Hawks Lose In Game 5. We Never Had A Chance.

Well, I guess we'll have to win it in 7.

Here's a quote by Lang Whitaker from his Game 2 blog on Slamonline:

"Joe Johnson picks up 2 quick fouls and comes out of the game. Our chances to win leave with him."

The same thing applies to Game 5. I knew we were in a wee bit of trouble when I saw Dick Bavetta and Joe Forte. Nothing good could come of that.

Either way, we got beat pretty handily. It's amazing the difference home court is making in this series. Hopefully we'll keep up our end of the bargain and win Game 6 so we can go back to that wretched city that is Boston.

Congrats KD.

Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be...

Random Playoff Thoughts

The Suns and Mavs are "Gone Fisin". They gambled on two Hall of Fame players who were 2 or 3 years past their prime and they lost. Oh well.
Steve Nash said on paper the Suns were the better team. I don't know where the hell the Suns are getting their information from, but stop it. I'd take the big three from San Antone any day over any team's best three.
Remember that little skirmish I told you about yesterday between KG and ZA ZA? Well, no one is going to be suspended. I'm sure Suns fans are too pissed about that.
The Rockets beat the Jazz tonight, so they are headed back to Utah for game 6. I'm so pulling for T-Mac.
Detroit beat the Sixers to take a 3-2 series lead. Mo Cheeks said they'd be back in Detroit for game 7 and dammit I believe him......
Looking ahead to tomorrow.....
Everyone seems to think its so obvious that Boston will win this series. Of course, I disagree. I think we'll win in Boston tomorrow and come back to the Highlight Factory to close this thing out in Game six.

Hawks Win Game Four!!

Yep, the series is now tied at 2 games a piece. Philips Arena was CRAZY tonight!!! David Stern was even in the building to take in this great win as well!

This, just like Game 3 was not a fluke win. The Hawks won this game and the Celtics were trying hard as hell, don't believe anything different. They came out swinging in the first quarter! They had us down by 13 just minutes into the game, but we took that shot and remained on our feet.

Going into the fourth quarter we were down 10, then the Joe Johnson show began. He was Kobe-esque tonight! He even had one of those playoff moments that will stay with him forever. He crossed Leon Powe, made him fall, then set his feet, stared at the rim for what felt like 20 seconds while everyone just stood there and watched, then he drained a 3. (sorry for the run on, but I warned you about my tendency to use them) Anyway. He scored 20 points in the fourth quarter and Josh scored our other 12 fourth quarter points. They were fantastic!

I watched most of the second half of the game beside Josh Smith's bro. He's a good dude, very funny and very much into his brother. I love it!

Paul Pierce almost had those 40 points everyone in the media and Boston promised us he'd have. He was just 22 short.

Al didn't have a great offensive game, but he did have 13 rebounds.

Believe it or not ZA ZA Pachulia set the tone for this win tonight. About midway through the 2nd quarter KG elbowed him and ZA ZA ran up in his face and put his forehead against KG's forehead and let him know that it was not going to go down like that! We aint scared of the stinkin Celtics, and it's high time they realize that!

Game 5 is in Boston, and if we win things really get interesting! We're still playing with house money, and if we can manage to score in Boston (something we didn't do in the first two games) then we can get this thing back to the Highlight Factory with a chance to end it.

The Lakers finished off the Nuggets tonight. Poor AI, he deserves better.

The Magic finished off the Raptors. If you don't live in Orlando or Toronto then you probably didn't see it. Why wouldn't they just put the game on ESPN? I know the league doesn't want to compete against itself, but there are a lot of people who don't have NBATV and it's unfair that they didn't get the chance to watch the Magic/ Raptors series. Who am I kidding? No one outside of Orlando or Toronto cared about that series, but it still should have been more accessible to the fans.

Yankees won.

After an 0-6 start, the San Francisco Giants have sent Barry Zito and his $126 million contract to the bullpen. It serves them right for trying to act like the Barry Bonds era never happened.

Hawks Win Game Three!

Finally! The Hawks put the smackdown on Boston tonight in the Highlight Factory. They came out and played like a team that's actually seen a basketball before and played with it together. The first couple of games in Boston they looked like a team who had just met about 15 minutes prior to tip-off.

Josh Smith had a fantastic evening! 27 points, 9 rebs, 6 assists, 2 stls, 1 block and 1 monster dunk over Ray Allen. All in a day's work.

Joe had 23 points, 7 rebs and 6 assitst.

Al had 17 points, 14 rebs and 6 assists. He was fantastic. He also buried a jumper over Paul Pierce late in the game and he had a few choice words for him. I LOVE IT! They've been trying to intimidate Al this whole series and he's yet to back down! I'm sure his reaction wasn't unprovoked because I've been watching the little things the Celtics players have been doing to him. Of course everyone thinks Al is being disrespectful, but I LOVE IT!! Who the hell are the Celtics supposed to be, the Spurs? Has Paul Pierce suddenly become Ginobili? Has KG morphed into Tim Duncan all of a sudden? They haven't done anything yet, but everyone expects the Hawks to throw roses at their feet and just bow down to them. You have to earn respect and until they give our players a little we shouldn't give them any! WE don't give a damn that they won 29 more games than us. They've been talking shit so we gotta talk shit back!

If it was KG they'd just call it intensity.

Either way, if the Hawks play Monday the way they played tonight then we should go back to Boston with this series tied.

Suns Are In Trouble!

I don't like to jump to conclusions, but the Suns are done! Barring a Yankee-esque 2004 collapse, (It hurts me to type that) The Spurs will advance to the second round having barely broken a sweat. The Suns still haven't figured out how to stop Tony Parker, Timmy or Gino. You would think they would have concocted a plan by now, I mean they've only had 2 years to figure it out. Tony lit them up for 41 points and 12 assists tonight. They kept him out the lane which was their game plan, but I have to assume they didn't plan on him hitting those mid range jumpers at the rate in which he hit them. Mike D'Antoni has said several times recently that they are the better team. Well, they have a funny way of showing it.

Steve Nash played like shit, but I bet you won't hear about it. If his name was Tracy McGrady.....
All of a sudden that Shawn Marion for Shaquille O'Neal trade is not looking so good. Steve Kerr will be back beside Marv before long.

I'm all for anything that will get Reggie Miller out of there!

I mean, you could make the argument that the Suns weren't going to beat the Spurs as they were constructed before the trade, but they were a hell of a lot closer than they are now. It's not like they were getting a player in Shaq whose salary was going to come off the books next year. They still owe him $40 million after this season! There's no way they're going to get him off their hands because Isiah no longer has power in New York. I picked the Spurs to beat them in 6 games, but it looks like I gave them way too much credit.

Detroit is in trouble. The Sixers took game one in the Palace, got blown out in game two, rebounded in game three and now have a 2-1 lead over the most overconfident team in this era. People are not giving the Sixers any credit for controlling this series, but its just as much about them as it is about the Pistons and their lack of effort. I knew Philly wouldn't be an easy out, but I didn't think the Pistons could actually lose this series. Now, I'm not so sure.

The Mavs beat the Hornets in Dallas for the 92nd straight time. I think the Hornets will win the next two. Josh Howard is not the smartest person in the world. I know he says he doesn't partake in such things during the season, but I have to assume he was high when he admitted using marijuana and implicated everyone else in the Association on ESPN radio.

Finally, my Atlanta Hawks will beat the Celtics tomorrow in the Highlight Factory. We will.

Things I Thought While Watching The Hawks Lose Game Two.

1st half

Boston's fair weather fans do not heart Bibby.
Paul Pierce got smushed by Josh Smith, I hope he's okay.
Joe has two fouls, not a good situation. We may not see him again until Saturday.
Al has two fouls, see sentence above.
Rajon is still balling.
Acie Law can get to the rim easily. If only he could protect the ball a wee bit better.
Mike, Acie and Joe all on the floor at the same time. Wow.
Too many turnovers.
Ray Allen is really good. Bibby is still struggling and the crowd is committed to harassing him. There's not a lot of, how shall I say.....diversity in the Boston crowd. Hope Bibby gets out of there in one piece.
Joe probably should not end up guarding Kendrick Perkins on any occasion. Ever.
I thought the starters couldn't play any worse than they did in game one, but damn are they out to prove me wrong.

2nd half
Bibby is still struggling.
We cannot out execute the Celtics, we have to find a way to speed up the game while maintaining control.
The game is getting out of control.
We still haven't figured out how to get Joe easy shots. Mike Woodson, meet "the screen". Players, please familiarize yourselves with the concept of moving without the ball before Saturday.
Ray Allen is really good.
Flip over to ESPN to check on the Yankees game. 6-1 Yankees in the top of the 6th inning. Yes, I'm a multi-tasker.
When other players on the Celtics team (Kendrick Perkins) have the Kevin Garnett scowl it seems contrived. It is contrived.
Doesn't take much to get a flagrant foul in these here playoffs.
I expected so much more from Bibby.
KG just pulled his shirt over so we could see his heart, and since he's slim as hell I could see the imprint of it. I really could, I'm not making this up.
I'd like us to lose by less than 20.
Dick Stockton has called Al Tito at least 3 times.
Wow, we shot 40 free throws!
We only lost by 19. Thanks guys.

The good news is that the next two games are in Atlanta. The bad news is we likely will not have learned not to give up on offensive sets if the first option isn't there.
I'll say this again, they cannot possibly keep playing this poorly. They can't. They just can't.