Choose your palate cleanser
by hawksdawgs on Mar 16, 2010 9:58 AM EDT
33 comments
That sound you hear is the rubber meeting the road. Smell it. Enjoy it. Playoff basketball is almost here.
The Hawks have 17 games left. 11 against probable playoff teams. 4 contests with teams that hold better records. 8 wins to 50. And the Hawks currently sit all but locked in to the 3rd or 4th seed. These games are no more real deal than the other 65 that have taken place but if those were the appetizer to see what kind of main course you were going to get, these last 17 are the pallet cleanser to figure out how that main course is going to taste.
What kind of cleanser do you want? Winning? A plain and simple 12-5 run into the playoffs. Work the matchups? 8-4 or 4-8. I don't care. Just tell me what it takes to get Toronto in the first round. Health and rest? Knowing the Hawks can beat and lose to anyone all the team needs is the energy and focus to take on the playoff gauntlet. Playing well? Wins don't matter. Atlanta's die has all but been cast. Getting in a frame of mind that expects ball movement and all out effort defense is much more important. Bench minutes? The Hawks are not leaving the second round, and a few extra wins don't matter even if they are. Let's see more Teague!
These games are odd ones. Teams are tanking. Teams are resting. Teams are fighting for their playoff lives. You can go from an exhibition like atmosphere to playoff intensity in 24 hours. If the team does not have clear goals for these last 17 games, the Hawks will go through the motions and let the other team's effort dictate the results. So with that said, what should be the top priority?
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I am going
1. playing well
2. rest and health
3. winning.
4. get bench time
5. matchups
I think the only way the Hawks beat Orlando or Clev. is by playing well. I would rather see the Hawks starters play well for 32 minutes a game and then rest. If the Hawks need a matchup advantage to get out of the first round, they need a new coach.
so playing well over winning will lead to resting which will lead to playing bench guys more. One thing I would not mind seeing that I did not include is really tinkering with lineups against those playoff teams the Hawks might see. Actually put that as number three.
The Hawks do need a new coach. I wouldn’t say they absolutely need a matchup advantage to get out of the first round, but it wouldn’t hurt either (they barely made it past Miami last year and could similarly struggle vs Milwaukee).
If the Hawks play well, they’ll win games, be able to rest the starters, get the bench minutes, and put themselves in position to have the most favorable first round match up plus have momentum needed to have any shot in the 2nd round. So I agree on your first priority but think it’s basically all that matters.
that is one reason i am not worried about matchups
The Hawks are better than every team below them. They don’t matchup well, but they are better. So either the Hawks win or it is an indictment on Woody. I prefer one, but I am fine with either since the second round is going to be really hard to get out of no matter what.
if we had a fifty/fifty shot of making it to the eastern conference finals, I would say match ups are way more important. We would need to beat a team fast so we could get rest and all that good stuff.
Top Priority
should be rest and health/getting the bench playing time. I know it sounds better to finish 3rd as opposed to 4th, but the Hawks would be better suited to finish 4th if we assume they won’t overtake Orlando (which is exactly what I assume) Yes Cleveland has the best overall record, but the Hawks match-up better against them (second round) than they do against Orlando (stating the obvious) At least the games against Cleveland have been competitive and could have gone either way. They just get whipped when they play Orlando. I have a sneaking suspicion Woody will not be resting players because when it’s time to go to Sund and state his case for another contract, 3rd in the East sounds lovely.
@cocoqt81
Pallets...
Perhaps I should not pick nits, but then I wouldn’t be me:
Pallet= a flat thing that heavy things are stacked on top of
palette= a thing used for holding paint while painting
palate= a sense of taste, physical or aesthetic; or the roof of the mouth
Sorry to interrupt. Back to the wins…I want to see them beat Orlando and Cleveland and make a real push to catch or pass Orlando. Second is actually possible yet. I think home court would be a crucial factor to a potential second-round series with them. How lovely would it be if Boston could do the same and push Orlando to fourth??
I can’t argue with resting people, though. It is a long season.
i meant to google that before i posted
clearly i did not.
but if you ignore the entire second paragraph, pallet works just fine metaphorically. cleaning the heavy things from your pallet for easy lifting come playoff time. HA, in your face!
ok not really, i am changing it.
I did note that metaphor and was in part hoping you'd leave it be!!!
Creative use of words is a good thing, my friend.
I'm looking for health and bench minutes
We have an average bench so why not use them. and I also believe we could fight to get out of the second round
IF YOU CANT ACCEPT LOSING, YOU CANT WIN.
by Hawksgirl on Mar 16, 2010 10:47 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
My Top Five
1. Playing good basketball, which leads to…
2. Getting rest for starters, which leads to…
3. Getting time for reserves, which leads to..
4. Winning, which leads to…
5. Being ready to play the best teams in the league in the playoffs.
by The Human Highlight Blog on Mar 16, 2010 11:13 AM EDT reply actions
Keep Pushing
Is the goal. Only 1/2 game ahead of Boston for the three seed, and I don’t want to face the Bucks in the first round. At least not with the way they’re playing right now. Plus I want to at least put some pressure on Orlando for the division.
I think the bench time should increase as the season ends
except the Lakers, Magic, and Spurs game
Atlanta will win a championship....someday
If the starters come out and handle their business
the bench will get more playing time. The health/rest of everyone on the roster is paramount. What’s going on with RandMo? Has he totally fallen off the face of the earth? Is he in Woody’s doghouse?
Bet it hit the rim!
Yeah I was wondering where he was vs the Pistons. That would have seemed like the perfect game for him to play a few minutes. Maybe he was smiling and Woody couldn’t recognize him and thought he wasn’t on the bench?
Mario West happened
With Mario active, one of the bigs has to be de-activated, and lately that has been Morris instead of Collins.
by The Human Highlight Blog on Mar 16, 2010 1:30 PM EDT up reply actions
I think I'm getting a little excited about the playoffs. I know we've been there before but this season feels really special.
JC will get to experience it for the first time. He likes the big stage so how will he handle the pressure? I can’t wait!!!
Bet it hit the rim!
According to SportsClubStats.com
the Hawks need to finish at least 14-3 to have a decent shot at getting the 2 seed. It also estimates that a 10-7 finish gives us a better than 50% shot at keeping the 3 seed. What this means to me is that we should focus on playing good ball but also rest up and stay healthy.
http://www.sportsclubstats.com/NBA/Eastern/Southeast/Hawks.html
Priorities
1. 50 win season because i want to keep shooting for better and better, another year of improvement
2. Play rookie more than Bibster per game
3. Play better vs. Orlando in the last game remaining
4. Stay sharp for the playoffs, rest for a young team other than Bibster is over rated
5. Forget number 2. Focus on number 3 and being better than Celtics. That is a realistic goal. Orlando is a better team than the Hawks
I am a firm believer you lose sharpness with too much rest
We need to stay sharp. Hawks are young. There will be a time we look the old men Celtics or Spurs. That day is not now. Until then, play and stay in game shape
it's number two or four
The division winners get the top three seeds
Atlanta will win a championship....someday
Wrong
Boston leads their division but are the 4th seed. We are second in our division yet have the 3rd seed. Seeding is based on overall record, it just always seems to happen where the division winners have happened to place in the top three seeds.
"Big Ten can have this challenge. Duke loses, we all win..."
-Marcus Ginyard, G - UNC
palate
Horf and Smooth averaging double-doubles the rest of the way
Marv averaging 14pts 7rebs
Bibby shooting over 50%
JJ taking less than 18 shot a game
Can we please accept
that they aren’t overtaking Orlando? You don’t lose to the Heat and Knicks 3 out of 4 times if you’re serious about getting the second seed. It’s not happening. Right now, it’s 3rd of 4th, period. They need to rest the starters heading into the playoffs. They aren’t going to have home court advantage for more than one round anyway, so they need to play well enough to not fall into 5th place which they can and I assume they will. They don’t need to play the starters 40 minutes per night to accomplish that.
@cocoqt81
This is our year.
The hawks have gotten better ever year. All they have to do is stay healthy and keep winning. With the addition of Jamal Crawford I think we will difinitely get out of the 2nd if we can play Orlando.
Hawks should aim for 4th seed
i think the hawks have a much better chance against Cavs than Orlando. Shaq is injured right now and will probably be out some of the playoff games. Even if he comes back, he might be a little rusty and it will take a bit of time to accumulate him back to the lineups. The hawks match up much better against the cavs (except LeBron) and has a higher chance to go to conference finals. But then we will most likely end up facing Magic anyway…..
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