Hawks 103, Mavericks 111 or Where I'm not going to recap this game, I just have a question

I was not supposed to watch this game. I had no intentions of watching this game, until I found myself in the Hard Rock Casino not gambling while others were, so I decided to watch this game. Not the whole game, but from midway through the second quarter I was fixated on it. Anyway, let's fast forward to the part where Jason Kidd shoved Mike Woodson. Woody, was on the court, but saw Kidd coming his way and immediately jumped back. From the replays I've seen it looked to me like he got back in time, therefore Kidd extending his arm to make contact with him should have resulted in an out of bounds call at least, a technical at worst. Unfortunately it did not happen that way. They T'd Woody up. Okay fine, what's done is done. My question is simply this, WHY IN THE HELL WOULD MIKE WOODSON AGREE WITH THEM?
He should not be on record saying Kidd made a "heck of a play" and all the other nonsense he spewed after the game. He should be screaming at the top of his lungs that he made it off the court before Kidd came over and shoved him. Why is he going the opposite way? Whose side is he on? I've seen the replay, and it's not like there was overwhelming evidence against that theory. I'm blown away that he is going along with this Jason Kidd is a genius bullshit. Seriously, even if it turns out that there's indisputable evidence that you didn't make it off in time, you don't go into the post game press conference tipping your hat to him. You bitch and moan and act like Kidd just assaulted you like you were his wife. (yes, that was a cheap shot, but I'm mad)
I would love to tell you, I'll recap this game later, but you all know that's not going to happen. I'm not even supposed to be watching basketball this weekend. All I can say is I'm extremely disappointed in how our head coach is handling this whole situation. If you're arrogant enough to think you can be a head coach of a professional team at least be arrogant enough to think you did nothing wrong even though evidence might prove otherwise later.




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Hawks 76, Heat 94 or Where Jamal and his agent should be drawing up those contract extension papers right now.

I don't ask for much from my favorite team. Do I hope for much? Sure, but I don't ask for unreasonable things from them. One of the only things I consistently ask of them is that they don't lose to teams that they should not lose to. Well, they did exactly that tonight against the Miami Heat.
Myself and a handful of other Hawks bloggers were given the opportunity to chat with Rick Sund prior to tonight's game. I won't get into too much about the chat because there was only one revelation he made that was relevant to this game. He said Jamal Crawford would not play because of a shoulder injury.
When he said that, two things went through my mind. The first thing was a feeling of "aw shucks" because I knew there would likely be no four point plays. The second thing that went through my mind was that the Hawks would probably not pull away from the Heat until the fourth quarter. The thought that they might actually lose the game never crossed my mind, because I assumed the Hawks knew they were better than the Heat. I assumed incorrectly.

Now we've come to the portion of the recap where I read way too much into one loss.

This loss tells me one thing for certain about the Hawks franchise player, he's not really a franchise player. When a team is faced with injuries to role players, their superstar has to do something extra. That's the position Joe was in tonight, but he didn't do anything extra. He started the game 4-4, then proceeded to go 3-17 the rest of the way. That is unacceptable on every level. I have always been of the thinking that Joe Johnson does not deserve a max contract. This game just reinforced my beliefs. First of all, he can't get to the free throw line. Did he have a couple of drives where there was contact? Sure, but he also shot eight 3 pointers. He didn't exactly force the refs to make a call in his favor. What it boils down to is if Joe's jump shot isn't falling he can't score. We already knew that, but this game highlighted it.
There is no second of all.
LeBron James lost damn near every guard on his team to injuries, yet the Cleveland Cavaliers are in the midst of a 12 game win streak. He is doing something extra. I do not need to be reminded that Joe is not as good of a player as LeBron. However I do need to remind you that Joe wants to be paid like LeBron. If you want franchise player money, then you need to have franchise player performances when your team needs you most. You need to not lose to the stinking Miami Heat! You bitch and moan about the crowd not showing up for the games, then 17,000 people come out and you lose to a team who had lost something like seven of their last ten games. I wouldn't blame the fans if they never came back. Here's a fun fact: Three of the Heat starters combined to go 5-22 and the Hawks lost by 18......
Josh put up good numbers. Al got his usual double double with his usual limited touches. Hell, Bibby even scored 12 points. It all comes back to the franchise player. He didn't do that something extra to make up for Jamal being out. Is it fair that the bulk of the responsibility for the outcome of this game falls on Joe? Well, as the highest paid player on the team, hell yes. His contract implies he is the best player, so he needed to do something extra to make up for the absence of Jamal. He didn't, so the Hawks go into the All Star break on a low note.
Go Hawks.



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Hawks 91, Bulls 81 Where Josh Smith's awesomeness was awesomer than I can even explain.

Josh Smith was fanfreakingtastic! He came to play tonight. I can't even find the words right now so I'll just leave you with his stat line.

18 points, 14 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 steals and 1 huge middle finger to the Eastern Conference coaches.



For more thorough Hawks analysis visit Peachtreehoops, Hoopinion, Hawstr8talk or Humanhighlightblog

Hawks 103, Clippers 97 or Where the Hawks knew they were better than the Clippers, but they didn't want to show their hand until the 4th qtr

The Hawks won a game they were supposed to win. Yawn... I'm probably the worst of bloggers because I rarely recap games the Hawks win when I deem the opponent inferior. However if the Hawks lose a game to an inferior opponent, I'll give you a thousand words easy. I need to work on that, because at the end of the day these are all NBA teams and I should treat all wins and losses equally. Sounds good, but I probably won't change.

The Good: Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford. Again, I couldn't choose between the two. Joe had the quietest 34 points you'll ever see. I honestly did not know he'd scored that many until I checked the box score. I just assumed he was somewhere around his average. He forced the action and actually got to the free throw line like a superstar tonight. We need to see more of this. Jamal was just Jamal. He came off the bench and did what they pay him to do. He scored 22 points and also tied Reggie Miller with most 4 point plays in league history. That record will belong solely to him by the end of this month. I'm willing to bet on that. Honorable Mention: Hawks starters not named Mike Bibby. Josh, Al, and Marvin each had a double double. Can't ask for much more than that.

The Bad: The Hawks defense for 3 and 1/3 quarters. The Hawks are better than the Clippers. They know they are better than the Clippers and they took the floor expecting to win without exerting a ton of energy. Their nonchalant attitude allowed the Clippers to build two separate double digit leads. Obviously the Hawks were able to overcome those, but there's no reason to get into a dogfight with the Clippers when a good old fashioned ass whipping will do.

The Ugly: The realization that Mike Bibby is a shell of his former self. I'm not even going to elaborate on this. It's just painful to watch.




For more thorough Hawks analysis visit Peachtreehoops, Hoopinion, Hawstr8talk or Humanhighlightblog