Archive for Miami Heat

Why the Hawks have to win tonight

Posted in Mike's Take with tags , , , , on April 25, 2009 by Michael Y

It is simple. If the Hawks want to win this series or at least win this series without having their backs against the wall, they have to win tonight. I didn’t realize that they Hawks haven’t won a road playoff game since 1997. They are currently 0-11. That stat is interesting, but that isn’t the stat that bothers me. If you recall last year, when Atlanta fans were happy that they won 3 games against the mighty Celtics, that all of those games were at home. If you also recall last year, the winning margins for the Celtics in Boston against the Hawks were by 23, 19, 25 and 34 points. To me, that is the cause of concern. It doesn’t matter that the Hawks haven’t won 11 straight road playoff games, it matters that this current Hawks team hasn’t won a road playoff game. Half the team wasn’t even 13 years old yet when that streak started, but they were all there when they choked, and choked hard, in Boston. Granted, the Heat are not anywhere near as talented as the Celtics were, but this game is so important because (a) it will break the Heat’s spirit a little bit (b) not put the Hawks down 2-1 with the chance to come back to Atlanta with their backs against a 3-1 deficit.

I am not completely sure why there was such a difference from game 1 to game 2, but from what I saw, it seemed the Hawks became complacent. The first game they played good team defense and stopped DWade from beating them. I guess they didn’t get the memo that you have to keep playing like that because he isn’t going to give up…ever. You have to play team defense, and on offense you have to attack the basket. Don’t settle for jumpers, take it down low. You want this game to be a defensive game. The Heat can and will beat the Hawks if the Hawks try and outscore the Heat and not play defense. The Hawks beat the Heat three times out of the four that they played this year. The Hawks didn’t score over 91 points in any of those games. I know defense isn’t pretty, but good defense wins games in the NBA Playoffs.

Leave A Comment »

Marvin’s back; Preview of playoffs on Tuesday

Posted in Mike's Take with tags , , , , , on April 10, 2009 by Michael Y

The Hawks weren’t going to back into the playoffs by waiting on Miami to lose. They went and took the fourth seed themselves. After dropping games to Philly, Boston, and Orlando, the Hawks bounced back this week to win three games (two on the road for all of you “Hawks cant win on the road” hater). Tonight they beat the Pacers, and got back Marvin Williams after a 16-game absence. It is good that the Hawks don’t have to worry about their seeding the last two games and can somewhat rest and get ready for the playoffs. Marvin Wiliams.JPGGetting Marvin back tonight was huge for two reasons: (1) he can get a few games in under his belt to shake the rust off before it matters. The Hawks have impressed me with their performance while he has been out. They went 10-6 without him, with only one of those losses to a team that had a worse record than the Hawks. One person that has really stepped up is Josh Smith. He has been going to the basket and in addition to scoring, he has gone to the free throw line 47 times the last 5 games, while going to the free throw line 85 times for the whole month of March. He is attacking the basket, and in the process, opening up the offense for the Hawks. (2) he can get that chemistry back with his teammates. The Hawks have to play good defense if they are going to advance in the playoffs, and with the liklihood that they will be facing D-Wade in the first round, they are going to have to be able to have good team defense. Speaking of the Heat, guess who comes to town on Tuesday for the final home game of the regular season…the Miami Heat. I don’t like it when teams play and then turn around and play each other again in the first round of the playoffs, but sometimes the schedule works out that way. If I were Woodson, I would rest my starters more than usual in not only the game on Tuesday, but in the regualr season finale at Memphis on Wednesday as well. I don’t think momentum is as important in the NBA as it is in some of the other leagues, like MLB. Last year the Hawks didn’t have an impressive last few weeks, but they turned it on against the Celtics in the first round. I think now that they have the 4th seed locked up, they need to be getting ready for that series. Use the game on Tuesday to have the starters sitting on the bench talking about what they see the Heat doing on the floor, almost like a live video study. I don’t know what Woodson is going to do, but if he can motivate those players to play come playoff time so that the Hawks win a series and make the next one competitive, then I think Woodson has every right to keep being the coach of the team and it should shut up those that say he isn’t good enough.

1 Comment »

March Madness? Hawks sweep home stand

Posted in Mike's Take with tags , , , , , , on March 20, 2009 by Michael Y

In basketball, it is thought that crazy things happen in March. Though it may not be complete madness that with the defeat of the Mavericks last night, the Atlanta Hawks swept their seven-game home stand, it is at least a great step forward as the Hawks prepare for the playoffs, which begin in less than a month. Here are four things to glean from the superb performance by the hometown boys:

1. They can play without Marvin Williams.
When Marvin went down in the Pistons’ game and then Joe Johnson’s comments about Marvin being hurt put a real scare into me. I mean, Marvin has averaged 14 points and 6 rebounds this season and our front-court depth is not really something to brag about, but so far, it looks like the Hawks are “making do” and even though there is no word that he may return anytime soon, the Hawks have gotten by surprisingly well.

2. They can play up to the caliber of their competition.
During the seven-game home stand, the Hawks played 5 of the 7 games against teams that have winning records and are currently in the playoffs in their respective conference. It was good to see them play well against the good teams, but they will have to keep it up, seeing that seven of their next 8 games are also against current playoff teams, including a huge game on Saturday in Cleveland against the Cavaliers, who are 31-1 at home this season.

3. They have a proper mindset.
I think there are two things that fall under this. The first is the fact that the Hawks realize how valuable these home games are and they feel like they need to take advantage of the fact that they are in a stretch where 11 out of 12 games are at home. If they would have gone 5-2 or 6-1, it would not have been that big of a deal, but I like the fact that they took advantage of playing at home and were able to find a way to win each game. The second thing is the mindset of playing the “lesser teams.” About a month ago, I got extremely frustrated at the Hawks because they became really complacent against the bottom feeders of the NBA, losing to the Knicks, Clippers, Bucks, and Bobcats. I can understand if you lose to a good team, but you can’t afford to play bad and overlook the bad teams because you are more talented than they are. But after the Sacramento game in which the Hawks smashed them 119-97, I loved what Josh Smith said to the media:

“We didn’t want to lose to a team like Sacramento,” Smith said. “No offense to them, but [after] beating New Orleans and Utah, teams who are on top of the Western Conference, we didn’t want to let ourselves down by losing this game. We’re just trying to separate ourselves from the pack. Miami’s right on our heels still.”

4. They have separated themselves a little bit from the Heat.
The last part of his quote leads me into my final gleaning, which is the importance of staying ahead of the Heat and being able to clinch the fourth seed before the last weekend of the season. It seems that is what is important to the Hawks, which it should be. It is so important that the Hawks get home court advantage for the first round so they can continue to become more successful and hopefully get out of the first round of the playoffs.

Leave A Comment »

Horford huge in win over Heat

Posted in Players with tags , , , , , on February 28, 2009 by Michael Y

Right after I posted a blog about Mike Bibby being so important to the Hawks, he goes 0-7 from the floor in 19 minutes (granted, I qualified my statement using records of the Hawks w/out a full game from Bibby on the road), but the Hawks still defeat the Miami Heat 91-83. The reason the Hawks won last night because of a monster effort that Al Horford put up, scoring 21 points and 22 rebounds (career high in rebounds), and equaled the number of rebounds that BOTH Udonis Haslem and Jermaine O’Neal of the Heat had.

Atlanta Hawks 1st Round Pick, 2007: Al Horford

The Atlanta Hawks were lucky in my opinion to get the #3 pick in the 2007 NBA Draft. I said that both Greg Oden and Kevin Durant would be flops compared to the predictions that some were saying about the two of them. I was correct about Oden and though Durant is a big time scorer, he doesn’t do much else, which the Hawks have a big-time scorer in Joe Johnson. Al Horford has become one of the cornerstones of the youth that has made this team what it is. He won’t score 20 points a night, but he has shown already that he is a consistent scorer and rebounder. He has averaged 11 points, 9 rebounds (9th best among Centers in the NBA), and 2.5 assists per game (2nd best among Centers in the NBA). Most likely, he will probably average those numbers for most of his career (remember, he is only 22 years old), but he is going to continue to be a solid center in the Hawk’s young and talented lineup.

2 Comments »