Starting the real season
by hawksdawgs on Dec 18, 2009 9:04 AM EST
27 comments
The problem with an 82 game season is it keeps going. Good starts only allow for good middles which only aid good ends which only get you good starts to the playoffs.
Last year the Hawks ended December 21-10.
Standing 18-6 this season, Atlanta has seven games to go (five on the road). Two of those are against Cleveland plus a game each with Utah and Denver. It is not out of the realm of possibilities for the Hawks to finish the year 3-4 and be right where they were last year. 82 games is long, but the length is not the hard part. These guys are athletes. They are young. No, the hard part is not letting up.
So Friday's bold prediction is this is the most important weekend of the young season. A sweep of Utah and Chicago to kick off the longest (tied for at least) road trip of the season would be huge. You can certainly skate through stretches of the season. This is not one of them.
It would be hard to argue the Hawks out of an "A" grade to start the year. Pessimist might go A- for the New York loss, but you go B+ and that means you are a pessimist and crazy. But how many wins do the Hawks need to close out the year and keep their "A" grade? Let the red pen debating begin.
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In case you missed my Tweet
Josh finally has a website. It’s very new and you’ll see that when you visit. jsmoove.net
This weekend
I would honestly be OK with a win vs the Jazz and then a small letdown in Chicago. Not sure why, but I feel that is the scenario here. As long as they win tonight.
Although with the amount of rest the starters have been getting (kudos, Woddy), we may be prepared to take the weekend.
i said 23 wins
because i think a win over the jazz, a split against Clev, and loss to Denver in Denver would be solid considering our start. but I think Chauncey might be hurt so that might change my view point.
I said 24
because I don’t really want to concede our chances on the road against Denver. I assume a split with the Cavs. I aim high!
Looking ahead to January
Man, the schedule makers hated us in the New year. THREE games against Boston, and two against Orlando? Way to spread those out.
The final Week:
at Houston
at San Antonio
Boston
at Orlando
Of course, Feb and March are way easier, but still. Now I think we NEED 25.
Jan. is already a depressing month
i don’t know if i can take a Hawks swoon. at least Joe is only at 37 minutes, so maybe no slump for him this year.
This Jan should be better than last year Jan - we are better
Last Jan we went 6-10. This year at least 8-7. Add that to 23 wins and you get 31-15? The way were playing that may be conservitive.
by RivBoatGambler on Dec 18, 2009 11:49 AM EST up reply actions
It's a really though schedule in January, though.
8-7 would be a good result, I’m afraid.
Feb. is not a lot easier…March is the easy month.
The basketball gods definitely hated on us when they made this schedule
Why are we playing Boston and Orlando so much back2back? It’s crazy, but it is what it is. If we could split a couple of those wins, I’d be satisfied. Who am I kidding? No I wouldn’t. I want us to win them all! LOL!!! Go Hawks!!!
I"m so torn
one part of me wants us to beat the teams that we’re clearly better than, but another part of me wants our losses to come against mediocre teams and our wins to come against the best of the best. Does that make sense? I’ll take some weird losses to the Knicks or Charlotte or whomever if we can beat the Cavs and Celtics and Magic and Nuggets and etc. I hate losing to the so called elite, because everytime they do people are always like I told you so and the same old Hawks and etc. It annoys me.
I understand totally
Either way, we’re between a rock and a hard place. If we lose to bottom dwellers, we’re inconsistent. If we lose to the “elite” teams, we’re not quite there yet. I know it’s hard for the media as a whole to grasp the new-look Hawks because I have to pinch myself sometimes. They’d better take notice. On the other hand, I don’t mind flying under the radar. It makes the wins that much more satisfying. BTW Woody was on Rome’s Burning on ESPN yesterday. He was shown so much love. After watching that, I realized that we always talk about Niqueisms. What about some Woodyisms?? I have a handful of phrases that Woody repeats in every single interview. Tell if you’ve heard this one before…..“The Celtics taught us how to play playoff basketball.” lol
2009 is going to get a- B grade
although we had some huge scoring nights and the bench is playing well these losses just don’t add up: Charlotte, Detroit, NY…just should not have happened.
and I wanted a better showing against Orlando. Any loss execpt @ Clev will be a let down. I expect them to win out the rest of 09
I think some of us
have confused our hopes for this team with our expectations. I’ll take second or third in the EC at this point. In the beginning that was just a hope.
Me too, man, me too.
I want 60 wins, but 54 and third in the EC, ahead of one of the other big three, will be just fine.
Go Hawks!
my expectations are delusional
i don’t want to get to high, yet i don’t want to settle for mediocracy
"mediocracy", n.
1. a plethora of media that dominate the culture so as to suggest governance
2. a middling, average quality so pervasive it parallels governance
:)
Are they really better than us?
I vote 25 to finish the year. None of the teams we play over the next
seven games are significantly better than us.
I say we win ’em all!
by sweet jones on Dec 18, 2009 12:03 PM EST via mobile reply actions
It depends
If they play their back to back against the Cavs and are blown out, then this is the same team from last year’s playoffs. If they lose both, but both games are down to the last possession, then I’d have a great level of confidence. Those games need to be competitive, at least.
I voted 24 because I love having them in a tie for second place in the East. If they lose more than one, they probably get pushed out. I just so thrilled about where their play-off standing is right now.
Here's a quick look
1) Hawks are a better team than Utah right now, but I don’t think we match-up particularly well, so it could be a tough contest. But have more talent and depth should be the overriding factor.
2) Hawks definitely outclass the Bulls, Timberwolves, and Pacers. And, given how the first contest against the Nuggest went, I’d be fairly disappointed if they don’t win that, especially if Chauncey is still hurt. I hope Josh Smith can go nuts again.
3) I’d like to hold home court against the Cavs. I think we match-up well, but they’re going to be really tough to beat on the road.
That's how I've been looking at it...
From what I’ve seen of Utah, we are a better team, and I think our inside game will be the difference, and after a few poundings on weak teams, I think we’ll show up tonight for a real matchup.
As for Bulls, T-Wolves, and Pacers; we just shouldn’t lose…and I don’t think we will. I get the feeling from all these recent blowouts that we may be past our losing to the Knicks or Bobcats days…or at least I hope so (emphasis on “hope”).
As for Cleveland, this may be where my overconfidence of late gets the best of me, but I always assumed we’d take at least one from Cleveland, if not two (I just made a bet at a holiday party that we’d beat Cleveland in a 7 game series…if it happens). I just think we match up really well against them…and they’re just not playing dominate ball of late. Moreover, I think should at least win at home because it’s the start of the back-to-back rather than the other way around.
The one team that really scares me is Denver. They seem to be a much betterteam since we first blew them out, and I’m not sure how much to take away from that first game. Throw in that we’re playing in Denver on the back end of a back to back…and I’m a little worried. If Billups is out, ignore everything I just said.
One game at a time
Well we are being fans by trying to predict the future. All is fun. But Hawks are type of team that need to focus on one game at a time. As much talent as we have, and as bright a future as we have, I am not sure if we are at where the Majic/Celtics/Lakers are relative to consistency, particularly on the road. We shall learn. Now we are beating teams this year by so many points, that last year we were just barely beating, that is progress. Next stage, is consistently beating the teams (Charlotte/Pacers(they are good)/NY/…) that we should beat.
Every great team in NBA is going to lose around 20. If we only win half of our games against the elite (Magic/Lakers/Celtics/Cavs/denver/Suns), we are going to have a better record that last year. We should be able to win a few more than 50 or right around 50 this year. Seed two is tough, seed three is more realistic.
But even with a seed four we should have a better record. I don’t think Cavs are as good as they were. Call it chemistry. As I read somewhere, Shaq is like a hand break that is on for the Cavs. The same exact effect he had when he was with the Suns last year. He won’t help great players any more because he is too slow. So Orlndo is tough and Celtics are possible. I think we are better athletes than Celtics, we proved in Boston, but that is one game and they had an injury and Garnett was getting his feet under him. They are now rolling, be good to see. Good game tonight, we should win, but Boozer man is tough.
uh I say we win em all lol!
If we have the right mindset for the upcoming games we should be fine. Go Hawks!
by Hawksgirl on Dec 19, 2009 12:37 PM EST via mobile reply actions
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