Live from the Hawks’ MLK matinee: Alarms are sounding!
Josh Smith: An ascendant player on a still-ascending squad. (AJC photo by Jason Getz)
Red alert! There’s a pretty good matchup on tap today. (And the Hawks, conveniently enough, are wearing red uniforms.)
The NBA South division leader faces the team that might, a year or two on, become to the Western Conference what the Hawks are to the East. Oklahoma City has thrown together a slew of good young players — Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Russell Westbrook, James Harden — in what might be described in Hawks-like fashion.
We’ll discuss that at greater length in a bit, but for now I’ll relate a little anecdote. The fire alarm went off in the back corridor of Philips Arena when Mike Woodson was holding his pregame briefing. Everyone was advised to exit the premises via a recorded message, which played for no more than 10 minutes. Naturally, nobody did.
Joe Johnson, being conscientious, did stick his head into Woodson’s office and say, “What should I do?” Woodson looked at him and laughed. “I’m not going anywhere,” the coach said. And I guess if you can survive 13-69, which was the Hawks’ record in Woodson’s first season, you can handle anything.
(Safety update: The alarm and the recording finally stopped sounding. We’re still here. Don’t know what happened, but it must not have been too bad.)
The Hawks, you won’t be surprised to learn, are feeling great. They’ve had a terrific first half of the season, and the Friday night buzzer win against Phoenix merely reinforces what we (and they) are coming to believe: That they”re every bit as good as their record. Said Woodson: “When we come to play, we can beat anybody.”
And they usually come to play. They’re 26-13. They’re on pace to win 55 games, which would be an eight-game upgrade over last season’s 47-35, which was in itself an 10-game upgrade over the 37-45 of 2007-2008. And that’s without changing a starter. (Mike Bibby was the last of this first five to arrive, and he got here in February 2008.)
I’ll be here all afternoon to comment and answer questions about the Hawks and whatever else you’d care to ask. If you missed yesterday’s little posting about Josh Smith as a possible All-Star, you might want to check that out. (Then again, you might not.) But I would advise you to screen this YouTube video for your personal enjoyment.
More required reading: Marc Stein of ESPN.com has the Hawks No. 4 in the NBA (and No. 2 in the East) in his latest power rankings.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
373 comments Add your comment
Westurd
January 18th, 2010
4:25 pm
JJ = (1) Rebound & (4) Assist? Please…………
J.J.M.
January 18th, 2010
4:26 pm
well hawks have had their chances
Westurd
January 18th, 2010
4:26 pm
can’t hit the trey today…….that may doom us in the end. Keep the dream alive!
J.J.M.
January 18th, 2010
4:26 pm
what is joe doing. you are not wade or kobe smh
whiskey bottle
January 18th, 2010
4:27 pm
That’s why Joe Johnson is not worth more than $15 million a year
Mark Bradley
January 18th, 2010
4:27 pm
KD misses at one end, Joe at the other. Hawks trail by two, 19.2 seconds to go, 11 on the SC.
Westurd
January 18th, 2010
4:28 pm
too many wasted chances…..we need Crawfish to be the hero again!
chad
January 18th, 2010
4:28 pm
Joe Johnson is the man, not. He’s trying to be a hero but he is really a zero.
d.carter
January 18th, 2010
4:28 pm
woody that is god awful!!!! get the ball out of his hands……
Mark Bradley
January 18th, 2010
4:28 pm
Don’t like calling time in midtrip. Hard to inbound the ball.
Sautee
January 18th, 2010
4:28 pm
I swear JJ takes tougher shots than he has to. It’s as if he LIKES a high degree of difficulty.
Westurd
January 18th, 2010
4:28 pm
Whos Mario guarding?
Mark Bradley
January 18th, 2010
4:28 pm
Jeff Green with a driving jam on Josh. Gets fouled. Whoa!
J.J.M.
January 18th, 2010
4:29 pm
lol game over
d.carter
January 18th, 2010
4:29 pm
crawford on the bench…. al watching again … was blocking out on a dunk!!!!!!!
little dave
January 18th, 2010
4:29 pm
10 of 23 real superstar stats
chad
January 18th, 2010
4:29 pm
josh just got posterized, damn what a dunk.
David
January 18th, 2010
4:30 pm
I blame YOU “JJM” haha that and fact hawks didnt show up for the 2 pm game…probably the latter
Mark Bradley
January 18th, 2010
4:30 pm
Who was the moron that said calling timeout in mid-possession was a bad move? Scott Brooks drew a great set. Green got it and drove from the top for the stuff when everyone figured it would go to Kevin Durant.
Hawks down five, 12.2 seconds left. This is asking a bit now.
Freshmaker
January 18th, 2010
4:30 pm
ugh crawford 4/13 today…thanks for showing up buddy
welikebaseball2
January 18th, 2010
4:30 pm
Like I said, we live by the one-on-one, we die by the one-on-one. Joe’s feeling like it’s his turn to be the hero instead trusting his teammates. We were fortunate that Crawford bailed us out against Phoenix, but one-on-one miracle shots won’t save the day this time.
J.J.M.
January 18th, 2010
4:30 pm
hawks just missed 2 many open shots. they had their chances.
demoney2291
January 18th, 2010
4:31 pm
POSTER !!!!!!!!!!! and the two closers arw shut out
d.carter
January 18th, 2010
4:31 pm
we seriously need a new coach if we are to move forward as a team and franchise…. watch al on the replay as instead of helping, he backs alway to block out….lmao
tmac
January 18th, 2010
4:31 pm
i put this lose on Woody. No energy in the entire first half until the last 2 minutes. Then the come out flat to start the 3rd qtr… to big of a hole. It is a coaches job to make sure his team is ready to give the energy.
Mark Bradley
January 18th, 2010
4:31 pm
Mike Bibby with a trey. And Josh fouls Kevin Durant.
Mark Bradley
January 18th, 2010
4:32 pm
Kevin Durant misses the second. Still a chance.
d.carter
January 18th, 2010
4:32 pm
3pt shot by josh smith… pump fake and draw the 3 free throws…..
J.J.M.
January 18th, 2010
4:32 pm
dont let joe shoot
chem
January 18th, 2010
4:32 pm
give it to crawford for the tie?
Mark Bradley
January 18th, 2010
4:33 pm
If you’re OK, do you foul before the shot?
Mark Bradley
January 18th, 2010
4:33 pm
Same set as Friday night, different outcome. Crawford misses over Green. Hawks lose.
Westurd
January 18th, 2010
4:34 pm
dang!!!
David
January 18th, 2010
4:34 pm
if you have a foul in hand..you must foul before the shot
J.J.M.
January 18th, 2010
4:35 pm
lol who thought crawford was going to live up to it again?
Mark Bradley
January 18th, 2010
4:35 pm
Disappointing outcome, but a fun game. Don’t be too hard on the Hawks, folks. I won’t be.
David
January 18th, 2010
4:35 pm
little different…he shot a 30fter
Sam from da Swats
January 18th, 2010
4:36 pm
Mike Woodson lost that one….
chad
January 18th, 2010
4:36 pm
i unfortunately did, but hey they got what they deserved today. way toooooooo many jump shots.
Sam from da Swats
January 18th, 2010
4:37 pm
Play your f…king bench Mike Woodson….
JSS
January 18th, 2010
4:37 pm
Too bad, good game…
dap01
January 18th, 2010
4:38 pm
We have to get an offensive mind on our staff that recognized that ISO Joe is not the answer. Perhaps if the coaches had something to add….
little dave
January 18th, 2010
4:39 pm
give me kev durrent for jj any day
Gwinnett Fred
January 18th, 2010
4:39 pm
As long as the Hawks want to be looked at as an elite team, yes, I will be hard on them.
Good/almost great teams step up from time to time and beat the Boston’s back to back.
ELITE teams DO NOT lose to the Knicks TWICE and .500 teams like the Thunder at home.
It’s sad that every time the Hawks seem to take a step towards eliteness, they step back into “very-good”. Obvious that the last step the team needs to take is the dreaded “C Word” – consistency and that starts at the top (Woody).
cheshire
January 18th, 2010
4:39 pm
games like this one make it SO difficult to get excited about this team. having grown up in Atlanta, i’m used to getting my hopes up and then suffering severe heartbreak in the postseason, and this team looks like a repeat of that.
*sigh*
J.J.M.
January 18th, 2010
4:40 pm
but i agree it was a good game. what i have learned about joe is that he is not consistent like a wade or kobe…which I think he will always be a all star but never a super star
welikebaseball2
January 18th, 2010
4:42 pm
Sam from da Swats: I was just thinking the same thing. Woodson got away with the short rotation & we got away with the one-on-one garbage against the Suns. This game, you wear out the starters & still lose. Sickening pattern here.
Sautee
January 18th, 2010
4:43 pm
Bench was 6-27. We won’t win many that way.
Guards were 4-15 from 3. We wont win many that way.
Crawford saved us on Friday, but hurt us today.
J.J.M.
January 18th, 2010
4:44 pm
I would consider trading joe for chris bosh and let crawford start…there’s no way teams will double crawford leaving bosh one on one with players.
HawksHeroZero
January 18th, 2010
4:45 pm
The Hawks were defeated by basically a college team with a phenom (Durant and The Thunder)..
..at home.
So, next season or two, The Thunder should destroy The Hawks in Atlanta..