Loser dots

by hawksdawgs on Apr 26, 2009 2:54 PM EDT

I can remember maybe two other times Joe Johnson has had a stretch like this. I actually feel bad for the guy.
This series has been so spread out I honestly think a lot of people, including myself, are putting the cart way before the horse. The series is still 2-1. A win tomorrow and the Hawks have home court.
I have really enjoyed having Heat fans in the comments. They bring a solid perspective, but why do they start or end every comment with "lol"?
Othello Hunter continues his quest for the perfect season (at least in my eyes).
If you are not a fan of either of these teams, there have been exactly zero good games in this series. You could have, in good conscious, turned each game off at the start of the fourth quarter. Kind of surprising.
Remember that whole post about enjoying another team's superstar? Well, you can tip your cap to Wade last night. No flopping. No crying. Just butt kicking.
The Hawks were out rebounded by 13 last night. That was suppose/was an advantage for the Hawks going in. You could probably brake the film down and find box out technique and match up problem, but in the end, I am going to stick with poor effort.
At least Chalmers first good game came when the Heat didn't even need it.
Impressive/idiotic that in a 29 point loss, Joe and Al can play 38 minutes. Even more impressive/idiotic, Wade played 41. Although I guess it is hard to call something idiotic when your team wins by more than the Hawks scored in three of four quarters.
From Hoopinion, "I will never understand why the perceived solution for this group of players struggling in the halfcourt offense is to rely even more on Joe Johnson. Were my game notes better collated (or just better taken) I'd make an effort to quantify how many more wing isolations have begun below the free throw line for Joe Johnson in the last two games compared to Game 1 where he almost always attacked off the dribble from the top of the key...Johnson has drawn more attention in the last two games, limiting his scoring chances but more damagingly, Johnson has abjectly failed to use the defensive attention to create shots for his teammates. He's been credited with just three assists in 73:40 while turning the ball over nine times while missing 20 of 30 field goal attempts." I concur.
I don't want to heap these last two loses solely at the feet of Mike Woodson and yell, "What have you done?" That would be unfair in the face of multiple under performing Hawk players and unworldly great, mostly contested shooting by the Heat. But coaches with this kind of talent should be held accountable when you struggle to name one thing Woodson has done to help the Hawks this series. Game 1 was a showcase of energy, athleticism, and missed shots by Heat role players.
These loser dots are getting longer as I go on.
Last Mike Woodson gripe, does it not seem he takes his timeout exactly two possessions too late. I feel like I am in Vegas with this guy. Just one more role....and I have no money left.
I want Marvin Williams back.
An excellent recap by the Human Highlight Blog.
Dear Hawks, If you play any more one on one basketball, I am going to break my television. All the best, Hawksdawgs. PS Don't tell me Dwyane Wade does it.
How the Hawks come out for the start of game four will say a lot about what kind of team they think they are and want to be. They also may or may not be playing for their coach's job.
Just one game Hawks fans. That is all they need.

Go Hawks.

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Comments

Shouldn't be Writing Articles

You shouldn’t be writing articles if you can only remember 2 times that Joe has been through a stretch like this because you obviously are not informed. Joe has been playing horrible all of the calender year. He had a good stretch during one homestand other than that Joe has been garbage. You should say you cant remember a good stretch for the guy other than the homestand. Joe needs to be traded considering he has an expiring contract.

by Hawks-Semi Fan on Apr 26, 2009 4:49 PM EDT reply actions

considering he is avg. exactly 7 points

and 4 assists less in the playoffs than he did during the regular season, i would contend that he in fact he played at higher level than he has shown in the last three games for more than one home stand.

i also plan to keep posting. so we may be at an impasse.

by hawksdawgs on Apr 26, 2009 5:14 PM EDT up reply actions

Skewed

Those numbers are skewed he started out good and has been horrible every since the New Year. Joe is garbage and you have no clue. You must be one of those guys that just look at the boxscore and start typing. What a joke.

by Hawks-Semi Fan on Apr 26, 2009 5:31 PM EDT up reply actions

You sir

are a clown.

by get swoll yunel on Apr 26, 2009 6:11 PM EDT up reply actions

Is that meant for me?

Is the clown statement meant for me?

by Hawks-Semi Fan on Apr 26, 2009 8:18 PM EDT up reply actions

Indeed

I don’t understand why you feel the need to attack someone who disagrees with you.

And the use of bold font for some sort of dramatic effect in your posts is really goofy.

by get swoll yunel on Apr 26, 2009 10:23 PM EDT up reply actions

lets keep it on basketball

clearly there is enough wrong with this team over the last two games to focus there.

by hawksdawgs on Apr 26, 2009 10:32 PM EDT up reply actions

You are right

I’m still going to bitch about how spaced out the NBA schedules these series(es).

It doesn’t make much sense.

by get swoll yunel on Apr 26, 2009 10:35 PM EDT up reply actions

at least we are about to hit

and every other night. but i agree. I really do feel likes this series has gone on for weeks. it makes each game a huge momentum swing with all the post game build up.

but hey, hawks win tomorrow. it is going to feel like a whole new series by weds.

by hawksdawgs on Apr 26, 2009 10:38 PM EDT up reply actions

Warnings?

I hope this clown got a warning also.

by Hawks-Semi Fan on Apr 27, 2009 4:32 AM EDT up reply actions

I hate guys that spew pure venom

and also use words like “skewed” to make it seem there’s statistical evidence on their side. It’s not like I’m happy about this team right now, but you, sir, are downright ugly. Here comes ACTUAL analysis.

JJ is shooting 37%, has an assist/TO ratio of 1:24, and is averaging 13.67 points over three games in the playoff series.

JJ shot 42.4% after January first in the regular season, averaging 20.4 points, with an assist/TO ratio of 2.36:1. His numbers are not seriously skewed by a hot start to the season-he was pretty consistent, on balance, across the season, despite having a really bad month of January.

You might find a few stretches where Joe only averages 13.6 points per game, and even a few when he’s shooting under 38%…but it’s very, very rare for Joe to have more turnovers than assists (It’s rare for most NBA guards who play with the ball a lot, but even JJ stands out in this regard). He does a great job, for the most part, of sharing the ball when he’s not doing well. There’s only a single stretch during the ENTIRE season of at least three games where he more turnovers than assists-that came from November 15-19, where he had 15 assists and 16 turnovers, and he averaged 25 points while shooting 44%.

His free throw shooting is just another crazy, small sample size phenomenon. He only shot under 50% at the line in a single game this season, where he went 1/3. Over three full playoff games, he’s 5/11 at the line. I couldn’t find any other three game stretch in his career where he missed more than half his free throw attempts.

His TS% is 40.1% through three games. That’s such an outlier that this series should qualify for a do-over. You have no idea how long it took me to calculate this. I had to quickly reteach myself elementary statistics, memorize the formula for TS%, and then reteach myself to use a TI-83. It’s certainly not worth it because it seems like you just want to spread your vitriol, and will ignore this, but perhaps someone else here will get some enjoyment out of it.

The odds of JJ’s TS% being as low as 40.1 is 3.5%. Meaning that if we played these same three games 30 times, he only shoots this poorly one time. It’s extremely unfortunate because he’s a much better and more efficient scorer than he has been thus far, and he’s been terribly unlucky.

by Bronn on Apr 27, 2009 12:36 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

in that first line, his assist/TO ratio is 1/2.4, not 1/24-forgive the missing decimal.

by Bronn on Apr 27, 2009 12:37 AM EDT up reply actions

And henceforth, I'm leaving all statistical breakdowns to Bret.

by Bronn on Apr 27, 2009 12:38 AM EDT up reply actions

thanks a lot bronn

for this info. I really appreciate it.

Since I am assuming the Heat will not allow us a do over, I am going to use your hard work to be hopeful that Joe will turn it around tonight.

by hawksdawgs on Apr 27, 2009 8:21 AM EDT up reply actions

I'm glad someone at least read that

Somewhere there is a napkin with a lot of scribbles that represents a late night headache’s worth of number crunching.

by Bronn on Apr 27, 2009 6:19 PM EDT up reply actions

It was much appreciated

I love math and pure numbers, so I loved everything you wrote. Even more so since it seems to have quieted the troll for a bit.

"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 28, 2009 7:32 AM EDT up reply actions

On the positive side, at least if we lose this series Woody is outta here

by acie4mvp on Apr 26, 2009 5:08 PM EDT reply actions

"when your teams whens"

awesome.

by get swoll yunel on Apr 26, 2009 6:10 PM EDT reply actions

criticism i enjoy. thank you sir.

by hawksdawgs on Apr 26, 2009 6:31 PM EDT up reply actions

Man ooooo Man

What about these Hawks?

Joe has had a below average season yes, but these stretches where Joe is not spectacular, are few and far between, BUT they stand out like a sore thumb and hurt like a stubbed toe.

Has anyone noticed how they manage Wade’s minutes? They usually get a lead or to a stable point and they rest him and he gets rest its noticeable and effective. I dont see the same rest with Joe.

Al Horford was never expected to have trouble against this old decrepit man JERMAINE ONEAL, but I heard there is this new version of Viagra for NBA players it makes you younger and gives you confidence. its name is Dwayne Wade.

There was a point in the game where was an adjustment whether Smith and Horford decided to do it or it was Woody’s decision they switched and put Smith on Oneal. That Worked. Yes. But Beasley went to work on Horford. i didnt watch this last game. I knew how it was going to in at the start! And yes i stayed for the comeback and the sigh of relief and I still knew how it was going to end.

maybe it was the alley-oops to Zaza that tipped me off.

I am done.

by RealSquawk on Apr 26, 2009 7:56 PM EDT reply actions

Al Horford is killing us, I can't believe it.

We can’t get any consistent post scoring, at all. He’s the last guy I’d think would be a problem. However, I think he can pick it up. I’d like to see some hard fouls on Jermaine, maybe a little Al Horford taunting. He needs to get more aggressive, not just after he makes a basket.

by Buzzsaw on Apr 26, 2009 10:23 PM EDT up reply actions

My two cents...

I haven’t delved that deeply into any sort of analysis since I shut the game off on Saturday midway through the second quarter. You can tell from the first five minutes whether the game will be a blowout in either direction or down to the wire. Exam studying took precedence over watching that gutless effort for the second half.

However, I’m still staying positive, as I did after that Game 2 loss. I know for a fact that we are the better and more talented team, but as you all have said, we need our players to step up and play as they should. Joe and Flip should emulate D-Wade and get to the AAA four hours early to shoot jump shots—get the feeling back. Al just needs to stop messing around and work O’frankenneal (someone needs to twitter Al and just say, “are you really gonna let a guy recovering from reconstructive knee surgery handle you like that?”). Woody needs to buy Coaching For Dummies (by Gregg Popovich) and refer to it on the sidelines when the bright lights get to be too much for him. Marvin really needs to come back.

Like others have said, the spacing of the games has made this series seem like a forgone conclusion. Now they start to pick up, and if we can play one (please?) good away game then we’ll be heading back to Philips with momentum and home-court. And like I’ve said this whole series, if the Heat are relying on Cook, Beasley, Haslem(!), and O’Neal to provide the knock-out punch, then I like our chances.

See you tonight in the comments…GO HAWKS

by dchawk on Apr 27, 2009 8:03 AM EDT reply actions

you point out the most optomistic outcome for the rest of the series

and it is all realistic.

That is why I am still excited about tuning into this game tonight and rooting for a win.

by hawksdawgs on Apr 27, 2009 12:01 PM EDT up reply actions

my crazy ideas to win

Here’s my crazy idea for winning this series. The Hawks should move the ball around on offense and play inside out. These guys are all professionals and surely have at some point in their lives played on teams that did such not so difficult tasks as passing out of double teams instead of holding the ball until there are 5 seconds left on the clock and opening up space for jump shooters by passing into the post. They don’t need to wait until training camp to put in place what should have been there all along. Game 1 showed that these concepts aren’t completely foreign to them anyway. Do it now and save the season. Also don’t be afraid to commit a hard foul instead of allowing the Heat to get easy lay ups and dunks. Fouls are not like roll over minutes. You don’t get to save them up and use them next season.

by redwards95 on Apr 27, 2009 10:06 AM EDT reply actions

could not agree more

i noticed on one Wade’s early dunks. Josh was there, not fast enough to block it or take a charge, but he was there and just stepped out of the way.

if he had gone up, he would have risked getting dunked on and almost certainly fouled the guy, but he could have put wade on his but and forced him to earn it at the line. Josh needs to play defense without the fear of being embarrassed instead of playing defense trying to make highlights and often getting embarassed.

by hawksdawgs on Apr 27, 2009 12:03 PM EDT up reply actions

I have had it...

We need to see what the market is for Josh Smith. Too many times he gets made when he does not get a call, and while he argues with the ref, his man is scoring!!

And 0pts and rebs in first half? Solo or Mario would have accidently got 2-3 rebs!

"If I disagree with you, it's because you are wrong..."

by Tybeaux on Apr 27, 2009 1:16 PM EDT reply actions