lethalweapon3

Hey, Meerkat, Delta is ready when you are! ~lw3

Well! Your thoughts??? ~lw3

Braves becoming a media spectacle in 3,2,1... ~lw3

I'd enjoy Dwight and Josh wearing the same jersey... just not so much in a starting capacity on the floor together. I feel a little better about it now that Josh is improving his free throw shooting, but I'd rather see Josh come in when Dwight is in foul trouble, or at the end of games when we're ahead and need stops... a super-sub forward to minimize the dropoff when we go to the bench. We'd definitely need the right fit at the starting 3 spot (perhaps someone we can trust with open jumper decisions?), and that would have to be another acquisition by trade or free agency. Josh's contract expires in 2013 if I'm not mistaken, so we'd be talking about possibly one season only if Josh walked afterwards. I wouldn't balk at making Josh part of the 2012 deal for Dwight, then letting Josh decide if he'd like to return and join his fellow 27-year-old buddy in 2013 for a shot at hometown glory. At least then they'd both be under multi-year contracts. ~lw3

Actually that's 10-6 (0.625) when scoring 30+, versus 41-21 (0.661). It's better but not way better. ~lw3

http://www.basketbal...1/gamelog/2011/ This season, the Magic are 35-8 when Dwight takes 13 shots or fewer, 16-19 otherwise. ~lw3

~lw3

Y’all can correct me if I’m mistaken, but if the Hawks do as they should and pull out a series win, either here (Game 6) or back in the Tragic Kingdom (Game 7), it will mark the first playoff upset by a seeded underdog Atlanta Hawks team in a seven-game series. These were the only other times I can find where Atlanta was the underdog (or at least, the lower-seeded team) in a playoff series and came away victorious. Those who remember these series (or any others), feel free to add any notes or corrections. 1996 NBA Playoffs, Eastern Conference First Round: Atlanta Hawks (46-36, 4th in Central Division, 6th seed) defeated Indiana Pacers (52-30, 2nd in Central Division, 3rd seed), 3 games to 2 Game 1: April 25, 1996 - Hawks 92, PACERS 80 Game 2: April 27, 1996 - PACERS 102, Hawks 94 Game 3: April 29, 1996 – HAWKS 90, Pacers 83 Game 4: May 2, 1996 – Pacers 83, HAWKS 75 Game 5: May 5, 1996 – Hawks 89, PACERS 87 *With most of Atlantans’ minds fixated on the pending arrival of a whole other sporting event (Game 3’s “announced” Omni crowd was 11,290), the Hawks’ series win followed two successive playoff dispatches by Reggie Miller’s Pacers, including a 1994 upset (4-2) in the conference semifinals, and a 3-0 sweep of the Hawks in a 1995 first-round matchup. Indiana won 3 of the 4 regular-season bouts. * In the era immediately preceding the arrival of Dikembe Mutombo, the Hawks trotted out a starting lineup of Blaylock, Steve Smith, Stacey Augmon, Grant Long, and Christian Laettner. * The Hawks’ outside shooters, including Craig Ehlo with his four three-pointers in the second quarter of Game 1, could not be matched by the Pacers without Miller. Miller was a question mark for the entire series, recovering from a fractured eyesocket suffered less than two weeks before. * In the Game 3 victory at the Omni, Mookie Blaylock tied an NBA playoffs record with eight steals (eclipsed three seasons later by current ATL resident Allen Iverson, with ten), including two in the final minute to keep the Pacers at bay. Without Miller, Smith proved hard to contain early in the series, averaging 26 points through the first 3 contests. *Miller returned wearing protective glasses for the pivotal Game 5 at Market Square Arena, leading a spirited 4th quarter effort by the Pacers that fell short at the buzzer. 16 of Miller’s 29 points came in the final stanza. Blaylock helped the Pacers’ cause late by fouling Miller on a three-point attempt with 31 seconds left (Miller made all the free throws), then tossing the ball out of bounds with 11 seconds remaining. Miller’s missed field goal was believed by many at the time to be his last hurrah as a Pacer, as he prepared to enter unrestricted free agency. * The series was Laettner’s playoff debut, following the midseason dealing of Spud Webb and Andrew Lang to acquire him and Sean Rooks. Laettner contributed a double-double (15 points, 11 rebounds) in Game 5, as well as 24 points and 8 rebounds in Game 3. * Laettner was needed to neutralize Rik Smits. Compounding injury concerns for Indiana, Smits had a career-high scoring average that season, but was hampered all season by a sore foot. His 29 points keyed a Game 2 victory in Indy to even the series, but he was not enough of a defensive presence against Laettner. * The Hawks could have closed out the Pacers in Atlanta, but a seven-minute scoring drought in the final quarter of Game 4 allowed the Pacers to even up the series. * The Hawks would go on to the semifinals, losing to Shaquille O’Neal’s Magic in five games of a seven-game series. By winning their final regular-season game and a tiebreaker with Detroit, they avoided playing Orlando in the first round. * The Pacers slid backwards (39-43) and out of the playoffs the following year. Larry Brown would resign and Larry Bird would assume the helm. TRIVIA: For 1995-96, the Hawks’ highest salary ($3.1 million) went to a player who was forced into retirement during the 1993-94 season. Who was he? 1979 NBA Playoffs, Eastern Conference First Round: Atlanta Hawks (46-36, 3rd in Central Division, 5th seed) defeated Houston Rockets (47-35, 2nd in Central Division, 4th seed), 2 games to 0 Game 1: April 11, 1979 – Hawks 109, ROCKETS 106 Game 2: April 13, 1979 – HAWKS 100, Rockets 91 * The Hawks finished the year just two games behind division champion San Antonio (the Rockets and Spurs were in the East, while the Bucks, Pacers, and Bulls were in the Western Conference). The one game edge by the 76ers and Rockets, the latter coming off a seven-game winning streak, relegated Atlanta to the fifth seed and kicking off the playoffs on the road. * The Rockets were stacked with a virtual future-Hall-of-Fame starting lineup, led by league MVP Moses Malone, who ended the season averaging a whopping 17.6 rebounds per game. He was flanked by a fully-recovered Rudy Tomjanovich, the soon-to-retire Rick Barry, and mighty-mite Calvin Murphy. The latter two players were first and second in the league in free throw shooting percentage. In the regular season, the Hawks won 3 of 4 matchups, but Malone averaged 28 points and 18 boards against them. * The Hawks had enough bigs to contend with Malone in a short series. Behind free-agent acquisition Dan Roundfield and Steve Hawes, was shotblocker Tree Rollins and Tom McMillen. They also had John Drew and Eddie Johnson to match the Rockets’ offensive firepower. * Game 1 featured a second-half spurt led by Roundfield, who finished with 23 points and 18 rebounds. Drew struggled with his shooting (4-for-24) but got to the line enough to get 15 points. The Hawks hung on at the Summit despite Roundfield fouling out with over two minutes to play. Rollins blocked Mike Newlin’s potentially-tying jumpshot in the closing minute of action. * In Game 2, they overcame coach Hubie Brown’s ejection in the second quarter of his home playoff game (by the legendary ref Earl Strom) and another halftime deficit, applying defensive pressure in the final quarter to hold Houston scoreless for over five minutes. Malone was held without a point in the fourth quarter. * Like this year’s version, the ’79 Hawks had another shooting guard coming off the bench and firing all-cylinders. A mid-season acquisition, the late Terry Furlow (who would perish in a drug-impaired auto crash just over one year later) dropped 12 points in the second half of Game 2 to help close things out. The win was the 17th straight at the Omni. * The loss for the Rockets was the swan song for 1977 Coach of the Year Tom Nissalke, who would be replaced by his youthful assistant, Del Harris. * The Hawks went on to push the defending champion Washington Bullets to seven games before falling in the conference semifinals. * Beating the Rockets was a bit of a salve for the mistake the Hawks made trading away their #1 overall pick to Houston in 1976. The Hawks were uncertain about the potential of Robert Parish of Centenary and traded down to the 9th spot (Armond Hill), also giving Houston Dwight Jones in exchange for Joe Meriweather (one season) and Gus Bailey (waived pre-season). The Rockets took John Lucas, and Parish nearly fell to the Hawks anyway, going 8th to the Warriors. Late ASG co-owner Bud Seretean was the GM at the time of the 1976 trade. TRIVIA: Who was the Hawks’ GM in 1979 for the mid-season trade that brought Terry Furlow to the Hawks, for rookie Butch Lee? ~lw3

Should SVG really be drinking Mountain Dew? ~lw3

Here Lies the San Antonio Spurs. 1997-2011 ~lw3

I'm going to "duck" answering this question. ~lw3

At this pace he's heading toward Holiday Inn territory. Hope he continues to improve. Q-Rich is still trying to find the phone number for the hotel he ran into last night. ~lw3

How much do you suppose Jamal would willingly take to be a 35-year old super sub in 4 years? If he's willing to take a 60% paycut like Bibby did ($4 to 4.5 million over 4 years?), then by all means. Jamal Crawford, come on down... so long as The Price Is Right! ~lw3

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/2011-04-25-505207106_x.htm Somebody, drug test the syrup bottles... /cmonson! ~lw3

Anybody see SVG's? He was hanging people out to dry! PANAC! ~lw3

Go Red Roof Armstrong! ~lw3

I was right that the media would treat this series as one big snooze-fest. But I was totally wrong in thinking there would be no turnout for the Hawks based on how they stumbled into the postseason. To me, yesterday's crowd was even more impressive than the Boston series; even though there are tons of Celtics fans around town, there are just as many who are pleased to pay money purely for the possible joy of watching the Celtics lose. Not so much for Dwight and the Magic. That capacity crowd was 90% pulling for the Hawks to win and didn't just sit on their hands while the Magic were making runs. ~lw3

They can't say that about our pledges!... ~lw3

I got to sit two sections away from 118, that crew is awesome. Pure fandom. Sometimes I think they don't even know the score. And that "will you PLEASE sit the hell down?" guy is a total regular, he usually tries to sit behind opposing team fans at Hawks and Dream games to pick on them. ~lw3

I need a new nickname for Motel6, he deserves an upgrade after tonight. Red Roof? ~lw3

J-Pow just said, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" ~lw3

I know Raptors fans are just lovin' this series. ~lw3

Anybody enjoyed Craw's regular season buzzer beater against Phx more? I probably do since it was a needed lift, was a "wiser" shot, actually won the game, and was on ESPN. But it's great to have multiple clutch JC moments to pick from. ~lw3

Sounds about right. Get Motel6, Poet, and Magnum TA to bed early tonight!

It's RealGM. ~lw3