Props to Drew for last night's win!

[JackB1]

As much as I criticise Drew, he was very instrumental in the Hawks win last night.

The way he used Collins and the other bigs to frustrate and foul Howard worked to a T.

Also in the last few minutes, he saw that Howard was starting to heat up and had scored

easily on us twice in a row to get the game with 2 points and he immediately ADJUSTED

and put Collins back in to slow down Howard. It worked and we got the win!

Also, he SAT JAMAL ON THE BENCH at the end, because we needed some defense at that

point and Jamal wasn't contributing anything on offense either.

Drew did something that Woody never could...HE MADE ADJUSTMENTS TO WHAT WAS

HAPPENING ON THE COURT and they worked!!!!

Well done LD!

[High5]

For all of his faults, he has turned our most uncompetitive game into our most competitive game with the same personnel Woodson had (we won twice with Bibby). We didn't even have Joe for one of the wins. I'm still not sure if the Hawks can do it four times in the playoffs with the Magic making adjustments, but for now we have the proper gameplan in place.

[macdaddy]

As much as I criticise Drew, he was very instrumental in the Hawks win last night.

The way he used Collins and the other bigs to frustrate and foul Howard worked to a T.

Also in the last few minutes, he saw that Howard was starting to heat up and had scored

easily on us twice in a row to get the game with 2 points and he immediately ADJUSTED

and put Collins back in to slow down Howard. It worked and we got the win!

Also, he SAT JAMAL ON THE BENCH at the end, because we needed some defense at that

point and Jamal wasn't contributing anything on offense either.

Drew did something that Woody never could...HE MADE ADJUSTMENTS TO WHAT WAS

HAPPENING ON THE COURT and they worked!!!!

Well done LD!

Yes. I know no one remembers but this is how we looked the first half of the season. We were clicking, passing. Our defense was rough but maybe we are putting things together. I don't think the team has quit on Drew but we'll see how we compete in the playoffs. Our blowouts have been alarming. I'm still disappointed in his use of Teague because he represents exactly what LD and Woody have been wanting. Good perimeter defense. Great game though. Go Etan.

[hawkshomer]

I agree mostly, but I wonder about the truth of this article http://www.peachtreehoops.com/2011/3/31/2082263/atlanta-orlando-hawks-85-magic-82 saying that smith begged the coaching staff to put collins back in.

Sitting Jamal was huge though. We haven't seen that all season, but I think he pulled Teague a little quick. Maybe he can tell Hinrich to go under screens next time to.

[APE]

Also in the last few minutes, he saw that Howard was starting to heat up and had scored

easily on us twice in a row to get the game with 2 points and he immediately ADJUSTED

and put Collins back in to slow down Howard. It worked and we got the win!

Define "immediately" for me please.

[terrell]

Define "immediately" for me please.

Agreed. Took WAY too long.Actually, it took Josh Smith yelling at LD to put Collins back in.

[APE]

IIRC it was with around 3 minutes left that Collins came back it.

[ngc7]

I was yelling at the cpu screen for way too long for him to put collins back in. Way to slow to adjust !!!!

[RedDawg#8]

you can check my posts from the game thread, I was about 2 gametime minutes ahead of him on those calls, and I just do this for a hobby not a career lol

[batfanjordanv]

This was most definitely LD's best coaching of his career as a head coach. Well done!

[Kimsey]

"Josh on lobbying L.D. to send Twin back in vs. Dwight in the fourth quarter: “Al does a pretty good job on bigs in this league but we really wasn’t double teaming because we didn’t want to give up the open jump shot. The way [Dwight] was scoring down and the play [Twin] was giving us the whole game we needed him in the lineup to give us a little bit more resistance”

[asdogg]

LD is a horrible coach!!

1) why not put Teague on Nelson, when Nelson was going off? Remember Hinrick getting lit up in the 3rd quarter.

2)why would you not put Collins back in when the lead was 8 in the 4th? Soon as Al started covering Dwight our lead was lost.

3)Smoove begged LD for 3 min to put Collins back in the game. The Orlando announcers were commenting on Josh pleading to the bench. In fact when Josh was yelling at the coaches Bob Bender replied, "I told Drew" still Drew waited another 1-2 minutes by that time our 8 point lead was 2.

We won this game inspite of Drew.

Few other LD issues:

The fact that it took him 75 games to settle on a lineup is sad.

One day he starts Teague then 2days later Teague gets a DNP.

You know your coach sucks when the players say:we don't know what are roles are or who should get the ball in the final minutes.

He failed to use JC2, who clearly is talented.

Our offense went from top 3 to bottom 1/3 in 1year with the same players! Wake up that is the coach's fault

Why would you not run plays to feed Josh in the post. Instead your plays find Josh 16 feet from the basket 15 times a game.

You think but Joe and Jamal are having off years? It's LD poor plays that fail to get his stars open looks.

Why would you not enforce drives to the hoop? You are last in the league in free throw attempts.

This is just a tip of the iceberg. Hawks front office knows they made a big mistake. This is LD s last year.

[DJlaysitup]

"Josh on lobbying L.D. to send Twin back in vs. Dwight in the fourth quarter: "Al does a pretty good job on bigs in this league but we really wasn't double teaming because we didn't want to give up the open jump shot. The way [Dwight] was scoring down and the play [Twin] was giving us the whole game we needed him in the lineup to give us a little bit more resistance"

Well..as much as I like Josh Smith...and agree that he was probably right in this case...he really shouldn't be "lobbying" to his coach...he should be concentrating on the game at hand.

I also have a hard time giving LD major props though...we could have easily lost this game. If LD had a better control of his team we wouldn't have wasted the time Dwight was on the bench early by jacking perimeter shots and losing the lead. With better coaching I think this would have been a 10 point win...and I'm not just talking about gametime bench coaching...I'm talking about having enough control over your players to be able to change their approach a bit when the situation makes that in your best interest.:kickcan:

[RedDawg#8]

"Josh on lobbying L.D. to send Twin back in vs. Dwight in the fourth quarter: “Al does a pretty good job on bigs in this league but we really wasn’t double teaming because we didn’t want to give up the open jump shot. The way [Dwight] was scoring down and the play [Twin] was giving us the whole game we needed him in the lineup to give us a little bit more resistance”

I'm sayin!, the lineup of Hinrich Jamal Joe Josh and Al was the reason we lost the lead, you look at this lineup and say this is a dangerous scoring lineup. Truth is again you lose all ball movement with this group and end up with NO defense or rebounding since Horf becomes a midget when he faces Dwight. Drew chose his "best players lineup" instead of the lineup that got and maintained the lead all game and what happened? The lead dissappeared in minutes. Why did it take Josh to make him do what we all saw needed to be done? The difference between Drew and Woody isn't that Drew makes adjustments, they both make horrible coaching moves,Drew just doesn't have a backbone.

[DJlaysitup]

I'm sayin!, the lineup of Hinrich Jamal Joe Josh and Al was the reason we lost the lead, you look at this lineup and say this is a dangerous scoring lineup. Truth is again you lose all ball movement with this group...

There is ONE PRIMARY reason we lost ball movement. It's because Jamal is a chucker and fouls up the offensive flow.

If any other team had Teague I would trade Jamal for him straight up (salary considerations aside).

This from a fairly new Jeff Teague convert who still isn't 100% sold.:kickcan:

[RedDawg#8]

I agree about the chucking pointJamal took like 3 deep 3 pointers in the 4th that I guess were supossed to be daggers but clanked off the rim and were momentum killing. It's like our team has one mindet when it comes to scoring in the 4th and he is the main culprit. If we would learn to run the clock down and then drive the lane and get fouled that would not only kill clock but it would kill the other teams spirits.

[Guest]

Whenever we have a lead in the 4th, LD plays not to lose, he doesn't go for the win by having the defensive players on the court. More often than not it was defense leading to offense that got them the lead then he screws up the lineup because he has offense on the court.

As much of some of you may call Smove "dumb, no BBIQ", he sure did recognize early that Twin was needed cuz Dwight was killing Horf and Smoove knew what doubling would mean.

Well..as much as I like Josh Smith...and agree that he was probably right in this case...he really shouldn't be "lobbying" to his coach...he should be concentrating on the game at hand.

I also have a hard time giving LD major props though...we could have easily lost this game. If LD had a better control of his team we wouldn't have wasted the time Dwight was on the bench early by jacking perimeter shots and losing the lead. With better coaching I think this would have been a 10 point win...and I'm not just talking about gametime bench coaching...I'm talking about having enough control over your players to be able to change their approach a bit when the situation makes that in your best interest.:kickcan:

Well Josh is playing the game at hand, so he knows what going on - as much as some call him "dumb, no BBIQ" - he recognized what was needed at that time. He is a "captain" nothing wrong with him making a suggestion to the coach.

[Buzzard]

I'm sayin!, the lineup of Hinrich Jamal Joe Josh and Al was the reason we lost the lead, you look at this lineup and say this is a dangerous scoring lineup. Truth is again you lose all ball movement with this group and end up with NO defense or rebounding since Horf becomes a midget when he faces Dwight. Drew chose his "best players lineup" instead of the lineup that got and maintained the lead all game and what happened? The lead dissappeared in minutes. Why did it take Josh to make him do what we all saw needed to be done? The difference between Drew and Woody isn't that Drew makes adjustments, they both make horrible coaching moves,Drew just doesn't have a backbone.

I hope you understand that Woodys backbone is really just pigheadedness. Woody really did not have a backbone. He always went with his best scoring six in the 1st and 4th quarters. This is exactly why Orlando blew us out early and often with him as our coach. Blame Drew for not doing it soon enough in the 4th, give Smoove some props for demanding it, but at least Drew played Collins and eventually listened to Smoove. No way Woody would have ever had the backbone to pull Horford or Smoove and insert Collins in a tight game.

Woody would have just looked lost out there as Orlando blew us away in another lopsided loss. And he was lost, which is why he always played his best six scoring options instead of trying out different rotations. We won a lot of games under Woody with our best six, we got blown out of many by tougher opponents for the same reason.