Hawks-Pistons

[Hawksquawk]

What’s up?

Hope all are well and enjoying the last day of Thanksgiving break. Looks pretty good for the Hawks this afternoon, you’d think. Detroit is without Rip Hamilton,  Tayshaun Prince and most likely Ben Gordon and have lost seven in a row.

Nothing is beyond possible in the NBA – remember Golden State beating Dallas on the road with six guys last week. Every team on a losing streak has to win at some point, and all that. But this would look like a game you’d think the Hawks can go for the kill early and play the second unit.

I’m actually on my way to the Falcons game helping out Darryl Ledbetter, so I don’t think I’ll be on much, but will be curious to read what you all have to say.

Happy armchair coaching!

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[mrhonline]

Hawks have no answer for Stuckey or the Pistons' energy in the first half.

Great 1st quarter by Josh. Getting nothing from Horford.

Edited November 29, 2009 by mrhonline

[TheTruth]

I wonder what excuses guys like Northcyde will shower and grace us with after such a lackluster and unacceptable performance...

[Sothron]

Pathetic loss. Even worse than the loss to the Bobcats. We let them get 25 I believe offensive rebounds and had 60 points inside the paint. Absolutely unacceptable.

[Atlantaholic]

I wonder what excuses guys like Northcyde will shower and grace us with after such a lackluster and unacceptable performance...

Our starters will end up averaging just as many minutes as last season. Good thing we have a bench this year :brick wall:

[HawksFan87]

We have a bench?? outside of Craw no one does anything worth mentioning... Every single time they come in the game we either lose the lead o the other teams lead gets bigger..

Edited November 29, 2009 by jsmoovefan

[Buzzard]

Our starters will end up averaging just as many minutes as last season. Good thing we have a bench this year :brick wall:

Even if we are just the 4th seed, we are a better team than this.

[Buzzard]

I wonder what excuses guys like Northcyde will shower and grace us with after such a lackluster and unacceptable performance...

These types of road losses coupled with blowouts at home will and should eventually cost Woody his job. If we want to be a better road team these are the games that have to be taken care of; and if the Spirit wants to win over the large group of "on the fence ATL fans", they cannot afford blowouts to good teams at home.

Everyone of us knows we are a better team than the one that played against Orlando and then Detroit today. The Spirit is well aware of this also.

Edited November 29, 2009 by Buzzard

[Vol4ever]

These types of road losses coupled with blowouts at home will and should eventually cost Woody his job. If we want to be a better road team these are the games that have to be taken care of; and if the Spirit wants to win over the large group of "on the fence ATL fans", they cannot afford blowouts to good teams at home.

Everyone of us knows we are a better team than the one that played against Orlando and then Detroit today. The Spirit is well aware of this also.

Instead of blaming the coach, maybe the players should play with more intensity and block out on occasion.

[Buzzard]

Instead of blaming the coach, maybe the players should play with more intensity and block out on occasion.

I think Van Gundy went to Howard then the whole team in general and told them this samething at the half of our Orlando game. Result Magic crushed us in the 2nd half. Maybe you should be telling Woody this and not me or maybe you should be our coach so you can tell our players this directly?

Edited November 29, 2009 by Buzzard

[spotatl]

I think its ridiculous that anyone is blaming Woodson for the loss to the Pistons. Seriously... you know that he isn't allowed to get defensive rebounds right? Unless you think the Hawks woudl go undefeated with a different coach I think this is a REALLY easy one to put on the players. Seriously- every loss isn't woodson's fault.

Edited November 29, 2009 by spotatl

[Buzzard]

I think its ridiculous that anyone is blaming Woodson for the loss to the Pistons. Seriously... you know that he isn't allowed to get defensive rebounds right? Unless you think the Hawks woudl go undefeated with a different coach I think this is a REALLY easy one to put on the players. Seriously- every loss isn't woodson's fault.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion. Mine is that Woody is the head coach and he is in contol of the players. So when JJ continues to shoot and not pass, its on JJ and Woody. And when our players continue to not box out, its on our frontline and Woody.

If a player as good as Howard has to be told or reminded how to play hard at halftime, you cannot in your right mind think anyone on our team is above that either? And if Woody did say something to that effect, its pretty obvious we did not respond to him.

If you think Woody is a all-star or hall of fame caliber coach, good for you. I personally don't. And yes, just as I want all-star or HOF caliber players on our team, I want an all-star or HOF caliber coach just as badly.

Edited November 29, 2009 by Buzzard

[spotatl]

Buzzard- if you want Woodson fired what do you think the odds are the the ASG pays what it would take to get a HOF caliber coach in here? If the Hawks had a chance to get Adelman in here thats great but I don't see anything to make me think the ASG would pay what it takes to get the kind of coach in here you want.

And I'll continue to laugh at anyone who wants to blame the hawks giving up offensive rebounds on woodson. Thats just pretty much proves to me you will pin every single loss on Woodson no matter what happens on the court.

[TheTruth]

I totally agree Buzzard. What spotatl said sounds more like a cop out in favor of displacing more blame on the players instead of Woodson. He refuses to play Teague even when a change of pace or just ineffectiveness should grant him some time, I don't see major adjustments made out of the half (Orlando in particular), his inability to tell JJ to be more of a setup man when his shot isn't falling (Detroit), same goes for Crawford, etc etc. It makes my head hurt.

[spotatl]

When Woodson isn't playing Rookies and they eventually move on then we have consistently seen that his judgment on young players was better that people's here. Salim didn't do anything after he left. Acie didn't even get his 4th year team option picked up after he left. Shelden is on his third team since he left. I'll trust Woodson if he thinks that Teague is not ready yet to help a playoff team out.

I just dont see what options Woodson has if both Joe and Crawford are not playing well. Josh Smith couldn't even post up Stuckey today- I don't want hte offense run through him. Bibby is no longer capable of doing it- he might as well change his name to JIm Paxson to better make his role clear. Marvin has never shown the ability to consistently exploit a favorable matchup. Horford is not even close to being able to do it. Who do you think is capable of initiating the offense at a high level? Zaza?

Edited November 30, 2009 by spotatl

[Atlantaholic]

Joe Johnson 5-19 = 26%

Rest of Hawks 32-55 = 58%

And Joe Johnson gets 43 minutes.

How does this even begin to approximate good coaching???

[spotatl]

If my job were on the line I'd absolutely have Joe Johnson in over teague.

[Atlantaholic]

If my job were on the line I'd absolutely have Joe Johnson in over teague.

Oh, hi there Mike Woodson! ...Just a few questions for you: didn't you say that we weren't gonna run Joe Johnson into the ground this year? I'm not certain but I remember you specifically stating at the beginning of the season that his minutes would decrease from last year. Well I guess that if we are being strictly literal you are actually delivering on that promise since his minutes have decreased from 39.4 to 38.7. However, I'd also like to ask if you have any specific reason in wanting to play him a ridiculous 41 mpg the last five games, after all he is shooting 33% over that stretch and is looking more wore down by the day.

Also, refresh my memory please, didn't you say just a few weeks ago that Teague was gonna have an impact on the team? in preseason and training camp didn't you specifically compare Teague to Acie and state that Teague was more ready to contribute? I guess Teague forgot how to play basketball over the last two weeks, right? I mean how do you justify giving less minutes than you gave Acie Law.

One last thing, what happened to our bench? Just ONE WEEK ago you were interviewed and fawned over how awesome our bench was this year, stating that our bench was so good we could play our entire second unit at the same time and be effective. Those are your words Mr. Woodson, and considering that, it is confusing that outside of Crawford nobody is averaging more than 10 minutes off the bench the last week. How do you explain that sir?

If you could just answer those questions for me Mr. Woodson I think it would help shed some light into the workings of your mind. Sometimes it is difficult to know exactly what is going through your head when you are staring blankly into space and/or drawing up bizarre plays that befuddle our huddled players during timeouts. (How it takes you 2 minutes and one set of markers to draw up another ISOLATION play is also something I am curious about)

[TheTruth]

Oh, hi there Mike Woodson! ...Just a few questions for you: didn't you say that we weren't gonna run Joe Johnson into the ground this year? I'm not certain but I remember you specifically stating at the beginning of the season that his minutes would decrease from last year. Well I guess that if we are being strictly literal you are actually delivering on that promise since his minutes have decreased from 39.4 to 38.7. However, I'd also like to ask if you have any specific reason in wanting to play him a ridiculous 41 mpg the last five games, after all he is shooting 33% over that stretch and is looking more wore down by the day.

Also, refresh my memory please, didn't you say just a few weeks ago that Teague was gonna have an impact on the team? in preseason and training camp didn't you specifically compare Teague to Acie and state that Teague was more ready to contribute? I guess Teague forgot how to play basketball over the last two weeks, right? I mean how do you justify giving less minutes than you gave Acie Law.

One last thing, what happened to our bench? Just ONE WEEK ago you were interviewed and fawned over how awesome our bench was this year, stating that our bench was so good we could play our entire second unit at the same time and be effective. Those are your words Mr. Woodson, and considering that, it is confusing that outside of Crawford nobody is averaging more than 10 minutes off the bench the last week. How do you explain that sir?

If you could just answer those questions for me Mr. Woodson I think it would help shed some light into the workings of your mind. Sometimes it is difficult to know exactly what is going through your head when you are staring blankly into space and/or drawing up bizarre plays that befuddle our huddled players during timeouts. (How it takes you 2 minutes and one set of markers to draw up another ISOLATION play is also something I am curious about)

LOL! So true, so true.

[RedDawg#8]

my personal beef came with the very 1st substition of the game. Joe 0-3 from the field and Marvin was 2-2 with a 3-pointer and had just got a blocked shot and then he gets yanked for Crawford. A little later in the 2nd quarter, Evans was in and had made 2 good defensive plays back to back, but got taken out right after for Joe I think. It was Woodson who claims that a players performance will dictate his playing time but he doesnt stick to it at all.

Marv has had a slow start this season, why as a head coach would you pull him that early after he opened hitting his first couple of shots and was competing on the defensive end, at the same time making our frontline smaller when we are getting beat on the glass. DOESNT MAKE SENSE

Mo has been a ghost but plays hard on the defensive end everytime he's on the court, why would you take him out the game when we are down and he is making impact plays on D thats putting us in position to make a quicker comeback. He comes out, eventually the Pistons go on a 10 pt run. DOESNT MAKE SENSE

How does a player get 43 minutes, despite missing 14 of 19 shots, not getting to the FT line, no steals or blocks, only 2 rebounds, 3 assists? Thats not earning ones playing time, thats being given minutes, something Woody claimed he would not do this year. Its not fair to the other players on the team who are actually playing hard and today CONTRIBUTING to be sitting on the bench and watch that kind of performance from a teamate because he "makes us better" when hes on the court. No, he makes us better when his shot is falling. When its not, he's no better than a Teague or Marvin or anybody else whose minutes he is taking away.