Another one of those games....

[Buzzard]

which we could have really used MWill and Chillz energy. If one of them were playing well; it would have kept us in the game. Both of them having a good night and we win this game.

JJ was doing fine; TLue was having a off night. No one else stepped up. We need all our players for nights just like this and soon we will have them.

Just my two cents....

[BusBoyIsBack]

We lost this game because of lack of defensive rebounding.

[Buzzard]

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We lost this game because of lack of defensive rebounding.

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Yes and MWill and Chillz are two excellent rebounders. So I figure, when Smoove, Sheldon, and ZaZa are all having bad nights, those two could have picked us up with their energy in a lot of ways. And if only one of them was on their game, we could have at least made a contest out of it.

[Diesel]

We lost the game for several reasons.

1. Rebounding. At one point, they had outrebounded us 31 to 18.

2. shot selection. Our guys put up some really sorry shots...

3. Defense. We made Luke Ridnour look unstoppable.

4. Coaching. I really question some of the substitutions that Woody made.

Woody... Why not play Solomon Jones a little more? Why pull Shelden so quickly. Why is Salim playing so much...

5. Where was the effort?

Seattle outworked us all over the place..especially on the boards.

[Gray Mule]

Hawks didn't come to play last night.

There was no energy. There was no intensity.

Seattle, without Allen, came out with a hard push, knocked

the Hawks right off their feet and never let up.

When, all ther way thru the game, Seattle had a shot, they

didn't worry whether they could hit it or not. They

would grab the rebound for a putback. Many of their

shots were good - Hawks didn't show defense - but when

it didn't go in, the putback from the rebound did.

Hawks hit some easy shots during the game. They hit

some difficult shots, too. But, when they missed,

which they did, Seattle got the rebound and that was it.

If this had been a heavyweight fight, The Hawks were

hit right on the chin in the first round, went down

for the eight count, was saved by the bell (The first

time out) and never recovered the rest of the night.

I have to believe that the three most energetic players

for the Hawks are all out with injuries. Somehow,

the rest of the roster and the coaches MUST crank up

the energy - The intensity. They can't just lay back

and wait for Joe Johnson.

Last night, if this was a Monopoly game, Hawks landed,

on their first move, on "Go to jail. Go directly to

jail. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.00"

Hawks, get on your "Go - Go" boots to start tonight's

game and then we can yell:

GO HAWKS !!

[GoDawgs21]

I agree usually with the Woody bashing, but it made sense last night.

1) Shelden got back in the 4th gave up 2 off. reb and Woody pulled him to prove his point and teach him he has to get on the glass.

2) salim was in because he was the only one porviding a pop. Down 14 you need scoring, Lue couldnt hit anything, and you need someone to stretch the D. Salim was the only one to shoot well beside JJ, 3/6 from 3 I believe. He was hustling too. He made that steal on the inbound to get it to 6, before Boze made that awful inbound to blow the come back. With speedy out and Lue playing the PG, JJ slid to the 3 to make Lewis guard him. The hope was that Lewis might get in foul trouble or tire do to having to play D, since he was their one option. So that puts Salim as the only 2 guard left with Chill out.

3) Solomon, uhhh ,yeh I got nothing, he was reboudning, and playing D, the only guy with any energy it looked like

[Packfill]

I can't believe the Hawks lost to the Sonics without Ray Allen. That is bad.

[Diesel]

The only problem I saw is that Solomon was playing well... we pulled him and Lorenzen played a long time. He contributed almost nothing.

I like Smoove, but Smoove cannot play PF. Nick Collison and Chris Wilcox were taking turns posting up Smoove.

Shelden can hold a position.

Solomon plays well.

However, those guys are sprowled out on the bench!

[txsting]

There aren't many def. rebounds to be had when the opponent shoots 56%.

[jerrywest]

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There aren't many def. rebounds to be had when the opponent shoots 56%.

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Seattle had 17 offensive rebound and we had 16 defensive rebound. Aint't no shooting percentage that can justify that.

[exodus]

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There aren't many def. rebounds to be had when the opponent shoots 56%.

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Seattle had 17 offensive rebound and we had 16 defensive rebound. Aint't no shooting percentage that can justify that.

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Exactly. Smith and Zaza played a combined 70 minutes yet only combined for 9 rebounds. Pathetic.

I have never liked Zaza and I am rapidly losing confidence in Smith. Last year I held out hope that he could be a starting 4 but it is becoming more obvious that is not the case. And with his lack of ball handling/decision making he doesn't look like a starting 3 either.

it is getting easier and easier to understand the Shelden pick. What i DON'T understand is why he isn't playing more.

Last night the Hawks got killed on the boards and Shelden was actually the leading rebounder for the Hawks with 7 even though he only played 20 minutes.

[jerrywest]

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There aren't many def. rebounds to be had when the opponent shoots 56%.

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Seattle had 17 offensive rebound and we had 16 defensive rebound. Aint't no shooting percentage that can justify that.

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Exactly. Smith and Zaza played a combined 70 minutes yet only combined for 9 rebounds. Pathetic.

I have never liked Zaza and I am rapidly losing confidence in Smith. Last year I held out hope that he could be a starting 4 but it is becoming more obvious that is not the case. And with his lack of ball handling/decision making he doesn't look like a starting 3 either.

it is getting easier and easier to understand the Shelden pick. What i DON'T understand is why he isn't playing more.

Last night the Hawks got killed on the boards and Shelden was actually the leading rebounder for the Hawks with 7 even though he only played 20 minutes.

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Actually, Zaza and Smith had good rebounding nights before. Smith had 12 just in the last game. I think Smiths biggest problem is his focus; not his ball handling, 3 point shooting, rebounding, not even man to man defense. If he could focus he could use his skills to overcome all his deficiencies and be an integral part of the team. His ADD is making it a roller coaster journey for this team that do not have the subs to minimize the impact of this disorder. You know a lot of ADD people can hyperfocus that regular people can't, and Smith seems to have that on his good nights.

[exodus]

When Chill went out it was necessary for other players to step up. Unfortunately two major players for the Hawk have taken a step or two back.

Over the last 10 games Smith is averaging 10 ppg on 33% shooting and Zaza is averaging 12 ppg on 43% shooting (horrible for a center). On the season these two are combining for over 5 turnovers a game and a lot of poor defense. Really they haven't done anything well all season. They might have a good game or two here and there but for the most part they have sucked.

Coming into the season i didn't expect anything from Wright and he has played just as i expected. He is garbage.

Shelden has been up and down which i expect from a rookie and has looked tentative most of the time offensively. However I am mystified as to why he isn't getting more time.

Of course some people still like to blame Lue for the Hawks problems even though he is a leading 6MOY candidate. Over the last 10 games he is averaging 17 ppg on 46% shooting, and that includes last nights 2-14 game. I don't blame him for trying to shoot the Hawks back into the game since everyone else but JJ was playing like a dog. Lue's strong a/to ratio of 2.8/1 would be much higher if somebody other than JJ could make a shot.

[jerrywest]

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When Chill went out it was necessary for other players to step up. Unfortunately two major players for the Hawk have taken a step or two back.

Over the last 10 games Smith is averaging 10 ppg on 33% shooting and Zaza is averaging 12 ppg on 43% shooting (horrible for a center). On the season these two are combining for over 5 turnovers a game and a lot of poor defense. Really they haven't done anything well all season. They might have a good game or two here and there but for the most part they have sucked.

Coming into the season i didn't expect anything from Wright and he has played just as i expected. He is garbage.

Shelden has been up and down which i expect from a rookie and has looked tentative most of the time offensively. However I am mystified as to why he isn't getting more time.

Of course some people still like to blame Lue for the Hawks problems even though he is a leading 6MOY candidate. Over the last 10 games he is averaging 17 ppg on 46% shooting, and that includes last nights 2-14 game. I don't blame him for trying to shoot the Hawks back into the game since everyone else but JJ was playing like a dog. Lue's strong a/to ratio of 2.8/1 would be much higher if somebody other than JJ could make a shot.

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You are right about the timing. I didn't notice that the drop off of the duo coincided with Chillz injury. A lot of things with Smith seems to be mental. When he is surrounded by the right people his focus goes up a lot more than most people. Classical symptom of ADD. I think a Jason Kidd would have made him a superstar.

Kudos to Lue for stepping up when we needed him the most. The guy has big heart. I remember him giviing all sorts of trouble to AI in the NBA final. What happened to that defensive tenacity?

[DJlaysitup]

There seem to be a lot of reasons for our situation last night...but when your (probable) all-star puts up 34 pts (on 14-29 shooting, which is very respectable) and hits 3 - 3 pointers...and you still get blown out by 15 by a team with a losing record ????

I could see the end result if JJ had a really bad night. As it was (with TL struggling), it looked like JJ against the Sonics much of the time. Our other guys have to step up. Salim hit some shots but still was only 3 for 9. Other than that the rest of our guys were pretty much invisible much of the time - unless they were turning the ball over or not boxing out.

Hopefully it was an anomally and the guys can step it up against Denver tonight.

[Yeti]

If it weren't for JJ, I'd start wondering if we are trying to win the Oden sweepstakes. Lose Marvin, Chill, Speedy to injuries. Start Bozeman. Sit Shelden. Zaza tries to get a day off by throwing a nasty elbow. Smoove becomes the anti-Smoove. The whole team just walking through the motions. Only JJ keeps us from being a laughingstock.

(Of course, Oden is really out of the question. He's going to end up with the Knicks. Big franchise playing like cr@# and needs a boost. Stern will fix it. Just like Ewing.)

[Sothron]

That was a truly gutless performance last night by everyone not named Joe Johnson. They frankly should be ashamed of their effort.

[GoDawgs21]

Why does everyone still think its the Oden sweepstakes, he might come out, but he has said publicly he loves college and missing the start of the season might prompt him to stay. His family isn't in dier straights, and he loves being in school. I bet he stays at least one more year. Duncan stayed all 4. I dont see Oden staying all 4, but is it not concivable that Oden doesn't come out this year.

[jerrywest]

JJ seems to have become immune to bad nights. Thats wierd. Even Kobe has bad nights.

[AHF]

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(Of course, Oden is really out of the question. He's going to end up with the Knicks. Big franchise playing like

cr@#

and needs a boost. Stern will fix it. Just like Ewing.)

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That isn't possible unless the Bulls want someone over Oden. The Bulls have the right to switch picks with the Knicks so they will end up with whichever pick is higher. If they want Oden, the Bulls will get him before the Knicks. Isiah is the man.