tremor

Howard ate Lopez alive last time they played against each other.

Problem with Smoove at 3 is he leans to come with help inside and leaves his man wide open at perimeter. Zaza starting means no decent big coming off the bench.

Nash missed twice in second half (one time it was hook shot just after shock clock expired that went in) and made three jumpers. All made shots were with Al's hand in his face, so I think he did a decent job defending Canadian. Yes, that switch was bad but not coming with help D from weak side was even worse. Bibby had trouble guarding taller and stronger Richardson who shot over him at will. That was match up that could have been "fixed" with one of wingman defenders available.

It couldn't had been predicted that all three SFs would get injured. When healthy Hawks have Marvin/Evans/Sy as SF rotation + JJ and Smoove can play this position for some stretches.

Some switches were purly Horford's fault. He failed to notice that JJ/Mike got his man again and missed a possibility to come back to his guy. Pros to Nash though - he didn't miss a single opportunity to make good play. Smooth left his man open at perimeter too many times. That missed open lay up by Zaza was just horrible. Play when the score was 114-112 should have be planned for Al, or drive and dish for open 3. Going to JJ was too predictable and I think he'd been playing the whole 2nd half. Still, an exciting game, great 3rd quarter, Joe, Al and Josh proved their values again, too little support from bench (Powell missed 3 open lay ups) outside of Teague and Jamal.

One more reason to hate was JJ's playoffs performance last year.

Lopez is soft.

I'm not justifying Joe, just stating how it is. You want productive JJ at offensive end? Play him less than 35 mins per game.

Lopez was also like 1/10 from the field against Dwight.

If Hawks can't afford to keep Smoove, can they afford to replace him with top 10 talent? bullsh*t.

LD has to find the way to rest JJ even with the risk of losing a game e.g. vs Phoenix. It is nice to see the team on the top of conference but season isn't decided at its beginning and Hawks will need their leader healthy and fresh when it counts.

I know, but Marvin and Jamal could have played several minutes longer instead of JJ.

I'm really worried about JJ's minutes. Vs Wizards he played SF to stop Thornton. Tonite Marvin played well and could play longer than usual. JJ will shoot badly if he wears out, we've seen it time after time.

I'm sorry to write that but Marvin was so bad vs Wizards that Joe had to play most of his minutes at 3 because Thorton was killing us. BTW, Marvin fell down on the court at least twice without a reason. He was just horrible.

This signing is a consequence of resigning JJ. Joe's overpaid, no doubt, but our core is secured for several years to come.

Well, game is hackable (i.e. amount of available skill points), so I see your point, but 55 is way to low for max passing to me (maybe I shouldn't have chose defensive style for my PF). While adjustment in switching defense is nice it would be even nicer if it worked well. Sometimes my player is supposed to cover TWO guys at one time and is punished no matter which one scores. Also in transition a player who is much closer to attacked basket is sometimes assigned so there the only thing you can do is to hope that your teammates will stop that guy. You're punished for bad steal attempt or bad block attempt even when there are no consequences of your play. It's like punishing for pump fake if defender doesn't buy it. I'm playing 2nd season anyway ;), ranked around #3700.

Totally agree. After completing first season I'm not that much enthusiastic about playing the second one mostly because of all the issues it has. I just found out that my guy can't have more than 55 passing which is simply stupid. It would be enough to make it very expensive skill to prevent maximizing it by some kinds of players.

My favorite mode is 'My Player'. I've created defensive minded PF who was drafted by ... the Hawks (they desperately needed solid player for this position ;)). After getting starter role (about 15th-20th game) Atlanta traded Marvin and Jamal for Young and Hinrich (pipe dream) and Smoove was moved to 3 spot. Hawks struggled throughout the season as they didn't have much help from me at offensive end (I shot 37% from the field) and finished with 44-38 record at 5th spot just to face Miami Heat at 1st round (yep). After RS my player was ROY and had 64 overall ranking (started at 40). We beat the Heat and now we're leading 3-2 in series vs Boston (KG is beasting in this game though). My player has number of (sometimes really annoying) issues like ridiculous line-ups (Boykins with Bibby as backcourt) and rotation, wrong rating for some plays but it's still lot of fun to me. Actually I played only 3 "normal" games so far.

At this point of his career Mike is overpaid but there are still some situations in which he can be used. If switching defense is gone he shouldn't be starting, that's for sure.

I don't buy "good passer but not natural PG" talk as justification for not putting him at PG spot. If guy can distribute the ball he can play at least some minutes as playmaker. Ask Jamal.

55 wins? I like Dennis Scott.

The scoreboard is cool, but ... how do you turn it off?

If he could develop into combo guard it would be great. He's a little bit short for SG (although still taller than Ellis/Curry).

Good point about Teague's work ethic. He worked on his jumper last season despite being demotivated by Woodson all year long. OT: But I can't disagree more on Westbrook. He was a stud in the playoffs thanks to leadership qualities he showed on the court. Teague on the other hand doesn't have to be the leader. Jeff's role it to initiate offense most of the time. JJ is payed to be the guy when it matters the most. That's what Bryants, Wades and Jamses of the league do.