Some quick, initial thoughts on the Heat series

by hawksdawgs on Apr 13, 2009 9:28 AM EDT

If the Hawks think for one second that Dwayne Wade cannot beat them by himself, they are going to lose this series at worst and go to seven games at best.
More than ever, Josh Smith needs to play under control and patient. He is better, more experienced, and a far greater athlete than Beasley. I think Josh Smith decides how easy/difficulut this series is for the Hawks.
Miami and Atlanta: hello nightlife. If this was an NBA finals match ups the parties would be unreal.
Jermaine O'Neil might have some real advantages over Al Horford. One of them he does not have is Horford's ability to run the floor. No need to quicken the pace overall because I think that plays into the hands of Miami, but I think the Haws need to consciously push the pace to get some easy baskets for Al.
In his blog today, Sekou Smith says "You're worried about playing the refs too, huh? Get over it. Wade is going to get his share of calls. The superstars always do. But that hasn't ever stopped the better team from handling its business." The Dallas Mavericks would beg to differ. So would Bryan Russel for that matter.
I don't much like Woodson, but I am not overwelmed by Erik Spoelstra either.
Joe Johnson and Dwayne Wade going at each other is going to be great. And don't think for a second Joe is anything but excited.
For some reason, Daequan Cook scares me a lot.
Considering this Hawks team has never been in a playoff situation where they are suppose to win, I am excited the national media is going to, by and large, pick the Heat to upset us.

Go Hawks!

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rereading this post

i guess I should note that I don’t think the Utah Jazz were better than Jordan’s Bulls. so i guess Sekou is right in a really weird way there.

by hawksdawgs on Apr 13, 2009 9:31 AM EDT reply actions

No, but the Mavericks team was definetly better then the Heat…I mean they beat the 63 win defending champion spurs on there homecourt in a game 7, and somehow lost to the heat in the finals (hmmm..refs?)
And theres certainly been instances when the better team loses a series, but generally he is right

by TheAncientRivalry on Apr 15, 2009 5:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Woody vs Erik (said in a spanish voice)

We’re going to find out tomorrow night which coach wins round 1 in “Who’s the better coach” argument.

The goal for both coaches RIGHT NOW should be to win game 1, plan and simple. So what will the coaches first move be in this chess game Tuesday night? Will the heat try to get confidence with a win on the Hawks home court and play for real? Is their goal to get D Wade comfortable with the Hawks floor and give him 30 min to find his sweet spots?

What is Woody’s move? Rest the starters? Play for real to give the Heat no hope of winning on the road? Play R. Morris and tell him to injure Wade every time he drives the lane? (that would be my move)

Bottom line is that I don’t know what either coach will do on Tuesday to help get a victory this weekend, but I do know that they get paid to make those choices and I think we’ll find out late in the game tuesday which coach wins round 1 in the coaching duel.

Remember, last year in Miami, Woody tried to rest the starters, but then put them back in the game with 3 min left down 7 to Miami’s D league and we still lost. He had no clue what he wanted to do then. Lets see how he does tomorrow.

by marvin's ladies of the night on Apr 13, 2009 10:42 AM EDT reply actions

i agree

no flip flopping on strategy. i say play your starts 20 minutes and whatever happens happens.

its not an 8 game series. i dont care what anyone says.

by hawksdawgs on Apr 13, 2009 12:54 PM EDT up reply actions

No matter what, the crowd needs to be crazy tomorrow.

Just to plant the seed in Miami’s head that it’s going to be really tough to win in Atlanta.

by Buzzsaw on Apr 13, 2009 6:05 PM EDT up reply actions

BTW

lets not dump in our pants because Wade scored 55 against the Knicks, who plays NO defense when the game counts. I can’t imagine how little D they played yesterday after a night in Miami, not in the playoffs, and with only 2 more games left before vacation.

by marvin's ladies of the night on Apr 13, 2009 10:53 AM EDT reply actions

i agree

no anyone dumping their pants.

by hawksdawgs on Apr 13, 2009 12:53 PM EDT up reply actions

toss up

The Heat are only 4 games worse than the Hawks. This series is not like Cleveland vs Detroit where there’s a clear mismatch in talent. One of the Hawks’ major weaknesses is defending the paint and scoring in the paint is Wade’s specialty. Lately the Hawks have not been playing much in the way of defense at all. The Heat are nearly as good a home team as the Hawks too. This could easily be a difficult 7 games series or even a loss in fewer games if the Hawks get too satisfied with themselves at having won the 4th seed and don’t actually show up to play in their home games. All that said, this is a very winnable series for the Hawks, so I am hopeful they will keep Wade under 40 at least and make enough open 3s to hold home court and advance to their ritual slaughter at the hands of Lebron.

by redwards95 on Apr 13, 2009 1:21 PM EDT reply actions

I think we

have to understand that in a 4/5 matchup, the series should go 7 games. If we win in less, its a great success. If we lose in less than 7, its a great failure. I think that all we can ask for is that the series is tied 3-3 with game 7 at home and whatever happens, happens.

by marvin's ladies of the night on Apr 13, 2009 1:35 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm scared sh*@less!

All along, I was hoping we’d be playing the Heat, Now I’m nervous as hell about it. This is the Hawks chance to take center stage. I just hope we rise for the occasion.

by dstdeelite on Apr 13, 2009 2:00 PM EDT reply actions

I'm not scared at all

I have a lot of confidence in my Hawks and besides. If the Hawks were playing Philly people would come up w/ a number of reasons why the Hawks will lose. There is a reason the Hawks are the 4th seed. They were the better team. And more times than not the 4th seed usually wins these matchups. (at least since the 1st round expanded to 7 games). But the main thing thing is we have to bring our A game and I think we will do that.

by xavip on Apr 13, 2009 5:52 PM EDT reply actions

I agree,

If Marvin’s healthy … he looked good when he played last game, so I’m pretty confident he’ll be back to normal. I think they were very careful with him. He probably could have come back earlier, if necessary.

by Buzzsaw on Apr 13, 2009 6:06 PM EDT up reply actions

Not worried

Im going to be loving this series.
Im going to the preview of this game (Heat@Hawks tomorrow night) And Im not worried.
At all. So who will we play after this?

by FlyYouFalcons on Apr 13, 2009 7:35 PM EDT reply actions

There's really no need to worry. I have a hard time believing Wade can win 3 games by himself.

I figure the Hawks might just stink in one game, giving the Heat the victory. But the talent is so heavily tilted in Atlanta’s favor that Wade would almost assuredly have to win the other requisite 3 games by himself. He’s brilliant, without question, but not win-you-three-playoff-gmes-against-a-better-team brilliant.

Third Quarter Collapse: An Orlando Magic blog at SB Nation

by Evan Dunlap on Apr 13, 2009 7:39 PM EDT reply actions

really?
thats exactly the type of brilliant he is imo

by TheAncientRivalry on Apr 15, 2009 5:47 PM EDT up reply actions

I say

We take it to them hard, drive the lane constantly drawing contact, get them in as much fould trouble as possible, then completely dominate them from outside.

Wait, sorry, I was thinking we had a coach with a real game plan.

Really though, I think the front court match-up favors us strongly and what I mentioned above should be the one and only game plan for Woody to use.

"If Woody were Captain of the Titanic, he'd argue the boat sinking speaks to how effectively they put rich people in life boats and lock the poor folks below."
-jrauch commenting at Hoopinion on Woody's (non)logic in his post-game comments

by Jesse28 on Apr 14, 2009 11:45 AM EDT reply actions