Playoffs? Playoffs?!!!!

Okay, so the talk of playoffs maybe is still a little ways off, but right now .500 gets you in in the East. Unreasonable? Completely, but I didn't think the Hawks would play as well as they have. Really, they are better than their record shows, and are more like a 4-7 team than a 2-9 team. They've got a good shot tonight at Portland, a team they should've beaten the first time they played. In the meantime, check out this graphic that you won't see on ESPN too often:



As Josh 1 said, last year he promised to cut his hair if we won two in a row. He's not making that promise this year, because two in a row isn't a big deal for this team. Let's run off another 7, baby!

Hawks Don't Suck Hard

Let's be honest, the Hawks are not the worst team in the NBA. Beating a 4-6 Celtics team at home by 6 points (buzzer beating 3 by Pierce notwithstanding) should not be a shocker, especially since they lost in Cleveland the night before. The winning percentage of NBA teams when one is playing back to back and the other is not is something crazy, like 75% in favor of the rested team.

Some good points: it looks like we shot the ball well, really well. We gave up almost as many as we scored, but this may be similar to the scores of the types of games we win. When we run the court, there aren't a ton of teams that have the youthful athleticism with which we are supposedly imbued. Very strong play from Dr. Z, and Josh 2 may be getting his legs back. True Professional had a contract year game- we expect many more of these, TP. The biggest thing was that the Hawks did not fade in the 3rd quarter, which is a longer standing tradition than Thanksgiving. Did Woodson actually make an adjustment, or are the Celtics coached just as poorly (man I wish Doc was coaching here)?

Chris Paul vs. Marvin Williams

Did you know Marvin Williams' middle name is Gaye? His name is Marvin Gaye. His new official Hotlanta Hawks' nickname is "Sexual Healing" (formerly known as Little Head). Chris Paul is just the "Nut-Puncher". So we played Nut-Puncher's team last week, and got beat. We were getting destroyed, but then had a monster 4th quarter behind SS and his red right hand. But lost, of course. NP had a big game, so it got me thinking- did we do the right thing drafting Sexual Healing? I think Sexual is the better long-term move, but Nutsie could have made us competitive today. Actually, that's stupid. Salim "The Dream" brings almost as much to the table, except for the non-shooting point guard stuff. But we've cleary established ourselves as the worst team in the league, even though we are going to pull out our first W tomorrow night against the Boston Celtics!

Pau Gasol Strikes Again

Still visibly angry over his draft rights being traded by Atlanta Hawks many years ago, apparently put the finishing blow with a buzzer beater last night. Sounds like a great game, with our starters dropping trou and taking a dump on the floor, with Salim, Josh 2 (AKA J-Smoove) and Marvin "Needs a better nickname than Little Head" Williams bringing their game. Too bad nobody saw it, because it was not on TV and it was a home game (so nobody was there, either).

After a little bit of research (there should be a web site that makes this easy), I went through the history of transactions involving Pau Gasol. We traded his draft rights, knowing that he was possibly the greatest foreign player of all time this side of Dirk Nowitzki, along with some other crappy players for Shareef "I only go to my right" Abdur-Rahim. We then packaged him with Theo Ratliff and got Rasheed Wallace, who we then promptly traded for Bob Sura and a Bucks draft pick, which turned into Josh 2. There were some other players in there who didn't affect anything that were left out, but we've missed out on 5 years of having a solid forward for a revolving wheel of mediocrity, except for Wallace, who is one of the 5 best former Atlanta Hawks of the last 20 years, I would wager (he absolutely should always be introduced as a former Atlanta Hawk). Josh 2 may or may not turn out to be as good as Gasol, but it still sucks. Apparently he looked good last night. As a side note, the Grizzlies lost by 19 to the Cavs the night before the game, so it's not like we just lost to an fresh and upbeat team.

Last night's game ball goes to Zaza Pachulia, henceforth referred to as Dr. Z. Dr. Z shot 2-11 from the field and 6-8 from the stripe. I am convinced that his stats are backwards. How does a 6-11 center go 2-11 from the field? He's not chucking up 15 footers, I hope. He's shooting almost 80% from the line, but his field goal average is half that. I'm thrilled that he has some touch, but it is clear that he ain't got no power. Take it up strong, Dr. Z. Good night, and good luck.

Hawks Wings Clipped, Or Something

The Hawks got handled by the Clippers tonight. The score was close, but the Clippers were in control that game. Josh and Josh don't look so awesome. Last year it was "hey, these rookies aren't so bad"; now it's "man, I thought these guys were supposed to be better". In fairness Josh Smith was hurt, and is slow getting his hop back. Childress has no excuses that I know of. The Clippers are not a bad team, in fact they are good. But we're at home, and we got spanked by every single NBA team LA could send out here.

I checked out the Hawks website, looking for ticket packages. For all the readers out there, I want to alert you to some fantastic ticket deals. You can buy a package of 6 $25 tickets for the price of $150. For those of you who failed math, that's a discount of $0. Pathetic. They don't even bother offering packages for the $10 seats. To get any kind of discount, you have to buy 21 $45 seats. And then they'll knock $2 off a ticket. If you're able to drop 900 bucks on HAWKS tickets, that extra $2 per ticket isn't probably going to be the difference maker.

I will now renew my demand, that all 400 level seats are free. The team will more than make that money up in concessions and added revenue due to fan interest. It's just that easy. Those upper bleacher seats just aren't that good, and when you compare the value to a movie, well, it's yet another tough matchup for the Hawks. The first 5 rows of seats should be 50 bucks, too. There's a reason those seats are empty, because only an idiot is going to pay the kind of money to sit there. Oh, and rich people. Must be nice. Not having to take Marta, being able to eat at the game, getting the free tickets dropped from the blimp, free t-shirts...

Hawks Get Killed Again

The Hawks need to track wins and losses in several columns: competitive wins and losses vs. blowout losses. Because we seem to be having a few blowout losses. Yes, Al "True Professional" Harrington did not play, so we've got some excuses. But Al not playing isn't why we shot 35%, is it? Why our front court starters went a combined 7 for 30? That's not the kind of shooting you want out of your big men. We lost by 15, only because we out scored their scrubs by 10 in the 4th quarter. We didn't make a single jump shot in the 3rd quarter. The list goes on.

Now obviously I'm not an NBA analyst, but it seems to me that your team *consistently* gets thrashed and outperformed in the 3rd quarter, right after halftime, there is something your coach is not doing right. When Woodson says stuff to the effect that nobody on the team was doing anything right, either nobody on the team cares what he says or he is a horrible coach. We have a very young team, and nobody on the court has previously established themselves as a "smart" or "coachable" player (although Childress went to Stanford), so it's possible that Woodson knows what he's doing and none of the players are paying attention. There can't be much leadership on that Hawks squad, especially when they are looking to Harrington as the experienced vet, and he only seems to care about putting up numbers in a contract year. And I don't think Marvin Williams, the 6th best player on a COLLEGE team last year, is ready for that responsibility.

10:21 left in the 2nd Quarter

Whatever happens this season from here on out, I love this team. Man have I been up and down, but this team is kicking butt. Can't say the defense is the difference, but the offense looks good. Our team looks BIG. Man, seeing Joe Johnson facing off against a guy who's 6 feet tall- he looks like a monster. And he is legit. This team is going to do some damage this year, as long as the hopes are up.

Update: That's what I get for going to bed in the 3rd quarter with the Hawks up 10. I wake up to find out they lost by 25!!! Ridiculous. Get used to it, I guess.

Gotta Love Power Rankings

The Atlanta Hawks are ranked #27 on the ESPN power rankings. Pretty fair. This is not the worst team in the league by far, and we could beat some really good teams on a good night. Over the course of the season, we are going to lose a lot of games, however. I just want the team to stay competitive and have a good attitude. Antoine Walker did not have a good attitude, but I think the guys on this team do. I'm not sold on the attitude of Al "True Professional" Harrington. He might be more concerned with putting up numbers and getting his next contract with a different team. The other guys are young enough that they actually think they can win in Atlanta.

I tell you, though, if *these* guys start winning games, I think this town can get behind them. Josh Smith is a rock star, and if the Hawks are winning you're going to start seeing his jersey everywhere. Atlanta loves guys that will throw it down, and guys that are ice cold from the 3. With Stoudamire and Smith, we've got a couple of badass dudes that could make the fans rise up. Damn, I just got excited writing this paragraph. See, it's not all about the hate. Well, let's just see how our first game goes.