Ho hum, another night, another PG has career night

[Admin]

against the Hawks. Tonight it wasn't all Lues fault as Salim wasnt able to stop Speedy from penetrating at will, but Lue was completely unable to stop him.

Decent win tonight. I wont get too excited about beating a less talented team at home without their best player, but a win is a win. For most of this game it looked like a rec league style of play which was just ugly to watch, but at least we did pull out the win.

Really the only thing to get excited about tonight was that Marvin played pretty well and is starting to want the ball more and Salim had a well rounded game with some huge rebounds for us. Lue had a few big moments, although they were overshadowed by Speedy completely owning him.

[f_town]

offense...in the foutrth quarter

ive learned alot about his defensive liabilities in the last few games

but still, who else is gonna make things happen in the fourth right now

in any case, we win again

GO HAWKS!

[KB21]

They had their best player. Their best player is JR Smith.

Ty and Salim may not have been able to guard Speedy, but Speedy couldn't guard them either.

[tmac13]

What color is the sky in your world KB? Paul is their best player by far..He also makes all their other players better..Then again, you already know that, you just can't admit it.

[exodus]

While Lue isn't a strong defender, I think a major problem with the Hawks is the way they defend pick and rolls.

I watch a lot of other teams and generally on pick and roll plays the big man will show to slow down the dribbler. The Hawks don't do this, leaving the guard a clear path to the basket.

Speedy didn't shoot great (9 for 21) but he killed the Hawks from the line (11 for 13). They have to get their big men to start showing and maybe even trap the dribbler.

Since the Hawks aren't defending the pick and roll correctly the other teams keep running them. That was happening all game long during the New York and Philly games, which the Hawks were able to win. But they would have been much easier victories if they had played the pick and roll correctly.

They interviewed Lue after the game and he said they play the pick and roll to slow down the big man. But the big men aren't hurting them on those plays, the guards are.

This is strictly a coaching issue and needs to be addressed. They Hawks don't have the players to be a good defensive team but they can play much better on D than they are now.

[Admin]

in a long while. JR Smith isnt even close to their best player. Chris Paul is BY FAR their best player. He is quite possibly going to the All-Star game this year, while JR cant even dribble to the hoop without bouncing it off his leg.

In fact, if anyone is their 2nd best player its probably David West, or maybe Speedy. Both of those guys are more productive players than JR Smith.

[Admin]

I noticed ONCE in the game, late in the 4th that Lue actually tried to play D on Speedy, by working his butt off and trying to deny Speedy the ball, and although Speedy did get the ball he couldnt do anything with it.

The rest of the game Speedy basically came and went as he pleased and if he hadnt missed a pitiful amount of layups early in the game we probably would have lost this game.

No, the problem with Lue isnt our scheme, its that he isnt putting effort into defending. He even said so earlier this year, that he is "saving himself" for playing offense and scoring because he was asked to be a scorer earlier this year.

If the problem was our scheme then Ivey wouldnt be able to play defense as good as he does in his limited minutes.

[exodus]

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No, the problem with Lue isnt our scheme, its that he isnt putting effort into defending. He even said so earlier this year, that he is "saving himself" for playing offense and scoring because he was asked to be a scorer earlier this year.

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The saving himself comment was in reference to the fact that he decided to stop picking players up full court because he expended too much energy doing that.

And yes they were getting killed on pick and rolls. That is where the majority of Speedy's points came from. That is what Smith and Lue were talking about after the game, why Speedy was able to score so easily on those pick and rolls. They were doing the same thing to Salim who is a better defender than Lue.

Lue would have trouble in general with Speedy but their flaw on the pick and rolls just makes it worse. And it has been an ongoing problem. New York, Toronto, and Philly all killed the Hawks on pick and rolls. At the end of the Philly game the Hawks started trapping AI on those plays, forcing him to pass and that is the reason they won that game.

Ivey only played 9 minutes.

[exodus]

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They had their best player. Their best player is JR Smith.

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JR averages 10 ppg on 38% shooting and is a weak defender. I wouldn't be surprised to see him benched.

[KB21]

JR Smith is the only player on that team with superstar ability. He's their best player.

[KB21]

That's like trying to say that Dwight Howard isn't Orlando's best player because he's not putting up the best numbers on the team. Dwight is only averaging 14.7 points per game. He must be a bust.

[CrawDaddy]

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Ivey only played 9 minutes.

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My question here is why did Ivey only play nine minutes?

I will give Lue his due in that lately he has been a huge part of our offense, and I agree with the statement that he is the only one who seems to be able to run our offense (whatever our offense is) in the fourth quarter. My problem in this game definitely lies with the coaching staff. Speedy is the ONLY player that was hurting us this game, and we continued to play a zone the entirety of the game.

When we're up by 10, why not switch to man, put Ivey in, and have him lock down on Claxton? Game over. Instead, we have a broken zone in which none of our players know where they are supposed to be, and Speedy goes in for layup after layup. It was unfathomable. Woody kills me.

Speaking of coaching gaffe's, Byron Scott kept Speedy out the majority of the third quarter after he was mauling us in the 2nd. WTF?

We're lucky we won this one. A big thank you to the NO coaching staff.

[exodus]

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My question here is why did Ivey only play nine minutes?

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Beats me. I can't figure it. The only thing i can think of is that Woodson doesn't think he can run the offense but he looked to be doing a good job last night. It seems like he gets pulled regardless of how he plays.

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My problem in this game definitely lies with the coaching staff.

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I haven't been one of the people dogging Woodson but I have to wonder why he doesn't make adjustments to stop a player when he gets hot. That is just Basketball 101.

[exodus]

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That's like trying to say that Dwight Howard isn't Orlando's best player because he's not putting up the best numbers on the team. Dwight is only averaging 14.7 points per game. He must be a bust.

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That may be one of the dumbest things you have said here, and that is saying something since there is so much competition.

Howard averages 14.7 on 51% shooting and pulls down 12 rebounds and is a strong defender.

JR averages 10 ppg on 38% shooting and is a weak defender. Basically he doesn't contribute much on either end.

[Packfill]

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JR Smith is the only player on that team with superstar ability. He's their best player.

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You and Diesel are such f'n idiots about the Paul/Marvin thing it is beyond comprehension. Denying the fact that Chris Paul is the best player on the Hornet's is like denying that the world is round.

[KB21]

JR Smith is the one player on the Hornets team that can take over a game and dominate with his scoring ability. He's the one player that teams gear their defense towards stopping, because he is so multi talented. Just another great player from that 2004 class of high school seniors.

[Packfill]

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JR Smith is the one player on the Hornets team that can take over a game and dominate with his scoring ability. He's the one player that teams gear their defense towards stopping, because he is so multi talented. Just another great player from that 2004 class of high school seniors.

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More idiocy.

Chris Paul has "taken over" games this season for the Hornets. JR Smith hasn't done that his entire career. No team gears anything to stop JR.

[Final_quest]

I think KB and Diesel is the same person having a battle of wits with themselves.

[Packfill]

There like the gollum dude in lord of the rings.

[Diesel]

Dude, face the facts...

First Year, Chris Paul is the best player on that squad. Period.

You keep talking about J. R. Smith, But he was benched at the start of the week for his bad play.

Let me know how that works out for you KB.

Tell me if you deny deny deny deny... if it makes it anymore acceptable. It's like the Jedi Mind Trick huh?? If you keep telling us that Paul is no good. That Marvin is great. And that JR Smith is the best player on the hornets team... somehow, somebody will believe it. Up until your lovefest with Marvin, you were somewhat credible... You do have the lovefest you had with Swift and Bender and Dampiere to your credit... You know, come to think of it... BK liked all those same guys too???

Hmm...

KB = BK?

Nah.