No defense, no playoffs for Hawks

[conleyorbust]

Things need to tighten up in order to compete for postseason berth

Coach Mike Woodson knows the team needs to continue playing good defense in order to make the playoffs.

"That is the key," Woodson said. "If we plan on making the playoffs, we better get back to defending and rebounding."

The Hawks (26-38 ) now trail New Jersey (27-38 ) by a half-game and are in a battle with Chicago (26-38 ), Indiana (25-39) and Charlotte (24-40) to overtake the Nets.

"Every time that we get a chance to position ourselves to go up on a team a game or two, we always tend to take a step backward," said guard Joe Johnson, who scored 28 against the Rockets in 45 minutes. "Somehow we have to find a way to separate ourselves a little bit and really try to get a spot in the playoffs."

Since the All-Star break, the Hawks have been hemorrhaging points on uncontested layups and from behind the 3-point line. Before holding Houston to 83 points, they had given up 100 or more in nine of 13 games. One of the low points was yielding an embarrassing 74 points in the first half against Orlando on Monday.

With 18 games left, Woodson's tune hasn't changed. He's still preaching about defensive stops as the way to the playoff promised land.

"All of the teams that are in the playoff hunt and are playing good basketball, that's what they are doing," Woodson said. "I know, just from past experience, you win

[dms269]

I liked the part where Woodson said "we better get back to rebounding and defense", yet he continues to play Zaza a ton of minutes.

[conleyorbust]

I liked the part where Woodson said "we better get back to rebounding and defense", yet he continues to play Zaza a ton of minutes.

I have to put that one on BK...

We made the Bibby trade, great start but then BK just sort of stopped makin' moves and left us pitifully short in the frontcourt, I maintain that we could have beaten the rockets if we didn't get absolutely 0 contribution from our bench.

Sekou made some good points in his last blog, our conditioning and coaching staff is terrible and you can see it in the fatigue in most of the guys (except Joe who dogged it for a little and is now playing harder). We don't have any depth so when a guy gets tired from playing all season you can't replace him with a quality player, and we have injuries.

Right now its going to be hard to play consistently good defense.

[evildallas]

Is defense our big problem of late? Yes, it's obvious.

We are scoring enough points? No.

It bothers me that Woodson seems to think our offense is fine. Our offense hasn't been impressive. We are 23rd in the league in scoring for the season. Of late, our scoring is up slightly, but it is more a function of more possessions due to the other team scoring quickly than a sign of greater effectiveness by the Hawks. There is a lot of room for improvement on both sides.

I'd really like to read one of these game day pieces where Woodson says that:
"We are really being outcoached. I'm not getting the players up for the challenge. We can't sustain effort throughout the game. The other coach makes halftime adjustments and I don't. My substitution patterns are ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, the players are not holding up their end of the bargain. They get some blame too, but as a coach I add nothing to our team's chances to win a game."

Maybe that's what it will take for ownership to realize that change is long overdue.

[JoshB914]

So we miss the playoffs if we don't play good defense? How profound. When does Sekou return from suspension?

[conleyorbust]

I'd really like to read one of these game day pieces where Woodson says that:
"We are really being outcoached. I'm not getting the players up for the challenge. We can't sustain effort throughout the game. The other coach makes halftime adjustments and I don't. My substitution patterns are ridiculous. Don't get me wrong, the players are not holding up their end of the bargain. They get some blame too, but as a coach I add nothing to our team's chances to win a game."

That would be amazing. Send it to him, tell him you'll be his speech writer.

[tontoz]

"If we plan on making the playoffs, we better get back to defending and rebounding."

[lunarblues]

problem is we sent the wrong bigman to the kings. we should of sent zaza instead of lorenzen. for all the talk about him being sorry on this team he plays good defense when given the time. we kept zaza because he's suppose to give us a scoring at the cost of defense but he isn't even scoring. once Al comes out it's a wrap. even if we make it to the playoffs you realize we're going up against Kevin Garnett, Kendrick Perkins, PJ brown, and Theo Ratliff? each one is over 6'10" and 250 lbs. we're going to get killed in the post. and once we have to double team, we are going to get killed by threes.

[conleyorbust]

problem is we sent the wrong bigman to the kings. we should of sent zaza instead of lorenzen. for all the talk about him being sorry on this team he plays good defense when given the time. we kept zaza because he's suppose to give us a scoring at the cost of defense but he isn't even scoring. once Al comes out it's a wrap. even if we make it to the playoffs you realize we're going up against Kevin Garnett, Kendrick Perkins, PJ brown, and Theo Ratliff? each one is over 6'10" and 250 lbs. we're going to get killed in the post. and once we have to double team, we are going to get killed by threes.

to be fair, we sent lo because he expires. it probably wasn't our choice.