Orlando Magic 123, Atlanta Hawks 83 or seriously?

Hoopinion talks about how games that don't matter have no narrative. I tend to agree. But I usually make an optimistic one up anyway. However, tonight's game had one. It was a children book, low on ambiguity and intrigue, high on who sucks. And the Hawks were the character that sucked. That was the narrative.

Every part of this game was the worst. Let me put it this way, I thought the replacement refs were horrible for the Hawks and that was probably 107th worst thing about this game. The Hawks were bad at rebounding, shooting, defense, help defense, double teaming, transition offense and defense, dealing with the double team, running plays, coaching, and offense. Other than that it went pretty well.

This preseason, I desperately tried to curtail my optimism. They were fake games. They didn't count. And then this game happened. So now I guess I should curtail my negativity, but like before, I will express it and say it should be taken with a grain of salt. After all, these games don't matter.

What was the offensive game plan?
What was the defensive game plan?
Those questions were for the coaches.
Jeff Teague has officially come back to earth. His 4 to 0 assist to turnover ratio is great. However, Jeff going 0-15 was less than desirable. The good news is no one is going to stop him off the dribble. The bad news is Teague has no idea how to finish against an NBA level shot blocker.
Marvin Williams was non-existent. He was a bad Josh Childress out there.
How can Joe Johnson not pass out of the double team? Who should I blame this on?
Hubie Brown announced that game like he was on major sedatives and knew nothing about basketball.
Josh Smith is not annoying when he is non-existent on offense, but he is worrisome.
Al Horford looked good on offense.
No one can guard Dwight Howard one on one in the entire league. The Hawks can't guard him with a double team. And if the Magic hit 60% of their threes? Well then, the Hawks lose by 50.
Repeat after me, Joe Johnson is playing like it is preseason, Joe Johnson is playing like it is preseason, Joe Johnson is playing like it is preseason, Joe Johnson is playing like it is preseason.

Orlando played great. The Hawks played bad. The Magic are also a better team. They were also at home. And it was also preseason. It still stings. It still makes you want to freak out. You want to cuss Woodson, you want to yell how Joe is not a franchise guy, you demand that Marvin will never turn any corners. We must calm down. The Hawks lost a game that did not matter against a team that everyone thinks is better. Forgive and forget. Or at least try to.

Go Hawks.

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Comments

it's pre-season

we’re gonna be okay. it was a bad showing on national tv, but no reason to get too concerned.

if anything, the worry should be that orlando looks really good. that was evident.

for all those that think the eastern conference will come down to cleveland and boston, they need to realize that orlando is a pretty damn good team

the hawks will also be in the mix pending injuries and other stuff.

by hawksgate on Oct 23, 2009 11:18 PM EDT reply actions

Say what you want

But Orlando is not, I repeat, is not going to shoot 61% from the field on most nights. I felt at the end SVG kept his foot on the gas because it was on tv. He could pulled all of his starters out earlier than he did, but that was his choice to make. Now some self-reflection……you know your team is landing a stink bomb when the best player on your team has never cracked a smile in his entire life. And that was only when Howard went to the bench. I cannot believe we lay a big fat goose egg everytime we get in the national spotlight. No wonder the world think we’re a joke. Hell after watching that game, I think we’re a f*&(% joke! I have a sneaking suspicion that’ll I’ll probably be single by playoff time. I can’t keep going on these roller coaster rides with these guys. If you’re not going to give 100% at all times, why do it? I look at Gerald Wallace and I see that he’s on a crappy team, but he goes out and gives 110% every night….as he should. Then someone commented on JC’s shot selection during the game. Damn, we’re down 40 points. Who cares? Somebody needed to make something happen. He played pretty damn good to me. I searched high and low for the highlights of Thursday night’s game against the Heat. I never could find, but I bet we won’t have any problem finding the highlights to this last preseason masacre. I hate ESPN. I hate Mike Breen. I hate Hubie Brown. (okay, not really….I really want to be Hubie’s daughter but that’s not ethnically possible) It’s late and I need a drink!

by dstdeelite on Oct 24, 2009 12:48 AM EDT reply actions

To dstdeelite

dstdeelite, if you look at the box score you’ll see that the Magic starters averaged 24min per player last night. So I wouldn’t say that they were left in too long. As for the 61% you’re right that won’t happen too often. If it makes you feel better the Magic starters shot 70.5% =P.

As for your gripe about the Hawks not getting the respect they deserve and crumbling when America is watching it’s pretty obvious why. When they’re on National TV they’re going to be matched up against another really good team. Can you imagine the ratings they’d pull in if they put LA Lakers vs Washington Wizards on >_< ?

So now we come down to it…why do the Atlanta Hawks fall flat when they’re on TV? Well as I stated above they’ll most likely be facing another top team and this is the difference between a good team and being one of the NBA’s Elite teams. The Elite teams, the Lakers, Cavs, Magic, Celtics, etc, when they face another good or great team they’ll win more often than they’ll lose. It’s not that the Hawks don’t have a good team, they do. They’re just not “There” yet as a team.

by JPLOL on Oct 24, 2009 5:37 AM EDT up reply actions

this game was perfect storm for the freak out in all us hawks fans

the magic are better and they played about as good as they can. the hawks played about as bad as they could and the preseason nature of the game made effort to comeback down 20, then 30, then 40 was not going to be there.

that being said it better be a wakeup call that ball movement, rebounding, and working on double teaming and being double teamed is all kind of important stuff.

by hawksdawgs on Oct 24, 2009 9:23 AM EDT up reply actions

yeah...

i didn’t get to see it but yep it’s the preseason….the magic are good….and the hawks laid an egg tonight. we were without joe smith, and they were without rashard lewis. The hawks didn’t need to make a comeback cause it’s not worth getting injured. But it is worth going to the film room tomorrow.

Atlanta will win a championship....someday

by maxxj3 on Oct 24, 2009 1:06 AM EDT reply actions

It’s the last pre-season game and it’s against the Hawks’ main division rival. Therefore I don’t think you can totally dismiss what happened. It looks like the Hawks will again struggle to win on the road and beat the best teams in the league and that Woody still sucks. Maybe the pundits who picked the Hawks to fall back a few games were onto something. Bring on the real games already!

by redwards95 on Oct 24, 2009 6:58 AM EDT reply actions

the whole last game before the regular season

is what worries me the most.

by hawksdawgs on Oct 24, 2009 9:24 AM EDT up reply actions

(sniff)

its preseason, its gonna be okay. I keep tellin my self this since last night because they were just playing like the 03 hawks. But then again they were on a back to back road trip and maybe they were saving energy, but lets bring on the season and lets get started!
Go Hawks!

Nothin Less Than Real

by TheHawksgirl on Oct 24, 2009 8:41 PM EDT reply actions

It might have been a preseason game...

…so losing I can forgive, even losing big, but horrible fundamentals and horrible coaching I can not forgive because this is the time you are supposed to be working these things out. This being the last preseason game one would think that most of these things would be ironed out by now, so how did we fundamentally get worse? This all belongs to Woodson.

I don’t think this is how it will go every time out, but we already have evidence that it can go this way (i.e. Clippers and the back-to-back with Orlando last year) so expect a few of these kind of stinkers throughout the year.

"This is America, if we can’t self-righteously look down on others and blame them for our faults, the commies win."-----Cormican on Bleeding Green Nation w/r/t fans overreacting to the Eagles signing of Michael Vick

by Jesse28 on Oct 26, 2009 8:16 AM EDT reply actions