Take Care of Business
Yes, the Golden State Warriors are 12-18 this season and 4-12 on the road.
Yes, the Hawks have won eight in a row at the Highlight Factory.
Yes, the Warriors only road wins in their last ten tries have come against the two worst teams in the West (Minnesota and Sacramento).
Don’t be fooled. This Warriors team is playing pretty good basketball right now. They have won three in a row, including a victory over a tough Portland team. Monta Ellis, recently named Western Conference Player of the Week, has been a regular on SportsCenter’s “Top Ten” lately, and Stephen Curry just made his return to the line-up after missing six games with a sprained ankle.
The Hawks will need to “take care of business” tonight and play with focus right from the start. They can’t get into a shootout with this Golden State team, and I am sure Larry Drew will be preaching defense the entire night.
Two stats to keep in mind:
- The Hawks are 9-2 when scoring over 100 points.
(Atlanta is averaging over 117 when hosting Golden State over the last five years)
- The Warriors are 1-12 when scoring less then 100 points.
(Atlanta has held opponents to 93 points or less the last six games)
IVe got the solution:
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=29x36p2
I feel like with this trade we would be the best team in the leauge our only competitor might be San Antonio, With a reunion of the2003 champs in atlanta I feel like Chauncy RIP and Tayshaun will play there best basketball in a long time because they are veterans who all have tasted a championship and are hungry for another taste, I mean look at the line-up
1:Billups/Teague
2:Hamilton/Crawford/Jo
3:Anthony/Prince
4:Horford/Hill/Powell
5:Wallace/Miller/Collins
Not many teams could hang with us I think we wold be guaranteed a championship or two,
I mean it works for everybody, the rockets are rumored to want Joe, The Nuggets Are trying to build a younger team (Bibby and Moe dont help that but they have short contract, and we would probablly include some DP’s), The piston need to start over so I think the trade is definately doable
We would be a pretty decent defensive team, but offensively we would be unstoppable I mean we have some rediculous scorers I feel like were similar to boston on steroids we have: billups(not better than rondo but a really good PG and a good shooter) Hamilton (shooter who scores excatly like ray allen, running around sreens for an open shot) Carmelo(Guess you could compare him to Pierce because they are both pure scorers but Melo’s much better) Horford(Shouldnt be compared to KG even near the end of his Career KG is still better than Horford is now, but Al is a very good All-star PF) but our bench is better with Jamal and Prince, on-top of that in the trade we get brad miller, who is a 7 footer who can shoot the three like a guard! We’d be unstoppable offensively and chemistry would not be an issue because Chauncy has played with half of the new team (including MELO)
This is the trade we need!!!!!!!!!!
so what do you guys think??
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=22wtkvr
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=2bpzwrs
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=2fxwj38
Durant or Joe Johnson? I pose the question because Joe Johnson has not shown up yet this year. I know Hawks management is somewhere kicking themselves in the behind. They had no chance at getting Durant, but Joe Johnson looks like a third team NBA player. Right, that’s what he is! I am so disappointed in the make up of this team. They have not addressed the glaring hole which is the center position, nor have they took a serious look at a dominating point guard. Come on Hawks manangement lets put a GREAT TEAM together; from top to bottom. If certain teams can be in the HUNT for proven players, why can’t the Hawks. I look and see New Jersey, New York, Miami(even Miami with that team they have), Charlotte, Memphis, all the teams seem to be trying to get better. Why are the Hawks not willing to try something different? Because what they are doing is not working consistantly! Is it coaching, spoiled players, or not very well informed owners? This is crazy! Joe Johnson is starting to play isolation ball again. Josh Smith PLEASE pass the ball to the guard on the break, i’m quite sure you will get it back!
Mr. Sund, I understand there are strategies and money issues that have to be considered when trying to improve a team; but like the movie says “…..if you build it they will come.” http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=29j6ltp.
I’m just throwing something out there. I know it’s wishful thinking, but HELL i’m tired of the reality.
just because it makes sense finaccially doesnt mean it will happen. Those teams wouldnt trade jack for those players.
thank you i been trying 2 tell them that
Smith was less upset about Ibaka’s foul than his dunk near the end of the game. The shot clock was off and the Thunder were ahead 101-92 when Ibaka took a pass from Westbrook and scored. “That’s a sign of disrespect,” Smith said. “Everybody in the whole league knows that you don’t do nothing like that. We remember something like that.” Smith had a conversation with Durant about the play. “He said he was going to handle it because he knew that wasn’t right,” Smith said. The basket gave Westbrook his 10th assist to complete a triple-double. He also had 23 points and 10 rebounds. ”It doesn’t matter,” Drew said. “You run the clock out. The game is over. You don’t make that kind of play
SORRY YALL GOT A NEW CUMPUTER AND SMITH HAD MORE THINGS TO TALK BOUT Words were exchanged afterward between Atlanta’s Josh Smith and anyone on the OKC sideline who was willing to listen following the Thunder’s 103-94 victory inside Oklahoma City Arena on Friday night. Smith was upset Serge Ibaka dunked with 6.9 seconds left and the game already decided. Ibaka should have simply dribbled the ball back out and allowed time to expire. Thunder coach Scott Brooks wasn’t pleased either, shaking his head and frowning. Hawks guard Mike Bibby also shouted at the Thunder bench, waving his hand in disgust. Brooks actually was more upset with point guard Russell Westbrook, who passed to a wide-open Ibaka underneath rather than holding the ball. “When you got the game won, you run the clock out,” Brooks said. “Russell knows how I feel about situations like that. It was a mistake
Kevin Durant tried to smooth things over and spoke with Smith at midcourt. Smith also was upset about being fouled hard by Ibaka with 6:59 left in the third quarter. It appeared Ibaka’s left elbow raked the top of Smith’s head, which required some patchwork by team doctors, but no stitches. The foul was incidental, not deliberate. Smith, however, thought he was hit by Ibaka’s teeth. “He bit me, man,” Smith said. “I thought I needed some (stitches) … I was just in pain
Asked if he was upset by Ibaka’s dunk, or the foul, or both, Smith said, “You know what it was. That’s showing disrespect (dunking the ball.Everybody in the whole league knows you don’t do nothing like that. I talked to Durant about it. He said he would talk to him (Ibaka) about it, and he knew that wasn’t right. “Everybody knows that’s not proper etiquette, you know what I mean? When you’re at a dinner table, you don’t dig in first when you visit somebody’s home. You relax and see what’s going on. You check everything out before you ever get you a plate. It’s just proper etiquette. You don’t do that. “We won’t forget that (dunk). We won’t forget something like that
ATLANTA — Plenty have been critical of Joe Johnson’s mammoth contract. They’re just not as boisterous about it as Clipper Darrell, the Staples Center fan who dresses from ball cap to sneakers in Clippers red and blue and rants at foes throughout games.
“Be honest: Do you really think you are worth $120 million?” Atlanta Journal-Constitution beat writer Michael Cunningham tweeted about what Clipper Darrell yelled Sunday at the Hawks guard, whose new six-year contract actually is worth $123 million.
On that day, Johnson did look a lot more worth the money than he has shown much of the season. He scored 29 points in Atlanta’s 107-98 win.
Last season, Johnson had to listen to talk regularly about what he might do as a free agent in the summer of 2010. Now that he’s re-signed, he must hear claims by naysayers he’s overpaid.
Johnson’s scoring average is down this season from 21.3 to 17.6 and his shooting percentage has plummeted from 45.8 to 39.9. His assists average, though, is up from 4.9 to 5.7 and Hawks general manager Rick Sund can’t stop lauding Johnson for his defensive abilities.
“Not at all,” Johnson said in an interview with FanHouse about whether it’s any sort of burden living up to his contract. “I plan a great six years (on the deal) here. So I don’t think it was an odd thing. We just got to keep doing what we’ve been doing, and we’re trying to build on it.”
Even if Johnson isn’t your classic maximum-contract kind of player, the Hawks didn’t have much of a choice last summer. Had they not offered a maximum deal, there were enough teams with cap money that would have thrown huge dollars his way. Try New York, New Jersey and Chicago, all losers in the LeBron James sweepstakes.
And some of Johnson’s offensive struggles this season can be excused since he hasn’t been fully healthy. Johnson last month underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies from his right (shooting) elbow, and missed nine games.
Johnson said his elbow first started bothering him last season when it “just locked up every now and then” and he “had no clue as to what it was.” The pain became unbearable earlier this season, and the Hawks announced Dec. 1 Johnson would undergo surgery and be out four to six weeks.
Well, Johnson was back to play just 16 days later. It’s hard to complain too much about a guy who does that.
“We don’t isolate him as much as we’ve done in the past. What he’s done is become more of an all-around player because now he’s passing the ball.”
– Larry Drew
“The treatment was going real well, and I was out there and getting shots up that felt pretty good,” Johnson said of being able to return so quickly. “Then Jamal Crawford (a Hawks swingman who missed five December games with a back injury) went down. Me and him are basically the two scorers on this team, so I wanted to kind of give the guys some type of (relief) knowing that I’m coming back a month before schedule. So I think it was just trying to build a good morale around the team.”
Since Johnson has returned, the Hawks are 6-3. But Johnson, while averaging 18.8 points, has shot just 38.2 percent during the period.
“It’s getting better, but it’s not 100 percent,” Johnson said of his elbow. “I’m getting treatment every day and trying to strengthen it and get it back straight… (The shooting troubles have been) unfortunate. But I’ll get it back strong. I’ll be all right.”
Johnson said his scoring decrease also has been a result of learning the new offense of Hawks coach Larry Drew, an assistant last season under Mike Woodson before the latter’s contract wasn’t renewed. Drew has been preaching a more balanced attack, one reason Crawford’s average is down from 18.0 points per game last season to 15.0 and leading to the Hawks having six players averaging between 10.1 points and Johnson’s team-high 17.6.
“I’m just still trying to get familiar with the offensive system that we got going now,” Johnson said. “The offense is pretty much equal opportunity. It doesn’t go through me, it doesn’t go through Josh (Smith, a forward averaging 16.5 points). It doesn’t go through Al (Horford, a center averaging 16.5). The first guy who is open takes the first very good shot. That’s just the way it is.”
The Hawks are 22-14 under the new system despite injuries to Johnson, Crawford and starting forward Marvin Williams, who has missed the past two games and will miss at least two more with a back injury. So nobody’s complaining too much.
Drew has no major complaints about Johnson, 29. Despite his stats being down, he believes Johnson has become more versatile.
“He’s accepted what we do,” Drew said. “We don’t isolate him as much as we’ve done in the past. What he’s done is become more of an all-around player because now he’s passing the ball. He’s getting the ball to open guys and he’s accepting double teams and getting rid of the ball. That just makes us a better ballclub when he does that. His numbers are down but… he’s starting to accept the way we play.”
Hawks officials also believe Johnson’s defense has improved. Sund raved about how his 6-foot-7 shooting guard played a key role in holding Golden State guard Monta Ellis, the NBA’s third-leading scorer with a 25.3 average, to 12 points in a game last week on 4-of-13 shooting.
“He’s one of the most underrated defenders in the league,” Sund said of Johnson. “He’s got the ability to guard (point guards, shooting guards and small forwards). He’s one of the best defenders in the league. He’s big, he’s stroing and he’s quick.”
And he’s still a Hawk. There were some anxious moments throughout last season that Johnson might end up bolting Atlanta after rejecting a contract extension prior to the campaign.
Nervousness wasn’t helped when the Hawks were embarrassed 4-0 by Orlando in the Eastern Conference semifinals last spring and Woodson was let go. But Johnson did re-sign after the Hawks, perhaps even going through the seat cushions at Philips Arena, threw every dollar they could at him.
“I weighed my options,” Johnson said. “I took advantage of the summer but no team I thought was better suited for me than (Atlanta)… We still got unfinished business. We got to the second round for two (straight) years and just pretty much got embarrassed (having been swept 4-0 by Cleveland in a 2009 East semifinal). So (Johnson wants to get) beyond that. So that was the main thing (in re-signing).”
Johnson is making $16.324 million this season, which is more than any of top free agents from last summer who landed in Miami are pulling down. James and Chris Bosh are both getting $14.5 million and Dwyane Wade $14.2 million.
Despite all the money he’s earning, Johnson’s streak of having played in four straight All-Star Game figures to come to an end next month. He’s way back in the fan voting and will be hard pressed to be selected as a reserve even though the East has little star depth at guard.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I’ve enjoyed every last minute of them,” Johnson said of his All-Star appearances. “It’s a privilege and an an honor to make it. And, if I did it miss it (this season), I wouldn’t be mad by no stretch. Just try to finish up the season strong and look forward to next year.”
Even if he misses the Feb. 20 game in Los Angeles, Johnson will have plenty of opportunities to get back to the All-Star Game with Atlanta. His contract runs for a long time
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=387djcy