boxscore
The Hawks won again tonight. A come from ahead victory that looked much closer than the score let on. The Hawks were the better team no matter who was on the floor. And for most Hawks fans, when Dwyane Wade is included in that other group, it feels good. Preseason or not, there is nothing wrong with getting used to winning.
- The sour taste though, and you should have a sour taste just looking at the box score, is that Josh Smith was 1-10 from the free throw line. That is worse than he will ever be but clearly, bad enough that his free throw woes were not exorcised in the off season. This vexes me. Some would say I am terribly vexed.
- If last year Solomon Jones had a line like Joe Smith put up tonight, I would have freaked out. I would have said he has finally made it. The break out is upon us. With Joe Smith, I just say, "it is the preseason. no big deal." On a related note, I love having Joe Smith on this team.
- Mike Woodson put Josh Smith at center to finish out the game. That is fine as one does not care about the outcome and wants to test lineups. Well, this one might need more testing and even more practice because the Heat shot jumpers against it and got offensive rebounds over and over. It was so weird I did not know whether to yell at Woodson, mock Miami, or remind myself I actually know very little about NBA basketball.
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Maurice Evans continues to lead in most preseason awards. 4-5 from the field and 2-2 from three point land tonight. Remembering last year, I kind of want him to go on a cold streak for this last game.
- It is official. Al Horford is better than Jermaine O'Neal. A lot better.
- Apparently, Miami went to glamor shots for their NBA.com photos. Chris Quinn obviously has the best pic. (HT HawkSquawk)
- Joe Johnson somehow coverted 34 minutes tonight. I guess it is fine. Actually, it is totally fine. He is going to play more than 34 minutes a night, but the Hawks were up big and no one else played more than 26 minutes. That sounds awful familiar, in that nails on a chalk board kind of way.
- Jeff Teague had a stat line I expect with a little preseason minute bump. 16 min. 1-4 shooting, 6 points, 1 assist, 4 turnovers. There you are realism. So very nice to meet you.
- No Zaza means less fun but more jumping.
- Preseason is what it is but the Hawks look dominant. And I don't care what angle or topic you are talking about, if you are being positive and using words like dominant to describe the Hawks I will kiss you and say thank you in that order.
Go Hawks!