Official Game Thread: Hawks at Mavericks

[RedDawg#8]

2 hours ago, sturt said:

 

 

I need more male camaraderie in my life.

[NBASupes]

6 hours ago, Diesel said:

In a sense, Trae's defense and efficient play is why we are winning. 

It's been a team effort though.

He still gets abused on D badly but yeah, offensively, he's back and that helps us A LOT!

[Jody23]

Nice win last night.  During this four game streak, the Hawks are playing a faster pace, being more intentional about moving the ball, and communicating defensively.  They're going play better basketball overall doing this.  In particular, playing a faster pace helps get guys like Collins more involved and in rhythm.  Gotta keep playing this style though.

[MarylandHawk]

32 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

He still gets abused on D badly but yeah, offensively, he's back and that helps us A LOT!

Uh not these last 8 games. People get stuck on the idea that players are bad at something but when they are literally proving otherwise it has to be acknowledged.  Trae is very smartly avoiding mismatches and is switching off of better offensive opponents. Who abused him in the dallas game? Or Miami?  I think it is one of the reasons for the turn around. I credit the coaches as much as Trae because his teammates are ready to switch with him and take on the tougher assignment so you know it is a point of emphasis in the locker room that they have bought into.  Not to mention his steals over this stretch. 

[Gray Mule]

Since no one has mentioned it, I will.

Hawks have a four game winning streak after signing Favors !!

GO ATL HAWKS !

[Diesel]

13 minutes ago, MarylandHawk said:

Uh not these last 8 games. People get stuck on the idea that players are bad at something but when they are literally proving otherwise it has to be acknowledged.  Trae is very smartly avoiding mismatches and is switching off of better offensive opponents. Who abused him in the dallas game? Or Miami?  I think it is one of the reasons for the turn around. I credit the coaches as much as Trae because his teammates are ready to switch with him and take on the tougher assignment so you know it is a point of emphasis in the locker room that they have bought into.  Not to mention his steals over this stretch. 

I was looking at it the same way.   You can see Trae watching to make a switch on defense.  He's aware.  When you think about how that conversation went from the coaching staff, Nate had to intentionally tell Trae that "they are targeting you because you are our weakest defender.   We want to pull you out of those situations."  Trae had to be mature enough to take the criticism and take the help.   That is huge because a lot of stars don't want to attack their short comings.   They don't believe that they have them. 

 

[Diesel]

8 hours ago, sturt said:

 

 

Great leadership by DJ and Trae... giving everybody the acknowledgement through the hand slaps.   People talk about Trae as being a diva and being a loner and being unliked by his teammates... I don't see that!!  Just more Media Fakenews....  When we're playing in the ECF, people will start to believe. 

[JayBirdHawk]

37 minutes ago, MarylandHawk said:

People get stuck on the idea that players are bad at something but when they are literally proving otherwise it has to be acknowledged.

[Final_quest]

Really proud of DJM lately.  Dude is earning his reputation back as an allstar.  He's been unconscious. 

I kept reminding people during our losing spells that we were 14-8 when Hunter and Capela play.  Now we are 16-8 with them.  The bad news is 7-15 when either of them are out of the lineup.  We couldn't sustain missing either one.  It's why I'm not convinced Okongwu is able to "replace" Capela. 

The hole we have to climb out of isn't nearly as bad this season.  We can easily get out of the play in bracket and I would set the 4-5 seed as the goal. 

Next game is against NY, we lost to them in December when DJM went down.  We were also without Hunter and Collins that game.  Looking forward to this one.

[sturt]

1 hour ago, Diesel said:

When we're playing in the ECF

 

For all the flack I receive for being a "homer" or "pollyanna" or whatever... nah, I'm a two-way player. I've cited this dictionary term constantly all this season.

The term doesn't just mean not overreacting when you have momentary reason to be down on the team. Also means, not overreacting when you have momentary reason to be up, right? Right.

And/but that doesn't mean you disregard whatever is going on in the moment, but that you engage the bigger picture, and use the good brain the good Lord gave ya.

[Dnice]

Thank God Indy lost again.

[kg01]

6 minutes ago, Dnice said:

Thank God Indy lost again.

If we can hold it in the road, we can make a move (up the standings).

I'm expecting a lotta soul II soul** with teams above us like IND, NYK, MIA, CLE, BKN.

** As in 'back 2 life, back 2 reality'.  They're not very good.  Especially when some allstar snubs happen.  I'm thinking those teams peaked too soon and are due to fall, again, back 2 reality. 

[BangHolman]

46 minutes ago, Final_quest said:

Really proud of DJM lately.  Dude is earning his reputation back as an allstar.  He's been unconscious. 

I kept reminding people during our losing spells that we were 14-8 when Hunter and Capela play.  Now we are 16-8 with them.  The bad news is 7-15 when either of them are out of the lineup.  We couldn't sustain missing either one.  It's why I'm not convinced Okongwu is able to "replace" Capela. 

The hole we have to climb out of isn't nearly as bad this season.  We can easily get out of the play in bracket and I would set the 4-5 seed as the goal. 

Next game is against NY, we lost to them in December when DJM went down.  We were also without Hunter and Collins that game.  Looking forward to this one.

Our Top 9 can go toe to toe with just about anyone, but we don't have the depth to backfill for injuries, especially behind Hunter and Cap. We were 9-4 to start the season and before the injuries. As long as we can stay healthy, the current roster can keep turning it around, but there's also the upcoming trade deadline.

[JayBirdHawk]

Just now, BangHolman said:

Our Top 9 can go toe to toe with just about anyone

TOP 9???????  On a night when everyone was healthy, Nate played an 8-man rotation until foul trouble forced his hand. 

[macdaddy]

So do they give out those chains after every win?  Seems weird but i guess that's the new nba

- Trae was great.  really controlled the game

- Luka sucks at defense.  only reason he's passable is his size

- Bogi showed he can play D as long as the guy he's guarding is slow.  Who would have thought he'd look better on Luka than anyone else?  Not that i want himi doing it for more than 4 minutes

- Murray - let's go.  Love the killer instinct

- refs?  jeepers that was embarrasing.  

- Luka - basically shut down after the first quarter.  getting cheap fouls was the only thing that made his game not totally embarrassing (hmmm).   9 FGs, 7 TOs.  

[BangHolman]

3 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

TOP 9???????  On a night when everyone was healthy, Nate played an 8-man rotation until foul trouble forced his hand. 

JJ is capable and should be playing more minutes. Trae, DJM, Hunter, JC, Cap, Bogi. OO. AJ. and JJ, 9.

[Atlantaholic]

11 hours ago, hawkman said:

There WILL be times when we will need 30 and 10 Trae. It's all about him picking the right time to do that and being a complete floor general. 

There WILL be times he scores 30 without taking offensive stalling bad 3pt shots and forcing the issue in traffic. When Trae doesn't force everyone else becomes involved. League is too talented in 2023 to think our 6 foot PG is going to outduel Durant, Luka, Jokic, Giannis, Mitchell, Embiid etc. consistently. We need to figure out how to play as a team every night offensively because there IS enough talent (if we can somehow stay healthy) on this team to possibly compete but only if everyone is contributing and engaged. 

[sturt]

1 minute ago, BangHolman said:

we don't have the depth to backfill for injuries

What's missing is that JDay wasn't the piece that many anticipated he was going to be. Honestly, even I thought he'd be an occasional asset, and of course, I was among those pleading for people to not be so dismissive of the JDay trend of the last 3 seasons.

Thankfully, AJ has been able to step in and shoulder more load than many thought he would be equipped to do as a rook. Can we expect much more from him? That's a big "maybe." You have to think what we've seen is only scratching the surface, but how rapidly will he be able to evolve and develop into being that guy?

We really don't know just yet how much Favors is going to be able to provide since he hasn't yet been asked to do anything, but no surprise to anyone, I'm bullish on him surprising a lot of people.

[BangHolman]

1 minute ago, macdaddy said:

So do they give out those chains after every win?  Seems weird but i guess that's the new nba

-

It's like the Turnover Chain/Object trend in CFB

[macdaddy]

4 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

TOP 9???????  On a night when everyone was healthy, Nate played an 8-man rotation until foul trouble forced his hand. 

 

In Nate's defense it's only JJ that i wish was getting more minutes.  But you don't really need a 4 man frontcourt rotation on some nights so he's stuck.   I think if JJ could play the 3 we'd see more of him.