Official Game Thread: Wizards at Hawks

[TheNorthCydeRises]

4 hours ago, BrazilianHawk said:

I couldn't say it better. I thought Trae played really well for 3 quarters. Someone mentioned on other thread that the regular season means nothing, you must win in the playoffs to be successful.

What about the first 3 quarters, if you can't fget it done in the 4th?  

 

Someone who can't see his glaring flaws will post his great 31/7 stat line (not mentioning his -8, worst of the game or his decision making in the 4th). Some will say that yes, they're happy with 31/7 from their "superstar". 

One would think Josh Smith is still playing for the Hawks. 

 

 

Some will lay blame on the refs (some terrible calls, yes, but they didn't call a foul on the Hawks until 3:30 left in the 4th).

Some will lay blame on Dejounte (he was quite bad on offense last night and also terrible in the 4th).

Some will lay blame on Quin (I tought AJ played too much and didn't understand why JJ didn't play).

And the trolls will call it as it is.

 

I think most of the fan base will or has pointed to Trae as being the reason for last night's loss.

I personally pointed out early that Trae was the only starter that had a ( - ) number on the floor . . . and this was in the 1st half when we were winning.

He messed up an outstanding game by getting too caught up in going back and forth with Beal.  That's a maturity issue that he needs to control.

[Spud2nique]

Where’s the press conference? 

[JayBirdHawk]

3 hours ago, kg01 said:

Agree on all counts.  Too bad this one got away from us but I definitely feel like we're in good hands.

Surely, after time to get his staff and his 'stuff' in place, we'll be able to react quicker to how things were developing late.  No need to panic like some folks are doing (surprise, surprise).

Last, where do yall get clips of the postgame press conferences?  It's usually posted here and I can't find it on the interwebs.  Who dropped the ball here?  *cough* @JayBirdHawk *cough*

First time n a long time I'm actually interested in what out coach has to say. 

 

 

[NBASupes]

38 minutes ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

 

Truth be told, Murray is undersized at the 2.   6-5 . . . 180 lbs.  He has the wingspan that enables him to get steals, but he doesn't have the girth to really be a tough defender that bodies up people.

As I've pointed out multiple times on here, Murray really doesn't shut anyone down at all on defense.  He makes great defensive plays at times with his steals, but he's not slowing anyone down at all.

If Trae and Dejounte are the modern day version of Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars, we need both guys to become way tougher on defense, to overcome their size/girth issues.

Here is Dejounte's Defensive Dashboard.  While his numbers are improving, he still has a below average differential. 

Murray is doing better than I expected on D considering his assignments are very difficult. Asking him to lock down a 220 SG at 180 is not realistic. I always said, this trade didn't make a ton of sense unless the plan was to trade him in the offseason to get a star that fits.

[JayBirdHawk]

2 hours ago, Diesel said:

Just finished watching Coach's after game presser... Here's my thoughts.

I joked about coach not taking this as his loss but as Prunty's loss.  Well....  In the press conference Coach blamed everybody but himself.   He said Prunty was responsible for the calls down the stretch.   Then he said, he let DJ and Trae pay down the stretch because he wanted to know what they were thinking.   Followed by "I trust them.".   That's the big indictment I have on Coach.

I'm hoping and I think by doing this he gets a chance to see up close what we have been running to close out games and how to fix. He gets to see the decision making process for both DJ and Trae on film that he can break it down with for them and give them alternate solutions.

[macdaddy]

1 hour ago, bleachkit said:

You know the strange thing about sports conspiracies. They only effect the losing team. No one ever believes a conspiracy helped their team win. They only believe a conspiracy if it supposedly caused their team to lose. 

Not really.  My conspiracy is not that they are trying to make us lose but they are trying to create close games.  I don't think they care who wins.  

Also notice that most of the most egregious calls are not in the last two minutes.  Yeah they make mistakes, even in the last two minutes but the more terrible calls are somehow in different but critical stretches of the game that don't appear on a public report.  

Also, I don't necessarily believe my own conspiracy but there is some reason to think it's true.  

[JeffS17]

18 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

My conspiracy is not that they are trying to make us lose but they are trying to create close games.  I don't think they care who wins.  

This is just how it is.  You get softer calls when you're down double digits.  And it's part of what Trae has to start to understand.  Down 10 in the third you can drive into contact and get to the line easily.  1 point game with 2 minutes left in the 4th, you're not getting that call.

[bleachkit]

44 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Not really.  My conspiracy is not that they are trying to make us lose but they are trying to create close games.  I don't think they care who wins.  

Also notice that most of the most egregious calls are not in the last two minutes.  Yeah they make mistakes, even in the last two minutes but the more terrible calls are somehow in different but critical stretches of the game that don't appear on a public report.  

Also, I don't necessarily believe my own conspiracy but there is some reason to think it's true.  

If the Hawks had won would you have made that post about the conspiracy? No, you wouldn't have. 

Edited March 1, 2023 by bleachkit

[macdaddy]

5 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

If the Hawks had won would you have made that post about the conspiracy? No, you wouldn't have. 

absolutely.  i was saying this in the third quarter when it started.  You don't have to believe me. 

[bleachkit]

2 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

absolutely.  i was saying this in the third quarter when it started.  You don't have to believe me. 

You would not have made your post about a conspiracy if we had won the game. That's complete BS, but whatever. 

[terrell]

12 hours ago, NBASupes said:

We gotta develop no matter what but we gotta put the pieces together. As of right now, two PGs just ain't gonna work. They get in each other's way

The Bigger problem was John Collins. Almost $24M this year and the Hawks had to hide him defensively on Deni Avdija because they couldn't put him on Kuzma.

Oh and Avdija had 13 rebounds! JC isn't giving us much of anything if he's not catching a lob. Prunty and Q already know this by playing Bey more minutes last night.

[NBASupes]

1 minute ago, terrell said:

The Bigger problem was John Collins. Almost $24M this year and the Hawks had to hide him defensively on Deni Avdija because they couldn't put him on Kuzma.

Oh and Avdija had 13 rebounds! JC isn't giving us much of anything if he's not catching a lob. Prunty and Q already know this by playing Bey more minutes last night.

I've been screaming about JC lack of ability to guard high scoring 4s. He can guard most of them but the ones we see in the playoffs, he's struggles with.

[kg01]

8 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

You would not have made your post about a conspiracy if we had won the game. That's complete BS, but whatever. 

I think he's right.  Refs calls games lopsided then try to even it up after the fact.  That happens in our wins and losses.

So there.

[macdaddy]

7 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

You would not have made your post about a conspiracy if we had won the game. That's complete BS, but whatever. 

Geez man.  Fine.  Check the time.  I erased my twitter profile name but you could easily figure it out if you want.   Check the time.  

[JeffS17]

23 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

You would not have made your post about a conspiracy if we had won the game. That's complete BS, but whatever. 

Not who you're responding to, but I notice this all the time when we're down and Trae gets soft calls.  Also notice it when watching games as a neutral fan.  It's part of how there are so many 20+ point comebacks these days.  People attribute it to 3P variance, but it's usually free throws and soft calls opening up the defense that leads those massive charges.  Just watch that Lakers Mavs game from the other night as an example.

With that said, it's extremely counterproductive to focus on, which is why I hate it when players start whining about refs -- last thing you want is a team full of guys with an external locus of control. 

[bleachkit]

21 minutes ago, kg01 said:

I think he's right.  Refs calls games lopsided then try to even it up after the fact.  That happens in our wins and losses.

So there.

Yet, it's only brought up after a loss. I rarely see posts about how every call went our way. It's not unique to us. Every fan base thinks the refs are screwing them. Literally every single one. Go on any NBA team massage board after a close loss. There will always be posts about officiating and their team got screwed. 

Edited March 1, 2023 by bleachkit

[kg01]

14 minutes ago, bleachkit said:

Yet, it's only brought up after a loss. I rarely see posts about how every call went our way. It's not unique to us. Every fan base thinks the refs are screwing them. Literally every single one. Go on any NBA team massage board after a close loss. There will always be posts about officiating and their team got screwed. 

Because it doesn't matter if you win.  No need to bring it up.  Doesn't mean it didn't happen. 

[Diesel]

2 hours ago, TheNorthCydeRises said:

He messed up an outstanding game by getting too caught up in going back and forth with Beal.  That's a maturity issue that he needs to control.

I didn't see it that way at all. 

In the fourth with about 4 minutes left, we got Washington in the penalty.  If you've played basketball, you know that's the time to be aggressive.  That's what Trae did.   He aggressively attacked the basket.  Yes.. he was probing for a foul.   The first time, he got blocked clean by Delon... I miss that guy.  The second time... Everybody and their aunt piled on him and no foul was called.   The third time, Gafford originally blocked him; kind of clean but got some body on the follow through. 

 I don't look at that as going back and fourth with Beal.  IN fact, I would have abandoned the outside shooting and we would have played everything inside to force them to foul if I were coaching.   Which leads me to say... our BBIQ isn't that high.   We're still running to the three point line for everything.   Some situations do call for us to push inside. 

 

[MarylandHawk]

Ah 21 pages after a loss. There it is. 

[Wretch]

3 hours ago, macdaddy said:

Not really.  My conspiracy is not that they are trying to make us lose but they are trying to create close games.  I don't think they care who wins.  

Also notice that most of the most egregious calls are not in the last two minutes.  Yeah they make mistakes, even in the last two minutes but the more terrible calls are somehow in different but critical stretches of the game that don't appear on a public report.  

Also, I don't necessarily believe my own conspiracy but there is some reason to think it's true.  

This is something that I have been paying attention to for going on 30 years now.  There's a flow to how they do this...and before I even get into this discussion:

...and you have the whole Tim Donaghy scandal.  The idea of the NBA/refs artificially influencing games is a very distasteful one, but not something that I will outright dismiss.  That said, I noticed the same "pattern" of calls over the last 3 decades.  There are bad calls/no-calls and "make up" calls/no-calls...and RARELY will you see it during crunch time. 

Usually I start seeing things happen just before a team goes on a run.  I've noticed it in every game that I've watched, regardless of the teams.