When your best run offensive possession is the first play of the game and it ends with an air ball by Al Horford from inside the free throw line, it may not be your night. And when your fast break play is an alley hoop layup to Zaza Pachulia, then, well then, you just know it is not your night.
Apparently, after strong denials from Peachtree Hoops, the Miami Heat can indeed hit 98 three pointers in a game and shoot over 50 percent from behind the arc. Not that it even mattered last night. Hawks got beat every which way. The players did not show up with hustle. They did not show up with skill. They barely looked like dribbling was in the top 100 of things they do best. The curse of Spirit the Hawks may well be upon us.
But here are two pairs of startling numbers. 22 and 12, 32 and 17. Those are the first and fourth quarter points for the Heat and Hawks respectively. And here, therefore, begins a brief Mike Woodson rant. If you have questionable subbing patterns, the most utterly simplistic offensive sets, and cannot stop and/or hinder one of your star players from taking three point shots, motivation is one of the last thing the coaching label asks of you. These numbers clearly show that is not in your tool bag either.
In a string of terrible quotes from both players and coaches I will leave you with this one from Woodson.
“They’ve been the most aggressive team so far in the series, excluding the first game,” Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. “We’ve got to find some momentum and get back in this series. I just thought the Heat did everything they were supposed to do, and we just didn’t answer the bell.”
Does he even care what he tells reporters?
In the end, I always expected/wanted/needed the Hawks to win one in Miami. It does not matter which one, and it does not matter how much the one loss is by. The Hawks have always needed one win. It is all they need to take back home court. Now, Woodson just needs it to save his job.
Loser dots later today.
Go Hawks