Now I know Smoove just got back from injury..

[gsuteke]

we were rolling until Smoove hit that 3.

BINGO

To quote someone on the Squawk "Smith shouldn't have been standing out on the 3 point line to begin with"

[exodus]

I yelled no three times before that 3 went in. I realize now i should have kept yelling. :brick wall:

[mrhonline]

Im bout to email sekou since i got his email and ask him to tell smith to stop shooting jumpers.

You would be at least the 2nd person to do that, because I did that awhile back. :smile:

[hussamga]

Smith deserves the most blame this game. He wont get it until he learns to play in the post and doesnt use his athleticism as a crutch for his horrible decision making. It might not be noticeable from the statline, even in the first half his "defense" couldnt do anything to slow down Scola, who is like the opposite of Smith, weak athleticism but great BBiq and fundamentals.

Just a horrible game, almost turned the channel in the first.

We also couldnt slow their transition offense enough so no one was going for Off boards, everyone was loitering on the perimeter.

[Kimsey]

We were up two when he left the game and down 10 barely 2 minutes game time. His offense was hurting us but his defensive and all around game kept us in the game.

[PureGreatness]

I almost cried when smoove was bricking and my stomach felt really cold.

[HawkNJersey]

We were up two when he left the game and down 10 barely 2 minutes game time. His offense was hurting us but his defensive and all around game kept us in the game.

Thats my point...despite his bad shooting, we still had 6 min to play when he left the game.

I looked at the play by play...

After Smoove made his three...the Rockets had a 6-0 run going, when he got pulled. And we were up 2

The Rockets then went on a 14-2 run, when he was on bench..but the guys on the court during this run, have no fault in this loss.

Edited December 10, 2008 by HawkNJersey

[mrhonline]

but his defensive and all around game kept us in the game.

I wish people would stop saying this when it's not true.

Smith definitely does this quite often. But tonight what kept the Hawks in the game was good team defense. Smith deserves no more credit for that than Zaza does.

Smith absolutely KILLED the Hawks' momentum. It gave the Rockets' energy and focus.

[PureGreatness]

We were up two when he left the game and down 10 barely 2 minutes game time. His offense was hurting us but his defensive and all around game kept us in the game.

he plays good D but we are not talking bout that. You saw the game and you mean to tell me that smith didnt play like s***? Im sorry im a smith supporter but MY GOD this is the first game where he clearly lost the game for us. he has a smart bbiq on defense but offense its a hole different story.

[PureGreatness]

Thats my point...despite his bad shooting, we still had 6 min to play when he left the game.

I looked at the play by play...

After Smoove made his three...the Rockets had a 6-0 run going, when he got pulled. And we were up 2

The Rockets then went on a 14-2 run, when he was on bench..but the guys on the court during this run, have no fault in this loss.

stop trying to put a postive spin on this. he phucked this game but he got a chance to redeem himself tomarrow simple solution tell smith to not attempt a shot and just pass the ball.

Edited December 10, 2008 by hoodstar

[HawkNJersey]

stop trying to put a postive spin on this. he phucked this game but he got a chance to redeem himself tomarrow simple solution tell smith to not attempt a shot and just pass the ball.

Yo, who da Phuc putting a positive spin on this?

I don't agree with the blame it all on Smoove sheit. He played a huge part in this loss..but it can't be all on him.

[Kimsey]

he plays good D but we are not talking bout that. You saw the game and you mean to tell me that smith didnt play like s***? Im sorry im a smith supporter but MY GOD this is the first game where he clearly lost the game for us. he has a smart bbiq on defense but offense its a hole different story.

He basically sat JS out because he made a bad pass on the break. A good coach would have called a full time out, talked to him to slow down, think before you make your next move on offense and got everyone on the same page. The rockets were bad as josh offensively except we were getting to loose balls and causing them to miss shots with josh in the line up.

[Kimsey]

Flip, Mo, and Ac played a combined 49 minutes. These fools scored a cumulative 4 points. Josh shotty shot attempts compounded that problem no doubt.

[bronnt]

He basically sat JS out because he made a bad pass on the break. A good coach would have called a full time out, talked to him to slow down, think before you make your next move on offense and got everyone on the same page. The rockets were bad as josh offensively except we were getting to loose balls and causing them to miss shots with josh in the line up.

Actually, Woodson didn't pull him for that gaffe. Zaza had been sitting at the scorer's table for a minute or so when JS made that wild pass. So he was coming in at that point anyway, not just because Smoove was out of control.

I imagine that Woodson was trying to recreate what they had working in the third quarter when Zaza and Horf were on the floor together and did a good job against Yao for a stretch. Yao then put a little scoring together around the 9 minute mark in the fourth and Zaza is pulled off the pine to replace Josh at the next stoppage of play.

Woodson didn't send a message by yanking him...he did talk to him. If he wanted to send a message, he really needed to just call a time-out early in the fourth when it was clear Josh was out of control, talk to him, then sit him down for a few minutes, and maybe he cools down enough to contribute for a stretch run.

[DrReality]

He also made a couple of bonehead plays on the defensive end when he was overly aggressive. He was just pressing tooooo hard tonight. Dude rarely lets the game come to him. It was like he was trying to be JJ last night.

[swolehawk2]

Smoove has missed 8 games...and now is trying to get his scoring avg up.......he is an idiot.

If he wre smarter he could be a top 10 player, but he is just plain dumb.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

He took 9 jumpers tonight and made one. I am starting to think he will never get it.

And the one jumper he did make, was right where he usually makes them . . . a straight on look from the FT line to the top of the 3 point arc. Some of Smoove's internet friends, or someone on the Hawks staff, need to point that out to him. He is not a good wing shooter AT ALL. But if you get him in that straight on position, where he can properly size up his shot with the rim and backboard directly in front of him, he becomes a much better shooter.

We don't get back into the game in the 3rd, without his hustle and activity though. It's a double-edged sword with Smoove.

[NineOhTheRino]

And the one jumper he did make, was right where he usually makes them . . . a straight on look from the FT line to the top of the 3 point arc. Some of Smoove's internet friends, or someone on the Hawks staff, need to point that out to him. He is not a good wing shooter AT ALL. But if you get him in that straight on position, where he can properly size up his shot with the rim and backboard directly in front of him, he becomes a much better shooter.

We don't get back into the game in the 3rd, without his hustle and activity though. It's a double-edged sword with Smoove.

“Our shots weren’t going down and we had too many turnovers,” Hawks point guard Mike Bibby said. “It wasn’t like we weren’t going inside, but our shots weren’t falling. Ron did a good job. He took over the game and he made the plays down the stretch.”

[foeteen14]

smoove definately didn't have his best game last night. he missed alot of shots he should have made. but, i can live with that. especially when no one else stepped up to take control of the game. he knew he was struggling and his teamates knew it, but they still hung together. but this game illuminates a point that i always make about jj. there are some games where he is going to have to score 35 points for the hawks to win, this was one of them. he didn't do it so we lost. i don't mean to redirect blame, because smoove was a big part of the loss, but jj is the leader and the best player on the team. he has to hit his open shots for the hawks succeed. smoove creates momentum (and kills it), jj must sustain momentum (and revive it).

[crimedog]

I wish people would stop saying this when it's not true.

Smith definitely does this quite often. But tonight what kept the Hawks in the game was good team defense. Smith deserves no more credit for that than Zaza does.

Smith absolutely KILLED the Hawks' momentum. It gave the Rockets' energy and focus.

Smith was terrible last night but your being disingenous. When we did take the lead at the beggining of the 3rd, Josh had 2 steals in a row leading to assists for him and then a block on the next Houston possession and then two possessions later he had blocks on consecutive Houston possessions again to keep them from scoring.

Again, he was horrible with the jumpers but to completely downplay the fact that he basically shut down the Houston offense is twisting facts to prove a point that can be proved without twisting facts, you just have to look at the statline that shows 5-19 shooting. On the other hand, you can recognize positive contributions. When we beat Washington short-handed, Joe shot 7-22 with 7 TOs but since we won we gave him credit for the 19-8-8 stat-line.

It is OK for you to say that Smith's terrible shot-selection cost us the game even though his shot-blocking, rebounding, and sparking the fast break was the catalyst for us getting back into it.