HAWKSFAN

Ric Bucher was just on ESPNnews and said he'd be "shocked" if Smith is back in Atlanta next season and that the chances are slim. He said that Smith does not want to return to Atlanta. And commented on his relationship with Mike Woodson. He said if Sixers don't get Brand, they'll give Smith an offer the Hawks won't match. And that if they do get Brand, the Clippers would sign Smith to be their PF.

I don't think it'd be the end of the world if this happened. Horford needs to be a PF and I actually believe so does Smith. Al Horford is the better prospect, so it's probably best to let Smoove go at the amount he costs. Also, Smith being our 4 and Horford our 5 was a big reason why people thought we should be a running team. If we start Horford at the 4, we're not as much of a running team.

www.2ksports.com/nba2k9

He's one of the 16 candidates, and the silhouette shows a left-handed player, which could mean nothing. Who knows, is there a jinx with 2ksports covers or is that just madden and SI?

It means a lot, because the players couldn't even come close to competing today. They know that, they know how far we are. They're not going to realize how much of basketball is mental. This should have been something we could build off of, but instead, it may not be.

That's how I feel, we're better than this. This is what everyone outside of the ATL is going to remember us for.

One word....Nerves

Defensively, we really didn't play that bad. We gave up 44 points, which puts the Celtics on pace for 88 points in the game. That's very solid defense.

Unfortunately, the offense was bad. Awful. Celtics played great D, but in spite of that, the Hawks were able to get a lot of great looks, but just couldn't convert.

Furthermore, the refs have been of no assistance. We're attacking similarly to the way we have in the games at home, but we're just not getting the calls. Only getting 4 free throw attempts in the half. Partial credit to the Celtic's defense, you can tell Doc told them to not give bailout fouls and force us to make difficult shots inside.

In the second half, we're going to need to limit the turnovers and keep up the defensive effort. We're beginning to rebound better than we started out doing, need to keep that up. We've forced a few bad shots in the halfcourt set, we can't have that unless it's towards the basket.

Summary. To win, we're going to need to put together a few 30 point quarters to have a chance. We were only able to score 26 in the first half, so it doesn't look good

A big man with some range would come in handy TODAY

That ref should toss KG, that was outlandish what he let KG get away with.

Yeah, duh, lol

Our guys need to knock down open jumpers. Different game if they do

We're playing GREAT defense to start the 3rd quarter. We keep it up and we'll win this game. The problem is, we're not rewarding ourselves enough by playing good offense.

Open shots are falling so far. Working inside-out. Playing good defense and rebounding. Just one minute but it forced the C's to call a timeout to slow the momentum. Keep it up and it's even going back to beantown

Josh Smith needs to stay out of foul trouble. We're a completely different team (for the better) with him on the court.

Last night, he fouled out, but while on the court, the Hawks were +11. He gave their big men trouble because he can take them off the dribble and either score, get to the line, or force the D to collapse where his ability to pass comes in handy. His shot isn't great, but it's to the point where it must be honored. And that's not to mention his defense. Right now, when Smith comes out of the game, Zaza comes in, that's a huge drop off defensively.

We probably ought to look at subbing Solomon for him, and let Zaza strictly back up Horford. Even though that would cut down on Horford's minutes at PF, which will eventually become his position.

It sure looks like he's in the running. His stats this month are a step up from last month's stats.

In March, 24.9ppg 7apg 4.2rpg 46.8% FG% 43.5% 3pt%

In April, 29.2ppg 7apg 6.2rpg 57.8% FG% 50% 3pt%

Not to mention, it looks like he has the Hawks in the playoffs for the first time in 9 years.

We're not using Rio correctly, everytime we put him in the game it's late in a quarter when we're already in the penalty. That's not when he's effective defensively. He needs to play earlier in the quarters, where he can do his thing with no consequence.

Check the schedule for the New Jersey Nets, they're not going to win many games the rest of the way. That's the team we should pay the most attention to, not the Sixers.

When we were winning, he was getting regular playing time and early in games. I know that it was usually attributable to Childress' health, but I think he still deserves minutes early in games. He really set the tone defensively and our guys seemed to give better effort. We were grabbing all kinds of offensive rebounds and playing great defense during the streak.

I don't think it's coincidental that Mario West has the highest plus/minus on the team.

Ryan Hollins should be suspended. Either that or traded to us.

How is that a block on T Lue>

I think a lot of people haven't seen him play. I say this because of this insinuation that he can play PG. He has no ball handling ability whatsoever, his shot is slow developing and inconsistent, and he doesn't have very good passing ability. What he is is a great athlete, a tough guy, a strong defender, and he gives 100% on every play. He's a great guy to add to the roster, but don't expect him to handle ANY of the PG duties.

Sorry if this has been posted already. I figured maybe it hadn't been since it's so recent.

http://dimemag.com/2007/08/17/10-sense-with-joe-johnson/

When JET was here, everyone on this board trashed him. They were foolish obviously, but everyone trashed him. Just like they did Al, Antoine, Stephen Jackson, and now Zaza. Addition by subtraction and all that [censored]. Terry is not like Al, Toine, SJax, or Zaza though. Terry is a baller and for some reason fans didn't realize it. Terry would be perfect for this team.

I think, looking at the schedule, it's doable. It's a relatively weak close to our season this year. I think 12-4 would be enough to put us in. The other bum teams ahead of us likely go 8-8 at best.

However, for this to happen, we would need our team to be consistent for the first time all season.

I'll welcome mediocrity at this point, hopefully we can win tonight against sorry ass philadelphia.

Just think if we had won those two against the Bobcats, obviously those weren't close games and we didn't deserve to win them but that's a not a team ANYONE should be getting swept by.

As if we weren't alive for the past three years. Thanks for the breaking news

He's 6'9 and wouldn't provide what we need.

I wouldn't be opposed to signing Peter John Ramos from the NBDL. He's an unalocated NBDL'er, so he's basically free. Give him Lo's minutes for 10-days and see what happens. At 7'3 290, he brings the height and strength we need to keep people from just walking into the paint for easy layups all game.