe mental lapses, he was very quick and decisive with what he what he wanted to do with the basketball.

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Stat for the night:

Mike Bibby – played 15 minutes, 17 seconds.

Etan Thomas – played 3 minutes, 57 seconds.

Don’t be surprised if this becomes their season averages…

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I really like the new offense, 100pts for orlando is normal, but once again it was our inability to score that cost us the game.

Did any of you notice that Dwight played the whole 1st quater? SVG does that on purpose to put us away EARLY. He knows we have no answer for Dwight and if he can get us down early, their 3pt barrage will carry them for the rest of the game.

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Hmmmmm ,

Good observation. You’re exactly on point.

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Guys, I just got back from the game. What a disaster. I know I have been telling people to not get too wound up about preseason games. Well, I need to take my own advice. I’m wound up about what I saw tonight.

First off, why did Joe Johnson bother coming back here? There would have been some other team stupid enough to take him on at a max rate. He sucks. And, he continues to be a complete no show when the Hawks really need him. Nothing like watching $19 million a year shoot less than 30% from the floor, miss several free throws, and all 3-point shots. What a leader!

2nd, the refs will just not allow the Hawks to guard Howard. They simply will not allow it! Total horsesh#t calls on Horford, Zaza, Thomas, and Thomas. If the game is going to be called that tight all the time, there is no reason to even play the game. Just give Orlando the win and move along. It really is pointless.

I’m thinking the Hawks have maxed out. This group is done. I see them as the #6 or #7 seed, at best. Bucks, Bulls, Wizards have all past them by. Should have cleaned house this summer.

Can’t wait to hear/read the same bullsh#t quotes about “lack of energy” “need to come out more focused” ….how about this one: “We are no better than last year. A little worse, in fact.” I think that quote is much more fitting.

Here’s to wishing I would not have renewed my season tixs.

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Plug & Play!

Najeh – super co-sign!

Coach K runs a terrific scheme in Kentucky!
He even made Shelden look good and we bit on it!

The New England Patriot runs a terrific scheme in Boston!
Who Dats come out of nowhere and shine in New England!

Even the falcons and Dimitroff are running a terrific scheme here in the “A”!
The Falcons are beginning to plug ‘em in too! (See injuries)

I like the Hawks direction. Twin was impressive tonight.

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Has the NBA ever not coveted it’s “stars”. Deal with it 303, nothin will ever change. It’s just the NBA.

Powell actually shows promise. Yes, Mr Collins looked very much improved. Etan did hold Dwight, only to watch Crawford and Bibby let down repeatedly on the 3 pt line.

ZaZa needs to go 100% into the restaraunt. He’s done with basketball.

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Najeh ,

LOL. Now that’s a heck of an analogy. Your perspective is always something I enjoy reading.

Section 303 ,

I share your disgust. But….

1. This entire team always goes to pieces when they play Orlando. Every last one of them. Who tends to show up the best? Josh Smith. Look at his stat line from tonight and realize that’s just how bad things are when we play this team. We played them good (and actually won) in ONE game in the last 2-3 years if you ask me.

2. I know you’re still pi$$ed at Joe (I can’t help laughing, it’s just funny because you won’t stop posting it…I’m not making fun of YOU though). But seriously, was anybody else going to give Joe $125 million? Hell no. I’m sure of it, even though I’m not expert or basketball pundit, and can’t prove it. Why take $94 million to go somewhere that the spotlight is even brighter (and the fans can be harsher) like New York, when you can stay where you are comfortable and make $35 million more? And nobody else could give him 6 years. I’m not looking to knock the man for his decision at all, believe me. I probably would ahve done the same damn thing. Did Joe stay out of loyalty? Heh heh heh…

3. Bucks, Bulls, Wizards still have to prove they are better than us. Bucks and Bulls have a shot at this if their coaches can successfully blend their new acquisitions in, and if they can remain healthy (Chicago, Boozer and Noah), Milwaukee (Bogut). Chicago is under a rookie head coach, don’t forget that.

The Wiz? Too many issues, rookie pg, and Gilbert “The Fool” Arenas. Wiz have talent, but not cohesion. Not yet. They tend to not stay healthy either.

4. The refs are consistent with the Dwight Howard calls. But only with teams that can’t truly contend with the Magic. Those that can contend, get better calls (Boston, formerly Cleveland, Miami, etc). Jacked up, but true.

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I have the feeling that Zaza is going to lose minutes to Twin and Etan, depending on how things go.

Powell can play some, and we need that at the backup PF position. But we have GOT to get better rebounding out of our backup bigs. Zaza has had the edge there for the last couple of years, but then all he’s had to compete with were older-than-dirt Joe Smith, Randolph Morris, and a seriously out of shape Collins (last year).

Fast forward to now, and Collins is more effective offensively, and more of a defender. Etan is naturally stronger and a tougher defender. Zaza may find himself getting 10-12 mpg this season if those other two can contribute better than advertised.

Another stat to consider from this game –

Powell and Zaza combined: 19 points on 6-9 shooting, and 8 rebounds.

Bass and Gortat combined: 21 points on 9-19 shooting, and 16 rebounds.

Clearly the points were a wash, with our guys being better/more efficient scorers. But the rebounding…this can’t keep happening.

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I bet most of you bloggers road the short bus. You guys have been running around all season acting like this team would smell better than a skunk. LMAO!!

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@ Clyde, I totally agree!

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Its preseason people, calm down.

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Tell that to the Magic and every other good team yoursporthouse.com. We suck right now!

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Big Ray, I have less than zero love for Joe Johnson. I cheer when he scores, but simply because I want the Hawks to win. My stance would change 100% if he would simply apologize. All I ask.

Most absurd part of the game: Hawks down 30. Drew brings the starters back to salvage some pride against the Magic’s ball boys (footnote: the ball boys wore the uniforms of Chris Duhon, Stanley Robinson, and JJ Redick). The Hawks still missed every shot and still could not stop anyone on D. I mean…really! Good Lord!

We ran around last year saying…”Man, if we could just avoid the Magic in the playoffs.” This year we will be saying “Man, if we could just avoid the Magic, Heat, Bucks, Bulls, Wizards, Knicks (remember, they beat the h#ll out of us last year, too) in the playoffs we have a shot!” Eastern Conference Finals my a$$!

Big Ray, also, I like the Wizards. I have seen them twice now: against the Hawks and against the Knicks, last night. Arenas is not needed. Wall will torch the Hawks D. And, I love Javal McGee. He is my pick for Breakthrough Player of the Year.

Hawks 7 seed. I’m sticking with that until I see otherwise.

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And no . . none of this is Drew’s fault. People expected Drew to work miracles around here, when the real problem is the personnel makeup of the team.

Remember folks, this is what ownership and Sund passed up this summer:

- signing Avery Johnson to be coach

- passing on using the #31 pick on a young big man

- refusing to sign Chill to an offer of his liking, trading him for a trade exception ( and not a live body to help us )

- not aggressively going after Shaq ( i.e. – give him the full MLE, or even trading Marvin for him, so that we could pay him more money )

So anything that happens negatively with this team, is going to be mainly at ownership’s and Sund’s feet, not Drew’s.

Having said that Drew can’t completely mess things up either. The dude at least have to keep us in the hunt for a playoff berth, even if we can’t get a top 4 seed.

LOL . . I guess it’s not “just preseason” anymore, huh? To Najeh’s credit, he’s still taking that stance. But he didn’t see this game either. But then again, he did. All he has to do is re-watch Game 1 of the Orlando series last year, and that’s what we saw tonight.

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truth, too funny dude, see you are asleep and dreaming again. at least you dont drink the kool aide around here and go down that road or is it rode? got to respect that.

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You guys do realize were still 0-0 right? Havent even played the 1st REAL game yet, and yall are firing everybody. Especially Samuel. Wher were you when we only one 13 freakin games in your hero’s 1st year. Give LD a chance just like you did for your eyebrowless master.

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Everyone smashed Sund for picking up Powell. Now I see “Powell has some upside”, “Powell can play some”, etc… lol! Told yall he was better(and younger) than old a..Joe Smith. lol!

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