Atlanta H@wks Playoff Opponent: Hello Brooklyn

Post #1 » by **Jamaaliver** » Tue Apr 14, 2015 6:21 pm

The Celtics are in and the Nets are on the outside looking in.

The Nets lost at home to the Bulls Monday that clinched a playoff berth for the Celtics and moved the Pacers ahead of the Nets for the final available spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

The Nets, who own tiebreakers over the Celtics and Pacers, need a win Wednesday at home against the Magic and a loss by the Pacers in at least one of their final two games to make the postseason.

The No. 1 Hawks wait to find out their opening-round playoff opponent which won’t be determined until the final day of the season. The Hawks swept the Pacers (3-0), Nets (4-0) and Heat (4-0) this season.

HERE

Post #2 » by **Jamaaliver** » Tue Apr 14, 2015 6:22 pm

Pacers could indeed be a tough opponent:

George return sparks Pacers' offense

Paul George's return has jump-started Indiana, with the team going 4-0 so far. In addition to shooting better, the Pacers have averaged 109.25 PPG with George vs. 97.5 PPG without him. Indy hosts the Wizards tonight.

Post #3 » by **Hawk Eye** » Tue Apr 14, 2015 6:43 pm

Dibs on the first playoff thread. Yall are going to love it.

Post #4 » by **Jamaaliver** » Tue Apr 14, 2015 7:09 pm

^LOL

Fair enough.

We always do!

But I am becoming concerned about the Pacers starting to peak at the very right time. This reminds me of the St Louis Cardinals streaking at the end of the baseball regular season back in 2011. They made it into the playoffs by winning on the last day of the regular season and reigned holy hell from there.

This is an experienced, veteran crew. I don't think they're good enough to win a title, but they could be trouble. Especially since this would be year three in a row we've played them in the playoffs.

Post #5 » by **Hawk Eye** » Tue Apr 14, 2015 7:49 pm

I don't think the pacers can beat us in the 1st round. For those saying "yea but the pacers will have Paul George back" the dude hasn't played over 15 minutes since coming back. He's not going to be much of a factor at all in the playoffs with those minutes. And personally I don't think Indy would raise his minutes come playoffs because his overall health is way more important. He'll take about 5-7 shots and be on the court for a total amount of time of one quarter basically. He won't be the difference if we do happen to lose to Indy.

Post #6 » by **Jamaaliver** » Tue Apr 14, 2015 8:01 pm

PMOTT3 wrote:I don't think the pacers can beat us in the 1st round. For those saying "yea but the pacers will have Paul George back" the dude hasn't played over 15 minutes since coming back. He's not going to be much of a factor at all in the playoffs with those minutes. And personally I don't think Indy would raise his minutes come playoffs because his overall health is way more important. He'll take about 5-7 shots and be on the court for a total amount of time of one quarter basically. He won't be the difference if we do happen to lose to Indy.

Great points. My fear is that they have an idea how to guard this offense having played us 10+ games in the last 12 months. if they should outplay their seeding (the same way we did last playoffs without Horford) and stretch that series to 6-7 games...that might allow CHI (or TOR) the extra time to rest/strategize against us.

Big_Aristotle · Post #7 » by **Big_Aristotle** » Wed Apr 15, 2015 10:05 am

Pacers have won 6 in a row and have a 7-3 record in their last 10. They got an emotional spark with the return of PG and playoff experience to count on.

I'm an outsider here but this series will be by far the most interesting 1st round series in the East and I would be very surprised if it will not go to 6 or 7 games.

D21 · Post #8 » by **D21** » Wed Apr 15, 2015 11:16 am

The fact is that we can't do anything regarding the 8th seed, but we can do something regarding the second round.
Unless TOR wants to be 4th, they will beat CHA. The game starts one hour before ATL@CHI, so if TOR win, we have the choice :
- a win over CHI would make them the 4th seed, and a possible opponent in the second round
- a loss would make them the 3rd seed (with CLE coming in the second round for CHI), and TOR would be the 4th seed

ATLHawksfan21 · Post #9 » by **ATLHawksfan21** » Wed Apr 15, 2015 12:14 pm

The Pacers looked like garbage last night. They only won that game because Washington was even worse. I would love to play the Pacers in round 1 and the Wizards in round 2. We will skate to the ECF's if those are our opponents.

Post #10 » by **ATL Boy** » Wed Apr 15, 2015 1:24 pm

I hope we rest the starters vs. Chicago. They could give Cleveland a run for their money in round two. Also, in just not scared at all of either the Wizards or the Raptors. Sure Toronto won the season series 3-1, but two of those games were before things clicked and one was when Korver shot 2-12 from 3. Playoffs are a different animal.

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PandaKidd · Post #11 » by **PandaKidd** » Wed Apr 15, 2015 6:05 pm

not scared of anyone in round 1

Phunkabilly · Post #12 » by **Phunkabilly** » Wed Apr 15, 2015 6:10 pm

Agreed that the Pacers looked horrible last night. If that's the team that shows up in the playoffs, then I'm not too worried about facing them. And let's face it, if we can't take out the 8th seed in the East (no matter who it is), then we have no chance against the West, Cavs, Bulls, or just about any other playoff team. I think the chance at a lottery pick is more important than the tradeoff between facing the Pacers or the Nets in the first round. I'll definitely be rooting hard for Indiana and Orlando tonight.

Post #13 » by **Jamaaliver** » Thu Apr 16, 2015 12:22 pm

So, it's Brooklyn. Indiana was simply too gassed last night and too weak all season to finish the herculean task of making the playoffs without the Paul George and Lance Stephenson and carrying the corpse of Roy Hibbert's career.

Brooklyn, arguably, is more talented than us. But through poor management, injuries, and questionable coaching they have under achieved greatly this season.

We have the better team and hopefully can dispatch the other NY team pretty easily.

If our boys can manage to stay out of the clubs on gamedays...and avoid the NYPD.

Post #14 » by **Goudelock** » Thu Apr 16, 2015 12:57 pm

Does anyone want to watch the Nets in the Playoffs? I'd have rather seen Pacers/Hawks, plus the lottery pick.

Post #15 » by **ATL Boy** » Thu Apr 16, 2015 1:00 pm

Just please keep those boys out of the clubs. A playoff curfew needs to be in place, there will be time for the extra curricular stuff in the offseason.

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Post #16 » by **Jamaaliver** » Thu Apr 16, 2015 3:05 pm

PockyCandy wrote:Does anyone want to watch the Nets in the Playoffs? I'd have rather seen Pacers/Hawks, plus the lottery pick.

I have to admit, I really liked watching them last year in the playoffs under Kidd.

They managed to get to the 2nd round minus their top player (Lopez) thanks to vet play and the resurrection of Iso-Joe Jesus.

The backcourt of JJ, Deron, Bogdan and Jack plus the frontcourt of M Plumlee and Brook will be a nice warmup for us. A much more challenging, aesthetically appealing team than the Pacers. IMO anyway.