Series Thread: 2nd Round: Washington Wizards vs Atlanta Hawks

[TurnUpTheHeat]

I still have no idea what to make of Washington.

They were supposed to be a great team this year and fight for a top seed, but they half-assed it all season.

I dont know if they are finally living up to the pre-season expectations...

But Paul Pierce looks like 2008 Paul Pierce suddenly for a few games.

So far, theyve looked like the best, most complete team in the East.
They made Toronto look bad, and I think Toronto is decent.

Hawks did have the quick turnaround, so I'll give them that excuse for now, but I said last week that people were sleeping on the Wiz, and I think they win this series.

 

[logic]

Let's rofl at the hawks who purposely tanked to avoid the Bulls and now have to play the better wizards lol

Let's rofl at tanking yet winning the conference lol.

 

[Shanemansj13]

Is the Beal injury serious?

Well I think the Wiz can beat the Hawks without Beal personally, it will be much tougher. With Beal and can see them winning in 5.

 

[SoCalWizFan]

I drove @ 3 hours to watch the game in Atlanta yesterday. It was the first time that I had been in that city in ages.

The Hawks fans here may be legit and knowledgeable. However - the fans at Phillips Arena might have the lowest basketball IQ in the league. What a joke. For starters - there were quite a few empty seats - pretty amazing for a playoff game. They also almost always appeared more interested in the endless variety of gimmicks & promotions - mascot games, kiss cam, t-shirt giveaways, floor shows, etc than the actual game.

Just about all of the fans didn't even know the names of any Wizards players. Their rants about plays, calls, etc were misinformed at best. I had to bite my tongue when many of them appeared to be thrilled when both Wall & Beal hit the ground in agony during their injuries. Nice.

Oh well - I can understand angry fans at other arenas but at least they are informed & show some amount of respect for the game & other players. This place was a joke. The series should be interesting.

 

[GenJac]

The Hawks were not that impressive against the under .500 Nets. I noticed that the Nets exposed a major weakness of the Hawks-they can not defend the three point shot. They aren't going anywhere. They got no chance to make it to the Finals.

 

[Demonjoe93]

I have a final tonight, so I'll have to DVR the game instead of watching it live and posting on here.

The Hawks have to win tonight. It's either win tonight and still possibly win the series, or lose and probably get swept.

 

[Demonjoe93]

I drove @ 3 hours to watch the game in Atlanta yesterday. It was the first time that I had been in that city in ages.

The Hawks fans here may be legit and knowledgeable. However - the fans at Phillips Arena might have the lowest basketball IQ in the league. What a joke. For starters - there were quite a few empty seats - pretty amazing for a playoff game. They also almost always appeared more interested in the endless variety of gimmicks & promotions - mascot games, kiss cam, t-shirt giveaways, floor shows, etc than the actual game.

Just about all of the fans didn't even know the names of any Wizards players. Their rants about plays, calls, etc were misinformed at best. I had to bite my tongue when many of them appeared to be thrilled when both Wall & Beal hit the ground in agony during their injuries. Nice.

Oh well - I can understand angry fans at other arenas but at least they are informed & show some amount of respect for the game & other players. This place was a joke. The series should be interesting.

Wait, are you saying that...I'm not the only one on here!?

Sorry that you had to witness bandwagon fans cheering on players getting hurt. That type of crap is unacceptable. I assure you the diehard fans that cared about this team before this year hate seeing any player get hurt.

 

[Beengay fudgepackers]

So far, theyve looked like the best, most complete team in the East.
They made Toronto look bad, and I think Toronto is decent.

Hawks did have the quick turnaround, so I'll give them that excuse for now, but I said last week that people were sleeping on the Wiz, and I think they win this series.

I always knew the Wizards would be a force in the playoffs, but let's not overrate their victory over Toronto. Everyone knew Toronto were pretenders. Wall is better than Lowry, Beal is better than Derozan, and the rest of the Wizards trumps the rest of the raptors. It really wasn't even a fair match up. They have a legit shot at going to the finals, but I wouldn't say they are favored over the Cavs or Bulls if they make it to the ECF.

 

[gordontrue]

From watching the Hawks in the playoffs...

I think there is a danger in having a guy have a monstrous year from 3 (Korver) when there's no clear superstar on the team.

Some of the 3's he's taken in the Nets series and then Game 1 were just bad shots... even for a great shooter like him. I think its easier for him to justify taking those shots when he's had such a good year and its not like there's some individual superstar he should be deferring too.

Maybe an oversimplification... but I've noticed several big moments where he went into jack mode.

Of course if he gets hot... it becomes a good thing.

 

[Demonjoe93]

From watching the Hawks in the playoffs...

I think there is a danger in having a guy have a monstrous year from 3 (Korver) when there's no clear superstar on the team.

Some of the 3's he's taken in the Nets series and then Game 1 were just bad shots... even for a great shooter like him. I think its easier for him to justify taking those shots when he's had such a good year and its not like there's some individual superstar he should be deferring too.

Maybe an oversimplification... but I've noticed several big moments where he went into jack mode.

Of course if he gets hot... it becomes a good thing.

In fairness, that whole team tends to go into jack-mode. Way too many threes were shot in that second half. The Hawks needs to learn when to post-up when the three just isn't working. Probably would have won Sunday if they had switched it up on offense.

 

[Skin'EmAll]

The Hawks needs to learn when to post-up when the three just isn't working

This is ultimately what did Toronto in. They had huge success, as it appeared we never figured out how to defend their 4's and guards hitting 3s during the regular season. And so they never ever attempted another strategy.

I'm hoping Atlanta attempts the same thing and gasses out, like they did Sunday.
Obviously, we do some silly things on defense, but seem to adjust well at the half.
If Washington wins this game tonight, I think we win 4-1, just from a psychological standpoint.

 

[Demonjoe93]

This is ultimately what did Toronto in. They had huge success, as it appeared we never figured out how to defend their 4's and guards hitting 3s during the regular season. And so they never ever attempted another strategy.

I'm hoping Atlanta attempts the same thing and gasses out, like they did Sunday.
Obviously, we do some silly things on defense, but seem to adjust well at the half.
If Washington wins this game tonight, I think we win 4-1, just from a psychological standpoint.

I think Budenholzer is a smart enough coach to where they probably will adjust. I guess the reason they didn't try doing anything else was because of how well it worked in one half (63 points). I think tonight will be different.

 

[purguy12]

Wow Wall is out. 1st paul now wall. Damn. Atlanta should win this one easy.

 

[GenJac]

How you going to call Antic for that?

 

[Clayton]

Hawks need Korver to wake up or they are toast. This is a fun game so far

 

[Hornsstampede2.0]

HAWKS dont look good yet again.

At least Houston could say they were rusty from a long layoff and took the opponent lightly

Atlanta already knows better. They are not rusty and know damn well they can lose to Washington.

They are letting the Wizards hang around without their best player.

They need to step up and win this game by 20+

The 2nd half will tell a lot if Atlanta is ever going to come out of this 3 month stretch of of so-so basketball

 

[Demonjoe93]

Wow, Washington had four three-pointers go in off a lucky bounce. I'm glad we managed to win by sixteen with their star point guard out. Just imagine, if we hadn't royally fucked up the last game, we could be up 2-0 in this series. Now Atlanta just needs to win a road game.

 

[ATL96Steeler]

I drove @ 3 hours to watch the game in Atlanta yesterday. It was the first time that I had been in that city in ages.

The Hawks fans here may be legit and knowledgeable. However - the fans at Phillips Arena might have the lowest basketball IQ in the league. What a joke. For starters - there were quite a few empty seats - pretty amazing for a playoff game. They also almost always appeared more interested in the endless variety of gimmicks & promotions - mascot games, kiss cam, t-shirt giveaways, floor shows, etc than the actual game.

Just about all of the fans didn't even know the names of any Wizards players. Their rants about plays, calls, etc were misinformed at best. I had to bite my tongue when many of them appeared to be thrilled when both Wall & Beal hit the ground in agony during their injuries. Nice.

Oh well - I can understand angry fans at other arenas but at least they are informed & show some amount of respect for the game & other players. This place was a joke. The series should be interesting.

Hawk fans...No doubt a minority...but the true old school Hawks fans are about as educated as you will find, just not 20k of them in the stands.

ATL has more pieces, but Wall is the best player on the floor...if the ATL bigs start hitting their shots again...Hawks in 6...if they continue to struggle hitting the outside shot...could go either way, but I would say WAS in 7 unless Teague takes over.

 

[purguy12]

With out Wall they have no shot. They need wall to play.

 

[Demonjoe93]

With out Wall they have no shot. They need wall to play.

More than likely, yeah.