Hawks 120, Pacers 109 or Where defense is acceptable, but not mandatory.

Tonight was the first game for the Atlanta Hawks as well as the first official blog date night for myself and Larry from Hawkstr8talk. Larry was good company and I learned that he is a pretty popular dude around Philips Arena. I actually kinda already knew that, but whatever. It was good to watch the game with a fellow die hard Hawks fan/fellow blogger. He was not around for the Kiss Cam due to long lines at the bar so we missed our chance for 5 seconds of fame. Oh well, maybe we'll get em next time.
When we took our halftime stroll we ran into Hoopinion's very own Bret. He was on press row sitting beside the only man who understands PER, John Hollinger.

As for the game, the Hawks won a hard fought game against the Pacers who at one point were literally shooting over 70%. In the Hawks defense, (which is the only defense offered tonight that's worth mentioning)they did contest some of those shots. The Pacers were just on fire early. Were it not for the turnovers they could have won this game.

Pretty much every other Hawks blogger has some sort of format they follow for their game recaps. I suppose I should have one too. I'm going to keep it simple and go with, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

The Good: Al Horford. The Boss had 24 points, 16 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks and 1 steal. This is the Al Horford I fantasize about. Give him the damn ball and let him realize my dream for him to become the next Tim Duncan. That's right, I aim high. Honorable mention, Joe Johnson, Josh Smith and Jeff Teague. (His first NBA points came on a dunk)

The Bad: TJ Ford. He was 1-9 from the field and he only had 3 points. There were other players who struggled, but he was the worst of the bunch considering he played over 23 minutes. Honorable mention, Solomon Jones who tried to use every foul he had in the first half.

The Ugly: The Hawks Defense. Indiana shot 63% from the field in the first half. That's unacceptable especially since Mike Woodson is supposed to be a defensive minded coach. Again, some of the shots were contested, but a large majority of them were good clean looks. Get it together.

Up next, Gilbert Arenas and the Washington Wizards.