Gameflow
I'm at a loss as to the appropriate response to last night's game. I was initially incredulous about the celebration following Joe Johnson's game-winner as it resulted from blowing a 19-point lead to the worst team in the league and Atlanta's two best players allowing a go-ahead layup to Marko Jaric on consecutive possessions.
But, these guys (Horford and Law excluded) haven't won a lot of games recently. It's not their fault that they're part of a dysfunctional, thin roster that's deployed sub-optimally. Winning four out of every five games is more than a minor accomplishment considering the circumstances.
All the familiar, maddening problems surfaced (as did some of the causes for optimism).
But they won.
Exhale.
Remember where the organization is coming from.
My expectations with regard to consistent, quality basketball Saturday night against Memphis are low. With Tyronn Lue's strained calf, Zaza Pachulia's concussion, and Josh Childress's fresh groin strain, we may see a seven-man rotation. We may see Solomon Jones outside of garbage time. We may even see Joe Johnson and Salim Stoudamire on the court at the same time. (Necessity as the mother of implementing the obvious or some such.) May they just be good enough to win another game.
1 comment:
Great blog, I enjoy reading it. You really let them off easy with this last entry. I can honestly neer say I've never been this disapointing with a last second VICTORY. They should have squashed thes guys, but Joe Johnson was outplayed, for the most part, by Craig Smith, and Marko Jaric outplayed pretty much everyone else for the Hawks.
A lot of us said this last year about the Falcons but I think it might apply to the Hawks also this year. Doesn't it say something about a coach when the team consistently comes out of halftime flat and gets whipped in the third quarter? It's like one team is mmaking halftime adjustments and the other is sipping gatorade.
Steve Smith, at one point, said on ethe broadcast last night, "It's not even about making bastkets at this point, it's about energy." While I agree that they needed to be more active, I have to disagree. When you go three for fifteen shooting nin a quarter, it's ENTIRELY about making baskets. Someone has to put the ball in just to prove that there's no lid over it.
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