Hawks make quick exit against Magic, and change is needed
Josh Smith drifted too often. Joe Johnson had a dreadful postseason. It's no wonder the Hawks are out of the playoffs after getting swept by Orlando. (Curtis Compton/AJC)
They tried a little harder. Maybe that will count for something when the front office looks at game tape and tries to determine who should stay, who should go, who looked like the only thing that really mattered was direct deposit.
They tried a little harder. A little late, guys.
There has been a sense of inevitability in this series since the Hawks looked comatose in Game 2, getting outscored 28-10 in the second quarter, 32-11 in the third and – well, everybody pretty much stopped paying attention after that.
That’s a problem. Playing in a home arena with empty seats and empty hopes, the Hawks lost to Orlando 98-84 on Monday night. That’s a wrap.
You were thinking if the Hawks played well, they could win one or two games in this series. If things went really well, maybe they could stretch Orlando to seven games.
Instead what you got was Orlando in seven days.
The Magic won by spreads of 43, 14, 30 and 14 points – an average of 25.2. That’s worse than the average 18-point margin in Cleveland’s four-game sweep in the second round last year. In fact, that’s the biggest deficit in NBA playoff history for a four-game sweep.
Mike Woodson was outcoached in both playoff series. (Curtis Compton/AJC)
Forget the 53-29 record. Does 25.2 sound like progress?
Al Horford gets it. He’s one of the few on this team who gets it. Horford ripped into teammates for their lack of effort following the 105-75 loss in Game 3, when the Hawks should have played with desperation. He didn’t back off Monday.
“We had high
One fan spoke for many with this sign about Joe Johnson (who averaged only 10 points in the series). (Curtis Compton/AJC)
expectations,” he said. “We wanted to be the three seed and we felt things would be a little different matching up with them. But it didn’t work that way for us.”
What was the difference?
“Just watch and see [Orlando’s] level of intensity that they played with. That defines their team. They’re a championship caliber team. Just take that in and play like that for next season.
“It takes a whole lot of effort. It’s almost to the point where you have to make yourself feel uncomfortable out there. We didn’t have that this year. With some of our guys when fatigue set in, everybody kind of shied away from it.”
There’s your perfect post-game wrap-up.
Not hard to guess who's moving on in the playoffs. (Jason Getz/AJC)
Coach Mike Woodson, despite a 53-win regular season, seemed to lose his players’ attention.
Joe Johnson, despite a fourth straight All-Star appearance, seemed to lose any great desire to earn the respect of this city or his teammates.
Josh Smith, the occasional flash of brilliance, seemed to lose his way.
After so much improvement over the past few years, the Hawks just took a significant step back. They suffered of the most embarrassing playoff exits in Atlanta pro sports history. Good luck to general manager Rick Sund and Atlanta Spirit owners as they try to figure out which team is closer to reality – the team that won 53 games or the one that showed significant character and chemistry flaws in this postseason.
The Magic shot 74 percent in the first quarter and led by 11. That lead grew to 17 in the third quarter. The Hawks didn’t quit this time. They got it back to nine before the fourth. But when the Magic opened the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run, it was over.
Johnson was booed early in the game. Atlanta sports’ newest home villain said following Game 3 that he didn’t care if fans showed up or not. He repeated his own no-show act in Game 4. He made only 5 of 15 and finished with 14 points. In four games, Johnson went 17 for 57 (29.8 percent), with scoring totals of 10, 19, 8 and 14 (average: 12.7).
There’s a difference between being embarrassed and being disappointed. Losing a playoff series is disappointing. Losing playoff games by lopsided margins because of lack of effort is embarrassing. That’s not about talent. It’s about character, chemistry and coaching.
If ownership and Sund don’t make a coaching change, they basically are saying that getting pushed to the brink of elimination by an undermanned Milwaukee team in round one and getting waxed by a combined 87 points in three games against Orlando in round two was an aberration.
The bet here is they’ll decide otherwise. Woodson will be gone.
Woodson hasn’t endeared himself to the masses. The fan base is split on him. The players hardly leave the impression that they’re playing for his future employment.
This must is certain: The postseason shouldn’t have ended with such a bitter taste. Something has to change.
♦
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Recent Hawks posts
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♦ Hawks quit on season (and Joe doesn’t care what you think)
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175 comments Add your comment
tim
May 11th, 2010
8:56 am
Wow. J Johnson’s shooting % the last 7 games…37%, 33%, 28%, 36%, 31%, 20%, 33%. What’s up with that???
Frank Wren
May 11th, 2010
8:56 am
Mike Woodson is my role model. He survived 4-5 of the worst seasons in franchise history and got to keep his job.
TC
May 11th, 2010
8:57 am
Jeff,
If you are not going to provide how the salary cap works writing this article was pointless. If you don’t explain to the people that even if Joe does not resign with the Hawks they do not have enough cap room to sign a max player. It is not about ASG having money to spend, it is about cap room. They can buy Bibby, Marvin, and Zaza out but their money will still show on the cap because NBA money is guaranteed. Without explaining the cap to people, you are doing ASG and Rick Sund a disservice by letting the fans get their hopes up…
KidMagic
May 11th, 2010
9:02 am
Dang peeps, I come here to pick on y’all and there is nothing I could type that would top what y’all are already doing to yourselves. Your team had a great year and is very very young, stick with them and build. The coach is always the goat but keep in mind that every coach has baggage and issues….the grass is always greener.
What a joke
May 11th, 2010
9:02 am
The great irony here is this …. if ASG had kept their hands out of it Woodson would have been gone 2 and a half years ago. I know there are a lot of fans that wanted Knight gone, but Woody should have left at the same time.
Why ASG felt they had to save that mans job is beyond me.
NightHawk
May 11th, 2010
9:02 am
Hire Hubie Brown right now to be the next Hawks coach!! Pay the man what he wants!!
Darryl Moore
May 11th, 2010
9:19 am
Firing the coach is NOT the solution…getting better players via the draft and trades is the key…ALL these people call for the coaches head to be chopped need to remember those days in the OMNI and early on in Phillips when visiting fans outnumbered the home fans…and when the Hawks were NOT winning!!! WAKE UP!!! Atlanta sports teams as a whole make the dumbest decisions…hiring a person to turn things around then firing him and trading the best players away…BRET FAVRE, PRIME TIME, etc…
lee
May 11th, 2010
9:26 am
the hawks are moving in the right direction. you can not always blame the stars for not being able to produce every night. we as fans have accepted the fact that our franchise pick in the lottery(Marvin Williams) is terrible. Billy Knight picked Marvin and Sheldon Williams,AC Law and brought Mike Bibby here who can not guard any of the top pg’s. You can not expect your top player(Joe Johnson) to stop the other teams quick point guards(Brandon Jennings,Jameer Nelson) because Bibby can not guard them then come down on offense and make up for Marvin Williams not being able to score on offense! How much can one player take before he explodes and now us fans want to crucify him??Shall I say Danny Manning??? Yes i think Mike Woodson is at fault because of all the one on one basketball but championship teams are won in the front office with draft picks or free agents. What you see on the court is the end result. Give me Chris Paul or Derron Williams over Mike Bibby,Marvin Williams or AC Law any day. I will bet money JJ goes to a team that understands he is a good player who is not superman. The superman titles are for the top picks in the draft like Carmelo Anthony,Dwight Howard,Dwade,Lebron, and oh yea Marvin Williams!! Don’t forget,the only other team that wanted to sign JJ besides the hawks was Phoenix. I do not think that would ever be the case for any of the players I mentioned above except Marvin!!
Distant Observer
May 11th, 2010
9:31 am
a question for hawks fans: sunday i watched doc rivers chew kevin garnett out while garnett was still on the floor for not keeping antawn jamison in front of him and driving straight to the basket and / or not rotating over to help when jamison beat another celtic and drove straight to the basket. keep in mind: garnett is a veteran all-nba and all-nba defensive team player. have you ever seen woodson coach josh smith that hard? if not, why?
CJae Of East Lake
May 11th, 2010
9:36 am
Joe Johnson will not be back in a Hawks uniform, he made that clear in refusing to entertain contract talks before the season. So thanks for the time but you will have to replace him. Thats a given.
Looking at what remains, I say Josh Smith, Hortford, Crawford & Za Za are pretty much the core of this team. Purhaps you can through Teague into that mix as well because you need to understand exactly what you have or not in the young man. Everybody else outside of the aforementioned will need some serious evaluation.
The window has closed and the competition is getting tougher. The Bucks looked good in the these playoffs, the Knicks are poised to be big winners in the free agent market and even the Bobcats and Bulls are young and hungry enough to make their presence felt.
I think this will get worse before it gets better. It sure would be great if Deron Williams was on this roster instead of Marvin Williams. But I digress…..
G-Money
May 11th, 2010
9:38 am
The reality of it is they do not have the players to compete consistently with an upper echelon team in a prolonged series. Sure you can get rid of Woody, which is pretty much a certainty at this point. Bring in Phil Jackson, remember how great the Lakers were the year after Shaq’s departure? The bottom line is if you don’t have the players you will be exposed, and the Hawks do not have the players. Horford is undersized, as hard as he may have tried it was useless, he was dominated. Bibby has lost a lot of steps, he can not guard a perimeter player longer than three dribbles before he breaks the defense down, which puts more pressure on the remaining defensive players. Joe Johnson is not a number one player for an above average team, he can score big for you when nothing is expected of the team, however when expectations rise he disappears.He will probably leave and team up with a player who is the number one scoring option, whereby Joe can be number 2. Marvin Williams is both physically and emotionally weak, until he strengthens both of those deficiencies, he will remain a colossal disappointment. Josh Smith is dazed and confused, continuously complaining and moping-like a disgruntled child who will not play unless you play by his rules. Woody’s biggest mistake was he never captured the heart and spirit of his team leader, meaning that he needed to be liked and accepted in order to be successful. Jordan accepted a nobody Phil Jackson, Magic accepted Pat Riley, LeBron accepted Mike Brown. The Key to NBA success is having that great player allow the coach and his staff to somewhat function, first you must have that great player to start with, which player from this collection of current Hawks would we classify as great?
Fixing the Hawks: fire Woodson, trade Joe, keep Josh | Jeff Schultz
May 11th, 2010
9:42 am
[...] ♦ Hawks make quick exit against Magic, and change is needed [...]
DDog10
May 11th, 2010
9:52 am
My opinion has not changed after this game. Joe, I hope it is the last time I see you in a Hawks uniform. Take the lame duck coach with you. I really liked what I saw in Josh Smith this year, until the playoffs. He’s a real talent. What a waste because of his inmaturity.
KidMagic
May 11th, 2010
10:04 am
I feel that the Hawks are due for an Obama bail out….
anti-nba
May 11th, 2010
10:06 am
I don’t know why any of you care. These guys don’t care –it’s all about the paycheck. I quit on the NBA 15 years ago and haven’t missed it one bit.
Chuck
May 11th, 2010
10:12 am
First, do not give up on that Hawk Team. They look like the Magic team just a couple of years ago. Somehow you are looking at the Hawk’s weakness and not the Magic’s strength. The Magic Team is more than just a “good team.” They have been destroying teams all season without the recognition. Do not make a hasty decision about Joe Johnson or your Coach Woodson. I would not be surprised if the Magic win sixteen playoff games and a championship (without a defeat). Don’t get your emotions going without using your head. Hawks are a very good team. They lost to an excellent team that will defeat Cleveland, Boston, Lakers, or Suns, in the same manner.
slimjr
May 11th, 2010
10:51 am
Chuck, think about this for a minute the Hawks had 4 STRAIGHT LOTTERY picks and picked Marvin, Josh Childress and Sheldon Williams by the Genius Billy Knight!!!! He passed on Brandon Roy, Chris Paul,Darren Williams, Rudy Gay, Andre Iquadollar, Danny Granger, Lou Aldange, and the list goes on and on!! We should be in Orlando’s Shoes bubba.. And that’s why Atlanta Fans are besides themselves… It took about 2 years to finally see those blown lottery picks. But it is what it is……
slimjr
May 11th, 2010
10:55 am
KidMagic those boys the Atlanta Braves need a bailout before the Hawks do. Braves haven’t been to the playoffs in 4 yrs…
KidMagic
May 11th, 2010
1:42 pm
I swear the Braves were in the playoffs 78778277 years in a row before that though.
Millionaires
May 11th, 2010
2:02 pm
These players are on their way to expensive vacations right now, laughing at all the chumps who pay their millions in salary and benefits!!! They could not care less about winning–the millions still roll in from the chumps who pay for all this overpriced stuff at phillips arena—keep up the cash atlanta chumps—the millionaires “appreciate it!”
KidMagic
May 11th, 2010
2:11 pm
Now for the real question Atlanta fans…..who are you rooting for to win the NBA title this year?
Top Magic and NBA News: Tuesday, May 11 | Outdoor sports, camping, tenis, golf
May 11th, 2010
2:21 pm
[...] Hawks make quick exit against the Magic and change is needed, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jeff SchultzThe Buzz: The Atlanta Hawks tried a little harder, but it [...]
NUNNA!!
May 11th, 2010
7:41 pm
Ok,lets not get crazy with da name calling and cursing,ok????????????
We had 3 legit big men who got no playing time this season in,randmo,collins,and joe smith!!
Collins started center on a NBA finals team..Randmo was a serviceable back up who with a little coaching and time also showed he was a scorer..Joe Smith,was brutal last year for the cavs..And,teague will finally show what he can do,if he can do anything at all..
I agree with an earlier post on here..He is Brandon Jennings without the 3 point consistent shot..
Woody showed every week why he does not deserve to ever be a headcoach ever again!!
No matter how many times he saw that his plan nor his rotation wasn’t working,the man went along with it anyway!! No adjustments at all,nothing!!
Im so glad that he will be gone and not resigned u just don’t know..
I would like to see Othello Hunter,and Thomas Gardner brought back along with JCHILLS..
Randmo,Bosh at the center spot..
Horford,Joe Smith at the power forward spot..
Smoove,Othello, at the small forward spot..
CP3,Teague,at the point guard sport..
Crawford,ThomasGardner,at the shooting guard spot..
1 C/PF,1 PG/SG,1 SF TO MAKE UP THE LAST 3..AND MAKE THEM ALL ROOKIES..
COACHED BY EITHER: NIQUE,TY CORBIN,ROY WILLIAMS,OR PAT EWING..
NIQUE IS NOT AS BAD AS YOU ALL WILL THINK AND HE DOES GARNER RESPECT AND IS A KNOWN NAME THAT CAN GET FREE AGENTS HERE TO THE ATL..
CORBIN:ANYONE WHO SITS NEXT TO JERRY SLOAN IS GOOD ENOUGH REASON FOR ME,LOL..
ROY WILLIAMS:I THINK IF WE KEPT MARVIN HE COULD BRING OUT WHAT WE NEVER GOT OUT OF HE AND OTHER YOUNG PLAYERS..
PAT EWING:HE WILL BRING THAT GEORGETOWN SMOTHERING DEFENSE AND SOMEONE TO WORK WITH THE BIG MEN ON THE TEAM!!
OR ME!! NUNNA!!
I’LL BE WOODY PART 2!!!!!
AND ON TOP OF THAT,I’LL BE ON HERE CHATTING WITH YALL AS WELL!!
WOULDN’T U LIKE THAT!!!?????
NUNNA!!
May 11th, 2010
7:46 pm
p.s.,why all the talk about how we didn’t draft chris paul nor derron williams??
it was woody who said that we didn’t need a PG to bring the ball up with the bunch we had..and you all know that chris paul nor derron williams would have gotten any playing time if woody were coaching them..U KNOW IT!!
Denver Hawk
May 11th, 2010
8:06 pm
The Hawks need floor leadership and unfortunately Bibby nor JJ is a leader. I cannot believe the Hawks signed Bibby to a three year contract and I hope they do not make the same mistake with JJ.