AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2007 > November > 08
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Making some noise
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Here we are four games deep into this season and the Hawks are making noise again. They did it last year, too. You remember that 4-1 record to start the season. People were going nuts, talking about playoff runs and winning the division (we all know how that turned out).
But it’s a different feeling this time around. People aren’t as skeptical. Folks in Detroit and New Jersey weren’t skeptical at all after the Hawks left on the wrong side of close losses in both places.
People were marveling at the Hawks’ collection of athletic young talent, wondering how it all will fit together over the course of the season and beyond. Mostly people [are] wondering how in the world they’re going to deal with this crew on their good nights, kind of like the one they had last night in their win over Phoenix at Philips Arena.
As much as I’d love to rehash so much of the stuff we saw last night (I will get to that eventually), I can’t help but think about what kind of game we’ll see Friday night in Boston. KG and Co. are going to be riding high from their impressive start. And they don’t appear to be interested in waiting until April to start playing playoff basketball (whether that’s a good thing or not I don’t know, talk to me in early May).
But there are some intriguing individual battles to be waged Friday night. Ray Allen vs. Joe Johnson. Marvin Williams vs. Paul Pierce. And Kevin Garnett vs. Josh Smith. Those three alone are worth the price of a ticket.
The Celtics are playing with KG’s spirit right now, which is tough to match. So I’ll be interested to see how these Hawks respond with the spotlight cranked up even more than it has been against Dallas, Detroit and Phoenix (sorry New Jersey but the Izod Center atmosphere leaves a bit to be desired).
As for last night’s showing, impressive stuff from the Hawks - and I don’t care that Amare Stoudemire didn’t play. Wins and losses don’t come with asterisks in the NBA or any other league. You win or you lose, the circumstances are what they are.
I wrote down five things that stuck out to me during the game that I wanted to share:
I can’t remember seeing a player (rookie or not) go after rebounds the way Al Horford did last night. He was more than relentless. He was surgical (don’t know if that’s the right word or not) in the way he diagnosed his pursuit of the ball. To get 15 against anyone is something, especially for a guy playing his fourth NBA game. Marvin Williams articulated it better than anyone else could after the game when he said, “Al Horford is a beast. We’ve all said that before, but for a rookie to come in and get 15 boards like that is unbelievable.” I don’t know how you sit this kid down with Zaza Pachulia returning to action Friday night. I just can’t see it being a good thing, Horford going to the bench. I can’t see it.
In the weeks before the start of training camp I had a conversation with Hawks coach Mike Woodson and we talked about what it would take for this team to make a jump from also ran to playoff contender and the first thing out of his mouth was “At least two of them, between Marvin, Josh and Josh, have to play big for us every night. If they do that we’ll have a chance to win every night.” Months later it’s clear that he was absolutely right. If those three guys can find a way to play well consistently, the Hawks become a matchup nightmare for most teams. They were off the charts good against the Suns. All three of them were fantastic.
[I told you] Salim Stoudamire has a place on this team. It might not be every night. It might only be against certain teams in certain situations. But I can’t overstate how valuable a player like Salim can be to a team. Any guy that can generate instant offense the way he can without the benefit of a designed set is worth however much you’re paying him (and in Stoudamire’s case that isn’t much by NBA standards). Without his two long 3’s in the third quarter the Hawks could have very well fallen to pieces as Phoenix continued their rally. Instead, he jabs them with two stiff lefts and the Hawks remained in control the action.
When did Philips Arena turn into a home court advantage? The late-arriving crowds have become a running joke around the league - if you only knew how many tired jokes I’ve heard about nobody wanting to come out and watch the Hawks play you’d buy me a new set of earplugs. But I’ve got to give up to the faithful (three of our founding members - Ando, Doc and Jhan - all showed up Wednesday night as part of the sellout crowd). I’m not one of these people that buys this idea that the home crowd makes you play better. But it’s hard to argue what a more electric atmosphere can do for the feel of a game. It just feels big time when the stands are full and the crowd noise doesn’t have to be piped in. This early season schedule doesn’t hurt, having these league titans coming in every night. I’ll be curious to see if these crowds hold up over the course of the season, depending on the Hawks’ fortunes the rest of the way.
I’ve always compared Josh Smith’s ability to fill a stat sheet to that of Shawn Marion and Andrei Kirilenko but I’m not so sure that Smith isn’t the better option of the three going forward - and hear me out on this one before you start going crazy. I know he has a penchant for the maddening pass or shot attempt that causes you to jump out of your chair screaming that he needs to slow down or pass the ball. But he’s taller than Marion, thicker than Kirilenko and younger than both of those guys. He’s also a much better ballhandler (even with his turnovers) than Marion and basically on par with Kirilenko in that department. And I’m talking specifically about these guys’ individual talents and not necessarily their fit on their respective teams, because I think all three fit perfectly where they are right now. But if I had to wonder which of the three would produce the same results on a different team, I’d have to go with Smith.
That’s just some stuff that was rattling around my brain late last night. Do with it what you will (be kind, though, we’re ushering in a new, kinder and gentler era around here now - or at least we’re trying).
