Are you serious? NYK, CHA, DET and NO.

[frankthetank966]

Four of our five losses have come to teams under .500 How do we beat Boston, Portland and whop Miami but we cant beat teams that have even reached 10 wins.

This is all the players fault. They need to play some defense.

Does anyone else realize the reason we are loosing to these clubs is lack of defense. Yes you can blame woody but I have a feeling he teaches these guys how to play defense they just dont.

The Hawks played zero defense against NY in the 4th Larry Hughes was able to exploit the lane and tally double-digits in the 4th quarter alone. There was no defense what-so-ever against Charlotte so we got pounded on the road. Same thing goes for Detroit, there was no defense either.

Great teams win by matching up defensively. We have a great offense but our defense has to be consistent. The only way we will get by the second round is if we start to man up and become a more physical team defensively. There is no doubt Bibby needs to see less time unless he starts playing defense. Teague deserves to be in the game espicially when Bibby is shooting like he did vs. the Knicks. Joe Smith should be in the game, Randolph Morris...

Lets go guys!

Edited December 5, 2009 by frankthetank966

[TheTruth]

But wait...some would lead us to believe that we are supposed to EXPECT AND ACCEPT us losing to inferior teams from time to time.

I refuse to. We need to learn to play consistent D and Woodson needs to learn to change the lineups on the floor when they obviously are not working. If that includes taking out his precious Joe or anyone else, and dare I say, putting in Teague or some other bench guy, then dangit, do it!

[frankthetank966]

But wait...some would lead us to believe that we are supposed to EXPECT AND ACCEPT us losing to inferior teams from time to time.

I refuse to. We need to learn to play consistent D and Woodson needs to learn to change the lineups on the floor when they obviously are not working. If that includes taking out his precious Joe or anyone else, and dare I say, putting in Teague or some other bench guy, then dangit, do it!

I accept nothing this season. There are no excuses. four of the starters have been playing with each other for years now. Bibby has been starting PG for almost 2 yrs on this team.

And yes I agree with you about Woody switching up the lineup when nothing is going on.

[Plainview1981]

Four of our five losses have come to teams under .500 How do we beat Boston, Portland and whop Miami but we cant beat teams that have even reached 10 wins.

This is all the players fault. They need to play some defense.

Does anyone else realize the reason we are loosing to these clubs is lack of defense. Yes you can blame woody but I have a feeling he teaches these guys how to play defense they just dont.

The Hawks played zero defense against NY in the 4th Larry Hughes was able to exploit the lane and tally double-digits in the 4th quarter alone. There was no defense what-so-ever against Charlotte so we got pounded on the road. Same thing goes for Detroit, there was no defense either.

Great teams win by matching up defensively. We have a great offense but our defense has to be consistent. The only way we will get by the second round is if we start to man up and become a more physical team defensively. There is no doubt Bibby needs to see less time unless he starts playing defense. Teague deserves to be in the game espicially when Bibby is shooting like he did vs. the Knicks. Joe Smith should be in the game, Randolph Morris...

Lets go guys!

This team peaked 2 weeks into the season. They haven't done anything of note since beating Boston.

[CrawDaddy]

Fire woody.

[WraithSentinel]

I just don't understand this team here of late. Early on we look like a team ready to take that next step. Now we are reverting back. Here of late this team will play one good/great game and then follow that up with a weak effort the next game. They are showing inconsistency here. They want to be an Elite team. Right now they are far from it.

Here is what Horford said tonight after the game.

http://twitter.com/Al_Horford

We have to be more consistent as a team on defense. We are gonna score the ball. Have to focus on Dallas tomorrow.

That is where it start if this team want to take that next step.

[frankthetank966]

I just don't understand this team here of late. Early on we look like a team ready to take that next step. Now we are reverting back. Here of late this team will play one good/great game and then follow that up with a weak effort the next game. They are showing inconsistency here. They want to be an Elite team. Right now they are far from it.

Here is what Horford said tonight after the game.

http://twitter.com/Al_Horford

We have to be more consistent as a team on defense. We are gonna score the ball. Have to focus on Dallas tomorrow.

That is where it start if this team want to take that next step.

must have seen my thread

Edited December 5, 2009 by frankthetank966

[Buzzard]

This team peaked 2 weeks into the season. They haven't done anything of note since beating Boston.

I think the stars were just alighned perfectly and Woody looked like a coach of the year candiate for a two week run. We have the talent to over come any player on our team having a bad night or missing a whole game; especially against a lottery team. But we do not have a coach who maximizes his starting talent; much less his bench strength....

Edited December 5, 2009 by Buzzard

[Plainview1981]

I think the stars were just alighned perfectly and Woody looked like a coach of the year candiate for a two week run. We have the talent to over come any player on our team having a bad night or missing a whole game; especially against a lottery team. But we do not have a coach who maximizes his starting talent; much less his bench strength....

I know the team didn't have the hot shooting they did last year.... But largely when we've seen to start out this season is just an extension of what we seen at the start of last season. If this team is better than last years team, it's not by much. While Josh and Al have picked up their games, Bibby/Mo/JJ and Marvin have played worse than they did last season and Crawful is not much better than Flip.

[Buzzard]

I know the team didn't have the hot shooting they did last year.... But largely when we've seen to start out this season is just an extension of what we seen at the start of last season. If this team is better than last years team, it's not by much. While Josh and Al have picked up their games, Bibby/Mo/JJ and Marvin have played worse than they did last season and Crawful is not much better than Flip.

No they have not; but with Horf and Smoove picking up their games. JJ only needs to score and pass; and not always be our leading scorer. Woody is not using Bibby, Crawford, and Teague correctly or rotating ZaZA or Joe Smith correctly either IMO.

Woody bragged about the strength of the bench; yet continues to use most of his bench only in blowouts. You dont like our team from a fans perspective; I see what others think about our talent outside of the Atl loop and most share the same opinion of the poll. We have three top fifty players and three good guards in Bibby, Crawford, and Teague to go along with a forward and a center who are both vets and have seen starter minutes.

We are not a lottery team and should be able to beat lottery teams 90% of the time by wide margins...

Edited December 5, 2009 by Buzzard

[frankthetank966]

Amazing... we cant beat under .500 teams but we beat dallas by 5 on the road.

[ATLNY7]

Amazing... we cant beat under .500 teams but we beat dallas by 5 on the road.

I know right?

[RedDawg#8]

I really hope like most of you that we are not about to repeat last years pattern: Start the season off very hot, play .500 basketball for the majority of the seson, and rely on a good stretch of games to finish out.

Our next 8 games up until Christmas are very light and we SHOULD go atleast 6-2 during this stretch. If we play to our potential and play consistent we could go 8-0. Any ways, on Christmas eve we SHOULD be somewhere between 20-8 and 22-6

Chicago: 7-11

@Toronto: 9-13

New Jersey: 1-19

Memphis: 8-12

Utah: 11-8

@Chicago: 7-11

@Minnesota: 3-17

@Denver: 15-5

Only 2 teams have winning records. Utah is very beatable esp. when they are on the road. Denver will be a tough game as it as a back to back and they will be looking for revenge. We cannot continue to lose to inferior teams whether on the road or at home. This Atlanta Hawks team is better than all of those teams except maybe Denver and we are not far apart if at all.

I predict 7-1, 21-7 overall

[Buzzard]

I really hope like most of you that we are not about to repeat last years pattern: Start the season off very hot, play .500 basketball for the majority of the seson, and rely on a good stretch of games to finish out.

Our next 8 games up until Christmas are very light and we SHOULD go atleast 6-2 during this stretch. If we play to our potential and play consistent we could go 8-0. Any ways, on Christmas eve we SHOULD be somewhere between 20-8 and 22-6

Chicago: 7-11

@Toronto: 9-13

New Jersey: 1-19

Memphis: 8-12

Utah: 11-8

@Chicago: 7-11

@Minnesota: 3-17

@Denver: 15-5

Only 2 teams have winning records. Utah is very beatable esp. when they are on the road. Denver will be a tough game as it as a back to back and they will be looking for revenge. We cannot continue to lose to inferior teams whether on the road or at home. This Atlanta Hawks team is better than all of those teams except maybe Denver and we are not far apart if at all.

I predict 7-1, 21-7 overall

I hope you are right in your prediction; if not the team bashers, Woody backers, and Woody bashers ( a group I am a part of ) will be out in full force.

Team bashers will say we are not anywhere near talented as the rest of the league views us. Some Woody backers will be in this group also.

Woody backers will also say those under .500 teams are a lot better than their records indicates.

Woody bashers will say this team is to good to have a .500 record against lottery teams.

That schedule looks like a good stretch that will prove a lot as to if this team is really capable of playing like a contender. Contenders lick their chops and feast on a run like that. Pretenders play down to their opponent and let the blame games begin...

[frankthetank966]

The key to this year is we have a bench of good players. If woody notices the starters are struggling he needs to pull them. He hasn't been doing a good job of that but hopefully he will

[TheNorthCydeRises]

And when these bench players play like garbage, people are like. . . "Woody you idiot!! Why are you playing the bench?"

Where was the bench in the NY game? That was the obvious time for people to step up, seeing that Smoove got kicked out of the game. Bottom line is that they simply have to do their jobs when they do get into the game. Joe Smith actually impacted the game the other night, which is why he got extended playing time. When other guys do that, they're rewarded with extra playing time.

This bench has to learn how to play as a unit together, if people expect Woody to rest the starters. And when that player gets into a game, he has to produce. Simple as that.

[Crank]

Too early in the season for this amount of whining. I would rather the team take hits and learn from them now then to peak now and slide later . Right now several bench players are still trying to find there niche in the rotation and its the nba weve got to stop no way we should lose to team A because In the nba anyone can lose on any given night . The best team in the universe has 3 losses and we have 6 yet somehow the season is over and none of the other 62 games mean anything . Some of you sound as though you expected us to challenge the Bulls 72 win record when less than 45 days ago 50+ wins wouldve been sufficient well we are currently on pace for a 58-24 record. Weve got a good chance to string together some wins and go on another nice streak before we start out christmas road trip . We will know a whole lot more after the new year when we start the real battle for that top 3 spot

[thefloydian]

we are supposed to EXPECT AND ACCEPT

What is the actual difference between accepting and not accepting a loss by your favorite pro sports team? Is it the difference in making an irate message board-post or not? This seems a little ridiculous to me.

[Buzzard]

And when these bench players play like garbage, people are like. . . "Woody you idiot!! Why are you playing the bench?"

Where was the bench in the NY game? That was the obvious time for people to step up, seeing that Smoove got kicked out of the game. Bottom line is that they simply have to do their jobs when they do get into the game. Joe Smith actually impacted the game the other night, which is why he got extended playing time. When other guys do that, they're rewarded with extra playing time.

This bench has to learn how to play as a unit together, if people expect Woody to rest the starters. And when that player gets into a game, he has to produce. Simple as that.

You wish he was that intelligent and it was that simple for him....

Teague 22 minutes 13 pts 4 assist 3 boards and a steal...next night short a starter for a 3/4 the game Teague gets a whole minute and thirty seconds...

Here is all you need to hear from Woody concerning the mans thought process and lack of intelligence as it concerms his bench...

"If Teague plays 10 minutes, it's got to be a great 10 minutes for us, because I might not come back his way for a while," Woodson said. "That's the unique thing about having a bunch of talent on your team. And they've got to understand. You can't play everybody""

I have a great bench but I can't play them because I am to damn dumb to figure it out...WTF is that?

[BusBoyIsBack]

Just saw the stat that we are 8-2 vs teams above .500 (only 2 losses against 2 teams that were in Finals last year) and 6-4 vs teams below .500.

That's lack of focus and effort. As easy as it is to blame Woody, the guys have to grow up and mature. Beating the teams you're supposed to do is what can separate a 4th seed from a 1-3 seed.

Edited December 7, 2009 by BusBoyIsBack