Hawks have clinched 4th

evildallas · Post #1 » by **evildallas** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:11 am

It's assumed at this point that we'll make it, but I wanted to quantify it. 5 more wins and the Hawks clinch a playoff spot. Just had a urge to share as I watch Wade-less heat trying to hold off half the Celtics. Don't like cheering for the Celtics, but I want home court in round 1.

I'll keep updating it now that I figured out what I'm looking for. 2 wins or Charlotte losses and we get the X- beside us in the standings.

JoshB914 · Post #2 » by **JoshB914** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:29 am

Big shot by Pierce. Come on C's!

ATL DirtyBird · Post #3 » by **ATL DirtyBird** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:35 am

here we go, pierce is about to put a dagger in the heat..come on paul

ATL DirtyBird · Post #4 » by **ATL DirtyBird** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:38 am

why ppauuuuuullll, whyyyy

JoshB914 · Post #5 » by **JoshB914** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:39 am

That one was halfway down from Pierce at the end of regulation.

HoopsGuru25 · Post #6 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:43 am

Pierce ability to get off a quality shot is amazing considering he has no where near the athletic ability of Wade or Lebron. They tried to trap him 40 feet away from the basket yet he still got a good look.

BTW Boston might win but their D has been pretty mediocre w/o Garnett. They allowed over 120 to a mediocre Bulls team and allowed 100 to the Heat w/o Wade. Tom Thibodeau has definitely lost some money in the last few weeks.

JoshB914 · Post #7 » by **JoshB914** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:44 am

^^^ KG just means everything to that team. It's like having an extra coach on the floor for them. All of their big men are in foul trouble tonight, that doesn't happen with him in the game.

evildallas · Post #8 » by **evildallas** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 1:59 am

Boston's pulling this one out in OT. They just brought up something of interest with all the road games and the injury to D-Wade could Miami fall to 6th with Philadelphia taking 5th. I kind of would prefer the Sixers as an opponent because of the D-Wade star treatment factor.

JoshB914 · Post #9 » by **JoshB914** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:03 am

Change that magic no. to four.

Man... that NBA Playoffs commercial where they show Joe crossing up Powe and draining the three gives me chills. Can't wait for the Hawks in the postseason for the second straight year.

johnny878 · Post #10 » by **johnny878** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:05 am

evildallas wrote:Boston's pulling this one out in OT. They just brought up something of interest with all the road games and the injury to D-Wade could Miami fall to 6th with Philadelphia taking 5th. I kind of would prefer the Sixers as an opponent because of the D-Wade star treatment factor.

Miami could fall to the 7 seed. They are 2.5 up on the pistons and they play eachother twice.

personally, id rather play miami out of detroit, philly, and heat. Especially if the hawks are going to be missing Marvin Williams.

ATL DirtyBird · Post #11 » by **ATL DirtyBird** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:16 am

^^^^do u really wanna deal with dwade for up to 7 games? I know i sure dont and neither does woody. I would think we'd all want the sixers, i dont want the pistons bc they still have that playoff savy that scares me a little bit, but im sure we could handle them but i would rather not take the chance!

johnny878 · Post #12 » by **johnny878** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:19 am

SneakerKing33 wrote:^^^^do u really wanna deal with dwade for up to 7 games? I know i sure dont and neither does woody. I would think we'd all want the sixers, i dont want the pistons bc they still have that playoff savy that scares me a little bit, but im sure we could handle them but i would rather not take the chance!

the heat are a one man team.

When the hawks are missing Marvin, the talent gap between the 76'ers and hawks is pretty close.

ATL DirtyBird · Post #13 » by **ATL DirtyBird** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:23 am

Were all aware that the heat are a one man team, but maybe you havent noticed that dwayne can single handedly deystroy a team. If he gets hot hell put up 50 without breaking a sweat.

HoopsGuru25 · Post #14 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:26 am

As far as who I would rather face in the playoffs....I am still a big advocate of avoiding Philly in the 1st round. I think people bring up the Wade factor(which is credible)but they ignore several things. For starters the Hawks are just better than the Heat. We are better offensively,defensively,at rebounding ,at home,on the road,etc. The Hawks also have alot of quality perimeter defenders to throw at Wade. Chalmers is also just a spot up shooter on offense(which would nullify Bibby's weak D) and Horford has had no problems with JO what so ever the last 2 years. I also think that the national pundits picking Miami to win(which would/will happen)is going to fire up the Hawks.

Philly is the team I'd like to play the least because they are better than their record shows(have lost alot of close games)and they crash the offensive boards unlike Miami. We would also lose our athleticism advantage.

I think the Hawks would wipe the floor with Detroit similar to what Chicago did to Miami in 2007. I could see them being over confident which would play right into the Hawks hands. Detroit has mailed in playoff games before and Mcdyess/Sheed don't want to run with Smith and Horford. I wouldn't be surprised if the Hawks beat Detroit in 5 but they aren't likely to get the 5th seed anyway.

ATL DirtyBird · Post #15 » by **ATL DirtyBird** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:36 am

^^^^U really think Philly is more atheltic than the Hawks? Nvm you are right, without Marvin our athelticism takes a hit. When Marvin is playing do you think were more athletic? I think were pretty much tied, but were still alot better lol!

evildallas · Post #16 » by **evildallas** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:47 am

Magic number is still 5 for the playoffs. Miami's loss doesn't contribute to that. I'll start another magic number when it gets realistic to clinch 4th (right now it's 12). The reason the magic number is 5 is that Chicago can still reach 45 wins. We have the tie-breaker with them, so we only need a tie. So it's Atlanta wins and Chicago losses that count now (although 8th place is so tight all it takes is 2 losses to change the team we count).

HoopsGuru25 · Post #17 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:51 am

SneakerKing33 wrote:^^^^U really think Philly is more atheltic than the Hawks? Nvm you are right, without Marvin our athelticism takes a hit. When Marvin is playing do you think were more athletic? I think were pretty much tied, but were still alot better lol!

Well it depends. Horford and Smith can(and have)run Miami and Detroit's front court's off the floor before. Jermaine O'neal and Rasheed Wallace have no interest in playing an uptempo game. I think that advantage goes out the door with Thad Young and Dalembert. They would also expose the Hawks poor defensive rebounding.

I would rather take my chances with a one man team in a 7 game series. The Hawks have done a pretty good job of containing the leagues star wing players. Damien Wilkens is the only sg/sf that I can recall that scored 40 against the Hawks in the last 2 years.

evildallas · Post #18 » by **evildallas** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:53 am

I don't see the Pistons as a possibility. Philly could be trouble, but I think we can run with them. They're athleticism and effort are giving teams trouble at this point in the season, but we can match that. Also we'd have home court and think we'd hold it. The bad thing about Philly is that we'd instantly be the unloved game in TV coverage.

Miami the team doesn't scare me. Wade scares me. The NBA officiating scares me. I wouldn't want to be the team standing in the way of a Lebron-Wade showcase series. If Miami falls to 6 we know that Celtics vs Team Wade will be the National TV spotlight every chance they get.

HoopsGuru25 · Post #19 » by **HoopsGuru25** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 3:01 am

The bad thing about Philly is that we'd instantly be the unloved game in TV coverage.

That's another reason I wouldn't want to play them.

I just like the idea of the Hawks being the underdog with homecourt.

johnny878 · Post #20 » by **johnny878** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 3:13 am

HoopsGuru25 wrote:As far as who I would rather face in the playoffs....I am still a big advocate of avoiding Philly in the 1st round. I think people bring up the Wade factor(which is credible)but they ignore several things. For starters the Hawks are just better than the Heat. We are better offensively,defensively,at rebounding ,at home,on the road,etc. The Hawks also have alot of quality perimeter defenders to throw at Wade. Chalmers is also just a spot up shooter on offense(which would nullify Bibby's weak D) and Horford has had no problems with JO what so ever the last 2 years. I also think that the national pundits picking Miami to win(which would/will happen)is going to fire up the Hawks.

.

This.

I think the hawks are better than the heat. With or without Marvin. With or without homecourt. And chances are that the hawks will have both homecourt and marvin, so i think they will win pretty convincingly.