Regardless of Series Outcome, Saturday...

[khaos7]

made me feel a whole lot better about this the future of this team. If we play a style of play that SUITES the personnel, we'll have success. We run, we play well. We play Woody's halfcourt "sets", we lose. That tells me we have a template for success on the highest stage (playoffs) that should be used to wins games in the future. If Woodson can't by into that after seeing the success we had, HE MUST GO.

[adrian]

Sam Mitchell and or Mike D'antoni will be cut loose both coaches style would be perfect for this team Avery Johnson another great coach may be on his way out also

[thesheedera]

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Sam Mitchell and or Mike D'antoni will be cut loose both coaches style would be perfect for this team Avery Johnson another great coach may be on his way out also

D'antoni would be incredible. I just wonder if any high profile GM or Coach could get past our ownership situation.

[jhay610]

I agree. Makes you wonder why we haven't played like that night in night out. We have a young athletic team, which means we should look to push every time off a miss or TO. We should still force the action off a made basket and look for early shots in a secondary break. This should have been a point of emphasis all year.

Of course it won't be there every time, but you should push and see what's there. I guess I could see over the course of an 82 game season its unrealistic to expect a frenetic pace when you only go 7 deep, but hey, Phoenix has a pretty thin bench too.

At any rate, there is our advantage in this series. I liked what I saw Sat. They were looking to run every single time and thats what we gotta have.

[khaos7]

That's what I was crying and moaning about. I felt it was important for us to make the playoffs so we could have a positive point of reference to build on. We finally have that with Saturday's victory. I don't think Woody is the coach who can build upon it. However, unlike the Thrashers of last year, the Hawks can say 1) we have a style of play, if used consistantly can win big games and 2) we know what our players must do in the context of the team in order for this style to be successful.

-Bibby has to push the ball

-Horford has to be utilized down low

-The offense must move so Joe can have open shots

-Josh's crazy hops must be used on the break.

-Our length has to be used to disrupt the opposing team's shots.

This young team has finally had a moment of success. Even if we get eliminated, we can go into the offseason with a measure of success. That said, Woody must go.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

I always tell you guys to record these games and re-watch them. Our running opportunities came, because we played DEFENSE and we REBOUNDED the basketball. Those are the 2 things that Woody has preached from the start of the season more than anything else.

As for our halfcourt offense, almost all of our 3 point makes came out of the halfcourt set and the offense in general looked very good in the halfcourt. The inside-out game that Horford was able to execute was tremendous.

If it's any team we played like on Saturday night, it was the Lakers. Not Phoenix, or Golden St, or Denver, or any run-n-gun team that tries to run all day, without playing defense. The Lakers run occasionally, but they make a total team commitment to defend and they rebound the basketball. That's how you win playoff games.

The C's only grabbed 9 offensive rebounds the other night. When you do that as a team, plus hold your opponent to under 45% shooting and dominate the boards overall, you're going to have a good shot to win games.

[Plainview1981]

Sam Mitchell??? You're kidding, right?

[exodus]

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The C's only grabbed 9 offensive rebounds

the other night. When you do that as a team, plus hold your opponent to under 45% shooting and dominate the boards overall, you're going to have a good shot to win games.

My one problem with the running philosophy is leaking out early. So many times i will see a guy hit a jumper and his man will run past him on the contest. Then the guy will get his own rebound while our player is out past half court hoping for an outlet.

You don't have to leak out early to fun the fast break. Defensive rebounding has hurt the hawks all season and leaking out early is a big reason for it.

[LOL_Hawks]

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I always tell you guys to record these games and re-watch them. Our running opportunities came, because we played DEFENSE and we REBOUNDED the basketball. Those are the 2 things that Woody has preached from the start of the season more than anything else.

I've noticed that most of this year. When we rebound and get to the loose balls, we tend to be in a lot more scoring situations because of the athleticism of our guys.

I noticed that when we got a rebound, it almost always turned into us pushing the ball and making them look slow. Whenever we got a loose ball, half of the time it turned into a fastbreak opportunity, and half of those chances resulted in Josh Smith making the Celtics look old.

That's the key. I doubt they can do it again because the Celtics did play a bad game themselves on D, but that's what's gotta be done. The Hawks have the athleticism edge over the Celtics. Basically, if tonight is a mirror image of Saturday, with rebounding and defense leading to scoring opportunities, the Hawks will be in position to win. I'm certainly not banking on a repeat performance, but I think it could happen.

And back to the topic of the future, I agree. Saturday night was basically the blueprint of what this team should look like: Tenacious defense, fast offense, and running the other team ragged. It's basically 40(60 in this case) Minutes of Hell: The NBA Edition.

EDIT: And I agree with hotlanta, bringing in Sam Mitchell would be dumb.

[Plainview1981]

If a player wants to know what the game plan is he might aswell go ask the opposing coach that game.

Woodson:Watch them and do what they do... Only do it worse.

[jhay610]

Good post and I agree. Like I alluded to in my first post, most of your transition opportunities come off defensive posts. The Hawks were getting murdered by offensive boards in the first two games. Locking down the glass creates huge swings when you run because not only are you eliminating easy second shot opportunities, you are creating transition opportunities for yourself.

And you are right, Horf's continued development in the post gives us a viable second option in our half court sets besides the Joe isolations. If he develops that post game like we expect him to in the coming years it will really open things up for our perimeter guys.

Here is hoping that hot shooting continues tonight, also. The Hawks haven't shot that well from 3 in a long time.

[Swatguy]

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I always tell you guys to record these games and re-watch them. Our running opportunities came, because we played DEFENSE and we REBOUNDED the basketball. Those are the 2 things that Woody has preached from the start of the season more than anything else.

As for our halfcourt offense, almost all of our 3 point makes came out of the halfcourt set and the offense in general looked very good in the halfcourt. The inside-out game that Horford was able to execute was tremendous.

If it's any team we played like on Saturday night, it was the Lakers. Not Phoenix, or Golden St, or Denver, or any run-n-gun team that tries to run all day, without playing defense. The Lakers run occasionally, but they make a total team commitment to defend and they rebound the basketball. That's how you win playoff games.

The C's only grabbed 9 offensive rebounds the other night. When you do that as a team, plus hold your opponent to under 45% shooting and dominate the boards overall, you're going to have a good shot to win games.

Of course your right. The style best suited Is what Woody has preached. When the guys committ to defense, we run with opportunities and we win.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

People think that any other coach in the world, wll be better than Woody. This fan base will be in for a rude awakening, if we don't get the absolute right coach here. And I'm sorry, Sam Mitchell is no more of a good coach than Woody is.

And a guy like D'Antoni has had 2 legit MVP candidates ( Nash & Amare ), another player who was a freak of nature and all-star caliber ( Marion ), a perennial 6th man of the year candidate ( Barbosa ), good veteran players who were former all-stars ( Hill & Shaq ), and one of the top perimeter defenders in the league ( Bell ) play for him the last 4 years . . . and the Most Improved Player in the league 2 years ago in the great Boris Diaw . . . and he STILL couldn't get it done.

D'Antoni might be a better coach than Woody, but it isn't by very much. When you really break D'Antoni down, he isn't a good strategist at all. It's pretty much Nash or bust with that team. And Nash is destined to be one of the few league MVPs to never play in the NBA Finals.

If Woody was the coach in Phoenix, they might not be as an exciting of a team. But with Nash and Amare, they'll still be able to pick and roll people to death. And with Woody stressing defense, they might be a better defensive team.

In other words, even Woody could win if he had to Suns lineup to work with. At least guys like Brown and Fratello wouldn't let this team coach EVER on defense. D'Antoni, on the other hand, would be encouraging everybody on the roster to take open jumpers at any time, even Smoove, Chill, and Zaza.

[Dexmethylphenidate]

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I always tell you guys to record these games and re-watch them. Our running opportunities came, because we played DEFENSE and we REBOUNDED the basketball. Those are the 2 things that Woody has preached from the start of the season more than anything else.

As for our halfcourt offense, almost all of our 3 point makes came out of the halfcourt set and the offense in general looked very good in the halfcourt. The inside-out game that Horford was able to execute was tremendous.

If it's any team we played like on Saturday night, it was the Lakers. Not Phoenix, or Golden St, or Denver, or any run-n-gun team that tries to run all day, without playing defense. The Lakers run occasionally, but they make a total team commitment to defend and they rebound the basketball. That's how you win playoff games.

The C's only grabbed 9 offensive rebounds the other night. When you do that as a team, plus hold your opponent to under 45% shooting and dominate the boards overall, you're going to have a good shot to win games.

I agree with this. It's hard not to push the ball with the athlete that Hawks have, but they win the game with their intensity on defense and rebounding. The halfcourt game receive a lift when they finally went with Horford down low... hopefully Woody doesn't go away from Horford when in the halfcourt setting tonight.

[Plainview1981]

Switching from Mike Woodson to Sam Mitchell is like trading a rotten apple for a rotten orange. Either way you're stuck with something rotten and not worth a damn.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

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In other words, even Woody could win if he had to Suns lineup to work with. At least guys like Brown and Fratello wouldn't let this team

coach

EVER on defense. D'Antoni, on the other hand, would be encouraging everybody on the roster to take open jumpers at any time, even Smoove, Chill, and Zaza.

Replace the word "coach" with "coast". Fratello or Brown would never let this team COAST on defense, like D'Antoni occasionally lets the Suns do.

[jhay610]

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Good post and I agree. Like I alluded to in my first post, most of your transition opportunities come off defensive

posts.

Yeah and I meant to say defensive stops here, not defensive posts. lol

[Traceman]

I have been very critical of Woody (particularly his sub patterns) but if he were coach of the Suns, I'm not so sure that they wouldn't be every bit as successful as they have been under D'Antoni.

Coaching can be that little something extra that gets you over the top but TALENT makes FAR more of a difference in this league than coaching does.