Let me call it for you straight...

[Admin]

We actually lost by 6...

So being a few bad calls away from 2-0 on our home court doesn't scare them?

My fault sorry about that ... and to answer your question, no that doesn't scare them. We're the big bad unbeatable Hawks at home and we only outscored them by a combined 4 points in Atlanta and I'm certain if they had Big Z, Joe Smith, and Daniel Gibson for our win in Atlanta that we would have lost that game as well.

I'm not saying we can't be competitive against the Cavs but as AHF said with Z in their lineup we can't match up with them. He can just sit back and kill our defense with his jumpers and he can kill us on the glass.

[Colin]

My fault sorry about that ... and to answer your question, no that doesn't scare them. We're the big bad unbeatable Hawks at home and we only outscored them by a combined 4 points in Atlanta and I'm certain if they had Big Z, Joe Smith, and Daniel Gibson for our win in Atlanta that we would have lost that game as well.

I'm not saying we can't be competitive against the Cavs but as AHF said with Z in their lineup we can't match up with them. He can just sit back and kill our defense with his jumpers and he can kill us on the glass.

I don't get why we are all so scared of their rebounding...? Even though we went 1-3 against them, in the four games combined, we outrebounded them by 1... It's not like they have this HUGE edge on the boards, even with the addition of Joe Smith, that makes them a bit better. Horford outrebounded Z in the games against them.

EDIT- by the way, you're in Houston too?

Edited April 21, 2009 by Colin

[Diesel]

This thread is laughable. We win ONE playoff game and you guys are drinking the Kool-Aid. Hawks to the finals? Are you kidding me? I see us getting past the Heat, probably in 6, but no way we get past the Cavs. Did NO ONE watch the Hawks Cavs game? You though those calls were bad? Just wait until a Hawks Cavs playoff series. You will throw your remote through the TV. Not to mention the Cavs are deeper and more talented top to bottom.

Are the cavs really more talented "top to bottom"??

Let me introduce you to the kool-aid jug.

Let's remind you of our roster and theirs...

Let's remove Lebron and Joe...

They have:

Joe Smith

Delonte West

Mo Williams

Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Anderson Varejao

Daniel Gibson

Tarence Kinsey

Wally Szczerbiak

Ben Wallace

Darnell Jackson

Aleksandar Pavlovic

We have:

Josh Smith

Al Horford

Mike Bibby

Zaza Pachulia

Marvin Williams

Maurice Evans

Ronald Murray

Mario West

Solomon Jones

Speedy Claxton

Othello Hunter

I say top to bottom we have more talent if you subtract Joe and Lebron. I mean: Smoove, Bibby, Al, and Flip are all capable of scoring 20 points and averaging 20 points in a series. Not to mention we have Marvin and Zaza with healthy contributions also.

Who on their team can average 20 points in a series: Mo Williams and Who?

Here's the bottom line... They are a 1 man team with very good chemistry. IF we knock off that chemistry and slow down that man... they will fall!!!

Hawks to the NBA finals!!!!

Get some of that Kool Aid and stop drinking the Zima that ABC/ESPN/TNT has been giving you!

[Diesel]

That means we need to make the call...

Does anyone know John Edwards number?

I called John Edwards... I told him we need help stopping Lebron. He said...

I asked him if he was better than Lebron and he said he was that much better.

I asked him who would win the series.... He said that when he goes to bed at night, he sees this image...

[Plainview1981]

Maybe for us Hawks fans, but for the overall basketball fan, there is no way Smith is more exciting than Lebron.

Lebron isn't also that exciting. Both Kobe and Wade are far more exciting.

[crimedog]

Also, the Cavs have Mo Williams who, while just "good" in general NBA terms, is the type of guy that can massacre us because of our personnel deficiency against quick PGs (although Flip is decent).

Anyway, the Cavs don't have the best record and the best (by FAAAR) point differential in the league by some fluke. They are very very very legit and if you think we can beat them, why sell us short and say we can't handle the Lakers.

[Diesel]

Also, the Cavs have Mo Williams who, while just "good" in general NBA terms, is the type of guy that can massacre us because of our personnel deficiency against quick PGs (although Flip is decent).

Anyway, the Cavs don't have the best record and the best (by FAAAR) point differential in the league by some fluke. They are very very very legit and if you think we can beat them, why sell us short and say we can't handle the Lakers.

No doubt that the Cavs have very good chemistry and more importantly, very good luck. They haven't had a stint where they have had a major player injured for some time. I mean, check out everybody else in that regard:

Lakers = Bynum (half the season).

Celtics = KG.

Orlando = Nelson (most of the season).

Hawks = Smith, Marvin, Joe, and Bibby...

Utah = Boozer.

Spurs = Who didn't get hurt for the Spurs.

The Cavs are just an experienced team that didn't experience any injuries to major players and thus.. they are the best team in basketball because they built great chemistry. However... they are not as invincible as ABC/ESPN/TNT believes that they are.

About the Lakers. You say that guards like Mo Williams bother us? Well, the truth is that they bother us a little but not as much as bigs who can score and rebound. Think about a lot of our losses. We lost to teams that would make us scratch our heads... however, for the most part... the penetration does it's damage but not the way that the rebounding does. Hell, Wade is probably the best penetrating guard in the game. We just put a NBA playoff Low around his neck.

Considering the only strong frontcourt we may face is LAL, I'm not scared of the East like most are. I'm not overrating the Cavs. Lebron is good. Their chemistry is good. However, their talent outside of Lebron is not as good as ours.

[Admin]

I don't get why we are all so scared of their rebounding...? Even though we went 1-3 against them, in the four games combined, we outrebounded them by 1... It's not like they have this HUGE edge on the boards, even with the addition of Joe Smith, that makes them a bit better. Horford outrebounded Z in the games against them.

EDIT- by the way, you're in Houston too?

Well the stats are skewed a bit since they didn't have Z in one of those games and had a freshly initiated Joe Smith in only 1 of them. With Smith and Z they have significantly more depth than us and I didn't go back to check but I think they were missing Wallace for a while too this season, although I could be wrong.

Yep I am in Houston on the SW side

[Plainview1981]

Also, the Cavs have Mo Williams who, while just "good" in general NBA terms, is the type of guy that can massacre us because of our personnel deficiency against quick PGs (although Flip is decent).

Anyway, the Cavs don't have the best record and the best (by FAAAR) point differential in the league by some fluke. They are very very very legit and if you think we can beat them, why sell us short and say we can't handle the Lakers.

Williams is a better player than Bibby is. A more explosive scorer that would have the edge over Mike. Plus, the Cavs have the role players to expose the flaws in the Hawks. Guys like Williams, Big Z Gibson can and should make the shots that the Heat role players will might not.

At first glance, the Cavs aren't as talented as some other teams. But the results speak volumes.

[thecampster]

We don't scare Cleveland.

Nov 22nd @ Cleveland we lost by 14 points and that includes us outscoring them by 7 in the 4th. We were down 17 at halftime and 21 at the end of 3. Each team had all 5 starters but Cleveland has since added Joe Smith.

Dec 13th @ Home we won by 5 points but Cleveland was without Big Z and Daniel Gibson and again have added Joe Smith to their roster since.

Mar 1st @ Home we lost by 1 point after getting screwed at the end. Each team had their starting 5 but Cleveland has since added Joe Smith to their roster.

Mar 21st @ Cleveland we lost by 11 points and that includes us outscoring the Cavs by 10 in the 4th quarter and we were down 18 at halftime. We were without Marvin for this game.

So in 4 games we were blown out twice and then we had a close win and a close loss in the other 2 games. One of the blowouts can be thrown out since Marvin was missing which leaves them 1-0 against us in Cleveland and 1-1 against us in Atlanta although we could have easily been 2-0 in Atlanta but weren't far off from being 0-2 in Atlanta either.

The way I see it they'd slaughter us in Cleveland in games 1,2 and we might squeak out games 3 or 4 at home and at best we could force the series to 6 games so I really don't think it's fitting to call that scaring them.

Game 1: Factually Incorrect. Josh Smith was out with his bum ankle. This game is a wipe on that alone. We lose a defensive matchup option with Josh out.

Game 2: We won!

Game 3: End of the 1st half and end of the game 2 phantom Lebron calls. We were handling them in this game and repeatedly the ref's jumped to lebron's aid. This was a streak ender game and obviously the NBA did not want it to end. This game should be called a win and you know it.

Game 4: Hawks came out flat this game and were down 14 at the end of the 1st quarter. The rest of the game was competitive with the Hawks making it close in the end.

1 2 3 4 Total

Atlanta 13 22 28 33 96 Final

Cleveland 27 26 26 23 102

Fact is, the season series should have been 2-2 and a healthy Josh Smith in game 1 could have made it 3-1 in favor of Atlanta. I'm not saying this would be the case. I'm just saying you're casting this as the Cavs spanking our rears all year and that is not the case. Yes it was 1-3 for the season series but could easily have been 3-1. I think you're just putting too much weight into the last game.

Most importantly, this team has gone through a ton this year and the team playing Miami on Sunday was not the team I saw all year. Many things have improved. Right now if I were a betting man I'd say the Cleveland series is a 6-4 cleveland favored to win.

[TheTrueSiete]

Williams is a better player than Bibby is. A more explosive scorer that would have the edge over Mike. Plus, the Cavs have the role players to expose the flaws in the Hawks. Guys like Williams, Big Z Gibson can and should make the shots that the Heat role players will might not.

At first glance, the Cavs aren't as talented as some other teams. But the results speak volumes.

Huh?

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[AHF]

Huh?

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I'll translate. Cleveland's supporting cast is much better than Miami's. The Heat missed some open shots and guys like Z and Mo won't do that against the Hawks...to the contrary, they can make some big shots of their own by taking on Horford/Zaza and Bibby, respectively.

[TheTrueSiete]

I'll translate. Cleveland's supporting cast is much better than Miami's. The Heat missed some open shots and guys like Z and Mo won't do that against the Hawks...to the contrary, they can make some big shots of their own by taking on Horford/Zaza and Bibby, respectively.

OK... Anything can happen though... Z and Mo could have off games due to a great defense... Just like Miami... No one can speak in certainty...

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[benhillboy]

True, I look at Cleveland's squad and the only good, vesatile players are West and Williams. I despise Ilgauskus and point to him as one of the frauds, like two others on his squad (B. Wallace, W. Scerbiak) who should've relinquished their All-Star spots to the Bibbys and Terrys of the world, regardless of position. Verajo is wild and Joe Smith made a career out of being a millimeter below average. There is no team contending who would allow "Boobie" Gibson to beat them. Mike Brown, the Coach of the Year, is very good, but has as much experience, B-ball I.Q., and coaching skills as Phil's balls. But to think that the Hawks are consistent and thorough enough (meaning lock-down doubles on LeBron for every second of his playing minutes along with 48-minutes of ball movement and Bibby forcing himself to push in transition at EVERY oppurtunity) to defeat the Cavs with their historic dominance at home is quite nieve. Have you all seen LeBron this year? He has all the skills and intangibles of our starting lineup, minus a shaky long jumper. Cavs in a considerably close 5, blowout in 6.

Edited April 22, 2009 by benhillboy

[TheNorthCydeRises]

LOL @ looking ahead to Cleveland already.

Until the Hawks prove that they can win a road game, we shouldn't be talking about anybody but Miami. That's why most analysts thought this series would go 7 games . . because both of these teams are bad road teams, but play at a higher level at home.

But if we do get past Miami, the only way we beat Cleveland, is if Joe Johnson plays at just as high of a level as LeBron. He'll have to be lights out at home, and have at least one monster game on the road. It could be a 35+ point game, or a game in which he has 24 points and 12 assists. If he plays at that high of a level, we have at least a 50/50 chance of taking out the Cavs.

First, I want to see if this team can win Game 3 in Miami, no matter what happens later on today in Game 2.

Edited April 22, 2009 by northcyde

[Diesel]

LOL @ looking ahead to Cleveland already.

Until the Hawks prove that they can win a road game, we shouldn't be talking about anybody but Miami. That's why most analysts thought this series would go 7 games . . because both of these teams are bad road teams, but play at a higher level at home.

But if we do get past Miami, the only way we beat Cleveland, is if Joe Johnson plays at just as high of a level as LeBron. He'll have to be lights out at home, and have at least one monster game on the road. It could be a 35+ point game, or a game in which he has 24 points and 12 assists. If he plays at that high of a level, we have at least a 50/50 chance of taking out the Cavs.

First, I want to see if this team can win Game 3 in Miami, no matter what happens later on today in Game 2.

Nobody is looking past Miami. In fact, tonight's game is crucial. But with health and rest, I think you need to understand that we are better than them.

[buckeye242424]

Nobody is looking past Miami. In fact, tonight's game is crucial. But with health and rest, I think you need to understand that we are better than them.

It is. Getting a W tonight would give me, and the fans, peace of mind that our season won't end in Miami. Away from Phillips, we're a different team, which has been well documented. From my perspective, even if we were to lose all three in Florida, we still get to come home and win the series. We lose tonight, it could be the last game in Phillips this year. I'm sure the players don't want that sitting in the backs of their minds...

[Diesel]

It is. Getting a W tonight would give me, and the fans, peace of mind that our season won't end in Miami. Away from Phillips, we're a different team, which has been well documented. From my perspective, even if we were to lose all three in Florida, we still get to come home and win the series. We lose tonight, it could be the last game in Phillips this year. I'm sure the players don't want that sitting in the backs of their minds...

It's not 2-3-2...

It's 2-2-1-1-1

[Atlantaholic]

Crrazily enough... I believe in these Hawks.

[TheTrueSiete]

Crrazily enough... I believe in these Hawks.

Here's hoping that feeling spreads... Let's go Hawks!

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