The first 5 games will make or break the season

[shakes]

Vs Houston

Vs Orlando

Vs Charlotte (no Lamelo)

@ Detroit

@ Detroit

 

 

Seriously, if we don't go AT LEAST 4-1 I'm declaring the season over with zero chance of finishing higher than in the play in tournament.

 

Honestly, I wanted to say 5-0, but I'll allow for a little leeway since winning back to back on the road vs the same team is gonna be tough no matter who they're playing.

 

 

[NBASupes]

Detroit is a tough matchup for us but we should be better equipped with Murray. Their lack of depth is their biggest killer and no Bagley makes it even worse. 

 

Houston and Orlando will be tough. Both have a lot of talent but playing possession by possession Basketball will be tough for them. Both bring different issues for us. 

Charlotte without Melo and Bridges just isn't a good team. I expect us to roll over them.

That said, we should be favored in every game and 5-0 is the goal. 

[macdaddy]

Why would that make or break the season?  I don't get it.   Teams struggle, teams get hot.

[Diesel]

7 minutes ago, shakes said:

Vs Houston

Vs Orlando

Vs Charlotte (no Lamelo)

@ Detroit

@ Detroit

 

 

Seriously, if we don't go AT LEAST 4-1 I'm declaring the season over with zero chance of finishing higher than in the play in tournament.

 

Honestly, I wanted to say 5-0, but I'll allow for a little leeway since winning back to back on the road vs the same team is gonna be tough no matter who they're playing.

 

 

Ah... The old conversation catalyst...

None of those games will make or break the season.   We have to get our chemistry together.  IF we start off 5-0.. great.  IF we start off 0-5... unwanted.. .but I'm not jumping ship.   Remember, our best effort (ECF) happened in a year when we started what???  14-20...

It's going to be alright. 

 

[shakes]

5 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Why would that make or break the season?  I don't get it.   Teams struggle, teams get hot.

because for one, our schedule gets a lot tougher right after that stretch.  2, we have a lot of pressure after last season and a bad start could lead to that pressure becoming overwhelming and leading to more losses.

Trust me on this, there's science involved.

[macdaddy]

1 minute ago, shakes said:

because for one, our schedule gets a lot tougher right after that stretch.  2, we have a lot of pressure after last season and a bad start could lead to that pressure becoming overwhelming and leading to more losses.

Trust me on this, there's science involved.

[shakes]

14 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

True story about Weird Science.  When they were filming the scene at the mall where someone dumps a drink on their head from the floor above my mom was there watching them film.   

[JayBirdHawk]

I'd be dissapointed, but I won't sat it will make or break our season.

The Hawks tend to play down to the name on the front of the jersey too many times though.

I'll be looking at how we start games and more so our execution down the stretch in close games - we gave away too many games like that last season.

[Diesel]

25 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

I'd be dissapointed, but I won't sat it will make or break our season.

The Hawks tend to play down to the name on the front of the jersey too many times though.

I'll be looking at how we start games and more so our execution down the stretch in close games - we gave away too many games like that last season.

I think we don't know what we have with this Hawks team.   I think we got some true dogs who don't give up and maybe don't play down.  That's last years group.   What I will say about Cleveland is that they have a strong, complete team.   What I will say about Detroit is.. those are going to be some fights.  I have watched their preseason... they aren't that bad.  What I will say about the Pels is that we were fortunate that Zion didn't play.  Those guys have struggles to score when they are 100% reliant on Ingram.   We need some frontcourt help.  Whitesides.

 

 

 

[Peoriabird]

Houston and Detroit will be tough...The rest suck

[Gray Mule]

If this Hawk team opens the season 0-5 I will be very dissapointed.  Devistated?  Nope.  

That record would indicate that every opponent had a hot game while the Hawkis had five cold games in a row.  Could this happen?  Yes.  Is it very likely to happen?  No.

[Peoriabird]

I'll clarify...Houston is better than Detroit I think.  So the Hawks should beat Detroit twice but Houston is tough

[cam1218]

I remember in the 2016/2017 season when we brought in Dwight, we started 9-2 and everyone was excited about that team. We all know how that season turned out lol. It would ne nice to see us get off to a good start, all the games are winnable for sure. It won't make or break the season for me though, there will be an adjustment period with our new players.

[REHawksFan]

We'll see.  I still have questions about the 3pt shooting for this team.  I know some want to dismiss the value of the 3pt shot, but it's hard to win if you don't have a few players that can consistently get you a bucket when the opponent gets hot behind the arc. The Hawks will likely be elite in the mid range and at the rim which will help, but shooting 30% from 3pt isn't a recipe for winning games consistently, imo. 

[Peoriabird]

8 minutes ago, REHawksFan said:

We'll see.  I still have questions about the 3pt shooting for this team.  I know some want to dismiss the value of the 3pt shot, but it's hard to win if you don't have a few players that can consistently get you a bucket when the opponent gets hot behind the arc. The Hawks will likely be elite in the mid range and at the rim which will help, but shooting 30% from 3pt isn't a recipe for winning games consistently, imo. 

Tell Trae not to have so many o'fers this season then LOL!

[AHF]

34 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

Tell Trae not to have so many o'fers this season then LOL!

5 out of 76 games isn't a lot.  By way of example, Jayson Tatum had 7 o'fers despite taking 41 more 3pt attempts than Trae last year.  

If Trae shoots >38% again, I'll be happy with that.

[Diesel]

43 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

Tell Trae not to have so many o'fers this season then LOL!

 

53 minutes ago, REHawksFan said:

We'll see.  I still have questions about the 3pt shooting for this team.  I know some want to dismiss the value of the 3pt shot, but it's hard to win if you don't have a few players that can consistently get you a bucket when the opponent gets hot behind the arc. The Hawks will likely be elite in the mid range and at the rim which will help, but shooting 30% from 3pt isn't a recipe for winning games consistently, imo. 

We finished top 5 in 3pt% for the preseason.   If that is indicative of how we will be, we should be alright. 

 

[REHawksFan]

3 hours ago, Diesel said:

 

We finished top 5 in 3pt% for the preseason.   If that is indicative of how we will be, we should be alright. 

 

Obviously if you tell me DJM, Hunter, and JC are going to shoot 42%, 46%, and 44% on average volume from 3 during the whole season then this won't be an issue.  Or that AJ Griffin is going to get rotational minutes.  The question / concern I'm raising is that I don't believe the rotation players will shoot that well on a regular basis.  And I'm not convinced that A) Nate is going to give AJ regular rotation minutes (he avg. 22 min in 3 preseason games); and B) as a rookie he's going to shoot 50% from 3 on 5+ att per game. 

If the above happen, then you won't hear a peep from me about 3pt shooting.  But that's precisely why I'm bringing it up now.  I have no reason to believe the above numbers will carry over throughout the season.    

 

Edited October 17, 2022 by REHawksFan

[REHawksFan]

4 hours ago, Peoriabird said:

Tell Trae not to have so many o'fers this season then LOL!

Sometimes I think you just post whatever nonsense floats to the top of your head without even thinking about whether it's accurate or even logical.  

[Peoriabird]

3 hours ago, AHF said:

5 out of 76 games isn't a lot.  By way of example, Jayson Tatum had 7 o'fers despite taking 41 more 3pt attempts than Trae last year.  

If Trae shoots >38% again, I'll be happy with that.

2 out of 5 in the playoffs!