sillent

Woody coached that 13 win season. I'm not knocking Woody I've always called him an Evil Genius but I realize I may have been a little mistaken. Drew might be more of Woody's genius than led on and we are seeing the results. Besides Josh still using game time to practice on his jump shots where is this insane asylum you speak of ? I give Kudos to a coach who has good strategies and schemes for offense and defense and knows how to sub even during a shortened season. We've utilized the talents of our bench probably better than any team in the league so far. By the time we get to April our legs will be a lot fresher than someone like a Derrick Rose who's still playing 40 a night. I don't blame their coach (picture the Bulls without Derrick Rose) but ours is doing an outstanding job!!

You need the right personnel for switch defenses to work properly. You can't switch on every possession either. That gives the offense a chance to find the mismatch and exploit the switches. Your right hilarious. Didn't see the game but the Bobcats should have had plenty of instances where TC and Amare were wondering around the 3 point line on defense. Nobody guarding the hole or boxing out for defense. Our bigs are a lot quicker than New York's so I don't see them getting back on time or recovering as quickly.

Sounds like a setup game. If Lebron and Dwayne are out that means they'll have more time to study game tape. They can see and break down our defensive schemes and where they can best do damage. I would rather us face their healthy version and learn more on the Heat for playoff time. It's cool though like Gray Mule said with so many games coming at us and since we gave one away I wouldn't mind getting an easy one. Hopefully we can come out strong and give our starters some rest for the next nights ahead.

I was just posting the guards Teague would have to face early on. However all of these guards bring a different element. I missed the Rockets game but I believe Lowry answered your question. Walker is a beast and can be trouble if not contained. Chalmers is a wild card and good defender that has the potential but is missing key mental elements.

Glad to know Drew is Head over hills better than Woodson. From understanding his players, to sub patterns, to his understanding of the game offensively and defensively. Woodson still looks a bit foolish trying to get New York to follow his defensive schemes. The way it's been iso Melo/Amare I wouldn't be surprise if he added offense advice as well. As our players continue to learn and implement Larry Drew's concepts we will continue to rise. With no Phil Jackson in the league (although their is a new Jackson on the west coast that seems pretty good) Drew can establish himself as the best and most under valued coach in the league. He out coached Van Gundy in the playoffs as well as Tom T at times. He did a spectacular job against Spoelstra's Heat. I'm watching some of the brightest coaches look a little dumbfounded at times as to what's going on against these Hawks. The talent was always their and now with the right leadership the sky is the limit. Direction, leadership and strategy from the bench and being extended to the court with some of our new vets all will play a key factor in what could be a magical season this year!!

Now that we have played the two top dogs in the East what do you all think? We had some slippage but that will happen during the course of a season. With a season like this where bench depth is vital (which Chicago will realize later down the road) I think we're in good shape. With two of our biggest competitors being faced early we have a chance to boast a pretty good record by seasons end if we keep up the pace.

Watch the highlights.

Derrick Rose is the difference between us and the Bulls. He did the same thing to us last year where it was a game we had won and he willed it back practically by himself. We need an answer for him. We stop marveling over him and learn how to stop him and that would be our answer for the Bulls.

Y'all are hilarious. He's still young and learning how to be a big gamer and this is a great early lesson. I wonder how many Kobe, Lebron, Chris Paul and Deron William fans get histerical when they miss a big shot/free throw. This not the playoffs but it gives us hope when the playoffs come around and mistakes like this give real ballers focus so it won't happen the next time around.

Only a moron would not learn something from this game.

Joe actually was open and could have took a good shot. Teague, Horford and hopefully the rest of the team will learn from this game. They will make those pressured free throws later on in clutch game situations. Good early lesson!!

We dominated the Bulls for 3 quarters. We could have made history if our defense continued. We could have won the game if we made our free throws. We could have willed the game with the heart of Derrick Rose. I'm sure our players realize this and will only get better from this experience.

If this defense keeps up we are watching history right now. I think this should be a pretty good season!!

I still see comments about us being 3rd in the East. That is unacceptable. Why do we continue to settle for average. We know Joe, Al and Josh are all stars. With Teague and Marvin playing bigger roles that's 5 all star capable players in your starting line up.What other team in the league can bolster 5 capable all stars. You hear about the big 3 and the big 4 but we have a silent 5. Anyone at anytime can go off in the game if need be and decide the outcome. The best thing about us is we collectively do it. This is our time if we want it. We can settle for mediocre or we can strive to be great !! Yes our team has blown out teams that they should beat but they are doing it with no one playing at superstar or all star caliber right now and collectively as a team. That's a good sign while everyone works on getting back into game rhythm.

Devin Harris has no heart. He's a player that cries when he's not winning. I want players that put the weight on their shoulder to win via D Rose. I hope Teague is nothing like Devin Harris in those regards.

Marvin Williams!! 17points 8 boards. We almost had all three of our front court players with double double's.

If I told you we only scored 16 points in the 4th and we had at least a 5 minute span without scoring would you expect a win? What if I told you we won by 18? These are not your average Hawks. We are trying to establish our position in this league and it's always good to be at the top!!

Thank you!! That was very informal.

I know I should know this but how do I post videos on this site? Also is their going to be an allstar event this year? I don't see room for it on the schedule. Is it the small break in April?

What fans fail to realize is this is not a regular season. A lot of people who came in out of shape want get their legs back to late January. Teams that revamped their roster will have about the same time table to get some type of chemistry. Deep teams are going to have nightly advantages. So will teams that already know each other and have built good chemistry.This is going to give teams like us and Miami/Chicago a chance to run away in the standings early. By the time the end of February there are going to be other struggles that need to be endured. One for instance is the tired legs from so many back to backs and injuries. Again for the teams that have good chemistry and are deep will have the advantage. Their will be a clear cut advantage and you will see as the standings come along with the deep teams. Our Hawks should take full advantage of this season "No Excuses". Our core has been together for years we have talent and personnel all throughout our bench to get the job done. We invested little into our future for a chance at now. Our core is still at the prime age of 26 and if we shock the world this year that is something we can build off of for the next 4-5 years.

Tired of hearing the "make up for Crawford theme" as if Crawford scored 30 a game. Our bench scored 55 in their first outing and the cohesive defense alone makes up for Crawford. I like Crawford and tried to convince everyone 2 years ago that he would be a great addition to our team but his defense makes his scoring irrelevant. A lot of times we needed him to hit big shots to win games because he/we couldn't stop the opposition. We should see close games a lot less if our defense is on all cylinders. Our offense and offensive schemes make scoring less problematic.

Add Norris Cole and Jamal Crawford to the list.

I saw McGrady come in early with the starters. He doesn't have to start but with a revamped Marvin spending a lot of time with our bench he could be the "Most Improved Player" this year. If we needed a scoring lift off the bench Marvin would be our best scorer and first option. This is not a call for Marvin to come off the bench just an observation of our versatility. With a healthy Marvin he is due for a break out season and in different roles against different competition he can be an ex factor. With our starters he creates spacing,scoring,defense. With our bench he could be a key go to guy. When we face teams like MIA(Lebron)/BOS(Pierce)/NY(Carmelo) (I think you get my point), Marvin should be key with the starters for defense and another offensive threat. Against some of the other teams he might be more effective getting more minutes with our bench. I think all in all Larry Drew is going to have fun mixing and matching our lineups to get the advantage in games.

I like what Charles Barkley pointed out in our blowout win vs the Nets. He said "that was a weird win because their 3 best players didn't score over 14 and they won by 36", or something of the sort. Of course he may not have been able to watch the game but that "weird" win can be analyzed as us having a deep team!! When your best 3 players can sit on the bench and your team wins by 36 that's saying a lot. To top it off Willie Green didn't have his best outing. Our 3 aforementioned starters weren't playing their best game either. If everyone can stay healthy we can be looking at a very promising season. Kudos to management for recognizing the needs for this shortened season and being bold enough to let go of our players with potential for more ready now players. Zaza and Radmanovic are going to be great compliments to each other. Pargo proves he can play a nice back up pg role until Kirk gets back. Rad, T Mac and Green are going to often challenge each other for best scorer off the bench. Don't let Willie Green's performance tonight fool you. He has had the least time and opportunity to adjust to our team. Ivan Johnson is a nice utility guy and a surprising scorer. Donald Sloan is good insurance and Jason Collins is Jason Collins. Jerry Stackhouse can still get his shot up but that's not his most important role for our team.

Pretty good start!! I can call out some miscues but why spoil a good thing. The miscues I saw were small anyway and every team/player has shown a couple defects because of the lockout. All in all 1 statement game down. 65 to go with us being able to see some early defining games against MIA & CHI.