Cynical Hawks fans need to recognize....

[Gray Mule]

So, the elite teams will beat us. So what. Let them try. It will not be easy. We got us a team, too.

Bring them on!

Seriously, if we continue to play good ball, remain healthy, use all our players as we seem prone

to do right now, not many teams will be capable of running up a huge score and then run away

and hide.

We've been victorious over some of the lesser NBA teams so far. This is necessary to keep

our team off the bottom. Winning our share of games from the elite teams will determine

our final standings in the east.

We ain't great, but dang, we're good!!

GO HAWKS!!!

:thumbsupsmileyanim:

[spotatl]

We'll beat quality teams - we are the same team that beat quality teams last year. However, quality of opponents aside, it is apparent that LD's offense is LIGHT YEARS ahead of what Woody had them doing. Nobody is standing around watching and everyone is getting a chance to contribute.

Wretch- the Hawks had a great game on offense against the Grizzlies with Gasol and Randolph out. Other than that the offense hasn't been as productive as last season and they haven't faced a team that is going to come anywhere close to making the playoffs. The offense is encouraging but lets see how it holds up against a quality team before we start making judgement about what kind of team this is.

Edited November 3, 2010 by spotatl

[exodus]

We'll beat quality teams - we are the same team that beat quality teams last year. However, quality of opponents aside, it is apparent that LD's offense is LIGHT YEARS ahead of what Woody had them doing. Nobody is standing around watching and everyone is getting a chance to contribute.

It will take time to see how this team compares with last years team. The Philly game looked like a replay of games last year with the stagnation of ball movement in the 4th quarter. They had 8 turnovers in the 4th quarter.

I also think Drew dropped the ball last game playing JJ 42 minutes when he was horrible. meanwhile Crawford was hot and played only 22 minutes. That is a pretty bad error, especially on the first game of a back to back.

I am more interested to see how less switching effects the defense, especially defensive rebounding. Last years defensive rebounding sucked which was a hallmark of Woodson's Hawks. If they are just an average defensive rebounding team this year that will be a big improvement.

Edited November 3, 2010 by exodus

[Dejay]

Wretch- the Hawks had a great game on offense against the Grizzlies with Gasol and Randolph out. Other than that the offense hasn't been as productive as last season and they haven't faced a team that is going to come anywhere close to making the playoffs. The offense is encouraging but lets see how it holds up against a quality team before we start making judgement about what kind of team this is.

What he said...

While its great that they've gotten off to a 5-0 start, I'm still a little skittish about jumping all in, especially after what went down back in May. What they're doing is fantastic but I need a better sample size than the Wiz, Grizzlies, Sixers, and the Lebron-less Cavs before getting excited. All five of the opponents they've beaten will be watching the playoffs with you and me come April; for them not be to 5-0 at this point would've been a disappointment to me.

Call me a ruined, cynical sports fan who always sees things as glass half-empty, waiting on the other shoe to drop (which in our city's case, it does 99.9999% of the time). Being a native Atlantan, I've seen this script of great regular season/see you later come 1st or 2nd round of the playoffs played out a ton of times (see Braves, Atlanta) with an endgame more predictable than a Hulk Hogan match from 1986. And looking at the crowd last night, that's a sentiment that I don't share by myself...

[frankthetank966]

Our fans suck. JJ called us out on it last yr and it holds to be true. We only attend games when Lebron or Kobe is playing. I doubt we would even sell out if those guys were on our team.

[BusBoyIsBack]

So, the elite teams will beat us. So what. Let them try. It will not be easy. We got us a team, too.

Bring them on!

Seriously, if we continue to play good ball, remain healthy, use all our players as we seem prone

to do right now, not many teams will be capable of running up a huge score and then run away

and hide.

We've been victorious over some of the lesser NBA teams so far. This is necessary to keep

our team off the bottom. Winning our share of games from the elite teams will determine

our final standings in the east.

We ain't great, but dang, we're good!!

GO HAWKS!!!

:thumbsupsmileyanim:

I agree. Even though I still think we would get owned by the Magic or Heat in a 7 game series, I think we could at least make it respectable. I think a big test for this team will be the Orlando game in Orlando. Usually we lose a game like that by 20-30 points. And the game is over by halftime. But I think we can make it respectable. Guys just have to believe in themselves and this offense. HOpefully we can somehow be riding a 7-0 record so we can have the confidence when we play there

Edited November 4, 2010 by BusBoyIsBack

[Diesel]

What he said...

While its great that they've gotten off to a 5-0 start, I'm still a little skittish about jumping all in, especially after what went down back in May. What they're doing is fantastic but I need a better sample size than the Wiz, Grizzlies, Sixers, and the Lebron-less Cavs before getting excited. All five of the opponents they've beaten will be watching the playoffs with you and me come April; for them not be to 5-0 at this point would've been a disappointment to me.

Call me a ruined, cynical sports fan who always sees things as glass half-empty, waiting on the other shoe to drop (which in our city's case, it does 99.9999% of the time). Being a native Atlantan, I've seen this script of great regular season/see you later come 1st or 2nd round of the playoffs played out a ton of times (see Braves, Atlanta) with an endgame more predictable than a Hulk Hogan match from 1986. And looking at the crowd last night, that's a sentiment that I don't share by myself...

The thing is that every game, we chemistry past another team. Basket wins and loses is about matchups. It's why Boston has been to the finals 2 out of the past 3 years and why Orlando has only gone 1 time. It is why Cleveland couldn't make it to he conference finals for the last 2 years and Miami probably won't either. Matchups. right now, we're playing against teams who may not be so good on paper, but from a matchup standpoint, they should have an advantage on us. Especially Washington. And we're winning those games. You tell me that we get outrebounded by a Physical Detroit team last year and I show you a loss. This year, I show you that we can shut them down in the 4th and win the game.

We use to be the team that collapsed down the stretch. No we're becoming the team that knows how to turn on the collapse machine and make other teams collapse. That's why I say that we're doing good. I know the teams we're playing suck, but I also notice how we are winning.

Role players stepping up.

Guys injured = Win.

Outrebounded = Win.

JJ having a bad night = Win.

Smoove having a bad game = Win.

Horf in foul trouble all game = Win.

On the road = Win.

We're not going 82-0.

We probably won't win 70 either.

However, I say we got really good chemistry now.

I agree. Even though I still think we would get owned by the Magic or Heat in a 7 game series, I think we could at least make it respectable. I think a big test for this team will be the Orlando game in Orlando. Usually we lose a game like that by 20-30 points. And the game is over by halftime. But I think we can make it respectable. Guys just have to believe in themselves and this offense. HOpefully we can somehow be riding a 7-0 record so we can have the confidence when we play there

I have to wonder.. as we look back on last years playoffs....

How much of that was just that we quit on Woody?

[itsslomotionbaby]

i am usually the first to critcise so let me be the first to compliment. i like what lary drew is doing. jj is not playing 39 minutes, i see our big men passing from the high post to take advantage of easy scoring oppertunitys. i like the fact that even though teague hasnt scored, he is giving him some playing time so he doesnt totally loose confidence. but he is taking advantage of what teague does offer right now , which is a quicker tempo and quick hands on defense, he just recently chipped in for7 pts. the other night. you can see his confidense building, if he could just give us 10 off the bench.

i also like the fact that he is investing time in josh powell. he may not give us much on the defensive end, but that got is quick in the paint on the offensive end. i feel if he could ever get into some offensive rythim or find his niche in this offense we will benefit greatly.WOODY really held this team back and may have retarded their growth despite what the record says.

[Wretch]

What he said...

While its great that they've gotten off to a 5-0 start, I'm still a little skittish about jumping all in, especially after what went down back in May. What they're doing is fantastic but I need a better sample size than the Wiz, Grizzlies, Sixers, and the Lebron-less Cavs before getting excited. All five of the opponents they've beaten will be watching the playoffs with you and me come April; for them not be to 5-0 at this point would've been a disappointment to me.

Call me a ruined, cynical sports fan who always sees things as glass half-empty, waiting on the other shoe to drop (which in our city's case, it does 99.9999% of the time). Being a native Atlantan, I've seen this script of great regular season/see you later come 1st or 2nd round of the playoffs played out a ton of times (see Braves, Atlanta) with an endgame more predictable than a Hulk Hogan match from 1986. And looking at the crowd last night, that's a sentiment that I don't share by myself...

I'm going to say it again... 5-0 doesn't impress me. It's good, but it's not what I'm looking at. Our offense looks GOOD. Moreover, when I say that this is the same team last year that beat elite teams, what I'm saying is we are the exact same squad personnel-wise that won 50+ games with a historically fail system. We will beat elite teams this year. That I'm not worried about.

At all.

Truth be told, there are two things that concern me:

One is whether or not Drew is actually a good coach. He has the right idea that we need to move the ball and develop an identity. But how he manages this team in crisis and how he motivates guys...gets the most out of players, that has yet to be determined. The other thing that worries me is the CEILING of this team. Have we reached it? If so, we're in trouble because the East has improved.

Again...look past the record to see how much better this team (with the same group of guys who won 50+ last year) plays basketball. We look great - and last game (which I'm sure we would have lost under Woody) we didn't have 15-20ppg coming off the bench, one of our starters went down, and JJ played like mashed potatoes.

Edited November 5, 2010 by Wretch

[TheNorthCydeRises]

I have to agree with Dejay. When I looked at the schedule back in September, the only game I'd thought we'd lose up to this point was the Memphis game. And even that game was very winnable. So us being no less than 4 - 1 would've been disappointing.

In fact, I said the Hawks had a good shot to be 14 - 4 going into December, and that they BETTER be at least 12 - 6. Because that December road schedule is no joke.

Thing about it is . . if we happen to drop a game tonight, and we're without Marvin and Jamal ( and Mo, seeing that he would start at SG or SF with both of them out ), it would be somewhat understandable. Smith will probably have to play a lot at SF tonight . . vs Beasley . . which was a nightmare matchup for Smith last year when Beasley played the 4 in Miami.

So a loss tonight would be understandable. A win tonight may be the most impressive win of the year, even against Minnesota.

But that brings us back to whom the Hawks have played so far:

- Memphis . . without Gasol, and then without Randolph

- Philly . . at full strength

- Washington . . without Arenas ( and no, they shouldn't have beaten us )

- Cleveland . . at full strength, but learning to play without LBJ

- Detroit . . without Rip, or Bynum, or Maxiell

A win tonight against a still bad, but improved Minnesota team, wit us being shorthanded, would be the most impressive win of the year.

Everyone keeps talking offense, offense, offense . . but it's the defense that will determine if we're a better playoff team or not.

We'll get a much better feel of what this team is really made of 2 weeks from now. Our roughest part of the November schedule is coming up.

So far though, you have to give Drew and the Hawks an A- for what they've done so far.