Lots of positives tonight

[exodus]

Even though they lost I still feel good about the way they played. Denver is a tough place to get a victory and they fought hard all the way, just a few execution mistakes

cost them big. There were so many positives from this game:

Harrington wtf was that lol. When did he become Ray Allen? I have seen him have big games before but I have never seen so many long range bombs from him. He even ( I can't believe

I am saying this) seemed to exert himself on D. Incredible game. Do you think he was auditioning for the Nuggets?

Ivey and Lue combined for 30 points.

JJ and Lue combinded for 16 assists, which just so happens to be the teams per game average.

A fast paced game like this really helps Salim and Childress and they both responded.

JJ's shooting of 2-9 is actually a positive to me. His shot was off but he didn't start trying to force bad shots. However he should never bring the ball up the court. He always walks it up and is too turnover prone.

It was a real longshot for the Hawks to win in Denver with JJ and Zaza having off nights and Josh Smith not there to protect the basket. However they almost pulled it off and looked like a real team for a change. After that Denver fiasco this was a welcome sight.

[Peoriabird]

Quote:

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Ivey and Lue combined for 30 points.

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Lue's man lit him up like a christmas tree and it basically turned into a layup drill for the Nuggets. They Shot like 61% and you see positives? Actually tonight game should have made you fell worse because even though the Hawks had 30 assist, 15 turn-overs & shot almost 50% from the field, they still lost by 10. You can't ask for more offensive production than that unless you are the showtime lakers of the 80's. Which means that the Hawks will continue to lose until we get a defensive center in here to anchor this very porous defense.

[lifelong]

we did some good things offensively. but the nuggets got 41 points and 20 assists from miller/boykins. i'm guessing jj wasn't guarding either of them at all, so we were completely dominated defensively by the PG position.

[exodus]

Reality check. The Hawks simply don't have the players to be a good defensive team now. The only guy on their roster who can protect the rim was out tonight. Lue, Harrington, Zaza, Childress simply aren't good defenders. With the players they have there is no way the Hawks can play good team D even with flawless execution.

However they do have the players to play well on offense they just haven't shown it much so far this season. Tonight things clicked much better. If they had played the way they normally do on offense this game would have been a blowout.

[KB21]

The impressive stat is the 30 assists as a team. Al shot the ball 25 times, but he still managed to dish out 4 assists.

Joe Johnson has the ability to effect the game in other ways when he isn't shooting the ball very well. He is a very good distributor of the ball even if he isn't great at bringing it up the court. If only we had signed Joe three years ago, he would have been the perfect backcourt partner for Jason Terry.

I don't get to see the Hawks much at all due to where I'm in school at, but my dad watched them when they played Memphis earlier in the year. One of the things he told me that impressed him about the Hawks in that game was their ball movement.

Now, I haven't seen them much, but it looks like this team plays better when the tempo of the game is fast paced, and they play unselfish offensive basketball. As you mentioned, the up tempo game is better for Josh Childress and Salim Stoudamire. Josh really feeds off his ability to get out in the open floor and cut to the basket.

Mike is a defensive minded coach though, and I wonder if his desire to get this team to play tough defense hampers their ability to play their style of offense.

[lifelong]

that's true. but even if you're not a great defensive team, i would think that you could neutralize one facet of their offense, but the nuggets got whatever they wanted from everywhere on the floor. no opposing team should shoot 58%. but i guess we're still young.

[Diesel]

Greg Buckner and Marcus Camby

For you boxscore scanner, you'd never know it.. BUT these guys disrupted everything we were doing offensively. Going into the 4th, we had some momentum, we were down 2, we were looking pretty good actually. Buckner came in and got timely steals, blanketed JJ, Al, or who ever was a scoring threat at the time. Then Camby came in with big blocks on Chillz and Al when it matter the most.

Tonight, I was happy with our offense (save Johnson's, Williams' scoring)... I was really happy with Ivey.

Instead of Royal with Cheese... I think we should call him Scrappy doo. He may just make Lue an off the bench PG for the rest of the season?

I would like to see more of Scrappy, JJ, JS, Al, and Zaza as the starting 5.

The other thing I think contributed alot to our lost was fouls... The other team gets them.. We don't. I don't know if it's perception but there were some obvious fouls that just got the shoulder hunch from the ref... I say the next time a ref gives the shoulder hunch, Woody goes over and Magic Johnson's the ref who didn't blow the whistle.

[Dragitoff]

Was it just me, or did Al look so much more comfortable at the 3? He's always overmatched at the 4 and as much of a logjam as we have at the 3, if we lock him up long term, he needs to remain a SF. He can guard most SF's, he gets open looks for more shots at SF, and he can overmatch most SF's defending him. Gotta' love Batista for getting in there and averaging a foul every 3 minutes. lol

[Diesel]

Well,

According to BK, they all can play any position... Yeah Right.

I think you have to pay attention to position simply because every other team pays attention to position.

[Wretch]

A fast paced team is what BK is trying to build. Though, the key was supposed to be DEFENSE...a long, atheletic, team that creates matchup problems on offense and defense - that can disrupt the opposition and start the break. I guess Woody was brought in, being a defensive specialist, to facilitate that.

We've always looked good on the break, though. There was much more of that in the latter half of the season last year, but all these changes have slowed things down a bit.

[a1aa0]

Well he sure as heck ain't an offensive minded coach... I'm gettin' tired of seein' people STAND AROUND on offense...

Only creativity Woody shows is his "after timeout play" with Josh Smith gettin' a weak side screen backdoor alley-oop play...

Our players are not gettin' enough open shots to be successful... Too much creatin' on their own...

Part to blame is the lack of a PG that gets everyone involved... When you have a Nash or a Kidd out there, you know they're lookin' to get you the ball and you're gonna work to get open (in other words, MOVE)... That's why I enjoy watchin' Phoenix play and why Diaw has been successful there... Everyone passes and plays good team ball...

In our current offense, players have given up working/moving because they know certain individuals will not pass them the ball once they receive it.

Countless times I have seen ZaZa open on a pick and roll with a clear lane to the basket only to get rewarded with NaDa.

Everybody sits on the perimeter waitin' for the person with the ball to create somethin' on their own, usually leavin' ZaZa as the only one goin' for rebounds (hence his high offensive rebound totals)... That's why I continue to push for Dana Carvey or Batista to get in there as our PF... At least they can set decent picks and help on the boards...

Vent complete...