AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2008 > March
March 2008
April Fool’s?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
CYBERSPIZNACE - Don’t pinch yourself Hawks fans.
This is no April Fool’s Day prank.
Your Hawks are currently sitting 2.5 games ahead of the competition for the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot with just eight games to play.
Seriously.
This thing could happen.
As plenty of the doubters around here have pointed out, many of us were off with our win/loss predictions during training camp. But the end results might nullify those prognostications, thanks to a defanged Eastern Conference.
A loss tonight in Memphis would certainly be a setback. But a win could do wonders for the Hawks’ chances of actually locking up the bid before the April 16 regular season finale in Miami.
It’s just a thought.
Now to a few housecleaning items, namely some of the fantastic posts that have made their way to some recent blogs.
The reason this thing works is because of the wild, the wacky, the cool and the crazy. Everyone who makes his or her way here and decides to share brings something important to the discussion.
My Moms even reads this thing everyday (big ups to Moms), wondering where all these hilarious people are coming from with some of the stuff they say. I dig it all, man. Even the stuff I don’t agree with makes me think, which is always the best part for me.
Anyway, some specific points I wanted to address:
Blog Z will remain on hiatus until the bottom falls out or he has cause to rise up and set the record straight. Win 8 of 12 during a late-season playoff push and that doesn’t allow Z to come out of his hideout very often. It’s hard to hate when things are great.
Ray is rapidly closing in on our first Poster of the Year award, it’s a new season-ending deal that we’ll unveil after the Hawks’ season wraps up (be it April 16 or later). Anybody that makes me (and I hope you) laugh out loud when I’m reading down the board is worthy of some iron. Keep it coming Ray. Volman’s the latest member of the crew I’ve met in person. And I appreciate the luv partner, just don’t go skipping class to dive in here. We’ll be here when you get out.
If Marvin Williams can dial up a few more efforts like the one he did against the Knicks Sunday, the Hawks could actually be trouble come playoff time. I’m not bold enough to predict anything foolish (the Hawks need into the mix for sure before I even entertain the specifics), but I’ve been saying for a while now that the Hawks needed someone to come out of nowhere with a scoring binge that helps take some of the pressure off of Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby.
As much as I despise the idea of trading any of the Hawks’ young assets, I realize that moving one of them to balance and solidify this roster for the future is something that has to be evaluated carefully this summer. Both Josh Smith and Josh Childress will be restricted free agents at season’s end. Keeping both of them will be very difficult to do (but certainly possible, if the Hawks are willing to spend that cash). I want to see the rest of the season play out and then examine what I could get in return if I parted with one of these guys before daydreaming about actually trading one of them.
David Andersen’s coming to Atlanta next season huh?, which Volman, CP and Jhan all picked up at the Town Hall Meeting (I wasn’t invited but I did hide out around a corner so I could hear all the goings on. Good stuff from the crowd, hard questions for Billy Knight and more answers than he ever gives us poor souls in the media). I see the logic behind using Andersen as your defacto first rounder (that pick is gone baby, the second rounder too).
Along that same line, Jeremy Richardson could easily be retained for another year or two as a defacto second round pick. The Hawks have spent a lot of time recently acquiring young players. The next phase is to really develop them, and I mean cultivating both their physical and mental games to match where the franchise is now. The Hawks have spent the past four seasons digging out of a tremendous hole. Now it’s time to shave off the rough edges and start smoothing this thing out. This current core group of players needs to be shaped and molded into specific roles that will help make the sum better than just its parts (it’s possible when you put a team together right and then develop them properly).
Not sure what the future holds for Mike Bibby and the Hawks, but I can’t imagine this team wanting to play without him (he’s eligible for an extension this summer). He’s provided everything he was supposed to when the Hawks made the trade deadline deal with Sacramento to get him. I just keep thinking about what type of season they’d have had if Bibby were healthy and in a Hawks uniform since training camp …? Something tells me they wouldn’t be sweating out a playoff berth right now.
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Shut up and enjoy the ride!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SMYRNA - Leave it up to my lady to put things in perspective.
I came walking through the door after Friday’s win over Chicago (you know, the one the Hawks almost coughed up thanks to dead legs and Ben Gordon’s Vinnie “The Microwave” Johnson routine) yapping into my cell phone with someone else who has to watch Hawks games for a living.
We were doing our usual vent session about what should have happened and what could have happened when wifey piped up out of nowhere with this line of the year: “I thought you said they were probably going to make the playoffs if they won these games? So just shut up and enjoy the ride. Isn’t that what you always say when Michigan is on?”
Well, as a matter of fact I do.
She has a point (never mind that she’s about as interested in basketball at any level as I am in, um, Dancing with the Stars, Lost and all the other stuff Style Channel stuff she’s into). If I had $50 bucks for every time I’ve tried to browbeat someone else into accepting the end and ignoring the means, I’d sleep on a king sized mattress stuffed full $100 bills.
My gut tells me that even if the Hawks make the playoffs (and it’s looking better by the day), that they won’t have much of anything left in the tank for the Celtics. I mean, how many more 40-plus minute nights can Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby take?
But I guess if getting there is half the battle, some people can stomach the grinding down of your star players to get there. Having seen playoff teams go down this path in the past, I realize how shortsighted that approach can be. There’s no more empty feeling than watching a team claw its way into the postseason only to be destroyed in four quick games once they arrive.
Mark my words, the Hawks will pay for playing guys these exhausting minutes if they make the playoffs. And it could get ugly.
Huh? Right, right. I know, just shut up and enjoy the ride.
Still, is it so wrong for me to assume that Jeremy Richardson’s fresh legs would serve the Hawks’ cause better, even if it’s just for five or six minutes a night, than Joe Johnson trying to operate on tired legs for the sake of the mental security that provides?
Not only do I think it’s unfair to both players, I think it’s the worst way to develop the confidence and chemistry every playoff team needs from its reserves because there is going to come a night when those same reserves are the difference between winning and losing. And wouldn’t it be nice to know that when you get to that night your reserves are ready to do work?
The Hawks played six and a half guys Friday night, led by 19 points and lost it, led by 22 points and lost it before hanging on to win by three points.
They should have won by 20 and the starters should have been on the bench waving towels instead of sweating out Ben Gordon’s final shot at the buzzer.
Then again, they got the win. And maybe none of us should care how they got it.
I guess there’s even a remote possibility that wifey might be right (she’s never read the blog so please don’t tell her I said so) …
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To the wire!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SMYRNA - Marvin Williams said something to me the other night after the Hawks’ loss in Chicago that didn’t really register until now.
“This thing is going down to the wire,” he said. “We’re not going to stop fighting and we know that these other teams are going to do the same. Everybody wants this and anybody who really wants this is going to fight with everything they’ve got to make the playoffs.”
Talking about it is one thing. Doing it, that’s another story altogether (which might explain why there were more people at the Marta bus stop at 7 p.m. Wednesday than there were in the stands at Philips. Things got better later, that late-arriving crowd thing was on full display against the Bucks).
The Hawks took a step in the right direction Wednesday night, defeating the Milwaukee Bucks with relative ease 24 hours after that disappointing loss to the Bulls.
They can take another one Friday by figuring out a way to get by the Bulls, another Sunday with the Knicks in town, and another one Monday in Memphis. Because Marvin is right; this thing is going to down to the wire.
And the only thing the Hawks can do between now and then is beat up on the lousy teams (relatively speaking, of course) they’ll face between now and April 16.
As infuriating as they can to be watch sometimes (how many times can this team sleepwalk through the beginning of a game and after halftime before you just turn them off or tune them out?) they keep finding ways to win when you’re ready to count them out.
I thought for sure that Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby playing all those minutes Tuesday would spell doom for the Hawks against the Bucks. But those were the two guys that seemed to have that extra boost when the Hawks needed it most against the Bucks.
The bench crew was also huge (check the game story or ask Ando, doc or jhan, they were all in the building and saw it, too), but for Johnson to play 40 minutes on the back of the 48 he played against the Bulls and do work … well, that’s nuts. The guy goes for a game-high 28 against the Bucks (a team loaded with talent and with not reasonable excuse for being as inept as they have been this season) and helps drag the Hawks back from the brink. That speaks volumes about the type of competitor Johnson has become over the years.
Bibby was just as critical to the Hawks blowing the game open, nailing seven straight points during a crucial stretch that saw the Hawks create some space. He’s everything he was supposed to, which is why I’m certain this guy will be on the floor come Friday night.
So long as those two guys are able to walk, Marvin’s words will ring true.
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Politically speaking
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
CHICAGO - So much for those geniuses in meteorology.
The forecast for Chicago was supposed to be snowy and frigid. My flight shows up to Midway Airport and it’s snow-free and just a bit chilly.
Let’s hope the Hawks’ scouting report on the Bulls is a bit more accurate, because ya boy will be wrapped up like an Iditarod racer for Tuesday night’s game at United Center as opposed to a normal human being (seriously, this is bothering me in a major way, sorry).
I’ve noticed the increasing number of attacks on each other on the past couple blogs. I don’t know what that’s all about, but I would encourage you to focus your attentions elsewhere. You’ve seen how that political infighting works haven’t you (Obama-Clinton has turned into a WWE event full of all sort of politically incorrect speaking that the other side loves)?
We need to keep our eyes on the prize around here people.
The Hawks and the potential playoff push that’s going on right now should trump any of our dysfunctional conversations about whom you’d rather have between Josh Smith and Thaddeus Young (you can’t be serious?).
Anyone guessing what a guy who skipped high school might have done in college is dealing in the world of JK Rowlings (like some of those in the business in New York, more below) and the rest of the make believers. We’ll never know. It’s all just hyperbole anyway. More importantly, who cares?
At some point we have to deal in the here and now. We have to deal with what is and not what might have been or what should be (and I would caution anybody about making a definitive opinion on a player after just two or three seasons. Some guys take a while longer to develop and find their niche).
I’m not telling anyone not to ignore your imagination. But if you haven’t noticed, this isn’t the March of the past couple of years around here (when we were already knee-deep in lottery and draft talk because we knew the Hawks and playoffs were two words that didn’t belong together). We’re actually allowed to discuss the NBA and games and what’s going on in the standings and other trivial stuff like that.
In an effort to bolster the conversation I made a few calls this afternoon to get a good read on the aforementioned topics, touching base with a couple league execs from other teams, a scout friend and even a former Hawks player for the following:
I saw the report tonight that said Donnie Walsh has agreed to accept a job with the Knicks at season’s end (according to “sources”), which would change things dramatically in the Eastern Conference going forward. But when I talked to Walsh earlier today he said he didn’t know what he was going to do. I asked him about it after the media gathering to announce that he was not returning to the Pacers for a 25th season. The stuff out of New York (always to be read with an eyebrow raised) certainly forced his hand. He had to say something because the rumors had gotten totally insane. What you can hang onto is this entire saga is this ditty from the Walsh bio: “The Pacers reached the Eastern Conference finals six times and won the Central Division four times under Walsh. They made the NBA Finals in 2000, when they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers, and had the league’s best record in 2004 before the franchise began unraveling.” That is some serious ammo for anyone that’s going job hunting in the NBA. Listen, I was there for playoff trips and the Pacers’ 61-win season (and the brawl, too). And I can tell you this, Walsh ran that organization the way you’re supposed to. He’s one of the best there’s been at his job. If any team is looking and has a chance to knock on his door, they’d be FOOLS not to do so.
Another league executive busted my chops when I approached him about my story idea that you can read online and in Tuesday’s paper touting Al Horford’s candidacy for Rookie of the Year. While he’s wildly impressed with what Horford has done, he pointed out that Durant averaging 19.6 points, even on a dreadful team, simply cannot be dismissed. “If you stick that asterisk on it because the Sonics are losing do you do that to every guy on a bad team that’s averaged 20 points a game?” he said. “I don’t think that’s right. I don’t think what either of those kids has done should be overlooked. They’re both having fantastic seasons, but in the grand scheme of things, neither of them is doing it for a team that’s a winner in this league. I’ll tell you what, if the Clippers hadn’t waited so long to unleash Al Thornton get into the mix, both of those guys [Durant and Horford] might be watching that kid win the award. Because he’s really come on since he started playing more. But again, he’s not putting up meaningful numbers on a quality team.” While I can concede his point, I think the winning team/losing team element of the debate is the weakest portion of the entire discussion. The fact is both of these guys have had pretty special seasons. One has been asked to do it while helping resurrect a franchise while the other has done it while a franchise in tear down mode. It’s a totally subjective argument, one that will be decided later by writers from around the league.
Everyone around here is focused on what will become of that eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference. But the race for the final spot in the Western Conference should be just as intriguing. It’s also going to go down to the wire as well, with Denver trying to claw their way into the mix past the Warriors and perhaps even the Mavericks now that Dirk Nowitzki is out indefinitely with that nasty knee/ankle injury. You know I’m rooting for the Warriors to hold on to their place (or move up even), mostly because I like their style. Listen, any team that scores 100 or more points in 33 straight games or whatever they’ve done, deserves to showcase their stuff for the fans in the playoffs. That led me to a conversation with a former Hawks player now working in the Western Conference, a guy who is locked into that playoff chase just like his former Hawks teammates. I wondered if he was keeping up with the Hawks still, even though he won’t see them again this season. “I know they’re right there in the mix,” he said. “I’m happy for those guys. They deserve a shot at the playoffs, especially those young guys, just so they can get a taste of what it’s like. I’ve been watching them, too, and I like that they’re playing a little more freely on offense. That’s the Bibby effect, man. They put a point guard in there and he’s not going to run those sets all day long. He knows how to push it. And that’s when most of those guys are at their best. It’s just too bad it took them so long to start playing that way. They should have been doing that all along.”
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Game of the Century II
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Tell me if you feel like a fool for singing up for this duty, watching the Hawks play the Game of the Century every night for the rest of the season.
I know I do.
The chase certainly has me intrigued. Can they do it? If they do, who plays the hero? I know there’s been a lot of speculation here about who goes if they don’t make it and who replaces them in that scenario (all great questions without any clear cut answers at this point).
But I’m trying to stay caught up in the moment. I’m trying to remain locked in on the Hawks’ tasks at hand (all 14 of ‘em).
Because for all the prognosticating we do around here (yeah, I’m the cat that predicted 40-plus wins back in October), they still have a chance.
The eighth playoff spot changes hands by day, sometimes by the minute when both the Hawks and Nets play on the same night.
So there is an element of urgency to the end of this season, for the first time in years mind you. Are we fools for being engrossed in this moment? Or should we all start planning for the funerals to come (I still don’t know who might be gone. Shoot, the folks on the hockey side here in Hawksville have already been cleared for at least another season, or two).
Whatever happens, the games are the only thing that don’t come with a choose-your-own-adventure ending. The March Madness drama to this season lives on, at least for 14 more games (the Orlando game is moments away from starting).
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GAME ON!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
NEW YORK - While the rest of the world focuses on political campaigns, weather concerns and growing unrest by Tibetan demonstrators in Western China, we the people of Hawksville have basketball on the brain.
Game on, and rightfully so.
I mean, how long have you all waited for meaningful games this late in the season from your Hawks? You deserve to get worked up over this game.
I know it seems a bit preposterous to focus so much attention on a Wednesday night Hawks-New Jersey Nets game at an arena called Izod Center (it looks as ridiculous driving up to the place as the name sounds), but this is what we do baby!
And regular season games don’t get any bigger for the Hawks or Nets, who are tussling for that eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference postseason chase.
The Hawks (29-38) can push two full games ahead of the Nets (28-39) with a win. A loss puts them right back in the mud pit with the Nets with just 14 games to play.
Toss in the Hawks’ three-game win-streak and two days rest before Orlando comes to town Saturday, and your mind starts playing tricks on you with what could be. I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself here, but this Nets game does come with all sorts of future implications.
I’m not bold enough to start making playoff reservations just yet. But a call t the travel agent is probably a wise move. And I here Boston’s beautiful in the spring.
But the Hawks have to take care of their business before we get all worked up about what might be next.
I’d offer a prediction based on the logic that the Nets could be whipped from playing last night and the Hawks are well rested after their train ride from D.C. back to the city. As we all know, logic has no place in a conversation about these Hawks.
So I’ll leave the predictions to you and see you here later once the action gets started. Have at it.
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Don’t look now, but …
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
WASHINGTON - Here come the Hawks.
No, really. They are surging folks. Don’t adjust your flat screen. They’re on a mini-roll right now.
Three straight wins and the chance for more is reason for cautious optimism in Hawksville. Even I will allow that.
So don’t strain yourself trying to figure out how they are doing it. I think one of the things that cost them during their five-game run back in December is that they had that little break before and after Christmas to think about it and they got mental on us after the new year began.
The Hawks weren’t just good against the Wizards Monday, they were, according to Wizards coach Eddie Jordan: “On any given night they are a really, really good team and they were good tonight.”
With their bench acting like it was a playoff game (and a cheering section of part owners Bruce Levenson, Ed Peskowitz and Todd Foreman right behind them doing the same), the Hawks led for all but 52 seconds, dominating the Wizards inside and out with a balanced attack and razor sharp execution on both ends of the floor down the stretch.
Joe Johnson played flawlessly (10 assists and not a single turnover), despite missing more shots than he’s been accustomed to lately.
Mike Bibby picked up the slack, draining big shot after big shot to keep the Hawks ahead.
Al Horford was a man among boys in the second half, putting the clamps on Brendan Haywood after the Wizards center got off to a rousing start in the first half.
Josh Smith was clutch and made his usual spectacular plays while also doing plenty of dirty work (while in foul trouble for most of the night).
And Josh Childress continues to play big off the bench, a must if the Hawks have any chance of continuing this run (they need at least eight to 10 more wins to secure their spot) all the way to the end.
Sure, you could complain that wins over the Clippers, Knicks and Wizards are somewhat tainted when you consider their combined winning total is just 73 games.
But there is no RPI or strength of schedule component for a playoff bid in the NBA.
Just win baby.
That’s all.
March Madness (NBA style)!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
NEW YORK - You had your vacation (and I had mine, thanks to the hard work of Mr. D. Orlando Ledbetter).
Hope you enjoyed it (I know I did). Because you’re stuck with me the rest of the way.
Starting right here and right now with these Hawks and Knicks here at the Garden, we’re going to ride this thing out.
It’s March Madness NBA style. Every game for these Hawks comes with the same win-or-go-home directive that should accompany any team on the postseason bubble.
And I can admit to knowing very little about the University of Georgia’s basketball program, but I can’t say they haven’t spiked my interest in the past 72 hours.
If nothing else, you have to believe in the impossible right now. No one figured those cats for the NCAA’s this time a week ago, and now they’re preparing to try out their dancing shoes.
(Hey, I know it’s a stretch, but a few days off energized my belief in the power of positive thinking).
I’m trying to be a kinder and gentler me down the stretch so no one can say I did anything to get in the way of the progress the Hawks are trying to make, however painful it might be to watch sometimes.
Fine. Give me a day or two to get my edge back. Who knows, this Dr. Feel Good thing might stick (or not)? But I figured it’s worth a try now, since every negative angle on things has already been exhausted (the last blog was as vicious as it was long).
MIA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
HONEYCOMB HIDEOUT - Before the rumors start flowing like 3-pointers on the Hawks’ defense, let me warn you all now that the Writer-You-Love-to-Hate (Sekou K. Smith) is on hiatus until the weekend.
So save your clever theories about him being fired or tied up in the basement in Hawksville for writing stories that incensed certain factions of the power structure around the franchise (I know it’s a lot sexier to think that the powers that be are attempting to eliminate the negative voices of for the Hawks’ stretch run, but that’s now how it works around here).
It’s not that serious, folks, dude just needed a couple days off (he’d been going daily since January without a real breather). He’ll be MIA for a few days. That’s all.
With him gone, that opens the door for your boy Blog-to-the-Z to make a triumphant return to this space and offer up a few theories about what currently ails these Hawks as they try and belly crawl their way to the playoffs.
I had a late-night conversation with Killah (that’s what Sekou’s associates and enemies call him) after Monday’s loss to the Magic and for once, was free-flowing with information:
BLOG Z: Kid, what happened to Acie Law tonight? Why didn’t he play? KILLAH: Wish I knew. Mike Woodson talked like the guy was going to be out there before the game. I even whipped up a note (Hawks rookie point guard Acie Law IV finally made his return to action against the Magic. Law missed 10 straight games with a sprained right wrist suffered on a nasty fall during a Feb. 20 loss in Sacramento. Without his backup point guard available, Woodson has had to shuffle his lineup and squeeze more minutes out of some guys than was ideal. “I’ve got to start playing [Law] so I can maybe cut Bibby’s minutes down to about 30,” Woodson said. “I want to keep him fresher. He hasn’t had a real breather because we haven’t really had anybody behind him.” Bibby’s played on a bruised right heel since his opening night with the Hawks) that had to be punted when Acie stayed glued to the bench. They could have used him in the first half, though, when Bibby was struggling to find the rhythm that he found in the second half - when he helped shoot the Hawks back into the game.
BLOG-Z: What the HE-double-hockey-sticks is going defensively? These cats couldn’t stop running water last night. And it’s been this way almost every night since the All-Star break. Is it an effort problem or are they just that bad? KILLAH: It’s both. They’re not exactly designed for defense, and really never have been. They’re also not defending with the kind of fervor it takes to beat quality teams, or anyone for that matter. Part of it is a fatigue factor. So many of these guys have played monstrous minutes throughout this season, several of them completely out of position, and that takes a toll. Looking at the bodies of some of these young cats, they just seem to be worn slap out. They haven’t maintained that physical edge necessary to grind out wins this late in the year. And since the Hawks are without quality depth, particularly in the frontcourt, they’re going to be vulnerable on the defensive end against teams that can work both inside and out the way the Magic can.
BLOG-Z: You’re pointing fingers without actually pointing fingers right now huh? Just say what you mean. KILLAH: I hate to put one cat under my spotlight like that, but I keep going back to the magical disappearing act of Zaza Pachulia (last season and this one) as the reason the Hawks have become so much weaker inside. Zaza was a big lug his first year with the Hawks. He averaged 12 and 8 and gave them an inside presence when they had little else in the way of big men. But he’s been the invisible (6-11, 280-pound) man since then. Al Horford’s addition was supposed to be an upgrade in depth but instead of that happening, the rook has had to basically carry the load at center by himself. So the Hawks have basically played the last three seasons with just one serviceable center, with Horford’s season to date being the best performance of those three years. If Zaza was giving the Hawks just a glimpse of what he gave them two years ago, I think things would be drastically different inside. Instead, you’re watching a team every night that can’t afford to pick up two quick fouls on either Horford or Josh Smith, because their depth behind them is virtually non-existent. Most good teams in the league have a frontcourt rotation of five guys, that’s right, five quality players that can give them solid minutes every night if need be. The Hawks, right now, have two (in fairness to Solomon Jones, he hasn’t been seen on the floor until recently).
BLOG-Z: Well, that’s not Zaza and Solomon’s fault is it? Why didn’t the Hawks go out and find some more big men after the trade? KILLAH: Great question without a great answer. I asked about it, wrote about it and even suggested one (Dale Davis) in this space. But it never happened. So you can point fingers at management and ownership for not doing more after the trade to solidify the roster for a playoff run. But that still doesn’t absolve the players from crapping around when opportunity presents itself. Solomon gets a pass because he’s still a raw prospect trying to build up the physical strength and skills to compete at the NBA level. You can’t let Zaza off the hook like that. He’s been around the league (and pro basketball for that matter) for far too long. And he loves to bust my chops all the time about one thing or another, and I give it right back to him about this very subject. So it’s not like this is a surprise. His game has fallen off dramatically since he first sported that Hawks uniform, and no one has been able to figure out why? He’s the key right now. If he goes on a tear the rest of the way, the Hawks’ issues in the post could get solved. If not, well, you’ve watched them the last two months or so.
BLOG-Z: You were so stoked after the Bibby deal and now you’re basically saying it gutted the team, right? KILLAH: I’m still stoked about Bibby being on this team. Did you see him shooting the Hawks back into the game in the third quarter last night homey? He’s been playing on a bruised heel since he joined them and has been a warrior in that respect. But anytime you pull a four-for-one trade, there is some roster repair that has to be done. And the Hawks snagged Jeremy Richardson (a promising young prospect that should be a Hawk for years to come) and no one else. They needed another big to complete the roster and it never happened. Blame whomever you want (I tend to go for Hawks assistant general manager Gary Fitzsimmons for all things, just because he looks guilty and rarely has an alibi when crimes of roster inaction have been committed), but that’s just the truth. There were plenty of bigs available and the Hawks didn’t snag any of them, whatever their reasons were (an unwillingness to add even more salary would seem like the obvious answer, but no one is copping to that one).
BLOG-Z: Obama or Clinton? KILLAH: Come on man, Obama! Quit playing.
BLOG-Z: Ha. I knew it. So it’s not all Mike Woodson’s fault after all? He’s been getting a raw deal all this time hasn’t he? KILLAH: Don’t go there. He has to take his share of the blame, too. The job of a NBA coach is to make lemonade out of whatever beat up lemons he’s been dealt. And Woodson’s had some lemons in his time here. But the Hawks began this season with the best roster they’ve had during his tenure, and a team that even before the trade should have been playoff material in this disgustingly thin Eastern Conference. And somehow they were coming apart at the seams by New Year’s Eve. Woodson has to own some of that. And he’s the first to admit as much, which is admirable quality from a coach in this hypersensitive day and age of professional sports. But I don’t know that Woodson has exhausted all the possibilities with this roster in terms of how they’ve played and who has played. I think about a team like Philadelphia, a team that certainly isn’t any more talented than the Hawks, and how Mo Cheeks has managed to push the right buttons to get them rolling when they needed to, and it makes you cringe if you’re a Hawks fan. Philly shook up the starting lineup and the playing rotation and found just the right mix to get things going in the right direction. That type of bold, in-house shakeup just hasn’t happened with the Hawks.
BLOG-Z: You’re shootin’ all these arrows but last I checked, the Hawks are still locked into the eighth spot and primed for a first-round playoff fight with Boston. What you got to say about that? KILLAH: It’s day to day my man, day to day. But that’s what makes this season even more unnerving. The Hawks should already have their postseason slot locked up. There’s no way they should be playing do-or-die basketball every night the remainder of this season (and this thing could very well go down to the final week of the regular season). They were 15-12 at one point this season and now they’re just 26-37. Are you kidding me? That should be unacceptable to the Hawks. They haven’t had any major injuries (knock on wood) and haven’t endured any outside interferences like they have in past seasons. There’s no way they should be crawling to the finish the way they are now. Maybe they spoiled everyone early in the season playing over their heads and beating up on some of the league’s elite (usually when the elite had a player or two missing from the lineup). Maybe they overachieved so dramatically early on that we all got our expectations out of whack. But I’ll take a playoff series against anyone. Some playoffs are better than no playoffs, man. I’m crazy, but I’m no fool.
BLOG-Z: So are you really taking the next few days off or are you suspended or something and just using “taking days off” as an excuse? KILLAH: I’m really taking the days off. Everybody needs a breather sometime. Good grief … you know, I’m starting to think you’ve got beef with me. And that’s not cool. If you keep this up, sarcastically questioning everything I do and say, I’m going to have to dot your eye, son. I’m from Grand Rapids, home of Money Mayweather and lots of other cats that don’t take #*@! from nobody (plus I just finished watching the season finale of the Wire, so I’m on edge). So cool out, and I’ll get back to you in a few days.
The Surreal Life!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
SMYRNA - The Surreal Life’s turn at Philips Arena was one of the more hyped environments I’ve witnessed at Philips Arena the past three-plus years.
It was much ado about dang near nothing. The Hawks got two wins against a deplorable Heat team (it’s hard to imagine that this team, or a variation of it, won a title recently).
Contrast Saturday night’s festive mood in the Hawks’ locker with the dead air that smothered everybody in Charlotte 24 hours earlier and it doesn’t even seem possible to go from one extreme to the other so quickly.
(And for all you Joe Johnson critics out there, give the cat his credit. He’s stepped up at the time when a leader, an All-Star and captain is supposed to. All those people that think the Hawks would be better off without him haven’t been paying close attention to this thing the past three years.)
But Salim Stoudamire (who has quietly played a huge role in whatever bits of success the Hawks have had since the All-Star break) summed it up best in his postgame comments Saturday night.
“It’s crazy,” Stoudamire said. “Yesterday everybody was sulking. And tonight we’re in the playoffs. It’s a crazy mix in the Eastern Conference right now.”
Crazy indeed.
Editor’s Note: Commenting on this blog has been closed. If you would like to continue the conversation as the Hawks prepare for Monday’s game at Orlando, please click here.
Fresh out!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
CHARLOTTE - I’m all out of talking points where the Hawks are concerned.
Fresh out.
The only thing that tells us anything from tonight until April 16, when this season wraps up in, of all places, Miami, is wins and losses.
Rather than debating the merits of this or that, I’m going to let the Hawks show and prove that they are indeed worthy of a playoff berth or prove that they’re not.
Instead of debating about the merits of Mike Woodson’s coaching ability, we’re going to find out between now and April 16 if he has the chops to get this team united and focused on the singular goal of making the playoffs.
Instead of debating whether or not the Hawks have the parts necessary to get the job done, we’re going to find out when they run into teams that they’re in direct competition with for that playoff spot and see if they’ve got what it takes to win their way in.
Instead of debating who should and should not be voted off Hawksville Island for past sins, I’m going to let the expiring contract grim reaper do his thing come June 30, the day of reckoning for the Hawks’ entire basketball operations crew.
And instead of thinking tirelessly about what might have been with Chris Paul (watching the dude work the Hawks is even more painful when I think about how many people warned me - and presumably others - about the perils of passing the “next Isiah” up in that 2005 draft), I’m going to let it go, finally, and move on. Well, I’m going to do my best (and for the record, while I loved the upside of Marvin Williams and didn’t think it was a bad pick, provided the Hawks acquire a quality point guard via trade or free agency, if you remember back to this blog during the pre-draft period my pick was the other Williams, Deron).
All the answers to all of our questions will come within these next 22 games (and 51.9 seconds).
Whiplash!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
NEW ORLEANS - Are the Warriors still running?
I think I suffered a mild case of whiplash watching them race up and down the floor at Philips Arena in their win over the Hawks.
They never slowed down Tuesday night. There was a plastic container full of 5-hour energy in their locker room before the game. And apparently they are overdosing on the stuff. Because they ran the Hawks off the floor like nothing I’ve seen.
I thought Stephen Jackson summed it up best when he said the Warriors “play at that pace in their sleep.”
The Dallas Mavericks, when they were the best team in the regular season, couldn’t beat the Warriors at that run-n-gun game in a first-round playoff series. So I figured the Hawks would have a hard time doing it (I know they’d beaten the Warriors four straight times, but that was before they were in the late-season throws of a Western Conference playoff chase).
There were plenty of hard lessons to be learned from this game for the Hawks, mainly that it’s not a bad thing to empty your bench most nights (some dude named C.J. Watson got into the game for the Warriors. I honestly had never heard of the cat. I had to google him to find out the details).
The Hawks tried to slow things down in the second half in a futile attempt to work the Warriors over inside with their post-up game. Huge mistake. But one that should provide the Hawks a blueprint for how they can work against teams that don’t want to run with them (not the Hornets tonight, though, because Chris Paul will shred the Hawks if they try and run with them).
What I took most from this game is that the Warriors played their big guns big minutes but they didn’t rely on them to carry the offense the entire time. The Hawks have become far too reliant on Joe Johnson over the past two years and now they’re going to him when they don’t always have to. Sure, he was on fire in the first half Tuesday, but going to him relentlessly in the second half played right into the Warriors’ plans.
That allowed them to key on one guy on the defensive end and then unleash their demons on the Hawks in transition. And notice that nobody has priority over anyone else with the Warriors. Baron Davis has the same freedom to freelance as Stephen Jackson or Monta Ellis.
It makes it virtually impossible to design a defense to shut the Warriors down. The Hawks might want to take some notes so they can open their offense up in ways like that.
A sure shot?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
BOSTON - While I remain a skeptic of the Hawks’ chances to make the Eastern Conference playoff party this season, others (most of them far more in-the-know than me) seem convinced otherwise.
But as the final seconds ticked off the clock on the Hawks’ 98-88 loss to the Celtics here Sunday night, the playoff atmosphere as thick as it’s been during any game all season, the idea of this team in a playoff series started to sink in a little more.
They are no sure shot. Not with the crew in Philly suddenly playing like gangbusters. And who knows what the Nets will look like once they get Devin Harris on the floor?
But the Hawks have looked playoff worthy in every game since their win over Golden State on their Western Conference road trip.
Mike Bibby’s been huge, even when his shot isn’t falling (the Hawks can only wonder how different things might be if they’d made that trade a month earlier).
And the young bigs (Josh Smith and Al Horford) continue to make believers out everyone who sees them. The Celtics certainly believe.
“They’re just good. They’re athletic. They make shots,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said after his team had to scrap like crazy in the second half to finish off the Hawks. “I’ll tell you what, Horford, it’s a shame. I don’t know what rookie’s playing better. I think he is a terrific player on a team that has a chance to make the playoffs and be very good. I don’t know if he gets enough credit. Obviously, Joe Johnson is terrific and Mike Bibby and Josh Smith is really coming into his own. Childress is one of my more favorite players in the league just because they never call a play for him. He scores, rebounds and plays defense and he ends up in games with between 12 and 18 points without one play called for him at the small forward position. That’s really unusual to see.”
Even Paul Pierce sounds convinced.
“They will probably end up being a team we see in the first round,” Pierce said. “They definitely have the talent, when you have an All-Star like Joe Johnson to go along with Josh Smith. And when you add Bibby in that mix, this team is a two or three game winning-streak away from being right there. I think it’s just going to take a little time, maybe a couple more games just to get the chemistry with Bibby. But he is definitely an added dimension to their team, a veteran who has been in the playoffs before that can give them a boost, especially in these last 20-25 games.”
Sounds good. But we’ll just have to wait and see how this all plays out. The opportunity is there for the taking. It remains to be seen if this team, from top to bottom, has the stones to snatch opportunity away from the rest of the pack.
A few notes, quotes and an observation or two …
If there’s a better motivator on any team than Kevin Garnett, I haven’t seen him. He worked Kendrick Perkins and Big Baby Davis over so hard (barking at them relentlessly) that they both played through the roof. Watching the Celtics transformation from last season to now ranks as one of the more dramatic turnarounds I’ve seen in sports. The year the Heat revamped their roster and went on to win a title wasn’t anything like this. They struggled for a while and caught fire in the postseason. But if the Celtics find a way to win a title (a huge if, of course) would be remarkable in that they’ll have played their tails off from wire to wire. Remarkable.
Question: Is this team still struggling to find an identity? Answer: “We are struggling on the road. That has been a given this season. We have been in some games on the road just like tonight, the effort was tremendous I thought until the third and fourth quarter, the middle of the third, and on into the fourth quarter we just didn’t have a defensive presence. And in this league that is, I think, what wins games.” - Hawks coach Mike Woodson.
Had a post-game phone conversation with Tyronn Lue and he says it’s official, he’s signing with the Dallas Mavericks. Lue was waived Friday by Sacramento and had his choice of teams (Dallas, Phoenix, Denver, Charlotte, etc.) in need of a veteran backup point guard to help them through the end of the season and the playoffs. He fielded calls from good friends in Phoenix (Shaq, Grant Hill, etc.) but said he opted for the opportunity in Dallas because of the role he’ll play backing up a future Hall of Famer in Jason Kidd.
Tell me you didn’t have a This is your life” moment watching Salim Stoudamire and Eddie House guarding each other Sunday night. Both guys played reasonably well in their respective minutes (‘Lim went 3-for-4 from the floor for six points while House went 2-for-9 and had five point, four assists and two rebounds). Guys like these two have to be on your team in the NBA. I know I’ve touted the Hawks’ shooter deluxe more than most this season, even when it appeared that he had no role on this team. But you must have cats like these to call upon when needed.
Game ops gaffe of the night - How about the dude who pushed the button on the video promo hyping Wednesday’s Celtics-Pistons game with two minutes to play and the Celtics clinging to a seven-point lead? Um, I can think of a better time to run that thing … how’s about never. That said, it was a sweet promo that would have looked great on TNT or something.
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