Hawks beat championship-calibur team in a championship-way, with DEFENSE on the road; Hawks 87 Hornets 79

Oh YES!

This was such a spectacular game, out of all the history making games last night, Amare 49/10/5/5/5, Tony Parker 55/7/10, Lebron James 41/9/6/5, all of those were great induvidual performances and their team won, but the Hawks win was the most impressive WIN with DEFENSE all of this season, last season, last's night's drubbing of New Orleans is probably the most impressive win of the Mike Woodson era Hawks.




Impressive for a number of reasons:
1. New Orleans Hornets average an NBA-leading 108.9 ppg

2. The Hawks were 5-0 in the Chris Paul era Hornets

3. At Orlando, home to Philadelphia, and at New Orleans, the Hawks have yet to allow an opposing team to score one point per possession. Opponents are averaging 93.3 points per 100 possessions through three games. By comparison, the 2007-08 Hawks allowed 108.9 points per 100 possessions. The 2007-08 Hawks after acquiring Mike Bibby allowed 112.8 points per 100 possessions. The 2007-08 Boston Celtics lead the league by allowing 98.9 points per 100 possessions.

4. The Hawks haven't started 3-0 since 1997-1998 season, where they went 50-32

5. We are 2/2 on our predictions for this week, BRING ON THE RAPTORS!

Bless God for God has Blessed America...Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States. Hawks VS Hornets Preview

Yes We Can, Yes We Did. We all already know, the American People have spoken and the truth has been realized. If you didn't vote for Barack Obama you should probably reevaluate your mind, take a step back and reassess those reasons, and make sure you get with the program, and now the program is a black man. Black-White man, rather, i think people seem to forget he is a product of an black-African man from Kenya a white woman from New Jersey, this is a beautiful moment of American History.

Now my ultimate dream in life is to play basketball with Barack Obama in the White House, lol

As for tonight's game:

Atlanta Hawks (2-0) VS New Orleans Hornets (3-0)

The Hawks are in for a tough challenge, but i think they can prevail, of course anything is possibe, the Hawks are by no means the better team, but there's Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, and Marvin Williams...and Al Horford and Mike Bibby. Against the kid called Chris Paul...James Posey, Peja, David West, and Tyson Chandler. In New Orleans..Well, since Louisiana didn't vote Obama, i don't think they deserve to win tonight, so i'm predicting the Hawks will upset. Of course, we will see what happens.

Hawks celebrate comeback win against Sixers in first game at Phillips Arena; Johnson 35, Bibby 19, Smith 14

Hawks 95 Sixers 88
34 23 18 13
18 26 22 29

the power of the atmosphere of a good home team is unmistakable in the NBA. The crowd feeds off every move the team makes, the team feeds energy off the crowd, there is no doubt that was a main ingredient to fuel the Championship Celtics run in 2008 (even though most of them were fairweather fans and weren't there the previous season when the same Celtics were 2nd worst in the East, Bibby -04/26/08 Playoffs round 1 game 1).

the city of Atlanta is in for a treat this season, Atlanta has always had great basketball fans, we just needed to be able to love a great team, and RIGHT NOW the Hawks are ascending up the Eastern Conference ladder to become a GREAT team.

Joe Johnson:

35 pts 3 rbs 5 asts 1 stl (14/23 FGs 2/5 3pt FGs 5/5 FTs)

Joe Johnson has been regarded as an all-star but he has gotten not nearly enough credit for being the star player turning a team that was the worst in the league 13-69, to rebuilding improving around him to make a legitimate eastern conference contender, making his teammates better year after year and
still improving himself statistically, efficiently. Seriously, people should start looking at Joe as a top 5 SG in the league, for real.




Josh Smith:

14 pts 11 rbs 3 asts 3 stls 2 blks (6/16 FGs 2/4 3pt FGs)

Josh is a top 10 PF in this league, one of the best defenders, and an unstoppable offensive force, when he asserts himself to be. He was admittedly nervous in the first quarter of the game, but seeing his counterpart, Thaddeus Young score 17 in the first, and seeing a deficit that grew into 23 points made him focus. He scored one field goal under the basket in the 3rd quarter but hit 2 HUGE THREES in the 4th that anchored this comeback win by Atlanta, and got a HUGE Steal that basically won the game. Yes, Josh Smith is doing alright so far, let's hope he can keep it up.


Marvin Williams: 2 pts (1-7 FG 0-2 3pt FGs) 5 rbs 2 blks 1 ast in 20 minutes

Mike Bibby: 19 pts 2 rbs 4 asts 3 stls (7/16 FGs 3/7 3pt FGs 2/2 FTs)

Al Horford: 9 pts 7 rbs 4 asts 1 blk (4/7 FGs 1/2 FTs)



It has only been two games, but you can see that the Hawks are brand new this season after that epic playoff series with the NBA Champions, the Hawks know they are not that far from that level, it is no coinscidence that the Hawks are right now the ONLY UNDEFEATED TEAM in the Southeast division, our toughest test yet will come the day after the most historically symbolic beautiful day of America's History, when racial wounds of 100 years are partially healed as we elect our country's first bi-racial President of all time. Imagine, the 44th president a product of a white american woman and a black african man, and some people are still hating... Well, yes, i am so excited about this hawks team i will make several declarations for this week:

1. Barack Obama will be elected 44th president of the United States.

2. Hawks will win in New Orleans this Wednesday

3. Allen Iverson will make the Pistons a title contender this season

4. Hawks will beat Raptors in Atlanta to show strength this Friday

5. Hawks will "Shock the World" at least 47 times this season

6. Joe Johnson will emerge as a MVP candidate this season

7. Josh Smith will emerge as a DPOY candidate this season

8. if all of the above occurs, Mike Woodson might stumble upon a COY award (lol i know, but its possible) i must say if the Hawks improve by +10 wins by subtracting the most efficient bench player in the league and adding Maurice Evans and Flip Murray, Woody deserves COY, because NO ONE IN THIS WORLD is predicting a 47-35 season....Except US :)

Hawks thrash Magic in Southeast Division home opener, 99-85

This is the clearest indication that the Atlanta Hawks are serious this year. the "Shock the World" theme is going to be the main phrase throughout the year and through the playoffs. Could it be? Could the Hawks be "good" this season? It sure doesn't look like a team that just made the playoffs on luck and have made no progress, the Hawks are a style-diverse team that can create

the Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic played the first game of the season at Amway Arena in Orlando, and the Hawks trumped the Magic 99-85. The reason we say "thumped" or "crushed" or "dominated" is because the game was never even close after the first quarter.

In the first quarter, Orlando struggled early, making only three of its first 18 shots.

The Hawks dominated on the boards early, and held the Magic without a point for nearly six minutes near the end of the first quarter in building a 23-8 lead. Rashard Lewis, Micheal Pietrus and backup point guard Anthony Johnson, keyed a second quarter run that cut Atlanta’s halftime lead to 47-40, but that was as close as the Magic got in the game.

The Hawks exploded out the gate in the 3rd quarter to a 27-15 scoring advantage, which made the score 74-55 going into the 4th, and the Hawks' Joe Johnson made sure the Hawks kept the lead with his 10 points in the 4th quarter as the Hawks won 99-85.

STATS

Josh Smith - 17 pts 10 rbs 5 blks 4 stls

Joe Johnson - 25 pts 7 rbs 2 asts

Dwight Howard - 22 pts 15 rbs 5 blks

Out of every NBA basketball "expert" or "analyst" only 3 writers of ESPN picked the Hawks to make the playoffs, Chris Broussard, Jalen Rose, and Chris Sheridan, and only Scoop Jackson was brave enough to go against the grain and pick the Hawks to win the Southeast division. Now, even we at PlayoffsHawks don't know about the Hawks getting a better record than the Magic, but i know we are capable of being better than the Wizards, Heat, and BOBCATS, whom will probably be the worst team in the league this season for Larry Brown to finally retire permanently. We could really challenge the Magic for the division title, then maybe THEN people might start noticing the Hawks are good.

The Hawks cap preseason with Victory over Pistons in Detroit

AUBURN HILLS, Mich.(AP) Zaza Pachulia scored 18 points, including the deciding layup in the final minute, to help the Atlanta Hawks beat the Detroit Pistons 88-87 in the exhibition finale for both teams Thursday night.

Both coaches rested key players. Richard Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace didn't play for Detroit, while Joe Johnson sat out for Atlanta.

Former Pistons guard Flip Murray led the Hawks (5-3) with 19 points, and Maurice Evans and Marvin Williams had 14 each. Arron Afflalo had 15 points for the Pistons (6-2), rookie Walter Sharpe added 13 and Jason Maxiell had 11.

Tayshaun Prince and Chauncey Billups combined for 15 first-quarter points to help Detroit take a 24-15 lead, but neither played again after the end of the period.

Atlanta opened the second quarter with a 17-2 run and led 42-39 at the half.

Detroit's reserves, though, turned the game around at the beginning of the second half.

The Pistons started the third quarter with a 24-7 run - including 18 points from second-year guards Rodney Stuckey and Afflalo - to go up 63-49.

The Hawks fought their way back and led late in the fourth quarter until Alex Acker's 3-pointer gave Detroit an 87-86 edge with 2:01 to go.

Pachulia put Atlanta back in front with less than a minute left, and Maxiell missed a jumper at the other end.

Evans missed what would have been a clinching 3-pointer, but Stuckey's half-court attempt at the buzzer bounced off the rim.