jhay610

I live in London and watched the game live. We are 5 hrs ahead over here...missing that game as a lifelong Hawks fan? Does not compute. We are the Hawks -- we may not play another series like this for 10 more years (!!).

In an ideal world Josh makes excellent decisions 100% of the time. He has, however proven over time that he will take the outside jumper. Fortunately for Josh his athleticism and unique skill set make him such a valuable and impactful piece that his positive contributions normally outweigh his detriments and therefore dictate that he should play. Shot selection is not a strong point of his game, but rebounding, inside post offense, shot blocking and floor game are all positives, therefore you live with it if he is contributing in these areas (which is a game-by-game decision because many times he coasts out there). If Zaza took 5-10 long jumpers per game and hung around the 3 pt line he would be behind E. Thomas and H. Armstrong on the depth chart because he does not positively affect the game enough to compensate for poor shot selection. If you want to write Smith a letter stating that you will no longer accept his shot selection and will not abide it any longer then by all means do. He has out-willed two coaches on the issue so the only way to address the issue is via trade. There is no magic elixir that will make his shot selection get any better -- he is obviously unaffected by the advice of his coach or by the groans of 17,000 fans. Therefore, you are forced to take the good with the bad because if you sit Josh Smith you are severely impairing your chance to win the series.

And I am saying that is the price you have to pay -- take the good with the bad because he obviously loves his J. The only one who ever had any degree of success in reigning Josh in was Woody, however unfortunately Woody has so many other glaring, egregious flaws as a coach that this one redeeming feature hardly compensated.

If he is "Good Josh" I don't care if he takes a few jumpers because he is a game-changer when he is locked in and flying around the court. His shot went in and out several times and he got caught out by the shot clock a couple of times. We don't win that game without Josh Smith.

that series actually went 7 games...and the Hawks were blasted by the national media so there were no victories to be had of any kind.

Horford has been an absolute non-factor and is getting abused by Noah, which is disappointing as Al is supposed to be the better player. We have to get something from Al to have a chance in this series -- he played the best game of his career against this team earlier in the year so he has the potential to do it. For everyone on this Board that puts so much value in that intangible quality of being a "winner" -- which Al is said to have in great abundance -- now would be an excellent time to begin to demonstrate that. Right now he like a bit playing pick-and-pop big with a very limited post game. He needs to match Noah's effort and get some O-boards for us to win.

Of course it's frustrating to see Smith keep winding up jump shots but honestly some of them weren't horrible in Game 3 (although he missed all of them). He has definitely made a lot of contributions in other ways such as absolutely owning Boozer every time he tries to finish and making things happen in transition.

Davka almost always has them up the day after, esp at this point in the playoffs. Not always but most of the time, and in high quality as well.

Wow! I'm assuming Michael Wilbon is not among that 86% (or IS he?) Thanks for sharing johnny.

i can potentially help out too. I live in London so I have to watch games the day after all the time. Is much easier to avoid the spoilers here than it would be in the States :biggrin: Send me a PM if you are so inclined.

Because even if we get beat by an aggregate 100 points over the next four games...we will still have made a better 2nd round showing than last year. I can find no fault with LD's game management. He brought Al back in the game in the 1st half (something Woody would never do). He called time outs at the absolute appropriate times to kill momentum (a concept Woody never grasped). He kept Zaza in over Josh when he played well, then yanked him when the Bulls extended pressure (dynamic game adjustments, something Woody could not understand). We were still getting movement off screens late in the game -- Al getting the dunk off the downpick on Joe. Perfect. Seriously man why are you still defending Woody for the killjoy? We are doing good things in the 2011 Playoffs, get on board.

Exactly. This exaggerates things somewhat but succinctly sums things up: zero impact is greater than negative impact. And I like both players.

Josh was most disappointing -- that sequence near the end of the first half where we are up 8, he grabs the REB, throws the outlet pass to a wide open Turk who drains the trey, comes down and shoots the step back miss, then commits the frustration foul on Turk for the two free throws was classic Evil Josh and really revitalized the Magic. Plus inexplicable turnovers and airball 8 footers... Marvin was trumps in the 3rd/4th of Game 6. He was always going to have a reduced role against Magic due to matchups but he came up big when his # was called. He could have a much bigger impact against the Bulls...but will he? Would love to see him carry that fire we saw into the next series, but of course it's always day-to-day and game-by-game with him.

that was great. A-1 work.

they are all well aware of what was said.

If you aren't nervous about Game 6 then you must not have been a Hawks fan for very long. The only thing I am surprised about from Game 5 is that so many of us are surprised. Of course I expect us to compete in Game 6 but let's not act like teams haven't come in here in prior years and particularly this year and won on our floor, many times in embarrassing fashion. It should be a great game. Orlando will be desperate and we damn well better be as well. If we match their intensity, as I expect us to at home, it will be good TV.

Does this mean I have to watch the Orlando broadcast again? The though of listening to Guokas whine for another 48 mins...on the other hand how sweet would that be if the Hawks do the unthinkable and clinch...Guok may weep the tears of unfathomable sadness on live TV!

Oh here comes the fail train! Reminds me of the "I feel sorry for the Bucks" thread after the first two games of last year's series. If Orlando wins tonight the pressure is squarely back on us to close at home. We are demonstrably better up and down the roster, but it's not like we've been blowing them out and clearly Orlando could shoot better. This series could still turn quickly.

I believe the user was implying that if the "real" JJ were here then it would not be a close game as he would be raining a barrage of long, medium and short range shots and thus the game would be out of reach, as a win would be comfortably in hand in the closing seconds. I agree it was a bit confusing to get there from what was posted, however.

He should just do an interview like D12 and deny any such wrongdoings. http://www.nba.com/playoffs/2011/eastseries4/?v=/video/channels/playoffs/2011/04/22/0041000133_orl_atl_recap.nba

Also a great way to: a) start a fight b) win the "most hated player in the league as voted by other players" award c) end a guy's career just sayin'

That sentence being, "Jamal Crawford is the all-time NBA leader in four point plays." ??

Oh Man Goukas made that game nearly unwatchable for me. If it wasn't a playoff game I would have just muted it. Also, after Horford turned down an open 17 footer to make the extra pass to JC for a wide open three late in the game (which he made), Pat Garrity chimed in with this gem, which took the cake for me: "Boy, Jamal Crawford really bailed out Al Horford on that play, who looked like he didn't want to shoot it after making one just a minute ago." (Last part is paraphrased as I don't remember it verbatim.)

This is one of the dumbest rules in all of sports. The letter of the law completely missing the intent.

Joe's moment was better in my opinion. Jamal's shot was at a bigger spot in the game, but the Joe shot had so many factors working for it: We were irrelevant for so long. We were playing the best team in the NBA. Nobody gave us a chance. We had been blown out twice in that series and the consensus was that Boston had relaxed and had not put forth their best effort. They needed that game if the series was going to be over quickly, and nearly everyone outside ATL expected them to get it. We had been down by something like ten points at the beginning of the 4th, if memory serves, and it felt like the game was slipping away to the better team. That shot was the culmination of the comeback, and the realization that yes, this is happening. People really started to believe we had a chance to pull off the upset after that game. That series really was about "shocking the world" and it was our NBA Finals. Finally, for some reason the Celtics of 2008 were just way more hateable than the Magic of 2011. For one, you have the whole North/South dynamic and the obnoxius Bean Town fan base/ESPN salivating over their every move, KG yelling at every dead ball and Paul Pierce flailing his arms on every drive, and the general consensus that the Celtics had pulled off a Yankees/Heat-esque hoarding of formerly number 1 guys. There was also much skepticism around the Garnett trade and the Ainge/McHale relationship. The Magic, conversely, seem to be aging and dropping parts before our eyes (J-Rich, Arenas, Q-Rich, and Turk, -- who is a shadow of his form of a couple years ago) and Stan Van Gundy is just funny. The only things hateable about them are Jameerkat and his mouth and D-Howard's obnoxious smile after every call he doesn't like, even though he sets about 100 moving screens a game that would make any O-Line coach proud. Orlando the city is notable for its corporate theme land aimed at children/families and not much else -- I'm pretty much nonplussed/apathetic about their fanbase. Jamal's shot was in game 3 of a 4/5 matchup. The pressure was on us to win. Even though we are underdogs, we are at least expected to be competitive with the Magic. Finally, don't see how Powe falling detracts from the value of that moment. Jamal's was shot banked in from 25 feet, for cryin' out loud. :rolleyes: Joe's shot remains the defining moment of the new millennium for me as a Hawks fan.