Atlanta Hawks 110, Indiana Pacers 98 or good job.

by hawksdawgs on Dec 26, 2009 10:02 PM EST

When a team does exactly what it should, what can you say but good job? Sure we would like to prognosticate how this means Josh Smith and Al Horford should see more touches and we would like to start worrying about our benches bad play, but really, the Hawks took massive gain from their natural advantages to win a game. Tough to complain about that...or applaud it. I once tried to argue with my friends about how awful a land war in Asia was and it was bad. So I won't do it hear. You just don't complain about weaknesses being weaknesses when advantages remain such. Because even if we take off homerism hat, I struggle to see how many teams can beat us 4 out of 7 times if the Hawks pounce on the obvious strategic advantages they have.

That being said, watching someone be awesome even if you know they should be awesome is still quite awesome. So tonight the Hawks starting front court was in a word...excellent. And even though I know it was against Roy Hibbert, Troy Murphy, and Tyler Hansbrough, those two were 20 for 28 from the field. Jason Collins has not been 20 for 28 from the field in warm ups since Stanford. They also had a ho hum near 20 point 20 rebound game and 5x5. Basically, they were sensational. No matter the team. They succeeded. That was a good game for Tim Duncan or Dwight Howard or Moses. What I am saying is we should tip our hat.

Victory Bullets

If the Hawks let the front court play, Joe Johnson is going to have the quietest 20 point games ever. And he already has basically silent 20 point games.
Troy Murphy is the biggest stat stuffer I have ever seen. It's like he counts cards.
Loose balls hate Marvin Williams.
One day Joe Johnson will get he is a rhythm shooter and over dribbling is actually bad for his game.
Jeff Teague with the most perfectly adequate horrible game ever.
Is anyone else scared by the fact that Jamal Crawford is pursing with great passion the four point play record.
Solo.....not any better.
The Joe, Horford, Josh trifecta is impossible to beat. You can argue that it can easily be stopped, but in the books, that three headed monster will eat you before it kills you.
Someone needs to start counting the travels the refs don't call on Zaza.
Prediction time: Tyler Hansbrough is either making an all star game or he is never going to be a serviceable starter.
Then again Psycho T is dwarfed by Josh Smith, and people want Josh Smith to play small forward.
No one needs to watch Jamal Crawford guard TJ Ford ever, ever again....ever.
All Mike Bibby is be perfect for this team. He is like Derek Fisher without the dirty fouls. But honestly, if Bibby committed dirty fouls it would probably be helpful.

Go Hawks!

Tweet Comment 15 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

I missed this game

Since I’m still in NY, but I’m extremely disappointed that Josh Smith missed the 5×5. He could have been only the 8th man in the NBA ever to do it. Nobody has had one since 2006.

What a shame.

by Bronn on Dec 26, 2009 10:16 PM EST reply actions

he will get it at some point

in the last two weeks he has been on pace late in the game.

i honestly didn’t know it was THAT rare. that is unassisted triple play area….if unassisted triple play involved skill.

by hawksdawgs on Dec 26, 2009 10:19 PM EST up reply actions

Very rare

Current players who have done it: Marcus Camby, Jamaal Tinsley, Ak47 (3).

Considering the year that Josh is having, a 5×5 would really be quite the feather in his cap. He’s earned a bit of notoriety for what he’s doing this year.

by Bronn on Dec 26, 2009 11:43 PM EST up reply actions

Tinsley? Damn.

by Mr. Sanchez on Dec 27, 2009 7:42 AM EST up reply actions

joe, horford, al trifecta?

im pretty sure thats only two people

by CoxXx on Dec 26, 2009 11:01 PM EST reply actions

typo

im pretty sure of it

by bibbY10 on Dec 26, 2009 11:22 PM EST up reply actions

noted

fixed.

although al could have easily held down two legs of a tripod tonight.

by hawksdawgs on Dec 26, 2009 11:54 PM EST up reply actions

Was Teague really bad? I got his jersey for Christmas

by acie4mvp on Dec 27, 2009 12:27 AM EST reply actions

no but his stat line was pretty bad.

he still gets no calls. that is for sure.

i believe a teague jersey was an excellent Christmas gift.

by hawksdawgs on Dec 27, 2009 7:39 AM EST up reply actions

Joe Smith or Solo...

talk about an easy call.

by Mr. Sanchez on Dec 27, 2009 7:46 AM EST reply actions

GREAT synopsis

HawksDawg you are right on the money with your points! GREAT POST.

I enjoyed watching the game. This is how we should play, and we be damn near unbeatable. Forget for a second the opponent is Indiana, your point about JJ is so right on. When he plays like last night, does not hog the ball for half the 24 second clock and takes his opportunities, this team is amazingly great. If he played like that in Chicago, it is an easy win for Hawks

As for Bibby, what can one say. The man is old (ok not that old but that is funny), smart and just gets it. Yes he has incredible talent, and he manages, he distributes, he passes, he shoots, he is a calming influence on the mad dash to finish that are the young flying Hawks. The perfect field general, PERFECT.

As for Teague, he should watch his partners in the backcourt. I agree that was not a good game for him. It seems as though recently when he comes into the game, it matches us losing leads that we have worked hard to build. If Teague wants to stay in this league, he will work only and only on his outside shot. A short guard without outside shot is an AC in waiting. Yes Rondo does not have an outside shot, but possibility of a point guard short as Teague making it without an outside shot is tough. And he is not passing the ball well. His best pass was to Zaza near end of a quarter. I like him, but the kid needs to learn from his partners.

i just love your point about Zaza. Every time Zaza makes a move, i wonder where the ball is going. i wonder if Zaza knows where he is going :) He is our crazy Republic of Georgia player, how many teams have one of those?

What can you say about Horford and Josh. Hordford is a lion, not afraid to mix it with any body, with all the moves in the world. Something about blood lines, a TRUE BLUE BLOOD. Josh, he is a cheetah. Whereas Hordford is strength and majesty, Josh dazzles. I could tell the Indiana crowd was dazed. This is the second time in 2 weeks he has made me jump from my sofa. He kills in a way that is memorable, and deflating. An amazing talent, an amazing talent. Do we know what we have in him?

As for that rookie in Indiana, i am amazed when i heard he is voted the best college player of the decade. Rookie has a future in the league, but, for goodness sake, in NBA, he will become an outside shooter, unless he wants to see his shot stuffed like 10 times a game. Speaking of Indiana, what has happened to them. This team was destroyed when they gave away O’neal/Jackson/Artest/Harrington, for What? Yes Granger is a stud, but outside of him, what do they have? Yes Murphy is a good sub, that’s it. Sad to see.

Now for the main course. Been waiting for that next game. Let’s play the same way, and see how we measure against the team that is arguably playing the best ball in the world right now. GO HAWKS.

by ATLpaul on Dec 27, 2009 8:44 AM EST reply actions 1 recs

great game

I defiantly enjoyed the smooth al and jj show. it was entertaining and I loved it. al and smooth have so much talent and when combined with a leader like jj BIBBY and Crawford, this team gets dangerous for anyone to play. I’m ready for Cleveland. bring em on!

by Hawksgirl on Dec 27, 2009 3:26 PM EST via mobile reply actions

Cleveland is gonna be surprised

I hope Joe plays like this vs Cleveland. It seems that when we play the elite teams he plays 40+ minutes and ball hogs about 90% of the 40 min. If we have ball movement Cleveland won’t know what hit them

by AlejandroG on Dec 27, 2009 6:08 PM EST reply actions

I don't know about that.

We’ll have to overplay the passing lanes a lot to offset their physicality. The Cavs just manhandled the Lakers the other day, and the Hawks have trouble with very physical teams (any team Shaq is on, the Magic). It’s very possible this is a bad matchup and the Hawks lose BOTH games.

Hawks are going to have to rebound, steal, and run to win. This team is too big and strong for a half-court game like the Lakers tried to play.

by rbubp on Dec 28, 2009 10:28 AM EST up reply actions

Big guys need to eat - feed a big on game day and the wins will come our way.

Poor Al is one of the best in the league with the rock. Win or lose both him and Josh need the rock 15 apiece every game. With their assist totals – maybe more. Welcome to our future Atlanta. 11 Blocks by our bigs? – wow. In a night of steals and turnover advantage lets give kudo’s to Bibby with 8 assists.

Tue a very tough streach starts. Time to man up and feed a big. Go Hawks.

by RivBoatGambler on Dec 28, 2009 12:30 AM EST reply actions