Anyone else pleasantly surprised about our defense

[Nicholasp27]

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Why is Shellhead getting any credit? He's not playing well and IMO the real big change we have made is denying perimeter penetration straight to the hoop that we gave up in droves last season.

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yes he is

it just doesn't show up in box scores

it's VERY obvious the effect he has out on the court

[Sothron]

So you aren't noticing how much better our guards and perimeter players are doing at shutting down perimeter penetration?

[jerrywest]

Malik Rose is a tank.

[Lascar78]

I am not surprised at the improvement, but I am impressed at how fast it happened. We had three starters that were complete defensive liabilities last year in Lue, Al, and Zaza. Only one of those is still here, and Zaza has stepped up his D tremendously as compared to last year.

I thought it would take Shelden longer to get used to the swing of things, but he is a great defender right from the start although it doesn't show up in the stats. Lo Wright is also a lot bigger than I remembered and has helped a good bit with the backups. The weak point as of right now is Smith guarding SFs on the perimeter, but it's not too bad.

As a whole, our rotations have been really good and you have to credit Woody.

I actually think our offense has been better than most think, even though the shots aren't falling. Our ball movement has improved considerably, and the plays are being run more crisply. I think that player movement without the ball is our weak spot so far. Well that and Speedy shooting 0%.

[Swatguy]

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So you aren't noticing how much better our guards and perimeter players are doing at shutting down perimeter penetration?

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Of course I do. I see Bozeman getting with everyone close. I see Frieje laying his body on the line. He is much better (defensively) than i thought. I saw Childress leap extenting his arms (his hands had to be 12 -13 feet high) to try to block a pass. I see guys sold out to Woody's system to achieve success. I saw Speedy take 6 steals in about 25 minutes. I see a team bent on sticking it to the naysayers who certainly you have been Sothron.

[Sothron]

If you mean "BK, Woodson and Shellhead critic" then yep, you've got me pegged.

Our perimiter defense is masking our weakness on the interior. Zaza can't block hardly at all and Shellhead isn't doing much of anything that I have seen on defense. Our strong perimiter defense is the #1 reason our defense is playing better IMO.

[capstone21]

THe influx of Sheldon, Claxton, Bosmen and Lo certainly has helped the defence mentality.

I have to agree that the offence looks more fluid too but Smith needs to stop taking outside shots. That has really been hurting us over the last 4 games. I am looking forward to Marvin getting back and Speedy really getting into the flow. The team will really be interesting then.

It also helps that players are accepting their roles, players have a little bit more time under their belt, they have more confidence knowing that they are not going to be yanked if they make a mistake now and the fact that salim is sitting comfortablly on the bench.

It will be interesting to see how long we can keep this up.

[Nicholasp27]

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So you aren't noticing how much better our guards and perimeter players are doing at shutting down perimeter penetration?

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yes, they are

they are doing better AND shelden is making a difference as well

that's why we are 2nd in points allowed

[jerrywest]

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So you aren't noticing how much better our guards and perimeter players are doing at shutting down perimeter penetration?

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yes, they are

they are doing better AND shelden is making a difference as well

that's why we are 2nd in points allowed

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No we are 2nd in points allowed because Miami Heat players were drunk from partying and with the ring ceremony and came out and sleepwalked to score 66 points against the Bulls. Otherwise Bulls wouldn't be in top 10 in defense. We're #1.

[Nicholasp27]

yeah, ours has less variance and includes an OT game, so it's 'more accurate' than theirs

but until they play another game and allow the team to score in the 90s, we are still only #2

[jerrywest]

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yeah, ours has less variance and includes an OT game, so it's 'more accurate' than theirs

but until they play another game and allow the team to score in the 90s, we are still only #2

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See. It was just a matter of time. Cavs just scored 113 on them. They couldn't have done that to us in 5 and a half quarters. Who is #1 now. Yeah baby!

[BusBoyIsBack]

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See. It was just a matter of time. Cavs just scored 113 on them. They couldn't have done that to us in 5 and a half quarters. Who is #1 now. Yeah baby!

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Who would have thought the worst interior defense in the NBA would rank #1 overall after ANY games into the season?

Man that Shelden Williams pick really looks terrible doesn't it?

Woodson's defensive philosophy is really overrated.

(Sarcasm 0ff)

On a serious note, we will actually have a big test against Toronto. Their offense was very good last year, and it's even better this year.

[Catapult]

I have entertained myself with reading game threads in Knicks/Orlando/Cleveland RealGM boards. It is funny how Hawks defense is getting almost zero recognition in any of them. Same story everywhere: "we are handing the game to Hawks" / "we just aren't hitting the basket" / "against a decent team we would have been blown out" etc. So, according to those discussions, we have just been lucky to play each team we have won just when they happened to have a bad day...

[AHF]

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I have entertained myself with reading game threads in Knicks/Orlando/Cleveland RealGM boards. It is funny how Hawks defense is getting almost zero recognition in any of them. Same story everywhere: "we are handing the game to Hawks" / "we just aren't hitting the basket" / "against a decent team we would have been blown out" etc. So, according to those discussions, we have just been lucky to play each team we have won just when they happened to have a bad day...

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fine by me if every team in the league just happens to have their bad day against the Hawks.