Moderators lethalweapon3 Posted May 2, 2012 Moderators Report Share Posted May 2, 2012 Ran home from the game to get on the Squawk last night and thought, nah, lemme get some sleep first! lolWhat more can I say about the crowd? Yeah, the Celts had enough of there yahoos there, that's to be expected, but the proportion was nowhere near the volumes that showed up in candy cane red and blue yesterday. The guys and gals in green were mostly sitting on their hands after Pierce faded in the first quarter. And the screeches for the Beantown Busters were drowned into incoherence quickly by the raucous Hawks fans. KG was easily flustered and barking at courtside fans at several occasions in between airballs. The fan atmosphere was about as good as anyone could ask for.One silver lining about Smoove is, at the game, he gets me plenty of walking exercise. He gets that breakaway pass after the steal and decides to himself, playoffs-be-damned, he's gonna party like it's February 2005! I thought I fell into a timewarp and we were playing the Bucks again... why not toss it under your legs first, Josh? Before the ball even clanked off the rim, I excused myself and declared, "I need a timeout already!" It did allow me time to peruse the fine wares of the Hawk Walk (the grub is immeasurably better now), and within minutes the Hawks got their heads screwed back on -- off the steal I think from Kirk, Joe with the trailer to Josh, who throws it down PROPERLY, thank you! Josh has us gasping our collective breaths when he goes up for dunks. Unfortunately, it's for the wrong reasons!Josh, find a chalkboard, and get to scribblin'. We can not afford to waste possessions. We can NOT afford to waste possessions. We CAN NOT afford to waste possessions. WE CAN NOT afford to waste possessions! Foes live off of our unforced errors, and I'm sure a few sportscasters did last night as well.We cannot afford to dribble down the clock then decide what to do (Josh, hand Joe the chalk.) Way too many shots taken in desperation. At least twice, Ivan was getting the ball out there in Smoove Country (the three point line) and was expected to drive the ball into the lane with seconds left on the shot clock... who is he, Marvin Williams now? ;-) Was that the play call, really? It was the final play against the Knicks warmed over.LD was outcoached only in the sense that he (and his staff) stopped freaking coaching by halfway through the third quarter. We're looking at these lineups trotted out there and were dumbfounded. Was anyone expected to, like, score, with the kinds of outfits he put out there in that second half? Where was Teague? Heck, where was Pargo? Why is Ivan bringing the ball up the court? Grumpy Old Men Paul Tebow and KG got maybe 10 minutes of bench time between them. We are "resting our guys" for what, exactly? I'm hearing now about T-Mac (surprisingly nice defense in a short stint, BTW) possibly having a hissyfit after getting pulled. So the heck what, Larry? Rolling his lazy eyes at you is what he does when he's still getting iced out of the rotation and no one else is doing anything spectacular. Why is this capable veteran not allowed to contribute more than 5 minutes of basketball? What is he here for?We fumbled away the advantage in fouls in that second half, around the same time we allowed the Celtics to dictate the pace and grind the game down to a halfcourt battle that Boston knows gives them the advantage. Defensively, I was loving Ivan's presence against KG and Bass. I really couldn't complain until the third quarter, when we left Keyon sitting out at the three point line by his lonesome. Bass was suddenly wide open at all his sweet spots on the floor. And once JaCo was fouled out and Smoove left, the halfcourt defense was toast against Pierce.It's also clear that without either Smoove or Teague on the floor, our transition fastbreak is fastbroke. The Celtics were doing more on fastbreak offense than we were, and that should not be acceptable in this or any parallel universe.Marvin has morphed into Mo Evans: stand over in one corner while we run the ENTIRE play on the other end. No one was even looking for him. Whatever shots he got seemed more out of happenstance than anything actually designed for him. He's been here since, when? And we have no go-to plays for him?I'm waking up hearing the Church of Rathbun (on 790 The Zone right now) and I'm so in his choir. We are the most hesitant, triple-pump-fakey, side-step-dribbly, double-clutch-jumpshooty team ever concocted. Our ballhandlers persistently play ourselves into a position where everyone within a mile can see who's about to force up a shot. Ivan's swatted layup against three Celts was Exhibit A. We like waiting until the defense collapses completely around us before we decide to finally try something. Catch the ball and shoot, attack the rim... or pass the ball! And if your shot was not the designed call... crash the boards for the follow! So many occasions we're taking off-balance, hesitated jumpshots, and the whole team is running back on D. I get it that the Celtics concede a lot of their own offensive rebounding chances in order to get back, but we're still fast and athletic enough to keep them on their heels, not on their toes.All that said, no one can say the crowd wasn't in their favor all the way to the bitter end. We'd be all fussy with lips poked out even after a 1-point loss, probably even a 1-point win, so anything short of a trouncing should draw this team some deserved constructive criticism. Never mind Rondo, never mind Ray... we're capable of being way better than the team that beat them in Game 1, while Boston needs Pierce and his letter-best to have a chance in any game going forward. Hawks players, get re-focused. Hawks coaches, evolve and adjust, and you might even be back here in Game 5 clinching before an even crazier home crowd!And props to Bonnie in Section 209... still the very best usher in the business!~lw3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators lethalweapon3 Posted May 2, 2012 Moderators Report Share Posted May 2, 2012 Alright, one of y'all, you know who you are: 'fess up! http://twitter.com/#!/HawksLarryDrew Head Coach of the Atlanta Hawks. Josh abuses me, Ivan scares me. Trying my best to set this franchise back 50 years.~lw3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators lethalweapon3 Posted May 2, 2012 Moderators Report Share Posted May 2, 2012 Funniest simultaneous fan reaction:Joe eight feet behind the three point line, defender falls down to his left, path to the basket is wide open: "YEAH! GO!"Joe has a Leon Powe flashback, takes the shot from all the way the heck out there: "WHY? NO!" lol~lw3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Posted May 2, 2012 Report Share Posted May 2, 2012 I yelled at the time that it was going to be money as that's a shot we've seen Joe hit dozens of times. Certainly wasn't the smartest decision he could have made but he's made that so many times I just believed it was going to go in and really lift the team up. Then when it didn't even come close it was like ohhh that was dumb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arhawkfan Posted May 2, 2012 Report Share Posted May 2, 2012 If I remember right that was after we brought the ball in and there was only 3 seconds left when he shot. I thought I heard the announcer say that. It was bad if that wasn't the case. Not as bad as josh blowing a dunk but still bad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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