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Note: the opinions expressed here are not those of the Atlanta Hawks organization or of the NBA.
Ok, not me per se, but the national media is actually starting to pay some attention to our boys in red and white. Lang Whitaker, an Atlanta fan from way back and writer for Slamonline.com and for SI.com, posted a column yesterday about the improvements the team has made over the last week or two. Also on SI, NBA writer Kelly Dwyer discussed the recent turns-of-fortune for the Hawks and Hornets.
For the most part both pieces were positive, but I have to call Dwyer out a little for dissing on Marvin Williams. Take what I say with a grain of salt if you must since I work for the Hawks, but isn't it just a tad early to say he is a bust? Shouldn't we give a 19-year old a little more than 20 games before we decide he is a dud?
I realize Shareef Abdur-Rahim averaged 18.7 ppg when he was 19, and that's wonderful; he is certainly a terrific player. But Shareef was also already as good at 19 as he is at 29. Marvin, on the other hand, was not just drafted for what he can do for the Hawks this season, but for several years to come as well. Haven't we learned from guys like Jermaine O'Neal, Tracy McGrady, and even our own Al Harrington that NBA success can take some time to develop? Chris Paul and Deron Williams have been terrific so far, there is no question about that - but to judge a draft class based on a quarter of a season strikes the Web Guy as just a tad silly.
Ok, rant over. By the way, congrats again to Joe Johnson, who was named NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week for his exploits last week in leading the Hawks to three wins. JJ was on fire, scoring a career-high 36 in the win over New York (including a career-best-tying six threes) and following that with 30 in the OT win over Denver on Sunday.
Tonight should be a great battle in Miami between Johnson and Dwyane Wade. The Heat have returned to their winning ways of late (3-1 since Pat Riley took back over), and everyone is giving Riley a ton of credit for it. But I say having Shaq back in the middle would probably cause most teams to go 3-1, let alone a team with pieces like Wade, Gary Payton, and Antoine Walker. The Hawks have perhaps caught a couple teams napping in the last week or so (not to take anything away from their accomplishments), but after going 4-1 in their last five you can bet the Heat won't be taking them too lightly.
Obviously, the key to a Hawks win tonight will be trying to control the Big Fella in the middle. That being the case, I wouldn't be surprised to see a little more of John Edwards, John Thomas, and Esteban Batista tonight to help Zaza Pachulia out in the interior.
Tune in at 7:30 on FSN to see the Hawks in action!
-- The Web Guy | 2:45 p.m. 12/20/05 | Have a comment?
Five Reasons To Come To The Nuggets Game
5) See The Three, Be The Three. The Hawks had quite a night shooting the ball from long range Friday against the Knicks, connecting on 12 of 16 three-pointers. An interesting streak was snapped in the 122-111 victory, as the Hawks won for the first time in a game when Al Harrington hit a three-pointer. For the record, the Hawks are now undefeated every time Harrington hits six threes. Can the Hawks keep up their great shooting against the Nuggets? We'll see on Sunday.
4) Speaking Of Al Harrington... Harrington tied his season-high in points Friday with 35 against New York. What was the other time he scored 35? I'm glad you asked! In fact, it was against Denver just a couple weeks ago in the teams' first meeting of the season. On the statistical front, Harrington needs just one free throw for the 1,000th of his career, and needs nine rebounds to hit 2,500. Here is another neat one - in the last four games, Al has scored at least seven more points than he did the previous time out (11 against the Spurs, 20 against Cleveland, 27 at Philly, and 35 against the Knicks). So pencil him in for at least 42 on Sunday!
3) Josh From The Block. The Hawks may not have a shot blocker like Ben Wallace or Theo Ratliff roaming the middle, but second-year forward Josh Smith continues to catch teams napping coming to help from off the ball. J-Smoove was at it again Friday, swatting 8 shots (and picking off a couple more that were called back for goaltending or a foul) in impressive fashion. Smith leads the team and is currently 9th in the league in blocks per game. The Hawks will need him to keep it up against Denver, a team with a shot-blocker of their own in Marcus Camby, who had five blocks in the first meeting.
2) And Speaking Of Marcus Camby... Camby was an absolute monster in the game at Denver on Dec. 6, going for a double-double (24 points and 12 rebounds) to go along with his blocks. The Hawks have had trouble with skilled big men all season long, but perhaps have turned it around a little lately after holding the Spurs Tim Duncan to only 10 points and 7 boards last Saturday night. The Nuggets destroyed the Hawks in the paint last time out, outscoring them 66-38, and Camby had a lot to do with that. To win on Sunday, stopping him needs to be a big priority.
1) Learning To Fly. If you didn't go to the game Friday night, first of all, shame on you. But seriously, Friday gave a glimpse at the future potential of this team. Granted, the defense was a little sluggish, but we definitely got a taste of what these guys are capable of. With Joe Johnson and Al Harrington pretty much doing as they pleased offensively, Josh Smith flying all over the place for breath-taking dunks and blocked shots, and guys like Zaza Pachulia and Josh Childress doing a lot of the dirty work, this team can be a handful for the opposition. Denver will be another good test for the young squad, with stars like Carmelo Anthony, Camby, and Andre Miller leading the way. The Hawks are slowly gaining momentum, and a win on Sunday would make it four out of five. It's been a rough start to the season, but with a ton of home games on the horizon, there is certainly time to get this season going in the right direction.
See you there! | Buy tickets
-- The Web Guy | 7:00 p.m. 12/17/05 | Have a comment?
Five Reasons To Come To The Knicks Game
5) Chick-fil-A Family Night. A brief Web Guy story, if you will permit. Before coming to work for the Hawks, the Web Guy spent several years working in the Northeast, a part of the country horribly bereft of Chick-fil-As. After finally getting back down to the South, I have been able to happily stuff my face though. What gives with the Northeast anyway? Very few Chick-fil-As, and almost no Waffle Houses. God bless the South. Anyway, come tonight to the game and take advantage of Family Night, where you get four coupons for combo meals to go along with big discounts on tickets. You won't be sorry! (And if Chick-fil-A reps happen to read this and want to give the Web Guy some free food for this extra publicity, you have my email address).
4) Wildcats. Two of the biggest rookie surprises this season have been the Hawks Salim Stoudamire and the Knicks Channing Frye, both of whom played under Lute Olson at Arizona. The two will play each other tonight for the first time as pros. We caught up to Salim after shootaround this morning to ask him about the match-up, and here is what he had to say.
3) A Lue-sing Proposition. Hawks PG Tyronn Lue has made it tough on opposing defenses the last two games, scoring 40 points in his last two games to give the team a huge lift off the bench. In particular, he has been effective off the pick-and-roll from the top of the key, especially against Cleveland, when he repeatedly got into the lane for baskets. He and Royal Ivey have made for a nice combination over the last few games, with Ivey providing great energy on defense and Lue coming in to give a spark offensively. Look for Lue to do well tonight against the Knicks and Stephon Marbury, a player never particularly known for his defense.
2) A Coaching Reunion. Larry Brown is in his first season at the helm in New York, and this will mark the first time he meets the Hawks this season. For those that don't know, Hawks coach Mike Woodson apprenticed under Brown in Philadelphia and in Detroit, as did assistant coach (and elder sibling) Herb Brown. Bob Bender was also with them in Philadelphia. Woodson's Hawks probably had their biggest win of the season last year at Detroit, winning on the night Woodson and Herb received their 2004 championship rings. As always, the emotions will run high when people who were in the trenches together for awhile face each other. Look for tonight to be no exception.
1) It's New York. Come on folks, you have to want to beat the NBA's home team! Knicks fans are notorious for showing up in droves at Philips and trying to turn it into a home game for the visitors. Come out tonight and show them whose territory this is! If the game is close in the fourth quarter (and judging by the season so far, I'd say that's a pretty fair bet), the fans can make a difference, and anyone who was at the game Saturday night against the Spurs knows exactly what I'm talking about. So get out to Philips tonight and help the boys get their third win in four games.
See you there! | Buy tickets
-- The Web Guy | 2:00 p.m. 12/16/05 | Have a comment?
Point/Counterpoint With The Web Guys
If you didn't know, the Atlanta Hawks and Thrashers are both owned by the same company, Atlanta Spirit. There is a lot of crossover between the two teams, and the websites are no different. Therefore, from time to time, we thought it would be fun to have the teams' respective Web Guys (we promise they are different people) debate each other in a point/counterpoint setting.
With both teams winning big games Tuesday night (the Hawks won 100-94 at Cleveland, the Thrashers won 7-6 over Detroit at Philips Arena), we thought we would kick it off today with a simple question for them to debate:
Which victory was more impressive?
Thrashers Web Guy: While the Hawks’ win over the
Cavaliers in Cleveland was impressive, there’s no doubt that the
Thrashers’ victory over Detroit is a bigger win. Going into last night’s
game the Thrashers had never beaten the Red Wings, at home or on the
road. In seven games they’d lost five in regulation time, two in
overtime, and were 0-3-0 at Philips Arena against the Red Wings.
Meanwhile the Hawks have a 98-80 all-time record against Cleveland,
including a 13-11 record going back to the ’99-00 season (which is when
the Thrashers entered the NHL). So from a historical perspective, the
Thrashers’ win is more significant.
Looking at it from a “What win is bigger right now?” point of view, I
still say the Thrashers take it. The Hawks were coming off of a huge win
over the Spurs on Saturday, and if they had have lost at Cleveland
people would have understood, and still given them credit for the win
over San Antonio. On the other hand, the Thrashers were coming off of a
shootout loss against Chicago, a team that was only one point ahead of
them in the standings at the time. Looking even further back, the
Thrashers had been struggling against mediocre teams and had one win in
their previous six games, which was against Columbus, a team that’s
sitting at the bottom of the NHL standings. Not only did the Thrashers
need a win, they needed a win over a good team to show that they can
hang with anyone in the NHL. Detroit isn’t just a good team, they’re the
Western Conference leaders and one of the most dominant road teams in
the NHL (with a 10-3-1 road record before last night).
Beating Detroit was huge in every possible way. It gave the Thrashers
their first franchise win against the Red Wings, it gave them a valuable
two points in the standings, and it proved to them, and the rest of the
NHL, that this team can skate with absolutely anyone. Regular season
games can’t get much bigger than that.
Hawks Web Guy: Oh Thrashers Web Guy, you are so silly. Yes, the Thrashers win last night was big. Any time you can beat one of the NHL's Big Boys you have to be excited, especially when you have yet to taste success against them previously.
But come on man - the Hawks improved their season win total last night by 25%!
That alone should show how important this victory was. You are right - the Hawks
were coming off a huge win against San Antonio on Saturday, and that probably
helped spur them to victory last night (no pun intended). But the defining
characteristic of this Hawks team is its youth - and youth is prone to extreme
vacillations in confidence. Winning one game is nice. But winning two games is a
streak. Look what happened earlier this season - a big win over Boston, a bigger win on the road at Indy, then a heart-breaking loss at home to Portland which began the seven-game slide that ended Saturday against the Spurs. Wins are big for any team, but every win this young Hawks team gets is especially meaningful.
Ok, so maybe the Thrashers had lost all seven meetings with the Red Wings. But the Hawks had dropped seven straight to the Cavs, so they cancel each other out.
Besides, I think the Thrashers knew they could skate with anyone in the league already - victories over the last two Stanley Cup champions already this season should have illustrated that point.
Perhaps the final answer to our question will be borne out in their performances in the Northeast - the Hawks are back at it tonight at Philly, while the Thrashers play tomorrow night at New Jersey.
-- The Web Guy | 3:15 p.m. 12/14/05 | Have a comment?
Spurs Wrap, Notes Around The League
Man, the season is flying by. I apologize for having not written more of late, but I aim to remedy some of that today. The Hawks play their 20th game of the season tonight at Cleveland, which means we are basically at the first-quarter pole of the season.
First a couple of in-house items. If you haven't checked out the new dance team pages, you are missing out. The design guys did a great job putting these together, and I think the results will speak for themselves. Well, not literally. But maybe we can work on that for next year.
Second, in our continuing series of interviewing former Hawks players, we caught up to Andrew Lang, the team's current chaplain and a center with the team for parts of three seasons, to talk about his post-basketball life. From the sounds of it, he may not be the only Lang in the family to don an NBA jersey someday.
Thirdly, let's talk a little about the Spurs game from Saturday. For those who weren't in attendance, I am truly sorry you missed it. The place was rocking, and the fans were awesome. Saturday's win was a completely team effort. Literally every player who appeared on the court in a Hawks uniform made a meaningful contribution to the win. In particular though, the Web Guy wants to give props to Josh Childress.
Sitting courtside, at one point during the fourth quarter I turned to the person sitting next to me and remarked "I daresay Childress has taken over this game the last couple minutes." He was everywhere, repeatedly getting into the lane on offense (scoring 11 of his 13 points in the final stanza) and coming up with crucial defensive rebounds on the way to his second double-double of the season (By the way, his first was at Indiana, which means the Hawks are now 2-0 when he doubles up.).
Everyone on the team should be proud of their effort against the Spurs, particularly for not getting rattled down the stretch. We all know the Hawks record could be much different right now but for a few unfortunate plays, which makes the fact that they withstood a rally by the defending champs down the stretch all the more impressive.
At Hawks practice on Monday, a few of us were discussing the Spurs comments after the game. During the team's rebuilding process, generally when we have beaten teams you have heard the opponents blame themselves for taking the Hawk too lightly and not coming to play.
Not the Spurs. They all echoed the same sentiment - on this particular night, the Hawks simply outplayed them and were the better team. Now let's see if the guys can take that confidence boost and start to turn things around.
Looking at a few of the things going on around the league...
Van Gundy out, Riley in in Miami
Ok, raise your hand if this came as a surprise to you. No one really knows
what happened in Miami to lead to this, but it has been rumored since the summer
that Riley was itching to get back into coaching. With the Heat struggling to an
11-10 start, maybe they felt this was the time to make a change. From my point
of view though, their slow start is easily attributed to two factors - the lack
of Shaq and the stress that comes with trying to mesh new people into the
rotation.
Since the end of last season, the Heat have turned over nearly the entire roster. The only three players remaining from their core were Shaq, Dwyane Wade, and Udonis Haslem (four if you count late-season addition Alonzo Mourning). It takes a long time for team chemistry to gel on the court, and that's not even considering the specific players Miami added (including notorious ballhogs like Antoine Walker, Gary Payton, and Jason Williams). Is it really all that surprising they have struggled?
The bottom line is, as long as Shaq is healthy come April, it doesn't really matter where Miami finishes in the standings. So Van Gundy, Riley, Red Auerbach, it probably doesn't matter. With the Diesel and Wade, I could probably be the coach and we'd still make the conference finals. So all in all, I'd say this is pretty much a non-story.
Artest wants out of Indy
What's that saying Bush messed up a few years ago - fool me once, shame on
you, fool me twice...(blank stare)?
I'm not saying I thought this would happen, but with someone as unpredictable as Artest, it can't be that surprising. The Pacers have said they will try to honor his request. Where are some potential locations for him to land? Let's take a look.
Sacramento - This seems like everyone's first choice, as rumors of Artest-for-Peja Stojakovic have been percolating since last season. This deal makes a ton of sense for Sacramento from a basketball standpoint (though truthfully, any deal for Artest makes sense from a basketball standpoint because he is one of the most complete players in the league), but I'm not sure it does for Indiana. Rick Carlisle likes guys who can play defense, and in that respect, let's just say Peja has never been confused with Artest. Though he is a terrific scorer, Stojakovic is fairly one-dimensional. However, if Donnie Walsh thinks rookie Danny Granger can step up to take on the dirty work Artest used to do, then maybe this could work.
New York - Honestly, I don't know what New York would have to offer that Indy would want, but if there is a player to be traded, you can bet Knicks GM Isiah Thomas will be in on the discussions. Larry Brown has a history of working well with perceived malcontents as well - and I imagine Artest won't show him anything he hasn't seen before with Allen Iverson. If New York would give up promising rookie Channing Frye and maybe Quentin Richardson, perhaps Indy would bite.
Miami - When dealing with someone like Artest, you presumably need an authoritative figure Ronnie will acquiesce to. Much like Phil Jackson was able to handle Dennis Rodman, it would seem (at least on the face of it) Riley and his four rings would have as good a chance as anyone to handle Artest. Would Indiana take back Antoine Walker and James Posey perhaps? Who knows, but the thought of a Shaq-Wade-Artest trio is pretty scary.
Those are serious guesses by your humble Web Guy. Now, in a much funnier world, what are some other teams Artest could be traded to?
Portland - They haven't had any trouble with malcontents lately, have they? I can't remember...
Detroit - The Pistons fans LOVE Artest
New Jersey - They already have Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson playing similar positions - why not add Artest to the mix?
-- The Web Guy | 1:45 p.m. 12/13/05 | Have a comment?
Five Reasons To Come To The Spurs Game
5) They are the champions, my friends. The Spurs have won two of the last three NBA titles, and that ain't a coincidence. You could flip a coin between them and the New England Patriots for which is the model sports franchise, but either way, the Spurs aren't going anywhere any time soon. After winning their title last season, all they did was go out and add All-Stars Nick Van Exel and Michael Finley as well as Fabricio Oberto, a teammate of Manu Ginobili's from Argentina. So far so good for San Antone, which has gotten off to a league-best 15-3 start.
4) A Royal Homecoming. One positive that has come out of the three-game trip out West has been the improved play of Hawks second-year guard Royal Ivey, who has started the last two games in the backcourt. The Web Guy is not going to lie (by the way, one of the things I love about writing the Hawks Blog is the third-person references I get to make - I feel like Rickey Henderson), he is a big fan of Royal's since they both went to the University of Texas, so maybe there is some bias here, but Royal played two very solid games against Denver and Utah, scoring a career-high 14 against the Nuggets and nailing both of his 3-pointers against the Jazz. Ivey's defense has always been top-notch, and if he can continue to contribute on the offensive end as well, look for his playing time to increase.
3) Building A Mystery. The first 15,000 fans through the turnstiles Saturday night will receive a Mystery Gift Card courtesy of Home Depot. Seeing as capacity is 18, 279, I'd say your chances of receiving one of them is pretty good. Of course, I could tell you right now what you are getting, but if I did I'd have to kill you.
2) The Big Fundamental. Tim Duncan is as good as it gets people. He may be the greatest power forward in NBA history, and doesn't turn 30 until next April. You should come out to see him in his prime, which may only last another season or two (though granted, his uhhh, not-prime will still be much better than most).
1) Remember the Alamo (and the first quarter). The Hawks lost 103-79 to the Spurs back in November, but for a magical 12 minutes at the start of the game, the Hawks had the Spurs right where they wanted them. Thanks to Al Harrington's 22 points, the Hawks led 31-18 at the end of one before San Antonio got back in it. If Atlanta can get that kind of effort and intensity going Saturday night, anything is possible. Let's turn the champs into chumps!
See you there! | Buy tickets
-- The Web Guy | 3:00 p.m. 12/09/05 | Have a comment?
Celeb Sightings At Philips Arena
Braves players Andruw Jones and Rafael Furcal watch the replay screen after a call against the Hawks.*
Rap superstar and Hawks season ticket holder Ludacris chats with Thrashers star
Ilya Kovalchuk at halftime
Terrell Owens takes in the atmosphere at the Hawks game.
Falcon’s Alge Crumpler talks to HOT 107.9’s Rashan Ali on what he thinks about
the game.
Actor/Comedian Chris Tucker cheers on the Hawks in the fourth quarter.
Andre “3000” Benjamin of Grammy-awarding group Outkast takes in the second half
action.
*Furcal was still a Brave when this picture was taken!
-- The Web Guy | 4:30 p.m. 12/05/05 | Have a comment?
