SuperHawks route lowly Timberwolves in 'Sota, 20-7, ties best start in franchise history

26 28 27 31 | 112
17 24 28 18 | 87

recap

box score

It is such a beautiful day to be a Atlanta Hawks fan. Not too long ago, rookie Mike Woodson, Josh Smith and the Atlanta Hawks were the worst team in the league at 13-69. After 4 long years of player development and steady improvement, it seems the Hawks have taken a quantum leap into the NBA elite in this 09-10 season.

The Minnesota Timberwolves hope to emulate the Hawks' success story in the coming years. The Hawks core of Josh Smith, Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams, and Zaza Pachulia have played together for 4 seasons, and over the past 2 seasons they have added big Al Horford (3rd pick 2007 draft), Mo Evans, and Mike Bibby to their core. A couple of key role players such as Jamal Crawford (leading candidate for 6th man of the year), Jeff Teague (19th pick 2009 draft), Joe Smith (14 year veteran big), and young Randolph Morris, and the 2009-2010 Atlanta Hawks have one of the top 10-man rotations in the league.

This game was never in doubt, as the Hawks jumped out to an early lead, turning the Wolves 7 first quarter turnovers into 14 points, the Hawks ended the first quarter leading 26-17.

The Hawks did a great job of keeping the Wolves at arms length, the game never got closer than 8 in the first half, despite foul trouble with Josh Smith and Zaza Pachulia. When Smith was on the floor, he was a huge difference-maker, in 21 minutes Josh scored 10 pts (5/6 FGs) 3 rbs 3 asts 3 stls, but the biggest difference maker in this game had to be Jamal Crawford.



Just as he has been doing all season, Jamal comes off the bench to lead the team in scoring, it is amazing to see how offensively gifted this guy is, he must have one of the best pull-up jumpers in the league, and he is shooting at a career-high FG%, in this game, Jamal enters at 2:30 remaining in the 1st. The Hawks keep the lead going into the 2nd quarter and that is when the Jamal Crawford light show starts. He starts his scoring tier by hitting a 24-foot 3-pointer on an assist from Mike Bibby. The Wolves did get within 7 points on a Al Jefferson layup, but Really, the combination of Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford is getting too potent for opposing teams to handle, Joe and Jamal alternating scoring put the lead back up to 13 for a 54-41 halftime advantage.

The 2nd half had more of the same, the game was never really in doubt, but the Hawks did get a little lax defensively, allowing the Wolves to outscore them in the 3rd, 28-27, so in the 4th quarter, Joe and Jamal put the team on their back, and the most consistent player of the night had to be big Al Horford. In a game where Smith and Pachulia had 5 fouls, Horford played a game-high 41 minutes for 16 pts (7/15 FGs) 11 rbs 4 asts 2 stls 1 blk. Horford, shooting a 7th in the league best 57.8% on the floor, was great at making the right plays and playing defense, it would have been cool to see Horford with 19 rebounds, but he has the ability to get those numbers anytime.

Jamal Crawford scored 13 of his game-high 26 in the 4th quarter to put away the Wolves, including 2 back-to-back beautiful 3-pointers in the beginning of the 4th. The Wolves did battle back, but they did not get any closer than 12 as the Hawks stepped up and scored 31 4thQ points, the most of any quarter in the game for a 112-87 victory, the Timberwolves second worst defeat this season.

"We started with a bunch of babies six years ago, 18, 19, 20-year-old kids, and they've grown," coach Mike Woodson said. "The ownership has given me the latitude to continue to coach this team and our core guys have been together now four years and that makes a big difference." -Mike Woodson

"They're kind of the example of a team that got its players young," Love said of the Hawks. "They played together. They stuck together. They grinded out wins together. They had high points. They had low points. But they stuck together. ... That's something I hope I can be a part of one day." -Kevin Love

It great to see other players and teams continue to give the Hawks credit for their rise from the bottom and acknowledge the team as a top 5 team in the NBA today.

"We're trying to do something special," Woodson said.

translation: "We feel we can be the best team in basketball and maybe even win a championship"

I believe these Hawks can do it, they will at least make the conference Finals this season, but it would be a dream come true for the Hawks players coaches and especially the fans to see the Atlanta Hawks represent the East in the NBA Finals.

It can happen, stay tuned.

Denver Nuggets (19-9) tomorrow.

New Era DJ for tha New Era Championship contender Hawks, (18-6 .750, 1st in Southeast division, 2nd in Eastern Conference)

Can we get some love for the Atlanta Hawks Please?!
18-6 1st in Southeast Division, 2nd in Eastern Conference, 3rd in the league


It is a great day and time to be an Atlanta Hawks fan, the fandom of the people of the city is at an all time high, the atmosphere has become an aura of beaming smiles of pride, excitement and laughter of glee and bliss because, after 5 short years this Mike Woodson, Josh Smith Atlanta Hawks are truely, undisputedly one of the best teams in the NBA and a true NBA championship contender.

It is amazing, almost surreal this year in 2009-2010, the team that the Atlanta Hawks have become; Josh Smith, Joe Johnson, Mike Bibby, Al Horford, Marvin Williams, Jamal Crawford, Zaza Pachulia, Mo Evans, Joe Smith, Jeff Teague, Randolph Morris, Othello Hunter, Jason Collins. These 13 are an exceptional group of personnel on paper alone;

Mike Bibby(31 yrs 6-1 195lbs,12th)9.6ppg 2.7rpg 4.0apg 43.8%FGs 43.3%3ptFGs 81.1%FTs

Mike Bibby, in his 12th season is a great offensive coordination point guard, he has the ability to score 20+ ppg but with these Hawks he is great at making great plays with everyone on the floor involved in the offense, evident by the team making 22.3 apg, and although Bibby is averaging career lows in ppg, fga, and apg, he is also averaging a career low mpg at 28.3, afforded by great guard play in Crawford and Teague, also by Hawks 6 20+ blowouts against opponents already this season

Joe Johnson (28 yrs 6-7 240 lbs, 9th) 21.2 ppg 5.0 rpg 5.3 apg 45.5%FGs 87.9%FTs
Joe Johnson, Joe Johnson. The person of interest in the embarrassing Atlanta Spirit fiasco on whether he was franchise player and worth Boris Diaw and 2 (conditional) 1st round picks. In his 9th season as a pro and his 5th as a Hawk, Johnson has been great and consistent, he is one of 3 players in the league averaging 20+ ppg 5+ rpg 5+ apg, he has scored 30+ 9 times, 8 wins, he is playing extremely well this season, showing a greater sense of defensive and offensive awareness, he is averaging a career high FT%, rpg, and, after leading the league in mpg in the past 3 season, is averaging a career-low mpg (37.1) as a Hawk.

Marvin Williams(23 yrs 6-9 245 lbs, 5th)10.3 ppg 5.3 rpg 42.3%FGs 35.5% 3ptFGs 81%FTs
Marvin Williams. Once used to be the butt of many jokes about what could have been with a Paul-Johnson-Smith core, Marvin Williams has been carving his niche in the game as a forward. He is an excellent defender and a good scorer, shooter, he has high basketball IQ and knows how to make the right play. He began starting at the SF position in 06-07 and averaged 13 ppg 6 rpg, he hits 84% FTs and he has expanded his range out to the 3 point line, shooting 37.7% last season and 35.5% this season. Marvin Williams is a great core piece of the balanced scoring team that the Hawks have become, he never plays for stats and always plays hard.

Josh Smith(24 yrs 6-9 245 lbs, 6th)15.3 ppg 8.4 rpg 3.6 apg 2.5 bpg 1.6 spg 51.7%FGs
Josh Smith, Josh Smith. This guy has been the blunt of alot of scrutiny over the years, takes too many jumpshots, can't hit free throws, bad attitude, problems with Coach Woodson





after starting the season with 2 wins by 11, the Hawks were tested against the Lakers, whom were without Gasol, they played well in the 1st half, but were outscored 34-18 in the 3rd, final score 118-100. The Hawks then go into Portland and win 97-91 behind balanced scoring, 46-36 rebounding advantage, and Jamal Crawford's game-high 27

They then went into Sacromento and won 113-105 and felt good going into Charlotte, the Bobcats showed their improvement and suprised Atlanta, losing 103-83 behind Raja Bell's 24 and Gerald Wallace 11 pts 18 rbs.

The Hawks went back to Atlanta motivated against the Denver Nuggets, and won handily 125-100 behind Josh SMith 22pts/9rbs/7asts/6blks, Joe Johnson 22pts/7rbs/5asts, Al Horford 11pts/13rbs/5asts, and 7 players in double figures, starting a 7 game win streak including beating Knicks by 13, Celtics (in Boston) by 11, Hornets by 23, Blazers (in Portland, again) by 4, Heat by 15, and Rockets by 2 in a buzzer-beating dunk by Josh SMith.

Hawks slept on the Chris Paul-less Hornets, as any team would, not expect a rookie to DO Chris, leading the team with 22pts11asts, they then had a 5 days layoff to prepare for division leading Orlando Magic on Thanksgiving Day. The Hawks played a great first half, they were winning at 51-39. No one still can explain how they came out in the 2nd half with half the amount of energy and scored a measley 25 pts TOTAL in the 2nd half, losing 93-76, causing many people to dismiss them upon faliure of that test as a title contender.

Hawks then beat the 76ers, as they should have, 100-86, the Hawks then expected the same result visiting Detroit whom were without 3 starters; Tayshaun Prince, Richard Hamilton, and Will Bynum. They forgot about that final 04 championship piece whom has been invigorated by returning to his home franchise, Ben Wallace grabbed 18 rebounds, Rodney Stuckey scored 23, and the Hawks lost 94-88

In December, the Hawks are 7-1, beating the Raptors by 31, Mavericks (in Dallas) by 5, Bulls by 25, Raptors by 22, Nets by 23, and Memphis by 13