AUhawksfan

There is a difference between saying and doing. I was very impressed hearing him yell at his team (we know this was meant for Smoove) to take better and smarter shots on offense. Well as a coach you need to help make that happen by sitting Josh. Lo and behold he leaves him in and bad shots continue. I loved what I heard but hated what I saw when that timeout was over.......you can't just talk the talk Larry.

Maybe you don't bring in Jamal for Teague but what about leaving Josh Smith out there for so long??? Any coach with a pedigree (Jackson, Sloan, Poppovich) would have pulled Josh wayyyy sooner.

Perfect, thank you!!! You put into word what I've been trying to regarding Josh for the longest time. When others screw up, it's not like they're missing shots they haven't made at a high percentage in the past. Al and Marvin took shots available to them, while Smoove went out of his way to force bad shots that weren't there in the first place or take jumpers that he has never made on a consistent basis in the past. I don't knock Marvin or Al, because at least what they were doing was in the flow of the game.

Agreed. I've never seen a guard that can block like him. He had one block in the Chicago game after a foul call that made me get out of my seat.

Joe just had that extra bounce in his step, you could see it from the get go. When he is quick on his feet and smooth with his shot, he is so fun to watch and makes the game look so easy.

You speak of logic yet give no reasoning for this post. How about you elaborate with numbers or tell us what is a better option?

Orlando has shot themselves out of this series for the moment but don't don't you think Atlanta's D has something to do with it? Gotta love the homerism though I agree that some of the shooting problems is just that Orlando is cold. We could have had much more convincing wins by this point.

I think this is a pretty level headed response. We are beating the Magic but honestly we should be beating them more convincingly. And I agree that we should be careful not to overuse Crawford. Only a matter of time before he hits a cold streak.

He's playing himself into an extension, that's for sure. I'd really like to see us get rid of another contract such as Marvin's before trying to keep Jamal.

Last time i checked, this was a TEAM game. I don't get what all this griping on Joe is about. It's on Al and Josh just as much as it is Joe, he doesn't deserve any extra scrutiny. He has not played at a superstar level but he has been extremely consistent, isn't overly forcing his offense, and most importantly we are winning! Why not stick to a formula that's working? Look at the last 4 lines of what you put: there is not argument. You are exactly right, so I don't see why you are making this into one.

See? Even the national media recognizes Teague's work on defense. Sadly, our coach does not.

One very positive sign on offense was 8 free throws by Joe. While not a ton it does show you his willingness to get in there and draw contact. Him and other players need to continue with this approach.

Yeah but ESPN is easy to hop on a bandwagon. They'd be saying the exact opposite if we were on the other end. Do you really take their opinion that seriously?

Very well put. LD had a good strategy for Game 1 but the playoffs is all about making adjustments during the series and he needs to keep Teague in his back pocket if Jamal starts struggling on offense. As you said, Jamal was getting good looks and knocking them down so his issues on defense were negated. I don't see him staying this hot all series so I really hope Drew uses Teague when necessary. I think this will be a huge factor as to whether we win this series or not. Dwight can get his points, that doesn't bother me as long as we clamp down on the perimeter.

I don't necessarily see anything wrong with what he said. I think some people are taking it differently but when he says he isn't worried about the fans I think he means that he has blocked it out so he can focus on playing the game and that's how it should be. He is just trying to focus on the Magic and block out all other distractions, that's all there is to it. If he uses the doubt as fuel, then more power to him. I don't mind if he's frustrated, so long as he uses it to put up some numbers and hopefully take the series. This is where JJ is really going to earn his paycheck in my eyes. I don't care what he says, just what he does out there on the court.

Well we swept Boston last year in the regular season and they definitely went a lot deeper than us in the playoffs. I'm going to withhold any positive judgment until this team proves me otherwise.

Man this crept up fast. Hoping our hawks are ready to show up!

Yeah it's sad but I feel that Al has even lost a bit of that youthful heart, energy, and passion he used to have. This unemotional playing is seeming to be contagious......not a good thing.

Joe dominating the C's at home and I agree about Baron's dunk over Kirilenko, that series and the fact they won it was impressive. I miss how active and into the game that crowd was against the Celtics. Being on MARTA after game 6 and chanting "overrated" with everybody was an awesome exeperience.

Something about Van Gundy reminds me of a used car salesman.

No, actually I consider myself pretty level-headed. By "poise" I'm not referring to this strange definition you've given. I like his passion but too many times it hurts the team. My definition of poise in this instance: he needs to show control of himself and his emotions when in the game. If Al or Joe were complaining on calls instead of getting back on D, I'd call them out too and I know I have done that for Joe before. I agree Joe and Al have been playing terribly, and I don't expect him to do everything. I just want him to play smarter. There are so many very simple things Josh could to improve his game drastically but he is too hard headed to fix it. I wish you could have shown a little more "poise" in your response.

He is a force in the paint other teams fear? His stink up games aren't that often? How many games have you watched? The thing is Josh lacks poise and consistency. Even if Al has a bad night he sticks to his game plan or at least doesn't try and overdo things. When Josh isn't having success, he will continue making the same decisions (ill advised shots, risky passes, continual griping). It's almost a snowball effect with him. Getting a quality center would help, but do you really think his game would change that much? He's been doing the same thing 7 years!!!

I agree that it isn't the losses themselves, it's getting blown out, the lack of heart, etc. Our record against winning teams also bothers me. While Miami has the same stat against their favor, they have been competitive in many more of those games than we have.

Having a good second round to creep back into this. Final Four still intact! :drinks:

I'm just glad I don't have to see Bibby get beat off the dribble anymore, unless it's on an ESPN recap of a Miami game.