keith

The Hawks just won their biggest game in years and have a even bigger game tommorow and some fans are bitching on the coach like little pussycats. Is Woodson a great coach? I don't know,but he must being doing a good job to force a game seven in a series to a team that won 29 more games than his team.

It should help more than hurt. If philly would of won,then it may of gave the Hawks a false since of security.

Trade this,trade that,fire this ,fire that.... This is the biggest game in years for the Hawks and the local media and some fans are getting off topic. They act like those two home wins didn't mean nothing. Why do some people like to rain on the parade?Lets wait until the season is over before we go back to that bull# . Let the Hawks shock the world.

I strongly believe.

For a team that has won 66 games,their fans and media have been doing too much crying and complaining. win with class,lose with class.

At least we will have to wait three more days before that kind of talk resurface.

After Watching some playoff games tonight,the Hawks fans should come out saturday night with all red or blue. That would help the the young Hawks get better homecourt advantage.

In my opinion,Marvin is a small forward.He can guard the average small forward better than the average power forward. In todays NBA,there isn't much distinction from the two foward positions.If you are( 6"8"-6"9")230+,then most teams expect you to swing between pf-sf. The problem with that is there a small number of true power forwards who are 6 "10" 250 and a few small forwards who are 6"7" 220 that are high scorers that cause matchup problems.Marvin Williams moves his feet on defense(like a small forward) much better than he does with the ball in his hands.He also has some nice post moves and jump hooks (like a power forward)that he should going to more.

Quote: The first game could very well get ugly - but even with our record we didn't "limp" into the playoffs - we had it done with 2 games left in the season - that ain't limping. Your right I might of been too harsh with the title,but the Hawks are young and it might take a game or two for them to get back in stride. I didn't like fact that the Hawks were supposedly trying to win these last two games by playing the starters heavy minutes.

I'm 37, been a Hawks fan between 1982-94. I was a huge fan growing up. Sometime in 94 I disowned the Hawks and for the next ten years I had little interest. When a certain team president and G.M. were let go I jumped back on ship. With Nique able to forgive and forget and also brought back to the organization,I'm back to being a huge fan. I live in Macon.

Don't get me wrong,I am a Hawks fan,but I didn't like the way the Hawks approached their last two games. They didn't play a lick of defense and the coaching decision of playing/not playing the bench was puzzling. I hope that the Hawks can regain some intensity or the first game could get ugly.

Quote: Well unfortunately Woody doesn't have a Sam Cassell, PJ Brown, James Posey, etc to bring off the bench. He has to be forced to play guys that are borderline NBA players instead of guys with championship experience. Sure he is guilty of leaving guys on the floor or off the floor for too long but I can't fault him for not wanting to play the guys we have on the bench. I do hope that Solo earned a few minutes going forward with his solid 2nd quarter play tonight. I admit that the Hawks don't have as deep a bench as the Celtics,but Woodson has to find a way to steal some minutes from his starters. The Hawks had five players with over 30 minutes,not including Smith who was in foul trouble. The Celtics had only one player over 30 minutes. If these two teams meet in the playoffs this can't happen or the Hawks will struggle with fatigue .Woodson played into Rvers hand,he thought that he could play his starters heavy minutes,because the Celtics were going to do the same thing. In the fourth quarter it was fresh celtics bench against the tired Hawks starters.

To use the bench or not to use the bench? I'm sometimes guilty of being critical of Woodsons substitutions patterns,but it was clear tonight that the Celtics bench was the key to the game.Woodson hasn't developed a bench and he plays his starters too many minutes. After that Memphis game Woodson has basically abandoned the bench. He only plays the bench when he is forced to. Unless Law is hurt he should be getting some minutes. The Hawks offense stalls when Bibby is out and Childress is ask to play point, taking away from his baseline game. JJ is good but he isn't 42 minutes a game good. He needs some rest from time to time.Good teams have good coaches who trust their benches.

When Zaza picked up his second or third foul in the second quarter,Woodson didn't go back to Horford,he put Solomon in the game to close out the quarter. Last night the Suns Stoudamire had two early fouls,but they stuck with him and eventually won the game. The Suns unlike the Hawks new the importance of theses late season games and coach and play accordingly. Judging by the comments made by Woodson before the Pacers he didn't have the team mentally prepared. I guess the Hawks just aren't use to games with meaning this late in the season.

Mr. Bibby we need you for friday night. You have been a big help to this team since you have arrived,but the last three games you have been missing in action. We as Hawks fans need you to step up and lead this team,so we won't have to spend time on this forum having arguments about the play of your backups.