Hawks Playoff [Positioning]

Geaux_Hawks · Post #61 » by **Geaux_Hawks** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 12:54 am

Would be very nice to see this team win 50 games. 50 wins just seems like a nice bench mark to be considered a great team. It's not the impressive 60 we saw last year, but would give this team a great feel going into the playoffs.

Post #62 » by **ATL Boy** » Mon Apr 11, 2016 2:16 am

Not a great day, but overall pretty good.

Washington beats Charlotte: perfect for us. Pushes the Hornets down to 6th, where they look like they'll finish.

Miami beats Orlando: The Magic lost tonight, but they did the damage we needed them to do in this home and home. Miami winning could low key work out in our favor. It assures that they don't tank for the 6 seed, and wins them the tiebreak over Charlotte. Now, the Hornets losing to Boston tomorrow locks them into 6th place.

Toronto beat New York: This is the only result today that's egregious for us, with no silver lining. The Cavs still haven't clinched, so they'll probably be at full strength against us.

Tomorrow's game against Cleveland becomes a double edged sword. If we lose, then Miami re-claims control for the 3 seed. However, even if we win it makes Wednesday a jittery night; another Cleveland loss (to Detroit) combined with Toronto winning two easy games (Philly and Brooklyn) drops the Cavs to 2nd and in line to face us in round 2.

With our win over Boston, combined with Charlotte and Miami's losses this weekend, the dominos are poised to fall in our favor, but they haven't dropped yet.

Post #63 » by **Hawk Eye** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 2:11 am

Detroit just couldn't get it done tonight

Post #64 » by **Jamaaliver** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 3:04 am

Miami's acquisition of Joe Johnson has been huge for that team.

They lost their All Star Center but still have a shot at a top 3 seed and a division title in large part due to his elite efficiency and top production.

It ain't the mystique of Riley, as one poster once put it, but it is an uncanny ability to recruit top players and convince them to sacrifice in favor of the greater good.

Shaq
LeBron
Ray Allen
Luol Deng
Joe Johnson

The list just goes on and on.

Post #65 » by **Hawk Eye** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 4:09 am

Jamaaliver wrote:Miami's acquisition of Joe Johnson has been huge for that team.

They lost their All Star Center but still have a shot at a top 3 seed and a division title in large part due to his elite efficiency and top production.

It ain't the mystique of Riley, as one poster once put it, but it is an uncanny ability to recruit top players and convince them to sacrifice in favor of the greater good.

Shaq
LeBron
Ray Allen
Luol Deng
Joe Johnson

The list just goes on and on.

This helps a lot

Post #66 » by **ATL Boy** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 4:11 am

So it all comes down to this... This is what it all comes down to.

Heat @ Boston
Atlanta @ Washington

The scenario for us is straightforward: a win coupled with a Miami loss, and we're third. Miami wins or we lose, and we're fourth. On the bright side, they're in for a dogfight of a match against a Celtics team that'll be fighting tooth and nail to secure homecourt advantage of their own. Boston is very good at home, and Miami will be playing game 5 in 7 days. Celtics have won both meetings so far, this season. We'll be playing a Wizards team with (probably) no Wall, that just had trouble putting Brooklyn away.

Yet despite all of what I just typed, how everything seems to be completely in our favor on paper, I'm still extremely anxious about these matches. Anything can happen in the NBA, all it takes is a night where the shot isn't falling, or one team goes ballistic from three. I don't like that we don't dictate our own fate. The difference between 3 seed and 4 seed is absolutely immense this season.

Post #67 » by **Hawk Eye** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 4:25 am

^ couldn't agree more. The good news is that Brad Stevens is going all out and isn't resting any of his guys tomorrow. I want to say that the Celtics can take care of business (especially with it being at home) but after that horrendous performance against Charlotte I just dont know. I feel good about us against Washington. They have no reason to play Wall and Beal may not even play as well.

Post #68 » by **Jamaaliver** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 6:40 pm

PMOTT3 wrote:This helps a lot...

Very true.

But don't underestimate the effect that Pat Riley carries when he goes recruiting.

We've seen Top Free Agents spurn Chicago, New York, Atlanta, LA Lakers in recent years. Some of the greatest cities in the world.

MIA offers tropic locales, and the best basketball mind this side of Jerry West.

Post #69 » by **Jamaaliver** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 6:41 pm

Playoff scenarios heading into the final day:

Post #70 » by **Hawk Eye** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 7:24 pm

Jamaaliver wrote:
PMOTT3 wrote:This helps a lot...

Very true.

But don't underestimate the effect that Pat Riley carries when he goes recruiting.

We've seen Top Free Agents spurn Chicago, New York, Atlanta, LA Lakers in recent years. Some of the greatest cities in the world.

MIA offers tropic locales, and the best basketball mind this side of Jerry West.

Oh I'm not. I think that he a long with the rest of that front office are some of the best recruiters in the league.

There's really only 3 factors that free agents take into consideration when choosing where they want to sign in the off-season.

-Location (Weather, City life, Culture, etc.)
-Money (Self explanatory)
-Winning (Playoff teams, Championship caliber teams)

Miami has all 3 so it's not a suprise at all when I watch them work their recruiting magic what seems like every season.

Post #71 » by **Jamaaliver** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 7:28 pm

PMOTT3 wrote:Oh I'm not. I think that he a long with the rest of that front office are some of the best recruiters in the league.

There's really only 3 factors that free agents take into consideration when choosing where they want to sign in the off-season.

-Location (Weather, City life, Culture, etc.)
-Money (Self explanatory)
-Winning (Playoff teams, Championship caliber teams)

Miami has all 3 so it's not a suprise at all when I watch them work their recruiting magic what seems like every season.

In theory, we should be pretty close to having all three as well.

Atlanta is a great city that many young athletes live in during the off-season. We are led by the reigning Coach of the Year. We have been a playoff team for 9 straight season.

Yet, we never seem capable of wrangling top Free Agents. It's very frustrating. I thought last season was our best shot at being a major Free Agent player...but we chose to reload and maintain instead of seeking external improvement.

Before Riley got to Miami, they had never even graced the playoffs won a playoff series. Since then, the Heat have won 11 Division titles, 5 Conference Titles and 3 NBA Championships.

The Hawks during that period have 1 division title.

Riley's tenure there has been nothing short of amazing.

I kinda wish we could play against MIA in the first round and smack them a round a bit... :nod:

DirtybirdGA · Post #72 » by **DirtybirdGA** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 7:37 pm

Well they can't say management, like they used to.

Statlanta · Post #73 » by **Statlanta** » Wed Apr 13, 2016 11:18 pm

PMOTT3 wrote:
Oh I'm not. I think that he a long with the rest of that front office are some of the best recruiters in the league.

There's really only 3 factors that free agents take into consideration when choosing where they want to sign in the off-season.

-Location (Weather, City life, Culture, etc.)
-Money (Self explanatory)
-Winning (Playoff teams, Championship caliber teams)

Miami has all 3 so it's not a suprise at all when I watch them work their recruiting magic what seems like every season.

I've always wondered why the ATL has never gotten star/superstar free agents with this.
Having stars in Millsap, Teague, Horford and an actual top 5 coach in Bud should be enticing.

The only thing I can possibly guess is...

At least you recruited Joe Johnson(All-Star guard) and Jamal Crawford(6MOY) fairly recently.

Post #74 » by **Jamaaliver** » Thu Apr 14, 2016 2:27 am

Okay...looks like it is now Hawks-Celtics

Time to avenge 2012...and 2008...and 1988.

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Post #75 » by **ATL Boy** » Thu Apr 14, 2016 4:24 am

We get the Celtics, before meeting with the buzz saw that is the Cavs in a potential round 2 (provided we get past Boston in what'll be a bloodbath).

If the Raptors end up getting knocked out in round 1, I'll look back on April 13th, 2016 as maybe the worst regular season day in Hawks history.

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Post #76 » by **Jamaaliver** » Thu Apr 14, 2016 3:20 pm

Had the Hawks won, they’d be facing the Heat in Round 1. (Maybe that explains Wednesday’s loss — the desire to avoid Miami, which beat the Hawks three of four.)

Speculation that we'd be facing MIA in the first round had we won...makes last night's loss any easier to swallow? Here