Game 51: Atlanta at Sacramento

[killbuckner]

HG- did you really want to see Zaza getting a consistent 15 MPG? I mean I think that you look at this team and there are 7 guys you want to get 15 minutes a game:

JOhsnon
Smith
Marvin
Horford
BIbby
Chidlress
Law

Past that you want to pick and choose spots for the rest of the guys on the roster. I mean Zaza probably has to play 10 minutes a game just because there aren't any good options but if the game doesn't require it then ideally he should be played when the matchups are favorable.

[conleyorbust]

We need Smith to play well if we want to consistently win. Even when his half court game isn't jiving, he is the anchor of our defense and usually the catalyst of our fast break offense. For some reason he has been off since that 'Cats game.

I'll say this and I want to know if anyone else sees this as well: Childress' amazing scoring efficiency is largely offset when he is played with Smith in the second half when we play mainly halfcourt because Chil sets up on the baseline where Smith would usually play in those sets which leads to Smith taking those jumpers off the bounce that he absolutely cannot hit.

I think you have to blame a lot of this on the players - Joe being lazy on D, Josh being sloppy as hell, Marv being soft, Zaza being terrible... Still, Woody's sub patterns can be pretty devastating. My biggest problem is always taking a player out when he has two fouls in the first half. Smith was 1/1 from the field with two FTs, two o-boards, and two assists, gets his second foul and gets pulled. The 4 points and the 2 assists (on 3s) were all within 2 minutes of his getting pulled. That's 10 points in 2 minutes that came directly from Smith. Gets his second foul, gets pulled, we don't score for another two minutes until after we burn 2 timeouts trying to get some sort of rythm.

I understand that you want to save a player's minutes but when one player is generating most of your offense and the team is clicking because of it, TAKE THE RISK! You wouldn't see Pop pull Ginobili if he was scoring at will in the first quarter but got 2 fouls.

I'm wondering if this team has what it takes to "gel" before it's too late. We are actually losing ground to Philly and NJ... guys those are some **** terrible teams and we are losing ground to them. First off, a coach has to be able to motivate his team when they are losing... it's one thing to lose to bad teams but its another to lose to Charlotte when you have a double digit lead in the fourth quarter when you desperately need a win.

Second off, we still have a major depth issue in the frontcourt and last night (and against Charlotte actually), we saw how painful that can be. When Smith or Horford are having a bad game or get into foul trouble, we have to put Zaza in (actually we could put in Solo who has done well every time he gets put in for more than 4 minutes) who is terrible.

I think we should try and move Chil for Jeff Foster... I know it sounds dumb to move Chil the night after he scores 18 pts on 8 shots but I think that Rio and JRich can do a much better job filling in on the wings than Zaza can do filling the void up front.

Anyway, what do you guys think we can do to "stop the bleeding"? Is there a last minute move BK can make? Can Woody whip the guys into shape and get them playing hard? Do we have to fire Woody as that moron Mark Bradley writes in his latest column?

[killbuckner]

COB- the problem is that of the next 8 games the Hawks will be significant underdogs in 6 of them. Seriously this is a pretty brutal stretch

@ Golden state
@ Utah
@ San Antonio
Sacramento
New York
@ Boston
Golden State
@ New Orleans

I mean I don't care who is the coach, its going to be tough to win 3 games in that stretch with this team.

[conleyorbust]

COB- the problem is that of the next 8 games the Hawks will be significant underdogs in 6 of them. Seriously this is a pretty brutal stretch

@ Golden state
@ Utah
@ San Antonio
Sacramento
New York
@ Boston
Golden State
@ New Orleans

I mean I don't care who is the coach, its going to be tough to win 3 games in that stretch with this team.

I don't disagree with you. I'm just pointing out the things I see. The guys aren't playing for Woody... the team hasn't changed since December but since then we've gone from a winning team to 7-17. Just not gonna do it.

Either Woody can bring these guys together really soon, or having Bibby won't matter. We have lost too many winnable games against teams we should have beat, teams we would have beat before the new year.

I know we shouldn't get too riled up about a loss on the road in our new point guard's second game but we need to start gaining ground now or it will be too late. Making the playoffs this year would be really important for this franchise' ability to bring in fans and revenue. If the money doesn't come in than ASG is going to be a lot less likely to shell out the dough to improve the team.

[Hawks]

Out of that schedule the Knicks and GS @ home seem to be the only wins. Rest of those games might as well just put those down as practice games for Bibby getting used to the Hawks.

[HMFFL]

Out of that schedule the Knicks and GS @ home seem to be the only wins. Rest of those games might as well just put those down as practice games for Bibby getting used to the Hawks.

I just hope the fans can look past the Hawks falling right now. It's not like our chances were high to come out of the West Coast Trip with a positive record anyway. Hopefully there is some relief once we get back home.