Official Game Thread: Cavaliers at Hawks GAME 4

[lethalweapon3]

“Ya can’t spell ATL without AL!”

 

Everywhere around Philips Arena, Tony Ressler looks, and sees opportunity. The majority owner of the Atlanta Hawks is not just another well-heeled rah-rah sports fan. He’s an investor, a private equity expert, a budding master developer. Whether it’s his Hawks or the downtown Atlanta area his team calls home, Ressler takes underperforming assets and strives to make them stronger, and longer-lasting.

Standing outside the arena, Ressler sees vibrant parkspace, along with under-developed plots and parking lots, bustling hotels and floundering food courts. Then he can turn his attention to The Highlight Factory, site of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals between the Hawks and the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers (3:30 PM Eastern, 92.9 FM in ATL, ABC, postgame on Fox Sports Southeast). Here, Ressler will find that the epicenter of this desired central-city synergy is a palace, but one propped up on pillars of salt.

To a man, each of the Hawks have professed glee with the opportunity to play NBA basketball in Atlanta, working with a staff that seems committed to their professional development, playing for a team whose prospects for making the playoffs are doubted, for differing reasons, every season, a team that proves their doubters wrong in this regard every time.

Ressler’s counterpart in Cleveland sees a reinvigorated downtown centered around his Quicken Loans Arena. In Dan Gilbert’s case, the pillar is made of firm marble, but has wheels on its base, and Gilbert has ultimately no control over when that pillar rolls away.

So instead, Gilbert allows LeBron James to push for the decisions that might keep Cleveland’s palace upright. It means taking your lottery-handed top pick and swapping it for Kevin Love (21 points, 15 rebounds, 5-for-12 3FGs in Cleveland’s 121-108 Game 3 win). It means taking your handpicked head coach and tossing him in mid-season for LeBron’s preferred leader in Tyronn Lue.

It means extending the payroll in ways that satisfies your superstar player in order to keep him around. It means that while a low-salaried team like Atlanta trades for Knicks like Junior Hardaway, you’re going after J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert. While Atlanta grabs bought-out free agents like Kris Humphries and scarcely uses him, your team grabs Channing Frye (27 points, 7-for-9 3FGs in Game 3) to be a difference-maker in seizing full control of a playoff series. Gilbert does what he can to keep the tent pitched. Ressler’s goal of basketball-team-as-catalyst for economic gains has yet to be realized.

To achieve his much larger ends, Ressler must discern the just-happy-to-be-here employees from the commitment-to-championship-excellence workers on his payroll. That goes for everybody from the President of Basketball Operations (coincidentally, head coach Mike Budenholzer) to the 15^th man on the Hawks roster.

Although propelled by many moves brought about by ex-GM Danny Ferry, Coach Bud has re-established a measure of legitimacy to the franchise, no matter how questionable his decisions on game-to-game rotations and adjustments have been. Still, Ressler has to look at the POBO, and assess whether Budenholzer’s benefit in this seat has to do more with the head coach’s job security than anything else. If that appears to be true, then a shakeup at the top of the personnel department is in order.

While LeBron serves as Gilbert’s Terminator, Al Horford (One solitary rebound in 31 minutes of Game 3, as the Hawks are out-boarded 55-28) is Ressler’s Not-Quite-Mad-Enough Max. Whether he returns this summer, or not, are fans going to hear more about salary caps and tax aversions than about the need to add star-quality talent to a competitive core?

Is Jeff Teague, or Dennis Schröder, an invaluable member of this so-called core? Is Kent Bazemore? Is Paul Millsap ever going to provide a consistently strong effort at playoff time? Kyle Korver’s impact (5-for-9 3FGs in Game 3, but four of those threes in the first half) is fading fast, so who are his replacements beyond Hardaway? Are Marcus Eriksson, Walter Tavares, and Lamar Patterson going to develop into primetime-worthy stars anytime in the next half-decade?

The Hawks’ players cannot do much more to impress their value upon Ressler going forward, and they can’t worry directly about such matters this afternoon. But they have at least one more chance to display the depth of their desire to win, especially when the world’s attention, and the heat from the Cavaliers’ glare, is placed squarely upon them. A full-court, full-48-minute effort leading to victories in Game 4 and Game 5 would create opportunities for the Hawks’ key contributors to prove they aim to be more than perennial honorable-mention winners.

Meddling owners are usually bad news for sports franchises, and it is nice to see some stability and professional activity out of the brass. But whether the Atlanta Hawks season concludes after today, Game 5, 6, or 7, the ability to transcend the Hawks from just another NBA team to a championship-quality economic catalyst would require Tony to become a Tiger.

 

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

 

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[Guest]

1 minute ago, lethalweapon3 said:

“Ya can’t spell ATL without AL!”

Heeeey, I think I trademarked that on the internet when talking about Al's upcoming free agency elsewhere (footnote #5)....I'm going to demand payment of one billion squawk bucks for infringement. Talk to my lawyer if you have a problem with this (he's the one with a bunch of Kentucky tats on his knuckles and eyelids).

[Thomas]

Great writeup. I hope it is very interesting how much investment is made in players for the team this off season as opposed to not being interesting for keeping the status quo. What will Ressler do about that SF problem among others if he does get his hands involved. Maybe he will be our Mark Cuban (I realize Cuban is unique).

[Alex]

Checking in from the game.  Millsap getting some extra shots up.

[Flight]

Yo, how crazy would it be if we actually won today? 

[Guest]

Awesome game thread as always lw3!!! I'm hoping this isn't your last one of the season but if so, we appreciate you greatly. LETS GO HAWKS!!!

 

ps Way to stick it to the man Ressler lw3! :-)

[benhillboy]

Is it too much to ask for an Edy alley oop?  That's all.

Read an article where Lue was cool with Dennis shooting well from three in Game 2, it was their clear gameplan.   Also didn't give a damn about taking Thompson out due to the hacking with Frye on deck.  There's nothing this group can do.

I was skeptical of the defensive numbers that everyone touted after the new year.  It looked dominant at times versus Boston because they were missing their minutes leader and Thomas' size.

 It's rare but this team was considerably worse than the numbers suggested.  It's showing now.  We "got up into" players much better last season when healthy.  The "no fouling" style works versus most mediocre teams.  If the Cavs don't feel you they run roughshod.

This game will give us time to reflect on the "good" season and look forward to another disappointing summer.  F$&k Hawks Fans Lives.

Edited May 8, 2016 by benhillboy

[Thomas]

Crazy good! If we can get some of those rebounds and play a full 48, just maybe. 

[TrollMaster]

YOU CRAZY!!! There is no way in Hell that Hawks will win, unless Cavs whole team miss the game. It's over at halftime. Cavs up by 23.

 

 

Go see your mamma!

[DJlaysitup]

Great stuff as usual lw3...let's get us a win and at least avoid the sweep.

 

GO HAWKS !!!!

[Thomas]

2 minutes ago, TrollMaster said:

YOU CRAZY!!! There is no way in Hell that Hawks will win, unless Cavs whole team miss the game. It's over at halftime. Cavs up by 23.

 

 

Go see your mamma!

What team are you a fan of? Doesn't sound like a lot of support for the Hawks. Plus my mom passed away in '96. Hope that gives you a little pause with the attitude.

[mtnbayou]

I expect the Hawks to win today.  Then get manhandled again in Cleveland.

[Flight]

I still don't think the cavs are really as good as we're making them look. 

[benhillboy]

Hump's playoff PER is 26.  Mike is shooting a blazing .615 (not Moose). Baze is basically equaling Al's scoring and rebounding.  SMH.

I thought Bud was in the top tier of coaches.  He's proved to me he's clearly second.  Many decisions (or non-decisions) he's made this season have been flat out horrendous.

[ViewsFromTheSquawk]

We spotted them 3 games. Now here comes the fun

[Thomas]

3 minutes ago, benhillboy said:

Hump's playoff PER is 26.  Mike is shooting a blazing .615 (not Moose). Baze is basically equaling Al's scoring and rebounding.  SMH.

I thought Bud was in the top tier of coaches.  He's proved to me he's clearly second.  Many decisions (or non-decisions) he's made this season have been flat out horrendous.

Humph's playoff per is outstanding so it should be a given he gets thirty minutes or more especially with his aggression on the glass. Being down three games to zip maybe Bud will actually use some common sense.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Keep a running total of how many 2nd chance points Cleveland gets, especially 3s.

[Dnice]

Cuz over here wanting to see this, in my head I'm like what the hell for...mother's day massacre.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Gotta go big Bud.  Get one of the wings out, have Sap guard Lebron, and put Hump in.

 

[Hawkmoor]

Hawks public relations department didnt even bother to pass out " we believe' t shirts for this game. They know its over..........lmao   Why waste  money on THAT?   LMAO

Edited May 8, 2016 by Hawkmoor