hawks vs magic series

[HawksBalla]

I liked this from ESPN:

"A question: Would you rather have a center averaging 15.6 points and 9.9 rebounds, shooting 56 percent from the field and 74 percent from the line? Or would you take his counterpart, a guy with a flashier nickname but with averages of just 9.8 points, 9.3 rebounds and 5.5 fouls, not to mention his 48 percent field goal percentage and his 38 percent success rate from the line?

If you chose the former over the latter, you just selected Al Horford over Dwight Howard.

"

[LouFan]

I honestly feel good about playng the magic. we need to use some of those same strategies we used in that last game and keep playing hard. I feel this series made us stronger cause we had odds to overcome. I dont want to get ahead of myself but the magic just wasnt outstanding like I expected in the 1st series but that could have been the bobcats great defense. We need to focus on 1 game at a time and really think about stealing game 1 or 2. We have to get a round win and it doesnt need to be a game 7 when we get it cause odds will definitely be against us along with the refs so I say still one early while we can and we will have a true chance of coming out on top.

If I am not mistaken the refs were against Howard the whole series vs Charlotte. Expect the same here.

[LouFan]

To be honest I am not worried about the players. They do play to the level of their opponent.

I am worried about the coaching. If Mike Woodson grows in this series and makes adjustments early, we could take it to 7 games easily. Stan Van Gundy is a wonderful tactician with offense.

Orlando is a high percentage three shooting team. Perimeter D is very important.

Al Horford will do fine against Howard, I think it will make him play harder to be honest with you. Expect great games from Al.

Hawks just need to take a page from our recent opponents. Scrap, play with heart, and stay focused.

[Crank]

The Hawks need to take a page out of Brandon Jennings and the Charlotte Bobcats book and thy will be okay .

No matter how many times Smoove and Al blocked his shot Jennings kept coming . He couldnt win them all but he always had a chance because of it and thats what we need to do against Dwight . He will get his blocks and a few nice dunks but dont stop attacking him or going at him .

The Bobcats used that tactic to perfection they just didnt have the scoring to finish it . They attacked and attacked got Dwight out of the game and the magic back on there heels on several occasions but none of there scorers could ever get hot even though they had countless open looks .

[Final_quest]

One thing I will say is that I'd rather play Vince Carter than Lebron. Not the same quick whistles and VC has a negative karma effect.

[LordOfNYork]

congrats to the atlanta hawks on their series win....Orlando in 5 in my opinion only because they are a pretty good road team and they have two A+ talents, and a bunch of B's. Bibby has no chance against Nelson, Barnes has potential to frustrate Johnson into weak shot selections, Vince will have a couple good games, too much 3 point threats, and Howard is a difficult match up of course. Hawks are just too one on one and that won't work against orlando because they are as equally athletic.

[Joker]

congrats to the atlanta hawks on their series win....Orlando in 5 in my opinion only because they are a pretty good road team and they have two A+ talents, and a bunch of B's. Bibby has no chance against Nelson, Barnes has potential to frustrate Johnson into weak shot selections, Vince will have a couple good games, too much 3 point threats, and Howard is a difficult match up of course. Hawks are just too one on one and that won't work against orlando because they are as equally athletic.

If you look at the matchups:

Nelson>Bibby

JJ>VC, VC is the hawk killer but not so much has he been this season

Marvin>Barnes

Smith>>Lewis

Howard>>Horford

Orl bench>Ours

coaching is a wash, they both can be good and they both can suck.

We have just as many advantages but their bench has constantly outplayed our this season in the four games. Most seasons, we tend to get the best of the Magic. This year, it's been different but we will see come Tuesday.

[SneakerKing33]

Lewis is trash who's had a Bibbysian type season. Anderson defense is awful his offense is really good.

Lewis is trash, you are right. Anderson offense isnt really good, its ok. He didnt get much playing time the last 2 times we played them. I assume SVG will let him get some burn.

[Alxwu4]

Hi, first post.

I think with a great shooting team like Orlando, you need to concentrate on their Perimeter players, and take what you can get with Howard.

Basically, force Orlando's guards and SF to take long 2's. Eliminate their 3 point opportunities and play good non-foul defense on their drives to the hoop. If they kick it to Howard, this is something you'll have to live with.

On Offense, they need to forget about the "iso-Joe" plays and use some pick and roll with Al Horford since he has developed a dependable midrange shot and our guards have great mid-range game. He needs to run to the baseline, elbow, or slash to the bucket after the pick, and be ready for the pass if the man with the ball receieves the double team. This will force Howard to move out of the lane, allowing our guards to go to the basket. In a perfect world, Dwight doesn't keep composure, and chases the scorer from behind and goes for the block. Forcing him to try to block from behind when he is 'out of the play' will force fouls on the big man.

Playing a bigger team like Orlando, Woody will have to adjust his coaching. Getting a couple wins and keeping the game close against Orlando will really show whether or not he is a coach deserving of the talent we have here in Atlanta.

[RedDawg#8]

The Magic's defense is very underated. Their defense is the reason we were blown out this year. It wasnt like we were in a shootout and they ran away with it, they stopped us from scoring and ran away with it.

That said, we cant be afraid to challenge Dwight, and we can not turn into a jump shooting team whenever he gets physical with our bigs because it will happen and we wont always be able to hit from the outside. We cant expect JJ and Craw to shoot out their minds this series because as history shows, whenever we need jumpshots this year, we tend not to get them. We arent very clutch shooters (not 4th quarter clutch, but 1st half we need a big 3 to keeo the score close clutch).

My opinion: Feed the ball to Smith/Williams in the paint EVERY possesion, let them operate in the post and find the CUTTER (something we havent done much of this year). Let Horford stand in his midrange area ready for the pass. Let Bibby spread the D. Whichever players dont have the ball, they need to be driving the baseline and slicing the lane. If we cant cant manufacture easy baskets, we will fall behind fast. WE DONT NEED TO RELY ON THE OUTSIDE SHOT. Let the outside shots come to us, they will be more in rythym.

Most importantly, get defensive stops and RUN. Even If Dwight dunks, RUN back down the court while he is pounding his chest. RUN RUN RUN Hawks. Something we havent done as much lately.

Edited May 3, 2010 by RedDawg#8

[Colin]

Zaza is gonna have to be effective off the bench. If Horford gets in foul trouble, Zaza will need to step up. What I kinda wanna see is passing it to Zaza inside if Howard is guarding him, and try to get Howard a few awkward fouls.

After all, if you post Zaza up on Howard four times, after those four plays, one of them is bound to have 2 fouls (usually offensive on Zaza, but you never know. It's hard to block somebody with such awkward offensive moves, if you can call them that)

DO NOT DOUBLE Dwight and leave a three point shooter open. If they hit threes at home, and get momentum, we'll be blown out.