Appreciation thread

[Supporter]

Like many here said the Hawks fuked up (pardon my language). However how many of us even thought that they would reach this point. Even though they get our hopes up just to b!tchslap us in the end they are still our team. I am proud of these guys because I know that deep down our guys are hurting the most, they are the ones most embarrassed not us. Here's to thanking them for what they have done this postseason as it may be their last as a group.

[TRUEINTELLECTPLAYA]

I still am proud of the playoff run. We made it further with this core than ever before, but I must be truthful and say the core must be broken up and I include Larry Drew in that core he was Woody's top guy, meaning he was here growing with the core, no way you move Josh or Al before seeing if another coach can get the best out of both of them playing together. Josh as SF, Al is PF, bring in a C before you break them up. If you wanna mess with the core trade Joe and or fire LD

[DJlaysitup]

...However how many of us even thought that they would reach this point...

Certainly not me :no2: ...I figured it would be ORL in six. Kudos to the team for getting as far as they did. The only games I had a problem with this series were game three (obviously) and this game. I would have loved to see our two home losses be close games.

Winning game one at CHI and giving them a good game in game two was awesome. :lighter:

[QuantumHawkz]

The Hawks did good this year, iam proud of them and iam proud to be a hawks fan. LD needs to stay i like his style. Did he make mistakes? yea, but what rookie head coach dosent?( i know i have) The Hawks organization did good as a whole this season. Last year and the year befor that we lost 15 stright 2nd round playoff games, this year we won 2. We are still improving and thats what matters.GOOD JOB FELLA'S, NEXT YEAR WILL BE ANOTHER WILD RIDE AS A HAWK FAN, MAN YOU GOTTA LOVE THIS TEAM!

[Alex]

It was awesome to see some good play at times with this group during the playoffs. Still at the end of the day we go home with our tails tucked between our legs at home. They made some strides throughout the playoffs that made you think that they could have turned the corner. Only to stop and make a u-turn and go the wrong direction.

[01d0rd3r]

I was really pissed earlier tonight but now having had time to think about it I am glad the team made it this far. Nobody gave us a chance against the magic and we beat them. Nobody gave us a chance against the bulls and we pushed them to the brink. We had a good run this year. Just wish they would stop ending the playoffs with embarrassing losses.

[JTB]

Like many here said the Hawks fuked up (pardon my language). However how many of us even thought that they would reach this point. Even though they get our hopes up just to b!tchslap us in the end they are still our team. I am proud of these guys because I know that deep down our guys are hurting the most, they are the ones most embarrassed not us. Here's to thanking them for what they have done this postseason as it may be their last as a group.

they did great and I seriously doubt this is the end for this group. remember the ASG owns this team. to them this is a stepping stone. the only player i see gon is marvin out of this current group.

[Atlantaholic]

This playoff run certainly exceeded expectations, and it sucks that it ended this way, but oh well. I actually don't agree that we came out flat, the Bulls were just on a freaking unbelievable roll all game long and we could never pick up momentum... especially since we couldn't make anything. Horford had an open jumper all game long and couldn't buy one, Jamal again with one of his 2-27 shooting nights... the injury to teague... just too much to overcome against a number 1 seed who finally played like it tonight.

[Diesel]

I have to chime in with appreciation for the Hawks. After the regular season, I thought we had packed it in. However, going into tonight, I felt that we would go to game 7. Even though we lost, I think to get us to the point where fans were as confident is a good statement about how we played in these playoffs. I think some things were exposed for good and for bad. I look foward to the emergence of Teague. I hate that Hinrich couldn't play. I still think that game 5 was a travesty but that's all gone now. In the offseason, I hope we work on fixing our weaknesses. Now that Doc and Boston are back together, I'm all for LD being here. We just need to fix our weaknesses. For what it is worth, I think Josh has grown in this playoff series and I hope to see him build upon that foundation.

Go Hawks!!!

[buckeye242424]

The sting of last night still hurts, but I got to give it up to these guys.

I was flying high after we beat Orlando, and stealing Game 1 vs. Chicago was amazing as a fan. It's the best I've felt supporting these guys in years. We exceeded expectations this post season and turned heads everywhere. Good season, roller coaster ride, sad it's over.

Thanks Hawks. It's going to be a long time before we see the team again....I hope we're playing by Christmas.

[frosgrim]

I enjoyed the playoff run.

The regular season was unwatchable.

If the ASG wants to increase attendance they need to make a MAJOR roster move. The status quo is not going to invigorate this fan base. Or, just hit the reset button. This team just hit its peak.

[ATLSmith]

They were fun to watch and exceeded my expectations. It certainly felt like they were closer to making it to the ECF this year than any other...

Oh, and it was a joy not having to watch other teams abuse that terrible switching defense. Also a joy to watch some good ball movement (although, they still need a bit of work in this area.)

Probably in the minority, but I don't want to see major moves this off season. Just get a good center and a good backup SF who can even start every now and then.

Welcome Teague!

[Sothron]

I gave +1 to make up for some people getting negged by some new poster. Not sure what's going on but none of these posts deserve a negative.

I'm appreciative that we finally got the second round jinx off our backs and I'm very glad we quite likely pushed Dwight Howard out of Orlando. The reality is that this is the ceiling for what this current team can do. I just hope we see some moves in the offseason to address our weaknesses and we can shock the world again next playoffs.

[hazer]

Great run, very proud of Hawks winning 2 in the semis! :good:

[macdaddy]

It was a good run. I'm disappointed the last game was another blowout. I don't know what the future holds because its a strange collection to mess with. I'm glad Teague is finally here.

[00Blink]

they did great and I seriously doubt this is the end for this group. remember the ASG owns this team. to them this is a stepping stone. the only player i see gon is marvin out of this current group.

Is it a coincidence that Ted Turner was visibly on the front row of every home game (he could have lounged and partied in the sky box)? Especially with all the talk of selling the Thrashers and then moving them out of town. Maybe he is thinking of purchasing the team. I don't recall seeing him come to past games THIS season. Maybe he wanted to see what the team was made of in the playoffs and if the fans are what the media say about not supporting the team. If so, he probably knows now that the fans will support the team if a winning and competitive product is on the court. He walked off pretty steamed last night. Maybe he was emotionally attached to the team because of his dilemma of the purchase. I sure hope so. I hope he stormed off thinking, I could take this team a step or two further and become the new Arthur Blank of Atlanta.

[00Blink]

Like many here said the Hawks fuked up (pardon my language). However how many of us even thought that they would reach this point. Even though they get our hopes up just to b!tchslap us in the end they are still our team. I am proud of these guys because I know that deep down our guys are hurting the most, they are the ones most embarrassed not us. Here's to thanking them for what they have done this postseason as it may be their last as a group.

Thank you for the thread sir. This was excellent and a nice gesture. Maybe we as fans should let them know that we still have love for them and support them. Give them something even better to look forward to next year. Give them a better motivation and inspiration. Don't let them feel like a let down. This can be done by just commenting positively in the local media, the radio stations, blogs, ajc, and around the web in other forums. There is nothing like a bit of inspiration. Ask Teague. This will probably give Ted Turner more inspiration and confidence to purchase the team as he see it as a marketable product with more and more fans in the media speaking proudly of their team and how they are ready to support them and look forward to next season with this season not even being over.

Just imagine how that sounds and would feel to the players and organization and hopefully potential new buyer if he hears while the season is still ongoing, how we are looking forward to next season and how we are ready to support the team next year to hush up the media and how Atlanta fans are fickle. It lights and fire and inspire.

I'm looking forward to next year. LET'S GO HAWKS!!

[lethalweapon3]

This was the best playoff run by a MALE pro sports franchise in Atlanta since... ??? (Falcons '05?) So thank you, Hawks!

~lw3

[jhay610]

My 2010-2011 Post-Mortem

Coming into the ORL series if you were offered this result you would have taken it with a big smile. Was disappointing to get blown out at home again but it felt like the Hawks showed up for every game this postseason save the Game 5 in ORL. (Watch game 3 against CHI and you will see that they hit an incredible amount of shots.)

It felt like we got beat by a better team. Chicago won 60+ games, had an MVP and coach of the year, and they eventually showed that. The difference between the teams' benches was starkly on display all series long and CHI's defense was truly magnificent last night.

The best thing about this postseason was the emergence of Jeff Teague. I really hope the kid can build off his incredible series and can make a career of it now. If he can get his jump shot more consistent he will be tough to deal with.

Josh Smith and Zaza were + players for the better part of the series. When Josh is locked in he is such a difference maker and a very special player.

Horf's rep came down a peg or two (or more) from the lofty place it used to be around here. I will choose to remember him for his 82 game All-NBA contributions and not for the baffling playoff efforts. Shows you that 'the winning spirit' is highly overrated -- it ultimately still comes down to players making plays. Overall the season is a positive for him as he developed a solid mid range J. I hope he can continue to develop a post game because he has lots of room to improve there.

Jamal is a great streak scorer/assassin but he again showed you his limitations. All the JC fanboys hopefully can now see the difference between Jamal and Joe -- Jamal is a hired gun and Joe is a blue chip scorer. When a team gears up to stop Jamal it is easily done and he will shoot you right out of games.

Joe did what he could this series but he is, as we know, not the guy to carry a team to a championship by himself. He gets a lot of hate for that but only a few teams in the league have true superstars (dam you Miami). He has to deal with doubles and guys running at him on a nightly basis and he does a decent job with it.

LD moved way up on my ledger in the playoffs as I thought he handled game management and sub patterns, for the most part, with aplomb.

Ultimately, a fairly satisfying season but it is obvious this team needs a bit of a shake-up/spark. The two starting lineups the Hawks run out there have glaring deficiencies in one spot (either SF or C depending on the group). They do not have the up-and-down talent to hide a hole like this and they do not have the bench to do it either.

So ultimately, we are again in that familiar role (for long-time Hawks fans) of being capped out at that second round ceiling. That leaves us looking to management for the way forward and sadly for many of us we just cannot put much trust in the guys running the show. Sund has for the most part been a caretaker of this group with a couple of notable exceptions where he picked up a nice piece for cheap (Flip, Jamal).

Now we need some real ingenuity and creativity to make that next move forward. Unfortunately we have been here before in decades past and regressed.

Whatever happens, I am a ride-or-die Hawks fan and I will keep watching. Thanks to all the guys for high energy/effort this postseason (shouldn't have to even mention that but with this group it bears shouting from the rooftops!) and some very memorable moments. The A-T-L chants at the end of Game 4 will be seared into the memory banks of the longtime faithful for a long while.

Go Hawks!