Hawks vs. Heat.

[Atlantaholic]

I'll just put it this way... I love our damn team.

No more standing around in the corner for 20 seconds at the end of the game was refreshing to see. I almost couldn't believe my eyes. The high screen play we ran with Bibby and Joe got us two straight wide open jumpers... A world of difference from the same type of play we ran with Woodson. People were moving and finding open spots as Joe drove the lane and drew defensive attention, with Woody everybody stood around with their hands on their hips as Joe used the pick to get to the corner and dribble the clock out. I think the main beneficiary of the new offense will be Joe's offensive efficiency.

Only truly discouraging thing is Josh Smith's jumpers. Hope to God this is just something he is trying out in preseason, but I doubt it. Hopefully Larry Drew can get him to go back to what he is most effective doing.

[Duff_Man]

If Horford is hitting his open jumpers, we win that one walking away.

I like the amount of open looks we got.

[Admin]

For the most part I was very impressed with what I saw tonight!! This was a major improvement over what they showed against Orlando the other night and if we can keep up that style of play for 48 minutes and if Horford can knock down those wide open j's like I think he will we should be fine.

Looks like everyone (especially Zaza) are in a lot better shape this year and wow were they exciting to watch run the break. Our 2nd unit could be really dangerous if we've got Teague and Crawford (and hopefully JC2) out there running and gunning.

Congrats to the Hawks tonight and thank you for giving me a lot more confidence in our team!!

[Atlantaholic]

Oh, and as an absolute relentless Bibby basher I just have to come out and say that the guy really shut me up tonight. Obviously we won't be playing Carlos Arroyo every game, but still, Bibby showed he is still an asset tonight.

[Gray Mule]

The Gods of the NBA, who live in Miami, came to visit Atlanta. They are expected to win every

pre-season game, every regular season game AND every playoff game.

Dang. Tonight, they looked almost human.

And, who were these guys in Hawk uniforms? Weren't they supposed to be dead?

Mark Twain said it best. "The stories of my death have been overblown." or something to that effect.

The death of our beloved Hawks? After tonight, it's going to be tough to believe that they have

no chance this season - - That they will be lucky to have the 7th or 8th seed come playoff time.

GO HAWKS!!! :thumbsupsmileyanim:

Edited October 22, 2010 by Gray Mule

[lethalweapon3]

Dear Larry Drew:

Thanks for not playing JC2!

Sincerely,

Nike

~lw3

[niremetal]

Dear Larry Drew:

Thanks for not playing JC2!

Sincerely,

Nike

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Very pleased with the offense from the starters tonight. Defense was solid too, particularly on Bosh and every guard except for House. And each of the bench players found a way to contribute.

I was fussing about Horf and his jumpers most of the game, but his versatility will improve as he gets healthier. He needs to drive more and be less like Mr. Roboto out there.

Smoove and Drew will have their little wars (over the former's decision making on offense) all year long. As long as the dialogue is constructive, that's fine.

If Marvin gives us nothing else (and tonight he indeed gave us something else, big dunk and a clutch 3) he needs to be banging the boards. Another good effort at the glass.

You know how Deke would wag his finger after a block? Bibby deserves to wag a finger at me each time he bailed us out with a 3 tonight. And his D was above-pedestrian tonight too.

It is clear that Teague is simply too fast for the basket. :-) That fastest 0-4 FG game I've seen, and some nice dishes to boot. Stay aggressive, young fella!

Reggie Miller had the fuss over Joe's new contract in his talking points memo, and Joe gave him absolutely no reason to refer to it. 6 assists and one measly TO. Just a couple iso's tonight, the rest was superb leadership. And was that a dunk that I saw?

I'm against corporal punishment... except for one particular child (if you listened on TV, you know who I'm talking about).

~lw3

[jy23]

As bad as we looked against Orlando is how good we looked tonight.....Howard is just a hurdle that this team just cant seem to get over.

But on to a more positive note, that offense looked great tonight...dont think Ive seen so many open looks in a game since I became a hawks fan. Get ready for Joe to have a monster year on the offensive end, if a guy with his talent can get looks like that and not have to kill himself to get shots off he is going to be a handful on that end of the floor. And with this offense Im pretty sure he wont be as worn down at the end of the year like he's been in the past bc like I said he's not killing himself to get shots off.....Marv Bibby and Horford are going to fit in just fine in this stlye of play as well, this game would have been over early if horf would have hit more of those open looks he got, of course bibby is still going to be a liability on defense but this offense is perfect for him, this was always what he was best at. Josh is the man that I see being the problem, he has to be that guy cutting and slashing for us and right now it seems as tho he wants to be a part of the shooting frenzy.....WONT WORK....if he starts cutting and slashing towards the basket tho this team will be scary, what will defenses do? You cant crowd the paint because the big man can shoot, you cant double anyone because everyone is moving and finding those open spots on the floor, turn your back for a second and you have one of the most athletic dudes in the league going to the basket for an easy two...this is exactly what we should have been doing with this team from day one....may not equate to more wins in the regular season but the playoffs will be a totally different story.....GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Diesel]

Now this is what I'm talking about. It was No night with Sofia Vergara but I think we gave a very nice showing. I think we broke discipline one time but then LD had a time out and we went back to our offense and closed out. I think tonight, fans got the chance to see what I have been saying, Joe will not have Iso, but he will be far more dangerous with the ball movement from side to side. Joe made some very good passes. Joe made some very good shots. AND BIBBY!!! For this year, the Bibby/Teague combo will be a combination that will be hard to play against. I will even give Sorry Marvin some props. IF Marvin can nail the wide open shot, he will make his place on the floor more important. In the 4th, you could see that Marvin didn't have a man within 10 feet of him. Literally... 10 feet. On one occasions, the ball swung his way and he made the defense pay. I think during the season, when Marvin's on the floor teams will dare him to be the scorer. JCraw1 was impressive. He put the move on Lebron and company in the 4th that made me stand up! I hope that he doesn't become upset about his lack of a deal and just play. I hope that Sund doesn't make a junk decision/trade. So all in all, I think we have a good team. Things to work on...

1. Electroshock Therapy for Smoove everytime he takes an ill advised long shot.

2. Defense, Defense, Defense.

3. Boxing out and Defensive rebounding.

[the_sheff]

The Gods of the NBA, who live in Miami, came to visit Atlanta. They are expected to win every

pre-season game, every regular season game AND every playoff game.

Dang. Tonight, they looked almost human.

And, who were these guys in Hawk uniforms? Weren't they supposed to be dead?

Mark Twain said it best. "The stories of my death have been overblown." or something to that effect.

The death of our beloved Hawks? After tonight, it's going to be tough to believe that they have

no chance this season - - That they will be lucky to have the 7th or 8th seed come playoff time.

GO HAWKS!!! :thumbsupsmileyanim:

But lets not forget, they were missing a player who is better than anyone on our squad.

I did like the way we actually moved without the ball and ran plays in the 4th. Thats something im not used to seeing.

[benhillboy]

Dwayne Wade's absence notwithstanding, this was a damn goood dress rehearsal. The Bibby hard screen was a highlight. The ball stopped and stuck more than a few times like last season, but there was a fair share of plays where the player and ball movement was very crisp and effective. Kinda Jazz-like. Dare I say, that's the Joe Johnson I like to see: finishing at the hole, running the floor, alert and involved. Marvin with 11 boards? Huh? Two or three guys on our squad who can come up with a key stop/ denial of LeBron when absolutely needed (Josh tonight on a fine defensive stand late on the drive and baby hook). Jamal on his usual: outclassing his defenders and entertaining the people nice enough to come out. As good as Teague is at getting to the rim, he is as worse at attempting to finish. Find the open man, kid.

It's just preseason, but...

Let's Go Hawks,

Edited October 22, 2010 by benhillboy

[DrReality]

For the most part I was very impressed with what I saw tonight!! This was a major improvement over what they showed against Orlando the other night and if we can keep up that style of play for 48 minutes and if Horford can knock down those wide open j's like I think he will we should be fine.

Looks like everyone (especially Zaza) are in a lot better shape this year and wow were they exciting to watch run the break. Our 2nd unit could be really dangerous if we've got Teague and Crawford (and hopefully JC2) out there running and gunning.

Congrats to the Hawks tonight and thank you for giving me a lot more confidence in our team!!

+1. They are much further along with the new offense than I thought they would be.

[Diesel]

+1. They are much further along with the new offense than I thought they would be.

There's still a lot of work to be done. They have the weave together, but now comes the hard part... Infusing BBIQ... Starting with Smoove. You got to know how to get in closer for a good shot. Horf has to hit the midrange J with consistency. IF Horf wants to be a max player, then being Dale Davis part II won't do. He has to be a guaranteed Book when he's in the midcourt. We love Al, He's definitely infectious, but he has to be effective too.

The other thing is defense. I like the fact that there wasn't any bickering with the refs and there were no down heads on a made basket... However, we have to be a team that can also stop them for times during the game. We did well in the 4th down the stretch, but if we can start off each quarter with hard defense, I think we will win most games going away.

Right now, we're a little less than Adleman's Kings team with CWebb.

I wonder if we can trade for Brad Miller without giving up much?

[coachx]

I loved seeing Horford cut to the paint. Bibby hit him with a beautiful pass in the 3rd quarter. Then Horford got his jumper going and Bosh had to step out on him. At that point Horford did the high post move we have been waiting on. He put the ball on the floor and went right around Bosh a couple of times. That was great to see. Especially against an elite PF with lateral quickness like Bosh.

Bibby was HUGE in crunch time when he came in for Teague at the 5 minute mark. Teague had some bright moments but is not ready for crunch time yet.

Smoove looks a little bigger then last year and defended Bosh well a few times in the post with fundamental post defense.

JJ and Crawford were their ususal selves having allstar like performances.

Loved seeing James and JJ guard each other in the 4th quarter.

Man, I'm ready for the season to start !

I like the fact that there wasn't any bickering with the refs and there were no down heads on a made basket...

Agreed, that was very refreshing to see. It seems the players are adjusting well to it.

[ATLSmith]

If Horford is hitting his open jumpers, we win that one walking away.

I like the amount of open looks we got.

What he said.

Horf was off to a cold start. We know he can hit that jumper so it won't always be this way.

The Hawks defense looked decent out there as well which helped.

This was one exciting game for the pre-season. Even the announcers were really getting into it.

[macdaddy]

I love Jamal but i don't think that was an All star performance. He was 3-8 from the field with one assist. He seemed to either be out of control or not really taking it seriously or trying too hard to showcase for a trade. Of course it could be the guys he was playing with.

Ultimately, i wonder how much we will see a Teague/Jamal,JJ,Smoove,Horf lineup or a Jordan/Jamal,JJ,Smoove, Horf lineup. We have a bunch of combinations that can do some damage.

My main questions/comments are:

-it still seems like all the plays are designed to get the guards scoring. Sounds like Horf had some looks in the first half but i missed it. Did we have any post ups at the 4 and 5 or passes to cutters in the first half?

-Is Juwan Howard going to play forever? I started thinking last night that he had played in college with Glen Rice (which of course he didn't) and then thought he might be playing with Glen Rice's kid soon.

-Where was Jordan Crawford?

-Teague didn't look so good but luckily Bibby did.

-Heat fans can get used to the Lebron show. I expect Dwade to be hurt a lot and Bosh to be relatively invisible most of the season.

-I didn't see any of the new guys play for the Hawks except Powell. And I don't expect to see him play much more.

[capstone21]

Once again bbiq comes into play for Smith. The game is still close and he is taking a 3 pointer. I figured by now he would get it that he shouldn't be doing that...especially at critical times in the game. LD needs to have a sit down with him and explain his strengths and weaknesses. JS should never take a 3 pointer again unless the clock is about to run out.

[Sothron]

We need Horf to hit that mid range jumper. His reluctance to get in the low post means he has to be Charles Oakley/Horace Grant type killer from mid range as a big man.

[thecampster]

I got to watch the last 3 quarters. I'd have to say my high points from the game were seeing improved defensive effort from Joe. Joe getting his points in the flow of the game and not forcing. Marvin showing signs of being much better utilized in this system and maybe the best thing I saw was the multiple curl screens at the top to get Bibby open looks. That curl screen was there all night if they wanted it.