Atlanta Hawks: Video: Hawks-Heat recap

Would have rather watched the Barkley video again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOAPL5Td7uo&feature=email

MC, can you make sure every player gets a copy of this please? Thanks!

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Well at least Josh is a STUDENT OF THE GAME.

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Why would you wish Wade and LeBron played in order for the team to play with urgency? The fact that you discuss what needs to be done with your team and they go out and do the opposite tells me they have tuned you out! Let’s face it, Barkley and Miller had alot of valid points about this team. Last night’s game proved to me that the team needs to be shaken up, whether through some type of trade or new coach.

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Problem is Joe Jonson lacks the athletic ability as well as heart to crate and dominate. Josh Smith is the only competitor and u a holes hating on him. Smh trade everybody but #5!!! Oh yea and Jeff teague

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Glad to see AJC put up a story on the Barkley video. If that don’t motivate this team then nothing will.

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“Barkley needs to do every Hawks game. I don’t know about you but I rather be told the truth rather than being spoon fed a bunch lies every game.”

amen. much better than listening to nique same the same crap every two minutes. heat check!

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They let their guard down…..Mental break down from Key Players.

What he really means is they don’t have any heart or desire.

Please do what I do…..don’t go or go for free if you get a ticket, then buy food and a few beers in the CNN mall, and don’t spend a dime at the game.

If all do that soon the Spirit will go bankrupt, and we can get them out of town !

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I agree Tremaine the truth sucks, but I never cared about the round mound of rebound anyway. He still is a hill of loud crap. Who loves to hear himself talk.

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Face it…Charles said what we all are writing about. What is the issue?? He spoke the truth!!!

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Some of you will think whatever Charles Barkley tells you to think. Baa. Baa. Baa.

Just blow this team up. I can’t stand anyone on the team. Really, if that can be done, then just get Josh, Al, Joe, Marvin, and Teague out of here. I’m done waiting on these guys to be different. They can’t do it. They simply can’t.

Time to start over. I am beyond sick of watching those guys play.

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Just another example of why the NBA is a joke. This game shows its painfully obvious that these pre-modannas only play when they feel like it. What a joke.

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“Some of you will think whatever Charles Barkley tells you to think. Baa. Baa. Baa.

Just blow this team up. I can’t stand anyone on the team. Really, if that can be done, then just get Josh, Al, Joe, Marvin, and Teague out of here. I’m done waiting on these guys to be different. They can’t do it. They simply can’t.

Time to start over. I am beyond sick of watching those guys play.”

sounds like you think exactly what charles feels. hmmmmmm missing a few brain cells after last night?

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Dear lord, why can’t people who hate the NBA just go away? Leave it alone.

The NBA has been freaking AWESOME the last 2 or 3 years and it’s getting better, go back into your hobbit hole and cry about it.

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A Query:

MC, which starter physically destroyed the locker room after the game last night, in utter disgust?

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Blowing the team up is useless if you don’t get a superstar here.

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superior: really? while you sit here blowinging your mouth off more than anyone else. get a life.

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honest_abe

January 6th, 2012
9:27 am
superior: really? while you sit here blowinging your mouth off more than anyone else. get a life.

I know right.

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@honest_abe

Ignore ignorance.

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Im not going to make excuses ….flat out it was a bad loss. Last year this was a blow out win for the heat. One thing I can say. The hawks do need to develop some mental toughness to close out the better teams in the East but clearly we all can see they can at least play with the big boys of the east. Im not going to pile on like some of these other so-called hawk fans. Keeping it in prospective…cannot get this game back…move on…the season is still young. They will see the heat in the playoffs.

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Blogman,

They quit, if they didnt quit in the 4th qtr against the Bulls, then they would have won that game.

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Also, Barkley. I have absolutely no respect for Barkley anymore. The guy just absolutely slammed the hawks the entire game. Talking about the playoff football games this weekend. Disrespectful. While he did have some valid points in his assessment about the hawks he offered no constructive criticism. He speaks as if the hawks are lottery bound.

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And why are we even still talking about the chicago game….The Hawks play charlotte tonight….

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Just once I’d like to see Barkley’s big mouth get big a$$ in a jam…say if TNT were to make him do games in Atlanta once a week – on radio – and for Weight Watchers to replace him with, say, Warren Sapp…then maybe the prik might see what ’scam’ really is – him.

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I think the telling comment from Charles was the fact that the Hawks put a starting five on the floor that are all alike in their talents. No one is bad, they are just good, but do the same type of things on the floor. No one stands out and it makes for a very mediocre team. They have reached a plateau and are not really capable of rising above that certain level. No great shot maker, no great defender, no great rebounder, just everyone kind of doing the same thing at the same level of talent. More than a little depressing.

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FTPB,

Doc,

You will appreciate this.

During the Arthur Blank interview on 790 a couple days ago, he said that when it comes to the Falcons, it’s not about money. It’s about winning a championship, and that players and fans know that he will do anything in his power to help his team attain that goal.

Last night during the broadcast, one of the analysts made a similar point, in that the Miami Heat have championship aspirations, whereas the Hawks don’t.

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You guys act like this team deserved props last night.

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Except for the comment about Ivan not getting the cheers he deserved (based on comments from who were there, it sounds like he did) and ATL fans, I agreed with most of Charles’ other comments, and its the same thing many of us on here have said. So why get mad when Barkley says it?

Hawks have no leadership, live and die by jumpers, half-court offense is terrible, they have peaked, JJ is getting paid like a superstar, and so far, has not lived up to it etc.

Is there anything Charles said that people disagree with?

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I’m fine with Barkley criticizing the team but his “mentally tough” argument is a cop-out. This team lacks a consistent offensive identity. Hawks play solid defense most games but they revert to iso and one on one during long stretches of games. This points to lack of discipline but not to lack of mental toughness. They have been in tough playoff series and won their first rounders in the last 3 years. They were beaten by more talented and more disciplined teams in the second rounds…

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honest abe, in that regard, I do. This team is finished. Leaving them together just delays what we already know will happen. So, yes, in some things I do agree with the “leader of or thoughts”, Charles Barkley.

Don’t agree with him that Ivan received no cheers last night. Thought I made that pretty clear….try to keep up. thanks.

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Err….that should be “Leader of Our Thoughts”, not “or”. Proper spelling is the least of our problems when dealing with the Hawks, though.

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You guys sit on here and pick this team and the falcons apart. Even after victories…sure last night was bad but come on its not like they are the WIZARDS. I cannot sit here and constantly watch the constant bashing of the sports teams in this town. NO wonder no one wants to come here. I will never post nor read any of these blogs again.

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See ya’, Fresh Prince.

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@Fresh Prince

Peace!

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keep speaking Tremaine…you aren’t alone with the assessment of the team and the fans blogging…this game shouldn’t have even went to OT..it should have been called in the 1st QTR…Sir Charles spoke the truth and I agree.

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Northcyde,

The only superstar ATL has a chance of getting (imo) is Howard. And with JJ’s decreasing trade value, I think Josh + Al for Dwight and Hedo gets it done.

Are you still willing to trade Josh + Al without a guarantee from Dwight that he would sign an extension?

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JChikara

January 6th, 2012
10:10 am
I can’t believe there are people who are actually ripping Barkley for what he said last night. I’m so glad that he and the national audience got to see in person just how heartless this team is. You know it’s bad when EVERYONE in the TNT booth predicted a Miami win.

The fact is that this is a bunch of B or C rated players who cannot measure up against A talent. There is no one on this team who can tell the others “I got this.” Honestly, who do you think on this team can actually be a true leader? In this league if you don’t have a go to guy (and Joe Johnson isn’t it) then you’re screwed in crunch time.

Will anything change? When your front office is more concerned about staying in the black rather than winning a title, it’s doubtful.

Cosign

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@Al Nowitski thats an awful assessment on Josh Smith. He doesnt suck because he didnt go to college he sucks because he doesn’t realize his limitations. @Fresh prince we should bash you for nameing yourself fresh prince

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Sad part is…given the current state of the eastern conference the hawks will be a 3rd or 4th seed!

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o’b when you aim for entertainmnet too things happen. you get people there who dont know the game and when it isnt entertaining, guess what? they sit and wait until it is then they cheer or do whatever.

i am so disgusted with gearon and his whole approach to the hawks experience. this year they have upped the number of girls on the girl squad and have them running around the stadium interacting with fans as cheerleaders. get us some basketball, coaches and professionals doing a job ti win. problem is gearon says winning is about finally getting out of court. kind of sounded like someone else who thought having two girlfriends was winning

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“Sad part is…given the current state of the eastern conference the hawks will be a 3rd or 4th seed!”-Billy Bob

What is SAD about that?….

The SAD part is…..if I didn’t know any BETTER, I would think the Hawks were a 13 win TEAM based on the way he talked about them(Hawks)

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Josh loses some more weight he can play the 2 spot and keep jacking his rainbow set shot! Coach sits the only 2 hot players (Green and Ivan), I guess LD wasn’t ready either. This stuff is painful to watch. JJ has the hand excuse, Josh has the brain excuse, Horford must have played x box all summer as I see no improvement in his game, Marvin is going to the mini-afro, he needs to go all the way and invoke memories of Dr. J (hell, sign Dr. J as Tracy McGrady looks better than anything else we,ve got). ZAZA still can’t make a layup, Teague’s shot looks like nothing we have seen before and Belkin was right, the Joe Johnson contract is a disaster!

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Nique is not unbiased either since he is part of the organization. Thats why he blabs the same things over and over. But a national broadcast shouldn’t be so one-sided.

I’m not even standing up for the team or the ownership. They are not championship material and i thought they should have shook things up a long time ago. We dont need Barkley to tell us what us fans already know.

But lets say we won in Chicago the other night. Would there be the same type of criticism over their shooting percentage and their drive (minus Rose). Let’s say Barkley covered the game in Miami. Would he bashing the big three ability to close out the lowly hawks??
The bashing of Atlanta teams is getting old.

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The Heat lost to Hawks With both of thier stars playing and Barlkey or Reggie wasn’t hard on them for that. Heat wasn’t soft or dumb. If they had said the Hawks are playing bad tonight or they are unfocus or they are sluggish that would be a fact. To say they are dumb and soft and has no heart is a supposition, and an opinion. If they soft and dumb last night what were they on monday night?

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the most frustrating thing is the enablers who care more about Barkley than this team losing to a team with Wade and Lebron on the bench.

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Analogy:

You call a company and are placed on hold. You
hear a recording saying “customer service is very
important to us, please remain on the line and your
call will be answered in the order it was received.
Your estimated wait time is less than 10 minutes.
If your call was “very important” to them, you would
not be placed on hold for 10 minutes.

You are a Hawks fan. You go to a game and witness
a loss due to lack of effort and poor coaching.
Rick Sund holds a press conference and says winning
is very important to us.Please remain loyal fans and
continue to come to our games. Our anticipated time
for winning a NBA Championship is less than 5 years.
Hawks management is taking the necessary steps in
increments to ensure that this occurs. If winning
was very important to Sund and ASG, they would have
gotten a proven NBA coach, and added a “true center”.

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@ Double Zero Eight –

good analogy!

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@ Double Zero Eight

Bingo

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Someone PLEASE TELL WHAT a WINNING TEAM is in the NBA…… because I only remember ONE TEAM winning LAST YEAR. OOOOOOOOONNNNNNNEEEEE TEAM.

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Chalmers is probably not going to get any credit on that team, but that kid can play…..I wanted to steal him away this summer, but Sund wasn’t going to consider that even based on how thin WE ARE at PG.

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Grandmaster JeJe’s take on last night’s game:

1) We lost to a team on the 2nd of a back-to-back without its 2 best players. LD’s comments of ““I think if they would have played we would have taken a whole different approach” should get him fired and the rest of the team traded away. What a joke.

2) Jeff Teague – what a PATHETIC performance. If this guy cannot get in the lane, does he just give up? Not only can he not shoot a basketball (I have no idea how he went 3-4 on 3s in the opener vs. New Jersey), ** TEAGUE’S DEFENSE IS TREMENDOUSLY OVERRATED..* He cannot keep a player in front of him

3) WHAT THE HELL was up with our pick&roll coverage? Is this something we have not worked on in practice?

***********That play in the last minute of regulation where Chalmers had the ball, a pick was set, and Teague lazily tried to go over it, giving Chalmers a wide open 3 to try win it, ENRAGED me. I have never ever been so pissed off about lackadaisical, nonchalant defense. Teague didn’t even try to recover after the pick. I trust Smoove’s claim he was yelling out that the pick was going to come. I give Teague an F- for his performance last night. Truly embarrassing. Kirk Hinrich would’ve been all over that play.************

4) Joe Johnson – wake the hell up. You look f’ing awful right now. You are playing like you’re the 37 year old on this team.

5) Hey LD, HOW ABOUT RUNNING A PLAY AT THE END OF REGULATION, RATHER THAN PUTTING JOE 1 ON 1 AGAINST ONE OF THE MOST BRILLIANT DEFENDERs IN ALL OF SPORTS (BATTIER)

6) Is this the only team in the NBA that gives up wide open layups during crunch time? What a FREAKING JOKE.

7) Marvin – you SUCK. How the hell do you give Bosh a million feet to sheet that 3? It’s like Jameer’s defense on D.Fish in the NBA FInals that gave the Lakers the game and ultimately the series. 7 points and 7 rebounds for us.

8 ) To all you people thinking we have turned the corner since last year, GTFOH. We are 4-3 as is like half the league now. Boston started 0-3 and is now 4-3. If we had last year’s roster or the roster from 2 years ago (or even 3 years ago), playing last night, we would have had THE EXACT SAME RESULT

9) LOL @ people claiming Marvin has stepped it up this year. How is that so? His numbers are bloody average.

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10) *********MOST IMPORTANTLY*********: Charles Barkley’s 2nd half analysis of our team has got to be the most brutally honest evaulation I have ever heard of this team.
He is right: we are a bunch of nice guys with ZERO LEADERSHIP. We have 3 captains (how did having 6 or so captains in New York work out for the Jets?), none of whom talk or give any quality leadership for this team.
——When LD said he needs to try find minutes for Ivan, I almost lost it. YOU ARE BUSY PLAYING VLADIMIR RADMANOVIC, WHO HAS NOT HIT A 3 POINTER SINCE THE COLD WAR and you are talking about lacking playing time for someone who THOROUGHLY OUTPLAYED our entire front line, and possibly, the team?

11) Ivan’s performance last night showed more heart, tenacity, and energy than anything I have EVER seen out of Marvin Williams. There is NOT ONE POSITIVE out of us starting Marvin Williams. The announcers said Josh does not do one thing well. What the HELL does Marvin do well?

12*****) WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO OUR FREE THROW SHOOTING? You can’t even expect these guys to hit both free throws anymore (oh wait, Ivan did, and Joe did once. God Forbid you make 20358726308372 dollars a year and have to make a free throw)
Did these guys FORGET how to shoot free throws over the summer?

13) People are seriously overlooking Charlotte. This team ALWAYS beats us once a season (usually at Philips). Plus, Maggette may be out, meaning we lose by default.

14) I hope in that 4th quarter where Ivan was in and Marvin and Smoove were out for ages, that they felt MISERABLE

16) JOSH, STOP TAKING JUMPSHOTS

My resolution: Start players who want to win.

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And relax with the Teague bashing…

The overall team defense in general was terrible last night. You have no idea whether he’s supposed to switch on those picks or what.

Teague’s shown he can play defense. Must I remind you what we were forced to watch in the past with Mike Bibby defending…

There’s a reason why the Hawks were statistically the #1 ranked defensive team in the NBA going into last night. It’s because they’re better defensively at every position than they’ve been in years past, and the major change would be the guy guarding that PG.

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I have access to free tickets if I want..I’d burn em first…..Garbage organization…..

I’d rather watch myself play…lol

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Larry Drew= Round peg, Square hole

Where Grandad and the expert Ken S. to chime in on this fiasco last night?

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O’Brien . . yes I would.

This team is a year or two from being blown up anyway if we don’t improve. If the fans lose complete faith in these guys, then I’d even move Smith and Horford for a one year rental of Dwight

I would give Orlando the pick of ANY TWO of our star players foe Dwight.

What if Ivan can play at the level he did last night on a consistent basis? Here is our starting lineup. .

Teague – Johnson – Marvin ( or McGrady ) – Ivan – Howard.

If Ivan is the real deal, I would roll with that lineup. And Smith and Horford wouldn’t be missed either.

Nobody on this team is off limits. Nobody. Even the coach and GM shouldn’t be off limits. But you trade for a superstar. Not for another role player.

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IVAN MUST START ahead of Marvin!

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They can’t afford a Star….they paid to much for so called stars.

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The Hawks are a repetitively uncompetitive team year in and year out. They play well sometimes (when they have enough energy to care).

I am so sick of watching this team! Their apathetic attitude is wearing on my own deameanor. WHat baffles me is that I go onto espn.com this morning, and there aint a single word of a personnell change with this stinkin a$$ team!

For god’s sake blow this disaster up! Give up Joe,, Smoove, Al I dont care anymore. This entire era of basketball in Atlanta needs to be purged!

This assessment aint a kneejerk reaction to a TERRIBLE home loss, its coming from a patient fan who has always tried to see the bright side with this roster, coaching staff, and ownership.

Let’s goback to 03-04 where at least we knew we sucked and weren’t delusional about being “one step away” from being contenders. Chuck mentioned last night that Weight Watchers was a scam…

Well this HAwks team we’re sending out every night is a scam. The HAwks bring in new guys and suck them dry of all their talent (T-Mac, Crawford, hell even Bibby) then find it funny as they finish a season mediocre, as usual.

Worse than anyone I feel sorry for Michael Cunningham. Poor guy is already a half-a$$, clueless journalist, but to think that we actually reads his blogs isdownright offputting. MC you need to find a trade or something man. Your covergae of the Hawks is incomplete, misleading, and waaaay off.

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KevinM,

I don’t know if you saw the FT stats I posted on the previous blog, but they are turrible. So far this season;

Game 1: 18-21, 86%; Game 2: 17-22, 77%
Game 3: 27-38, 71%; Game 4: 10-16, 63%
Game 5: 13-20, 65%; Game 6: 14-25, 56%
Game 7: 31-46, 67%.

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pretty much co-sign on drewcat’s take of the hawks…

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More Barkley covering Hawks games! That Chit was funny last night…………………….

The Hawks were so sorry the ish was comical with Reggie and Sir Charles dropping their commentary!

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HAWKS HAVE NO TOUGHNESS.

IVAN JOHNSON IS ONLY PERSON WITH SOME TOUGHNESS.

GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

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They played better with Catwoman and Josh on the bench? Bring em back and we lose……

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Disappointed? Yea, you bet. Disappointed at most of the guys last nite.

The one I’ve been most disappointed at the last 2 games is Joe Johnson. When your the alpha dog, you gotta be “The Man”, and he’s not. Not even close. Good defender, great dribbler, used to be a very good shooter, now just an athlete. But not clutch at all. Not in the 1st quarter, not in the 4th quarter, not in OT. He’s just not. A solid piece and nothing more.

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Grandmaster JeJe,

That….Was… On….Point!

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The hawks suck it begins with the head coach, Ivan Johnson was playing his ass off and u don’t keep him on the floor really? then u play sorry ass marvin, come on coach u suck? these hawks already reach the top of their game. I don’t think they will make the playoffs. Teage come on man ur the shotcaller can u make free trows? Josh no more bricks please ur not a shooter. Joe ur worst u got paid 120 million show it or return the money and retire. Al go hard in the paint don’t play soft. And Ivan Johnson u played ur heart out last night keep it up

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Al is obviously spending to much time with Mrs. Universe, if you know what I mean.

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@Steve, yea Al and his girl are going to dress up like twins for Halloween..

The worst AllStar I have seen…

Help defense= zero!

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The Hawks best basketball player and Alpha Dog? Tracy McGrady, and it’s not even close really. Too bad he can only go 20-25 minutes a nite.

If Ivan Johnson head is right, he’s an NBA talent right there. I’m talkin’ about a mid-level PF in a League full of PF’s.

I like Josh Smith alot, but somebody was talking about a Smith for Millsap/Hayward trade with the Jazz. I’m about ready to see if Sund would do that, if the Jazz would.

LD should fine Josh $100,000.00 for every J he takes beyond 15 feet with more than 5 seconds on the clock. There is no such thing as a rhythm J with Josh.

But there’s something in the water in Hawksland – Vlad’s J is broke also, and that’s about the only reason we got him.

Teague’s J wasn’t too hot either last nite – let’s hope it’s not contagious.

And too think we played all these guys 45, 48 minutes last nite. I would start Pargo, Willie, TMac, Ivan, and ZaZa tonite, and bring Collins and Vlad off the bench just to rest the starters some.

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Black Eyes!

In light of what Reggie Miller and Charles Barkley surmised, in their “black eye” punch fest: I ask this question -

What do you tell a Hawks team with two black eyes?
Answer: Nothing – I already told them twice.

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Ha! That last post should read “As a former Coach…”

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“This team is a year or two from being blown up anyway if we don’t improve. If the fans lose complete faith in these guys, then I’d even move Smith and Horford for a one year rental of Dwight

I would give Orlando the pick of ANY TWO of our star players foe Dwight.

What if Ivan can play at the level he did last night on a consistent basis? Here is our starting lineup. .

Teague – Johnson – Marvin ( or McGrady ) – Ivan – Howard.

If Ivan is the real deal, I would roll with that lineup. And Smith and Horford wouldn’t be missed either.

Nobody on this team is off limits. Nobody. Even the coach and GM shouldn’t be off limits. But you trade for a superstar. Not for another role player” – northcyde

I baiscally said this very lineup in the other thread but I said to amnesty Joe and get someone like Jason Terry, he will really help with range. No one said anything about my idea of bringing in Terry but get bashed for putting Willliams in the starting lineup. I would put McGrady but I feel he is better fit to run and leader the second unit.

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Awesome! NBA TV is replaying Heat game at noon…..I get to hear/see what I missed last night.

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KevinM,

Trust me, you do not want to see it. lol

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Trade for Dwight. Make him stay a year. If he leaves, well at least we tried and we will have salary cap room to get someone else. This team will be blown up soon anyway. We have nothing to lose.

The hawks were disgraceful last night.

LD, play Ivan more.

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Howard would want Josh (one would assume) to be on his team, and no way Orlando takes JJ’s contract. They’ve already used the amnesty card.

So we would be left with Al, Marvin, Teague, and ZaZa as trade possibilities. Orlando doesn’t want picks so much they say.

So take any 3 of the above for Howard? Sound good?

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LD needs to quit playing games.

If someone misses an assignment sit they azz down!

If they ain’t playing hard sit they azz down!

If they walking up and down the floor sit they azz down!

Drew needs to start Willie Green, Ivan, and Mcgrady next game. Marvin, Jsmoove, and Joe need a reality check. Problem with them is they spoiled. They making all this money and they don’t feel like they have to play hard anymore. Somebody needs to check them right away.

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Trojan,

I agree 100% with what you said about Howard. I would like for him to agree to his player option and if he walks after that let him. We finally had a superstar in Atlanta! If ASG really wanted to try get Howard to stay they will need an experienced coach and not another assistant. I know he said Smith will be the only reason for him to sign extension with Atlanta but Smith will be the reason Howard can’t get anywhere in Atlanta.

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How do you all think Barkley would evaluate his career? I’m sure the reason he never won a ring has nothing to do with him. I’m not pissed about what he think about the Hawks. I’m pissed that a Natinal Network would employ a Dumb ass like him to announe a game. He has no class at all and he is wrong 99% of the time. Gavelle Mcgheeeeeee!

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PS – I only give up 3 of those players in the above trade if I’m sure I keep Howard at least 2 years, preferably long term.

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Miami’s got quite a duo at Point with Chalmers and Cole. I like them both. They’re not elite, but good enough for the Heat. Both would probably be solid #2 PG’s on many teams.

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2 Trade i would purpose.

1. JOE, HORFORD FOR DWIGHT, REDICK OR TURK

IF THIS DON’T WORK

2. JOSH, ZAZA FOR COUSIN, SALMON

GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I was calling for Ivan early in the game, thought the team needed some attitude. But I friggen HATE barkley. Why do I want advice on how to win a championship from someone who never did?

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Ivan Johnson played hard last night because he wasn’t spoon feed. He had to earn his spot in the NBA by going to the Developmental League. He appreciates the opportunity to play in front of a national audience and he gave 100% last night.

Ivan Johnson The Hawks Nation Salutes You

On the other hand Joe Johnson, Marvin, Jsmooth, and Horford I turn my back on yall. Yall are a disgrace. If I was the owner I would have suspended yall for that effort last night.

The problem with yall is that your young and rich and don’t give a F. Your only in ATL to get a check and you don’t care what kind of effort you put forth.

People are spending their hard earned money in hard times to come see yall play. Some people really don’t have the money but they want to treat they kids to a Hawks game. You can at least show your gratitude by hustling and playing hard each possession.

FIRE LD

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START IVAN JOHNSON!!!!!!!
START IVAN JOHNSON!!!!!!!

At least play him BEHIND Josh Smith! I thought Ramanovic would give us a reliable 3 point shot, but I have no idea what’s wrong with his shot this year. It’s not just missing, it’s b-b-b-b-b-b-brrrrrick-ing!!
REALLY hard. Not a good look. I’m talking Josh Smith BRICKING.

If LD were a smart coach he would play IVAN THE TURRIBLE behind Josh. Ivan WOULD CHANGE THIS TEAM. It’s common sense. I’ll be wildly frusturated if IVAN is not played more.

TRACY MCGRADY should close games for us. I can’t believe he wasn’t in ANY of the overtimes and MARVIN WILLIAMS was in all of them!! Just bad rotations, bad free throw shooting, MISTAKES. Simple mistakes. Unusual mistakes. I was temporarily depressed from these terrible losses, but OUR BENCH AND DEFENSE LOOK GREAT, FOR SOME REASON not our offense. NO starters are doing good offensively. When we get good offensively again, we’ll be dangerous!

I like Willia Green now. When Hinrich comes back, WILLIE will be great off the bench. Our bench is CRAZY this year!!

Hinrich Pargo
Willie Green
T-Mac
Ivan Johnson Vlad
Zaza Collins

These starters could win games ON THERE OWN!!! Couldn’t say that in years past.

NOW ALL WE NEED IS FOR THE FREAKING STARTERS TO STEP UP!!!! THERE’S IS NO WAY A GROUP OF MEN CAN BE THIS PATHETIC FOR A WHOOOOLE SEASON!!!!

I’d rather have THE ATLANTA DREAM STARTING 5 PLAY OUR GAMES RIGHT NOW, AT LEAST THEY HAVE HEART AND GET TO THE FINALS, ESPECIALLY ANGEL MCCOUGHTRY!!!!!! She wouldn’t allow this effort! Put Mccoughtry’s brain inside of Joe Johnson’s head, and he’ll average 26 points easily!!
We really need to beat the Bobcats man, this is just terrible right now. But there is hope, it’s still early.

GO HAWKS!!!!

FIRE LD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I WOULD BENCH THE WOMEN TONIGHT AND PLAY THE BENCH..

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Barkley likes Teague, and I agree…..

And didn’t Josh hold his own against Bosh last night? I think our only Josh complaint is his jumpers.

I would hate to lose Teague at this time..toughest position for us to replace.

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Losing to the Tornto Raptors last night, doesn’t upset me….

It is the NBA….Sh!t happens.

Would I like more REGULAR SEANSON consistency, YES!…As long as we make the PLAYOFFS, I am GOOD.

All I want to know is, if we give MAXIMUM EFFORT in the PLAYOFFS are we GOOD enough to BEAT the BULLS or the HEAT. They are the TEAMS we have to BEAT, to get to the ECF or the FINALS…What I have seen so far, I would say YES.

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So glad I didn’t stay awake for that. Our starters are so unimpressive.

Barkley was killing us from the 1st Quarter and his compadres weren’t arguing with him about the ineptitude of the loveable, hapless Hawks. How embarrassing and how typically true. That’s why I turned it off. He was right. I owe Charles for the shut eye. Reggie said Howard doesn’t want to come here. If that’s true, then we know who we are. A first round playoff team, maybe.

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Rufus1, normally I like to read posts like the one you just made when I’m frustrated with the Hawks. Helps to focus on the more important things, like the playoffs. However, I think this is different. These guys have just been together too long. Guys like Josh have been enabled, allowed to halfa$$ and take bad shots. Guys like Joe are just finished. Guys like Al are just being exposed as not very good.

It’s different. This season is going to be a disaster.

I know some of you (and with good reason, since it has happened so many times in the past) are saying things like “watch they’ll win the next two because that’s what they always do.” I don’t agree. This is different. These guys are finished. They won’t rally. They won’t respond. They’re going to continue to get worse. They’re done.

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Constructive Criticism!

“Theres nothing about Charles’ comments that i dont agree with but the broadcast is not the right time to express his views.” -yeahsure-
______________

If not then – when?
_______________

These players needed a different voice 5 years ago. We got the Inside Man -Drew instead. We gave the keys to the Bentley to an inexperienced head coach. What does one expect but a two year lab experiment. You’re asking an unbalanced seasoned core to break in a “Rook – Coach?” And, to do that inside a small window of opportunity for themselves as a group?

Reciprocity screams: you get out what you put in. It is all relative: the Hawks performances reflects that of it’s ownership group and their goals for this team!

GET MONEY!

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“I was calling for Ivan early in the game, thought the team needed some attitude. But I friggen HATE barkley. Why do I want advice on how to win a championship from someone who never did?”-Ryan

Co-sign

It is like taking advice from a BUM, on how to become a MILLIONAIRE.

Barkley sounded like an angry BLOGGER last night…He might be on this BLOG.

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I still say Barkley went into the game last night intending to kill the Hawks. He was going to look for every chance to rip them. If the Hawks had played great, he would have said something like “yeah, but……” He was going to kill them no matter what.

I agree with some of what he said, but it gets overshadowed by the fact that he clearly had an agenda. There are other teams that have been way worse than the Hawks for a long time. He says nothing about them.

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“Ivan Johnson played hard last night because he wasn’t spoon feed. He had to earn his spot in the NBA by going to the Developmental League. He appreciates the opportunity to play in front of a national audience and he gave 100% last night.”

YOU’RE DAMN RIGHT AND FANS RECOGNIZED THAT FROM THE FIRST HE STEPPED ON THE FLOOR IN THE PRESEASON. THE REST OF THESE DUDES WOULDN’T HURT A FLY. AND YALL THINK DWIGHT IS GONNA SAVE YOU? LOL WHY WOULD HE COME HERE? SOFT TEAMS NEVER WIN. THAT’S ONE OF THE PROBLEMS IN THIS STATE. YOU RARELY SEE ANY OF THESE TEAMS STARTING FIGHTS AND FINISHING THEM BECAUSE THERE IS A SOFT MENTALITY IN THIS STATE. REAL FANS SHOULD BE RAISING HELL BUT NO THEY’D RATHER JUST GO HAVE A PICNIC AT PIEDMONT WITH THE FAMILY LOL.

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Hmmmm, no one saying Dwight Howard will save the Hawks. I’m not anyways. I don’t like Dwight Howard at all. He’s nothing but an overly self aware little kid. To me, he is just a way to get rid of 2 of the 3 (Joe, Josh, or Al). Or, h#ll, give Orlando all three of those guys, Whatever.

Get Dwight. Tolerate him for a few games. He leaves. The three pieces of trash leave. Hawks get to start over. Everyone wins.

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@ 303 – Something tells me it’s you who is the “trash” in the arena. Thank GOD idiots like you don’t get to be GM’s.

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WE COULD SAY BARKLEY HAS IT IN FOR THE HAWKS, YEAH. BUT HAVE ANY OF YOU EVER TALKED TO FANS OF OTHER TEAMS? THEY FEEL THE SAME WAY BARKLEY DOES. THEY USUALLY DON’T RESPECT ANYONE IN THIS ORGANIZATION REALLY. SO NOW WHAT? I LOVE HUBIE BROWN BUT HE IS STILL TIED TO THIS TEAM SO HE DOESN’T TRASH THEM LIKE HE COULD BUT BARKLEY HAD NO REASON TO HOLD BACK.

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Well shout out to Ivan #44 he played with GUTS.

I say trade JJ, Josh, Al, the wack owners, fans, and coach for a new and improve team. I have seen better JV teams and B-teams.

Why did Elle duncan strut around half clothed trying to get a dried up hawk last night? smdh too funny.

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Barkley was just mad last night because he ran out of those WW points…

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ATLien. I would rather had either guy you mentioned over anyone the hawks currently have.

It is hard to win a Championship in any league, some of the finest players ever to play never won a championship, I am sure you can come up with a few names on your own, but this Group of hawks have no heart period.

They are over paid under achievers !

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“Why did Elle duncan strut around half clothed trying to get a dried up hawk last night?”

There be a lot of women like that at the Hawks game. Too many groupies that could care less about the game and not enough die hard fans.

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same as previous years…KA BOOM PLEASE!!! props to Ivan tho!! cat showed what it’s like to play the game with pride and energy. this entire organization is just plain a$$ STUPID…PERIOD!!!

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I actually think this game is indicative of the NBA today, most players don’t like to grind. Guys want highlight dunks and killer cross-overs, but they don’t want to set a solid screen or box out their man. I believe the guys always play hard and want to win, but that is different than being desperate to compete. A competitor doesn’t care who the opponent is, but they want the best from their opponent because they want to win against the best. Lebron, Wade and Bosh are examples of this attitude because they thought it would be to much work to win a Championship separate, so they decided to make it easier on themselves and get together. Our HAWKS have the same attitude. Once things start to get tough, they’re like “enough is enough”. JJ wants to be great and be a hero, so does Josh and Al, but they aren’t desperate enough to consistently do what it takes. Those guys have to knock down open shots!! PERIOD. They can’t accept poor play from themselves. Josh has to get to the basket on every opportunity, not some opportunities but everyone!! If he has to shoot a late shot-clock jumper fine, but otherwise it should be constantly attacking his opponent. JJ has to make open shots, PERIOD. I’m not worried about the hero fadeways, those go in sometimes and sometimes not, but the open shots have to fall! Al has to stop his pathetic weak-side help defense. Stop watching guys lay the ball in and give a hard foul. Go after every rebound, whether its near you or not. Ivan is an example of many of the guys coming from the D-League, desperate just to have an opportunity to play. They’re not worried about highlights or perceptions they just want to play, because they know tomorrow is not guaranteed.

GO HAWKS!!

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Big Ivan is the heart and soul of this team right now. If you ain’t hard nosed you don’t deserve to play. There’s some folks on the Hawks that play like they got a lil sugar in they tank. We need to sit they azz down and let someone else take they spot on the roster.

FIRE LD

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KWOODEN I agree.

How does a guard who can’t shoot free throws get into the NBA?

Its starts at the middle and high school level. Fancy dribbling and dunking is more important than shooting and passing.

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just deserts. stealing from an Alzheimer patient is not his most infamous act. for those of you who dont remember……

“On January 25, 1972, Behagen was involved in one of the most serious on-court incidents in college basketball history when he and several teammates attacked Ohio State University’s Luke Witte. According to the Big Ten Conference’s review of the game film, Witte appeared to elbow Minnesota guard Bobby Nix as the two teams headed to their locker rooms at halftime. As the game progressed, Ohio State established a 50-44 lead with less than a minute to play when Minnesota’s Clyde Turner flagrantly fouled Witte during a layup attempt, knocking Witte to the ground. Corky Taylor of Minnesota helped Witte up, then kneed Witte in the groin. A melee between the two teams ensued, and Behagen came off the bench to stomp Witte in the head, leaving him unconscious.[4] Ohio State coach Fred Taylor described it as “the sorriest thing [he] ever saw in intercollegiate athletics.”[5] Behagen and Corky Taylor were suspended for the rest of that season,[6] though Witte did not press charges against either.[7][8]”

hope he spends the rest of his life behind bars.

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Charles was being himself the entire game, he lets you know what he feels when he feels it. He’s not going to tell you the right way to fix the problem, he’s going to tell you what he thinks at that moment is the right way. Charles’s played with an attitude and chip on his shoulder because he was an undersized low post player. Charles wasn’t scared to get in a fight with Shaq, do you really think that he would hold back from saying what he feels about the HAWKS. He will praise you if you perform, he will kill you if you fail to perform. That’s Charles. He’s clearly right that the HAWKS have to learn mental toughness, which doesn’t happen overnight and doesn’t just happen over a period time. The HAWKS are going to have to play a lot of tight games and start winning several tight games. They’re going to have to execute their offensive against hard competition and still get easy shots. They’re going to have to get a better feel on defensive and really consistently help each other.

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I guarentee we wont see Ivan again!!! And Drew saying the players took thier guard well the coaching let their game down too. Two games in a row where the coaching has been poor in crucial situations. Ivan is in the same situation as Teague was last yr the same for Sloan id rather have hime play mins than Pargo!

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Paul Hewitt would coach the Hawks for a 2 mil a year contract that has a buyout of 8 million and rolls over ever year.

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After a good few quarters, TMac became the team’s “leader”. After a few good quarters, Ivan has become the “heart & soul” of the Hawks.

Both statements are so sad on so many levels thatit makes my head spin. That and Josh has the team’s highest basketball IQ.

Wow.

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IF Josh ACTUALLY had the highest BB IQ on the team then it’s WAAAAYYYYY worse than i even imagined!!!

it’s clear the BB IQ belongs to TMac…shame his knees keep him from havin’ more of an impact on this bunch of support players…

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All jokes aside…well limited.

These players need to go back to the fundamentals of BB and learn how to make good passes, take good shots, free throws, etc. You cannot expect to dunk all the time for the past 15 years are so the NBA has gotten real sloppy. We need more players like Tim Duncan that know fundamentals and are smart…David Robinson…

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The reason I really want the Hawks to get Howard is that he will show these owners what a real superstar will do to the fans and team. I would like for him to accept his player option but I wouldn’t really care if he doesn’t want to sign an extension.

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BBIQ is a funny thing. Smith takes the same shots everyone else takes. Just because he;s “athletic” doesnt mean he can jump over people.

You have no jumper then you have to use handle to score, And Smith’s is not that good.

Iso-Smith and drive and kicks is still better than Iso-Marvin/Iso-Horford and kick to Smith.

You all count the jumpers. How many drive and kicks did Smith make?

He said he lost weight to get out and run the wing. To chase SFs around screens. Horford wanted to play Forward more. Why is Marvin starting. Why is that?

Because neither Smith or Horford can shoot 3s, and it screws up offense to have them outside.

So Problem. is a Catch-22
A) we play undersized
or
B) we play regular size and Smith/Horford are stuck outside.

The Answer is C) make the trade. AND no one gives a flying F**k about Freudian debates about Smith going to college or Horford’s All Star appearances.

40 minutes. 0 FTA. I said I was not going to do it, but I will go back and compile Smith and Horford’s touches, scores, bad passes, missed shots, all that.

Predijuced is as prejudiced does.
——
The Hawks have always weighed the merits of keeping, or moving, Smith and Horford. Both are tweeners. Horford is undersized at center but doesn’t have a face-the-basket game for power forward. Smith has crazy athleticism and skills for someone 6-foot-10 but too often falls in love with 20-foot jumpers. Both are in their primes, so holding onto them much longer would hurt their trade value. —–Shaun Powell nba.com——-

As I write this Im watching Smith pick up PG Mario Chalmers at halfcourt.
Stay tuned.

Yet he’s still playing the PF. Whatever, I agree with Charles he’s a good role player. People get suckered in by athleticism but please. He’s a good role player. And you have to break up the core, starting with Horford because he’s the best chip to cash in.

We get defensive anchor in Bogut and fill it in with scorers. And I abs

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Prove It!

If the ASKG and Hawks don’t like what Sir Charles said? Then PROVE him wrong. That’s the best revenge.

“People are gonna’ talk about you till the day you die. It doesn’t matter what people call you, it only matters what you answer to.” -Madea in Family Reunion”
__________

The Hawks answer to the name: soft.

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About 0 pts in OT – See post last nite right after the game

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AJ – And I didn’t make the comment about Ivan – but he was our heart and soul last nite.

Who’s your idea of the heart and soul of the Hawks?

I say it changes thru stretches, and right now it’s the crippled TMac.

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Madea

Josh Smith did translate it last night. Like that game against the Bulls?

Your gameplan is for Smith to lead breaks and throw alley oops to your center? From the PF position.

And fat Smith is gone. He’s a SF, you see him on the wing and Teague on the break yesterday. That should be every play. Move him to SF and get a shooter to replace tweener Marvin at PF.

Undersized team. Terrel Harris is 6′5? 14 rebounds.
3 Tweeners: Marvin, Smith, Horford

Undersized team. Get Bigger, rebound and man up.

—-
As I write, offense stagnates, Josh Smith playground crossover and shoots a 3. Looks stupid until Joe comes back and does the same thing.

GTFOH. Smith would not take those shots if he wasn’t told to be a superstar.

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Al the Heart and Soul of the Hawks!!!! Ha, don’t make me laugh. As a rookie maybe

JJ? Hahahaha

Josh? – Sometimes, at least he shows he cares sometimes.

Teague? – Sometimes, but then he just disappears

ZaZa? – A few times, but most of the time invisible

Marvin – HaHaHaHahaHaHahaHaHahaHaHaHaHaHaHahahahaahhahahhhahahhahahhahahah!!!!!!

Pargo, Willie Green, Vlad Rad, Collins????

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The Perfect Storm of the Worse Proportion for the Hawks:

1) Picking a nationally televised TNT game against the Heat (w/o Lebron and Wade) to play awful

2) With (Big Mouth) unprofessional Barkley as the prosecuting attorney presenting a compelling case as to why the Hawks SUCKS (in general)

3) With (Big Mouth) unprofessional Barkley as the prosecuting attorney presenting a compelling case as to why JJ is overpaid!

4) With (Big Mouth) unprofessional Barkley as the prosecuting attorney presenting a compelling case as to why the Hawks team is soft (with no balls)

While attorney Barkley ranted with his very convincing but extremely obnoxious arguments for 4 hours to the jurors of the national audience, the defense attorneys (who happened to be the Hawks players and coaches themselves) offered little resistance to convince otherwise.

It turned out to be an easy victory for the prosecutor and a major setback for the defense and that is “The Truth”

But there’s another “Truth” to this story. In reality, Barkley is no attorney. In fact, he never graduated from college. He’s a ring-less former NBA player, NBA commentator and entertainer.

Barkley failed as a NBA commentator for his lack of objectivity inside the CNN center downtown ATL. His views were narrow and short-sighted. Though he correctly told part of the Hawks story. Frankly, it was an insult listening to him. He disrespected the Hawks overall accomplishments. Hawksville can bash the Hawks on these blogs but a NBA commentator must be professional and tell the full story. These Hawks have not been a total failure as Barkley would have us believe. Hubie Brown would have covered the same points Barkley made but objectively interjected other aspects of their accomplishment. For viewers who rarely allowed the Hawks, listening to Barkley, you would think the Hawks was a lottery team and never made the playoffs. Barkley should never again be a NBA commentator covering games because he’s only interested in the team who wins the championship. Since Barkley himself has never won a championship, he looks hypocritical since he also has laid bricks on some nights as a player. He certainly didn’t make watching that game entertaining so he failed there as well.

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Leader of the Hawks

Man, I forgot about Vlad “Mr. forgot how to shoot 3’s” Rad. I don’t think so

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Lowery’s been charged with Assault for throwing a basketball at a female ref in Las Vegas.

He’s wanted on a second charge of assaulting the Hawks with 18 dimes Saturday

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northcyde, my irritation with Barkley comes more from his take on the fans reaction to Ivan Johnson (I said this earlier, too). Calling the fans clueless (that’s what I hear he said) for not recognizing Ivan’s efforts is crap. The fans stood and applauded. Plus, when Ivan came out of the game (the time before he fouled out) it was right at a time when people were distracted by something else (can’t remember exactly on this….think it was when they overturned the out-of-bounds call on the Heat).

Again…been to areas/stadiums all over the country. Most fans are just like Atlanta’s. Very few are really anything “special”. Atlanta fans, for whatever reason, just become a media whipping boy, representing all that bad fans are. It’s bullsh#t.

Like the Braves (and I’m not even a Braves fan) getting grief for not selling out playoff games. Other teams have similar issues. It’s just stupid.

But, whatever….spent too much time on this stupid team today. Talk to you guys sometime after we get our a$$ kicked by the Bulls.

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OK OK MAYBE BARKLEY SHOULD HAVE POINTED OUT HOW GREAT THE HAWKS JERSEYS LOOK LOL WHAT ELSE WAS HE GOING TO TALK ABOUT? “WOW MARVIN REALLY OUTHUSTLED THAT 3RD STRINGER” “THE HAWKS ARE DOING A GREAT JOB VS NORRIS COLE” LOL

IF DREW CAME OUT IN THE POSTGAME AND SAID “I THINK WE WERE INTIMINATED BY BARKLEY’S PRESENCE AND ALL THE MEAN THINGS HE WOULD SAY” I’D BELIEVE HIM LOL. BARKLEY WAS EXACTLY WHAT THAT GAME NEEDED, NOT HOMERS MAKING EXCUSES. THERE SHOULD BE A CLEARANCE SALE SIGN IN FRONT OF THE LOCKERROOM “EVERY HAWK MUST GO! FOR THE LOW LOW PRICE OF WHATEVER YOU GOT” LOL

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Shaw-Shank Redemption!

Tonight will be an opportunity for redemption. Perhaps, prison mike can take Twins bench seat tonight and just shank DRose if he gets outa’ control in the paint? Anyone ever heard of “no layups” in the paint. Make the Bulls think twice before coming inside.

The problems here are like world economics. Too complex to solve as is.

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@The Truth…well written, absolutely!! but for me, i was not offended by Charles’ as a court-side analyst. i was offended by the HAWKS…PERIOD!!! Charles just moved his shtick (sp?) from one location to another. i didn’t expect him to be any different than he usually is in the studio…

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at this point LD has proven his worth as a NBA HC…WORTHLESS!!! just like his bosses…

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Larry has lowered the bar, Chit!

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I don’t know what you guys saw last night from the Hawks, other than the usual no scoring, no defense and no rebounding from our supposedly superstar Joe Johnson. And our no post players on the blocks
that can create their own shot. Save one…The real story to me was the emergence of Ivan Johnson. Who appears to be able to score inside and out. I realize that it was one game but man I haven’t seen play on the inside like that since Tree Rollins days with the Hawks. The young man appear to me to have more ability than both Josh or Horford as far as scoring on the inside. And he’s doesn’t appear to be uncomfortable doing it. I have not seen any of our bigs move anyone of the block the way he did last night. And you tell me we are looking for a big man, that can play defense and score?
It looks like what we really need is someone willing to play inside with him. Look at the numbers J Smith 2 mins 17 pts, Pachula 12 mins 0 pts, Horford 40 mins 10 pts and finally Ivan J 21 mins 13 pts. and he appears to be more athletic with really nice feet.
That was the story to me. Someone need to lose some court time to see what this guys can really be with some court time.

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Any person that has a problem with Barkley’s analysis of the Hawks last night, please post one thing he said that was not true. Barkley annoounced the game, and was himself. He can be a clown, jokester, fool, loser, or whatever else you want to call him, but he is honest, and he is respected enough by the people he played with and against to be voted into the hall of fame. If you watched the broadcast, Webber and Barkley both predicted a loss prior to the game even with no Lebron and Wade. That alone speaks volumes. Reggie and Harland started out trying to be objective as possible, but by the second half, it was just impossible to ignore how undercoached, and mentally fragile this team is. I enjoyed the broadcast, because it reminded me of many of the astute, knowledgeable bloogers here. There are many who have no idea what they are talking about, but there are a few who speak the truth. I have no idea why the game last night was so revealing to many people. I made some of these exact points the day before this game with some of the many bloggers who have no idea whaat they are talking about.

“Rod from College Park
January 4th, 2012
6:22 pm

Hmmm,
Please stop it with the defense stuff. Teams will adjust. The Hawks have simply started playing more zone, and teams are used to them doing all that switching. Once the scouting report gets out, and teams adjust, like Chicago did in the fourth quarter, and start sending cutters, and attacking the rim, you will see how great defensively we really are. We are not tough, as a team, and we are very fragile mentally. To early to make any real observations on anything. Our judgments come from many years of watching this same group, make the same mistakes. No elite defensive team, would ever let basically two guys (Deng and Rose) destroy them like that in a quarter.”

“Rod from College Park
January 4th, 2012
5:45 pm

Grandmaster Jeje,

“It’s a !@#$ing double standard with this team. All you people do is make excuses how we’re tired. BS. Smoove played under 30 minutes vs. Miami. Marvin played like 22 and he didn’t do much last night after the 1st quarter.”

You are correct Grandmaster. These guys are losers. They probably are some of the guy who believe that every kid should get a trophy now in little league. There are no excuses for this team. Hell we read in one of MC articles, that LD has a sign in the locker room that says, NO EXCUSES. Then we turn around and hear excuse after excuse from the team, and it fans. The Hawks choked. bottom line. Chicago beat us and played worse then they ever will agian. They probably were laughing at us in the locker room talking about how they knew we would choke. Who cares how you start the race, it’s how you finish. “Excuses are tools of the incompetent used to build monuments of nothingness. Those who use them seldom amount to anything.”

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I think he meant to say “since the John Drew days” because Tree Rollins didn’t have much inside offense.

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Joe=ISO JOE..

Sit down Iso, u tired?

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Barkley video is the most hilarious thing I have watched in a long time. ASG, or whatever you call yourself to hide from Thrasher debacle, I beg you sell this team and give this city some hope. Without that, watch attendance crash the rest of the year. Then the press can again blame Atlanta fans. Until then you will never have the support of the team even as it beats weak sisters of the league. The city, Hawks fans, and sports fansin general beg you to sell the team.

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HONEST QUESTION, IF YOU HAD YOUR CHOICE OF COACH: SPOELSTRA OR DREW, FOR THIS HAWKS TEAM, WHO WOULD YOU TAKE?

OR TO PUT IT ANOTHER WAY: WOULD DREW HAVE LEAD THE HEAT TO THE LAST SEASON’S CHAMPIONSHIP?

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Steve, I have been saying ad nauseum for at least 3 years that this team’s greatest issue is with leadership. So who is the heart & soul of the Hawks? The better question is when do the Hawks show that they have heart & soul?

I get irritated when a single 10-20 minutes of basketball action results in some grand statement that a savior has arrived for the Hawks. Ivan may become the heart & soul of the Hawks, but do we know that now? Do we even know now if dude will get another 15+ minutes of meaningful playing time? TMac was annointed the team’s leader after the first Heat game. Why? Because he hit some 3s and because several years ago he was a big-willie. Since then, he has been too hurt to play or too cold to re-start his battery down the stretch of close games.

How about we stop with the instant endorsements of who plays what role after a few brief minutes. IMO, this team is still ruled by the sacred core and it will take more than a good game (or two) by someone else to change that. So please, everyone, let’s wait before we bow down and kiss someone’s ashy feet because they have a few good minutes of pro ball.

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BEST EXAMPLE OF WHAT COACHING CAN DO = TORONTO RAPTORS

ONE OF THE WORST DEFENSIVE TEAMS IN THE LEAGUE UNDER TRIANO OR OTHERS. THEY BASICALLY HAVE THREE PLAYERS: BARGS (SOFT), DEROZAN (CAN’T SHOOT 3S) AND CALDERON (PLAYS NO D).

ENTER DWANE CASEY.

NOW THAT TEAM IS PLAYING DEFENSE AND PLAYING HARD. THEY DON’T HAVE MUCH TALENT, BUT THE CULTURE IS CHANGING IN ONE OFFSEASON.

MIKE BROWN CHANGED THE SOFT, OFFENSIVE MINDED LAKERS INTO A GRITTY DEFENSIVE TEAM IN ONE OFFSEASON. THEY STILL NEED A PG WHO CAN PLAY D AND BETTER SHOOTERS, BUT IT’S OBVIOUS THAT HE IS MAKING A DIFFERENCE THIS SEASON.

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Joe Johnson should donate a percentage of his game checks to charity. Mario Chalmers laughs at our 20 million dollar man.

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JC1 was streaky, and while I would have annointed him to replace the FA iso-Joe, we would have had wiggle room to bring in something other than min-vets.
Ivan has earned a start after last night and I don’t care who he replaces. He sets the standard for what each one of these guy should be.
Teague needs help and you also give him competition to keep the pressure on him to produce.
Tonight’s game is important: we need some momentum heading into the CHI game and we need positive results now.
This 9 in 12 stretch doesn’t define this team, but it sure doesn’t motivate the city to get behind these guys.
We know what we are and we have to break that mold if we are going to stay together.

Personally, I would almost just rather play this year out and put the onus on the ASG to make major changes. I wish they would sell this franchise and give us back our will to support this team. To see Sund and LD finish their employment here probably wouldn’t be enough. The ASG is still around.

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HAWKS WOULD HAVE LOST THE CHICAGO GAME WITH JAMAL BECAUSE IT WOULDN’T HAVE TAKEN ROSE THREE QUARTERS TO GET INTO THE PAINT TO SCORE. DREW WOULD’VE PLAYED JC1 HEAVY MINUTES AT PG AND IT LIKELY WOULD’VE BEEN A WRAP FROM THERE ONCE ROSE GOT IT GOING.

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“I wish they would have played, to be perfectly honest,” Larry Drew said. “I think if they would have played we would have taken a whole different approach.”

Every time I read this statement it makes me want to vomit. Does he not realize this is a coaches job to have his players prepared?

Smh. If I was in charge, I would advise L.D. to never sit down because his seat would be boiling by now.

FIRE, AMNESTY, OR BOOT L.D.

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AJ – I agree with you on that. We don’t have a blood and guts type, but every few games, somebody like ZaZa will emerge from the shadows, and give us a down and dirty performance. But no hard hat blue collar worker diving for loose balls on a consistent basis.

Same with leadership. But TMac sure has that potential – it’s his for the taking.

AS far as heart and soul go, every team needs a DeShawne Stevenson type who will get in LeBron’s face and say “prove your better than me punk” and I’ll give you a few ‘bows on the way in – and stare you down because I basically don’t like anyone in your family tree.

Mahorn, Lambeer, you know the type. I’d even take a Shawn Marion type on this team. I think we’re so starved for it, when we see an Ivan, we anoint him. But your right – may see him tonite, may not.

Last night made cutting Kito feel a little better.

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Hmmm – I like some of what you say – but can we quit with the all caps thing? Enough’s enough. Thanks

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Barkley spoke the truth and the Hawks proved it. A bit vrash and biased but it was all true.

THE TRUTH HURTS! LOL

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I think from now on I’m just going to keep a Word file with my best posts and just keep reposting them because NOTHING EVER CHANGES WITH THIS TEAM. It’s just like after a game where we lose a 4th quarter lead or we come out with no energy – the coaches and players say the same cliched BS. So if they are just going to recycle their post-game material, why should I or anyone else here waste hours recreating posts that all touch on the same cliched BS? Time is our most valuable commodity.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Any Hawks roster over the last 3-4 years would’ve lost the game last night. Our stagnant offense looks the exact same from year to year. LOL @ LD claiming his “motion offense” (LOL) is something no one has ever seen before. SMH.

I predicted before the Houston game on Dec. 31 we’d go 2-4 over the next 6 (correctly predicting the win @MIA and my score prediction for the Houston game was almost spot on), and I do think we somehow win tonight (Maggette is out, so you know this MENTALLY FRAGILE team will not show up but maybe figure out a way to win) and lose tomorrow.

LD said he needs to find minutes for Ivan, but he is busy playing Vladimir whose ONLY GOAL on this team is to hit shots, which he can’t do. Why the heck didn’t Willie Green get more minutes last night? That 4th quarter, besides missing about 55 free throws, we also DID NOT EXECUTE on offense. Field goals were scarce.

I know some of you naive people will claim we were tired after we barely win or lose tonight, neglecting the fact we have played many teams that have come off back-to-backs this season.

And LOL @ Smoove having the best basketball IQ on this team. Not that it is wrong because this team is severely handicapped in the BBall IQ department, but Smoove’s basketball IQ leaves a lot to be desired.

And can we all agree Teague is HELLA OVERRATED defensively? Dude gave up on the play where Chalmers got a wide open 3 to win it in regulation. Even though he missed the shot, BS like that is inexcusable.

Rod for Blogger of the Year.

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And people need to lay off Barkley. His criticism of our franchise was amazing to hear. This guy knows 10x more about this franchise than our pathetic GM and coaching staff does. When the TV cameras showed our underachieving front court starters on the bench and Barkley said Ivan should play over all of them save, maybe, Horford, I commended him because that was just an amazing moment – an NBA commentator knowing more than our head coach does about this team.

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Rod,

Sorry about the delay in my post. It was so long (no homo) that I didn’t realize the blogmonster would eat it up, so I posted it in 2 parts. I might repost that same post a few times a week as it is a harsh but accurate account of this teams blatant deficiences.

What amazes me is people here who think Marvin is so much better than last year. His numbers still suck and leave a lot to be desired. He had SEVEN points last night. Perhaps the most defining aspect of his game you pointed out 2 days ago was that he just stands in the corner and let Korver off the hook.

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Ivan has more heart, desire, passion, verocity, energy, and hunger than Marvin has ever had in his life. I would bench Marvin tonight and let Ivan play 40 minutes. Let him commit 5 turnovers. Even if he had some rookie mistakes last night (I know he’s 27), he was +18 WHILE IN THE GAME. Go reread the previous sentence.

This team has no leadership. These guys have been together for a gazillion years, yet no one talks. We can’t even effectively guard a pick & roll. We let Mario Chalmers, who is probably the 25th best Point Guard in the league, destroy us.

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Big Ivan for President

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Josh has the talent of a complementary player but plays like he thinks he’s a superstar. Joe has the talent of a complementary player but is paid and given a role like he’s a superstar. Al has the talent of a complementary player and plays like a complementary player.

Teague may very well have more talent than any of them but is forced to defer to them by the coach.

Barkley is right. This team is a mess.

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LOL @ “make the trade” hours after you said “If we don’t want them who will? If we cant win with them then who can?”

So if “we” don’t want Horford, suddenly the Bucks will “want” to trade for him?
=======

Who said “we” don’t want Horford. He’s the only guy with size and skill who can affect the game without scoring.

Go back and point out where I said we don’t want Horford. Horford is the only one who can bring back size and trade value at this point.

Smith might get you Okafor because they have another center in Kaman.

Smith is a tweener, that we can make work with a trade. But at 26yo he is not getting you McGee, Cousins, etc.

Who would take Marvin.Horford.Okafor. over Smith. Leuer. Bogut.?

Only ATL fans would say, after 5 years of this same old stuff, keep the core intact.
Sautee with the Prejudging again.

small, middle, big size
Marvin.Horford.Okafor.
Marvin.Horford. Smith

Smith. Leuer. Bogut. Marvin for depth

I’m sorry give me C. Every single time.

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I knew this team was done when we got blown out in game 6 at home against the Bulls.

I’m not going to name no names but some were on the bench laughing in the final minutes.

This Hawks team needs accountability. We are too immature. This team needs to be blown up and a coach needs to come in and change the culture.

FIRE LD

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What people forget, is that the TNT and NBATV studios are in Atlanta. So a lot of those studio guys may take in a game every now and then at Philips. Barkley has seen this team plenty of times, as have Webber and Kenny Smith. They know what we’re about. They’re not just throwing out baseless ish when talking about the Hawks.

LOL @ the NBA claiming copyright on the video that showed Barkley railing on the Hawks and Weight Watchers. So if you wanted to keep watching it every now and then, you may be out of luck.

OK . . the one good thing about this condensed schedule, is that you don’t have a lot of time to rejoice over wins or wallow over losses. Bobcats are up in about 85 minutes. You people that like to slit your wrists over every bad loss may not watch this game, but I’m VERY INTERESTED to see how this group responds tonight. Even if they find a way to lose tonight, I fully expect a win tomorrow against the Bulls.

Hawks = Chargers . . . or better yet . . . Hawks = Cowboys

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Northcyde,

Not sure if we win tomorrow night. I see where you’re coming from, but it’ll be our 3rd on 3 nights and we played 1.333 games last night with all those damn minutes.

I think we win big tonight. Willie and Vlad will combine for 30.

We will lose a thriller tomorrow night

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Hawks do NOT equal Chargers or Cowboys. Rivers is considered elite or near elite. We have neither.

They also went 14-2 one year. We went 53-29.

Hawks = Falcons = UGA —-> Good teams that will never win jack**** because of teams like GB, the Saints, LSU Alabama, South Carolina/Florida/Auburn

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“So if Smith does not “play like a superstar”. IE he does not shoot it. Who shoots the ball?”

The problem isn’t Josh taking shots. (The problem isn’t even primarily Josh, no matter how many people commenting here think so.) The problem with Josh is that he takes shots outside of his comfort zone. Real superstars are comfortable taking shots from a variety of areas on the court. The only area from which Josh should be taking shots is the low post when he catches it with his back to the basket.

Yes, the problem is that Josh (and Joe and Al) don’t have a better player to complement, which is why either Teague needs to become better than any of them or two of them need to be traded for Dwight. Your Bogut trade isn’t going to solve that problem. Bogut isn’t any more of a go-to scoring option than anyone on this team.

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JeJe,

WTF has South Carolina won? The rest have been champs. USC doesn’t belong.

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Sorry, Melvin.

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I’m so f’ing tired of Smoove’s “We Know We Can Play With Anybody” remarks.

When will he realize that ANYBDOY IN THIS LEAGUE can play with ANYBODY on ANY GIVEN NIGHT?

GSW beat CHI this year. MIA almost lost to MIN (BS Ref’ing) and Charlotte.

STFU and say “We Want To Win A Ring. Anything Less Is A Failure at this point”

LOL @ Horford dragging him onto the court for 3OT last night. I guess Smoove didn’t want to win

SMGDMFHFFSROTFLMAOLOLKTC

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Michael Cunningham @ajchawks Close
Drew on Teague: “I think he is letting some of the stuff get to his head. Mentally, he’s got to get tougher and push through that.”

OH YOU MEAN LIKE YOU BENCHING HIM ALL LAST SEASON EVEN THOUGH HE WAS THE BEST POINT GUARD ON THE TEAM AND F-CKING WITH HIS HEAD BY TAKING HIM OUT FOR PARGO EVEN WHEN HE IS PLAYING WELL? DUMBASS

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LOL @ Najeh.

Damn you get all animated about that, but in Gearon’s Q&A you were posted in lower case.

LOL

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WILL THIS TEAM MAKE ITS FTS TONIGHT?
WHAT AN EMBARRASSMENT

GUYS WHO MAKE 12 MILLION A YEAR CAN’T HIT A *****FREE******** THROW

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