Hawks Hornets game. Diesel's take.

[Diesel]

I don't know I have read through the board tonight, there may be a lot of Gloom and Doom posting (i'm guessing). However, this is what I have to say on the game.

Actually, the Hawks gameplan was very good. Props to Woody.

In fact, I have to give MAJOR PROPS to Josh Smith...

He changed and did everything we hoped..

He played in the post. Everything was going toward the basket. He passed up bad passes for good ones.

It was good to have the Hawks Broadcast because Smitty kinda hinted at it... IN talking about Chandler.

"This is a guy who came into the league and figured out that he can be the best rebounder/Shot blocker he can be and not try to be an offensive power.".

I'm not saying that Smoove can't grow, I'm saying tonight game was a good one for Smoove.

ALSO of Note...

1.Horford was great.

2. We took advantage of matchups for the first time in forever...

a. Josh Childress Posting up Jackson!! Damn right, when they play two PGs, we should put Josh Childress out there and Post up one of them.

b. Marvin Williams taking advantage of Julian Wright!! Damn right, everytime Julian Wright is playing, the offense goes to Marvin and let him take the Rookie to the hole.

3. Marvin playing a little more aggressively. Honestly, this is one of those games where Marvin has to step up his play. The comparison will forever be. If Marvin has a bad game, he will be called Bust for the next 4 nights. So it was good to see Marvin taking it to the hole... strong!

4. AJ's offense is getting better.

BUT there was some error.

Woody, what the hell are you doing subbing Horf when he's having a good game and moment???

NO MORE LUE!!! I watch Lue dribble, dribble, dribble and our guys just give up their offensive plans. It was evident that our plan was to try to score and establish points in the paint. Well... With Lue in the game, we have no plan.

A guy like West is a guy that you have to force to play defense. West is a foul magnet. One on one he will foul. We had 3 fouls on him at one time and we never went back to the matchup????????? High energy guys like him usually foul. You get their main scorer in foul trouble and you can win.

NO MORE ZAZA... iS There a trade that we can make for Zaza and Lue?? OK.. Here you go..

Zaza, Lue, and Lo for Andre Miller. The 76ers are shopping him. We could use a PG... Why not take on his salary, give them a big and ending contracts.

There are some bad trades like Zaza/Lue for Blount, or Zaza/Lue for Snow... BUT we should try to target somebody who can at least play... Damon Stoudamire, Ridnour, somebody!!

[Peoriabird]

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A guy like West is a guy that you have to force to play defense. West is a foul magnet. One on one he will foul. We had 3 fouls on him at one time and we never went back to the matchup????????? High energy guys like him usually foul. You get their main scorer in foul trouble and you can win.

NO MORE ZAZA... iS There a trade that we can make for Zaza and Lue?? OK.. Here you go..

Zaza, Lue, and Lo for Andre Miller. The 76ers are shopping him. We could use a PG... Why not take on his salary, give them a big and ending contracts.

There are some bad trades like Zaza/Lue for Blount, or Zaza/Lue for Snow... BUT we should try to target somebody who can at least play... Damon Stoudamire, Ridnour, somebody!!

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So what's your take on Joe? By the way, other than those stupid turnovers on the break and bad rebounding(not blocking out West), I thought that josh Smith played great.

[Vafan]

I only saw Childress post up Bobby Jackson a couple of times. It worked but for some reason we never came back to that play.

[Diesel]

Honestly,

Tonight I noticed that Joe doesn't play help defense at all. There were several times he was a foot away and could have come over for the double... and he didn't and the guy got either an easy bucket or to the foul line.

Offensively, I think Joes game wasn't one of his best, but those things happen.

Still, I like the game plan we played.

Score in the paint. Out to JJ or somebody qualified to shoot a three for the three. I still comend Smoove. I would rather see him mess up a break (well not really) than to sit out at the three point line and just take shot after shot... He almost looked like a PF tonight.

Back to JJ. I think with the gameplan we followed tonight, if JJ hits shots.. We win... and nobody is crying. I just think it was an off night. Hell, the other night Zach Randolph had 4 points. Kobe had 12. Everybody has off nights.

The thing is... We have to do better defensively. I think we have the mechanics, but IQ wise, we're stupid. We don't offer help defense. We don't box out. I mean, in the first quarter, they had a 10 to 3 Offensive rebound advantage on us. That's 10 second chances. I haven't looked at the stats, but if they kept that up, we're supposed to lose everytime.

One last thing, we can't take nothing away from NO. They're good. They have the defensive BBIQ. When we tried to penetrate, without fail, they tried to put a hand on the ball. CP3 gets so many steals because he and his team are active ball hawks... So it's not 100% that we're careless.. it's that they get you flustered... and us not being accoustomed to the new wrinkle we saw tonight throw the ball away or lose it..

I say, stick with the game plan... and let's see what happens next week.

[Diesel]

What happen was NO switched and we went away from Chillz. It was working for a short time though. Chillz also had some success on Pargo... but we went away from that too.

I still say, the sub patterns we use are puzzling.

[Peoriabird]

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b. Marvin Williams taking advantage of Julian Wright!! Damn right, everytime Julian Wright is playing, the offense goes to Marvin and let him take the Rookie to the hole.

3. Marvin playing a little more aggressively. Honestly, this is one of those games where Marvin has to step up his play. The comparison will forever be. If Marvin has a bad game, he will be called Bust for the next 4 nights. So it was good to see Marvin taking it to the hole... strong!

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You didn't give Marvin props for shutting down Peja! What's up with that D

[Peoriabird]

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Honestly,

Tonight I noticed that Joe doesn't play help defense at all. There were several times he was a foot away and could have come over for the double... and he didn't and the guy got either an easy bucket or to the foul line.

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Don't get me started on Joe's defense! Wasn't he guarding Pargo down the stretch?

[Diesel]

Tonight highlighted that we don't play a lick of team defense. When it mattered, we didn't box out. We didn't stop the PG from penetrating. We didn't get doubles when the opportunity was there. As Smitty say, we had a team full of guys saying "I got my man". But sometimes, it's the help defense we can offer that makes the most difference.

[Peoriabird]

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Tonight highlighted that we don't play a lick of team defense. When it mattered, we didn't box out. We didn't stop the PG from penetrating. We didn't get doubles when the opportunity was there. As Smitty say, we had a team full of guys saying "I got my man". But sometimes, it's the help defense we can offer that makes the most difference.

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Now we are starting communicate!!!

[Blunt91]

I am glad AJ is at least trying to set up his team mates unlike T. Lue. Heck AJ even tried to penetrate on one play where he dribbled by the baseline behind the goal then passed off to another player who in turn passed it to Marvin and then Marvin threw a bullet pass to the player that was posting up for the easy Jam.