Official Game Thread: heat at Hawks -- The MLK Day Game!

[AHF]

9 hours ago, benhillboy said:

@TheNorthCydeRises Fully Healthy Hawks +140 versus the Mavs with Finney-Smith and Tim Jr out.  I’m super cautious of my NBA bets but I had to jump on that shit like white on rice.

Yall need to cool it with the “refs love the heat” schtick.  If Kyle and Ded had played y’all would’ve had a conniption fit lol.  
 

They’re dead last in scoring and 25th in FT attempts: they got way more problems than “being dirty/ foul baiting.”  I didn’t hear any complaints from Celtics players or fans after a 7 game series, just let it rest, eh?  Hawks need to get tougher physically and mentally to reach the next level, we should be thanking the heat for challenging them to do so.

Guess you forgot the BS from our series.  We definitely had issues.  The Heat adopt the smart philosophy of "if you foul a lot the refs won't want to call many more fouls than normal so it will help you in its totality."  Here is an SI article entitled "Did Miami Heat Players Try to Injure Trae Young."

https://www.si.com/nba/hawks/news/did-the-miami-heat-play-dirty-against-trae-young

Is it stupid basketball strategy?  Not if the refs are willing to swallow their whistle and refuse to eject people who strike the face and do other bad faith basketball tactics to hurt people.  But it does rely on the refs being complicit.  If the refs call a straight game, they eject when someone pulls the kind of BS that Lowry did but refs don't like to do that in the playoffs.

It is good practice for the Hawks to get used to that kind of BS but it doesn't stop being BS when guys break the rules and count on the refs to bail them out.

[macdaddy]

31 minutes ago, AHF said:

Guess you forgot the BS from our series.  We definitely had issues.  The Heat adopt the smart philosophy of "if you foul a lot the refs won't want to call many more fouls than normal so it will help you in its totality."  Here is an SI article entitled "Did Miami Heat Players Try to Injure Trae Young."

https://www.si.com/nba/hawks/news/did-the-miami-heat-play-dirty-against-trae-young

Is it stupid basketball strategy?  Not if the refs are willing to swallow their whistle and refuse to eject people who strike the face and do other bad faith basketball tactics to hurt people.  But it does rely on the refs being complicit.  If the refs call a straight game, they eject when someone pulls the kind of BS that Lowry did but refs don't like to do that in the playoffs.

It is good practice for the Hawks to get used to that kind of BS but it doesn't stop being BS when guys break the rules and count on the refs to bail them out.

I'd forgotten some of that.  Lowry was being deliberately dirty.   The wind up and hit to the face by Herro on that play well that's just straight corruption that it wasn't even reviewed.   

[kg01]

The thing people do is shout 'THE HAWKS NEED TO BE MORE PHYSICAL!', which is true.

But that doesn't therefore mean the Heet weren't also dirty and allowed to be so.

The rules on flagrants are clear.  Wind up + contact above the neck = automatic flagrant, playoff, preseason, gleague, whatever.  Not really up to interpretation.  Yet we saw it uncalled throughout not only that series, but even in this last game.

Those facts aren't mitigated by the fact that the HAWKS NEED TO BE MORE PHYSICAL!

Do the Hawks need to respond better to it?  Of course, but that doesn't mean it's not happening.

[Diesel]

1 hour ago, AHF said:

Guess you forgot the BS from our series.  We definitely had issues.  The Heat adopt the smart philosophy of "if you foul a lot the refs won't want to call many more fouls than normal so it will help you in its totality."  Here is an SI article entitled "Did Miami Heat Players Try to Injure Trae Young."

https://www.si.com/nba/hawks/news/did-the-miami-heat-play-dirty-against-trae-young

Is it stupid basketball strategy?  Not if the refs are willing to swallow their whistle and refuse to eject people who strike the face and do other bad faith basketball tactics to hurt people.  But it does rely on the refs being complicit.  If the refs call a straight game, they eject when someone pulls the kind of BS that Lowry did but refs don't like to do that in the playoffs.

It is good practice for the Hawks to get used to that kind of BS but it doesn't stop being BS when guys break the rules and count on the refs to bail them out.

Even more reason why we need that one player who will we insulate from fines... to go out and get payback when BS happens.   We need a Goon. 

I remind Landry Fields of playing with Iman Shumpert.   Shump was a goon.   He was about taking no shorts on the court.   We need that kind of guy.   A guy who comes out mean, bumping people, and one who will garner respect as soon as the other team sees him.   Jimmy Butler is a Bitch.   He ain't bout that action.   However, he can do the stuff that he does and motivate Herro to do the stuff because we don't have anybody who will make him pay for his sins.  Not anybody we want to lose (Like DJM).  When we played them.. Clint was hurt.  Clint is an enforcer type that could make Butler straighten up a bit.   This is why Miami wants Crowder.  Miami wants Crowder so that they won't have to face Crowder.   Do they need Crowder?  A little... but you don't see them pushing for other SF/PFs. 

 

 

[hawkman]

1 hour ago, AHF said:

Guess you forgot the BS from our series.  We definitely had issues.  The Heat adopt the smart philosophy of "if you foul a lot the refs won't want to call many more fouls than normal so it will help you in its totality."  Here is an SI article entitled "Did Miami Heat Players Try to Injure Trae Young."

https://www.si.com/nba/hawks/news/did-the-miami-heat-play-dirty-against-trae-young

Is it stupid basketball strategy?  Not if the refs are willing to swallow their whistle and refuse to eject people who strike the face and do other bad faith basketball tactics to hurt people.  But it does rely on the refs being complicit.  If the refs call a straight game, they eject when someone pulls the kind of BS that Lowry did but refs don't like to do that in the playoffs.

It is good practice for the Hawks to get used to that kind of BS but it doesn't stop being BS when guys break the rules and count on the refs to bail them out.

Great article. I'm glad someone in sports media called this out. I've been watching the NBA for decades and never seen anything like that series against Miami. The Jordan Rules isn't a good comparison because Jordan actually got calls. Miami targeted Trae early and dared the refs to stop them. Once it was obvious the refs were ok with it, things went well beyond just "Playoff basketball". It's disingenuous to say Trae had a bad series without the context of what Miami was able to get away with. He pretended to shrug everything off, but those cheap shots definitely affected him.

[Diesel]

33 minutes ago, hawkman said:

Great article. I'm glad someone in sports media called this out. I've been watching the NBA for decades and never seen anything like that series against Miami. The Jordan Rules isn't a good comparison because Jordan actually got calls. Miami targeted Trae early and dared the refs to stop them. Once it was obvious the refs were ok with it, things went well beyond just "Playoff basketball". It's disingenuous to say Trae had a bad series without the context of what Miami was able to get away with. He pretended to shrug everything off, but those cheap shots definitely affected him.

It's a true thing that Trae is a villain.   Not that he tries to be... but I think the league wants to humble him sometimes.   When Jordan first got in the league, the league humbled him with Detroit's Jordan rules.   However, up until that point, there were no other stars except maybe Wilt who had come in to a humbling.  As cocky as Kobe was, nobody tried to humble him.  He had his Denver though.   Look at Luka, he's embraced.  He's not being humbled.   

The thing about Trae is that he's really well liked by the fans.  But vet players are pissed off that this little guy is so dominant.   The humbling of Trae was a Pat Riley call.   BUT...  Like Jordan, Trae will rise from it.   I heard somebody talking about Trae losing his chip??  Are you freaking Kidding me.   His Chip is his catalyst to greatness.   He has to harness the emotion and energy off of his chip like MJ did.   The problem is that Trae's OG is Lebron.   Lebron is not a Killer.   He's a great player but not a Killer.  I hope Trae keeps looking to Kobe.  That's where you learn to kill.