Atlanta Hawks 111, Toronto Raptors 89 or where everyone should be playing more.

by hawksdawgs on Dec 12, 2009 9:41 AM EST Comment 35 comments

The Hawks beat a team by a15 or more points ten times last season. Twenty-two games into this campaign the Hawks already have put six such whoopings into the box score. And two more of 14 points. It could mean any number of things or nothing at all, but what I can't help but prognosticate is that when the Hawks play well, they are really, really good, and the Hawks bench has improved dramatically. This team can get leads and the second unit can keep them down the stretch. Good for my beer budget. Good for our hearts. Good for the team.

If I knew how to use youtube, I would create a Hawks highlight mix for this game, throw down some hip hop beats in the background, and inter-splice Dominique Wilkins quotes. Josh Smith dunk. "Man the Raptors just don't play defense." Al Horford lay in. "if you move the ball, this team will not stop you." Mo Evans drive. "This team does not try." I think this could have real potential. Toronto fans might like it at least.

Because man, is Toronto bad at defense. This truth might have been best personified by the Hawks in the half court, pass to a wide open Mo Evans who had been drilling three pointers. Not only did Toronto not close out on a hot shooter. They did not move. So Mo took the slightly higher percentage shot, which was a baseline drive and slam. "No resistance."

Victory Bullets

I call these games "The Mo Evans opt-out performance."
Nique said you can start cold if the weather outside is cold. Interesting.
Dominique also hates centers who shoot three pointers. Vica vi he hates, and I mean hates Bargnani.
Anytime Zaza hustles it is the energy of the gods.
I have only watched three Raptors games, but is Bosh's rebounding total (he is second in the league), the most overrated stat in the NBA. No one else on the team tries to rebound so Bosh gets more opportunity than anyone in the league.
Mike Bibby was awarded a "heat check" after making one shot.
Look at our boy Jeff Teague. All grows up!
I religiously check Jeff's PER. I am aware this is weird. But you should be aware it is now over 15.
Another note, if Teague ever does become the Hawks starters, lets get some lights out shooters because Jeff could drive and kick as easily as he can walk with a walker on one of those moving walk ways.
Zaza's line six rebounds (four offensive), six of seven shooting, three fouls. Ahhhh how I love you.
Teague has 15 assists in his last 43 minutes.
I think the third quarter demonstrated Al Horford could have scored 40 if the Hawks were not shooting 50% from outside the arc.
Outside of the Hawks 8th and 9th men, no Hawk had a terrific game, and they still won by 22.

Go Hawks!

Poll

The Run Off Poll: What should the front court nickname of Jason Collins and Randolph Morris be?

GTM (Garbage Time Minutes)

32 votes

The Victory Cigar

56 votes

The Happy Meal

51 votes

Jandolph

37 votes

176 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

this game made me say

Beware, were in business. it showed me jj and BIBBY didn’t have to score bundles of points for us to win, all we had to do was play the whole team with energy.

by Hawksgirl on Dec 12, 2009 10:35 AM EST via mobile reply actions 0 recs

We need to petition David Stern for more games vs the Raptors.

by redwards95 on Dec 12, 2009 10:51 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

as soon as we wrap up this nickname vote

the letter writing campaign will begin.

by hawksdawgs on Dec 12, 2009 10:53 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

So, what you're saying is...

The Raptors would make the playoffs ahead of us if we didn’t have Joe Johnson?

by Buzzsaw on Dec 12, 2009 11:18 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

i said they would fight for a spot, not fail to make the playoffs,

but i also said i think the team would be better in three years (conference finals better).

losing joe and putting jamal in the starting lineup would
1) put jamal back in a position he has shown he does not thrive.
2) leave very little scoring on the bench
3) would require severe adjustment for the team (when lack of adjustment has been one of their greatest strengths this year)

I am not saying they would miss the playoffs. but losing, at worst, your second best player and replacing him with your best bench player will hurt the team in the short run.

by hawksdawgs on Dec 12, 2009 11:30 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

ahm... Remember Chicago

Anytime you think about letting Joe go, remember Chicago. They let Ben Gordon walk when they had a good thing going. Instead on building on last years success, they have taken 2 steps back. They just cannot score ( funny they criticized Ben for being only a shooter) Call me superstitious, but when you have a good thing going, DONT MESS WITH IT !!

by dkrib on Dec 12, 2009 3:13 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

So if you had a choice between letting Joe go

so you could sign LeBron or just staying with Joe…you’d take Joe over LeBron?

by rbubp on Dec 12, 2009 9:48 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

No one is saying they'd rather have JJ than Lebron...

And no one should be saying that last year’s Bulls are comparable to this years Hawks? I understand that losing an offensive weapon can hurt a team. All I’m saying is this year’s Hawks can win the Eastern Conference. I’m borderline “Should win the Eastern Conference (if we can avoid Orlando.)” So, despite how great JJ is, if he leaves, we’ll be fine.

What I’m saying is … so long as we have Josh Smith, Al Horford, and (I’m not crazy) Marvin Williams, we will never miss the playoffs. Those players are signed to reasonable contracts through 2011/2012. I don’t care who we sign with that extra JJ money. Whoever it is, it will be good enough for us to expect to contend in the playoffs. Not just make the playoffs.

I only brought it up again because I wish our Hawks bloggers would be a little more optimistic about this team outside their blogs. I’m sick of seeing not only Hawksdawgs but also Hoopinion go to other places and act “reasonable” about this team. It’s about time for Hawks fans to be more than quietly confident. It’s time for Hawks fans to rise up! It’s time for Hawks fans to start talking trash. That’s how good this team is.

What I’m saying is… when you get a question from a Raptors blogger about losing JJ, let them know that the Hawks would beat the Raptors by 20 with or without JJ. This team has toughness. That quality is more than one player. That’s a team quality, and the Hawks go 10 deep. So, I don’t think it’s reasonable to think that we’re one player away from competing for a playoff spot with the Bobcats, Bucks, or Knicks.

by Buzzsaw on Dec 13, 2009 2:12 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Until that happens we'll never know

To say we can replace JJ with anyone and contend no matter what is insane. Who would be the stud you would go to in the clutch? This is critical when you’re talking about skills and pose in the playoffs. And our team is still young. We’ve already saw that a Josh blow up could lead to an immediate loss.

Atlanta will win a championship....someday

by maxxj3 on Dec 14, 2009 2:31 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

lets not forget

Joe is the hawks best all around defender point blank. Nobody’s saying who they would replace Joe for. It’s like people complaining about healthcare and nobody has a solution.

Atlanta will win a championship....someday

by maxxj3 on Dec 14, 2009 2:35 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Teague almost

replaced Acie in my heart when Teague was drafted and Acie was traded. And I believe that Teague has reached the superstardom that Acie has always had. In my heart at least.

by acie4mvp on Dec 12, 2009 11:46 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

It's pretty clear we owe Woodson an apology.

Acie Law just sucks. Teague, however, does not. And Rick Sund will be lauded for having stolen Jamal Crawford for virtually nothing.

by rbubp on Dec 12, 2009 12:51 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

correction

absolutely nothing

by Erihury on Dec 12, 2009 7:21 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Well, we traded away the cap space to be players in the 2010 free-agent-apalooza

But you know what they said, bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

by dmortone on Dec 13, 2009 5:39 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I really, really hope Teague can stay in the mix.

Because if he can be the man to break down Orlando’s D and stay in front of folks like Tony Parker and Aaron Brooks, I think this team has a real shot at winning 60 games.

Further thoughts…Drew, you probably know that point differential is a great predictor of real team success in the NBA. We’ve had as many home games as road so far and have one of the top margins of victory in the league. It bodes very well. It should also be noted that last year’s team had a very low margin of victory for their record, like only +2.0 or so. Up at +7 is rare air, man, Boston and LA territory. AND your bench gets PT and your starters get rested.

Further…the Hawks need to win these next few games, because the stretch between the 19th and the 30th is brutal. Back-to-back with Cleveland…ugh.

by rbubp on Dec 12, 2009 1:13 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

center position

I love AlHarford he should start and finish every game,but i also feel with Morris and Collins we need them in the game whenever we play Olando so that they can hack and shack Howard and beat him down and that will leave Horford fresh at the critical parts of the game,that is twelve(12)fouls between them and that is twelve points Howard wont make because he cant shoot free throws.We better get them in the game now for experience in case our bigs get injured come playoff time,I realize they’re not elite players but you dont have to be to foul,PERSONALLY i THINK ITS GOOD STRAGEDY

by perry asquire on Dec 12, 2009 1:33 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

What are you going to do on the offensive end

when Jandolph throws the ball away or gets their shot blocked leading to fast break dunks and next thing you know it’s really 3 Hawks trying to score against on 5 Magic?

by rbubp on Dec 12, 2009 1:37 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

OFENSE VS DEFENSE

I know they dont have game but to rotate them in the game on defense on ocassion to save Horford fouls so we will have him at the end when he can play and not worry about flling out ,we dont want them in on offense and not that long on defense and definitely not at the same time ,this is just hack a shack and out and back comes horford saving fouls and two points because Howard definitely cant shoot free throws

by perry asquire on Dec 12, 2009 1:56 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

The only thing I don't like about victory cigar

is that it’s a basketbawful word

by dmortone on Dec 12, 2009 6:23 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

link?

you may have ruined my Saturday night.

by hawksdawgs on Dec 12, 2009 10:04 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I don't have a link, but I'll copy a sample post

“Jazz-Lakers: Kosta Koufos took down three boards in 4:14, but in an evening in which Utah went from very competitive in three quarters to near-complete silence in the fourth, giving up the rock three times and fouling twice led to a 5:3 Voskuhl. With the reversal in fortune complete, Phil Jackson was able to summon Josh Powell as tonight’s human victory cigar, bricking once for a +1 in 2:04.”

by dmortone on Dec 13, 2009 5:36 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Perhaps if one had never heard that phrase before

it could be misunderstood as a basketbawful turn, but it’s been around enough and used in that capacity often enough that I don’t think there’s a copyright issue, so to speak. Or even an originality one, unless you’re considering that it’s so common that its use no longer even conjures the image of Auerbach,

by rbubp on Dec 13, 2009 10:35 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Runoff Vote

I’m still using my write-in ballot for The Zazets

by axhfan on Dec 13, 2009 1:18 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I like that.

You’ve even used the masculine form, so as not to insult the massive manhood therein!

by rbubp on Dec 13, 2009 10:36 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I just realized how much I prefer that Collins and Randmo now have 5 or so legitimate nicknames

I don’t really see only one sticking even after the vote, which is really quite funny. Players of a certain caliber simply demand more than one nickname. Especially in pairs.

by eyy on Dec 13, 2009 1:51 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I just really want the hawks to have a really good and juicy rival

It would be fun to talk trash to the other teams and know we will win like85% of the time anyway. when we blow out a team by like 15 to 30 point, I can talk trash to them but it sorta defeats the purpose because we ran them out rather than beat them by a buzzer beater. No need to talk to them unless they can actually keep up, just my thoughts……………

by Hawksgirl on Dec 13, 2009 7:05 AM EST via mobile reply actions 0 recs

I always considered the Pacers to be in this mold.

We always seemed to be kinda even with them and the games are typically good.

by Duff_Man on Dec 13, 2009 10:43 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

There's a longer history with the Celtics.

But we’re going to have to beat them more often to make a real rivalry out of it.

by rbubp on Dec 13, 2009 1:18 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I prefer both teams to play an all around game

And may the best team win.

by Hawksgirl on Dec 13, 2009 7:08 AM EST via mobile reply actions 0 recs

After the last game thread

I have no idea how I can wait a few days for the next one. It was so epically hilarious, I have gone back and read it five times.

I’m not one to use hyperbole…but this site may be able to cure cancer.

by Duff_Man on Dec 13, 2009 10:47 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Certainly games against the Craptors

are “laughers.” du-dunt-dAH !!

by rbubp on Dec 13, 2009 1:20 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

the vote is pretty close...

looks like we may need a run off of the run off.

by Mr. Sanchez on Dec 13, 2009 2:00 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

mcgrady

What say we try to pick up Mcgrady for a run at this championship thing ,I think he would be a good fit with the athletes we have, think of all the possibilities and the adjustments other teams woud have to make.If Houston doesn’t want him lets get him before he is traded to Cleveland or Boston

by perry asquire on Dec 13, 2009 4:22 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

No thanks.

Career loser who is lazy. Red flag: Rockets better without him.

by Duff_Man on Dec 13, 2009 7:49 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Two questions...

a) What are we giving up for him?

b) Why should we add someone who’s never been able to win a playoff series despite many, many chances to a team that doesn’t really need what he brings to the table, has aspirations of going much deeper than just the first round, and is a gimp shell of their former selves?

by Mr. Sanchez on Dec 13, 2009 9:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs