lethalweapon3

For the M.E.A.T. (Mo Evans Appreciation Thread), my favorite performance was during a playoff loss (go figure), versus Cleveland Game 2. He was the only guy that showed up offensively (our second leading scorer? Thomas Gardner) but the whole team was overwhelmed by LBJ and Wally "Random Dude" Szczerbiak. And my favorite Mo play was in preseason (go figure): Poor Cheikh Samb got passed around by something like four teams in five months after that. I was most excited though, when the Hawks signed first Mo, then Flip, in summer '08. I was like, "at long last, the Hawks have a bench! Who needs Chillz, when we've got The Flip 'n Mo Show!" Didn't quite work out, but the anticipation of better bench production was great at the time. ~lw3

Bibby got that Tiger Blood! ~winning

I could see a S&T involving Joe plus whatever to bring Dwight here. Orlando's not exactly unfamiliar with eating big contracts. ~lw3

Etan was about to disagree with you, until he remembered he doesn't play. ~lw3

I can only imagine how bananas Steve Holman's broadcast was as well last night. http://twitter.com/realvoiceofhawk ~lw3

There should be a Mo Evans Appreciation Thread, however. ~lw3

Mike Brown on Sportscenter: "You have to give credit to the Chicago Bulls and Kirk Hinrich." C'mon Mike, get your teams right! ~lw3

"Only YOU can prevent bench splinters." ~lw3

The B.R.A.T.! Bob makes the often un-watchable listenable. Exactly the jolt this franchise needs. One of these days he's gonna draw a technical from those blind refs. ~lw3

Some "rimshot" and "laughtrack" audio would take that room over the top. ~lw3

The "Road Warrior Hawks" (19-15) will need just 4 more road victories (of the 7 remaining) to pull past the 1986-87 Hawks (57-25; 22-19 on road) for most road victories in Atlanta-era history. They'll need to go 6-1 on the road to surpass the strike-shortened 1998-99 Hawks (31-19; 15-10 on road) for highest road victory percentage in Atlanta-era history. If either happens, it will be in April. @ Bulls 3/11 @ Sixers 3/23 @ Cavs 3/27 @ Rockets 4/3 @ Pacers 4/8 @ Wizards 4/9 @ Bobcats 4/13 ~lw3

In addition to steals, another activity that is in short supply during Hawks games are blocked shots. Fewest Blocks per Game: Pistons 4.05 (247/61) Nuggets 4.11 (251/61) Suns 4.16 (241/58) HAWKS 4.18 (251/60) Cavaliers 4.19 (247/59) In the above bottom-five list are teams not known for having shotblockers on the roster, including the Suns and Cavs, the latter team losing their leading shotblocker (Varejao, himself not a great shotblocker) for the season. But also there are teams featuring notorious blockers (Andersen, Smoove, Big Ben) that have dialed it back a notch from their peak shot-rejecting seasons. Lowest Block Rates (per 100 possessions, through 2/28/10, courtesy Hoopdata): Nuggets 4.2 Suns 4.3 Cavaliers 4.3 Pistons 4.4 Raptors 4.4 HAWKS 4.5 Mavericks 4.5 Sixers 4.5 Magic 4.6 Celtics 4.7 For teams like Detroit, Atlanta, Boston, and Dallas, the low number of possessions is a contributing factor. Teams like Orlando, Boston, and Phoenix can point to the low proportion of opponent shot attempts at the rim, which is at least understandable in Orlando's case. Smoove (1.7) and Horford (1.0) are momentarily down in per-game blocks from last season (2.1 and 1.1 last year, respectively). Marvin is also down from 0.6 to 0.3 this season. No one other than Smoove and Al are producing at a clip greater than 1-block-for-every-3 games. Theoretically, Smoove is relied upon less to provide help defense compared to previous seasons. Backup forward Josh Powell has amassed a whopping 4 blocked shots over the course of his 45 appearances. On a per-minute basis, the Hawks have one guard/swingman who is in the top-25 at his position (Jeff Teague, who is first among NBA point guards getting more than 10 minutes per game). Backcourt players' blocks are up marginally, but not enough to offset the drop in frontcourt swats. None of the Hawks' centers are within the Top 40 at their position on a per-minute basis. Blocks per 40 minutes (through 2/28/10, with 09-10 blocks in parentheses, courtesy Hoopdata): Smoove 1.93 (2.39) [Hilton-WAS] [1.55] (N/A) Horf 1.19 (1.28) Teague 1.03 (0.61) Zaza 0.83 (1.10) Damien 0.68 (N/A – Mario West, 0.00) JaCo 0.57 (0.71) Marvin 0.44 (0.75) J-Pow 0.30 (N/A – Joe Smith, 1.28) [Kirk-WAS] [0.27] (N/A) Craw 0.24 (0.20) [Mo - ATL] 0.24 (0.52) [bibby- ATL] 0.14 (0.05) Joe 0.13 (0.07) As an aside, the Knicks are the league's leaders in Blocks per game (6.2), just two seasons removed from churning out the lowest number of Blocks per game (2.5) in recorded NBA history. Knicks 05-06 3.3 (NBA Rank 29th) Knicks 06-07 3.2 (NBA Rank T-30th) Knicks 07-08 2.6 (NBA Rank 30th) Knicks 08-09 2.5 (NBA Rank 30th) Knicks 09-10 3.7 (NBA Rank T-30th) Knicks 10-11 6.2 (NBA Rank 1st) With 40 more blocks already than his entire total with the Suns last season, Amar'e is turning away as many shots nightly as ever before. But that league-leading figure is likely to go down, now that New York has traded away both Mozgov and the leading shotblocker from that 08-09 squad, Wilson Chandler, to Denver. When taking their high-paced approach into consideration, Denver will likely up their block rates and leave Atlanta in the basement of this category soon (last night's contest notwithstanding). ~lw3

http://blogs.forbes.com/tomvanriper/2011/02/28/the-most-miserable-sports-cities/ http://www.forbes.com/2011/02/28/seattle-atlanta-phoenix-business-sports-miserable-sports-cities_slide_3.html Aside: Working for Forbes magazine, cashing checks for stating the obvious annually. How do I get THAT job? ~lw3

Yes, the Spin Department is already at work on this one. ~lw3

As much as I want to loathe Motel 6, he was brought here to sop up Zaza's minutes, and rightfully so. He is the only Hawk that can rival Zaza's ability to snare offensive boards and is less of a defensive liability. My long-term plan for ZP as Towel-Waver-in-Chief has been set in motion! ~lw3

FWIW, we got Bibby On Board with his first field goal (a 2-pointer) as a 'Zard. Good news for him so far is through limited minutes in two games he has 7 assists to just one TO. ~lw3

The Knicks need to be more concerned about the Pacers. And the Sixers. And the Bobcats. All of whom are now closer to the Knicks in the East standings than the Hawks. They're closer to the 9th seed than the 5th. We'll see how they respond at Miami on Sunday and at Orlando on Tuesday. If neither team makes it above the 5th seed, then any matchup in the playoffs is good news for both, because it means both underdogs at least made it to the second round. ~lw3

I'll hold out a little longer to see if Teague 2.0 is really a 'flipped switch' or just one of those old heat lamp timer-knobs. A veteran presence is always good as a mentor, but I got the feeling Bibby was more interested in sharing the subtle nuances of hiding whoopie cushions than of bringing the ball up the floor and getting over screens. Also, is Nick the Quick still in Provo? ~lw3

Best wishes to the Czar of the Telestrator on his new gig in Kiev. Bring back some of that good Chicken! ~lw3

Related question after tonight's Knicks game: Will Cavs Jump Wizards? (and Raptors?) ~lw3

I'm actually more worried about my Sixers than I am about the Knicks (who aren't helping their cause so far tonight). Of the three (ATL/NYK/PHI), though, the Knicks will probably be seen as the biggest scare for the Top 3 (MIA/BOS/CHI) come playoff time. ~lw3

And how about 3rd overall in "committed" salaries? $311 million? Somebody really likes our core! ~lw3

Bibster could very well have been #5 also. ~lw3

I'm hoping that at least now when Kirk's in, Hofo and Smoove can crash the offensive boards with much greater frequency, and not have to get a head start chasing down the opposing guards on the break. ~lw3

Cousins was indeed the name that came to mind when they brought up the Gulch development. I'm in the separate-owner camp, with the Hawks owner controlling the operating rights at Philips. That frees up the Thrashers to go to Winnipeg or Winder or West End, wherever, if they choose to go, without requiring another sale. I just like to see Joe Johnson and (someone like) Ilya Kovalchuk's salaries to come from separate pockets. ~lw3