HAWKS: Home finale brings Miami, playoff preview

[DrReality]

HAWKS: Home finale brings Miami, playoff preview

By Sekou Smith

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Monday, April 13, 2009

Hawks fans won’t have to wait until the weekend to see what their team will look like against their first round playoff foe.

They’ll get a sneak preview Tuesday night at Philips Arena when the Hawks host the Miami Heat in the regular season home finale.

The Heat (42-38) locked up the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference playoff chase Sunday, their win over New York and Philadelphia’s loss to Toronto combining to solidify their position.

The Hawks (46-34) own the fourth spot and home-court advantage, which they locked up with Friday’s home victory against Indiana, and will play host to the Heat in a best-of-seven series beginning either Saturday or Sunday.

The NBA playoff schedule will not be released until after all the playoff seeds in the Eastern and Western conferences are finalized Wednesday.

In addition to being a playoff preview, Tuesday’s game also serves as the Hawks’ chance to win the season series against the Heat.

They own a 2-1 advantage, winning 87-83 Dec. 12 in Miami and 91-83 Feb. 27 at Philips.

The Heat’s lone win was a 95-79 decision Jan. 26 in Miami.

Edited April 13, 2009 by DrReality

[Gray Mule]

With both teams having locked up their position in the playoffs, this should/ought to

be a battle of the benches.

Neither team should risk injury to their starting five by using them for many extended

minutes in this game.

"Want to win" should be overcome by "Want to be well and rested" for the playoffs.

Still, knowing the expectations of this game, we'll see.

:sad:

[AmishBoy]

This should be really interesting how this plays out. Being a Giants fan I was torn when the Giants played New England at the end of last year when NE had the perfect record going. It ended up working out really well for the Giants. I'm torn on this game as well. One thing I'm sure of is that I don't want Miami leaving Phillips thinking they can win there. Knowing they have to win is one thing, but thinking they can is another. With that said I want Woody to play it by what Miami does. Dwade is a competitor in the mold of MJ and I can't see him not wanting to win this game as a way to send a message, but I could be proven wrong. Whether we play starters a bunch or the bench, we need to win this.

As an aside during the abc games yesterday they discussed resting players. Jeff Van Gundy said he could see resting players if you have your position locked up early,say with 10 games to go, but going into the playoffs you want your players having a rhythm so this close to the postseason he doesn't believe in resting them. I would have to agree.

[DrReality]

Both teams will want to win to have the momentum going into the playoffs. Woody will not want to lose on our court, that would be a bad omen.

[Gray Mule]

Our starters beat their bench players.

For either team, how much weight should that carry?

Either, it should read, our starters beat their starters OR

our bench beat their bench.

It would be nice for either team to come out with the win in this one.

But, either team could end up with a starter, a key player, injured

enough to miss the playoffs. A win here wouldn't be worth that much.

Play the starters enough to keep them "Game ready" and then let the

guys on the bench have their turn. At least, that's my theory of how this

game should play out for both teams.

:newspaper:

[AmishBoy]

Watching sportscenter right now. Dwade scored 55 last night. Sportscaster says teammates thought something was wrong with him because he wasn't talking to anybody. He was that focused. If he comes to play Tuesday, we have to match.

[hawkman]

Watching sportscenter right now. Dwade scored 55 last night. Sportscaster says teammates thought something was wrong with him because he wasn't talking to anybody. He was that focused. If he comes to play Tuesday, we have to match.

Agreed. Give them nothing!

[cam1218]

Earlier in the season I thought this had the potential to be a huge game. Now I really wish we weren't playing it at all. How much do the players really care about it? As a fan I think we might not want to give them any confidence that they can win at Philips but do the players really care about any of that? We know how good we are on our homecourt and so does Miami. Miami knows we don't want Joe getting hurt so even if they do win I'm sure they know they stole one and probably didn't get what they will be getting from the Hawks this weekend. Maybe we can use some reverse psychology and have them thinking they can win here--then run them off the court this weekend. Who knows? It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

[Admin]

Agreed. Give them nothing!

And take from them everything!

[JackB1]

I dont think this game will mean much, come this Sat.

Unless both teams play starters good minutes, a win won't mean much.

I think Woody use this opportunity to keep his starters fresh...try to win if

possible and get the bench some good minutes.

should be interesting anyway.

[HamHawk]

It's funny how a game so late in the season can be looked at as a "scouting" game for this weekend's games that actually count.