report from the game

[chillzatl]

Good win for the Hawks. Great to see us get that first win out of the way early. Takes a lot of pressure off the team. The phil was kinda empty. Suprising the way they hyped the game coming into it. But it was a good one. Hawksfreak won the spirte jam cam and got everyone in his row a free sprite. hehe. on to the game.

JT had the quietest 13 assists i've ever seen. At the end of the 3rd quarter I said to myself 'man JT needs some more assists or we're going to hear more of the He's not a PG nonsense'. Shortly after they showed his stats and he had 12, I was impressed. He really turned on the scoring there in the 4th, when we needed it.

Big dog is a monster! What can you say? Assists, rebounds, points. The guy is doing it all. Those who said he's a one dimesional, selfish player must have been watching a different Big Dog.

We got a solid contribution from a lot of guys. Reef wasn't quite himself but he still put in a healthy line with a good fg%. Theo is a machine. The Jazz challenged him early on and he put it back in their faces. After that they weren't very eager to test him again. He's averaging over 3bpg already. Ham was also active. You can't really tell it by his stat line. But he's a good guy to have on the court. Ira also played and shot very well.

Personally I think the big pat on the back goes to Hendu. He stepped it up. When he came in there wasn't a void at the PF spot. He was active, defending, hustling and getting points. He really looked like the Hendu of a few years ago. And he REALLY seems to be enjoying himself out there again. I can't say I've seen that from him in a few years.

All in all a great game and good to see us as .500 so quickly! Go hawks!

[Guest]

How long has it been since we have had a winning

record?Don't think we have had one since the Smitty

trade.Would be good to get there againest Chicago

but they are a improved team.

Big Dog looked sharp.Harpering took him off the

dribble a couple of times but no big deal.His shooting

it feels like nothing is going to miss.He takes alot

of shots,HOWEVER I don't really mind it because

we have had Smitty and really Shareef would be

better as a second option so it doesn't bother

me.

JT will do better as the PG as the season goes

along.He will get when to shoot and when to

pass and he will not either be too aggressive

or not aggressive enough.JT will make the

adjustment.

Shareef had decent numbers and blew right

by Malone a couple of times in the post but

the FT's shows he will need a few game to

get it together.

Newble hit some jumpers and I was proud of

Hendu's effort.He didn't drop 20 or anything

but good effort.

We still need to come together on defense and

stop the TO's and Lon needs to be alittle more

aware of fouls and needs to run more plays for

JT in the pick n roll.

Dickau looked slightly better but is not close right

now.

Again,I hate Email he is good for nothing.

[Nique21]

Glad we got the win, but I basically seen the same thing. The differences was the Reef Factor, and Theo played a little longer before exiting the game. We still don't have a lot of movement on offense. Not enough passing, and players running around in our half court offense. JT seems content on the 3 point shot. I would like to see him drive and dish more. But winning is the bottom line, and that is what counts. I do see a lot of impovements we can make, and didn't really see any this game, from the way we played the Nets.

[drzachary]

That was Hawksfreak with the dyed hair? Way to go, big guy! I wish I still had that youthful energy. I wonder who else from Hawksfreak/RealGM was there? We should all meet up before/after sometime.

*Nod* on the 'quiet assists.' I was blown away when I saw JT's stat-line later. Let's hope he stays that quiet all year, flies under the radar, and catches all the Hawks' opponents off guard!

Darvin Ham is an elevator. I was sitting under the basket on the Jazz side, and Ham (D-Ham? Devil Ham? Devilled Ham?) went for a put-back slam (which he missed), but got a great eagle eye view of the basket whilst aloft. Very exciting player.

[brodel]

I was also down at Phillips and was a bit disappointed with the turnout, perhaps Halloween contributed to the turnout, although in general the hawks have always had crowd problems, which I think will improve this year, with this team.

I'd have to agree with pretty much everything, for a large part of the game I kept saying "JT quit shooting that", he was somewhere lke 1-5 on three pointers, it was pretty bad. But at the end of the game he ended up with 13 assists, career-high.. your right, that was a VERY quiet 13 assists. Jason Kidd had 12 the other night, so perhaps JT felt compelled, it just didn't appear he got that many, and I largely believe it was due to Big Dog! .. What a pick up, this is our main core player now IMHO. The rest of the team looked pretty good, even Dickau, other than some sloppy passing. Ham was energetic as usual and not disappointing..

I'd have to say by far the most important factor at the game for me was that Theo was playing and not hurt from the game Wednesday... thank goodness !

[Nique21]

The Thrashers sold their home opener out. I know they are more BB Fans than hockey fans out there. I was wondering where everyone was, then I thought of Halloween too. Of coarse the Thrashers Game was on a Saturday Night, and this was on a workday/holiday night. I fully expect us to sell out a game shortly.

[thecampster]

Watching it on T.V. I saw some very encouraging things.

We bumped into each other alot on Defense...meaning we were moving our feet and held the Jazz to 98 despite not knowing or trusting each other yet. In time we'll have a feel for where our team mates are on the floor and defend the lanes better.

We defended the pick and roll well...meaning we are coachable. Smart athletes are better than pure athletes any day.

Big Dog likes catching on the move and works well with JT. A couple time JT hit Glenn Moving Right and forward a couple of times (something Cassell couldn't do because he's a right hand heavy ballhandler and doesn't think pass first. At times JT was looking for his own shot too much but all in all he was creating and it showed.

Shareef didn't get frustrated. Utah tried make the hawks beat them from the outside as teams tried to do last year. They still doubled Reef holding him down in the first half. But he just did soldier work and got off later when Utah was forced to spread the D to the perimeter...Reef is sharing which was a bigger concern for me than Big Dog sharing.

There were a couple of things that troubled me. We got very frazzled by the press...We couldn't handle it. Instead of spreading the floor some, They pulled Ira and Glenn to 1/4 court to try and help on the inbound...we've gotta figure that out quick or the west coast teams will kill us.

No killer instinct. Although we were up by as much as 17, we never issued a knockout blow....the killer Jam/the backbreaking 3. We allowed Utah to climb back in and I think that's what Barkley was talking about after the game. After getting up, the defense slacked off. We miss DJ here. There's no Lock him up pressure guy on the floor. Ira is a great team defender/floor space denial guy but DJ official took a player out of the game by denying his shot. Shutting them down at the end of the 3rd would've made this a blowout.

Email was horrible again. Every time someone on Utah made a jumper it was because of slow rotation or a bad risk taken by email....He's awful guys...He stopped us bad last night...Dion needs to get healthy now to get this guy off the floor.

[Traceman]

Just by taking the 3, JT forces the other team to expand the D and that creates easier opportunities for Big Dog and Reef. JT is going to have off shooting nights but really, he is our only legitimate 3 point threat. Big Dog, Reef, Dion and a few other guys will make a few 3's but they could never make a living shooting the 3. I want JT to shoot the 3 every time he gets an open look.

As for JT's assists, you are right on when you said that JT's assists were largely due to Big Dog! Its amazing what having someone who can make shots will do for your assist numbers. Just wait until Reef and Theo get healthy. I think JT will easily reach his goal of 8 apg once we get everyone healthy.