Tonight's Game vs the Grizz

[Wretch]

The offense looks GOOD.

...then again, we always looked good when we moved the ball. The biggest difference is that everyone is involved now. Let's hope they can maintain it over 82 games, but regardless, this suits our team SO much better than giving the ball to Joe or Crawford and letting them dribble to less than 10 seconds on the clock for a long jumper (or an ill advised pass to Horford right next to them, at 18 feet). Almost none of that tonight.

THIS is how you look at guys and evaluate them. The offense has opened up and guys have a chance now to show exactly what they can do. Marvin should be putting up these kinds of numbers on a nightly basis and we'll get a good chance to see what Teague has to offer. The only concern I have so far is that Crawford seems determined to get his (though he has passed it a few times). I had no doubts JJ would be able to adapt. I thought he'd put up a bit more though, with people hitting more shots. I'd like to see him moving without the ball a little more - he'd be deadly (and we'd be amazing) if he ran around ala Rip Hamilton/Reggie Miller.

This is the coaching the Hawks need 2 years ago. Game management wise as far as subs, minutes and timeouts goes; LD is years ahead of Woodson.

...and he may or may not be a better coach than Woodson, but one thing is for certain: he understands this team's offensive strength better than Woodson did.

[capstone21]

The offense looks GOOD. ...then again, we always looked good when we moved the ball. The biggest difference is that everyone is involved now. Let's hope they can maintain it over 82 games, but regardless, this suits our team SO much better than giving the ball to Joe or Crawford and letting them dribble to less than 10 seconds on the clock for a long jumper (or an ill advised pass to Horford right next to them, at 18 feet). Almost none of that tonight. THIS is how you look at guys and evaluate them. The offense has opened up and guys have a chance now to show exactly what they can do. Marvin should be putting up these kinds of numbers on a nightly basis and we'll get a good chance to see what Teague has to offer. The only concern I have so far is that Crawford seems determined to get his (though he has passed it a few times). I had no doubts JJ would be able to adapt. I thought he'd put up a bit more though, with people hitting more shots. I'd like to see him moving without the ball a little more - he'd be deadly (and we'd be amazing) if he ran around ala Rip Hamilton/Reggie Miller.

...and he may or may not be a better coach than Woodson, but one thing is for certain: he understands this team's offensive strength better than Woodson did.

Great game tonight ... the bench was solid and I was especially pleased with Bibby and Marvin's play.

I hope Smith does not fall in love with the jump shot. He hit a couple and a 3 pointer but he should be messing it up inside

Joe looked good but took some bad shots

Horford because of the early foul trouble never got into the flow but that is okay because Zaza and Powell played so well off the bench.

[JackB1]

Great start boys!!!

We showed great balance and won as a TEAM. Joe had a very quiet 22 points, which is fine by be. The bench really stepped up

and provided a big scoring punch. Great to see Joe getting open shots without having to work so hard. Marvin played the way we

want him to and Bibby proved he's still has a important role on this team. His timely 3's kept the game out of reach.

Only negatives:

-Teague looked tentative

-Al was off, but Zaza stepped it up.

-Smoove seems like he wants no not part of the gameplan and 80% of his shots were long jumpers.

I already like Powell better than Joe Smith and Craw and Evans had nice games too.

[IonSen88]

Dang right.....Nice win! Go HAWKS

[Atlantaholic]

Great start boys!!!

We showed great balance and won as a TEAM. Joe had a very quiet 22 points, which is fine by be. The bench really stepped up

and provided a big scoring punch. Great to see Joe getting open shots without having to work so hard. Marvin played the way we

want him to and Bibby proved he's still has a important role on this team. His timely 3's kept the game out of reach.

Only negatives:

-Teague looked tentative

-Al was off, but Zaza stepped it up.

-Smoove seems like he wants no not part of the gameplan and 80% of his shots were long jumpers.

I already like Powell better than Joe Smith and Craw and Evans had nice games too.

Josh Smith was executing the offense well (when he wasn't shooting). It is obvious he has been working like crazy on his shot, and it seems like we are gonna have to accept that he will be taking them this year. He was 5-10 with 5 blocks 6 rebounds and 4 assists in just 25 minutes of playing time... which is actually excellent.

[Dexmethylphenidate]

Jordan Crawford first shot in the NBA... an air ball. Nice :whistling:

Josh (Smith) took a lot of jumpers tonight. I didn't like the long ones, but I'm fine with the 10 footer ones. Those had a chance of going in... he hit all of his too.

[Sothron]

Great win for us but honestly the Grizz missing Gasol for the whole game and Z-Bo for the entire second half killed them. We were doing whatever we wanted around the rim on both ends of the court. This slim downed Zaza just dominated them. Great win. I loved seeing the motion offense and the guys seem to be buying into it.

[Diesel]

"The $h!^ works

[Gray Mule]

:comp_virus:

Great win! Great offense!

But, where was the defense? With their starting center missing and their PF missing the second

half due to back strain, they still managed to score and score and score.

Sure, the offense was great! Great scoring from numerous players. Go Zaza!

J Smith blocked several shots, as did others. Yet, they kept on keeping on with their scoring.

With their starting center playing and their other big man not injured, this would have been

a different game.

Loved the offense. The defense really worried me. :brick wall:

Hawks are undefeated. Can't beat that!

:vacation1: GO HAWKS!!!

Edited October 28, 2010 by Gray Mule

[foeteen14]

The grizzlies are favored by 3 points. For the people so confident in a Hawks win they really should go to their favorite onliine sportsbook and make some cash!

my sportsbook didn't have the game up for betting. but if it would have had memphis -3, i would have bet the house on it. damn!

[TheTruth]

:comp_virus:

Great win! Great offense!

But, where was the defense? With their starting center missing and their PF missing the second

half due to back strain, they still managed to score and score and score.

Sure, the offense was great! Great scoring from numerous players. Go Zaza!

J Smith blocked several shots, as did others. Yet, they kept on keeping on with their scoring.

With their starting center playing and their other big man not injured, this would have been

a different game.

Loved the offense. The defense really worried me. :brick wall:

Hawks are undefeated. Can't beat that!

:vacation1: GO HAWKS!!!

I can co-sign this. However, I wonder what the pace was. The higher the pace, the less problematic the 104 points our defense gave up looks.

[AUhawksfan]

A player gets hot off the bench and gets rewarded with big minutes and it pays off (Zaza of course).

Joe Johnson was effective and in only 31 minutes of action!

Two really nice things to see that we know wouldn't have come from Woodson.

[JackB1]

I think the defense was better than the score made it look. We played up tempo the whole night and hardly ever used the entire 24 sec clock. That led to

Memphis getting a lot of shots up. I saw a lot of effort on D for the most part. You didn't see too many wide open shots for the Grizz or also too many uncontested

layups. Those used to be our achilles heal.

I have to say, I was VERY Impressed with how efficient the offense looked in just the FIRST GAME! Can you imagine how smooth we will be in Feb? If Smoove

ever gets the hang of this thing, we will be an offensive juggernaut. We really do have a lot of weapons out there. You just never noticed em under Woody :)

[PlayaPat420]

I was very impressed with the team last night! Opening Night, on the road against what is said to be a team on the rise... and we put up nearly 120 points in a convincing win. The backcuts on offense was killing the Griz and defensively Smoove is still Smooth from the backside.

Let's Go HAWKS! :thumbsupsmileyanim:

[macdaddy]

I thought the defense was solid actually. As others pointed out the game was at a fast pace most of the night and the Grizz were still under 100 when the game was all but over.

Smoove took some bad jumpers but i think its Smoove and Horford with the hardest job fitting in to this type of offense. Once they get it figured out its going to be nice, but still most of our scoring was guards and wings it seemed like. Luckily guys were taking it to the hole instead of just jump shooting.

Did it seem like Craw was a little lost out there?

[lethalweapon3]

What They're Saying...

http://3sob.com/archives/59-october-2010/1197-ups-and-downs-grizzlies-v-hawks-opening-night

There were some ups.

Darrell Arthur, offensive weapon? Huh? Yep, he was. 8-for-12 in 31 minutes until he fouled out (from fatigue as much as sloppy or inconsistent play). He showed a level of confidence and security with the ball in his hands that we haven't yet seen in Memphis.

The down? Only 3 rebounds, as he was out-athleticed by Smith, Williams, and Horford, and out-sized by the Georgian Terror, Zaza Pachulia.

..the down? The Hawks' perimeter players made mincemeat of the Griz' backcourt "defense" (term applied loosely). Pick-the-picker for open shots, straight pick-and-pops, they all worked a zillion times. When Mike Bibby goes 7-9 against you, you got a TON of work to do. Conley was a man left on an island more than once in trying to defend Johnson/Crawford/Bibby/whoever, but the energy just wasn't there on defense

OJ Mayo was just HORRIBLY overmatched against JJ, and it wasn't about size. Joe Johnson is just a better player than OJ can defend. That's how it is. Can OJ improve his body positioning? He knows his players and their tendencies, but his basketball IQ and preparation both just write checks that his physical defensive ability cannot cash. His future with the Griz and in the NBA will be largely based on whether he can improve his D.

-...Acie Law played like absolute garbage. Yes, it's one game. Yes, he accepts being a backup. Yes, he was stuck on the court with rooks and a couple marginals...but everything he did was a mess. He was not able to direct the team into any sort of set (do they have those?), since it seemed that his memory of training camp seemed to have been erased. Got burned on D and was inept and impotent on offense. Just disgusting.

-Thabeet. I'll not even bother. I will say only that a man of 7'2" should never, ever, ever, ever be blocked by the rim on a dunk attempt.

~lw3