Hawks 114, Knicks 101 or Where Al Horford makes me smile.

The Good: Al Horford. The Boss totally lived up to his nickname tonight, particularly in the second half. He finished the game with 25 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks. He really ignited the Hawks in the third quarter. Its like he finally decided he was better than the Knicks low post players and he went to work. Honorable mention: Josh Smith. He actually deserves more than an honorable mention because he was every bit as good as Al. He finished with 22 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 block and 2 steals.

The Bad: Joe Johnson's first half. Joe literally has the capability to shoot the Hawks into a game or shoot them out of one. Either way, he's shooting. He's been able to overcome his slow starts in a couple of games this season, but Joe would be better served to pass the ball to players who can actually make a damn shot as opposed to shooting over 2 to 4 defenders. Luckily he was able to rebound in the second half. He finished with 19 points.

The Ugly: Letting the Knicks shoot over 60% at one point (second quarter) during the game. That's just unacceptable. I mean, yeah, Larry Hughes was on fire early and of course no one could have foreseen that, but the Knicks were getting wide open shots and uncontested layups at an alarming rate in the first half. To be such a defensive minded coach, Mike Woodson's team sure doesn't defend with any regularity. They defend in spurts, which is a recipe for disaster in the long run.


Up next, the Boston Celtics.

For more thorough analysis, visit Peachtreehoops, Hoopinion, Hawkstr8talk and Humanhighlightblog.

To make a short story long

I'm sure in a few places on the web you'll be able to read any number of "back to life, back to reality" articles/comments about the Atlanta Hawks. They will not be completely off base because let's face it, the Hawks have been playing over their head's since they lost Josh Smith. He is no worse than their second best player and we would have been foolish to assume that the Hawks would not start to miss him at some point. That point just happened to come 2 games later than expected.

Josh is not the best defender in the league, however he is at least a presence that gives opposing players pause when thinking about assaulting the lane. Lately if an opposing player (insert guard name here) is able to get past his initial defender (insert Hawks guard name here) he has by all accounts a clean shot at the rim and if Acie Law is anywhere around he has a free throw attempt to follow said shot.

Nothing against Solo, but he is no Josh Smith.

Randolph Morris wouldn't even be on this team were it not for the fact that our big men are dropping like flies. He's a big body and nothing more. He has no emotions at all, none whatsoever. I've never seen someone look so stoic about every situation. He's probably one hell of a poker player though. When he's not sitting on the bench staring blankly at the goings on in front of him, he's on the court wandering around committing fouls with very little effort. People keep telling me to give him a chance, so I'll wait.......

Marvin Williams has been really good thus far, but he's no Josh.

We all know how much I love Al, I will not say one bad word about him. My hopes for Al include him becoming the next Tim Duncan, and possibly the father of my children. (I'm joking for those of you who aren't regular visitors) My little brother thinks only one of those two things is possible. I'll let you guess which one.

I miss Josh, they miss Josh. I'm sure that's something we can all agree on.

I miss Josh.

This weekend did not go well.

Drew explains here
and here