Hawks Unimpressed By Opponents Win Streaks

Five Quick thoughts about the Hawks taking down the Jazz:

1. Joe The Basketball Player is back. Joe is the most appreciated slightly unappreciated Hawks player. He scores 31 points and I'm like eh...... One of the most charming things about Joe's game is how effortless he makes it look. It's also one of the things that makes us pay more attention to the other haves and have nots on the team. It's not like we don't notice when Joe is struggling. We need only look at win/loss totals over the past 2 months or so to really appreciate how much this team's success is directly connected to him.

2. Someone may want to tap Mike Bibby on the shoulder and remind him he is playing for a contract. Not necessarily a contract with the Hawks, but a contract nonetheless. He's struggling. Like for real struggling. We all want Acie Law to get more playing time, but not because we are getting next to nothing from Bibby. We'd just like him to be a part of the rotation because most successful teams have a backup point guard as part of the rotation.....

3. Marvin's injury is a blessing in disguise. Don't get it twisted, I never want to see a player injured (unless it's a Celtic) but this injury (like a few others in the past four years) forces Woody to use other players. Most coaches know they need to not only play 6 guys, but sometimes this fact eludes Woody. When I saw Mario West in the game in the first half you could have knocked me over with a feather. I'm not saying he deserves to play 20 minutes, but games when the Hawks have little to no energy he should definitely be an option because he plays hard. How about the dunk last night? So adorable.

4. The Hawks really are about entertaining the fans, that's why they don't blow anybody out. The Jazz are a good team, but the Hawks came out in the second half and played nothing like they did in the first half. I mean what actually goes on in the locker room to make them come out so lethargic? I'm convinced they just want to make sure the fans are interested in the waning minutes of the 4th qtr.

5. The Hawks absolutely must secure that 4th seed. They NEED home court advantage in the first round. It's a must. Dwyane Wade is doing everything in his power to get the Heat there. I actually think it's a good thing that Miami is right behind them. They know they have to play hard. There's no room for error anymore. I'm extremely confident they will get the fourth seed. I'm extremely terrified of the concept of them playing Wade in the first round. We all know the officials love him. ;) If/when he has a 20 free throw game against the Hawks in the playoffs, my head might explode. I'm already in the process of padding the walls in my condo..... That's weeks away though.

It's Not All Of Josh's Fault.

This post is specifically for Drew, Brett, Larry and Jason (the four people who read my blog). So I know at least two of you were actually at the Cleveland game and you didn't get to see all of the fun videos ESPN decided to run in between Doris Burke giggling about how great it was to be a "witness". Anyway, for whatever reason they decided to let Mike Bibby be the voice of the team and there was one video where they asked him what makes Josh Smith so special or something like that. He gushed about Josh maybe being the most athletic player in the league and he also said and he can hit the three. I couldn't find (didn't look for) the video, but it just proves what I've been telling y'all for months..... His teammates share his delusion that he can shoot jump shots.
Perhaps that explains why they give him the ball on the wing. I told y'all we needed to put some of that blame on them.

Mike Bibby Gets To Shoot Threes In Phoenix

Not the All Star appearance I had hoped for, but I'll take it.

Hopefully he'll shoot like he did in December as opposed to January.

Free Throw Shooting Clinic

You can't miss 15 free throws.

I'm so happy I was in my car listening to miss after miss on the radio as opposed to being at home watching it on television. At one point I thought Steve Holman was going to leave in disgust. Could we really blame him if he had just said to hell with this?

Come on guys. Just, come on.

Again.

Practice makes perfect, or in this case hopefully practice makes at least average.

Free throws aren't the only problem, they aren't even the biggest problem. The biggest problem is that our starting back court has lost it's ability to make shots. Flip Murray has been the best guard on the team for the past 3 games. With all due respect to Flip, this is not a recipe for success. I'm not just saying that because Flip terrifies me on any given night. They've lost the last 3 games. I can't make this stuff up.

Normally teams lose when the guys who make the big bucks don't play well for several games at a time. In this case those two guys are Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby. They've played so poorly I openly plead for Flip when he's not on the floor.

Josh is making big bucks, but he's played relatively well of late.

If things keep going the way they are going the team is going to have to adjust it's goals from winning 50 games and making the playoffs with home court advantage to something more feasible like winning at least 41 games and making the playoffs period. (which is what Rick Sund had in mind, not necessarily only 41 games, but at least having a winning record)

They really need to finish off January on a positive note because February's schedule is not going to be kind to them. They only have 3 home games.

I mean I know it's the shortest month and all, but damn. Of course they get it all back in March where they have 11 out of 12 at home, but they could be out of contention by then. Do I actually think they'll fall out of the playoff race in the East? No, but stranger things have happened.

I'd love to think that when Al comes back we'll right all of our wrongs, but Al can't do anything about the fact that Bibby and Joe can't seem to score anymore. All players go through shooting slumps so I can deal with that reality, but they (Mike in particular) have to find other ways to contribute when their shots are not falling and they (Mike in particular, Joe, not so much) haven't been able to do that. Mike is the point guard so he is still responsible for making sure the offense (whatever it is) runs smoothly. He's not been doing that. He's become one of those one dimensional players who when they aren't scoring they might as well be in the locker room. That is unacceptable. Maybe he just needs to be reminded that he's in a contract year.

While they are still on pace to end the month at 4-3 like I'd hoped, I don't feel good about the upcoming New Jersey game. They had them down by 20 at the half the last time they played and they lost. Mike Bibby isn't going to all of a sudden be quick enough to keep Devin Harris in front of him. Heaven help us if Vince Carter decides he wants to channel his inner Vince Carter circa 2000. It could get ugly. I have to assume Mike and or Joe will come to life sooner rather than later.

I'm going to go ahead and assume it will happen Friday.

Mike Bibby=All Star

Tonight on TNT the All Star starters will be announced. I'm not sure when the reserves will be announced, but if Mike Bibby is not among them

I

WILL

NOT

WATCH

THE

ALL

STAR

GAME.

That is all.

Season Series Sweep.

Statistically it doesn't make sense, but the Hawks beat the Bulls last night.

The Bulls rebounded more. 48

The Bulls ran more. 19 fast break points

The Bulls shared the ball more. 25 assists

The Bulls scored in the paint more. 40 points

The Bulls even hit baskets more. (okay that doesn't make sense, but I really wanted to end that sentence with the word more). They made more shots, whatever. 40-83 (.482)

They lost despite all of those things.

The Hawks had more steals. <9> Mike Bibby had 5 of them.

The Hawks attempted and made more three pointers. <9-25> Mike Bibby had 5 of them.

The Hawks had more points, which is the only thing that matters. <105>

COME ON HAWKS FANS

Let's get Mike Bibby on the All Star team for the first time people.

VOTE HERE

And while you're there you should go ahead and vote for the rest of the Atlanta Hawks starting five.