No need to panic . . . yet

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Last night should give everyone hope.  

Memphis, after being manhandled in 2 games vs the Spurs, come back home and look like a totally different team.  Of course, Coach Fiz made a nice adjustment by starting Zack Randolph, and it paid off big time.  All of a sudden, that doesn't feel like it'll be a quick series anymore.  Game 4 will be loud as hell.

Milwaukee had already proven that they could beat the Raptors.  Last night was on a different level though.  In front of a rowdy home crowd, they flat out destroyed the Raps.  Most important, they got major contributions from their bench, who blew that game wide open in the 1st half.

 

Despite the Hawks basically letting 2 winnable games slip through their fingertips, I don't have a sense of worry about this team ... yet.   Role players usually play much better at home, and this is especially true during the playoffs.   Look for Hardaway Jr to really play well in these next 2 home games.  He has to.  Because if he doesn't, he's going to lose millions this summer.  The other guy to look at is Taurean Prince.  He's had a very nice series so far ( 13 ppg - 5 rpg . . on 58% FG  ).  Hopefully Bud will have a little more trust in him, and not the shaky Bazemore.  I wouldn't be surprised if he has a true breakout game in one of these 2 home games.

I still say that the bench adjustment that needs to be made, is to play Humphries instead of Muscala.  Moose's offensive impact is minimal, no matter how much better of an offensive player he is over Humphries.  It's a toughness factor that makes Humphries a more valuable play in a series like this, over Moose.  Also, Ilyasova has been very quiet in this series so far.  This is disappointing, considering how good of an addition he's been to the team this year.   I expect him to pick up his level of play at home.

And of course, Dwight Howard needs to get his 30 minutes a game.  While his offense has been putrid, his defensive impact in a game is still undeniable.  His rebounding is still needed, especially his ability to get us extra possessions via offensive rebounds.   If he's not hurt, expect a much more inspired game from him.

 

Millsap finally got it going a bit in Game 2.  And Dennis has been great all series.  No worries about those two.  They look engaged to lead this team the proper way.

Let's see what this Wiz team is made of.  If they're ready for prime time, they'll battle us to the death ( even if they don't win Game 3 ),   But don't be surprised one bit if the Wizards get ran out of the gym tomorrow.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

But don't be surprised one bit if the Wizards get ran out of the gym tomorrow.

That's where I'm at. The players are pissed, I'm sure the owners, coaches and fans. We almost deserve a 30 point win.

 

GO HAWKS!!!

[Lurker]

Humphries is garbage and would change jack diddly squat.

[Lurker]

Proper PNR defense is needed a heck of a lot more than ***********toughness*********** or ineffective boarding (because Dwight is failing badly against Gortat, Gortat is stomping on him all over the floor).

[TheNorthCydeRises]

11 minutes ago, Lurker said:

Proper PNR defense is needed a heck of a lot more than ***********toughness*********** or ineffective boarding (because Dwight is failing badly against Gortat, Gortat is stomping on him all over the floor).

And yet, Dwight still post the best Defensive rating amongst all of the Hawks in the 2 playoff games ( 104 ).  All of our other main rotation players are 110 and above.

There is no doubt that Gortat is outplaying Dwight in this series.  That still doesn't mean that Dwight can be off of the floor.  The Wiz play slower in the halfcourt, when Dwight is in the game, which is to our advantage.  Our backup bigs simply aren't good enough to hold the fort defensively, and can't be counted on offensively.  So you go with your best option, which all year has been Dwight.

[Bankingitbig]

1 minute ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

And yet, Dwight still post the best Defensive rating amongst all of the Hawks in the 2 playoff games ( 104 ).  All of our other main rotation players are 110 and above.

There is no doubt that Gortat is outplaying Dwight in this series.  That still doesn't mean that Dwight can be off of the floor.  The Wiz play slower in the halfcourt, when Dwight is in the game, which is to our advantage.  Our backup bigs simply aren't good enough to hold the fort defensively, and can't be counted on offensively.  So you go with your best option, which all year has been Dwight.

Where are you getting your stats? NBA Stats has Dwight at ~113 DRTG which is 3rd worse on the team. Dwight has had no defensive impact this series whatsoever.

[Bankingitbig]

Humphries is not a solution... Muscala has been fine though I would like to give Ilyasova some more run instead. I would rather us go small with Prince at the 4 and Millsap at the 5 than give minutes to Humprhies (over Illyasova, Muscala or Howard).

[Lurker]

3 minutes ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

And yet, Dwight still post the best Defensive rating amongst all of the Hawks in the 2 playoff games ( 104 ).  All of our other main rotation players are 110 and above.

There is no doubt that Gortat is outplaying Dwight in this series.  That still doesn't mean that Dwight can be off of the floor.  The Wiz play slower in the halfcourt, when Dwight is in the game, which is to our advantage.  Our backup bigs simply aren't good enough to hold the fort defensively, and can't be counted on offensively.  So you go with your best option, which all year has been Dwight.

Basketball reference sucks and should not be used as your reference. But since you're a major Dwight STAN, you don't care.

Dwight Howard has easily been the worst player in the NBA playoffs this year and it is not even close. He has been completely disgraceful and needs to be sent to Siberia right now.

[Lurker]

Dwight Howard needs to be made inactive in Atlanta. It'd send a strong message about how he stinks. First year in Atlanta, likely to be last year in Atlanta too. Bud sent a strong message with not playing Teague much in the playoffs, he's likely about to send a strong message about Howard.

He's at best going to be benched after this year.

[Lurker]

https://theringer.com/2017-nba-playoffs-dwight-howard-atlanta-hawks-1fab4ecca027

It's all over but the crying. Unless Dwight gets to post at least 3 times a quarter he's going to sulk about it and throw a hissy fit.

[Guest]

[TheNorthCydeRises]

34 minutes ago, Bankingitbig said:

Where are you getting your stats? NBA Stats has Dwight at ~113 DRTG which is 3rd worse on the team. Dwight has had no defensive impact this series whatsoever.

Basketball-reference.com

Scroll down to the playoff section of the team page, then click on DRtg to sort the numbers from lowest to highest,

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/ATL/2017.html

[TheNorthCydeRises]

35 minutes ago, Bankingitbig said:

Humphries is not a solution... Muscala has been fine though I would like to give Ilyasova some more run instead. I would rather us go small with Prince at the 4 and Millsap at the 5 than give minutes to Humprhies (over Illyasova, Muscala or Howard).

LOL . . how has Moose been "fine", when he can't score and can't defend . . and can't even rebound?   And he's tied with the most fouls on the team ( 8 ), because he's being worked over on the inside.  

It's just like last year.  Moose stunk it up in the playoffs, and Bud had to turn to Humphries.  He gave us the right amount of toughness around the rim off the bench, in order to stabilize things.  If he plays today over Moose, the same will happen.

[Guest]

@TheNorthCydeRises  I wished I shared your enthusiastic optimism and usually that is the case when teams play at home....except....the Hawks haven't really been good at home this season.  

I just don't know what team we'll get....I can't get a handle on this team at all.

[Bankingitbig]

2 minutes ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

LOL . . how has Moose been "fine", when he can't score and can't defend . . and can't even rebound?   And he's tied with the most fouls on the team ( 8 ), because he's being worked over on the inside.  

It's just like last year.  Moose stunk it up in the playoffs, and Bud had to turn to Humphries.  He gave us the right amount of toughness around the rim off the bench, in order to stabilize things.  If he plays today over Moose, the same will happen.

Bud turned to Humphries because Horford sucked and couldn't rebound last year. Rebounding has not been our issue at all this series.... Moose's defense has been fine to me. He is averaging more blocks than Howard and has blocked Wall's drives to the rim on a couple of occasions.  Muscala's DRTG is 105 vs. Howards at 113. Muscala hasn't been shooting that great (who has?), but at least he opens up the offense some allowing for easier drives to the rim by Schröder. Also, he is at least active on offense setting numerous screens instead of clogging the lane. That said, I would still try using Ilyasova more or go small. But if my choices were only between Howard and Muscala then yea I would probably say give more minutes to Muscala unless Dwight starts playing like he cares.

Honestly don't know how anyone can seriously watch these past two games and say that Dwight Howard has had an impact defensively... I was also one that was expecting a "Playoff Dwight" and defended him coming into the playoffs, but have been very disappointed.

[Lurker]

36 minutes ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

LOL . . how has Moose been "fine", when he can't score and can't defend . . and can't even rebound?   And he's tied with the most fouls on the team ( 8 ), because he's being worked over on the inside.  

It's just like last year.  Moose stunk it up in the playoffs, and Bud had to turn to Humphries.  He gave us the right amount of toughness around the rim off the bench, in order to stabilize things.  If he plays today over Moose, the same will happen.

The same won't happen because Humphries is historically a total trash basketball player and will stink it up and lead the Hawks to being absolutely stomped on twice by 70 combined points.

Fundamental defense>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>********toughness********

[TheNorthCydeRises]

48 minutes ago, Bankingitbig said:

Bud turned to Humphries because Horford sucked and couldn't rebound last year. Rebounding has not been our issue at all this series.... Moose's defense has been fine to me. He is averaging more blocks than Howard and has blocked Wall's drives to the rim on a couple of occasions.  Muscala's DRTG is 105 vs. Howards at 113. Muscala hasn't been shooting that great (who has?), but at least he opens up the offense some allowing for easier drives to the rim by Schröder. Also, he is at least active on offense setting numerous screens instead of clogging the lane. That said, I would still try using Ilyasova more or go small. But if my choices were only between Howard and Muscala then yea I would probably say give more minutes to Muscala unless Dwight starts playing like he cares.

Honestly don't know how anyone can seriously watch these past two games and say that Dwight Howard has had an impact defensively... I was also one that was expecting a "Playoff Dwight" and defended him coming into the playoffs, but have been very disappointed.

I said that Dwight had the best defensive rating, not that he was great defensively.  A 104 rating is average defensive impact.   He and Millsap were around 100 DRtg for most of the season

Edited April 21, 2017 by TheNorthCydeRises

[Lurker]

8 minutes ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

I said that Dwight had the best defensive rating, not that he was great defensively.  A 104 rating is average defensive impact.   He and Millsap were around 100 DRtg for most of the season

Basketball reference also sucks and is wrong stats wise. NBA stats is much more accurate. But hey, with our agendas, you have to look at what makes Dwight Howard looks good. He fails the eye test, he fails the stats test.

I have had as much impact on this series as Dwight Howard. Howard needs to be told to change into street clothes and needs to be traded immediately after this season ends.

Edited April 21, 2017 by Lurker

[AHF]

The unfortunate reality is none of our bigs has been effective.  Howard can't defend the PnR and isn't willing to work hard enough to be a big threat on the roll on offense.  Moose gets manhandled and is shooting a piss poor 3-11 while being subpar on the boards.  Sap and Ilyasova have been bigger contributors.  Ersa there is nothing really to complain about other than we need him to hit a few 3's but he is giving you what you hope for other than the 3pt shooting.  Sap has been terrible on the boards and productive but not great (for him) in every other area.

Our wings have been a #$#* show collectively.  Thabo can't see the floor.  Baze and THJr have sucked.  On the plus side, Prince has been pretty good.  You can't ask for a ton more than what he is giving you in his minutes.

Dennis has been good.  Only complaint is I'd like to see him shoot a little higher %s from everywhere but he has been put in a position where he has needed to force it a bit more because of the combined production of 13 field goals and 11 turnovers from THJr and Baze.

[AtLaS]

2 hours ago, Lurker said:

Basketball reference sucks and should not be used as your reference. But since you're a major Dwight STAN, you don't care.

Dwight Howard has easily been the worst player in the NBA playoffs this year and it is not even close. He has been completely disgraceful and needs to be sent to Siberia right now.

NBASupes?