Bulls are No. 1 at the quarter pole

[Hawksquawk]

Believe it or not, the 2011-12 NBA season is almost 25 percent complete. We'll reach the official quarter pole (248 of 990 total games) when seven of Monday's 10 games are in the books.

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[Admin]

This year

10

Atlanta (12-5)

Pace: 92.6 (23), Off: 103.5 ( 8 ) Def: 95.6 (5)

There's no point in trying to figure out the Hawks, who are now 5-1 without Al Horford, allowing fewer than 94 points per 100

possessions. Offensively, Jeff Teague has improved, averaging 14.7 points on 48 percent shooting in the six games. Atlanta is 8-1 at home, but begins a five-game trip on Monday.

Why is it always about "figuring the Hawks out"? Have we even lost to a team this year that going in we absolutely should have beaten? You could make a case that we should beat Indy and Philly but they're both very solid teams who are clearly on the same level as us and we only had Al for half of the game against Indy and didn't have him against Philly. Other than that we've beaten all of the teams that we clearly should have beaten and we've surprised a few teams that we probably shouldn't have beaten. But it's pretty ridiculous to make a case that we can't be figured out based on our play this year, which IMO has been VERY steady compared to the past decade of Hawks basketball. Who was it, OKC maybe, that lost against the Wizards the other night? Can they be figured out? What about Miami when they lose to a bad team? Nah let's just pile on the Hawks with the same ole rhetoric about not being able to figure us out rather than doing some actual work and finding out who THIS YEARS Hawks team really are.

Last year

13 Atlanta (11-7)

Pace: 92.8 (24), Off: 107.5 (5), Def: 104.0 (14)

They still don't have a win over a team with a winning record (at the time they played them), but the Hawks responded to a couple of bad games with three straight wins. They held the Wizards, Knicks and Raptors to 42 percent shooting, even though they were finishing a stretch of six games in nine days.

Nice to see the big improvement defensively over a year ago and there hasn't been too much of a let down in offense either.

[HawkItus]

You know Dolf, until we prove the media wrong they will pile on. The problem is we aren't a stat geek team. We take long 2 pt'ers and don't go to the foul line alot. If you make money preaching about the gospel of statistics we are satan. So we won't get love from these sort of guys until they are proven wrong or have to admit that we just don't fit the profile.

[macdaddy]

This year

10

Atlanta (12-5)

Pace: 92.6 (23), Off: 103.5 ( 8 ) Def: 95.6 (5)

There's no point in trying to figure out the Hawks, who are now 5-1 without Al Horford, allowing fewer than 94 points per 100

possessions. Offensively, Jeff Teague has improved, averaging 14.7 points on 48 percent shooting in the six games. Atlanta is 8-1 at home, but begins a five-game trip on Monday.

Why is it always about "figuring the Hawks out"? Have we even lost to a team this year that going in we absolutely should have beaten? You could make a case that we should beat Indy and Philly but they're both very solid teams who are clearly on the same level as us and we only had Al for half of the game against Indy and didn't have him against Philly. Other than that we've beaten all of the teams that we clearly should have beaten and we've surprised a few teams that we probably shouldn't have beaten. But it's pretty ridiculous to make a case that we can't be figured out based on our play this year, which IMO has been VERY steady compared to the past decade of Hawks basketball. Who was it, OKC maybe, that lost against the Wizards the other night? Can they be figured out? What about Miami when they lose to a bad team? Nah let's just pile on the Hawks with the same ole rhetoric about not being able to figure us out rather than doing some actual work and finding out who THIS YEARS Hawks team really are.

Last year

13 Atlanta (11-7)

Pace: 92.8 (24), Off: 107.5 (5), Def: 104.0 (14)

They still don't have a win over a team with a winning record (at the time they played them), but the Hawks responded to a couple of bad games with three straight wins. They held the Wizards, Knicks and Raptors to 42 percent shooting, even though they were finishing a stretch of six games in nine days.

Nice to see the big improvement defensively over a year ago and there hasn't been too much of a let down in offense either.

Amen brother. I can interpret that for you though:

There's no point in trying to figure out the Hawks, who are now 5-1 without Al Horford, allowing fewer than 94 points per 100

possessions

Please overlook that we pooped on the Hawks all preseason and don't try to figure out why we insist the Hawks aren't as good as they really are. They are 5-1 without the one player we respect, their defense is good, and their coach is out-coaching people who make 10 times what he does. Trust us, this isn't really happening.

[Admin]

You know Dolf, until we prove the media wrong they will pile on. The problem is we aren't a stat geek team. We take long 2 pt'ers and don't go to the foul line alot. If you make money preaching about the gospel of statistics we are satan. So we won't get love from these sort of guys until they are proven wrong or have to admit that we just don't fit the profile.

At what level do we have to prove them wrong?

Make the playoffs? Check.

Win in the 1st round? Check.

Make the playoffs multiple years in a row? Check.

Soundly beat the team who whipped and embarrassed us in the playoffs the year before? Check.

Take Chicago to 6 games and scare the tar out of them by winning Chicago in game 1? Check.

Beat the hell out of Chicago and nearly beat them twice in the same week? Check.

Beat Miami with Lebron and Wade and Bosh? Check.

Beat Miami without Lebron or Wade playing ... not so much, but we did almost win.

Lose our 6th man of the year, our all-star center, and continue to win? Check.

So if we get past the 2nd round will we get respect? Or do we have to get to the finals? Or win the finals? Or win the finals multiple times? I'd just like the media to draw a line in the sand that way we can know when we'll have met their "expectations" or God forbid even exceeded them, which truth be told I'm quite sure we've done this year after losing Jamal and Horford. Seems like most predicted we'd be out of the playoffs last year and then again this year and yet here we are tied for 1st in our division 25% of the way through the season...

[macdaddy]

At what level do we have to prove them wrong?

Make the playoffs? Check.

Win in the 1st round? Check.

Make the playoffs multiple years in a row? Check.

Soundly beat the team who whipped and embarrassed us in the playoffs the year before? Check.

Take Chicago to 6 games and scare the tar out of them by winning Chicago in game 1? Check.

Beat the hell out of Chicago and nearly beat them twice in the same week? Check.

Beat Miami with Lebron and Wade and Bosh? Check.

Beat Miami without Lebron or Wade playing ... not so much, but we did almost win.

Lose our 6th man of the year, our all-star center, and continue to win? Check.

So if we get past the 2nd round will we get respect? Or do we have to get to the finals? Or win the finals? Or win the finals multiple times? I'd just like the media to draw a line in the sand that way we can know when we'll have met their "expectations" or God forbid even exceeded them, which truth be told I'm quite sure we've done this year after losing Jamal and Horford. Seems like most predicted we'd be out of the playoffs last year and then again this year and yet here we are tied for 1st in our division 25% of the way through the season...

Not to go way off on a tangent but somehow this has become the Atlanta cross to bear. Its not just sports. For whatever reason people love to pile on Atlanta whether its bad fans, can't drive in snow (ice and hills people c'mon), too hot, too much traffic, too much airport. The only people who don't complain about Atlanta are most of the people who actually live here because its a freakin great place to live. I have complaints just like everyone else but I wouldn't want to live anywhere else for an extended period of time.

Honestly, I think the Hawks thing is just beating the elite teams on national tv a few times. We have a dismal record when it comes to national games I bet. At least I feel like Drew will make the right moves. Its just a matter of the players being able to deliver.

[Bahamut]

At what level do we have to prove them wrong?