Game 34 | Cavs vs Hawks | Dec 30th, 2009 | 7:00pm EST

[calibanPK]

Lol Varejao!

This is one of the worst wins in recent memory. We didn't deserve to win.

[Gordon Bombay]

really hate winning that way as i wish they could have gotten the clock malfunction handled properly...kind of blemishes an otherwise great game

happy about the win regardless...andy wtf a three??!!

[ATL DirtyBird]

Yall have the best in basketball but it sure makes me sick that the Cavs walk into the arena with a preset advantage. A team must play out of their minds to compete with team Lebron and his army of refs. Kinda sickening but this is the NBA. Congrats.... I guess. Sorry as you can tell I want to hang myself.

[Roger Murdock]

Great game. Joe Johnson is the most underrated player in the NBA.

[LoveThemCavs]

So what are the chances this gets replayed from about the 2 min mark? Just asking, because some seem to think it warrants it.

[TheOUTLAW]

The Cavs had no business winning that game.

[L&H_05]

Whatever **** the Hawks.. All they do is isolate Crawford and Johnson and shoot top of the key jumpers..

Yeah we had no business winning, but we also had no business being down 17 at home to a jump shooting team with no interior presence...

.

[fo_o_fo_404]

Mike Woodson will file a protest to the league office in the morning in reference to the shot clock blunder. We will see what happens....

[TheOUTLAW]

I didn't watch the second half of this game but I also think alot of the whining is rather disengenuous. Just watching the highlights it was clear that the refs were letting them play and it looked rather clear that the Hawks were actually unaffected by the shot clock actually running the play without even noticing the short shot clock. Heck if they'd held onto the ball the refs would have fixed the mistake.

[JoshB914]

Whatever **** the Hawks.. All they do is isolate Crawford and Johnson and shoot top of the key jumpers..

Yeah we had no business winning, but we also had no business being down 17 at home to a jump shooting team with no interior presence...

.

Hawks are one of the top teams in the league in points in the paint.

[L&H_05]

Doesn't mean you have an inside presence... Everything is outside-in with the Hawks...

Switch the pick on Jamal and he'll dribble, dribble, dribble and pull up... JJ does that a lot as well..

Just play transition d and the Hawks are toast because their halfcourt offense is terrible...The worst is the Josh Smith one single crossover move..

[JoshB914]

Points in the paint=interior presence. If you really think Atlanta's game is based on jump shooting you are completely off base.

Agree with you about the half-court offense. Very unimaginative and slow. And please don't remind me of the Josh Smith "cross over."

[L&H_05]

When we play them it is because there's no interior presence... There's no reason to double down on the block vs any of Atlanta's players... Instead, we can show hard up top or trap JJ with a double up top which usually results in finding the open guy for a jumper...

Whereas if the Hawks had an inside presence, they can dump the ball down low, get some players moving or cutting without the ball and get better ball and player movement for easier offense..

Yea, they were right there with the Cavs in these two games.. But, when the Cavs wanted to turn up their defensive pressure later on in the game, it was easily aided by the personnel of the Hawks and what they run with it...

And that's basically what happens in late April, May, June... Game slows down and becomes more halfcourt.. Which, may work for the Hawks vs other teams, but it works in the Cavs favor IMO...

If the Hawks had an inside guy they would be monsters....

[Benedict_Boozer]

We def should have lost this game. But we lost a couple games by like 1pt this year so the law of averages was in our favor for this one.

ATL is a nice team but I agree with L&H, all they seem to run on offense is isolation 1 on 1 stuff in the half-court....really we let them get away with it too much, all we have to do to shut down their O is trap JJ or Crawford when they go into the dribble routine.

Their coach will have to diversify their half-court O for them to have a legit shot.

But they are def a solid top 4 playoff team.

[slickvik]

i can sympathize with the hawks loosing 5 seconds on the shot clock, but i call it karma.
Hawk fans are forgetting how many games the hawks have won the past couple of years due to shot clock or score keeping malfunctions.

The raptors have lost two games the past couple of years to the hawks cause of similar mishaps.
At one point atlanta was known for the scorekeepers/time keepers screwing up to benefit the hawks.

[LeBronade]

I want the Cavs to play 4th quarter-style defense in earlier parts of the game!

[B Mac]

I want the Cavs to play 4th quarter-style defense in earlier parts of the game!

Agreed. If they came out in the first and played with the energy they do in the 4th the games wouldnt even be close. We would have more blowouts than last year.



Goose necks all around!!!

[The Diesel]

Hey guys,

As you know, the Hawks filed a protest a few weeks ago over the shot-clock malfunction incident and the NBA should be making their decision soon.

What do you guys think will happen? Will they replay the final two minutes of the game?

[bcortell]

No.

[TheOUTLAW]

NBA denies Hawks protest

And this is why they should have called timeout or at least held onto the ball rather than having a turnover before time ran out.

http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wireta ... land_game/