Losing at home is 'unacceptable'....

[RAHMOR]

It seems everytime we get someone back we lose another player. Tonight we get Speedy and lose Chilz. Despite our last three losses I can say with much confidence we are not a bad team. We are an average team in this league. With Marvin and Chilz on this team we may even achieve above average status. With Marvin back not only will our starters be better but our bench will be better. Go Hawks.

[Duff_Man]

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This is most certainly NOT a playoff team. Not until we get a true NBA coach. Sad, but true. Expect about 34-48. We aren't likely to see .500 again. We just blew 3 very winnable games at home. This team has resorted to the same crap we did last year. Mike Woodson is an awful close game coach and the last time I checked...many NBA games are close. I heard Woody in the huddle tonight during a crunch time TO and it sounded worse than a HS huddle. Nice guy. Lousy coach.

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Quoted for truth.

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Welcome aboard, FrankWhite!

[drzachary]

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I don't see Woody taking anything to another level. The sad thing is he's a really nice guy. The kind of guy you want to do well. But, the Hawks just don't execute like a well coached team. And the little things trip us up all the time. We still can't play the pick and roll...I could make a list a mile long about how we just don't play fundamental winning ball. The Hawks so many times resort to just shooting J's and that doesn't cut it. One of the reasons we don't get calls in the crunch is we seldom attack the rack. D-Wade attacked the rack...Michael Redd beat us attacking the rack...Ray Allen beat us attacking the rack. Same formula for winning games. We usually stand around and someone shoots a jumper with the shot clock running down. Why don't we ever learn what it takes to win? Why does Woody have no timeouts left with 4 seconds left against the Bucks so we can take the ball at halfcourt instead of having to cover the whole court in 4 seconds? Good coaches always keep a TO in reserve for just such an occasion. Again, with Woody its about 1 million little things and this team deserves better.

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I remember watching a game on TV last year where the Hawks needed a basket to tie or take the lead in the final seconds, and they showed Woodson prepping the troops. His final-second game plan? "Let's look for the foul!" I turned it off then.

[TexasPete]

Exactly, Zachary. My son plays HS ball for a local team and I listen to their huddles from time to time and the sad thing is that the HS huddle/strategy session is much more professional. I'm not kidding.

I took heat last week for calling Woody out for his ultra short half time sessions. But, when you have 12 minutes alone with your team in the middle of the game...why wouldn't you use it as productively as possible? Other teams stay in there for awhile, why not Woody? Does he have to be first out every time? Aren't there games where he might have some real adjustments to make?

[TheNorthCydeRises]

LOL @ all of these people bashing Woody for last night's loss.

This team missed a ton of wide open jumpers and AGAIN missed a lot of free throws. Even our best player went 5 - 11 from the line.

So how is that the coach's fault?

A lot of you are giving your "expert" opinions on why we can't win close games, but what would any of you do differently down the stretch?

Ray Allen hits an impossible shot with his opposite hand to beat us.

Michael Redd got an "And-1" off of a phantom foul to beat us.

And Dwyane Wade gets every touch foul in the world, and beat us with a turnaround 3 pointer ( a shot he NEVER makes ) to tie the game . . and made a nice pass to J-Will in the corner to put them up 3.

Sometimes, you have to place the blame on the players for not doing the fundamental things that they've been taught to do since junior high school.

I mean, good Lord. We only had 10 turnovers last night, which is incredible for this team. But we shot 3 - 24 from 3 . . and 19 - 30 from the FT line.

But that's the Squawkers for you. Place ALL of the blame on Woody when we lose. And give him NONE of the credit when we win.

As far as this team being more aggressive in taking the ball to the hole, I agree with that. But it's not like we have a lot of players who can create off the dribble and make a play.

JJ can at times, but that's not the strength of his game. Smoove definitely can't. Lue can, but would always rather settle for the 3 pointer or 15 footer. ZaZa can, if he doesn't turn the ball over doing his patented high post spin move.

What is hurting this team right now, is something that Diesel has always eluded to when all of the talk of getting rid of Harrington was the hot topic last year.

With all of Al's deficiencies, he was the only guy who can go to the low post and create his own shot. Right now, we don't have a low post option to toss the ball to, and let him go to work, when the outside shots aren't falling. Hopefully, Marvin will somewhat fill that role when he comes back.

But until that time, we're like a poor man's version of Phoenix. We're going to live by the jumper, and die by the jumper.

[TheDude]

good post northcyde....

this loss hurt me like the next guy but it sounds like the sky is falling around here. our team has marketebly improved and they may just be the hardest working team in the league (testament to coach). sure we need another goto scorer but again, our team is EXTREMELY young and they will get better.

[SmooveTheFuture]

Our problems on offense are not as bad as our defensive problems. As bad as you say this offense is the reason we lost our last 3 games is Free Throws, lack of Defense at critical times and Hustle and thats it. We missed 10 FTs in each of those games and cant stop anyone you cant win close games like that. All these guys killed us Wade, Haslem, Lewis, Allen, Ridnour ,Redd etc. We also scored 100 points in 2 of the 3 losses. If we could stop people from coming into the paint at will and scoring whenever they want we would be 7-1 right now. Iam not worried about us scoring its the defense and the FT shooting execution right now.

[TexasPete]

North, maybe it would help if you read the posts more carefully. There is a habit by some on this board to put words into peoples mouth or to twist what some are saying.

I do not blame last nights loss on Woodson. My concerns are the same as many of the anti-Woodson posters...there is a general lack of fundamental execution on both ends of the floor. We don't attack the rim nearly enough and seldom down the stretch of close games. We also struggle with too many defensive breakdowns. Woodsons sub patterns and game management skill is also underwhelming. Not having at least a 30 second TO with 4 seconds left is an example. Yes, it can happen but with Woody it happens too often in my opinion.

You are also entitled to your opinions and to disagree. But coming with condescending stuff like calling everyone experts (yeah, your just smarter) is what bothers me.

I learned a long time ago that there are people in positions in all walks of life that are supposed to be "experts" that are essentially inept. It happens in business and it happens in basketball. There are a few people on this message board that need to understand that...don't judge a man by his title or position, judge him on his performance. The Peter Principle is alive and well in NBA basketball.

[ATLBob]

Before everyone gets too high or too low on our Hawks or our coach, let's just use a little perspective here.

After 8 games, the Hawks are .500 and hold second place in the Southeast standings.

Did anyone realistically expect a better performance?

I mean, the season's been pretty damn good so far honestly, considering the injuries. We've won or strongly contested every game we've played. When we have a healthy Marvin to attack the rim and a hopefully healthy/conditioned Speedy to drive the lane, we'll only get better. Certainly not astronomically, but measurably none the less. Yes, we need to improve in some areas, especially consistent defense, and losing at home never feels good, but let's not rush to any rash and sweeping judgments based on eight games. It's a long season ... soak it in ...