Thursday, January 31, 2008

All Star Reserves (The coaches are just as dumb as the fans)

Eastern Reserves

Chauncey Billups
Chris Bosh
Caron Butler
Richard Hamilton
Antawn Jamison
Joe Johnson
Paul Pierce

Western Reserves

Carlos Boozer
Steve Nash
Dirk Nowitzki
Chris Paul
Brandon Roy
Amare Stoudemire
David West

Of course everyone can't make it and that's what makes being selected so special (so they say), but there were some guys unjustifiably left off. In no particular order:
Baron Davis
Ray Allen
Baron Davis
Marcus Camby
Baron Davis
Ginobili
Josh Howard
Baron Davis
Hedo Turkoglu
and last but not least ,Baron Davis. I know you're probably wondering who I'd replace in order to make room for Baron Davis. That's easy, I'd drop Dirk. I know he's a forward, but he plays like a guard........
One other thing in relation to my Atlanta Hawks, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Joe Johnson. I honestly do, but if any Atlanta Hawks player should be represented in New Orleans it should be Josh Smith. His style of play is perfect for the All Star game, but oh well I'm not mad at Joe..... I see you Josh.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Hawks Lose, I'm Annoyed







I am annoyed by the Atlanta Hawks right now. I cannot believe they lost a game that they dominated for over 3.5 quarters. I'm almost speechless. I can't find words that aren't profane to describe how I feel about the way they lost today. I kinda wanna hold onto the lady like image I've worked so hard to project over the past few years, but at times like this its hard to do. A lot of things pissed me off about this game, but the thing that pissed me off the most is illustrated in the picture on the left. If you'd like a play by play, just read the highlighted material below.




2:47[POR 86-91]
Roy Driving Layup Shot: Made (18 PTS)
Horford Foul:Shooting (2 PF)
2:47


2:47
Team Timeout:Regular

2:47[POR 87-91]
Roy Free Throw 1 of 1 (19 PTS)
Johnson Turnover:Out of Bounds Lost Ball Turnover (4 TO)
2:27


2:08
Outlaw Running Jump Shot: Missed
Horford Rebound (Off:4 Def:8)
2:07

Smith Alley Oop Dunk Shot: Made (17 PTS)Assist: Johnson (11 AST)
2:03[ATL 93-87]


1:45[POR 89-93]
Aldridge Layup Shot: Made (16 PTS)Assist: Roy (5 AST)
Smith Jump Shot: Missed Block: Roy (1 BLK)
1:24


1:22
Aldridge Rebound (Off:2 Def:6)

1:13[POR 91-93]
Roy Driving Layup Shot: Made (21 PTS)
Johnson Jump Shot: Missed
0:48


0:47
Outlaw Rebound (Off:1 Def:2)

0:42
Team Timeout:Regular
Horford Substitution replaced by Childress
0:42


0:33[POR 93-93]
Roy Driving Layup Shot: Made (23 PTS)
Team Timeout:Regular
0:33

Team Timeout:Short
0:33

Johnson Jump Shot: Missed
0:09

Team Rebound
0:09

Team Turnover:Shot Clock Turnover
0:09


0:09
Team Timeout:Short

0:09
Team Timeout:Short
Johnson Foul:Shooting (3 PF)
0:02


0:02
Roy Free Throw 1 of 2 missed

0:02
Team Rebound

0:02[POR 94-93]
Roy Free Throw 2 of 2 (24 PTS)
Team Timeout:Short
0:02

Johnson 3pt Shot: Missed
0:00
Brandon Roy literally ran a lay up drill on the Atlanta Hawks in the last 3 minutes of the game! Josh tried to block a couple of them, but he failed. It shouldn't have been so easy for Roy to get to the rim anyway. As I lay across my bed screaming obscenities at the television (I cannot believe I kiss my mother with this mouth sometimes) I just kept thinking there's no way we're going to lose this game. There's just no way. Yes we're making this win harder than it has to be, but there's no &*$%#@$ way we're going to lose this game. Like many times before, I was sadly mistaken. We did lose the game. We actually blew a 19 point lead and we lost the &*$%#@$ game! Even though I've seen this team do things like this on many occasions, I'm still not used to it. I just cannot accept it. I cannot accept the fact that they played splendid defense for 3.5 quarters and then got bored with it. I cannot accept the fact that they had a shot clock violation on the next to last possession. I cannot accept the fact that we have a player in Josh Smith (who could jump out of the gym if he so chose to do so) but we don't at least try a lob at the rim with 2 seconds left. I cannot accept the fact that there was no trickeration by Woody when he was drawing up the last play. (assuming he bothers to draw up the old Joe Johnson game winning jump shot attempt play anymore, they only go to that play every time the opportunity presents itself). I cannot accept the fact that this team still loses games like this.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

2008 NBA All Star Starters

WESTERN CONFERENCE


Tim Duncan

Carmelo Anthony

Yao Ming

Kobe Bryant

Allen Iverson



EASTERN CONFERENCE


Kevin Garnett

LeBron James

Dwight Howard

Dwyane Wade

Jason Kidd


Alright, I totally respect the fans right to vote for the starters. Sometimes they vote in guys that aren't totally deserving, but they have talent so I can live with the decision. In the case of the Eastern Conference though, a line has to be drawn somewhere. I know D Wade is one of the best players in the league. No doubt, but he should NOT be starting. Not when his team has single digit wins 41 games into the season. Would it really be a downgrade to have Ray Allen start instead? I'm sure he'll be rewarded with a spot on the team by the coaches, but it shouldn't have to come to that since the Heat suck so badly. Regardless of Wade's brilliance, the Heat suck and I happen to think a player contributes to a loss as much as he contributes to a win. For Instance, tonight against the Spurs he took a really bad turnaround shot late in the game. Then he tried to go 1 on 5 and in case he didn't know, the Spurs aren't the Mavs. They play a smidgen of defense from time to time. The Heat have now lost 15 in a row and having had the pleasure of watching a lot of these games (considering they are on national television every time there's a nationally televised game) I've realized that they find a way to lose no matter what. Anyhow, none of this changes the fact that he's going to be a starter for the East. Worse things have happened I suppose.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Hawks/Nuggets Preview/Update: Hawks Lose. Again.

So tonight marks the beginning of our 5 game road trip out west. While we disposed of the Nuggets with relative ease last week, I don't know if I can reasonably expect the same outcome. That's just not how this team is built. Melo is doubtful for tonight, which is a plus for us, but they still have A I and he can single handedly win a game all by himself. He did it for several years in Philly. Za Za won't be available to us tonight for disciplinary reasons, but we were fine at Philips without him so....... We need to start this road trip off with a win. Best case scenario 9 days from now, we've gone 5-0, Worst case scenario, we come back home 0-5. Probable case scenario ( I have no idea what the phrase even means, I just made it up) we come back 3-2 which would be fine by me. I'll recap this game a bit later.

Off the subject: I hate Sean Salisbury. If you watch Sportscenter you know why.

Update: Things didn't work out so well for us in Denver tonight. We started out very good, then things fell apart. Kenyon Martin was playing like he had two good knees. Marcus Camby had 200 rebounds. Okay he really only had 21 rebounds, but it felt like 200.
J-Smoove had a triple double which is a wonderful accomplishment, but it wasn't enough. Marvin had a decent game, Al had a double double, but again it wasn't enough. Joe only had 14 points and all of them came after the first quarter. I know it may not seem like a big deal, but we need Joe to score in every quarter. It's difficult to win games when he plays well, when he plays poorly its damn near impossible.
Melo didn't play, which means the Nuggets were at a slight disadvantage. Fortunately for them they had guys like K-Mart and Kleiza step up.
(Channeling my inner Hubie Brown) If I'm the Atlanta Hawks, I have to win games where the opposing team's second best player is out.
Anyway, this is not how I envisioned us starting this five game road trip, but oh well.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Hawks Lose, Heat Suck Badly!

The Hawks have lost 3 in a row. I'm not even going to discuss it. They're headed out west for the next five games. Good luck.
The Miami Heat have lost 14 in a row! 14 games in a row, and its sorta gone unnoticed. When teams that don't have two All Stars and a Hall of Fame coach lose an enormous amount of games consecutively the media can't make enough fun of them. Apparently, when America's sweetheart from Robins, Illinois team is not doing well it's okay. Now, in defense of Dwyane Wade from Robins Illinois, he is probably doing all he can, but he shouldn't get a pass from criticism. If Kobe were to let the Lakers lose 14 games in a row he'd NEVER hear the end of it! The same goes for LeBron, Melo and any other supposed elite player in the league. If Dwyane Wade, from Robins Illinois is supposed to be one of the best players in the league, then he has to find a way to help his team win a damn game. This is unacceptable. The talent around Kobe and or LeBron is no better than Wade's regardless of what anyone would try to make you believe. The media is always screaming about superstars making the players around them better, well damnitt it's time for Dwyane Wade from Robins Illinois to do that for one game.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Live Blog from the Highlight Factory


Welcome to the Highlight Factory. I'm coming to you live from the Atlanta Hawks vs. Denver Nuggets game. A I is in the building so you know there's about to be a show! We missed him here in Atlanta last season because by the time he'd been traded to the Nuggets, they had already come to town. The fans are excited and so am I!
This photo is awkward and my smile is ridiculously huge, but whatever.

Starting lineup for the Hawks: Marvin Williams, Josh Smith, Al Horford, Anthony Johnson, and J J J Joe Johnson

Starting lineup for the Nuggets: A I, Carmelo, Najera, Camby and Carter



Camby jumps against Smith, Hawks ball. The first quarter is underway.

Marvin hits a jumper to to give the Hawks the early lead. Turnover, Hawks.

A I scores the first bucket for Denver. The crowd goes wild.

Marvin is on fire early. If you can be on fire less than 2 minutes into a game.

The Nuggets have missed 3 point blank layups.

Turnover Hawks.

They are a little sloppy with the ball early on. They need to get that under control quickly because Denver likes to run.

Marvin with the jam, according to Ryan Cameron.

Both teams are sloppy with the ball in this opening quarter.

The score is 14-6 Hawks with 7:58 to go.

Denver turnover, Joe for 2, timeout Denver.

Out of the timeout , Hawks foul, Josh Smith. Melo to the line, he hits 1 of 2

Josh just picked up his second foul, enter the other Josh who immediately picks up his first foul. Wow.

16-9 Atlanta 6:14 to go in the quarter.

Childress for 2

A I for 3

Early on it looks like the Nuggets have decided that they are not going to let Joe beat them.

AJ for two. He's playing like a spry teenager. He's been rejuvenated I suppose.

Melo at the line, sinks one, enter Acie Law, and two.

20-16 Atlanta

Joe for 3, obviously Denver forgot he can hit those.

Turnover Hawks.

It's quiet in the arena.

The Nuggets are getting all the rebounds on this particular possession.

Joe for 2. I thought they were going to pay special attention to Joe, but I guess that was only for a couple of plays.

Timeout

They've opened up the 400's here in the arena, that normally only happens when its a sellout. I know that Atlanta fans normally show up fashionably late, but I seriously doubt this arena is going to fill up completely. I hope I'm wrong, but.....

Enter Solomon Jones out of the timeout.

27-16 Atlanta 2:45 to go.

A I for 2

Marvin is still on fire. He's got 8 points on 4/5 shooting.

A I for 2, this is not good for the Hawks.

Enter Ty Lue for Marvin Williams. That makes all the sense in the world. Not. So on the floor we have T Lue, Acie, Joe, Solomon and Chills. I wonder who is going to rebound.

Foul on Lue, A I to the line. One and two.

Turnover Hawks, miss AI, Lue for 3.

Chills at the line with 2 seconds left in the quarter. One, enter Mario West for Joe, and two.

End of the first quarter, Hawks 34, Nuggets 22.

I like our aggression early. They still need to take care of the ball better and if at all possible they should probably not let A I beat them.

In case you were wondering, K-Mart is out with a staph infection. Poor thing.

Enter Joe for Solomon Jones. See this is what frustrates me about Woody. His substitutions make little to no sense most of the time.

Too many steps, Hawks ball.

J Chill with the jam

Denver miss

Hawks miss

Denver miss

Hawks layup.

Denver foul, Chills at the line for 2. One and two.

Melo is on the bench, but I think he should be in at least as a decoy. JR Smith for 3.

Let's go Hawks, Let's go Hawks, turnover.

Smith another 3, someone better get a hand in his face even though it didn't work last time.

Joe for 3, timeout Nuggets. Joe has 14, the score is 47-31

I can see my mom who is sitting in section 120. Some guy just won a trip to Vegas just because he looked like he should go to Vegas apparently.

It's time for the Delta 3 point takeoff. If the Hawks hit a 3 in the next 2 minutes some fan gets 10,000 Delta miles or something to that effect.

Turnover Nuggets out of the timeout, turnover Hawks right out of the turnover.

Denver miss

Defensive 3 seconds, Lue to the line, and miss.

Melo for 2, welcome back.

Marvin for 2.

I don't think the fan is going to get those miles considering the 2 minutes ae over.

Timeout on the floor.

Enter A-Town dancers in over sized dress shirts and ties. They may want to consider dancing to something that's a top 40 hit. Just a thought.

The arena is filling up a little. It's a decent crowd for a Tuesday.

Josh Smith is back and so is AJ and Al. Joe for 3 he's got 17 and there's still over 5 minutes left in the quarter.

Melo slam.

AJ from JJ according to Ryan.

54-37 Hawks.

Hawks miss.

Nuggets make.

Foul on Carter.

Marvin with the rebound and lay up

Melo Lay up. We are not doing a good job on him. He has 17

Horford with the jaaaaaam!

Nuggets miss.

AJ for threeeeeeee!

The Hawks have a 20 point lead with 2:17 to go in the quarter.

Make some noise for Harry the hawk. Apparently it takes two to make a thing go right.

Out of the timeout, Chills just beat the shot clock. Lucky bounce.

Hawks steal and promptly turn it over.

A I for two.

Mario West with the jaaaaam!

Foul on AJ with 1.9 to go in the half. A I at the line, misses one and makes two

At the half, Hawks 65, Nuggets 44. Please, please don't implode in the 3rd quarter as usual! Be back in a few. Hopefully my battery will hold up!

So I missed the beginning of the third quarter, but it wasn't my fault. I was waiting on the elevators that take forever. In fairness to the elevators its not their fault either, it's because the attendants feel the need to stop at every floor even though on most of them no one has called for an elevator. I guess they're just hoping to get lucky. Back to the game.

75-55 Hawks. Melo has 28 points.

6:15 to go. Timeout Hawks after an uncontested JR Smith layup.

It's time for Acie's Laws, he gives you 3 laws, only one of them is real and a fan has to guess which one. They're normally pretty weird. Apparently it's illegal to lend your vacuum to a neighbor in Denver.

Ciara's in the house, along with Melo's wife La La. They look like BFF's.

Offensive foul on Melo.

Let's go Hawks, Let's go Hawks!

J Smoove with the jaaaaam! He has 4 points and 2 rebounds.

J Chill for 2.

Block by Josh, Hawks turnover.

J R Smith likes to shoot 3's, but tonight he's getting all the layups he can stand. The interior D needs to tighten up for the Hawks.

Enter Acie Law.

Enter Marvin Williams

A I at the line. First one no, second yes.

Timeout on the floor.

Kiss Cam time! Let's get it on...

Out of the timeout, Nuggets miss.

On the floor for the Hawks, Law, Horford, Chills, Marvin and Lue.

79-60 with 2 minutes left in the quarter.

A I for 2.

Camby foul, Horford to the line for 2. No, Yes.

A I for 3. The lead is down to 15. We aren't exactly imploding, but we're getting close. Le's say we get Joe back into the game Woody. We need a basket badly. Law delivers.

At the end of the half it's 82-67.

We need to play to win and not play not to lose. We tend to get a little tight in games like this and we sorely need to avoid that!

I'm glad A I is playing well. My mother loves him and she's got to be thrilled with his performance thus far. He's hit some difficult A I type shots.

Ocho Cinco is in the building. Jermaine Dupri is in the building bundled up like he's at the North Pole. It's cold outside and all, but it's not cold in this arena.

Start of the fourth, Marvin is fouled. He's at the line for 2. No, Yes.

Denver turnover.

George Karl must be fuming at this point.

Josh for three. Noooooooooooooooo! In fairness to him, the shot clock was winding down and he literally had no choice. I know they want to take some time off the clock, but we cannot start having shot clock violations THIS quarter.

Turnover Nuggets.

Miss Hawks.

Miss Nuggets, rebound Nuggets, Miss AI, foul on Marvin Williams, Nuggets ball.

Defense, Defense, Defense.

Foul on Ty Lue. Yes guys let's try to get into the penalty as soon as possible in this quarter. A I at the line. Yes, No.

Melo foul, Hawks ball.

Law has dribbled the air out of the ball the past couple of possessions.

Melo foul, his fourth.

Law for 2.

A I for two and one. Free throw, good.

J J J Joe Johnson for 2.

87-71 Hawks.

87-74 Hawks.

Chills to the line. Timeout on the floor. Welcome back the A-Town dancers. They have on these cute little jersey dresses and they're dancing off Eve's song Tambourine. There was a lot of shaking and gyrating.

Unfortunately I lost my connection shortly after the A-Town dancers appeared. What's even more unfortunate is that I didn't notice it until well into the fourth quarter. Long story short, we won. We jumped on them early and never relented. AI got ejected towards the end, but it really didn't matter.

We go to Milwaukee tomorrow night, hopefully we can keep up our winning ways.



Monday, January 14, 2008

Hawks, Giants and Chargers Win

The Hawks jumped all over the Bulls yesterday and they managed to keep it up throughout most of the game. Joe was fantastic, scoring 19 of his 37 points in the first quarter. To say he was on fire early is an understatement. It was a total team effort and they ended a 12 game losing streak to the baby Bulls. The Nuggets are up next and I'll be coming to you live from that game. Should be fun.
The Giants beat the Cowboys and the Chargers beat the Colts. LT didn't play much due to a sprained knee and Philip Rivers left the game with some sort of knee injury as well. They are probably going to get killed by the Pats. I'm pulling for them, but if their Super Bowl hopes rest on Billy Volek's shoulders...........

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Hawks screwed by NBA and lose to the Wizards.

For the first time since 1982, the NBA is sending two teams back to the court for a do-over.
The
Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat must replay the final 51.9 seconds of their game last month because the official scorer ruled incorrectly that Shaquille O'Neal fouled out, the league said Friday.
This came down just hours before we lost to the Wizards in overtime. The game never should have gone that far, but we made some mental mistakes down the stretch as usual. There were so many things that frustrated me about that game. I'm not even going to get into it. Any of it. Just know that they are still making rookie mistakes and half of them don't know how to do simple things in critical situations.
Back to this Miami Heat replaying of the game nonsense. I know the Heat filed this appeal a long time ago, but they've only won 8 games, they clearly need to focus on more important things. Like getting into double digit wins sometime soon. Anyway, the fans will get 2 fantastic finishes for the price of one on March 8th, gotta love that. As of right now, the Heat have one less loss and the Hawks have one less win.
In unrelated news, The Pats and Packers won their divisional games.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Hawks Win, Heat Suck

So I've been slipping a little (lot) I need to get it together.
Anyway, the Hawks beat the LeBron's last night in the Highlight Factory. The starting 5 was fantastic! They were all in double digits in the scoring department. The starting 5 for Cleveland was not so hot. Its began and ended with LeBron, as it does on most nights. Damon Jones is getting playing time which sums up how much help LeBron doesn't have.
The Wizards will be at the Factory tomorrow night. Hopefully we will play them better than we did in Washington earlier in the season.
In an unrelated story, I can't remember the last time the Miami Heat won a game. There were reports that Pat Riley was considering stepping down as coach next season so he could focus on his duties as the president or whatever his other title is. He promptly denied any such consideration. I believe him because he's probably not going to wait until next season. I'd leave now if I were him!

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Hawks 4 Game Skid

Ugh, the Hawks are mired in a 4 game losing streak right now and I'm disgusted! They need to get it together. They are now a game under .500 just after being 3 games over .500 coming into the New Year. They've lost to Dallas, Cleveland, Indiana and New Jersey. Dallas came out swinging and they couldn't recover, LeBron was hitting jump shots late in the game and there's nothing you can do when his inconsistent jumper is falling. There's no excuse for losing to Indiana. None. They shouldn't have lost to New Jersey, but they did so...... What's next? Maybe they are getting too healthy too soon. Woody has too many options now. He's going to start doing tricky things with the rotations again. Nothing good can come of that. The last thing we need is for him to have to do too much coaching. I don't know what's up, but they better get it together. Soon.
In unrelated news, the Steelers lost to the Jags and the Skins lost to the Seahawks.