No All-Stars for the Hawks?! Thats okay, we'll still take 4th place in the Eastern Conference

What the hell is it gonna take for this franchise to earn some respect?! DWIGHT HOWARD?! He would probably fit right in with all the hate he has gotten this season, but the NBA coaches apparently weren't impressed by a 29-22 record, which was good for 5th in the Eastern Conference.

They weren't impressed with a career-reviving season from Al Horford, currently averaging 16.7 ppg 9.7 rpg 3.2 apg and 1.1 bpg, this season after suffering a SEASON-ENDING torn pectoral muscle last year.

They weren't impressed with Josh Smith's consistency and leadership, who's impact is MORE THAN THE STATS SHOW but still averaging 17.2 ppg 8.7 rpg 4.2 apg and 2.1 bpg

I don't know how they aren't impressed with Jeff Teague's emergence as a full-time primary ball-handler (They were impressed enough for him to be the ONLY HAWKS PLAYER DOING ANYTHING at All-Star Weekend, Skills competition), currently averaging 14.4 ppg 7.1 apg 1.5 apg on 45% FGs 37% 3ptFG and 87% FTs

Even KRACKER KORVER currently LEADING THE NBA IN 3 POINTERS MADE!! Was not even invited to the 3 point shoot out! Korver, acquired in an off-season trade with the Bulls, now understands the Hawks hate by the NBA, but there are no answers as to why.

 WHHHYYYYYY?!?!?! (i dont know, Kyle, I just dont know...)

How much better were the Hawks expected to be?? When Joe "$125M" Johnson was traded to the Brooklyn Billionaires (Nets) I recall several media outlets (ESPN, Sports Illustrated) predicting the Atlanta Hawks would be a LOTTERY TEAM, (they also predicted the Lakers would win about 70 games sooo....) In my humble perspective, the Hawks have OVER-ACHIEVED thus far! How could our franchise trade away half of our player payroll, our UNDISPUTED franchise player (very disputed, lol) and still make the be between 4th and 5th place in the Eastern Conference?! What kind of award do we get for trading away a SUPERSTAR (lol) getting ROLE PLAYERS in return, only ONE OF THOSE PLAYERS currently in rotation (Shout out to 2011 Champion DeShawn Stevenson!), and having a chance to IMPROVE OUR WINNING PERCENTAGE from last season!!

So what can we do to earn our respect? We aren't getting it from NBA coaches, we definitely aren't getting it from NBA referees (SHOUT OUT TO TIM DONAGHY!), hell we barely get respect from our hometown FANS!

The only way to get that respect is to win, and the Atlanta Hawks have been doing that lately through great defense and a balanced offense that lets all of the players shine, not just a cup of Joe...

Last 3 games
W 122-108 vs Kings MVP Jeff Teague 20 pts (8/18 FGs 5/5 FTs)12 asts & Al Horford 28 pts (11/14 FGs) 8 rbs 6 asts 2 blks
*3 players with over 20 points

W 103-102 vs Bucks MVP Al Horford 23 pts (11/22 FGs) 11 rbs 3 asts 2 stls 2 blks (with the GAME WINNING LAY-UP!) & Devin Harris 21 pts (7/11 FGs 4/5 3ptFGs)
*3 players with over 20 pts, Josh Smith with a double-double (15 pts 13 rbs 5 asts)

W 114-103 vs Pistons MVP Al Horford 23 pts (10/13 FGs) 22 rbs (CAREER-HIGH!) 3 asts 2 stls 2 blks & Jeff Teague 20 pts (6/13 FGs 2/4 3pt FGs) 12 asts
*Jeff Teague's 9th double-double of the season, one of the only point guards to post those numbers

Yeah, we lost to those Miami (c)Heaters when they scored a ridiculous 40 points in the 4th quarter, most of them while LeBron James was sitting on the bench, but that says more about their team than anything, beating the Miami Heat is a tall order for any team in the NBA right now, but I know that these Josh-Al-Jeff led PLAYOFFSHAWKS are not a team to be taken lightly this season.

Right now the Atlanta Hawks are 32-23, which is a half-game ahead of those Brooklynites for 4th place in the east.

Next game is tonight in the city of Salt Lake, this is one of the BIGGEST frontline teams in the NBA, let's see if we can help the Lakers playoff position tonight, shall we?


-WORLDinFAMOUS

Hawks impressive win over LeBron, Cavs, Bibby 24, Williams 19

Hawks 97 Cavs 92

24 14 28 26

31 16 21 29

BOX SCORE



Josh Smith swatted the potential lead-taking 3 pointer deep into the stands with such powerful emphasis, it was as if Delonte West got smacked in the face right by the Cavs bench, oh wait, that actually did happen. (right after that block, watch the replay)


The Hawks made a HUGE statement defensively in this game against the 2nd hottest team in the NBA, the Hawks played poised, Joe Johnson was so cool in the clutch down the stretch, its a beautiful feeling as a Hawks fan having this confidence in your team, that knowing sense that we can beat any team ESPECIALLY at Phillips Arena, and their timing couldn't be more perfect as we begin a 8-game homestead to bring the fans of Atlanta out for the Holidays.



Mike Bibby should be an undisputed all-star this season, leading the Hawks with his veteran leadership scoring, playmaking, even his defense has been exceptional, he and Joe Johnson make THE MOST LETHAL backcourt in the Eastern Conference, so they should both be all-stars this season, or vote all 5 Hawks starters to the all-star game, we one of 3 teams that have 5 all-star candidates (Lakers, Celtics). Mike Bibby played exceptional in this game, led the Hawks with 24 pts (9/16 FGs 3/8 3pt FGs 3/4 FTs) 6 rbs 5 asts, Joe Johnson scored 4 points in the first half, then 11 in the 4th for 17 pts (7/17 FGs 0/5 3pt FGs 3/5 FTs) 3 rbs 8 asts, and Marvin Williams got the the free throw line tonight! 19 pts (3/6 FGs 2/3 3pt FGs 11/13 FTs) 7 rbs 2 asts 2 blks, not bad compared to the last time these teams met, and how did our frontcourt matchup with theirs?

Josh Smith 12 pts (5/8 FGs 2/2 FTs) 8 rbs 1 ast 1 stl 1 blk

Al Horford 12 pts (3/5 FGs 6/7 FTs) 8 rbs 2 asts 1 stl 1 blk


There was one thing i didn't like about the ESPN Recap:

"The Hawks are trying to build their fan support after making the playoffs last season for the first time in nine years. Despite taking eventual NBA champion Boston to a deciding seventh game in the first round of the postseason, Atlanta seemingly has yet to convince many fickle fans that the Hawks are as much worth the price of admission as seeing a superstar such as James."

I don't think the 19,200 fans in attendence at Phillips Arena were all there to see LeBron, and although the Hawks are not yet in the top 10 fan attendence in the NBA, i think we should be doing a little better than "trying to build our fan support," that's disrespectful to me as a Hawks fan. But, i feel Joe Johnson, the way to earn respect of national media and the league is winning. We're doing pretty good at that right now. (Hawks 14-9, 2nd SE divison, 4th Eastern Conference)

This was a fun win, great win, now the Hawks must relax and pray on Sunday to get ready for the practice Bobcats on Monday, and the BIGGEST SHOWDOWN OF THE SEASON on Wednesday.

Texas Road Trip and beyond

The Hawks learned from that loss to Dallas, today they go up against the Yao-led Rockets. Now, usually a team can gain some comfort from a few starters being out with an injury, but in this situation, it makes the Rockets even more dangerous. With Tracy McGrady and Ron Artest out with injuries that leaves the Rockets more offensively relied on Yao, and Yao, when he gets his rhythm, is slightly unstoppable. Its not an impossible task, but seeing as the Hawks no true 7 footers against a guy 7 foot 6 inches, it may be difficult but we might need Randolph Morris and his 6 fouls for this game.

Joe Johnson is rightfully more concerned with the Hawks team play over the possibility of being dominated by Yao, its not effort that he questions, its the team being in sync on the floor, there can be no missed defensive rotations or mis-mismatches, Hawks must impose their will, their style of defense, offense, which means more this season than iso Joe, lol. Josh and Al must be the unstoppable tandum than can be, are already close to being. They just have't had enough games together yet, Josh is getting the ball down on the block a little more often than before the injury, and he is shooting a higher percentage in these last 3 games than he did in the 1st 3 games of the season. Josh is still getting his rhythm, he was the most hurt by that loss in Dallas, and he didn't even have a bad game, this will be a good test against Yao.

In the Grizzles Preview, i had predicted the Hawks December record to be 12-4, with predicted losses at Houston and Denver, with 2 unexpecteds. That Dallas loss was not an unexpected, they simply will pick it up in Houston and go on to San Antonio tomorrow.

Look, the Hawks are in no ways similar to the Spurs, a championship franchise, the NBA's darlings with the big fundamental Tim Duncan, they win championships like every other season, which is exactly what they have done in the 21st century; '03, '05, '07, but to me, that team is on the decline. The spurs right now are 8-11, 9th in the Western Conference, and its not that the Spurs aren't good, its that they aren't GREAT anymore, the Spurs don't scare anybody, and they are old and slow, the Hawks are a team that they don't match up well with. Mike Bibby VS Tony Parker is a draw this season, Joe > Manu, damn the rings, Joe is a better more versitile player, Williams > Bowen, does Bruce Bowen still start and play for them? Isn't he like 42? Smith VS Duncan will be very interesting, Josh Smith will be determined to play him better than he did Nowitzki, and Duncan will struggle against the defensive Josh Smith, but when Josh gets the ball, Duncan is not quick enough to cover him. I could probably never say that Josh is a better Power Forward than Tim Duncan, but he might win that matchup about 50% of the time. and of course, Horford > Thomas, i say all that to say this. Hawks will win in San Antonio, probably for the first time in a decade or so. We will probably see that occur tomorrow.

Then its Miami. Dwayne Wade is the potential MVP of the league he is probably the best guard player in the league. Averaging 29.5 ppg 5.0 rpg 7.5 asts 49.9% FGs 27.7% 3pt FGs 75.1% FTs, he is proving that last year was surely a fluke. Except no one else on that Miami team has improved or is contributing in a major positive way. I mean, Micheal Beasley is the team's second leading scorer at 13.9 ppg 5.2 rpg but Shawn Marion leads the team in minutes played and he is only averaging 12.7 ppg 9.2 rpg, far below his career averages, equivelant to what Udonis Haslem is doing, 12.1 ppg 9.2 rpg, and the starting point guard? averages 30.7 mpg for 9.4 ppg 4.4 apg 2.1 spg. Not bad, but they don't match up well with the Hawks, especially our bigs. All the matters is the Wade factor, i would like to think Johnson and Wade cancel each other out, that Johnson is almost as good as Wade as a scorer and ball distributor..then i get back to reality. I always say Joe Johnson is the 3rd best SG in the NBA, but #2 is Wade, and of course #1 is Kobe, but in the game against Miami, Wade might score 40 but if we can keep the rest of the team in single digits we'll be good.

Then..its the revenge of the Hawks against LeBron. Our worst played game of the season was in Cleveland, we want to keep our home team record pretty for playoff time, and Josh Smith is back to cover LeBron, and Joe surely won't score 4 points again, so i think we can get a win at Phillips against the 2nd best team in the Eastern Conference.

That's all for this week, of course next week is the ESPN game of the season so we'll have a special for that, but all in all, the Hawks are doing fine and will continue to grow and improve.