Probably don't deserve a game thread

[DirtybirdGA]

Guess the fans are out tonight. They aren't missing a damn thing. Hawks have looked pitiful the last two games. Tough to get behind this team.

[Rip2137]

The lack of whistles are getting ridiculous for this team.

the biggest laugher of the night was the "carry" call on Lou Williams. Paul pierce literally carries if he dribbles.

[parson]

I didn't post tonight because I'm always afraid that I'm just a bad sport when I'm complaining about how the NBA shortchanges the Hawks. Personally, I thought they let the Celtics play football out there. The fouls on Korver were touch fouls while the Celtics (especially Sullinger) played defense by shoving us out of the way. And how did Rondo get away with bumping the ref? Isn't that a technical?

HOWEVER, I blame Teague and Lou for this defeat: they had stars in their eyes after a great 1st half. They really failed to even try to run any type of offense - they were just looking for theirs. And when they finally tried passing the ball, it was half-hearted and weak. They had a total of 5 assists for the game.

[Hawk4Playoffs]

went to the game tonight... more celtics fans than hawks fans...

NOBODY but Josh Smith to blame for todays game... 4-18 from the floor with 6 turnovers...

[Jamaaliver]

I want to know what happened to the balanced offense I was promised.
Josh, Teague and Lou took more FG attempts than the other 7 players combined.
Josh led the team in FG attempts for the 3rd straight game, and most of those attempts came from outside of the paint.

Too many turnovers by everyone. Too many 3-pt shots from Teague, Lou and Josh.
Too little production from AL. He has, by FAR, the best FG% on the team. But he too often takes fewer shots than the other starters.

I believe the Teague/Lou backcourt experiment is over for now. It's not Lou's fault, but there are so many offensive/defensive issues we face with Korver & Lou on the floor together.

We're missing a steady, experienced hand to run the offense. These are the games that Devin Harris would prove most beneficial in.

[ATL Boy]

33-9 in the third!!!!!! 33 TO DAM 9. I have nothing else to say

[Jamaaliver]

Yeah, that's pretty bad. It's an indictment of both the offense AND defense.

But, man Josh looked bad in the 3rd. He went 0/5 from the field & 1/4 from the free throw line with two turnovers.

Korver wasn't much better.

[parson]

I'm going to disagree with those blaming Smith. Sure, he shot abysmally but I think it wasn't ego but WORK on his part. We needed someone to rise to the occasion - and no one else would - so he was trying to fight the good fight.

The real problem was with our ballhandlers. They let themselves be stymied. A PG CANNOT allow that. Does anyone really believe Chris Paul would let himself be bullied the way the Celtics bullied our points? Would little Ty Lawson allow that? BOS shut down our ballhandling. Smith simply tried to take the ball one-on-5. Futile, maybe, but someone had to.

[Skyhawk1]

When J. Smith sucks he's so bad it kinda makes you lose any hopes for this team.

[Jamaaliver]

BOS shut down our ballhandling. Smith simply tried to take the ball one-on-5. Futile, maybe, but someone had to.

Didn't we run Joe Johnson out of town for doing the same thing? Are we really gonna embrace going Iso-Josh when he's not particularly effective in isolation?

[Brazilian_Hawk]

Smith grew jealous of Teague and Lou having an excellent night and just decided to take the reins of the game in detriment of the team.

He wanted so badly to prove he could shoot just as well as Lou.
He wanted so badly to prove he could run the offense just as well as Teague.

4-18, 6 turnovers. He took 12 shots in the second half. that's twice the shots he took in the first half, and he was already shooting terribly. He ate a lot of shots other players should have taken that night.

This game is on him. The clown has to realize someday hero-ball doesn't work. Especially when the hero is Josh. Celtics' hero, of course.

[myrak433]

Smith grew jealous of Teague and Lou having an excellent night and just decided to take the reins of the game in detriment of the team.

He wanted so badly to prove he could shoot just as well as Lou.
He wanted so badly to prove he could run the offense just as well as Teague.

4-18, 6 turnovers. He took 12 shots in the second half. that's twice the shots he took in the first half, and he was already shooting terribly. He ate a lot of shots other players should have taken that night.

This game is on him. The clown has to realize someday hero-ball doesn't work. Especially when the hero is Josh. Celtics' hero, of course.

you don't know what you are talking about. no one else wanted to take the shots Josh was taking in the second half. Josh passes the ball in to Horford for an open mid-range shot and Horford passes the ball back to Josh at or near the end of the shot clock for a three. Teague was doing the same thing. they were not going to let Krover get open and the were trapping Lu. most (not all) of those bad shots Josh took were on Teague and Horford.

now ask yourself............ why is Josh camped out at the 3 point line in the first place? that is on the coach. Josh is playing out of position; that is on Danny Ferry. get us a true SF and Josh will not have to play minutes there.

[Jamaaliver]

Josh passes the ball in to Horford for an open mid-range shot and Horford passes the ball back to Josh at or near the end of the shot clock for a three. Teague was doing the same thing. they were not going to let Krover get open and the were trapping Lu. most (not all) of those bad shots Josh took were on Teague and Horford.

now ask yourself............ why is Josh camped out at the 3 point line in the first place? that is on the coach.

I fear you may be giving Josh a pass on this. He's a 9-year vet and the best player on our team. Opposing bigs don't even guard Josh at the 3-pt line anymore. Josh's man doubles on Horford, Teague, or Lou instead. So they pass to the open man, which is Josh at the 3-point line.

The franchise player, the main man, the top dog, the All-Star representative for our team has to know when/where he's needed. And for him, it is NEVER at the 3-pt line.

Josh wasn't the sole reason we looked so poorly, but his 14 missed FGs and 6 turnovers clearly didn't help. That's 20 possessions wasted by one player.

[myrak433]

Josh passes the ball in to Horford for an open mid-range shot and Horford passes the ball back to Josh at or near the end of the shot clock for a three. Teague was doing the same thing. they were not going to let Krover get open and the were trapping Lu. most (not all) of those bad shots Josh took were on Teague and Horford.

now ask yourself............ why is Josh camped out at the 3 point line in the first place? that is on the coach.

I fear you may be giving Josh a pass on this. He's a 9-year vet and the best player on our team. Opposing bigs don't even guard Josh at the 3-pt line anymore. Josh's man doubles on Horford, Teague, or Lou instead. So they pass to the open man, which is Josh at the 3-point line.

The franchise player, the main man, the top dog, the All-Star representative for our team has to know when/where he's needed. And for him, it is NEVER at the 3-pt line.

Josh wasn't the sole reason we looked so poorly, but his 14 missed FGs and 6 turnovers clearly didn't help. That's 20 possessions wasted by one player.

The All-Star representative of out team is not Josh Smith it is Horford. so tell me why does he more often than not defer to Josh? I do agree that Josh is the best player on this team, but he is not a franchise type player. we do not have one of those on the team. so yes i am giving Josh a pass. one thing you can't say about Josh is he does not play with energy and does not bring it on a nightly basis. he just isn't a number one option (or he shouldn't be anyway) on offense. it should be Teague running the show but he won't. it should be Horford living in the post, but he won't. so we need to fix those two areas.

I am about to say trade teague for a draft pick and bring in that kid Bobby Brown and have Harris as our starting pg when he gets back. hell move teague + for Al Jefferson.

I have a feeling this team is about to implode if Ferry doesn't do something.

I hope I am wrong

[Rip2137]

Josh was horrid, but again, if the refs hadn't decided to allow the Celtics to basically shove Lou and Teague all over the court in the second half, the offense wouldn't have stalled to nothing and Josh wouldn't have taken so many of those horrible shots.

Teague has been bad as of late which I still think is a function of starting Lou and having him run the point.

But lets not get lost in all this. The Hawks are only a few games out of first place in the east, they had a tough 2 QUARTERS in the last two games. lets not jump off a bridge here.

[Rip2137]

Also, I would like to point out:

1: Yay to Danny Ferry for earning a fine for getting on those horrible refs ass in the game

2: The NBA suspended Rondo for bumping an official. How this wasn't a tech during the game...beats me.

[parson]

Must be nice to be a favored team in the NBA. Anybody can see that BOS is basically finished (too old and slow) but their "defense" is pretty effective when they can shove and grab. If they had the same ref support in the Bill Russell years, then the 11 championships aren't that big a deal.

Makes me dream of getting Dwight Howard and having the NBA cheat for OUR guys. Isn't that sad?

[Hawk4Playoffs]

Celtics didn't win because the refs rigged the game... Hawks played like crap in the second half and simply got beat. No need to blame refs... blame the hawks.