Will Memphis win on Wed?

[Diesel]

I wouldn't worry too much about Memphis Hot...it will likely be another standard Hawks blowout...screw around in the first quarter, get a little lead at the half (sure the Memphis guys will look good early)..then we will just tighten the screws in the third...get a 15 point lead..and then just finish them in the fourth (yawn).

I'm not looking past Memphis at all.

They play good defense. They have a real Big. They have scoring swingmen. That spells a competitive game. We're deeper. We have better chemistry. We have Joe. This may be a tough game. Marc Gasol is definitely a Center that we have to consider in our game planning. He can rebound and disrupt our offense. Rudy Gay will not be stopped by Marvin. Our answer comes in the form of Smoove. IF we can get away with running the Zone defense we ran on the Nets, who knows.

[bonethugz]

yes, Diesel mentioned it. the word big. they have two 7 footers. we do have much more experience though.

[buckeye242424]

yes, Diesel mentioned it. the word big. they have two 7 footers. we do have much more experience though.

Can't remember the last time I read that about the Hawks!

[Guest]

The Grizz are an up and coming team. They are however young and haven't taken the necessary steps to win on the road against a good team like the Hawks. However, if we take them lightly, they will win, any team in the NBA would. Having said that, Hawks 117-105 winners. :line dance:

[HawkNJersey]

I do keep track of Memphis but they still suck. we win by 20

Service members think alike!

[khaos7]

Interesting take from Paul Pierce after the close game between Boston and Memphis on yesterday:

"They're right on our heels, man," Pierce said. "If they grow together and continue to play together, they'll be right there.

"It's unfortunate that they're in the Western Conference. If they were in the East, they would probably be a top-four seed right now."

Interesting take. My question is, if Cleveland, Orlando, Boston and Atlanta are the top four teams, in Pierce's mind, who goes down to five if he believes Memphis would be a top four team in the East? lol! I could make the case they are better than Miami. Thus, they would be a top five team. They thumped them the other night. We'll have our work cut out for us. Zach has given Josh Smith fits in the past. They have weapons.

[Plainview1981]

Interesting take from Paul Pierce after the close game between Boston and Memphis on yesterday:

"They're right on our heels, man," Pierce said. "If they grow together and continue to play together, they'll be right there.

"It's unfortunate that they're in the Western Conference. If they were in the East, they would probably be a top-four seed right now."

Interesting take. My question is, if Cleveland, Orlando, Boston and Atlanta are the top four teams, in Pierce's mind, who goes down to five if he believes Memphis would be a top four team in the East? lol! I could make the case they are better than Miami. Thus, they would be a top five team. They thumped them the other night. We'll have our work cut out for us. Zach has given Josh Smith fits in the past. They have weapons.

I think he believes Memphis is better than the Hawks. I really doubt he thinks Memphis is better than Cleveland or Orlando... It seems like he has never respected the hawks.

[jerrywest]

I think he believes Memphis is better than the Hawks. I really doubt he thinks Memphis is better than Cleveland or Orlando... It seems like he has never respected the hawks.

Pierce and you think alike.

[khaos7]

Boy, I can't stand Pierce. He's a sucker to the 10th degree. That said, he's two years removed from a championship, so his opinion is worth something...but not much. That makes me want to thump Memphis all the more.

[Plainview1981]

Pierce and you think alike.

It's not like there hasn't been reasons.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

On the AJC blog, the Memphis game was one I said that we'd lose, because I think we're going to definitely handle Utah. Memphis does provide problems for us on the frontline and athletically. They played Boston tough last night, but Gay really faded in the 2nd half of that game, after playing a great first half. Gay and Mayo are pretty good ISO players, as well as Randolph. I think the key is to get Zach out of this game, and make that team more dependent on Rudy and O.J. Can't let Zach control this game on the boards, and on the offensive end. This is definitely a game in which we can't see Smoove get a quick 2 fouls. Or Horford for that matter.

The one thing that we do have going for us, is that tomorrow night's game will be Memphis' 3rd game in 4 nights. And we have a full 3 days rest, without having to travel anywhere. The Hawks should be very fresh and not have any fatigue issues. LOL . . although the last time we had that much rest, it was right before the Orlando game, but I digress.

But if we lost, it wouldn't shock me one bit.

[MaceCase]

Interesting take from Paul Pierce after the close game between Boston and Memphis on yesterday:

"They're right on our heels, man," Pierce said. "If they grow together and continue to play together, they'll be right there.

"It's unfortunate that they're in the Western Conference. If they were in the East, they would probably be a top-four seed right now."

Interesting take. My question is, if Cleveland, Orlando, Boston and Atlanta are the top four teams, in Pierce's mind, who goes down to five if he believes Memphis would be a top four team in the East? lol! I could make the case they are better than Miami. Thus, they would be a top five team. They thumped them the other night. We'll have our work cut out for us. Zach has given Josh Smith fits in the past. They have weapons.

If anyone follows the Celtics in the least or at least goes around Magic boards then they would know for fact that Pierce holds the Magic to the lowest regard not the Hawks. He could care less about us but goes out of his way to crown the Magic as "Poodles".

[Atlantaholic]

We will beat Memphis at home.

Not a single player on that team plays defense. Not one.

Edited December 15, 2009 by Atlantaholic

[RedDawg#8]

Based off of record alone the Grizzlies would be 9th in the East, not taking into account that they would play less competitive teams more often so yeah, they could realistically be a playoff team in the East. That said, I hope the Hawks handle their business, I cant stand watching us lose to inferior teams, and at home there is no excuse at all

[volman]

In the last couple of weeks they have beaten Dallas and Cleveland and they have one of the better front courts with Gay/Randolph/Gasol. They average nearly 5 more rebounds per game than their opponents and they have 4 guys in the lineup that can drop 25 points. They're young and can run and gun also. A loss against them would not be a shocker. They're really giving it to the Heat tonight. I know it's a home game, but I think Memphis is better than the record suggests.

Even a blind squirrel can find a nut sometimes. I hope you're not saying this so if the Hawks (somehow) do lose, you're going to say, "I told you so". I say the Hawks win....it's a home. They're great at playing in front of really small crowds with zero fans.

[jerrywest]

Exhale folks.

Memphis has the worst defense in the league.

http://insider.espn....%26league%3dnba

OK. Toronto does, but if you take out the two demolitions by the Hawks, Toronto has a better defensive efficiency than the Grizz.

If you are still nervous. Throw a dice, if you get 1 Grizzlies win, 2 through 6, Hawks win.

Edited December 16, 2009 by jerrywest

[DJlaysitup]

I wouldn't worry too much about Memphis Hot...it will likely be another standard Hawks blowout...screw around in the first quarter, get a little lead at the half (sure the Memphis guys will look good early)..then we will just tighten the screws in the third...get a 15 point lead..and then just finish them in the fourth (yawn).

I forgot to mention I figured RandMo would OWN garbage time.

[Plainview1981]

I forgot to mention I figured RandMo would OWN garbage time.

It was a close game until the hawks put pressure on Memphis in the 3rd period and caused them to fold like a chair.

[tonegully]

Have you watched them? I'll agree that they're not really goin anywhere but please don't go calling em trash just bc u don't know much about them. I'll bet anyone on this board that if they were in the east they would be a playoff team, don't fool yourself. They are a very talented team, OJ is a nice young guard and would b better for them if he could just run the point and play beside a bigger guard who would take some of those horrible defensive assignments away from him, Rudy is a stud....plain and simple, Randolph is a double double guy and everyone knows this, Marc has become a damn good center and he's making that Pau trade not look as bad now.......I would love to have Marc on this team, Tinsley gives them a bigger guard off the bench who can actually run the show and he's been doing that pretty well since he's gotten there......he's been taking mins away from conley who is really the only dark spot in the lineup, Thabeet has really been better as of late.....he's still not worth a 2nd pick but he can play 10 mins and give u 4 points 5 boards and 3 or 4 blocks.....thats pretty damn effecient.

Again I'm not saying that they'll beat us I just hate when people say things like that when they don't really know, thats the same thing people used to say about us without ever watching us play a game.......I'm still trying to convince some of my friends that we r 4real. I guess being raised right outside of Memphis makes me try and defend them a lil more than I should but still they're a good team..........losing to them wouldn't be a surprise at all

told you Memphis sucks. Another blowout for the Hawks.

[DJlaysitup]

It was a close game until the hawks put pressure on Memphis in the 3rd period and caused them to fold like a chair.

Yep...that's kind of what I meant by "tighten the screws in the third".

Don't get me wrong, it could have been different if one or two of the Grizz went totally off..but the odds were against that. Mayo was hot but JJ held Gay down nicely. Zaza also did a nice job of beating up their inside guys after he got kneed in the ribs. (note to self: never fight Zaza). Our usual offensive suspects hit enough shots to blow them out. Nice win.

I'm actually more concerned about Utah - especially after playing a team like Memphis that turns the ball over so much. Utah beat LAL lately and they won't come in here tossing the ball into the stands.