The fact that this was an important game dictates that it was an important win. I am not going to down play it simply now that it is over and the Hawks won. A good win all around. I am not saying I want to ride Josh Smith's three point shooting to victory, but it is hard to say you won't take it when he goes three for five from beyond the arc.
The enigma
Josh really is one of the weirdest players I have ever seen. He argues calls he has no business arguing sometimes causing vital defensive breakdowns, and sometimes those tantrums produce incredible trailing blocks or cherry picking thunder dunks. Josh will run a break like 3rd grader actually trying to pick up an offensive foul and he will kick out of a double team better than anyone else on the team. Josh is weird and tough to deal with, and it all makes me glad he has a taste for the incredible because it makes it all a little easier to handle. Dunk on Josh because I have no idea how to deal with you.
See I am not a Woody hater
Just to show I am not completely bias. Some things I liked by Mike Woodson.
- The lifting of his two foul mandate letting Al Horford pick up three (gasp) in the first half (Al finished with three...total).
- Giving Acie Law not one but two stints.
- I also love how he uses Zaza. Sure, he could get a few more minutes here and there, but Zaza is most effective in that 18-22 minutes zone where he can play all out, mean spirited basketball.
Defense first?
Good thing the Hawks had seven guys in double figures because the defense was suspect at best. It was odd that the Hawks forced/allowed Toronto to be a jump shooting team considering they are an incredible jump shooting team. The Raptors set screens until they had a wide open jumper. It tallied up 27 assists. The Hawks tried to go under screens. They tried to go over, but in the end, they could never quite get there in time. It certainly helped that the refs were allowing people to set running moving screens the whole night though. It makes you wonder what would happen if the Hawks set screens that did not exists so Joe/Flip/Bibby could dribble a little more around the three point line.
Victory Bullets
- If you can tell me one thing, Mo Evans did to hurt the team yesterday that will be exactly one more.
- Go look at Chris Bosh's line. It is almost perfect. 10-12 from the field, 10 rebounds, not turnovers. At no point did I feel like he was dominating though. I was wondering how much that had to do with how the announcers would be gushing over a 10-12 night by say a LeBron and we got barely a word from Bob and Nique tonight regarding Bosh. I think we are conditioned, in some sense, to recognize super stars.
- More Al Horford please.
- Is it weird that coming out of his hand, Josh Smith's jumpers often look better than his shots around the rim?
- 46 minutes for Josh Smith? wow.
- Acie plays some good defense. His only break down was when he tried to go under a Chris Bosh screen that Zaza would have had two fouls called on him for setting. Acie is going to be vital if the Hawks play Andre Miller and the Sixers.
- I love when Joe hits three pointers.
- Hot Flip can rise up and go away in under five possessions.
Game thread comment of the game by Buzzsaw just because I want to hear his reasoning with "The Raptors would be better if Mike Woodson was their coach."
A big win coupled with Pilly and Miami's big loses and the Hawks have a magic number of 2 for home court. Nothing wrong with that.
Go Hawks!