NBA 2007/2008 Season Thread

[Agent Kev]

Hawks 101 Mavericks 94

Hawks just flat out wanted this game more in the last 2 minutes than the Mavs did. Score was tied at 90. JJ then hit a shot. Dallas missed, TLue got fouled and hit 1 of 2, to put the Hawks up by 3 but Josh Smith got the rebound off of the missed foul shot so the Hawks kept the ball and then Marvin Williams hit a big lay-up on a pass from JJ to go up 5 with under a minute to play.

The Hawks looked really good in the first and fourth quarters (won the 1st by 10 and the 4th by 8) and really put forth a good effort the entire night. Joe Johnson was Joe Johnson, he stepped up when he was needed and hit big shots, he ended up with 28 points. Josh Smith didn't have a particularly good game but ended up with 18 pts and 11 boards and made a big play when it counted. Marvin Williams also didn't have a particularly good game but ended up with 16 pts and made a big play when it counted. Al Horford looked awesome in the first quarter and played well but got into foul trouble- he ended up with 9 pts (3 first quarter dunks) and 10 boards. Acie Law looked really good at times as well but also got into foul trouble- he scored 8 pts in 14 minutes and got 3 assists. TLue was huge off the bench as he was the glue that held the team together in the 4th and ended with 14 pts and 4 assts. Sheldon Williams also had a real solid game as he played 30 minutes, scored 6 points and got 9 boards. Josh Childress had a really bad game, missed 2 dunks and only scored 2 but I'm not too worried.

Overall, a great opening night showing for the Hawks.

[Riley G]

I'd like to point out that the Raptors beat the Nets taking revenge for knocking us out last year. Also that the Raps really held their own agaisnt the pick for the east this year in the revamped Celtics

Also the Heat have really droped in skill level this year they NEED D Wade back asap if they want to start winning again

[Agent Kev]

Yeah, the Hawks game pissed me off last night so I forgot to post about it.

Anthony Johnson (the back-up starter at PG) didn't make the trip due to birth of his son so TLue started since Speedy is still out and Woodson didn't have the balls to go with 2 rookies in the starting line-up. I knew that was a bad decision because Lue is a good guy to come off the bench but Chauncey was going to eat his lunch. Hawks looked horrible for about the first 8 minutes but then they got it together and made a run with Acie when he came in the game.

Hawks controlled the second and third quarters while not really looking that good or being in a rythmn. Joe played real good, had a tough time getting his shot but when he got it he made it. Marvin was doing a good job scoring the basketball. Josh Childress has forgotten how to play in the off-season and Josh Smith was active and made some good plays but never got into a good flow and looked really bad offensively. Horford and Sheldon did their part without really doing anything offensively. Acie looked great in flashes this game.

Pistons won the game in the first 10 minutes of the 4th quarter as they upped the pressure and the Hawks didn't have an answer. Pistons were up 7 with 2 minutes left but the Hawks showed some guts and Joe Johnson stuck 2 3 pointers to cut into the lead. 7 seconds left Josh Smith tried a 3 points and Rasheed jumped into him for a foul. Hawks were down 3 at this point and Josh sank all 3 free throws. Chauncey then came down and drew a borderline call and sank 1 free throw for the win with 1 second left.

Overall, it was disappointing because the Hawks played with the Pistons and only lost by 1 despite not really playing well. Joe did good with 23 and Marvin had 22 (including a highlight reel half court shot to end the first half), and Law was 5 of 6 for 11 pts. Turned the ball over too much- Law had 5 and JSmith and Horford also had 5 turnovers. Smith also shot 4 of 17 from the floor. The game was kind of strange in that the refs basically called no fouls in the first half and then called everything in the second half. Rip Hamilton even fouled out with like 5 minutes left. Maxiell played real well- that guy always kills the Hawks.

I think the only thing that is going to hold the Hawks back this year is Mike Woodson and I feel in my bones that he will keep them from making the playoffs. He just has no idea how to run an offense and that has been evident over the last several years. He's a defensive guy and that's fine but unless Joe is taking someone man on man the offense has no real rythmn and guys are not being put in a position to be at their best (Chills is money from the wing and hasn't even had a look from there yet this year). Hopefully, I'm wrong and we've been scoring despite the lack of offensive cohesion but I just think that with a different coach we would be a 5 or 6 seed in the East this year. With Woodson hopefully we can squeek in at 7 or 8.

[IWSfan4life]

Kev, enjoy one of the 5 wins the Hawks will win this year.

As much of a Cavs and Mavs fan as I am, I'm all about my Celtics this year. They should roll in the east barring injury. The big 3 look amazing this early in the year.

And my boy Areanas looks terrible.

-Jason

[Agent Kev]

Atlanta 105 Phoenix 96

This was a good win for the Hawks as they moved to 2-0 at home after two tough losses on the road in close games to Detroit and NJ. This one was pretty tight throughout. The Hawks got great play in this game from Marvin Williams (he had 20 points on 10 of 15 shooting and hit big shots down the stretch), Josh Smith (had 22 pts, 10 boards, 4 blocks, 4 steals and did a better job in this game of taking the ball to the basket instead of settling for jumpers), and Josh Childress (had 19 pts off the bench and 10 boards). Joe Johnson had a horrible offensive game going 3 of 17 from the floor but did add 10 assists. Horford and Law played solid (Horford had 15 boards and 8 points and Law had 6 points). Salim Stoudamire also added a needed lift in the first half as he got his first action of the year and got 10 points. Hawks killed Phoenix on the boards 56-40. No one outside of Nash looked particularly good in this game for Phoenix and even Nash made some uncharacteristic mistakes down the stretch- he did end up with 34 points though and 11 assists.

This was the second game in a row that both Horford and Law started. The Hawks ended the game in crunch time with the line-up of JSmith, Marvin, Childress, JJohnson and Law. Their was one period of time in the second quarter when the Hawks made a good run with a big/athletic line-up of Horford, JSmith, Marvin, JJohnson and Childress (with Childress at the point).

[Agent Kev]

Celtics 106 Hawks 83

The final score wasn't quite indicitive of this game as it was a competitive game for most of the way although the Celtics definitely were in control and held off the Hawks by about 12 points for most of the game. Garnett really dominated this game and seemed to score at will with 27 points and also dominated the boards with 19. The story of this game was really that Boston shot 61% from the floor. And when your opponent shots 61% then you aren't going to win. Boston did a great job in their half court set with Garnett and they did a great job moving the ball around the floor and hitting the open guy. I thought they looked a lot better with Eddie House in the game than they did with Rondo simply because he can hit the open jumper and he will get a lot of those. Pierce played well and got every single call whenever there was contact it seemed. Ray Allen was kind of quiet but he didn't really need to do anything.

The only guy for the Hawks that I felt played up to his capability was Horford. He had a good game with 16 points and 7 boards. He did a better job today offensively in letting the game come to him and also trying to score. His rebounding numbers were down because Boston didn't miss any shots. He did a decent job on Garnett, Garnett is just too good when you can't double team him. Joe Johnson ended up with 16 points on 6 of 14 shooting and had stretches where it looked like he was ready to carry the team but Woodson didn't make an effort to make him a focal point. Marvin had a good first half but then kind of vanished in the second half- he had 14 points on 6 of 9 shooting and again Woodson didn't do a good job of running screens for him and getting him jumpers. Marvin is on fire right now and not getting him more involved in the offense and getting him open jumpers is just poor offensive game planning. Josh Smith only had 8 points on 3 of 13 shooting and really forced things and seemed to get dominated by Garnett when he tried to take it to him- some of it was definitely the vet getting the calls (or no calls in this case) but Josh has to learn this and switch up his game plan. Law played decent with 7 pts and 5 assists but no one really stepped up off the bench as Childress and Lue had decent games but not what we needed.

Overall, the Celts looked real smooth and pretty much established what they wanted to against the Hawks. There were times in this game where you could clearly see that the Hawks were a quicker more athletic team than the Celtics and that the Hawks could have had their way with the Celts if they were able to pick up the tempo and play a faster style. Two things stopped this- the first was the Celtics shooting percentage and the second was Mike Woodson. This is the second game of the year where it has really stood out to me that his offensive game planning just doesn't work (or is no existant) with this group of guys. The Hawks have the talent right now to be a better offensive team then they are it just doesn't seem like Woodson is putting guys like Marvin, Childress, Joe in positions where they are going to be successful on a regular basis and able to shoot a higher percentage. The good news for the Hawks is that their start of the season run with the top tier teams (Dallas, NJ, Detroit, Boston, Phoenix) is coming to an end at 2-3 and we have a little lighter schedule coming up with more mid-level teams (Washington, Charlotte, Milwaukee, and Seattle)- hopefully we can come out of that stretch at 3-1 since 3 of them are home games.

[Riley G]

Tonight is San Antonio vs. Dallas should be a really good game

[Agent Kev]

Hawks need to fire Mike Woodson before their season goes down the toilet due to him not understanding how to run an offensive set.

[Riley G]

I'd like to make an early pick for the finals this year.

Orlando vs. Phenoix

[Agent Kev]

Hawks 82 Heat 79

This was a good win for the Hawks as it was their first road win since Mike Woodson became the head coach (not really, but it feels that way). The Hawks just looked awful in the first half as they only scored 37 and missed probably 75% of their shots. In the second half the Hawks came out and looked pretty good in the first part of the 3rd quarter as they actually ran offensive sets for the first time this year and got guys good shots and moved the ball around well. The second half of the 3rd quarter went down real quick but the Hawks rebounded in the 4th quarter and the Heat just ran out of gas in the 4th. Joe Johnson hit a couple of big threes down the stretch, Marvin stepped up and Josh Smith just destroyed a Dwayne Wade lay-up to win the game in the final seconds.

Some random observations....

Dwayne Wade just doesn't look right. He had a couple of nice drives but he just didn't look like he wanted the ball until the last minute of the game and his jumper was off.

Shaq looked awful in the first quarter, rebounded well in the next two and then was just non-existant in the 4th quarter. During one part of the game the Hawks remembered that they are a better team when they push the ball and Shaq really looked the worse for wear. Horford is a great center to have in the running game because he will wear down the opposing guy just by making him run. Shaq definitely got the best of the Hawks on his end but we wore him down and by the end of the game he was a non-factor.

The Heat's offense looked worse than the Hawks at times. They looked OK in the first half but in the second half nobody wanted to step up and they looked too tired to run sets.

Anthony Johnson is starting to play better as he gets more minutes for the Hawks. He did a good job for the most part tonight all things considered. He's starting to play himself back into shape.

Tyronn Lue is fighting through an injury and he just isn't the same player as he was earlier this year or last year. Whatever he is fighting through is killing him. I think the only reason he's even trying to play is because Acie is hurt, Salim is hurt and Speedy continues to STEAL money from the Hawks.

Mike Woodson's inability to draw up plays (or inability to call them) for Marvin Williams and Josh Childress is astounding. Both of these guys are shooting lights out right now. Marvin was 4 of 8 tonight and is shooting 52% for the year- which is almost unheard of for a guy who mostly shoots jumpers. His mid-range jumper is money right now and Woodson should be running screens and curls for him on a regular basis and riding his streak. Chils is another guy who can nail open jumpers from certain spots on the floor and tonight was also 4 of 8 shooting. He's shooting 57% this year- some of that is just from being active around the basket and getting garbage points but he's also 4 of 9 this year from beyond the arc. These guys are great 2nd and 3rd options and Joe Johnson is getting mauled, hacked, held, grabbed by the defense this year and is double teamed on nearly every play so you can't tell me that Woody can't draw up plays for Childress or Marvin on a regular basis.

Josh Smith continues to really struggle this year on the offensive end and basically be a jekyl and hyde type player. He is really crashing and burning in Woody's "stand around until their is 4 seconds left on the shoot clock and then throw it towards Joe Johnson, who is being held and maimed, offensive gameplan". Woody is really stunting Josh's growth IMO. Josh is trying to be aggressive but it's causing him to be out of control and operate more one-on-one than in a team structure (since Woody has no team structure) and it's resulting in him trying to do too much and ending up with a 4 for 17 shooting night like tonight. Josh still really is the heart of the Atlanta D and is a great piece for this team but something has to give. I think the combination of Atlanta not re-upping his deal before the season (they said they are just going to wait for him to get a RFA deal and then match it as they don't want to bid against themselves) and Woody's coaching that is really hurting him right now. He's trying to do too much on the offensive end and without the structure he's not ready to do that yet. He's been phenomenal on the defensive end and him throwing Dwayne Wade's sh*t to end the game was fantastic.

Joe Johnson has got to be the least respected team star in the league. The refs just give him nothing unless they see blood. It's really a detriment to himself that he doesn't bitch and moan like some of the other "stars" out there. He seems to get fouled every time he takes the ball to the basket but rarely gets a call.

Hawks shot 35% tonight and won. Man, the Heat just looked awful down the stretch.

[Riley G]

The Heat really are the absolute sh*ts this year.

[Riley G]

The all-star ballots are out here are my picks

West:
Tim Duncan (Forward, San Antonio)
Dirk Nowitzki (Forward, Dallas)
Steve Nash (Guard, Phenoix)
Manu Ginobili (Guard, San Antonio)
Ming Yao (Center, Houston)

East:
Andrea Bargnani (Forward, Toronto)
Hedo Turkoglu (Forward, Orlando)
T.J. Ford (Guard, Toronto)
Jason Kidd (Guard, New Jersey)
Rasheed Wallace (Center, Detriot)

[Agent Kev]

Bargani is averaging 11ppg and shooting less than 40% from the field. I'm gonna pass on him on my ballot. I tried to pick by position for the first stringers- so there is a PG and a SG instead of 2 PGs.

Here is who deserves to go so far this year IMO:

WEST:
PG Tony Parker- SA
SG Kobe Bryant- LAL
SF Carmelo Anthony- Den
PF Carlos Boozer- Utah
C Yao Ming- Hou

Backups:
G Steve Nash- Pho
G Tracy McGrady- Hou
F Ron Artest- Sac
F Tim Duncan- SA
C Marcus Camby- Den


EAST:
PG Chauncy Billups- Det
SG Joe Johnson- Atl
SF LeBron James- Cle
PF Kevin Garnett- Bos
C Dwight Howard- Orl

Backups:
G Raymond Felton- Cha
G Michael Redd- Mil
F Rashard Lewis- Orl
F Richard Jefferson- NJ
C Zydrunas Ilgauskas- Cle

[Riley G]

Toronto really starting to put things together. I smell a solid run coming in the near future. I'm loving Moon he's an awesome new talent he's very good on the defense.

[Agent Kev]

Hawks 88 Philly 79

The Hawks opened this game with Josh Smith winning the tip and then Joe Johnson doing an alley-oop to Josh within about 5 seconds of the tip. Nice way to start. The first 6 minutes of this game was really rough but after that the Hawks settled down and played good basketball. Welcome back Acie Law. Acie had 0 points on 0-8 shooting but he was key in this game for the Hawks IMO. It took him until the 4th quarter to get his legs under him but he made two pivotal drives into the lane and kickouts for opener jumpers and the Hawks nailed them both in crunch time. It's plays like this that the Hawks don't have when Acie isn't on the court because besides him they don't have a PG who can penetrate and dish or a PG who can get them into the right play and Acie seems to be the floor general that the Hawks need. He's still young and makes mistakes but he runs this team better than anyone else.

Josh Smith played under control tonight and was an All-World player tonight. He finished with 22 pts on 9/17 shooting (this is good for him this year), 7 boards, 6 assists, 4 blocks and 2 steals. He made huge plays when the Hawks needed them. He backed down AI on the blocks made 2 spin moves and AI bailed out and Jason Smith ate a huge dunk and got the foul. On the other end of the court Josh threw Kyle Korver's sh*t back in his face to start the break. Marvin continued to hit big shots and went for 16. Al Horford played an amazing 3 quarters but didn't see the floor in the 4th. He had 12 points (on 6/9 shooting) and 13 boards. He was hitting jumpers and turnarounds and just playing big, smart basketball and he was handling Dalembert who finished with 5 points in 40 minutes.

Philadelphia just didn't look right tonight. AI was not the same player that he was last year as he seemed to take a backseat to Willie Green and Kyle Korver in the second half and didn't want to step up and be the man.

The thing that stood out for me for the Hawks was that for the most part they played under control and they really improved their spacing tonight. Supposedly they had a players only meeting and this was one of the things that they addressed. Josh Smith played more under control. Marvin and Chills played their roles great as usual. Horford played real big. Acie was the floor general. Joe struggled tonight and never seemed to get going but everyone was playing so much in rhythm that it didn't hurt the team like it usually would. Sheldon also provided 14 solid minutes off the bench and hit two nice jumpers. If the Hawks played like this every night then they would easily make the playoffs- or maybe it was just that we played the Sixers. Anyway, nice win on the road and nice to see the two rooks on the court at the same time again and playing a key role for the Hawks.