Series Tied 1-1 Headed back to Atlanta

[RedDawg#8]

With all the moaning and groaning going on after last nights loss, I think we need to have a little perspective around here.

Indy's backs were against the wall coming into this game. They needed this win or their season was pretty much over, no way could they come to ATL down 2-0 to us. And guess what? We weathered the storm early and lead for most of the 1st half.

The same pressure Indy had going in to the game was now magnified coming out of halftime. This is where we failed. Indy gave us the best shot they could in that 3rd quarter, it was live or die for them, they knew it but we seemed to forget. They did what they had to do and what do they have to show for it? A tied series against the lowly 8 seed going on the road.

We let game two slip but guess what, we still did our job by stealing 1 game in their place and despite what happened they still have to change their make-up to beat us again.

Teague vs George in the first half was no different than Teague vs Hill in game 1. I just rewatched it, Teague was getting to the rim when he wanted. Idk why he didnt keep his foot on the pedal after halftime. Our staff will see that on film and Teague will come out aggressive in game 3.

Im so sorry for those of you who were expecting us to sweep the best team in the East, but we have a series on our hands here folks. We havent played our best ball in these two playoff games (13 assists game 1, game 2 loss) and yet we are still the team in the drivers seat.

They have the pressure now, they have to steal one in our house where they tend to struggle. We are exactly where we needed to be headed to game 3, and they are now back on their high horse thinking the are the supreme team.

We still pose the match-up problems, Korver has yet to get hot and our bench plays much better at Phillips.

Lets stop the crying, the world is not over. This isnt last year's Hawks. Josh Smith isnt here anymore to mess up the gameplan. Our guys will probably play their best ball of the series in the next two games. Let the outsiders who dont watch our team anyways talk about how much we suck. Coach Bud has us in prime position. Just sit back and enjoy the show

[Jody23]

I think the "pressure is on them" mentality has to stop. I hope the team avoids that mentality for the rest of the series, win or lose. It's basically spin, because the reality is there is pressure on both teams to win this series. It just sounds like a ready made excuse for why the Pacers rose to the challenge and we didn't in the second half last night. They should forget being satisfied with a split, and look to put their collective foot on Indiana's neck the rest of the way. To do that, they've got to accept the pressure that's on them and play with urgency every minute the rest of the way.

Edited April 23, 2014 by Jody23

[JTB]

Teague vs George in the first half was no different than Teague vs Hill in game 1. I just rewatched it, Teague was getting to the rim when he wanted. Idk why he didnt keep his foot on the pedal after halftime. Our staff will see that on film and Teague will come out aggressive in game 3.

Thank you for getting it right! I don't know why sudden change on offense in the 2nd half but as poster in these boards that criticized Teague often I have to be honest and say that I don't believe it was his fault.

When 3rd quarter came, it seems like bud changed his offense to attack Roy Hibbert with milsap (which is a good plan cause Hibbert can't guard him) but what I saw was the hawks constantly going back to milsap every play which took the ball out of Teagues hand.

Hawks took their foot off the pedal and the pacers put in an unlikely offensive 2nd half.

The best thing about all this is that after listening to sap and Teague post game they didn't seem afraid at all! They didn't even give them defense props as if they knew it was because of missed open shots....game 3 at home where these guys out comfortable will be better for our hawks!...watch what I tell ya.

[RedDawg#8]

I think the "pressure is on them" mentality has to stop. I hope the team avoids that mentality for the rest of the series, win or lose. It's basically spin, because the reality is there is pressure on both teams to win this series. It just sounds like a ready made excuse for why the Pacers rose to the challenge and we didn't in the second half last night. They should forget being satisfied with a split, and look to put their collective foot on Indiana's neck the rest of the way. To do that, they've got to accept the pressure that's on them and play with urgency every minute the rest of the way.

I dont see it as spin at all. Think about it man we arent supposed to be here right now in the playoffs let alone tied 1-1.

Thing is it doesnt matter who the team is in NBA history the goal for the away team in the playoffs is to steal game 1. Thats always been the theory not just for our Hawks. I think ppl acting as if we all of a sudden just choked is so outrageous because in the end we are where every lower seed wants to be going home, tied 1-1 with homecourt advantage. We are in the drivers seat, the Pacers smacked us in the mouth because THEY needed game 2. We werent going to swep the best home team this season on their floor but we are the ONLY team to beat them twice in their own building this season. We are good, we will make adjustments and be ready on Thursday

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

[Jody23]

I dont see it as spin at all. Think about it man we arent supposed to be here right now in the playoffs let alone tied 1-1.

Thing is it doesnt matter who the team is in NBA history the goal for the away team in the playoffs is to steal game 1. Thats always been the theory not just for our Hawks. I think ppl acting as if we all of a sudden just choked is so outrageous because in the end we are where every lower seed wants to be going home, tied 1-1 with homecourt advantage. We are in the drivers seat, the Pacers smacked us in the mouth because THEY needed game 2. We werent going to swep the best home team this season on their floor but we are the ONLY team to beat them twice in their own building this season. We are good, we will make adjustments and be ready on Thursday

If the Hawks have the "we aren't supposed to be here" attitude, then I guarantee you in a few days they won't be. Nobody is going to care that they stole game one if they don't win the series. I'm glad they got game one. I'm with you on that. But now they face the pressure of having to win two home games in a row. If they don't, then they'll have to win in Indiana again. Not happening. This is a chance to make a name for this franchise with fans and possibly free agents. All I'm saying is I hope they don't blow it by waiting for the Pacers to fold under some "pressure" because they won't. I'm not saying the Hawks will do that. I hope they make this about them and take the Pacers to the wood shed the rest of the way. But, in the second half last night, it looked like they got content with one win.

[Diesel]

I wish we had the type of crowd that supported the team riotously and threw stuff at the refs when they tried to fix the game.

Unfortunately, I think we have a Laissez-faire kind of crowd. A crowd that doesn't care one way or another.

[JTB]

If the Hawks have the "we aren't supposed to be here" attitude, then I guarantee you in a few days they won't be. Nobody is going to care that they stole game one if they don't win the series. I'm glad they got game one. I'm with you on that. But now they face the pressure of having to win two home games in a row. If they don't, then they'll have to win in Indiana again. Not happening. This is a chance to make a name for this franchise with fans and possibly free agents. All I'm saying is I hope they don't blow it by waiting for the Pacers to fold under some "pressure" because they won't. I'm not saying the Hawks will do that. I hope they make this about them and take the Pacers to the wood shed the rest of the way. But, in the second half last night, it looked like they got content with one win.

One thing that worries me is that even if the hawks do win this series the media is going to act as if the "pacers aren't all that good anyways and that they had been losing down the stretch so no surprise".... the only thing we can get out of this is Teague rising as an all star that way we can say next year that we have 3 all stars in sap, horford, and Teague...which if healthy will generate to a winning season.

Another thing is that the nba ain't like the nfl....the nba praise you for more regular season than hard good playoff games. If we beat the pacers go to round 2 and lose that's not really going to help our franchise gain more respect. However if Teague shows out every game in the playoffs, his next season will be epic and a chance for the media to ride his tip and get some respect for his play and his franchise.

Edited April 23, 2014 by JTB

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

I wish we had the type of crowd that supported the team riotously and threw stuff at the refs when they tried to fix the game.

Unfortunately, I think we have a Laissez-faire kind of crowd. A crowd that doesn't care one way or another.

All you have to do is look at the attendance numbers to know which type the typical Hawks is. If they cared, we'd be top 10 in attendance.

[DrReality]

Question is whether this one win fixed their confidence problem. That depends a lot on how we come out and defend home court. We have to play our game and the pace. Now we see how much impact Budz has on the team.

[TheFuzz]

I wish we had the type of crowd that supported the team riotously and threw stuff at the refs when they tried to fix the game.

Unfortunately, I think we have a Laissez-faire kind of crowd. A crowd that doesn't care one way or another.

Phillips is usually pretty bumping in the playoffs. I hope we show up. If we win game 3 I'm sure game 4 will be nuts.

[Alex]

The truth is the Hawks had the Pacers on the ropes in the first half. They played about as well as they could from an offensive stand point and weren't up that much. The Pacers then imposed their will and ran away from the Hawks. We won our only game last week. Expect the second half of last nights game to be the standard for the rest of the series.

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[JTB]

The truth is the Hawks had the Pacers on the ropes in the first half. They played about as well as they could from an offensive stand point and weren't up that much. The Pacers then imposed their will and ran away from the Hawks. We won our only game last week. Expect the second half of last nights game to be the standard for the rest of the series.

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Lol oh so little faith my friend....we have about as much of a chance against the pacers as we had against Boston in 08. Expect the hawks to make this a series.

I'm not about to believe in a pacers offense that struggles on most nights to come out like that again! that just isn't them, playoffs or not.

[rusty]

We had our foot on their throat until Bud tried to win the game with the bench,good luck on that.

[DJlaysitup]

Wow...what an interesting thread. Moderate disagreements backed up by pretty solid logic. Hmmmm.

Well all I can say is tomorrow is game three and I don't expect this kind of tempered logic in the chatroom. Bring your "A" game....Indy Sucks and Hawks RULE !!!!

Scola had the game of his life! I just hope he gets that many shots here at Phillips...we will be posting "who opened a door?"

GO HAWKS !!

[Buzzard]

We split the season series while averaging 98 PPG against Indy. We need to hold them to around 90ppg and this series can be ours.

Edited April 24, 2014 by Buzzard

[Guest]

Wow...what an interesting thread. Moderate disagreements backed up by pretty solid logic. Hmmmm.

Well all I can say is tomorrow is game three and I don't expect this kind of tempered logic in the chatroom. Bring your "A" game....Indy Sucks and Hawks RULE !!!!

Scola had the game of his life! I just hope he gets that many shots here at Phillips...we will be posting "who opened a door?"

GO HAWKS !!

You mean "who left the door open?"

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xqkC812onnk

[AHawks89]

No way the officials let is win the series against the Pacers. Just watched the last quarter of the heat vs bobcats and... wow. Heat were fouling the hell out of them but absolutely no calls for them. Hell, it could be 2-0 bobcats over heat. Im calling it now, pacers will "come together" and play the heat at "full strength." And be "series" we re f***ed. Only way to beat the refs is to shoot lights out. I think we can do it. Go hawkks!

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[RedDawg#8]

I believe perspective goes a long way. Even as probably the TRUEST Hawks fans we will ever come across we here on Hawksquawk allow ourselves to listen to and believe the national hype whether good or bad. According to the experts we would be lucky to win a single game, then after game 1 we were unstopable, then after game 2 we suck again. See a trend here???

The truth is despite our reg season record and lack of a superstar we are the LONGEST TENURED playoff team in the Eastern field and in spite of our seeds our ability to steal a road game should come as no surprise. However pre- and post-Horford injury we had a losing road record overall. We also struggled all year to string together long winning streaks. Those facts alone should have tempered the expectation that we would sweep Indy at home let alone this series. The key that you want to pay attention to is did we put ourselves in position to win each game and so far that is a yes.

Now we are back on our turf and despite crowd turnout, refs, superstars, etc, our team has proven this season they will alway put up a great fight at Phillips. Add playoff intensity and the match-up advantages and oh yeah the fact that Indy has a very poor record in Phillips overall and I have to say we have a VERY good chance the next two games to pull ahead in the series.

The key to this all is our bench. I too hate Bud leaving them in so long each game but I trust he has a bigger picture in mind. If we plan on advancing our starters need not be banged up or physically drained in the next round (San Antonio way). If our bench is able to hold steady we have the advantages with the starters to win each game. Historically, your teams bench plays better at home than on the road and in game 2 and to lesser extent game 1 this was the case. I look for Indys bench to feel the playoff pressure on the road and take a step back while our second unit picks up the intensity and their shots start to fall. You will notice a big difference in the bench unit these next two games and the results will be positive for us in the win column.

[buckeye242424]

I believe perspective goes a long way. Even as probably the TRUEST Hawks fans we will ever come across we here on Hawksquawk allow ourselves to listen to and believe the national hype whether good or bad. According to the experts we would be lucky to win a single game, then after game 1 we were unstopable, then after game 2 we suck again. See a trend here???

The truth is despite our reg season record and lack of a superstar we are the LONGEST TENURED playoff team in the Eastern field and in spite of our seeds our ability to steal a road game should come as no surprise. However pre- and post-Horford injury we had a losing road record overall. We also struggled all year to string together long winning streaks. Those facts alone should have tempered the expectation that we would sweep Indy at home let alone this series. The key that you want to pay attention to is did we put ourselves in position to win each game and so far that is a yes.

Now we are back on our turf and despite crowd turnout, refs, superstars, etc, our team has proven this season they will alway put up a great fight at Phillips. Add playoff intensity and the match-up advantages and oh yeah the fact that Indy has a very poor record in Phillips overall and I have to say we have a VERY good chance the next two games to pull ahead in the series.

The key to this all is our bench. I too hate Bud leaving them in so long each game but I trust he has a bigger picture in mind. If we plan on advancing our starters need not be banged up or physically drained in the next round (San Antonio way). If our bench is able to hold steady we have the advantages with the starters to win each game. Historically, your teams bench plays better at home than on the road and in game 2 and to lesser extent game 1 this was the case. I look for Indys bench to feel the playoff pressure on the road and take a step back while our second unit picks up the intensity and their shots start to fall. You will notice a big difference in the bench unit these next two games and the results will be positive for us in the win column.

Great post. I think tonight's game has a game seven feel to it. Whoever wins tonight takes a HUGE advantage mentally.