Does anyone think that orlando plays more fundamentally sound than the hawks? Their post up moves, their recognition, their positioning is more thought out than the hawks than actual talent. Because at home we seem to have more awareness on the court. The hawks are good but our loss of composure leads to a lot mental break downs on offense and defense. That being said, championship leadership plays a role of what a team needs to do in a given situation and that is what the hawks lack.

But against this team we needed more spacing to get all those Orlando defenders out of the lane (because they weren’t going to call three seconds on them). Just like when Orlando played the sixers in the playoffs and the sixers coach told the media, “It’s hard to win when Howard was living in the lane.” (not an exact quote) A cure for a complex disease is not an easy one (like i would know) so our cure for Orlando isn’t something you can quick fix. A trade for a servicable big man could be reasonable and/or a change in offensive strategy could also be it too. As we all know Joe, Jamal, and Josh will score points for us on one-on-one plays, but in games like this, the spacing has to be there to justify these iso’s so the burden won’t be on the shooter alone.

This Jeff Teague embargo has to stop. I know Woodson doesn’t want to treat him like Gohan and “throw him to the wolves” (exact quote) but he has to have a role on this team to be useful. I don’t think anyone will teach him to not show the ball to early when you drive (because nobody hardly drives) but its a simple concept. His speed is such a waste if he can’t use it in cutting, pushing the tempo, and guarding the passing lanes. And while I say this in thinking he isn’t taught this, why can’t he just go in there early and do that?

I don’t know what goes on in the locker room or at practice but one thing is for certain….we need a change in order to beat this team next time.

He is a conscious defender and plays with a lot of energy. But he never gets the ball to even be considered an option on offense. Everyone on the opposition knows that unless he actually does something with the ball other than pass it. This year I never seen him drive to the basket, which he’s good at, or shoot it for that matter. Not that I want to see iso-Mario but you have to evolve him in the movement (or lack thereof) at some point in the game. If he can’t hit a layup or jumpshot why have him on the team?

The Hawks would be advised to put Jason Collins in against him or find a similar defender if they expect to stop that. It’s never going to come from the refs. The problem is the Hawks front line is athletic, not huge; it;s what the team is built on. Well, they can move, but when they go up against titans like Duncan and Howard they are just going to get tossed around like rag dolls.

No team can be all things against all opponents, but the Hawks have chosen a rather extreme path that works well enough against approximately all but two teams (Lakers and Magic). What can they do about this? Hell if I know.

If the kind of player who could hold off Howard and Duncan were easy t find everyone would have one. I can’t even think of a player right now that would fit the mold.

Regarding axhfan’s comments, Al’s problem is not that different than ZaZa’s—Duncan and Howard aren’t that much taller but those guys are just so wide through the shoulders; their frames are just so wide that they take up tons of space and have the upper-body strength to knock people of balance without much effort themselves. Wallace was a good defender in part because had had similar upper-body strength.

Al is not a banger in the center mold. It’s why people say that he’s playing out of position despite the fact that he has developed a good post-up game and plays very good on-ball defense in the lane. But his quickness advantage is evident, as suggested on this blog, may be part of his success as a kind of hybrid player. Well, hybrid players were what the Hawks wanted and got. Now they have to figure out how to make that work against the heavy-hitters.

why dont al gain some more muscle like what dwight howard did a few years back, which what made him dominate

doesnt that sound like a good idea to let Al Horford gain around 20 pounds of muscle, u remember when dwight howard enterd the NBA, he was skinny and he’s bulky, I think that’s what Al should do, so he can be more physical, with more strength, reply to me if this is a good idead.

Instead of trying to figure out what is going wrong or switch up the game plan (a.k.a isolation basketball), our Captain/All-Star Joe Johnson simply said we cannot beat them. To me, you might as well not even show up to play if you are going to have that attitude. I understand it’s frustrating when the refs give Dwight 18 free throws for mostly questionable touch fouls, but when our All-Star can’t get to the free throw line because he is afraid of contact, then I don’t see the point of even mentioning the bias of the refs.

I do hope Al does get bigger in the future so he can match the centers

I just hope that GM Rick Sund can make some trades for the hawks

How about Brendan Haywood of the wizards, a good center

I am just so mad that we can never beat the magic but other teams can, WE NEED EITHER MARCUS CAMBY OR BRENDAN HAYWOOD!

How many people would require to get Brendan Haywood?

minnesota won’t buy it

maxxj3, pachulia and evans for haywood, thats good, what do u think?

I think I got a plan on how to beat the magic, double team dwight howard ahead of time, that way he’ll have to give the ball up instead of an And1, and make him commit turnovers, what do you guys think?