Official Game Thread: Hawks at heat

[HawkItus]

3 hours ago, PSSSHHHRRR87 said:

If we had legit backup PG that substitution would not have hurt so much.  Also, Trae had his lunch eaten by Nunn and the heat were doing an excellent job of trapping him and forcing someone else to beat them. Also, the traps were getting to Trae and as a result, he started forcing his offense and was being overly aggressive trying to contribute. He airballed quite a few shots and kept getting lost among the trees. Hunter had a great look at a game-winning corner three that he completely air balled and Vince had a traveling violation that he followed up with a bad shot. We can blame Pierce if we want, but he isn't the only reason we lost tonight. We lack depth at key positions and this team is still learning how to win.

I agree, accept the last 3 minutes Tra3 was on.  I think the biggest issue Bembry being Bembry and no post presence on defense.  We need Collins bad.

[AHF]

12 hours ago, Buzzard said:

LP has to learn to go with the hot hands. Trae, Huerter, Parker, Hunter, Cam, Vince.

Bembry had zero business in the game; I would go so far as saying Bembry only needs to be in at garbage time from here on out.

Bembry is a hot / cold player.  Games where he is hot, you can ride him some.  Games where he is cold, you nail him to the bench.  He is our most volatile player so maybe the most ill-suited to playing with a lead but more attractive to play when we are trying to make a comeback.  All depends how our other options are playing and how he is.  This is a game he clearly should not have been in but saying "only garbage time" is too much a knee jerk reaction, imo.  He should never be the lead ballhandler in crunch time, though, regardless of game flow.

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On Kevin, have to disagree with the people saying LP should have ignored his minute restrictions from the team doctors.  Long-term view with him guys.  We need him playing and the last thing we need is a setback in his return (again) because the coach decided he knows better than the doctors and trainers.

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On LP, the notion that he is the only reason our record is where it is for the season is ridiculous.  Saying that while pretending not to notice the impact of JC and Kevin's absence along with the state of our roster depth is just grinding an ax.  Pops couldn't have won much of anything given the strength of our schedule along with those setbacks.

But saying that this game is on him is 100% correct.  Vince and Bembry's usage down the stretch; the missed time-out and insertion of Trae; playing Parker / Vince at C/PF; all of that is just bad decision-making on his part.  He better learn a hard lesson from this one.  The offense / defense substitution is a basic strategy and he just dropped the ball on that.

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On the positive side, solid games from Huert and Cam and a great game from Hunter.  Add JC to this mix (meaning you see JC in those lineups instead of the guys mentioned above) and we should be dangerous.

[kg01]

19 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

Ya this blows. You are 0-3 against the BIL. Mark ur calendar for (no not the 17th) for the 20th of February...Hawks host the Heat for the final time this season. The kids will have a couple more months of maturation, then it’s on.

We need to salvage that game in this series for future pride.

I know, right.  Good thing the bubble's gonna burst for them soon enough.

The fake-a** "leadership" from Jimi will run dry soon.  There's a reason he's never won a playoff series as the lead(sic) dog.

[Spud2nique]

9 minutes ago, AHF said:

Add JC to this mix (meaning you see JC in those lineups instead of the guys mentioned above) and we should be dangerous.

Ya I agree. I mean we started out 2-3 until his suspension. All things considered and all play considered equally, we should have roughly 9.6 wins with him, rounding up to the closest while number 10. 10-14 through 24 games if the JC suspension never happened.

That records of 10-14 puts us at a tie with the Pistons for 9th in the east and 1.5 games out of the 8th seed.

Ya I think we can slowly climb back. Game by game.

[Spud2nique]

4 minutes ago, kg01 said:

The fake-a** "leadership" from Jimi will run dry soon

He’s not a spring time guy...he fades.

[JayBirdHawk]

23 minutes ago, AHF said:

Bembry is a hot / cold player.  Games where he is hot, you can ride him some.  Games where he is cold, you nail him to the bench.  He is our most volatile player so maybe the most ill-suited to playing with a lead but more attractive to play when we are trying to make a comeback.  All depends how our other options are playing and how he is.  This is a game he clearly should not have been in but saying "only garbage time" is too much a knee jerk reaction, imo.  He should never be the lead ballhandler in crunch time, though, regardless of game flow.

---------

On Kevin, have to disagree with the people saying LP should have ignored his minute restrictions from the team doctors.  Long-term view with him guys.  We need him playing and the last thing we need is a setback in his return (again) because the coach decided he knows better than the doctors and trainers.

---------

On LP, the notion that he is the only reason our record is where it is for the season is ridiculous.  Saying that while pretending not to notice the impact of JC and Kevin's absence along with the state of our roster depth is just grinding an ax.  Pops couldn't have won much of anything given the strength of our schedule along with those setbacks.

But saying that this game is on him is 100% correct.  Vince and Bembry's usage down the stretch; the missed time-out and insertion of Trae; playing Parker / Vince at C/PF; all of that is just bad decision-making on his part.  He better learn a hard lesson from this one.  The offense / defense substitution is a basic strategy and he just dropped the ball on that.

---------

On the positive side, solid games from Huert and Cam and a great game from Hunter.  Add JC to this mix (meaning you see JC in those lineups instead of the guys mentioned above) and we should be dangerous.

This deserved the double nod...

[High5]

I think VC hurts us less at PF than SF and Parker was fine at C for a small stretch. Those aren't strictly bad decisions (given our roster), they just need to be managed closely. 

[bleachkit]

Atlanta/Georgia sports special. Knowing how to lose when you have the game in hand. Nobody does it better than us.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

3 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

Let's also hope Trae doesn't call game with 59 seconds again (even though it should have been)...don't go full Dominique calling game too early. 

Also on this play, why in the world would Huerter leave Robinson ( who had been on fire the entire game ), to help out on a man driving to the basket?  A 3 in that situation hurts you far worse than a 2.

 

Players on the floor

G - Bembry

G - Huerter

F - Hunter

F - Carter

C - Len

 

How is that a "defense for offense" lineup?

[TheNorthCydeRises]

2 hours ago, kg01 said:

Yeah, this is one of those times it's good people don't pay much attention to us.  Trae absolutely gave the 'it's ovah' sign after that Len lay-in late.  Yikes.

And, of course, Nique called game early too.  I wasn't scared until I heard him call it.

Nique is 95% correct when he calls a game.   I know people act like Nique has no idea what he's talking about 1/2 the time, but he's normally correct in ALL of his assessments.

[Atlantaholic]

Coach is also learning on the job like most of our team. Last night was dreadful but we didn't give up on Trae throughout so many terrible performances early and we shouldn't give up on the coach (yet). Last night hurts, but it's not uncommon for a team led by a second year player and featuring a bunch of rooks to struggle against good teams in close games. The silver lining is that since the Warriors game the team has played really well offensively overall and the defense has been hot and cold. If we can find some consistency on defense we can win some of these games before J-Collins is back, and once he's back I think the team will be playing really, really good ball. Just can't let these games get to us and start losing confidence. Rooks are coming along, Trae is a legit superstar, Heurter is really showing he is ready to take a big step forward... let's hang our hats on the positives and continue to grind. Wins will come. 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

1 hour ago, bleachkit said:

Up by 6 with one minute to go, we only needed one basket or a stop. But we have Vince and Bembry on the floor instead of Kevin and Cam. Are you kidding me? 

That's the biggest issue right there, the personnel he's putting out on the floor.  Baby Josh can't be trusted handling the ball at the end of games.  And his man defense is way overrated, although his help defense tends to be fantastic.

[kg01]

8 minutes ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

Nique is 95% correct when he calls a game.   I know people act like Nique has no idea what he's talking about 1/2 the time, but he's normally correct in ALL of his assessments.

You're barking up the wrong tree on this one, bro-lio.  I'm not a Nique-hater like some.  I just hate it when he does that because it's just tempting fate.

[Atlantaholic]

12 minutes ago, kg01 said:

You're barking up the wrong tree on this one, bro-lio.  I'm not a Nique-hater like some.  I just hate it when he does that because it's just tempting fate.

He starts calling daggers with minutes left in two posession games. lol. Nique's grown on me but he is one of the most accomplished Jinxers in the biz. 

[Spud2nique]

22 minutes ago, kg01 said:

You're barking up the wrong tree on this one, bro-lio.  I'm not a Nique-hater like some.  I just hate it when he does that because it's just tempting fate.

I do miss Dirk though . Nique is the man Does he have a to the city ? If not, give him one. Look if there was never a Nique, I could possibly be a fan of:

1. Rockets- Lived in H town in the early 80’s and witnessed the twin towers come about. Love me some Akeem.

2. Warriors- I moved there when they had Winston Garland, father of lil rugrat Darius. I couldn’t be a Warriors fan from the get go. Too many nerds in my 4th grade class were fans of them. I used to play basketball with them at recess, I thought, I can’t possibly like the same team as these clowns .

3. Celtics- Bird was big, but pretty hated in H town, there was no chance. Half of my H town friendships came on the fact that everyone hated Bird... ugh  

4. Lakers- They were on CBS every weekend.

5. Knicks- It’s NY, they everywhere.

6. Chicago- They had a kid who was a rookie with flash, brought his tongue out a lot.

 

In the end, Nique and Spud got me. Greatest show on earth for an 10 year old kid who loved . 
 

Nique was the man for his time. 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

1 hour ago, High5 said:

I think VC hurts us less at PF than SF and Parker was fine at C for a small stretch. Those aren't strictly bad decisions (given our roster), they just need to be managed closely. 

VC definitely hurts us at PF.  He's not a defender nor a rebounder.  If Vince isn't making shots, he's definitely a negative out on the floor.

47 minutes ago, Atlantaholic said:

He starts calling daggers with minutes left in two posession games. lol. Nique's grown on me but he is one of the most accomplished Jinxers in the biz. 

95% correct = jinx?

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

 

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

I only have one question....how will they respond tonight? Will they let last nights lost carryover or will they get over it and move on. 

It's a back to back, they got in at 3AM to Chicago.

I hope their body language is at least better than in overtime.

[Atlantaholic]

3 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

I only have one question....how will they respond tonight? Will they let last nights lost carryover or will they get over it and move on. 

It's a back to back, they got in at 3AM to Chicago.

I hope their body language is at least better than in overtime.

We have been AWFUL in second games of back to backs. After playing extra time and having such a deflating result it will say alot about our team if we can come out with good energy. 

14 minutes ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

VC definitely hurts us at PF.  He's not a defender nor a rebounder.  If Vince isn't making shots, he's definitely a negative out on the floor.

95% correct = jinx?

95% = figure you have pulled out of your a-hole lol