Hawks 105, Heat 90 or Where the Hawks are 10-2!

The Hawks are 10-2, and its a legit 10-2, not like a 10-2 against the cellar dwellers of the NBA. Yeah the Knicks are one of those 10 wins, but its still legit.

The Good: Josh Smith. Joe had 30 points, but this team goes as Josh goes, especially in the Highlight Factory. He finished 16 points, 14 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. When he's soaring all over the arena it gets the crowd into it and there's pretty much nothing the opponent can do. Aside from LeBron I defy you to name a Forward in the East playing better than Josh. He's doing it all. If I played fantasy basketball I'd want him on my team. Honorable Mention: Team defense on Dwyane Wade aka Nature Boy. I don't think he got a clean look at the basket all night. The Hawks strategy to build a wall around him and disregard his teammates will not work versus the other superstars in the league because their teammates do not suck quite as bad as Dwyane's. Oh well, that's a Miami problem.

The Bad: The Hawks third quarter. They came out flat and the Heat managed to turn a 17 point deficit into a 5 point deficit seemingly in the blink of an eye. Obviously the Hawks were able to overcome the new found energy of the Heat, but they need to find a way to start the third quarter strong. Bad third quarters remind me of yesteryear.

The Ugly: Heat players not named Michael Beasley. He finished with 21 points, 9 rebounds and he was pretty much the lone bright spot for the Heat. He's drawing comparisons to a young Josh Smith which is very accurate. He's extremely athletic, but very raw. He should be a hell of a player when he matures, but that won't likely happen this season.



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

The Writing Was On The Scoreboard (figuratively and literally)

I knew very early on last night would not end well for Atlanta. Spirit the Hawk is not really an indicator as to how well the game will go, but if my memory serves me correctly when Spirit refuses to take his normal route the Hawks lose. There have been a couple of games where he just decided to not fly down at all. Coincidentally one of those games was the season before last against Miami. The Hawks went on to lose that game.

Spirit came down last night but he decided to take a few laps around the arena before eventually landing on the scoreboard stopping play of the game because Jermaine O'neal was afraid of him. What a wuss.
There were a lot of things that frustrated me last night, but none more so than the wide open 3 point attempts the Miami Heat players kept getting. At some point I assumed someone would recognize that it's not a good idea to leave the reigning 3 point shootout champion open. I assumed incorrectly.
Wade was on fiah at different points in the game. Not a whole lot you can do about that.
Even with all those things going on the Hawks managed to cut the lead to 5 points in the fourth quarter before completely collapsing and only scoring two more points thereafter.
Joe has not been good in this series. At some point I assume that will change.
Oh well, I actually think losing Game 2 makes us better suited to win Game 3. I certainly hope that's the case since I will be in Miami watching that game. If the Hawks win it will certainly make me feel a lot better about all the money I'm spending just to watch a basketball game.
Go Hawks!

Sixers or Heat

Who do you think the Hawks match-up better against?

My thoughts on this don't even concern the match ups. I'm more concerned with how the NBA thrives.
I would rather play the Sixers because I honestly think the prospect of a LeBron vs Wade second round would be too enticing for the league to pass up. I'm not saying they "fix" games. I'm just saying we all know the kind of preferential treatment superstars tend to get and Wade is one of the more preferred in the league. I remember watching him skip to the free throw line 20 something times in the Finals against the Mavs. If they'll officiate him like that when the whole world is watching, then you know they'll give him a bogus call or two when only one coast is watching.
Having said all of that, I honestly think the Hawks are the 4th best team in the East and they should beat whomever they play in the first round (with home court advantage)
What are your thoughts?