Posts for category ‘atlanta hawks’

I’m a huge Antawn Jamison fan. He’s a classy dude, I’ve nicknamed him ‘The Gentlemen’ (hasn’t caught on), and the women folk say he’s got eyebrows for days.

Jamison is the current patriarchal cornerstone of the franchise. This year’s team MVP? Unquestionably. He possesses the never-quit attitude that should be infecting the locker room via leadership by example … Jamison is quite the opposite of past clubhouse cancers, like Christian Laettner.

But sometimes, everyone needs to be questioned, Jamison being no exception.

Jamison’s struggles on defense are no secret. He has aging lateral movement, and as discovered this year, he’s not an adequate substitute for Brendan Haywood‘s post defensive communication. Are we to just accept Jamison’s “unique” scoring ability, rebounding numbers, and minimal turnovers as big pluses? Or should Flip Saunders seek improved defense out of the starting lineup?

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Andray Blatche had a great start to last night’s game against the Hawks. He hit three open jumpers that Atlanta gave to him, and a crazy out-of-control runner for eight points in the first quarter.

Unfortunately, in the second half, he settled for jumpers. And the times he did drive to the hoop, he seemed to easily bobble the ball away as if he didn’t value it with intensity.

But that’s the Andray Blatche we know….a foundering soul from whom we keep expecting big things.

In the post game show, Comcast’s Ron Thompson and Chris Miller dubbed Blatche a “20 & 10 waiting to happen.”

But how long are we supposed to wait?

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Back to reality? We’ll see.

Q1

Wow, the Phillips looks emptier that the Verizon these days. The Hawks have the 4th best record in the East…..sad to say, Atlanta doesn’t deserve an NBA team.

11:45: Caron misses his assignment to protect the hoop after Songaila goes to double Joe Johnson and Horford gets an easy dunk on Atlanta’s first possession.

Hmm….long missed jumpers from Caron, bad P&R defense from Mike James….S.O.S. (Groundhog Day) – 6-1 Hawks.

9:00: Yep, it’s 9-1 when Tapscott decides to take timeout #1.

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I’ve been a little MIA over the Thanksgiving holiday. It’s nice to take a step back from the computer to hang with family…and that’s been graciously guided by severely limited internet access.

So the Wizards lost games 2 and 3 of the Tapscott era….ho hum. I have yet to read all reactions to losses to both Orlando and Atlanta, and I only was able to watch the Wizards face the Magic from a bar because it was on national television, but the indication seems to be that no one is surprised.

Yea, Dwight Howard is a bad man. In his time on the court against the Wizards this season, he pulls down a rebound every 2.43 minutes, attempts a free-throw every 2.61 minutes, and makes a FG every 3.84 minutes. Not many teams can stop Howard, and the Wizards are especially bad at doing so.

But it boils down to the fact that this Washington team is still not very good, just as indicated by their game performances all season. They’ve fallen short of pretty much everyone’s expectations, even those knowing that Gilbert Arenas would be absent. I would be more disappointed at failing to meet expectations if the team were not trying hard, if they weren’t displaying the want to win. For the most part, the Wizards are making an effort, but for some reason, things just aren’t clicking.

I still refuse to subscribe to the theory that the Wizards played completely above their heads last year. There is still a ton of talent and depth on this team, but not enough healthy fuel to keep the train going. At this point, there’s not much anyone can do outside of giving it the ol’ college try. Unfortunately, most teams the Wizards will be matching-up against graduated from the university long ago.
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Seen, Heard & Said

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So the big news: JaVale McGee and Dee Brown will be in the starting lineup for Etan Thomas and Juan Dixon. Brown is a little bit of a surprise as his play this year has been spotty, and uneventful when he does see the court. Plus, we know that Juan Dixon had built somewhat of an alley-oop rapport with McGee.

However, Dixon may be better coming off the bench, and Brown is a better defender. Still no Nick Young in the starting lineup, but if I had to choose a starting experiment, it would be McGee before Young.

What scares me: Atlanta is one of the best three point shooting teams in the league.

Q1

McGee easily wins the tip over Pachulia….on the first possession for the Wiz, the Hawks double Jamison and give Brown all the room in the world to shoot the three….he misses left.

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Last year, the Hawks, in Atlanta, were the source for the first win of the season after an 0-5 Washington start. Tonight, both of these teams meet, desperate for a win and riddled with injuries. The Hawks have lost four games in a row since starting 6-0. The stat stuffing Josh Smith has been out with a sprained ankle and Al Horford went down last night with an ankle injury. He is questionable to play against the Wizards tonight.

Ivan Carter has a good run-down of the ATL on Wizards Insider.

Back to last year’s history, the Wizards finished 2-2 against the Hawks. Here’s how it went down:

Game 6: Wizards @ Atlanta – Nov. 11, 2007
This game was played at the same time as a Redskins-Eagles matchup….so I made my friends put two TVs in their living room. The Wiz played a good game all around, moving the ball well and netting 26 assists, with 8 coming from Butler. They also worked inside-out, establishing Haywood in the paint early. BTH finished with 13 points and 12 boards. The Wiz had the game relatively in command but Atlanta made a late run and cut the lead to five with 3:40 left. However, Antawn Jamison sealed a big win with some clutch baskets. He finished with 23 points and 15 rebounds.
Wizards 101 – Hawks 90

Game 25: Wizards vs. Hawks – Dec. 21, 2007
After starting the previous loss against the Bulls and going 1-10 from the field, Nick Young was sent back to the bench in favor of Roger Mason, Jr.. The Hawks got off to a very fast start and the Wiz were lucky to be down four after one quarter. Remember Mike Wilks? He made his Wizards debut this game, his first shot was an airball. The Wiz were up two at the half, 47-45. Both teams made some runs in the 3rd, which ended with Atlanta up one, 68-67. The fourth quarter was intense and exciting as the teams went back and forth. With a minute left, Josh Smith hit a trey to put Atlanta up three. Nick Young made a drive to earn two FTs. Josh Childress got a lucky tip after good Wizards defense. Nick Young answered with a Kobe-like double-clutch hanging shot. The Hawks made two FTs, and with 16 seconds left and down three, Nick “The City” Young could not nail a trey to tie the game. Atlanta hit a couple FTs to seal the game and win in DC for the first time since December 2003.
Hawks 97 – Wizards 92

Game 34: Wizards @ Atlanta – Jan. 11, 2008
Let’s see…Big Oily Pecherov made his NBA debut (2 points, a rebound, a foul and a turnover), but this game was the Andray Blatche show….one of the few instances he has displayed real hustle. AB finished with 13 points, 8 rebounds (6 offensive) and 5 blocks off the bench. Antawn Jamison’s 17 total rebounds weren’t too shabby either. But Atlanta hung around, scoring 35 points in the 3rd after only 33 in the first half. Atlanta was up 68-62 heading into the final period. The game would head into OT as the Big Three of Butler, Jamison and Stevenson led the way. At the very end, the Wizards had trouble getting the ball inbounds with 5.4 seconds left. After an almost steal by Atlanta, Daniels was able to receive the inbounds pass from Stevenson and make both FTs to eek out the win.
Wizards 102 – Hawks 98

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Jeff from CelticsBlog.com is doing the grunt work to put together a comprehensive NBA preview from bloggers ’round the ‘sphere. The Atlantic Division Preview was first, the Southwest Division was second, the Central Division was third, the Northwest Division was fourth, and now the Southeast Division is out. Here are the highlights from the participating bloggers for each team, click on the blog links to see the full team preview:

Atlanta Hawks

[Basketbawful]
We’ve all seen it before. A team gets hot at the end of the regular season, sneaks into the playoffs, makes some noise, and so everybody expects them to take The Next Big Step next season. But when said team is flawed — as the Hawks are — this often leads to overconfidence and failed expectations. The most recent example of this is the Golden State Warriors. The 2007-08 Warriors may have won a few more games than the 2006-07 Warriors, but they failed to recapture the magic of that ’07 playoff run. I think we’re going to see the same thing happen to the Hawks this season. Prediction: 40-42

[Peachtree Hoops]
The franchise’s goal is to make the playoffs. I wish I could say the franchise’s goal was to make the playoffs and win a series (or even a road game) but I don’t think their off-season activity suggests they’re trying to accomplish anything grander than to finish within a handful of games of .500 and hope that that again is good enough for a playoff spot in the East. Prediction: 34-48

Charlotte Bobcats

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Well, the Wizards won’t be seeing what’s in these bags of tricks.

flickr photo from Cougar-Studio.com

Why? Because Eddie Jordan has set a curfew for his Wizards team on their 2-game Florida road trip. Curious as to why Eddie would do this, as the Washington Post tells, Jordan has never believed in curfews. Is this a reactionary or preemptive move? In any case, I am in agreement because the idea can’t hurt.

“…..a business trip, not a Florida pleasure trip.” -Coach EJ

Moving on to the Atlanta Hawks loss.

Bad Wizards defense…..what more can I say? At least someone was happy to get free donuts as a result of the Hawks win. Bibby is getting props too.

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Watch out for this guy….
just ask Tang Hamilton (not pictured guarding Joe Johnson).
picture from flickr/vedia

>> After the 0-5 start, the Wizards got their first win of this 2007-2008 season against the Atlanta Hawks back on November 11th…..thanks to some guts and 15 rebounds from Antawn Jamison. Unfortunately, that game coincided with a 33-25 Redskins loss to the hated Philadelphia Eagles.

>> In game 25, a 97-92 Wizards loss to the Hawks, Washington survived a slow start to make the match really close down the stretch. Nick Young and DeShawn Stevenson both gave solid efforts, however the Wiz were unable to overcome a 32 point night from Joe Johnson and a +16 rebound margin for Atlanta.

>> Game 34: Wizards vs. Hawks in Atlanta. This one was even more exciting as the game went into overtime; Washington prevailed 102-98 thanks to Antonio Daniels with his game sealing bucket and 7 assists with 0 turnovers.

>> Tonight’s game is a big one for both teams….playoff implications. As I read on the Bullets Forever game 66 preview, the Hawks are tied with the New Jersey Nets for the 8th spot in the NBA Eastern Conference playoff race. Currently, the teams share a 28-38 record….disgusting.

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The Run Down

>>Bullets Forever Game Preview

>>Game 6 Live Blog [Wizards 101-90 Win @ ATL] – Sunday, Oct. 11

>>Game 25 Live Blog [ATL 97-92 Win @ Washington] – Friday, Dec. 21

>>Darius Songaila had to get his teeth fixed yesterday. Reports did not indicate if the dentist visit was the result of his banging in the paint, or simply growing up Lithuanian.

>>Michael Lee gives us a great Wizards Insider post about teams playing without their all-stars, and about the tough stretch of games upcoming for the Wizards.

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Yes, please do tell me that the Zen-Master, Phil Jackson is playing his Jedi-Zen games when he is debating whether Kwame Brown will return to being the Lakers starter at center over Andrew Bynum once he returns from injury.

Ok, back to players who have heart, Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler. I’ve been unsure about this game. Some of those commenting on Bullets Forever seem apprehensive about the Hawks as well. Now, my feeling has changed. I think the veteran leadership of AJ and Tuff Juice will lead the Wizards to a victory over this young Hawks team. Of course, this Atlanta team has had wins over Dallas, Phoenix and Utah this year — so maybe they aren’t that young.

In any case, as we learned the other night against the Bulls, AJ and Butler can’t do it alone. They will need the help of young pups of their own. I’m urious to see how Nick Young responds to his horrible 1-10 effort the other night.

And this just in….Roger Mason Jr. will be starting instead of Nick Young. So hopefully, this will give the Wiz more solid D from the start and allow Nick Young to gain confidence in that he only really has to worry about offense coming off the bench, rather than getting into the initial flow of the game. But, I’m not giving him an excuse to slack on D.

Now let’s start the show…

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Ok, I made that up.

But everyone is talking about how Stephon Marbury’s days with the Knicks might be numbered. And yes, no team is going to take the 2 years, $42 million left on his contract in a trade. But even if he is bought out, I really can’t think of an NBA team that would reasonably sign the team killer. That being said, somebody would have to, right?

BTW, the breaking news found via Slam Online is that Starbury has gone AWOL.

So, in the event that the Knicks do cut Marbury loose, I’ve scoured NBA rosters to see which teams may just give the guy a chance. Starting with the least likely victim and ending with the most likely.

7) The New York Knicks – Really…would this scenario be that far-fetched? Isiah would have the new contract sent before he realized that the New York-born, former All-Star guard, that he could get on the cheap, was the guy he just cut.

6) The Sacramento Kings - Mike Bibby is going to be out for at least 8 more weeks with a torn thumb ligament. Plus the Kings suck this year, I picked them to finish with the worst record in the league. On top of all that, they are no longer selling out Arco Arena. So what are the Maloof brothers to do? What any shady casino owner would do…something crazy to sell tickets. Could you imagine Marbury and Artest on the floor at the same time fighting over the ball? Or just fighting in general. Personally, I wouldn’t pay to see it, but maybe there’d be a chance for some PPV duckets. Or….they could use Starbury to guarantee a sabotage of the team so they could move the Kings to Sin City, The Major League Theory. The owner of the Cleveland Indians in that movie was a former Las Vegas showgirl…coincidence?

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Here are the points: Yes, Gilbert’s knee is bothering him, and the 07-08 Washington Wizards are not the same as a result. But this should not be the case.

Now the facts: The Wizards are not playing any defense and they have shown glimpses of quitting on their coach, Eddie Jordan. The solace taken is that the players, the team, know this. Do they have the desire to change the course? We will see today at Phillips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. Like no dancing for Chad Johnson ’till .500, no keys to the game until a Wizards win.

Just win baby. Hey, at least the Skins seem to be gaining steam after a slow start. They’ve got a 12-7 lead with just under 2 minutes left in the half as the Wizards and Hawks tip it off.

1st Quarter

The Hawks have promising youth on the inside in Horford and Josh Smith, but the Wiz do well in trying to establish a Haywood inside offensive presence early. Reliable, easy, points need to start coming from somewhere. In fact, I’d be curious to give a detailed look at all NBA rosters. I’m willing to bet that the Wizards are the only team in the entire league without a consistent post scorer. If you’re looking for some answers, you could start there.

A lot of run ‘n’ gun to start the 1st. A fast pace is something the Wizards need to get used to doing again. They show a little rust, with a hint of sloppiness….Caron Butler also needs to be getting himself better looks at the basket. But a 16-11 lead with 5:40 left is not bad.

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