Diesel Keys to the Series

[Diesel]

1. We must attack the basket every time down.

I don't care how many blocks Howard gets. I don't care how bad it looks on sportscenter. Eventually, Howard will foul and soon after, he will foul out. I rather look bad going to the next round than on Sportscenter going home. This is what requires the mental toughness. In the past, we have been loose... maybe too loose, we have to play with a memory of worse loss in playoff history as our motivation. So, if we have an open three or long set shot, let's put the ball on the floor and attack.

2. We have to play with mental toughness.

That means that we have to decide that we will do the extra stuff. I accuse this team of being soft. That's not just how we react to physicality, but also how we react to the stuff we didn't plan. Stop crying over calls. Stop making dumb plays. Play with your mind in the game.

[macdaddy]

1. We must attack the basket every time down.

I don't care how many blocks Howard gets. I don't care how bad it looks on sportscenter. Eventually, Howard will foul and soon after, he will foul out. I rather look bad going to the next round than on Sportscenter going home. This is what requires the mental toughness. In the past, we have been loose... maybe too loose, we have to play with a memory of worse loss in playoff history as our motivation. So, if we have an open three or long set shot, let's put the ball on the floor and attack.

2. We have to play with mental toughness.

That means that we have to decide that we will do the extra stuff. I accuse this team of being soft. That's not just how we react to physicality, but also how we react to the stuff we didn't plan. Stop crying over calls. Stop making dumb plays. Play with your mind in the game.

I would add at the top of the list number 0.9 We must play physical. We are soft and are not feared. We don't have championship type talent. Of course, you can't play physical without mental toughness and the ability not to get carried away, but we have to make people think twice about going in the lane. We have to be on them. And this is on the bench and the guards. If we have guys playing extended minutes with zero or one foul then we've got problems. Twin, Marv, Z, Teague need to get some hard fouls in there.

[Diesel]

I would add at the top of the list number 0.9 We must play physical. We are soft and are not feared. We don't have championship type talent. Of course, you can't play physical without mental toughness and the ability not to get carried away, but we have to make people think twice about going in the lane. We have to be on them. And this is on the bench and the guards. If we have guys playing extended minutes with zero or one foul then we've got problems. Twin, Marv, Z, Teague need to get some hard fouls in there.

I would say we do have championship talent.

We don't make very good use of it.

Horf is probably one of the top 4 Centers in the East.

JJ is probably the 3rd best 2 guard in the East.

Smoove is a good forward.

Crawford is a very good 6th man.

Even Hinrich can be consider top 25 PG in the league.

Why can't we get it together?

[Seano]

I agree 100% that we have to get after Dwight and try to get to him. The studio crew on the NBA Network were interviewing him last night after his game with the 76ers, and Dwight was talking about the upcoming playoffs and what he felt he needed to do in order for them to be successful, and he stated that he needed to do a better job managing his emotions and specifically against us, because he said one of the Hawks strategies this season had been to try and frustrate him as much as possible so as to get him off his game and get him into foul trouble, so that thought is already inside his head and he is very aware of it. So in my opinion we need to exploit that as much as possible, by attacking him and being as physical as possible with him. Frustrate him, piss him off, draw him into (hopefully) early foul trouble, and then we can take it from there.

I hope that Twin is ready! He did a great job on Dwight earlier in the year.

[macdaddy]

I would say we do have championship talent.

We don't make very good use of it.

Horf is probably one of the top 4 Centers in the East.

JJ is probably the 3rd best 2 guard in the East.

Smoove is a good forward.

Crawford is a very good 6th man.

Even Hinrich can be consider top 25 PG in the league.

Why can't we get it together?

Maybe I'm just disillusioned by the way they've played the last few weeks. Joe certainly hasn't played like a top 2 guard and Horf has looked really shaky compared to earlier in the season. I don't know if being a top 25 PG is a compliment or not. I guess he's the fifth worst PG in the league (just counting starters here)? We certainly have the talent to match up with Orlando but I don't think we can matchup talent-wise with the top 3 in the east.

Best players on the floor Hawks/Magic:

1. dwight

2. Joe

3. Horf? smoove? Jameer? Turk? Jamal?

Its all kind of a toss up after dwight/joe. But if we get to chicago our guys are further down the list.

[Seano]

Well for whatever it's worth Chris Webber likes us and seems to really believe in us. :) He picked one upset to take place in the West and one in the East, and his Eastern upset was that we would take out the Magic.

[IHeartAtlanta]

The Key Is Free T-Shirts and Thunder Sitcks At All Home Games....

[Diesel]

The Key Is Free T-Shirts and Thunder Sitcks At All Home Games....

The Key has always been Corndogs!!

Edited April 13, 2011 by Diesel

[jy23]

ok somebody fill me in again on the corndogs.....I dont get it

[AHF]

ok somebody fill me in again on the corndogs.....I dont get it

Dr. Zachery previous conducted very scientific studies showing the link between Squawkers eating corndogs and the success of the Hawks. Don't doubt the hard science behind this proven link.

[Marvin24Williams]

We need Marvin at SF majority of the time. He can get by Turk and hopefully will be able to draw fouls on d12. Joe will be fine at SF too, AS LONG AS HE DRIVES TO THE RIM AND LOOKS FOR A FOUL. Smoove needs to play within his skill set, and Horf might be the biggest key. If his jumper is on, that will help free up the paint for other slashers on our team. Kirk needs to be the defensive stopper that we asked for at pg if we hope to contain Jaqueer Nelson.

Edited April 13, 2011 by WhassupHawks

[Gray Mule]

Team effort, not individual effort. Doing what is best for the team.

Showing some heart. Showing that they care about results and not

their own individidual stats.

We, as a team, must play together or we will all fail individually.

:newrussian:

Edited April 13, 2011 by Gray Mule