Box Score

Recap

The difference between Josh Smith in Charlotte and Josh Smith last night was something so great movies could be made. Certainly, Mr. Smith still took a few horribly timed jump shots, missed a box out that led to a Rip Hamilton three which would have made me cuss something awful if the Hawks lost, and complained to the ref instead of playing defense during a key fourth quarter possession. None of these things are anything more than horrible. And yes, I saw those things, but I also watched Smith in the first half of the Bobcats game, and that was roughly the equivalent of paying to be punched in the stomach and driving three and half hours to do it. 12 rebounds, 4 blocks, running the break, in the face of defenders. It was just lovely. Bring on the butterfly analogies!

This was a win with a bullet. So in honor of that, bullets galore!

• Al Horford came into the league so mechanical in the post. Now, he is hitting that hook with Rasheed in his face. And you can call him undersized all you want, but he still plays the center position, which makes him a center, and no center in the league runs the floor as well Horford. 
• As well as Marvin has played of late, Prince is a tough match up because he can stay with him well enough to block that hook. Something to take note come playoff time. 
• The fact that acie4mvp can complain/compliment a crowd at Phillips Arena is incredible. That one would even mention the crowd as a factor is borderline absurd. Two years ago I went to games where I could have conversations with the players when they were on the other side of the court.
• When someone cuts to the basket like Josh did in the third or Horford in the fourth, it is such an anomaly that I just figure the pistons did something wrong. BTW, both those plays ended in dunks.
• Josh passing it on the break to Joe for three made me happy.
  
• Nique quote of the night: After Jason Maxiell jumped over Bibby for a put back dunk, "Bibby actually thought he had a rebound!"
• Marvin is getting routinely doubled! How weird is that? And he can and will pass out of it nicely. This could be good practice for the Hawks to learn how to take advantage of double teams since the team has gone three years not realizing when two players guard Joe that means one Hawk is probably open.
• I may enjoy a Flip Murray dunk more than a Josh Smith dunk.
  
• 20 pt. a night Joe, where did you go?
• Al and Josh running the break. I hope to see that in five years.

Flip Murray seems like a man of action not a man of talk.

“That’s the way the rest of this year is going to be,” Murray said. “It’s playoff time. Everybody’s playing for playoff position, and these last [19] games are very important.”

Ok Flip, you have me looking forward to the "rest of the season."

Comment of the game simply because it still blows my mind that the Hawks can have a home court advantage.

Game started out a little bit weak (especially considering that the Pistons fans outnumbered Hawks fans at the beginning) early on, but the second half was great and the crowd was electric. It seemed a lot like the playoffs

Go Hawks!