You play to win now. No more excuses.

[Atlantaholic]

8 minutes ago, Hawkmoor said:

Depth.  The Hawks were BUILT for this.  Don't you even keep hearing THEM say it?  Nate has said it.  The players have said it.  Trae is the central piece, but this is a COMPLETE team.   Travis built it that way from day one.  Yesterday proved that.  They can take this chip with or without Trae.

There is zero chance they win a championship without Trae... unless you think Lou Will can average 21-8 on insane efficiency from here on out. 

[Hawkmoor]

16 minutes ago, Atlantaholic said:

There is zero chance they win a championship without Trae... unless you think Lou Will can average 21-8 on insane efficiency from here on out. 

I now see whats going on here.  You are not alone.

Edited June 30, 2021 by Hawkmoor

[AHF]

7 hours ago, Hawkmoor said:

Depth.  The Hawks were BUILT for this.  Don't you even keep hearing THEM say it?  Nate has said it.  The players have said it.  Trae is the central piece, but this is a COMPLETE team.   Travis built it that way from day one.  Yesterday proved that.  They can take this chip with or without Trae.

Yesterday's win didn't change that we were building this team the right way.  You were the one arguing that failing to win without Trae would prove the team was fundamentally flawed.  I was confident we were building the right way already and that we were doing it with our superstar point guard, young potential studs developing alongside him and quality veteran contributors going deep on the roster.

I don't think we would have beat the Sixers without Trae but that would not have invalidated the way this team was being built.  

If you legitimately want to discuss this issue, please pick up the discussion with the Bulls example I gave earlier.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

7 hours ago, Hawkmoor said:

I now see whats going on here.  You are not alone.

 

The million dollar question is this.

Why can't they play like this when Trae is healthy, and he's getting a rest on the bench?

 

The team played great without Trae last night.  And they have played well on occasion without Trae in the lineup this season.  But it makes no sense as to why things seem to completely collapse whenever he tries to get a breather.

Unless the common denominator in the Hawks bench playing bad, is Solo.

[hylndr11]

They were adjusting , we played ball movement and kept them off balance along with better defence , we weren't gonna.akeep steam rolling them with this lineup , not saying we couldn't win but we're still better with trae have more options period 

[REHawksFan]

28 minutes ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

Why can't they play like this when Trae is healthy, and he's getting a rest on the bench?

That is THE question isn't it?  Because how much more prolific would the Hawks be offensively if they got the same level of playmaking and production from the regulars WITH Trae as they got last night without Trae?  

Consider (in the playoffs):

• Trae passes the ball 55.2 times per game in the playoffs and generates assists on 17.3% of those passes (9.5 ast). The Hawks score 23.3 pts off of Trae's 9.5 asts (2.45 pts per ast). 
• The rest of the team passes the ball 215 times per game and generates assists on 5.6% of those passes (12.1 ast). The Hawks score 32 pts off of these 12.1 asts (2.64 pts per ast).
• LAST NIGHT, however, the rest of the team generated essentially the same number of total passes (267 vs 270 with Trae) and generated assists on 9.7% of those passes (26 asts).  The Hawks scored 67 pts off of those 26 asts (2.58 pts per ast).
• In raw numbers, the non-Trae regulars (in the playoffs) generated 11 points MORE last night off of assists than those same players do when Trae plays (calculated as 2.58 pts per asts times the difference in total asts when Trae plays vs last night - 4.4 more asts last night). 
• Now, some of the above is Trae taking up opportunities when he plays. BUT, if the regulars would just convert passes into assists at a similar rate as they did last night (9.7% instead of their usual 5.6%), even after adjusting for fewer passes when playing with Trae, we're talking about an additional 8.8 asts per game for the regulars (calculated as 215 passes X 9.7% ast rate = 20.9 asts which is 8.8 more than their avg of 12.1 ast per game).  And at 2.58 pts per ast , that's an additional 22.7 pts per game.  

My question is why can't the regulars play this well along side Trae?  Do they all tend to watch what Trae does instead of being assertive themselves?  If they would just convert passes to assists at even a slightly higher rate, this team would be nearly impossible to stop offensively.  And in light of all that, thinking about Trae converting 17.3% of his passes into assists is just mind boggling.  

[Dynamo]

I had similar thoughts REHawksFan.Are some of the teammates Trae watching ?  

[agentorange90]

Did you see the open letter Collins had to Atlanta?  Collins, Trae, and this bunch are here to win now.  They have the winning attitude.  I hear you though; I don't want to hear "this is a young team, we have a future."  Collins and Trae are seizing the moment and out to win this sh-t now.  We are tied 2-2 and have every opportunity to win this series.  Still if the Hawks do not win this series I will be damn proud of this over-achieving bunch.  It will be one of the biggest upsets in NBA history if the Hawks win the NBA title this year; but it is possible. 

[JeffS17]

2 hours ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

 

The million dollar question is this.

Why can't they play like this when Trae is healthy, and he's getting a rest on the bench?

 

The team played great without Trae last night.  And they have played well on occasion without Trae in the lineup this season.  But it makes no sense as to why things seem to completely collapse whenever he tries to get a breather.

Unless the common denominator in the Hawks bench playing bad, is Solo.

Lou was on last night.  I love Lou as a player and a person but there's just as good of a chance he goes 1/9 as 6/9 and that can be a 12 point swing.  Cam being a big plus over solo was also really important