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.

Hawks spanked by Cavs, and LeBron, Joe held to 4 pts..bench shined though

Hawks 96 Cavs 110

12 20 26 38
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.