Every time I get my hopes up they kill me

[thatsmydawg]

I think the expectations of this team without Al is waaaaay to high. The nice win clip versus the scrubs after he first went down was cool. But now, we have to be more realistic. Hell, we got blown out at an unprecedented level for a winning team last year with Al! Do yourselves a favor and follow great basketball that goes on elsewhere in the league. What Jeremy Lin is doing is 100x more important to the league than what we're doing.

Personally i think you are missing the point here. The hawks should be competitive no matter who

they play. Especially at home. This team isnt bringing home any hardware anytime soon since nba titles are won by the most elite talents which the hawks do not have. Jeremy lin is not an elite talent either. Therefore, his "importance" to the league is merely espn sensationalism and will fade away in a month or so.

[Dejay]

Other guys get Superman, we get the Green Arrow.

Never have truer words been written on a keyboard. Some teams make good trades, others buy good players in free agency, and others draft well. Ours limp into the playoffs more often than not with some hodge-podge pu pu platter of the overpaid, the overrated, the underperforming, or a combo of guys who just plain sucks when the bright lights are turned on them.

At some point, even the dolts running this outfit has to recognize that something has to change. It can't be all about calling yourself 'the best team in town' like Gearon alledgedly did in a town-hall meeting when your team has never played for anything that matters. The reason why the Falcons and, to a smaller extent, the Braves, get passes is because they don't just talk tough; they take action. Even when those moves don't work as planned, more credit is given for at least trying to better when the status quo isn't enough.

As I've stated before, the archenemy of greatness is the satisfaction of being good. Unfortunately, we all know where the Notorious A.S.G. stands...

[macdaddy]

He doesn't have anything to do with us of course, but I was just saying that as a basketball fan first, Hawks fan second, there are much more compelling things going on. Watching Lin electrify the Garden at Kobe's expense was much more exciting than anything you could see at Phillips. With every game, he's setting records for scoring to start his career. The references to other teams' players will stop now, Dolfan. Let's keep our hopes low so we can burst with joy when we finally beat Philly.

I agree with Sultan that I am mainly concerned with the Hawks, but what you are talking about here is exactly the problem. The ownership needs to wake up and see that this group doesn't motivate people to buy tickets or support the team. Gearon can make his case all he wants to about how that's not fair but it is what it is. You either win consistently and play great basketball or you excite the fans with compelling personalities or hopefully both. We have neither right now.

[Randy]

Winning and losing isn't as important as how you win or lose. Seeing Joe Johnson put of 40 points or Josh 25/15 in a close loss the Heat would have been great. Its not the way it happened. Its wierd - this team seems to just not show up for the big games.

Not that a loss is great, but it would be great to see really good performances win or lose.

[macdaddy]

Winning and losing isn't as important as how you win or lose. Seeing Joe Johnson put of 40 points or Josh 25/15 in a close loss the Heat would have been great. Its not the way it happened. Its wierd - this team seems to just not show up for the big games.

Not that a loss is great, but it would be great to see really good performances win or lose.

Exactly. In fact the greatest game in Atlanta Hawks history is a loss.

[Atlantaholic]

I think the expectations of this team without Al is waaaaay to high. The nice win clip versus the scrubs after he first went down was cool. But now, we have to be more realistic. Hell, we got blown out at an unprecedented level for a winning team last year with Al! Do yourselves a favor and follow great basketball that goes on elsewhere in the league. What Jeremy Lin is doing is 100x more important to the league than what we're doing.

This team has no soul. I was excited at the beginning of the season thinking that if there was ever a year were a well rounded veteran team could contend for a championship it was this lockout shortened season which has favored (at least early on) the squads that play better team ball... but after the Chicago - Miami back to back choke jobs I stopped watching the games (this is the first season since I was 10 years old that I have watched less than 90% of the games). I've seen this team play for 5+ years and it is the same damn s*** over and over again... we are all waiting for this team to take the next step but we have been going sideways since the 53 win season. Josh and Joe are what they are, but we need them to be more, Teague lacks the cojones to be a major factor (and some of the skiills) and after that we have a bunch of nice veterans, but unfortunetly our best players are either dumb as rocks or heartless. Maybe if we had Al I'd be more on board, (with Al we could contend for a top 2 seed IMHO because this is truly the most stacked team we have had ever 1-12), but not that much more. This teams' problem is in their heads and unfortunetaly after seeing the same crap replay itself for a better part of a decade, you have to be a complete fool to think it can turn around magically. I'll still watch the playoffs, but not with any sort of expectation of us doing anything.