Who do you think we have a better shot at in the second round?

[JTB]

Just intrested in who most of you would rather see us face in round 2 between magic and cavs. Now personally I would rather see us face orlando than the cavs, only reason is that I feel that LBJ gets WAY too much B.S. and he has the refs on his side. Now Im not saying we can just straight up torch orlando but if we play HOWARD the way we did this past wed. than we got a legit shot in my eyes. Now I do think we can take both to 7 games but I think we can actually get orlando before we get the Cavs and again before somebody bash me on this it's because LBJ gets his way with the REF's (not that other stars dont but LBJ's is much worse. these ref's cheat for that man literally. I dont like LBJ and Im not a hater. I will admit he's good but he's not the best!>cough< KOBE IS)

This is how the HAWKS can BEAT the MAGIC

1. We need to throw different looks at Howard

-by that I mean we play him straight up most of the time and we double him when necessary

2.Whoever is playing HOWARD, that person must make sure they get down court before he does and not let him position himself in the paint to get an easy bucket.

-for those who did NOT notice HOWARD does not make a ton of shots when he can't get postioned! He's not the old SHAQ where he can hit hook shots and body cats to the goal and dunk on em. Dont get me wrong he's powerful but I saw that he starts to give up once he's either in foul trouble or when he cant position himself to score! again he's not the old SHAQ people say he is ( dominating but not great on offense)

3.Make sure that the person guarding HOWARD CONTEST his every SHOT

4.We need MARVIN and EVERY HAWK player to go after every REBOUND they can!

- reason is because it's going to take an all out effort to get Boards against Howard so we need to be aggressive on every Board in order to give us second chance opportunities and to stay near the MAGIC with the rebounding

(that should take care of HOWARD! we play like that we will force him into another 4 for 11 shooting night of course he's going to get his Boards but the objective is to contain him. your not going to shut him down)

5. as for the rest of the MAGIC we just need to hustle and play D the way we did WED. it is pretty obvious that all they try to do is shoot 3's and we played very good perimeter D ( well not so much against RASHARD I saw him open quite a few times! lucky for us he was off that night) other than that we did very well on containing the 3 point offense Gundy runs. Also we just need to make sure we switch on D at all the right times and contest their shots. ( they may get open but we CAN contain them most of the time)

OFFENSE ONLY CONCERN

1. I only have one thing to say about our Offense............ we need to have ball movement in the 4th and not just against the MAGIC but against all our opponents. That is why we have so many problems in the fourth we stop moving the ball! and we make bad shot selections. Also TOO many isos from players in the fourth! If we can move the ball in Woody's system I dont think we can be stopped offensively! I mean hell give the man some credit his offense works in all the other 3 quarters because we move the ball than when we get to the fourth everybody stops trusting each other and here comes HERO MODE. So anyhow ball movement and hitting our good looks will keep us rolling in the fourth.

[coachx]

I'm torn.

I think we have a better chance of beating the Magic b/c to beat the Cavaliers we would have to pay off the refs to call a semi - fair game regarding Lebron.

[NJHAWK]

Dwight Howard is a beast inside and Vince Carter is a registered Hawks killer. They played a horrible game and still could have beat us. They actually played dumb as dumb can play because they stopped going inside out. As painful as it is to see Lebron dance and juke while showing up our team and getting the refs to make him look twice as good as he is we have a better chance vs Clevland. The only thing that can stop Orlando from making the finals again is David Stern.

[JTB]

I'm torn.

I think we have a better chance of beating the Magic b/c to beat the Cavaliers we would have to pay off the refs to call a semi - fair game regarding Lebron.

Agreed.Dont be surprise if the Lebron and the REF's sweep us! in the regular season and the playoff's if we get them in round 2!

Edited March 26, 2010 by JTB

[Blunt91]

Heck we might not win more than 1 game against either one of the two. I am hoping for a 6 game series against either team but The Magic are obviously tough for us to beat and the Cavs have gotten even better wtih the additon of Jamison. Lebron is going to get his, it's guy like Mo Williams, Delonte West and Anderson Varajao(sp) that really kills the Hawks,especially when trying to make a comeback against the Cavs.

Edited March 26, 2010 by Blunt91

[exodus]

I am not a big fan of this mindset. It seems like a lot of people are just assuming we will automatically get past the first round.

Last year we played a Maimi team that wasn't playing well and it still took 7 games to win. This year Miami is playing better, having added two vets (Q and Arroyo) to the starting lineup. The Bucks and Bobcats have given us problems as well.

I think the Hawks will be in a tough fight just to get to the second round.

[NJHAWK]

I am not a big fan of this mindset. It seems like a lot of people are just assuming we will automatically get past the first round.

Last year we played a Maimi team that wasn't playing well and it still took 7 games to win. This year Miami is playing better, having added two vets (Q and Arroyo) to the starting lineup. The Bucks and Bobcats have given us problems as well.

I think the Hawks will be in a tough fight just to get to the second round.

Agreed. Like Clyde Frasier always says we cant handle prosperity. As soon as we get a big lead in a game we are in trouble. All year long the Hawks have had incredible lapses in games where teams make crazy runs while the Hawks seem inept. If they continue vs teams like Clevland and Orlando it will be over quick. I think we should make it out of round 1 but should/would/could and doing are all different deals. This team can look like the 80 Lakers and the 72 Sixers in the same game.

[JTB]

I am not a big fan of this mindset. It seems like a lot of people are just assuming we will automatically get past the first round.

Last year we played a Maimi team that wasn't playing well and it still took 7 games to win. This year Miami is playing better, having added two vets (Q and Arroyo) to the starting lineup. The Bucks and Bobcats have given us problems as well.

I think the Hawks will be in a tough fight just to get to the second round.

Not ignoring the 1st round especially since we have had problems with both possible opponents the bucks and heat. I just made this post cause I do expect us to come out on top in the end and win the series in round 1. Not to be cocky or anything I just have confidence in round 1 for our hawks and I think they can handle there's with there first opponent. Now in round 2 Im worried cause the possibility of winning at all is on the low end and not the high if you know what i mean as far as the first round we have a pretty high chance of succeeding!

[TheNorthCydeRises]

I'm torn.

I think we have a better chance of beating the Magic b/c to beat the Cavaliers we would have to pay off the refs to call a semi - fair game regarding Lebron.

I agree. You're looking at us probably having to play the perfect series to beat Cleveland. At least with Orlando, they do show the tendency to shoot themselves out of games. With Cleveland, if they go cold from the outside, Lebron will shoot 16 FTs minimum. The refs will keep the game as close as they can, unless we're red hot offensively.

The easiest way to neutralize us in the playoffs, would be to keep Smoove and Horford in foul trouble. That's something they do a good job of avoiding, but watch and see if that isn't the case come playoff time.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

I am not a big fan of this mindset. It seems like a lot of people are just assuming we will automatically get past the first round.

Last year we played a Maimi team that wasn't playing well and it still took 7 games to win. This year Miami is playing better, having added two vets (Q and Arroyo) to the starting lineup. The Bucks and Bobcats have given us problems as well.

I think the Hawks will be in a tough fight just to get to the second round.

I agree with this too. I expect a 1st round battle, with us needing 6, possibly even 7 games to win it. If we drop an early home game, the series will definitely turn into a war.

[Atlantaholic]

Why would anyone say Orlando? In the last 8 games we are 1-7 with a point differential close to the 20s. I mean, it's hard to describe just how dominating that is. There may not be another team in the entire NBA who dominates anyone the way Orlando has dominated us in the last two years. What makes anyone think that we can reverse that trend all of sudden? We would have to drastically change the way we play against Orlando to even get ONE win out of 7 games. Our history against Cleveland is much more positive. We may never be able to beat Cleveland + Refs, but we haven't even been remotely competitive against Orlando WITHOUT the refs, so it is a pretty clear no brainier for me.

Also, If we loose in the first round there are two things that will happen for sure: No more JJ and no more Woody. The only team that really scares me though is the Bobcats. We have a loosing record against that team, and I don't feel good at all in seeing Larry Brown who has been a great playoff coach square off against Mr. Potatohead. Factor in that they will have a first time playoff crowd that is most likely gonna be insane, and they are easily my least favorite first round match-up