Diesel's Take (NJ Game)

[Diesel]

This is probably the most telling game that we've played thus far. It was like watching Superman and Bizzarro and we were Bizzarro.

My main break down is this: NJ showed us how team basketball Looks, so we showed them how individual basketball looks. And they beat us.

Also.. NJ's players seemed like for the first 3 qtrs that they were willing to put out 110% while our players seemed to put out 65% (with the exception of Horf & Chillz).

There were 3 Killers for us in this game:

1. Foul trouble. I was pretty sure that Kidd would get everybody involved and catch us in some stupid fouls but JJ and JSmoove sat a lot of the first half in foul trouble.

2. Youthful mistakes. Horf and Law turned the ball over... especially at the wrong times. I don't think the number of times they turned it over was shocking, however, the timing of their turnovers stunk.

3. Horf's Freethrows. Like the turnovers, he missed FTs at the wrong time. It's going to be hard to trust Horf down the stretch if he Shaq's the FTs! Teams will just Hack-a-Horf.

Two other things:

Every team knows this about us... We have a problem on our defensive rotation. I've now seen both Detroit and NJ do the same thing. They swing the ball; send a guy from elbow to lane.. and swing into the corner behind him. I watched it happen on both sides of the court with different players so it's a design flaw.. However, the guy that comes from the elbow to the lane (without the ball) is always followed by one of our wings...I saw it with Chillz and Marvin. That leaves the guy open for the corner three. Tonight the guy that was open was Jefferson and Wright. I guess Woody say, I would rather protect from the slash and leave the corner 3 open because it's a harder shot... However, even with our players running out to the corner three, they are still nailing them!

The other problems with our defense is the screens.... NJ ran a lot of double screens and some flashbacks!! Either our guys are not talking our we're just confused. On one inbound play, Carter scored on a sweet flash move to the basket when he was supposedly setting a screen. Our guy bought the screen and covered the outside and left Vince on the inside with Jason Kidd passing in. Richard Jefferson made a living with those shots off screens.

The killer for us is our need to shoot from outside. NJ concentrated on getting easy buckets inside. We concentrated on hitting the outside shot. We lost!

The major points in this loss were scheme related... We shouldn't be aiming for the fences every time. We need some layins and we should be setting some screens in the halfcourt. More than just the pick and roll and the handoff that we've been doing. If Lawrence Frank was our coach, we'd be in the championships. I say that because he seems to preach making scoring inside first priority.

Finally... Did you notice how NJ took over the Pace?

[Diesel]

Did anybody notice that Jason Kidd is always talking??

I don't even know if his teammates can hear him all the time, but he's always talking. Coming out of the timeout, his lips are moving. It's like he has a mic and all the players have ear pieces. On one of their made possessions down the stretch, he's talking to Collins telling him to wait to get post position. Is this the key to being a floor general. He's not yelling. He's not shouting. He seems like he's having a conversation with himself most of the time... I remember watching Isiah and he would talk, but he would also give a lot of eye contact, head nods. However, JKidd just talks and talks and talks!

[HawkNJersey]

I went to the game last night. And I must say, the offense looks worse in person--after watching the archived game. Lue is hurting us dearly. It was painful, not to mention embarassing. I watched a 60yo D Armstrong, speed up and down the court and make backdoor layups. Other than substitution patterns and that same ole tired, double high post offense we have...Lue is the absolute blame. He had no business in the game. He'd given us nothing all night. He has to be slowest, short person I know. But we all know, Woody will stick him right back in the game tonight. Let JJ, play the backup point for now. AC is 22(?) years old. He can live off playing 40+ minutes a night...for now.

There was a buzz about Smoove in the crowd, from the warmups to the end. And they boo'd him LOUDLY, when he didn't dunk. Every steal and every block from, the fans were ooooooing and ahhhing. People outside of Atlanta, think he's a star. They don't look at his statline.

Props to Marv, for a great game...despite the foul trouble.

And what's up with the substitions? They make no sense. And that lineup we had in at the end of the 3rd? What da hell.

I'm convinced that we can't win, with this clown behind the wheel. I know it's early and we're 1-2. But....it's time to quit describing things for a blind man...cause we can all see, this [censored] stinks.

[Diesel]

I think the talk is effecting Smoove's game. On the break he tried 2 circus shots when he should have gone for DUNKS.... Good thing Chillz could clean one up and he got a foul on the other.

Also, he still shoots from too far out but as long as he can hit one or two of those, I doubt he will ever not shoot the wide open outside shot.

[Hawk88]

Isn't this the second game in a row that Law hasn't had an assist. 0 assists from the starting point guard, not good.

As bad as we looked and played, we were in it much of the game. So if this is a bad night, it wasn't so bad.

Positives,

J Smith and J Childress and playing pretty well for early in the season, it usually takes them a while to get going.

Marvin and Sheldon look improved. In 2 years I imagine you don't want to mess with Sheldon.

[Diesel]

No..

We were out of it from the standpoint of being able to produce scores. We scored because we went to the line a lot early...however, that doesn't produce a flow. IN the fourth, we picked it up while the big three were out... but then the big three came back in and Vince was Posterizing JJ with an easy two handed slam.

[Diesel]

About Law...

It's hard to put your finger on it. He makes youthful mistakes, he makes some good passes and some errant passes. between last night and tonight, he's getting a crash course in PGing 400.

I think getting Speedy back or AJ back will help this club a lot. Lue is a momentum killer among other things. How many crap shots did he put up last night?

[PureGreatness]

Quote:

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I

There was a buzz about Smoove in the crowd, from the warmups to the end. And they boo'd him LOUDLY, when he didn't dunk. Every steal and every block from, the fans were ooooooing and ahhhing. People outside of Atlanta, think he's a star. They don't look at his statline.

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ive always knew he was popular in other states outside of atlanta. i remember my homie who goes to FAMU in florida told me smith is popular with heat fans. and my other homie who is a truck driver told me he is popular in LA, NY and boston. so smith is one of the most popular players to not make an allstar game in the nba.

[BusBoyIsBack]

I think the crowd remembers that ridiculous dunk sequence a couple years ago (or maybe it was last year) when Smoove got the block on one end and came down for the ridiculous jam

[jerrywest]

My cousins in NY thinks he is incredible. If you don't follow the hawks closely, and get most of their info from Sports Center, how would you know about his lack of maturity/team-play and occasional blunders. If Smith can adjust his game a little and start playing with the system, he'll deserve all those adoration from hard core hawks fans also. He still has so much room and capability to improve that if he does, he would be a superstar.

[HawkNJersey]

This, I agree with.