This is a mediocre basketball team.

[Plainview1981]

This might be the worst 50 win team I've ever seen. They're near horrible on the road, the games are some of the poorest of quality, they can only beat really good teams win the setup is perfect (Guys being out, team in a slump) and they blow leads to some of the worst team. If this team had suffered injuries this year they wouldn't have matched last years win total. They have no drive or heart.... Poorly coached... Terrible offense regardless of what stats say... You know you're not watching quality offense when you watch their games. Teams with worse records ARE better... Miami is a better team than the Hawks. The road record is a big sign that points to that. Road wins are much more meaningful than home wins and all this team does is win at home.... Problem is 22 teams have a winning home record so it's not all that impressive of an accomplishment. Most teams in NBA win at home. Big deal. This team has mostly been together 6 years and they've failed to become a legit title or deep playoff threat.

[Plainview1981]

Jamal shouldn't win 6th man of the year either. His play the 2nd half of the year has fallen off and a lousy 18 points in a game like this doesn't cut it.

[Colin]

Why yes.

We ARE a mediocre team without Joe Johnson.

[Guest]

This might be the worst 50 win team I've ever seen. They're near horrible on the road, the games are some of the poorest of quality, they can only beat really good teams win the setup is perfect (Guys being out, team in a slump) and they blow leads to some of the worst team. If this team had suffered injuries this year they wouldn't have matched last years win total. They have no drive or heart.... Poorly coached... Terrible offense regardless of what stats say... You know you're not watching quality offense when you watch their games. Teams with worse records ARE better... Miami is a better team than the Hawks. The road record is a big sign that points to that. Road wins are much more meaningful than home wins and all this team does is win at home.... Problem is 22 teams have a winning home record so it's not all that impressive of an accomplishment. Most teams in NBA win at home. Big deal. This team has mostly been together 6 years and they've failed to become a legit title or deep playoff threat.

ssssshhhhhhhhhh

[TheNorthCydeRises]

The Hawks play just like Utah and Denver. World beaters at home . . . can lose to anybody on the road. Drives the fans crazy, because they show flashes of greatness and flashes of sorryness at the same time.

[Plainview1981]

Why yes.

We ARE a mediocre team without Joe Johnson.

They were missing Hamilton, Prince and Stuckey for most of the game. Missing JJ was no excuse for this loss.

[Gray Mule]

It's not that the Hawks have mediocre talent. They have the talent.

What is really mediocre about this team is their attitude / drive.

They show too much "what the heck" attitude. Too much just

going thru the motions.

When they show up with fire in their eyes, all on the same page

and willing to do whatever it takes to win, the Hawks can be great.

They turn it on and off too much. My greatest fear is, when they go

into the playoffs, they will simply be unable to turn it back on.

:temperature:

[mrhonline]

Eh...mediocre playoff team.

[TheTruth]

Eh...mediocre playoff team.

Exactly. I have said all along, despite the number of wins, we are a good but not elite team. You look up at Orlando's and Cleveland's box scores, and if they are playing an inferior opponent, 9 times out of 10 they win the game...whether it was on the road or at home. The Hawks aren't there yet. And until they can crack .500 on the road (and not by just a game or two), and consistently crush inferior teams (like DET, GSW, etc), then we are indeed nothing but a mediocre team that needs hope and a prayer to make serious noise in the playoffs.

That's just reality.

[spotatl]

You look up at Orlando's and Cleveland's box scores, and if they are playing an inferior opponent, 9 times out of 10 they win the game...whether it was on the road or at home

Clearly you didn't do this. Lets go ahead and look at some of orlando's road losses.

@ detroit

@ chicago

@ Indy

@ Washington

@ Memphis

@ New Orleans

They have plenty of bad losses. Its simply not true that these teams win 90% of these kinds of games.

Edited April 8, 2010 by spotatl

[Guest]

:laughing5: you sure told "The Truth"....good teams, even great teams lose to bad teams. Give me this so called mediocre team than the one we had 3 years ago, they are making progress and I can deal with winning more games than we lose.....I wonder if most realize that the Lakers have only 6 more wins than us.

[NineOhTheRino]

i guess that makes the Lakers mediocre-er

[TheTruth]

Clearly you didn't do this. Lets go ahead and look at some of orlando's road losses.

@ detroit

@ chicago

@ Indy

@ Washington

@ Memphis

@ New Orleans

They have plenty of bad losses. Its simply not true that these teams win 90% of these kinds of games.

My point wasn't the "90%" it was the fact that we have way too many games like last night. Of course ORL has had some bad road losses, but ORL has a 23-16 winning road record...ours is 17-22. We are 25-11 against sub .500 teams...ORL is 29-7.

THAT is my point.

[spotatl]

If the Hawks were allowed to have an additional 15 million dollars in salary like the Magic do I think that would go a long way towards helping have the depth to win on the road. The Magic are a better team than the hawks- I just think its laughable when people act like the Magic win 90% of the games that they are favored in. People here act like the Hawks are the only team that has bad losses.

Literally I think the Hawks could win 90% of those games and people would still go ballistic and blame woodson for the 10% the Hawks don't win.

Edited April 8, 2010 by spotatl

[niremetal]

If the Hawks were allowed to have an additional 15 million dollars in salary like the Magic do I think that would go a long way towards helping have the depth to win on the road. The Magic are a better team than the hawks- I just think its laughable when people act like the Magic win 90% of the games that they are favored in. People here act like the Hawks are the only team that has bad losses.

Literally I think the Hawks could win 90% of those games and people would still go ballistic and blame woodson for the 10% the Hawks don't win.

In fairness, the Magic's payroll last year wasn't that much higher than ours is this year (they were a hair below the tax threshold last year; we are ~$4.9M below this year). They still were a much better road team then (27-14) than we are now.

No doubt all great teams - higher payroll or no - have the occasional bad loss, especially on the road. It does happen more often to us than it does to most 50-win teams, though. We have much more of a Jekyll-and-Hyde problem at home and on the road than do our counterparts.

Edited April 8, 2010 by niremetal

[spotatl]

It does happen more often to us than it does to most 50-win teams, though

Orlando and Cleveland are just better teams than the Hawks- lets look at the celtics who have the same record as the hawks and some of their bad road losses.

@Indiana

@Clippers

@Warriors

@Chicago

@Detroit

@New Orleans

@New Jersey

@Memphis

@Houston

@Knicks

If you want to use the Hawks inconsistency on the road to show that they aren't in the same level as the Magic or Cavs then absolutely I agree with you. But normal teams in teh Hawks range do lose a lot of "bad" games on the road. People freak out like the hawks are the only team that has this problem.

Edited April 8, 2010 by spotatl

[niremetal]

Orlando and Cleveland are just better teams than the Hawks- lets look at the celtics who have the same record as the hawks and some of their bad road losses.

@Indiana

@Clippers

@Warriors

@Chicago

@Detroit

@New Orleans

@New Jersey

@Memphis

@Houston

@Knicks

If you want to use the Hawks inconsistency on the road to show that they aren't in the same level as the Magic or Cavs then absolutely I agree with you. But normal teams in teh Hawks range do lose a lot of "bad" games on the road. People freak out like the hawks are the only team that has this problem.

Of course, the final tally is that the Celtics are 25-14 on the road while the Hawks are 17-22. No one's denying that other teams have trouble on the road, even against bad teams. Just that the Hawks' road woes are worse.

[Wretch]

Of course, the final tally is that the Celtics are 25-14 on the road while the Hawks are 17-22. No one's denying that other teams have trouble on the road, even against bad teams. Just that the Hawks' road woes are worse.

Not only that, but it is what it is...and if we expect to be on that level, where we can expect to do big things...we will HAVE to address our inability to close out (or show up in some cases).

[TheNorthCydeRises]

It's not that the Hawks have mediocre talent. They have the talent.

What is really mediocre about this team is their attitude / drive.

They show too much "what the heck" attitude. Too much just

going thru the motions.

When they show up with fire in their eyes, all on the same page

and willing to do whatever it takes to win, the Hawks can be great.

They turn it on and off too much. My greatest fear is, when they go

into the playoffs, they will simply be unable to turn it back on.

:temperature:

GM . . . but the fans overrate the talent. People will readily say that JJ isn't a superstar ( which is correct ), but not talk about the obvious deficiencies in our other players.

- Who is the back to the basket scorer on this team? We don't have one. The one element that teams use to get easy baskets, we really don't have that here.

- Who is the sharpshooter on this team? We don't have one. JJ and Crawford are our best shooters, but they're not sharpshooters by any stretch of the imagination. Mo Evans can't be considered as a sharpshooter either.

- Who is the lockdown defender on this team? The closest is JJ. He's good, but I wouldn't consider him a lockdown defender.

- Who is the floor leader of the Hawks? Bibby is the closest thing we have to that. And people HATE Bibby.

There are a lot of essential elements that this team lacks, that the other good teams have. What we do have that they don't, is an extremely athletic squad that can get up and down the floor . . . but only when they get stops. They HAVE TO GET STOPS in order to showcase what they do the best. If they don't get stops, it's usually up to the shotmaking ability of JJ and Crawford to pull the game out. As much as I love Smoove and Horford, their games are limited as offensive players, because of the lack of low post moves to get them easy shots ( or trips to the free throw line ).

[Plainview1981]

i guess that makes the Lakers mediocre-er

The Hawks caught them when they were playing the worst ball of the season. Besides, if you follow up wins like those with a loss like last night what does that really get you?