Just Got Back From the Game

[TheTruth]

Totally electric!

That was the description of the atmosphere tonight. My girlfriend bought tickets for us, and that is the only way I could describe the crowd. The place was absolute bonkers!

Few things though:

1) We got the BAD Josh tonight. Stat wise, he probably did ok, but watching him live was just awful. Just awful. If we had gotten even Halfway-Decent Josh, we win that game a bit more convincingly.

2) He played some GREAT D on Howard in the 4th quarter after LD took Armstrong off him and put Smoove on him. Why was Armstrong on him for SO long in the first place?

3) About Armstrong, he got KILLED by Dwight. No resistance AT ALL.

4) Why did LD wait so long to put Collins back in the game on Howard in the second half? He waited FOREVER to put him back on Howard in the second half...even after Armstrong offered nothing. Was his back acting up or something?

5) Did I mention how electric that crowd was? People can say what they want about ATL fans, but when they have a meaningful game against a "hated" team, they come out in bunches and those bunches are LOUD! I lost my voice and probably have partial hearing loss.

6) Joe hit some CLUTCH free throws in the end. I was so scared because so many of our guys missed so many FTs. It hurts even more since we don't take very many as a team.

7) Howard has to absolutely LOATHE playing against Collins. I don't think Howard made 33% of the shots he took against him tonight. It was a beauty to watch. I think Howard had something like 5 points at the half--this was a time in which Collins played the majority of the half. Collins was on fire tonight. He surely picked up the slack for Zaza. Can't say the same for Armstrong especially and Powell to a lesser extent.

Kudos to the Hawks. Crawford was money, Joe had some moments, Kirk finally started nailing some shots, and Horford was pretty good for the most part. And kudos to the D...it was fantastic.

The Orlando Howards have to win 3 straight if they wanna advance. And barring a meltdown, Jameer will see Rose after all in the second round...except his azz will be watching the Bulls from his sofa.

*Waves my Hawks towel in defiance*

[Guest]

Good to hear the fans are back. I don't know why we have been belittled by our players and owners in the past, when effort is there the fans show up.

[Supporter]

This is such a catch-22. Without the fans the Hawks lack motivation, but in order for the fans to show up the hawks need to be good....ugh.

[Guest]

This is such a catch-22. Without the fans the Hawks lack motivation, but in order for the fans to show up the hawks need to be good....ugh.

Exactly. Except I will strongly argue that for the fans to ever get into the game they need to see motivation. Not necessarily results, but motivation. And if the Hawks don't show motivation, well then we could go on rants forever...but it is certainly a catch 22.

[niremetal]

The crowd was into it from the starting gun tonight. Can't deny that. It was the loudest I've seen the arena since the Celtics series.

[AHawks89]

If my girl friend bought me tickets, I wouldn't be home right now.

Haha, kidding. Glad you had fun. Go Hawks!

[TheTruth]

If my girl friend bought me tickets, I wouldn't be home right now.

Haha, kidding. Glad you had fun. Go Hawks!

Lol. Yeah, but she's no night owl. And we had a long drive back.

About the motivation Nire and some others spoke about, that is the crazy thing about this series. We are seeing, against the Magic, a team that is playing inspired and motivated ball. This is only something we saw glimpses or short stretches of in the regular season. No wonder so many are surprised by the 3-1 start...we thought it would be 3-1 in the OPPOSITE direction.

The fans at both Hawks home games have been treated to the good Hawks...the Hawks that demonstrate that they care and play with energy from the opening tip and sustain it all four quarters. Subsequently, the fans return the favor. Needless to say, the Hawks HAVE to keep it up if we are going to continue to advance.

[Hawksauce]

Yeah, I just got home from the game. I live in augusta and I gotta go to work in a few hours but it was totally worth it. So loud and amp'd in there. We sat in section 116 and we totally got shafted on the "Get Loud" face off between section 316 lol. Its all good though we had fun. Plus I walked out with like six rally towels that ppl left behind.

[AHawks89]

Yeah, I just got home from the game. I live in augusta and I gotta go to work in a few hours but it was totally worth it. So loud and amp'd in there. We sat in section 116 and we totally got shafted on the "Get Loud" face off between section 316 lol. Its all good though we had fun. Plus I walked out with like six rally towels that ppl left behind.

I'm also from Augusta! Glad to see more fans here.

[Bawse]

Yup, was there again tonight as well. Everyone around us just groaned whenever Josh put up a long range shot. He played solid D and hustled all night, though. Great show up again tonight. The white towels were in full effect.

Edited April 25, 2011 by Boss

[TheTruth]

Yeah, I just got home from the game. I live in augusta and I gotta go to work in a few hours but it was totally worth it. So loud and amp'd in there. We sat in section 116 and we totally got shafted on the "Get Loud" face off between section 316 lol. Its all good though we had fun. Plus I walked out with like six rally towels that ppl left behind.

Y'all got totally shafted...it wasn't even close!

And yeah Boss, those towels were waving in unison. It was great to behold.

[Hawksauce]

I'm also from Augusta! Glad to see more fans here.

That's what's up! :drinks:

What part? I live near the downtown area.

[AHawks89]

That's what's up! :drinks:

What part? I live near the downtown area.

I'm in Evans, but I ride my bike on the canal all of the time and go eat lunch of Pizza Joint or Mellow Mushroom :P Edited April 25, 2011 by AHawks89

[Eddielives]

Totally electric!

That was the description of the atmosphere tonight. My girlfriend bought tickets for us, and that is the only way I could describe the crowd. The place was absolute bonkers!

Few things though:

1) We got the BAD Josh tonight. Stat wise, he probably did ok, but watching him live was just awful. Just awful. If we had gotten even Halfway-Decent Josh, we win that game a bit more convincingly.

2) He played some GREAT D on Howard in the 4th quarter after LD took Armstrong off him and put Smoove on him. Why was Armstrong on him for SO long in the first place?

3) About Armstrong, he got KILLED by Dwight. No resistance AT ALL.

4) Why did LD wait so long to put Collins back in the game on Howard in the second half? He waited FOREVER to put him back on Howard in the second half...even after Armstrong offered nothing. Was his back acting up or something?

5) Did I mention how electric that crowd was? People can say what they want about ATL fans, but when they have a meaningful game against a "hated" team, they come out in bunches and those bunches are LOUD! I lost my voice and probably have partial hearing loss.

6) Joe hit some CLUTCH free throws in the end. I was so scared because so many of our guys missed so many FTs. It hurts even more since we don't take very many as a team.

7) Howard has to absolutely LOATHE playing against Collins. I don't think Howard made 33% of the shots he took against him tonight. It was a beauty to watch. I think Howard had something like 5 points at the half--this was a time in which Collins played the majority of the half. Collins was on fire tonight. He surely picked up the slack for Zaza. Can't say the same for Armstrong especially and Powell to a lesser extent.

Kudos to the Hawks. Crawford was money, Joe had some moments, Kirk finally started nailing some shots, and Horford was pretty good for the most part. And kudos to the D...it was fantastic.

The Orlando Howards have to win 3 straight if they wanna advance. And barring a meltdown, Jameer will see Rose after all in the second round...except his azz will be watching the Bulls from his sofa.

*Waves my Hawks towel in defiance*

We won this game despite Josh. Mann he was just atrocious out there. At least 2 bad plays for every good play.

[Sothron]

If we win and put them out I have to think Otis Smith (their GM) is out of a job. SVG can only coach what he has and boy has that team made major regressions. Those trades in the middle of the season have not worked out and their free agent decisions not to bring back guys like Barnes are really looking bad at this point.

Looking at Orlando now, all they have is Howard and Four Other Starters. Nelson and Turk have regressed and Arenas is a shadow of a shadow of what he used to be. Howard is going to be demanding a trade out of there. You just can't help but think our beating them down like this is going to break that franchise.

[coachx]

Good to hear the fans are back. I don't know why we have been belittled by our players and owners in the past, when effort is there the fans show up.

Atlanta fans support a team who tries.

Its when you get blown out by the same team by over 20 points for four games in a row that any city will boo............like last year.

Edited April 25, 2011 by coachx

[Nicholasp27]

3) About Armstrong, he got KILLED by Dwight. No resistance AT ALL.

Armstrong stole the ball twice from Howard and drew Howard's 4th foul...that's pretty good for a "six fouls" guy

that is 3 possessions that Howard turned it over against Hilton instead of scoring, which is 4-9 points less for the Magic

[coachx]

Totally electric!

That was the description of the atmosphere tonight. My girlfriend bought tickets for us, and that is the only way I could describe the crowd. The place was absolute bonkers!

Few things though:

1) We got the BAD Josh tonight. Stat wise, he probably did ok, but watching him live was just awful. Just awful. If we had gotten even Halfway-Decent Josh, we win that game a bit more convincingly.

2) He played some GREAT D on Howard in the 4th quarter after LD took Armstrong off him and put Smoove on him. Why was Armstrong on him for SO long in the first place?

4) Why did LD wait so long to put Collins back in the game on Howard in the second half? He waited FOREVER to put him back on Howard in the second half...even after Armstrong offered nothing. Was his back acting up or something?

All 3 of these things are related. During Game 3 John Barry mentioned Smoove's box score might look good but if you watch the game something is no right with him. You see ill advised shots / bad shots over and over with him. Just plain bad decision making. Basically the same stuff we have been saying for years. In game 3 Smoove was on the bench most of the 4th quarter. Then he took Collins out and put in Smoove. What happended ..... more poor shots by Smoove. Drew then puts ZaZa back in the game with about 4 minutes left in Game 3 and Josh Smith says what. "Who me ?" Why am I coming out ? If youyr that stupid you don't get an answer to such a stupid question.

Game 4 was bascially a do over of that. Drew went with Horford at C to get 5 players on the court who could score b/c we were struggling to score there for a while. It forced Howard to have to defend the pick and roll differently. What happened when Collins came in for Smoove. He got a charge on Arenas immediately by playing fundamental defense and made Howard work his tail off.

Smoove needs to take his outside shot and flush it down the toilet for the rest of these playoffs.

Edited April 25, 2011 by coachx

[macdaddy]

Armstrong actually did ok. He had some really horrible plays but i think he forced several fouls and turnovers which is why he stayed in. I think Collins is really hurting. When Zaza gets in the next game he's going to hear it from the Magic fans. I can't wait.

[Popeye]

Espn/TNT announcers have been really harsh on Smoove and he deserves it...... There was one play in the 1ST half that pissed me off so much...... Horford kicks the ball out to Smoove with about 10 secs on the shot clock and a defender running to him, he attempts and bricks a contested 3 while Jamal who was on fire at that point is wide open at top of the key..... I mean Wtf is wrong with this guy?