Peachtree Hoops: Real Games Lost #4, New York Knicks Vs. Atlanta Hawks

[Hawksquawk]

While the players and owners continue to argue over who looks better in a suit, we take a look at what the NBA Lockout is costing us Hawks fans on Wednesday, November 9. Today Atlanta would have hosted the New York Knicks in what would have been Mike Woodson's return to Philips Arena for the first time since being let go by the Hawks. 

Woodson has been charged with helping a Knicks team that is long on offensive firepower improve defensively. What I would most be interested in seeing tonight was what sort of tactics that Woodson would employ. While with the Hawks, Woodson tried to mask Atlanta's lackluster perimeter defense by a now famous strategy of switching every screen which often put players like Josh Smith and Al Horford in mismatches but likely gave the Hawks their best chance. 

I have said many times that the problem wasn't that the Hawks switched, it was that the Hawks switched every single time down the floor especially at crunch time when opposing coaches were able to get whatever matchup they wanted. Whether they can make defensive gains or not, the Knicks are a fun team to watch as most Mike D'Antoni clubs are. 

We will never know what would have happened tonight if not for the lockout and its disheartening to know that by the time the Hawks would have tipped off tonight the NBA's labor situation could in fact be dead with the union headed for decertification. These negotiations beg for someone with a rational mind to be injected into them but that doesn't appear to be forthcoming. It really boggles my mind at how much money is being lost by both sides over what amounts to getting the last word in. That is the reality of where we are right now and watching the Hawks and the Knicks tonight in Mike Woodson's return to Philips Arena is where we would have been. 

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