BackForThe2ndTime

At this point, I just need one of those easy buttons. Let's just hope we can keep this up.

The Atlanta Hawks led the Washington Wizards 87-77 after the third quarter yesterday, which isn't nothing as leads go, but, in its broad outline the game still had the feel of one whose outcome could go either way. The Hawks looked sharper, sure, but the Wizards had won the second quarter and gotten as close as three points in the third, and a tight, exciting, competitive finish between two of the East's best teams seemed plausible. Then each member of the Hawks grew four extra limbs and torrents of lava erupted from their roaring mouths and a pit opened up at midcourt and the Wizards fell into it and were consumed by the earth itself, and the Hawks won by 31. That's pretty much how it goes for Atlanta's opponents, these days. They've won 22 of their last 24 games. They are f***ing terrifying. Everyone who logs minutes for the Hawks is good. Not just in the sense that literally everyone but Kirk Hinrich who makes it to the NBA, by definition, is good at basketball, but also in the sense that every member of Atlanta's rotation causes matchup problems in some way or another. The Hawks never don't have a bunch of guys on the court who can shoot and move the ball and defend; they just keep coming, foul trouble and injury and heat-death of the universe be damned, more and more guys who can shoot and move the ball and defend, forever, all of them wearing red and navy. A defender leaves his man for a split second to rotate toward the hoop and head off a dribble-drive, and suddenly the ball is pinging around faster than your eye can follow it, like laser light through a mirror-maze, everybody scrambling madly to close out every corner of a hopelessly stretched-out floor, until it finds a guy, some guy, who the f*** is that guy, do they have eight dudes on the floor or what, and he's draining an open three, another f***ing open three, and every skeleton inside the other team turns to jelly in defeat. Defending the Hawks is as much a test of mental and psychological endurance as it is a physical challenge. Can defenders summon the energy and focus and commitment and sheer will to A) help contain the ball-handler, then B) anticipate the ball movement, then C) run like hell to close out on a shooter, then D) recover, rotate, and run like hell toward another shooter, all at a dead sprint, all the time, for 48 minutes, when there are shooters everywhere and it never works and after the first five minutes it starts to seem like nothing so much as trying to build a sandcastle in the actual ocean itself, like an interpretive dance whose meaning is "futility?" This is why the Hawks won the fourth quarter by 21 points last night. The Wizards, god bless them, were tired. Physically and mentally. In their heads, they were already back at the hotel, sobbing into their pillows. Still, even stipulating that all the Hawks are good, man, Kyle Korver is just unfair. My favorite play in that highlight reel isn't the slick behind-the-back pass to DeMarre Carroll on the break, or the sweet lob over the top to Al Horford for a dunk, or the bananas catch-and-shoot from 28 feet. No, my favorite is the simple corner three Korver hits at around 1:55. He loops along the baseline as Dennis Schröder sends an entry pass to Horford in the post; the instant Horford detects that the Wizards are twisted out of shape defensively, he fires the ball out to Pero Antić at the top of the key, and Antić doesn't even waste time rotating it to the next guy: he skips it right past Thabo Sefolosha to Korver in the corner. Look at the two Wizards, Bradley Beal and Martell Webster, as they recognize where the ball is going and both, simultaneously, sellout to get there. Their mingled desperation and despair. Even as they're flying out there—Hell no, not this time, goddammit not another three—they know they're beat. The shot rattling around for a second, before (of course) dropping through, is just a taunt, a troll move, one last glimmer of false hope. Ol' Kyle's been around for a long time—he played with Allen Iverson in Philadelphia what seems like a thousand years ago—but until he landed with the Hawks, he'd mostly been used to stretch the floor for guys who can't shoot. Credit the Hawks's braintrust with the mad-scientist idea of combining him with a bunch of other guys who can shoot, and letting him do stuff other than running to the wing with his hands in front of his chest; turns out, he's a nifty passer, a smart and credible defender, and can drive past a closeout to get himself in range for a floater. He's a real basketball player now that, at 33, he's finally allowed to be one. All the while, the threat of his shooting range still warps NBA defenses just as much as John Wall's speed, or Boogie Cousins's power, or tying all their shoelaces together, or an asteroid strike. And: he's Atlanta's fourth-best player. The Hawks are a nightmare. http://deadspin.com/my-god-my-god-the-hawks-are-a-f***ing-juggernaut-1678986975

Most enjoyable game of the season. So many moments. *Jeff spinning Pierce in a circle before dishing to Horford (I think) for the 3! *Horford's emphatic block of Pierce as he cried for a foul (really don't like Pierce) *Korver's behind the back pass the DMC *Korver's 3 from the parking lot *Schröder's walkoff 3 There were many more I know I just forgot. Good game all around and Sap and Teague didn't even have to do much scoring. That's encouraging.

Good W...I guess. Frustrating to see us get up big so often and give it back. Interesting that Jennings was essentially shelved. I know he would have gave us the ball a few times but he can drop points quick if he gets going too.

Bazemore with the block!!

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/grantland/player?id=12139761 He talks with NBA.com writer and lifetime Hawks fan Lang Whitaker about the Hawks. They talk about a lot. Attempts to sign a superstar, current run, weaknesses, trade possibilities, best case scenario 1st round series and who should make the ASG. Still listening but some good convo. Seems like this makes up most of this podcast.

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=12139087 Starts at about 12:30 but listen a little earlier if you want to hear about him saying "Not Josh Smith" should make the All-star team . He talks about how prolific a shooter Korver is. How when he gets the ball and it's obvious he's open, opposing crowd's sag and home crowd's basically perk up because he's so good at what he does. Talks about how few guys that happens with. Only consensus they came up with in the current league is Curry and I agree. Dan set them straight when someone says Liliiard. lol. Lilliard's nice but his 3 is a little on the streaky side. Reddick is also mentioned but idk that he's feared like that.The other closest name mentioned is Dirk who is close, but idk. Cool listen either way. Figured I'd share.

Caught this yesterday. Insightful read, to say the least. Will get back to GA later this month for my first Hawks game outside of the Verizon center. Cool to read beforehand.

Pretty amazing win. Korver and Teague's back to back 3s def made for one of my favorite moments of the season so far. Looks like a big showdown on Friday against the two hottest teams in the league at the moment. I'd like to think we have the edge at the guard position. They have young guards who will hopefully make a lot of mistakes against our smother D. The bigs will be the difference. They simply have the size we don't. Can't see us trying to bang with them and can't see us getting away with some of he nifty work we typically do under/around the basket as much. I think they will have to just hold serve down there and hope to draw them away from the basket.This could definitely be a Michael Scott game and I think we could def see some of Brand. Should be a good game. Missed our game with them earlier this. May have to check it out tomorrow.

WHEW. Don't even know when to start. Yea, I do! TEAGUE PUT THE TEAM ON HIS BACK!! Those 2 plays in the fourth when their house was rocking were so clutch. I also love how we can do things like bring Thabo in to guard Lilliard. Such a luxury and it allows Teague to focus more physically and mentally on running our offense.

This is a big game. Excited to see how we hold up against Aldridge the most. That will be key. This feels like the spot for Korver to step up and for our bench to win the battle against theirs.

Nice win. Teague and Sap were just taking turns on that Cavs D. Nasty.

Better.

Not completely sure WTH that was... Almost willing to not even rationalize it in my head and just see what they do tomorrow.

Good, albeit an ugly win. I was forced to watch the Clippers feed on Ballstreams and it was cringeworthy at times.They went on and on about how Schröder was similar to Rondo and how he couldn't shot. How much it hurt to have Schröder out there lol. He definitely is no sniper out there. Just wasn't looking for his shot tonight as much. The thing I was most excited about is that we won a game againt a high scoring team with a dominant rebounder like Jordan. The amount of second chances we give up at times is frustrating. I know our rebounding problem has a lot to do with personnel, but I still feel like we have to improve.

Whew!

Amazing run we got going. Even if tonight wasn't their best night, our depth/bench is something to be excited about.

That was....beautiful. Horford's play had me hype and this as this team started to steadily pull away, I felt like I was in heaven.

Thabo!

Only caught the 2nd half but this was the most enjoyable game of the season to me. That Utah team matches up well with us but we pulled it out with the help of some role players. With a little help from Hayward going cold. All that plus Korver's shot...too cold.

....Not sure how we lose this game. Felt like we were in control most of the game before the OT. I'm not sure why someone mentioned Zeller. Jefferson is the one killing us. I know there are some advantages to having Horford at the 5 but they weren't apparent tonight.

YUUSSS!

Didn't see a thread on the last few pages. http://mweb.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/24644949/video-klay-thompson-and-kyle-korvers-3-point-contest-at-usab There's nothing like a friendly long-distance shootout between NBA players to show you that these guys just love to compete. After shootarounds and practices around the league, millionaires do the same things regular basketball-playing people do. Just, you know, much better. At Team USA training camp in Las Vegas, this means that the Golden State Warriors' Klay Thompson and the Atlanta Hawks' Kyle Korver treated onlookers to quite a show. LetsGoWarriors.com's Rich Twu was on hand at the Mendenhall Center to film it and get Thompson's reaction after the loss. “Man,” the competitive Thompson said, shaking his head, “He beat me four out of seven spots. “You can only miss one shot, maybe two (against Korver),” Thompson added, “but I love shooting with Kyle — or Steph. There’s not many guys I think can shoot better than me. It just gets me better.” Thompson vowed there would be more three-point contests coming up as training camp continues. Team USA will have an intrasquad game at UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center on Friday, then play exhibition games in Chicago and New York later in August. The FIBA World Cup begins on Aug. 30 in Spain.

I saw this guy standing beside the deputy GM and screamed hell yeah. I know its not that simple, but....in Ferry we trust....because we have no choice.

Is he taller than Horford? Lol