Are we good?

[IonSen88]

We are solid/decent. Good (in my opinion) is a little better than three above .500. At this point, we still have many flaws. However, the fact we've overcame them during this 5 game streak is very 'promising'.

PS: I've been a Hawks fan for a while, and I guess I'm still waiting for the collapse and the kick in the groin.

[BusBoyIsBack]

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Bdawg, busboy and dr.reality, you guys are not getting it.

OT-Stop saying that the East is weak. That's rubbish. The whole league is weak. And it's not like we don't play WC teams. What exactly is so weak about Boston or Detroit? The west has the Spurs, Suns, and... the Mavs? So what.

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It has nothing to do with the East vs West.

It's just that it seems a bit surreal for the Hawks to actually be a GOOD team even though many of us thought this year was the year we turned it around.

It still seems too good to be true.

I just think if we are going to call this team ABOVE AVERAGE it would be nice to measure them against an elite team like Dallas when by no means are they taking us lightly

If we can compete in that game I will officially say this is a good team.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Are we good? Hmmmmm . . . let's see.

Good teams normally play defense.

We've been doing that all year for the most part. Another good defenive performance tonight.

Good teams consistenly beat bad teams.

Hawks are 7 - 1 against the "M-teams" vs Memphis, Minnesota, Miami, and Milwaukee. Bad losses vs Washington, Seattle and Chicago when those teams were playing bad.

Good teams can at least hang with other good teams, and even beat them on occasion.

Decisive losses to Detroit ( twice ), Boston, and San Antonio. Beat Phoenix, Dallas, and Orlando.

Good teams take care of business at home.

10 - 6 home record. Only Celtics and Pistons have better home records in the east.

Good teams can win at least 1/2 of their games on the road

5 - 6 road record. 2 losses to Detroit and one loss @ Boston among the 6 road losses.

Good teams avoid long losing streaks and stretches, while putting together long winning streaks and stretches.

Hawks longest losing streak is 3 games. Longest losing stretch is 2 - 7 ( right after the opening night win vs Dallas ). Longest winning streak is te current 5 game streak. Longest winning streak is the current 12 - 5 stretch ( which began with the comeback win @ Miami )

Yeah, we're good. We won't know how good, until we go on that first west coast road trip in January.

[DJlaysitup]

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Are we good? Hmmmmm . . . let's see.....

Yeah, we're good. We won't know how good, until we go on that first west coast road trip in January.

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Yep.

[bumpyphish1]

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Decisive losses to Detroit ( twice ), Boston, and San Antonio. Beat Phoenix, Dallas, and Orlando.

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How quickly we forget the "phantom foul" called on Marvin against Chauncey. That was certainly NOT a decisive loss. Subtract one. That loss burns in my gut. How do you ont remember that?

[TheNorthCydeRises]

This team just has to avoid the killer losing streak or stretch. As long as we do that, we're going to be fine the entire year.

Going into this month, I thought the most we could hope for, was a 15 - 13 record going into January. I would've definitely been happy with a 13 - 15 record. To even have a shot at that 16th win, is impressive as hell in my book.

The great thing about our positon, is that the teams behind us amost have no chance of beating the good squads in this league, unless they play great offensively. We're winning more with defense, than offense. And average teams that win with defense, have a much greater chance of continuing to win, than those average teams that win with offense.

Mini road stretch coming up for the Hawks. Let's see if they can steal two or three of these road games, and keep their heads over .500

Good lord @ Beyonce on this DirecTV commercial. And people says shes "overrated". "Overrated" like Tom Brady I guess.

[bumpyphish1]

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Bdawg, busboy and dr.reality, you guys are not getting it.

OT-Stop saying that the East is weak. That's rubbish. The whole league is weak. And it's not like we don't play WC teams. What exactly is so weak about Boston or Detroit? The west has the Spurs, Suns, and... the Mavs? So what.

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It has nothing to do with the East vs West.

It's just that it seems a bit surreal for the Hawks to actually be a GOOD team even though many of us thought this year was the year we turned it around.

It still seems too good to be true.

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BusBoy, I am slowing coming around to you. That is EXACTLY how I would describe my feelings of this season. I'm sure many tortured die-hards can relate.

GO HAWKS. WE ARE BACK.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

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Decisive losses to Detroit ( twice ), Boston, and San Antonio. Beat Phoenix, Dallas, and Orlando.

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How quickly we forget the "phantom foul" called on Marvin against Chauncey. That was certainly NOT a decisive loss. Subtract one. That loss burns in my gut. How do you ont remember that?

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How quickly you forget that we've played Detroit 3 times.

[bumpyphish1]

no [censored]? have we really? i'd really like to get a win on the books with those fuckers. my fault. great analysis per usual.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Whati if we'd won the 3 games we had no business losing? ( 1st Washington game, Seattle, and Chicago ). We'd be sitting at 18 - 9, and tops in the Southeast. Even with just one of those 3 games, we're 16 - 11.

ESPN Radio did a segment about 2 hours ago, in which they evaulated a few NBA teams. The question was: are they better, worst, or right what they record says they are. They said Phoenix and Boston were worst, while the Hawks are right what our record says. Their reasoning was that we'd more than likely stay close to the .500 mark, because a lot of the teams in the East wll do the same.

9 of our wins are against the "M-teams" and Charlotte. A case can be made that we're beating up on the horribe teams. But good teams do just that. It's the schizophrenic teams that would post a 5 - 5 record against those teams, instead of the 9 - 1 record we've posted.

If we lose to Dallas on Saturday, that would make the Hawks 12 - 6 in their last 18 games. That's a 67% winning percentage. Play like that the rest of the year, and we'd have a 52 - 30 record.

But say we only win 10 out of every 18 games from here on out. That will put the Hawks around 46 - 36.

I think I said 45 wins before te season. So that pace even exceeds my expectations. Gotta love it.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Yep, we've played them 3 times already. I think Stern and the NBA purposely tried to take us out with that schedule. That schedule to start the season was definitely unfair for any team, let alone the Hawks. Damn schedule makers were probably lauging their heads off, composing the schedule.

We're getting the last laugh.

[GMyrberg]

Wait and see, with a healthy dose of optimism seems about right. It's seems obvious that many of the past problems have disappeared or are improving. They still have lots of flaws that get exposed once in a while (not unlike most teams in the NBA). There's a few reasons to believe that the Hawks will keep the same pace or better it. Improving PG play will make a big difference. Lots riding on how quickly Law can be effective in backup role. Just can't say enough about AJ. I was one who thought we were throwing away a second round pick for no particularly good reason. Will have to weather some nights where Joe will be overwhelmed and inside play is spotty. I think they can do that. The good defense of the present streak seems to be the best indicator of where the team is.

[frosgrim]

No one is taking into account that for the majority of the season we've had only 9 NBA quality players healthy. The fact that the record sits where it does without a healthy b-up point, patchwork at SG, and only two legit big men (Horf and Sheldon) healthy every game is amazing.

I think the team is a solid NBA team right now. When we get Acie fully back to health we'll be that much better. I would still like to see another shooter added to the team (K. Rush would be an excellent addition IMO).

[Johnnybravo4]

I believe we matchup well with Dallas. Our size and length negates all of their positives and they don't have a dominant post player to exploit our lack of a "big" big man.

[coachx]

We will no how good we are after the dust settles from our Western Conference road trip at the end of the month.

That Western Confertence road trip has dug a hole for us every season since the departure of Smitty and Mookie.

[frosgrim]

That road trip gets a lot of teams, so I am not too concerned about it per se. I am much more interested in the Hawks winning at home. If the team can win ~65-70% of its home games then we should make the play offs.

In regards to Dallas. I agree we match-up very well with them. I guess that Smith will guard Dirk, but Al can do a good job on him as well. The key to victory is AJ on the Harris/JT tadem and how well Howard bothers JJ. We should start an official thread on this game....

[coachx]

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The key to victory is AJ on the Harris/JT tadem and how well Howard bothers JJ. We should start an official thread on this game....

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You hit the nail on the head. AJ lasted only 4 minutes before getting yanked in the opener vs. Dallas. Harris going by him at will.

The lightning quick guys eat AJ alive.

Props to AJ for his floor leadership and giving a calming demeanor to the offense but AJ is what he is. At 33 he can't guard guys like Harris.

Heck Ford had his season high point total for us. Ford and Harris are probably the closest comparison to one eath other in that both drive and score in the paint at will vs. slower PGs.

Will we see more of Law or some of West to try and stop Harris ?

[Joker]

No, we are not good, I said we were average unless a major lineup move happens and that move was AJ getting starters mins. We AJ getting starters mins we are now above average. Were not good but the East is weak. Injurys in East have hurt many mid level teams as well as just different chemistry in other lockerrooms such as New Jersey and Chicago. Detroit then Boston then rest of the conference.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

So who are the good teams in the NBA? Name them all.

[Final_quest]

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They keep winning "statement" games but as cool as it is to be in the 4th spot we are only a couple games away from being in the 9th spot.

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we'd have to go 0-4 and the 9th spot team would have to go 5-0 for us to drop to 9th

that isn't 'a couple games away'

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I'm still not convinced about our team is all I'm saying. I love what's happening but I just can't get so excited about being in the 4th spot when we are two games out of the 7-8 spot. Let's see where we are in ten games.