28 21 30 31
BOX SCORE
Even though the Hawks are just getting used to being a "good" team, just now hearing of these "expectations" even after playing 9 games without Josh Smith(which is the total number of games missed HIS ENTIRE CAREER before this), and even though their previously outlandish goal of winning 50 games has become slightly believable, they are still quite a ways to go to defeat a LeBron-led team, and at since at this point its the Cavs, i guess it helps that the rest of the team is pretty good too.
Seriously though, the Hawks could not have come in with a game plan, couldn't have had a #2 option in case Joe was off(and boy was he off). There was one sequence in the game that had me very mad at Marvin Williams. After having 2 straight GREAT games (21/14/4 - 22/10/1) i was hoping he would have the confidence to go up against the greatest individual talent in the game today, he did not. With 0:42 left in the 2nd, Marvin drove toward the basket, now, he DID lower his shoulder, but LeBron was moving, and James was called a blocking foul. James was PISSED, dude smacked the floor stormed up and said some curses (away from the ref), so Atlanta gets the ball back, Bibby throws it into Marvin Williams in his opposite favorite corner with LeBron James in his face. So what does Marvin do? He fakes a shot, pivots right, then fakes a shot again, and pivots again. You know, a wise man said, "indecision kills confidence, exploits weakness" and Marvin Williams got EXPOSED on that play, LeBron just TOOK the ball from Marvin, shoved him to the floor, and threw the ball to a very bad player, Sasha Pavlovic for an open court layup. and of course by this time, the score is 29-50....Marvin later picks up his face and makes a jumpshot so the halftime score is 31-50.
Whats goin on with Joe?
whew, i dont think i've ever seen Joe this bad. 4 Pts on a layup and 2 free throws? missing 7 FG attempts and 2 threes? It would be one thing if we were playing, say, the Bulls and Al Horford was beasting to make up for some of that missed scoring, but yeah we would definitely need Joe to score at least his 20 pts to beat the Legend of LeBron's 30/8/8 or close every game. This was Joe Johnson's lowest scoring output since a game against the Championship Pistons in the 2005-2006 season. It's all good, every great player has a bad game or two in the season, let's just hope that was the one.Law IV
Of course there is always credit given to a good player performance in a win, but there is also always a bright spot in every loss too. Acie Law played his heart out for a season-high 23 minutes for 20 pts (6/11 FGs 1/1 3pts 7/10 FTs) 6 rbs 7 asts, but besides his stats it was the advantage the Hawks had when he was on the floor, his speed and quickness off the dribble and in the open court has not been seen in Atlanta since, ummm, Jason Terry? ew, anyway there was only one sequence that i was upset at him for and that was a fastbreak in the 4th quarter, a 2-1 advantage, all he had to do was feed Mo Evans for the layup, he attempted his own layup, missed got the rebound and then tried to feed Mo, which the pass went out of bounds for a turnover. Can't do stuff like that against the Cavs, but he played a great game.
Marvin Williams is still playing great, the Cavs are a team cemented in the top 3 Eastern Conference, and will be as long as LeBron is employed there, however, we can beat this team with our speed, versatility, and athleticism, no player or team can STOP LeBron, but if you can hold him to his averages our team defense can overcome their other players offense, and the Hawks bench is better than the Cavs anyday. Its okay, they were expected to win this one, but when they come to Phillips Arena on December 13, Hawks and JOSH SMITH will be ready.
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