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I'm back in town, and will be attending this one. I expect the crowd to be crap, which means I expect our guys to come out flat and play with no passion and no defensive intensity. It would be nice if someone besides Josh Smith (and occasionally Horford, Law, and/or Mo Evans) would get the team fired up to play with some defensive intensity. Just to be clear, I'm talking to you - Joe Johnson. Step up and be a leader and stop complaining and pouting.

LL Cool Scott wrote:I'm back in town, and will be attending this one. I expect the crowd to be crap, which means I expect our guys to come out flat and play with no passion and no defensive intensity. It would be nice if someone besides Josh Smith (and occasionally Horford, Law, and/or Mo Evans) would get the team fired up to play with some defensive intensity. Just to be clear, I'm talking to you - Joe Johnson. Step up and be a leader and stop complaining and pouting.

JJ can pout all he wants if he is scoring 25 pts.

The big issue is whether or not Horford plays. The rest of our bigs suck so if he is out it spells trouble. Trying to get legit production from Zaza, Solo and Morris is like trying to get blood from a turnip.

They're at home and playing against a 1-7 team. Even w/o Josh, they need to win this game.

Even without Horford the Hawks should still be able to win this. Seriously- Marvin should be able to play PF against Jamison. If Woodson went conventional and had Zaza or Jones guarding Jamison it would get ugly in a hurry I think. Daniels is a good penetrator that will give Bibby some trouble but he isn't a terrible mismatch. Caron is going to score some points. Otherwise they just don't have a lot of weapons.

The wizards are without Arenas and Haywood. I don't care if the Hawks have both Smith and Horford out they should still be able to win this game.

Well, if nothing else it should be a bad basketball game between two teams that have 3 starters apeice.

Both teams are awful on D. Both teams rely too much on jump shooting. Both teams are in slumps.

Hopefully we show up at home even if Al is out. I do agree with LL though, someone has gotta set the tone but Bibby, JJ, and Marv are all a bit on the quiet side. It doesn't have to go this way but I see us winning if Joe drops a boatload of points and plays a boatload of minutes.

I wonder if Haywood is gonna get a season or career high the way the Hawks have been looking. I think the Hawks last season let Wash off the hook when they were struggling, but I hope they get backbones and not allow 110 tonight.

If the Hawks can't even stop Haywood from getting a career high while he is sitting on the bench that would indeed be a pretty bad sign.

tontoz wrote:

LL Cool Scott wrote:I'm back in town, and will be attending this one. I expect the crowd to be crap, which means I expect our guys to come out flat and play with no passion and no defensive intensity. It would be nice if someone besides Josh Smith (and occasionally Horford, Law, and/or Mo Evans) would get the team fired up to play with some defensive intensity. Just to be clear, I'm talking to you - Joe Johnson. Step up and be a leader and stop complaining and pouting.

JJ can pout all he wants if he is scoring 25 pts.

The big issue is whether or not Horford plays. The rest of our bigs suck so if he is out it spells trouble. Trying to get legit production from Zaza, Solo and Morris is like trying to get blood from a turnip.

JJ's been GREAT on offense, but it became pretty clear last year and early this year, that this team wins with defensive, rebounding, and intensity. JJ needs to set the tone with Josh Smith out. JJ wants to be The Man - he needs to start acting like The Man. On both sides of the floor, and in the locker room. Just scoring a lot of points isn't going to cut it. Again, his body language is ATROCIOUS. It's absurd that this team had to rally around Acie Law last night before they started playing with any urgency.

I totally agree with you about our big guys, though. Even I must admit that my beloved King Zaza is beyond bad on the defensive end. And Solo is just as bad on the offensive end. Randolph Morris has no business earning an NBA paycheck. Good news is that I heard on the radio that Horford is expecting to play.

tontoz wrote:

LL Cool Scott wrote:I'm back in town, and will be attending this one. I expect the crowd to be crap, which means I expect our guys to come out flat and play with no passion and no defensive intensity. It would be nice if someone besides Josh Smith (and occasionally Horford, Law, and/or Mo Evans) would get the team fired up to play with some defensive intensity. Just to be clear, I'm talking to you - Joe Johnson. Step up and be a leader and stop complaining and pouting.

JJ can pout all he wants if he is scoring 25 pts.

The big issue is whether or not Horford plays. The rest of our bigs suck so if he is out it spells trouble. Trying to get legit production from Zaza, Solo and Morris is like trying to get blood from a turnip.

I don't think "JJ wants to be the man." Joe just isn't that type of personality. He's not going to step up and be a vocal guy to get the guys fired up. Woody practically begged him to do it for the last couple of years, but it just isn't his way of doing things and Smoove/Horford ended up filling that role.

We have a chance tonight because they don't have a PG like Ford or Harris.

Any word on Al?

JJ is 4th in the league in scoring, averaging 26 pts shooting 48.5%, 46.7% from 3. yet some people just have to criticize him.

If scoring 30 pts in the 2nd half while missing only 1 shot (which he did against NJ) isn't "being the man" then i don't know what is.

I sure don't remember Tim Duncan being a rah rah guy.

My bad KB, I hadn't paid enough attention to him or the team outside of Butler and Jamison.

tontoz wrote:JJ is 4th in the league in scoring, averaging 26 pts shooting 48.5%, 46.7% from 3. yet some people just have to criticize him.

If scoring 30 pts in the 2nd half while missing only 1 shot (which he did against NJ) isn't "being the man" then i don't know what is.

I sure don't remember Tim Duncan being a rah rah guy.

Yeah, but that's the same argument Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter apologists have been using for years. This team (like every championship contender of the past 30 years besides the Suns) will only win when they play with intensity and pressure defense.

Tim Duncan has been the defensive anchor of that team for over a decade. And he rarely looks like he's pouting, walking around with slumped shoulders or pissed off at his teammates. I"ve never heard Tim Duncan criticize his teammates in the media either.

JoshB914 wrote:Any word on Al?

All I heard on the radio is that the Hawks "expect Horford to play tonight." No idea whether that is accurate or not. If he's hurt, I'd rather he sit out an early season game and truly heal his ankle rather than risk further injury. He's way too important to everything we do.

tontoz wrote:JJ is 4th in the league in scoring, averaging 26 pts shooting 48.5%, 46.7% from 3. yet some people just have to criticize him.

If scoring 30 pts in the 2nd half while missing only 1 shot (which he did against NJ) isn't "being the man" then i don't know what is.

I sure don't remember Tim Duncan being a rah rah guy.

When did I criticize him? I simply said he doesn't have a vocal personality so that LL shouldn't expect him to be the guy to get everyone energized.

JoshB914 wrote:When did I criticize him? I simply said he doesn't have a vocal personality so that LL shouldn't expect him to be the guy to get everyone energized.

LOL! I think that comment was directed solely to me. Tontoz and I seem to be developing some sort of feud, which personally I think is fantastic. We basically disagree about absolutely everything.

^^^ Yeah I know I was just messing around. Feuds with tontoz are quite enjoyable and make for interesting conversation, I can attest to that.

LL Cool Scott wrote:

tontoz wrote:JJ is 4th in the league in scoring, averaging 26 pts shooting 48.5%, 46.7% from 3. yet some people just have to criticize him.

If scoring 30 pts in the 2nd half while missing only 1 shot (which he did against NJ) isn't "being the man" then i don't know what is.

I sure don't remember Tim Duncan being a rah rah guy.

Yeah, but that's the same argument Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter apologists have been using for years. This team (like every championship contender of the past 30 years besides the Suns) will only win when they play with intensity and pressure defense.

Tim Duncan has been the defensive anchor of that team for over a decade. And he rarely looks like he's pouting, walking around with slumped shoulders or pissed off at his teammates. I"ve never heard Tim Duncan criticize his teammates in the media either.

Comparing JJ to VC and McGrady is a joke because those guys quit on their teams. They even admitted it.

McGrady and Vince have also been dogged because they are always hurt, or at least claiming to be. Plus they are both (McGrady in particular) reluctant to drive despite their superior athleticism. McGrady in particular settles for long contested jumpers even though he isn't a very good 3 pt shooter.

JJ just doesn't have their athleticism. No amount of body language can change that. If JJ was quitting he wouldn't be dropping 30 pts in a half or playing 40 minutes a game.

JJ's body language is the least of the Hawks problems right now.

JoshB914 wrote:

tontoz wrote:JJ is 4th in the league in scoring, averaging 26 pts shooting 48.5%, 46.7% from 3. yet some people just have to criticize him.

If scoring 30 pts in the 2nd half while missing only 1 shot (which he did against NJ) isn't "being the man" then i don't know what is.

I sure don't remember Tim Duncan being a rah rah guy.

When did I criticize him? I simply said he doesn't have a vocal personality so that LL shouldn't expect him to be the guy to get everyone energized.

When did i mention you? If i was directing a comment at you then you would know it.

I was just kidding, tontoz. I'll edit it out. Chill.

As for tonight, I like our chances more against Washington than most teams. They dont have a PG to take advantage of Bibby.