Cavs-Hawks aftermath: Are we a contender or a pretender?

[Plainview1981]

And once again the hawks bench outside of Crawford gave 5 points and 7 rebounds. I'm rather sick of Mo Evan's lack of production and Joe Smith was worthless in the 6 mins that he played.

[HawksFan87]

Although Al was not the reason we lost the game last night, he didn't really do much of anything to help us win it either..

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Call me crazy but what exactly about clevelands performance tonight scares anyone in the NBA. I would venture ti say that the hawks beat themselves tonight with an absolutely dismal 4th quarter. By this boards logic we are a 3rd seed based on the fact we beat Boston once this season

Exactly. I wasn't impressed with that team at all last night. Shaq looks like a shell of himself. Marvin straight up SHUT DOWN Lebron. I know Lebron got at least 2 FGs off of switches in which he had either Bibby or Crawford on him. When Marvin guarded him straight up, he was forced into taking tough jumpers. Marvin was EXCELLENT on defense last night, and the crowd in the arena knew it.

I'll definitely agree with the notion that the Hawks beat themselves last night. That horrible 4th quarter, along with not securing offensive rebounds ( especially in the 1st half ), contributed to that team's demise last night. And as Gray Mule always points out . . . MAKE YOUR DAMN FREE THROWS!!! We missed 10 last night. And I know 7 of those had to have come in the 2nd half.

The Cavs don't scare me AT ALL after that performance last night.

[BusBoyIsBack]

We're good enough to beat all those teams. It's perhaps some psychological hump.

If you look at the Orlando game on Thanksgiving and the game vs the Cavs, it was just this all of a sudden scoring drought out of nowhere that cost us the game.

Remember the one on Thanksgiving when we missed like 17 shots in a row? And then of course the 4th quarter vs the Cavs.

[coachx]

Although Al was not the reason we lost the game last night, he didn't really do much of anything to help us win it either..

Such a childish pro Smoove and anti Horford agenda you have.

What can I say but that this site brings out the child in me to respond while being more specific.

Smoove constant foul trouble and 1 - 6 FT shooting "didn't really do much of anything to help us win it either."

I hope they both kick butt tonight in the 2nd game of back to backs vs. the aging Big Z and Big D.

[niremetal]

Such a childish pro Smoove and anti Horford agenda you have.

What can I say but that this site brings out the child in me to respond while being more specific.

Smoove constant foul trouble and 1 - 6 FT shooting "didn't really do much of anything to help us win it either."

I hope they both kick butt tonight in the 2nd game of back to backs vs. the aging Big Z and Big D.

Nobody lost us the game last night and no one exactly helped us win. That was the problem. And it's a problem we will continue to have against good teams as long as our offensive system contains about as much movement as a glacier. When the going gets tough, the ball stops moving and the people off the ball stop moving. Some people will continue to blame it on their disfavored players only, but the problem is systemic not traceable to any single player or group of players.

Edited December 30, 2009 by niremetal

[Duff_Man]

We beat Portland twice. We destroyed the Nuggets at home. We went on the road and beat the Celtics. We beat the Heat. We beat the Rockets. We went on the road and beat the Mavs.

Why discount wins against good teams here? The fact is that we're winning games at a good clip. We should be loving this team right now. We lost a game...so what? We might be a 4th seed...so what? If this is your favorite team, just enjoy a nice winning season instead of s*** on everything they do. It's disgusting what the "fans" here do to say that all our wins are flukes and all our losses were expected. Ever remember what it was like to enjoy watching basketball?

If you think the Hawks are a bad team in wins or losses then just do us a favor and stop watching and commenting about it.

[HawksBalla]

We are proving to be pretenders. Right now I dont see how we beat Orlando or Cleveland in a 7-game series. It wouldn't go seven games. Yes we beat Boston, but that was before Boston started playing good. The other reason I feel like we're pretenders is because against good teams we have just been getting BLASTED lately. Orlando, Denver, Cavs...all ugly games.

People on here saying that "oh, the Hawks beat themselves, Cavs didnt do anything", are you kidding? The Cavs had everything to do with us settling for jump shots, or getting under the skin of Woodson and Smoove (West punked the Hawks with that dunk), to putting us on the line where we couldn't convert free throws. Their defense is better, they are more consistent emotionally, and they can exploit Crawford/Bibby all night long while Teague will not get a chance to use his quicks.

I think to become a contender we're going to need: a second scorer off the bench, more consistent play from Smoove, and a better half-court offense...more passing, less iso-Joe, less iso-everyone. We know this team has too much of holding onto the ball because they are afraid if they pass it they wont get it back. That's why we had that bad stretch where everyone kept going iso.

Also, to become a contender we might need to move Marvin or Bibby for a better replacement. Marvin scored good for us last night, but that doesn't happen enough. I want to see Marvin use his skills to actually contribute in rebounds, assists, steals, blocks...something. Though that's probably hoping for too much.

As for Bibby, he is looking more and more cooked as the season goes on. If his shot isnt falling, he does nothing for us. Well, except we don't have to worry about him going iso.

Edited December 30, 2009 by HawksBalla

[Duff_Man]

Yes we beat Boston, but that was before Boston started playing good.

The Celts were 8-1 when we beat them. Literally the only way they could have been playing better is if they were 9-0.

[spotatl]

I don't think the Hawks are as good as the top 3 teams in the east. Those teams are all paying major luxury tax $$, I think those teams probably shoudl be better. The Hawks could have closed the gap by spending the MLE in the offseason. Unfortuantely the Hawks just don't have many options for tweaking the roster at this point.

[LordOfNYork]

Call me crazy but what exactly about clevelands performance tonight scares anyone in the NBA. I would venture ti say that the hawks beat themselves tonight with an absolutely dismal 4th quarter. By this boards logic we are a 3rd seed based on the fact we beat Boston once this season

Dude they beat you with a crappy Lebron night and Z shooting 3's LOL I mean c'mon don't kid yourself. Can you honestly say to yourself this team is better than Cleveland with Lebron going bananas? Sorry but this team isn't there yet unfortunately. Bibby can't keep up with Mo, Joe are you really getting outplayed by Parker? Marvin vs Lebron....c'mon son and Horford against two +7ft trees.

GM will have to do some work off season, definitely need a new coach, and is it that hard to play your rookie PG? He's quick, can create his own shot, and can tire opposing PG's damn. Hawks are not title contenders, but definitely contenders in early play-off rounds

Edited December 30, 2009 by LordOfNYork

[Dnice]

Maybe Bibby should draw Josh's fouls and then Woodbrain will have no choice to play Teague.

Edited December 30, 2009 by Dnice

[Atlantaholic]

We're good enough to beat all those teams. It's perhaps some psychological hump.

If you look at the Orlando game on Thanksgiving and the game vs the Cavs, it was just this all of a sudden scoring drought out of nowhere that cost us the game.

Remember the one on Thanksgiving when we missed like 17 shots in a row? And then of course the 4th quarter vs the Cavs.

It's definitely mental. We had fast break opportunities galore in the fourth, and wide open threes, and we couldn't score a single point. Having said that, it isn't too comforting to know that in the two biggest games of the year we have choked massively.