Thursday, November 20, 2008

No Josh, No Al, and even though Joe struggled the Hawks are too deep, Williams, Bibby & ZaZa Shine

Hawks 91 Wizards 87
26 24 17 20
28 16 26 21


With 6:27 on the clock and the Hawks up by 2, Caron Butler launched a 3. Bang. Joe Johnson dribbled down court and seemingly half-heartedly drove in the lane into traffic, the ball was stolen by Caron Butler. In transition, Butler looking, looking, pulls up for three. Bang. Now, with the score 79-75 Wizards up by 4 with 5:37 Woodson calls a timeout.

Oh, no Hawks, we can't have this happen again, its one thing for the Hawks to lose Al Horford in the 1st quarter of a game and lose, having not been prepared not to play with the starting PF/C, but the Hawks cannot get outexecuted down the stretch at Phillips Arena by the bottom team in the EC. Wait, that scene seems very familiar, oh yes, Last season, the Wizards had stared 0-5, and the Hawks had gained some attention with 2 convincing wins early in the season against Dallas (first game of the season) and Pheonix (sans Amare) both at Phillips Arena. I'm sure Hawks fans don't want to recall that because that was the Hawks first home loss of the season, by 11 points no less, despite getting 20,22,23 from Marvin, Joe, and Josh, respectively.

So, Woodson subs in Evans for Flip, and ZaZa inbounds the ball to Joe, and after an exchange of bricks and ZaZa's 15th and 16th rebounds, he hits 1 of 2 free throws and then Mike Bibby gets a layup to make the score 78-79, and after Nick Young misses an ugly wild shot, Joe Johnson abuses him off the dribble and shoots a turnaround 17 footer, it bounced up off the rim once, twice, and dropped in the bucket to give the Hawks a 80-79 lead. Blatche layup 81-80, Joe assists Evans for a 3 to make it 83-83. AND THEN we let Stevenson pull up for an uncontested-enough 2, Joe dribbles it down and fires off a bad pass that gets stolen, and the same stevenson hit another shot, almost hit a 3 but it was a 19 footer, score 87-83 with 1:05 left, Wizards bench celebrating.

At this point im thinking about that promise i made, lol, the future of me and this blog, i had wondered if i did shut this blog down if anybody would miss it, but i feel this. i do this for the love of the sport of basketball, i will always love basketball but i also do it for the lack of love my city and my team gets from the mainstream media, i cannot sit back and watch other people miscover the players and personell of this team, even if i was getting no comments and readers id still write to creative express what i, with this blog, have become a part of, and i want you, reader, to know that i appreciate the comments and feedback from this passion i express here, all my other sports/news bloggers, i appreciate u.

Sorry, i had to aggrivate some of those fuzzy emotions inside because this was an epic ending to this game, it was vindictive on the attitude and abilities the Hawks have this season, this is such a better team than last season.

After a mispossession on the inbound, Hawks passed it into the great Joe Johnson who stepped right into his shot and launched a 30 footer. Swish. 87-86. Hawks defense. Swarming, ball being whipped around, shot clock dwindling, Stevenson launched an ill-advised 30 footer that hits no rim, shot clock expires, great defense. Still not over, with 32 seconds left, Joe dribbles up the floor, he finds Marvin Williams in the right corner, steps right into his shot (its amazing, the way he shoots, that ugly form he used to hit that midrange semi-consistently last season, is the same form he uses for that three, of course). BANG. 89-87 Hawks, 25 seconds left. Wizards miss, foul Flip Murray, both free throws and game over 91-87.

PLAYER OF THE GAME

21 pts (7/14 FGs 6/6 FTs 1/3 3pt FGs) 14 rbs 4 asts 2 stls

Its beautiful i wrote that monday article praising Marvin, i felt he would be the deciding factor in this game and during this time where we are without Josh and Al, and Marvin stepped up big time, scoring and rebounds, and a nice assist night, all while defending Antwan Jamison, or, he was able to do it because Antwan was "defending" him, lol.

19 pts (7/22 FGs 2/8 3pt FGs 3/4 FTs) 8 rbs 8 asts 1 stl 2 blks

Joe Johnson was no slouch in this game, if 19/8/8 is below average that is quite something to say about that players ability, and Joe Johnson has that ability, he is a true superstar, great player, top 5 guard in the league definitely.



25 pts (12/22 FGs 1/4 3pt FGs) 6 rbs 3 asts

Bibby was good in this game, he played his game, took the opportunities that came and made plays, he did not distribute the ball especially well, but Joe did so thats fine, he played well.








4 pts 18 rbs 4 asts (1/4 FGs 2/6 FTs)

And of course the Zealous ZaZa, he played his heart out last night, much better than last game, i think he plays best when concentrating on defense and rebounding, he has some offensive post skills, but far and few often, let him average 6/6 off the bench, he is a very important part of this team.











So that was a good win, now lets dominate Charlotte on Friday and get ready for LeBron on Saturday, that is the big one.

2 comments:

Jack Bender said...

Don't shut your blog down. I like to read your posts.

Moose said...

true dat, Jack. BTW to other dudes, I got a blog similar to this one, for my team, the Boston Celtics. It is mostly Celtics-related, but about half of it is just what's on my mind about the rest of the league. Click my name, and check it!