Monday: Portland @ Atlanta

[evildallas]

Just got home and I got to say that was a brutally ugly game for 3 quarters plus. I mean both teams because normally Portland would have opened a huge league when we should that way. The only thing that worked right was KissCam.

Josh and Al were huge on the boards and then Joe was money in the 4th and OT. Also, he stepped up by picking up Brandon Roy in the crunch after Roy hit a couple shots on Marvin. Huge rebound and outlet by Josh late to Joe before Josh could be fouled. That play got us to OT to win it (Joe hit both FTs where Josh is 50% type normally). Props to Zaza for some tough D and effort when we needed it.

Rough night for Jamal. Shots just wouldn't fall. HORRIBLE night for Marvin between the overthrown passes and the fast break he bricked off the side of the backboard. I found myself yelling "Can't we try Mo Evans?" when Marvin replaced Jamal late in the fourth.

Note for the future: you might want to keep a guy on Rudy late. The kid can ball.

We'll take the win on a type of night that we used to fold like a lawn chair and be grateful we only face Portland twice a year because we are very evenly matched. Good luck to you guys out West.

[Norm2953]

I like the make-up of your team for if your team was in the Western Conference,
Atlanta would be this season's Houston Rockets, a team which we don't match up
well with.

Good luck with the rest of the season for we won't be playing each other unless
we meet in the finals. Nothing wrong with an Atlanta/Portland NBA finals.

[JoshB914]

Nice win. We keep winning these types of games that we would have lost in season's past. Very glad the guys found a way to pull one out on an evening where we couldn't knock down an open jumper to save our lives.

[PDXKnight]

Well there is a lot of season to go, but I was impressed with Atlanta tonight. They stuck it out longer and fought harder for the win and Portland collapsed at the end. Atlanta is definitely an underlooked team at this point and I could see them surprise in the playoffs (hopefully along with Portland). I think both teams are still a season or two away from elite status, but what's clear at this point is that Portland and Atlanta are going to contend in their respective conferences for a long time.

[conleyorbust]

Well that was an ugly game. Gotta agree with the Daily Dime bloggers, reminded me a lot more of the Hawks of 2 years ago than of this year's Hawks to date. Portland is the only team that plays a lot of zone against us, but I spose until we learn how to bust it, why not?

I'm really ambivalent on Joe, he was clutch as all hell down the stretch and he had a lot of points and assists but man, it is really annoying to watch him pound the rock for most of the shot clock after he called everyone else on the team out.

Josh and Al, what a pair. I'm liking them more an more as the season goes on. Our bench hasn't given us much the past couple games, but hopefully that'll change soon.

I can't be the only guy who isn't that impressed with Lamarcus Aldridge. Guy makes marshmellows seem tough.

Ugly win but still a win, I'll take it. Hope they guys wake up for Miami.

[evildallas]

I was reading over the daily dime live at ESPN and they seemed to feel that Horford goaltended on a shot in OT (by Fernandez I believe). When I was watching it at Philips live it looked to be off line with no chance of going in, but my seat is on the end behind the basket so I didn't have the best angle. Did anyone see the shot on TV and can clear it up?

I saw the replay of the stepping on the line call against Blake and I can definitely see why the official called it that way. Half of his foot was over the line, I'm just not sure it came down to make contact. You'd have to look closely on replay to prove otherwise though.

[HoopsGuru25]

My initial reaction was that it was goal tending on Horford. It wouldn't have gone in but it probably would have hit the rim. I also think that if you want to argue ticky tack call-couldn't you technically have called traveling on Rudy Fernandez on that last play of regulation? His left foot(pivot) clearly left the ground on that pump fake.

[Bekim]

9 - 2....woooow....Atlanta is playing is great season, as yet! Really hard to beat this team!

[Skyhawk1]

I was stunned we won this game. The first 3 quarters were just horrific. A lot of jump shots, the Blazers zone D kinda got us out of rythim pretty bad. Horford as usuall and Smith lately have been great. J. Crawford had an off night, which we're supposed to expect. JJ, you're great but we need that ball to move not only on fastbreaks. Teague, Marvin, and even Joe Smith need some help where to better help us on the court. They all seem to be lost out there. Why we don't put Horford along with Bibby or JJ in P&R against guys like Oden, Perkins, Hibbert, or any slow big men is this league is way beyond me. You just suck Woodson.

[johnny878]

i remember thsi summer, cviggity and macecase would go into just about every thread just to state how the hawks didnt belong in the same sentence as the blazers. it would be a thread about josh smith losing weight, and they would come in say hawks suck and blazers rule.

whats up now