AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2007 > February > 12
Monday, February 12, 2007
J-Smoove is growing up!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Oakland - There are more than a few grains of truth to the theory that the true measure of a player can’t be taken until he’s completed three years in the NBA.
Josh Smith (J-Smooth or J-Smoove or whatever he wants to be called with the way he’s playing) is living proof.
The third-year Hawks forward is growing up (and breaking out) before our very eyes. Night after night he does things that keeps jaws dropping everywhere he goes - yeah, he should have called a timeout on that inbounds play Sunday night. (I dropped that word in the quote from Mike Woodson in the game story and genius that I am, I had my cell on vibrate and didn’t hear it buzzing or answer it when the office called to verify that a word had been dropped. My bad.) But he didn’t. And the Hawks were lucky that Stephen Jackson’s mistake was worse than theirs.
Smith was splendid in the Hawks’ win over Phoenix. But he was off the charts in the win over the Warriors Sunday night.
He dropped 29 points (on 10-for-14 shooting from the floor and 8-for-10 shooting from the free throw line), 10 rebounds, three assists and two blocks on the Warriors and he did so barely playing in fourth quarter because of foul trouble.
It’s unreasonable to expect that type of performance out of the young fella (yes, 21 keeps him firmly entrenched in the young fella camp) every night. But if he can provide similar type performances regularly, the Hawks have found the potent No. 2 option to Joe Johnson that they’ve been searching for.
People love to engage in the draft debate about taking Josh Childress, Andre Iguodala or Luol Deng. But you could make a case that you’d rather have Smith over any of those guys, all of who are having stellar seasons, as well, in their third years.
I’m not one for the oddballs stats that some people to love to toss around, but dude is working on a stretch of scoring 20 or more points in five of his last six games. And he’s notched double doubles in seven of his past 11 games. And I think it demands mentioning that the Hawks are now 10-7 in the past 17 games with Johnson, Smith, Josh Childress and Marvin Williams all playing together.
And don’t look now, but the Hawks are crawling towards respectability league-wide. They’re giving legitimate chase to that eighth playoff spot (they’re still a ways back but just chasing is an accomplishment for a crew that won 39 games the two seasons before this one).
If they ever figure out how to win at home (maybe they could wear their road red jerseys at home or stay at a hotel in Atlanta on game days and bus to the arena together, because they’re always better that way), they might really be on to something.
A quick, non-basketball related travel tip: For those of you making your way to the Bay Area anytime soon, check out a smooth spot called Farmer Brown. It’s an organic soul food spot in the Tenderloin area of downtown San Francisco that has great ambiance, some eclectic art on the walls, a live DJ spinning records while you eat and drink and some of the best food I’ve had on the road in a good while. My best friend lives in the Bay and he and his lady suggested we eat dinner there Saturday night. And they were on the money. We took a group of six (Smitty, our new road-dog S-Dub and the Mad VP all joined us, and Al Harrington popped I for a post meal visit as well) and everyone left satisfied. Now, I’m not the world’s healthiest eater, but I have a newfound respect for organic fare. You can eat good stuff (there was fried chicken, fried catfish, yams, mac and cheese, greens and cornbread and sweat tea all over the place) and wake up the next morning and without feeling like you need to run a marathon to make up for what you ate the night before. So when I get back to Atlanta, I’m going to be on the hunt for an organic spot that dishes it up like Farmer Brown.
