Hawks against the World AND the Referees; down 0-2 going into Phillips Arena, who will Lead them? The Enigma of Josh Smith

Wow, well this has been embarrassing.  Its embarrassing that the referees are so damn bias they might as well be wearing a Indiana Pacers jersey (KEN MAUER!). It is so painfully evident that even the God-honest numbers scream "F*CK YOU, HAWKS!" With painstakingly accurate statistics brought to you by Jason Walker of one of my favorite Hawks blogs, Peachtreehoops.com, lets look at the numbers:

"I hate you." "Good. I hate you more, here let me show ya."

The Hawks foul stats for the regular and post-season:

Regular season: 17.9 personal fouls committed, 3rd fewest in NBA

Regular season: 18.7 personal fouls drawn: 7th fewest in NBA

Regular season vs. Pacers: 21.3 personal fouls committed

Regular season vs. Pacers: 18.0 personal fouls drawn

Playoffs: 25.3 personal fouls committed, 3rd most in playoffs

The Pacers foul stats for the regular and post-season:

Regular season: 20.2 personal fouls committed, 11th most in NBA

Regular season: 21.8 personal fouls drawn, 3rd in NBA

Regular season vs. Hawks: 18.0 personal fouls committed

Regular season vs. Hawks: 21.3 personal fouls drawn

Playoffs: 19.0 personal fouls committed, 4th fewest in playoffs

Disgusting.

 What is almost as disgusting is that the Hawks coach (minute-manager) Larry Drew has been completely out-coached in this series thus far, it seems he is even being tuned out by the players because no matter what he says the team plays lethargic or panicked, defensively unaware and one-step-behind almost every set play the Pacers run. I have NEVER SEEN so many dunks, layups, and threes so easily in a playoff game! Every so-called"expert" except for my man Henry Abbott of TrueHoop.com picked the Pacers to win, and so far the Hawks have done nothing to disprove the general public's skepticism.  In these 2 games of post-season, this team has given its fans NO REASON WHATSOEVER to be confident about their ability to win this series. The Hawks are not resilient through adversity, they don't have a clearly defined leader, and they have not shown the team-cohesiveness let alone the level the Pacers have shown, as painful as it is to realize, the Pacers appear to be a team on the rize, and the Hawks once again look UNDEFINED.

"Yup, 22% on jumpshots is good enough for me"

This was especially personified as usual by Josh Smith (again). His 16 points 6 rebounds and 3 assists in game 2 was clearly average at best, it is simply unfortunate (un-FAIR-tunate) that he only played 20 MINUTES in that game to get those numbers. Clearly if he would have played 40 minutes at that pace of production he would have gotten 32/12/6 which is exactly what he is CAPABLE of achieving when playing efficient and being reffed FAIRLY but these things hardly ever happen and in the playoffs, with the dictator DAVID STERN dictating which teams should win based on what is favorable TO THE LEAGUE, it so far seems outside the realm of possibility. The Hawks already have some demons of their own to conquer (bad defense, disorganized offense, bad shot selection, lack of cohesiveness, etc...damn) but with the referees so dedicated toward seeing Indiana advance for a probable Paul George vs Carmelo Anthony second round, it makes a tough road for these Hawks this 2012-2013 season. I mean, we all know this team was assembled to prepare for a free agent acquisition this off-season, but this didn't team win 44 games by accident. Josh Smith can be and SHOULD BE every bit as good as Paul George if not better! But he is not. Smith can have a big game and make field goals INSIDE 15 ft, but Larry Drew doesn't smack the back of his head like Mike Woodson did every time he takes an outside shot. By the way Congratulations to Mike Woodson for winning Coach of the Year in New York, it hasn't happened quite yet as I type this, but it will, and it is very well deserved. What was the Hawks record in Woodson's final season? 53-29, 4th best season in Atlanta Hawks franchise history. What was Josh's stats that year? 15.7 PPG on 50.9% FG which was a career-high because he only took 7 THREE POINTERS FOR THE ENTIRE SEASON! They fired Mike, Josh started firing three's again, they promoted the assistant coach and kept the same bad habits while failing to sharpen the good ones. It seems VERY simple, but to execute precisely in the pressure-filled moments of an NBA Playoff game against a quality team with a budding superstar like Paul George and the Indiana Pacers? THEY CAN! But its like the Hawks have a "kick-me" sign on their jersey, and the only ones kicking them are the refs and not the coach. The refs just hate these guys for no reason, even Tim Donaghy would probably agree!

Saturday's game 3 at Phillips Arena is undoubtedly the biggest game for the Hawks and the HUGEST test for Josh Smith in particular for obvious reasons. First and foremost as an ATLien! a kid born and raised in College Park, south Atlanta, GA, you are playing your favorite game for your city at the highest stage as the biggest star (POTENTIAL!). Second as a basketball player at the forward position. Dynamic skill set, good at passing, ball-handling, rebounding, great at any of those and sometimes all of those in the SAME GAME! but very far and few often. Al Horford is the best player on the team, yes, but Josh Smith this was supposed to be YOUR team after Joe got traded. There is no hindrance to improvement of weaknesses (free throws..i just don't understand, bruh), as the team HAD had several consecutive modestly improving successful regular seasons 2007 (since Al, before Larry Drew) but through it all since being drafted in 2004, Josh Smith has been VERY consistently AVERAGE and INCONSISTENT. Game 3 is the ultimate test for Josh Smith and the Hawks for if their is any resiliency in their make-up, if he is worth a maximum contract (he is going to get it regardless), and if there is any pride in the city, the franchise, and this collection of players commonly referred to as a "team", they will win. If not, they will go home, and we won't see very many of these faces back next season.