April 7th: Atlanta at Detroit

[azuresou1]

Hold me. I'm about to cry.

[Hawkeyes]

Can't wait for the playoffs! Barely squeak by an average opponent in round 1, then get swept in round 2! Heck, at this point, we'll probably lose in round 1 to whoever we face. Especially if it is Miami. This team really proved tonight what a joke they are.

[raleigh]

Question from us Magic fans who are curious about this game....Is the team tanking because it believes it has a better shot against the Cavs?

They're clearly not giving 100% effort. I was at the game in Charlotte the other night and I'm tempted to write the NBA for a refund...it was that lackadaisical. (I caught several Hawks stealing glances at the cheerleaders during a 4th quarter timeout rather than focusing on the coaches).

[parson]

Bibby got old about half-way into this season, which is about the same time we became a .500 team. I don't think that's a coincidence.

We don't have another PG and we don't seem able to develop one.

[JoshB914]

I'm with HG. We have clearly just been cruising for quite some time now. However, these 4th quarter problems are a serious problem. We have been shut down by a multitude of defenses (and several bad ones) and blown games at the end.

[Master8492]

The Hawks are still a below average team on the road. If they want to be contenders they need to step it up away from home.

But hey, at least the Braves won.

[HMFFL]

Looks like it was a good thing I missed the game because I would be completely frustrated with the way we performed.

[Hawkamanic81]

Typical of today’s overpaid spoiled athletes to come in and not give full effort. Today’s players have no pride at all. Losing to a team like Detroit had out there today should leave the Hawk players feel embarrassed and you know they feel no such thing. They should have enough pride to play hard enough to make sure a loss like tonight doesn’t happen. But this is typical of the modern NBA and it’s a big reason why the league struggles and has such a small fanbase. Let’s face it, the NBA doesn’t have a lot of fans and it’s easy to see why.

[D21]

Question from us Magic fans who are curious about this game....Is the team tanking because it believes it has a better shot against the Cavs?

It makes now two or more weeks that I started to joke about this plan, because each time we could take the third place, or take some games ahead of BOS, there was a incredible L.
Since, I think more seriously each day that Woody wants the 4th seed, and Joe help him. It gives him some rest, and justify the recent L (even if ATL were able to loose some games in the 4th quarter with Joe).

Now, I don't think it's only " a better sot against the Cavs", but that it's a simple way to judge improvment from last year, because anything but a sweep would be better than last year.
It will be imortant for his contract extension.
Sure, there were lots of injury last year, so it should not be viewed like that, but it will.