Hawks quit on season (and Joe doesn’t care what you think)
If one picture can say it all for the plight of Joe Johnson and the Hawks, this is it. (Curtis Compton/AJC)
Let’s start with the obvious: The Orlando Magic are better. They have a center. They have a point guard. They have a roster of players with complete sets of working organs, and isn’t that a novelty?
But sometimes things happen in sports that make you declare, “Push the button and blow the whole damn thing up.” This was one of them.
In a home playoff game, in an obvious desperation game, in a game where the Hawks had an opportunity to show us what substance they were made of, they collectively screamed, “Goo.” They didn’t score. They didn’t defend. They didn’t rebound. They didn’t compete.
We saw better performances when bodies were being jettisoned and the roster was all about 10-day contracts and cap space.
Down 2-0 in their second-round playoff series against Orlando, the Hawks tossed on a little seasoning, propelled themselves onto a rotisserie and told the Magic, “Flip the switch.” They trailed by 10 points after one quarter, 19 after two and 24 after three. A small gathering of fans at Philips Arena stuck it out until the end of Saturday’s 105-75 loss, perhaps hoping it would earn them some sort of refund.
Sorry. Payback will have to come in the afterlife. If you need to know what that’s like, just ask the Hawks. They’ve flat-lined. They’re down 3-0. Their backs aren’t against the wall. They’re on the floor.
Wait. It gets worse.
Al Horford, the best hope this franchise has for a leader, openly questioned his teammates’ heart.
“Effort. Effort — that’s all it is,” he said. “Guys can say all they want about coverages and all this. But it came down to effort — [not] going for loose balls early in the game, missing rebounds when they missed shots.”
And then: “It’s frustrating. I’m not the kind of person who’s going to go out there and point people out. I’ll let them know. But you’re not going to see me cursing somebody out. They know what they have to do, and it’s frustrating when the effort is not there.”
Wait. It gets even worse.
Joe “Max Money” Johnson might have permanently torched bridges with both the Hawks and the city of Atlanta. On the court, he shot only 3-for-15 and scored eight points. In the past six games, he has shot 31.2 percent (30-of-96) and averaged 11.5 points. His scoring totals in the last half-dozen: 13, 22, 8, 8, 10, 8.
“These guys look to me for guidance, and when you’re playing like that, it’s almost impossible for us to win,” Johnson said.
He was half-right. Pretty sure his teammates stopped looking to him for guidance long ago.
Before these playoffs, Johnson was determined to prove he belonged among the NBA’s elite players. He certainly has removed all doubt, but not in the way he has hoped. Even Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy said, “Yeah, we’re double-teaming him some in the post, but he’s getting shots he would normally make.”
How does Johnson follow this performance? He basically tells Hawks fans that he doesn’t care what they think.
The Hawks were booed often, including as they were leaving the court at halftime and after the game. When asked about this, the “team leader” unloaded this gem: “They don’t bother me. It’s about us in this locker room. We could care less if they showed up or not.”
Good news, Joe. The arena might be half-empty for Game 4 on Monday night.
It’s the Hawks’ worst home loss of the season.
It’s their worst home playoff loss in franchise history.
If nothing else, coach Hawks coach Mike Woodson gets points for best summation: “Tonight was just non-existence.”
He looked defeated afterward. He looked like he knew the end was coming — for both his team and himself.
If Johnson has made a loud statement in this postseason about what he is worth, what kind of statement has Woodson made? He was outcoached by Scott Skiles in the first round and so far by Stan Van Gundy in this round, if for no other reason than Van Gundy is getting maximum effort out of his players.
Do Hawks’ players look like they’re fighting to save their coach’s job?
It doesn’t matter that Orlando is better. It matters that Orlando is the only team that showed up. The other one has checked out.
♦
Follow me on Twitter @JeffSchultzAJC and on Facebook.com/JeffSchultzAJC
♦
Earlier Hawks posts
♦ We’re live from Hawks-Magic: Can they make it a series?
♦ Thumbs up or down: Josh Childress a Hawk again?
♦ Hawks show their best side in desperate times again
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591 comments Add your comment
ATL = Another Terrible Loss
May 8th, 2010
10:55 pm
Oh and Vick supporter … It’s morons like you that give this town a bad name in the first place, not because of race, but because you lack any common sense. Don’t blame JJ? Are you kidding me? He wants big time money and THIS is the effort he gives. Airballs? He’s a second-to-third tier star in this league because he can’t put a team on his shoulders when it counts. Then he cries when fans boo after one poor playoff effort to the next. The Thrashers may stink, but at least their players have pride.
Big D Dawg
May 8th, 2010
10:55 pm
vick supporter, quit the race baiting prick
Truth
May 8th, 2010
10:56 pm
The only person who says “Joe is right” is named Vick supported. Ironically, they talk about how fans don’t support their team.
Vick doesn’t play here anymore, titface.
F Joe. Not only is his play cutting down his contract, but now his off-field remarks are too.
Richard Hertz
May 8th, 2010
10:56 pm
I’ve got your back Mike Hunt
Vick Supporter
May 8th, 2010
10:57 pm
http://espn.go.com/nba/attendance
Yet, you “fans” love the Hawks. I can say one thing, I attend games. The majority of the people on here talking sh*t (MIKE HUNT) are fair-weather fans
Joe Johnson < Joe Dirt
May 8th, 2010
10:57 pm
Vick Supporter, why do fans have a moral obligation to support a private organization, namely a sports team, when they fail to deliver a serviceable product?
Ted Striker
May 8th, 2010
10:58 pm
I never really thought that concrete and steel box structure would work anyway. Wait…. wrong blog.
Vick Supporter
May 8th, 2010
10:59 pm
ATL = Another Terrible Loss and Big D Dawg
Check this out:
http://espn.go.com/nba/attendance
Vick Supporter
May 8th, 2010
11:00 pm
Joe Johnson < Joe Dirt
May 8th, 2010
10:57 pm
Vick Supporter, why do fans have a moral obligation to support a private organization, namely a sports team, when they fail to deliver a serviceable product?
—————————
Well stay your ass at home!!! Problem solved!!
LETSGETWADE
May 8th, 2010
11:00 pm
atl needs to go after d wade this summer. joe johnson rejected a 16 million per year contract at the beginning of the season and he plays like this? we need wade
Atl Resident
May 8th, 2010
11:00 pm
Well, the arena would have been half empty on Monday anyway due to rush hour. Johnson really did it this time and clearly he knows he’s not going to be here anymore but instead of scrambling trying to make the game, we are going to just scramble just to get home like normal.
Big D Dawg
May 8th, 2010
11:01 pm
tellitlikeitis and vick supporter are the biggest race baiters I’ve seen on here in a while. Just because the fans don’t want Joe back doesn’t make them racist. Stop the race baiting you pricks
JeJe
May 8th, 2010
11:01 pm
KEEP HORFORD, ZAZA, JAMAL, AND TEAGUE. DUMP THE REST OF THESE UNDERACHIEVERS. KEEP THOSE 4 PLAYERS — THEY WANT TO WIN
Greg Norton
May 8th, 2010
11:01 pm
Vick Supporter…I think u got it all wrong my friend….ATL fans as some of the smartest in the country….they know a sh*t product when they see it and don’t waste hard earned money on an over-priced ticket on a predictable team…when did that become being a weak fan?
disappointed :(
May 8th, 2010
11:02 pm
There are very few ‘true’ players in pro sports. Same with fans. Pro sports is an entertainment entity. If the product (team) can’t compete successfully in attendance with other options, the fans are not to blame. Plenty of options in Atlanta every weekend.
Joe can go
May 8th, 2010
11:03 pm
I wonder if, now that it’s been shown to have been a methane gas bubble that caused the explosion, if the explosion was a result of sabotage by Rush Limbaugh?
I’m not saying it’s been confirmed that he was at the bottom of the rig bloviate at the exact same time the methane gas bubble was created, I’m just saying note the timing.
ATL = Another Terrible Loss
May 8th, 2010
11:03 pm
Hey Vick Supporter … if you’re posting links … where’s the one on how many dogs Mike Vick killed on a weekly basis? You could cross-reference that on a Y-axis on number of times intercepted in his Falcons career.
Joe can go
May 8th, 2010
11:03 pm
bloviating that is
Problem Solver
May 8th, 2010
11:03 pm
The Hawks should sign Luke Schenser and move Horford to the 4.
Total domination on the inside.
Greg Norton
May 8th, 2010
11:04 pm
Charles Barkley for Hawks coach
bob
May 8th, 2010
11:06 pm
Bye Bye Woody and Joe, hello Wade and Rivers.
Joe Johnson < Joe Dirt
May 8th, 2010
11:06 pm
I did stay home Vick Supporter. And I’m very happy with my choice not be drop a couple of hundred, only to be insulted by the person I dropped the money on.
nobody
May 8th, 2010
11:06 pm
Sale the franchise…nobody likes lazy players whose idea of running and hustle is not to do it… all most of these guys care about is themselves….team basketball is a foreign concept…who needs basket ball in Atlanta…could care less about a bunch of overpaid, non-inspired prima-donnas….
Greg Norton
May 8th, 2010
11:08 pm
We have to keep Woodson…he is a great coach. Do not let him go!
4 Jacks
May 8th, 2010
11:08 pm
You can let Woody go, and any of these heartless, no guts players, but until you get rid of Gearon and the rest of this pathetic ownership it will do no good. Hope everyone that goes Monday has a great time, and boy am I so glad I gave up my tickets five years ago. Teams are a direct reflection of ownership in most cases. That is why the Hawks and Thrashers will never be a “player” in their respective leagues. Just like the ASG will never be a “player” because these bozo’s are a pathetic excuse for ownership, and are completely out of their league when it comes to ownership and management.
Vick Supporter
May 8th, 2010
11:08 pm
Here we are 18th in attendance, yet the sorry ass Chicago Bulls lead the league in attendance,lol.
Like it or not, and it may not be the best time for JJ to say what he said, but he’s right. The fans do not support the team. Walk around the city and you rarely see any people Hawks gear, nor do we have any of our player’s jerseys at the top of sales, yet you people come on here campaigning to get rid of our best player.
i agree that JJ is a 2nd tier player, but didn’t we already know that? If you didn’t, you don’t know anything about basketball.
I wouldn’t blame JJ for leaving at all, and i would hate to see him go. We have the worst fan base in the league. ATL FANS…what you people do to EVERY Superstar we have:
Deion Sanders: HE MUST GO!
Nique: We Want Danning Manning!!
Vick Before Trouble: We Want Schaub!!
The list goes on and on,lol.
The overall fan base sucks..not everybody, but the fair-weather ones.
We will continue to suck
Joe Johnson < Joe Dirt
May 8th, 2010
11:09 pm
Problem Solver, your post has been forwarded to the Smithsonian to be archived as the only writing that uses the words Luke Schenser and total domination in the same post.
JeJe
May 8th, 2010
11:09 pm
CAN SOMEONE TEACH JOSH SMITH HOW TO PASS A BASKETBALL PLEASE?!
Saint Arthur???
May 8th, 2010
11:10 pm
Joe Johnson get the F out of Atlanta.
PieceKeeper
May 8th, 2010
11:10 pm
I threw freaking $320 in the trash tonight. I want a refund for my two tickets..
Greg
May 8th, 2010
11:10 pm
The Hawks are a laughingstock across the entire country, not just in Atlanta. They’ve lost 3 games in a row by an average of almost 30 points per game and needed 7 games to beat Milwaukee, a team that was far and away the worst in the playoffs talent-wise without Bogut and Redd.
Vick Supporter, we all realize why you are upset. How dare white people boo or criticize the black coach and black players, right? I mean, it’s really whitey’s fault for not supporting the team more….what idiot wouldn’t realize that?
dstdeelite
May 8th, 2010
11:11 pm
Winner of Best comment of the night:
“Someone should sneak under his chair and tie his shoelaces together so when he jumps up and bites the hardwood, maybe he’d show a little emotion??!!? ”
LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tellitlikeitis
May 8th, 2010
11:11 pm
You guys here about whitey with a badge getting them bullets in his ass. LMAO
Joe infantile
May 8th, 2010
11:11 pm
No one wears gear? What on earth would possess grown men to wear the jerseys of professional sports athletes? I thought most guys gave that up when they were twelve.
Vick Supporter
May 8th, 2010
11:11 pm
ATL = Another Terrible Loss
May 8th, 2010
11:03 pm
Hey Vick Supporter … if you’re posting links … where’s the one on how many dogs Mike Vick killed on a weekly basis? You could cross-reference that on a Y-axis on number of times intercepted in his Falcons career.
——————-
Another white PETA extremist,lol…let it go woman. No one is talking about Vick but you
JeJe
May 8th, 2010
11:12 pm
The bottom line is we NEED Dwyane Wade in ATL. How the heck can he be happy in Miami? Their roster is !@#$ right now, even if they own us. S&T Joe and any other player besides Horford and Smoove for Wade. Wade won’t get another better off (Miami, rather). JOE WILL NOT GET US CLOSER TO ORLANDO CLEVELAND. THIS TEAM HAS GONE AS FAR AS IT POSSIBLY CAN
Ken Stallings
May 8th, 2010
11:13 pm
I guess Johnson is intelligent enough to know if the fans stopped showing up then his team wouldn’t have the money to pay his contract, right?
I mean he is smart enough to know that, right?
Right?
JeJe
May 8th, 2010
11:13 pm
SVG IS PROBABLY YELLING AT HIS TEAM NOW, TELLING THEM TO SWEEP US ON MONDAY SO THEY CAN REST. HE IS NOT A GOOD COACH BUT HE HAS A SENSE OF URGENCY IN HIS GAMEPLAN
Good God
May 8th, 2010
11:14 pm
Do people not realize the saying is couldn’t care less, not could care less? Could care less implies that you do care, which leaves open the possibility of caring less.
Why is that so difficult for some people to understand?
j
May 8th, 2010
11:14 pm
Fire Woodson.
JeJe
May 8th, 2010
11:14 pm
HOW IS THERE AN ARTICLE WRITTEN ABOUT HOW HAWKS ARE IN “MUST-WIN NOW MODE” FOR GAME 3 THEN HORFORD SAYS WE HAD A LACK OF EFFORT?
LOL!!!!!!!
“I JUST DON’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED. YOUR GUESS IS AS GOOD AS MINE.”
-TYPICAL WOODY QUOTE
Greg Norton
May 8th, 2010
11:14 pm
We have to draft a 6′9″ forward who only shoots jump shots…that should put us in the finals!!
JeJe
May 8th, 2010
11:16 pm
KEEP HORFORD, JAMAL, ZAZA, AND TEAGUE AND TRASH THE REST OF THESE UNDERACHIEVERS
I GUESS NO ONE CAN ACKNOWLEDGE THAT CRAW HAS WOKEN UP FINALLY. OF COURSE WOODY WON’T ACKNOWLEDGE BECAUSE HE YELLS AT HIM ALL THE TIME. WOODY WILL NEVER CALL OUT THE SACRED COWS: BIBBY, JOE, MARVIN
Greg Norton
May 8th, 2010
11:16 pm
Trade Horford now!!! Should have kept Sheldon Williams and Acie Law!!! Damn!!
Doo Wop
May 8th, 2010
11:17 pm
The only goal these clowns have is to end the season the fastest way possible and collect their paychecks. It’s a total joke that these lazy morons can make a living doing anything more complicated than spreading mulch or riding the back of a garbage truck.
Billy
May 8th, 2010
11:17 pm
Johnson’s face has always told the story for this club, and Monday will be the final battle at the little hawkhorn!
the braves suck my nuts
May 8th, 2010
11:18 pm
we can kiss this season goodbye! Forget about joe and woody we can find better players (and a coach) then them!
cattle dawg
May 8th, 2010
11:18 pm
At least the braves won today!
Joe Johnson < Joe Dirt
May 8th, 2010
11:19 pm
JeJe I think your calling Bibby a sacred cow is totally uncalled for. A cow has a decided edge in lateral movement and quickness over Bibby.
Let’s be more respectful of cows.
Supes
May 8th, 2010
11:20 pm
JeJe is right on. Hawks with D-Wade will be vastly improved in the playoffs. He’s a team leader who can put a team on his back in tough playoff series. Joe is not. Joe is a very good REGULAR season player who is not a team leader, nor does he want to be.
The heat have a garbage team outside of D-Wade, Hawks are a good fit. Get rid of Joe and offer D-Wade the max contract. He’ll be surrounded by better talent here in ATL than what he has in Miami.