2013 Atlanta Hawks endure their toughest back-to-back of the Playoff Preparation Point of the Season, Crash Dwight Howard Homecoming Afterparty by Defeating the Lakers 96-92, Dahntay Jones Intentionally Injures Kobe Bryant!!...Right.

Honestly tell me, did you think these Atlanta Hawks had ANY chance against a Miami Heat team thats on a LeBron-led Wade County franchise-high 18 game winning streak in the peak season of Playoff Preparation MARCH MADNESS?!?

 I still really actually believe the Hawks can almost at any time #ShocktheWorld and beat a #ChampionshipCalibur team EVEN as currently constructed (which of course them WINNING the championship as currently constructed is a err...long goal) the BIGGEST DEAL about this 34-29 Hawks vs 33-30 Lakers Wednesday, March 13 game is (besides the Models Basketball League pre-game game ^_^) is our #truechampionship potential MISSING PIECE #franchiseplayer is coming off the BIGGEST GAME OF HIS CAREER (39 points 16 rbs 3 blks as a Los Angeles Lakers #rental) and is now back in his HOMETOWN where all eyes will be on Dwight Howard vs. Best Friend soon-to-to-co-free-agent Josh Smith.

Well, the Hawks did indeed SHOCK THE WORLD against the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday! With a 96-92 victory and a severely sprained Kobe Bryant ankle, the resilient Atlanta Hawks topped with Lakers without the services of Jeff Teague, Josh Smith, Lou Williams, Deshawn Stevenson, and Zaza Pachulia. What has been lost in a sea of media coverage about the Kobe Bryant ankle injury, the play that created this situation, and whether or not it was intentional is the fact that a starting line-up of Devin Harris, Dahntay Jones, Anthony Tolliver, Al Horford, and Johan Petro totally OUTEXECUTED the Lakers league of Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant, Metta World Peace, Earl Clark, and Dwight Howard. AND the Hawks bench outscored the Lakers 39-16 thanks to the likes of Kyle Korver (15), Ivan "The Terrible" Johnson (12), rookie John Jenkins(12), and 10-day contract Shelvin Mack(7).

Its hard to even pick a PLAYER OF THE GAME for the Hawks because it was such a balanced team effort, something the Lakers are still learning, but if we had to pick one it would have to be Al Horford, playing a team-high 41 minutes for 14 pts (7/12 FGs) 14 rbs 4 asts. He should have gotten AT LEAST 20 FGA but the Hawks played to their strengths and got the win (FAIR AND SQUARE, KOBE BRYANT!)
Don't be mad at me, just ask Steve Nash how they lost this game:

"We just didn't make any shots, I feel like I killed us tonight. I had good looks at the basket. I didn't convert."

 Steve Nash was 4/14 from the field, one of the things that led to a 55-43 Hawks lead at halftime. Kobe Bryant was having a tough game by halftime, 3 points on 1/8 shooting, and EVERYBODY expected Kobe to erupt in the 3rd, which he did, kind of... 20 points in the 3rd and the Lakers won the 3rd quarter 31-21 but the healthly lead build by the Hawks in the 1st half proved to be a solid foundation, the Hawks won the 4th quarter 20-18 on several great plays by Devin Harris, Kyle Korver, even Johan Petro and Ivan Johnson(!!). Ivan made a HUGE play down the stretch, with the Hawks leading 90-87 Al Horford drove along the baseline and missed the shot. But he hustled for the rebound and knocked it right to Johnson under the basket. He flipped in a reverse layup with 33.3 seconds remaining, pushing the Hawks ahead 92-87.

"I can't believe we are losing to the Hawks, gotdamn u Dwight!"

It was a gutsy win, but the aftermath of this victory caused a firestorm of debate. Kobe Bryant took to TWITTER (@KobeBryant) and complained that the last-play defense by Dahntay Jones was an INTENTIONAL FOUL!

#dangerousplay that should have been called. Period.

Dahntay Jones REPLIED on Twitter:

"Tape doesn't lie. Ankle was turned on the floor after the leg kick out that knocked him off balance. I would never try to hurt the man"

 "Leg kick that makes contact with a defensive player is an offense foul. Period. The nba changed that rule 2 yrs ago. Stop it!"

"I have the utmost respect for @kobebryant I would never try to intentionally hurt him. Just wanted to contest the fadeaway #thatsall"

 As a Hawks say I say "HA! Thats what you get!" but as a basketball fan I hate to see one of the G.O.A.T.s get injured on a freak accident during the LAST SECOND of the game with his team down by 2, but it looks like the NBA is making Dahntey Jones a SCAPEGOAT for this Lakers loss, as if the entire game came down to that one play, Kobe was going to MISS regardless! Nothing Jones did altered the shot whatsoever. So the Hawks go on to a 35-29 record, good for 5th in the east thus far, if the Eastern Conference stays in the same standings (it wont) we will be facing the Iso-Joe Brooklyn Nets in the 1st round of the playoffs! Now THAT would be a good series, the world gave the Hawks NO CHANCE against any playoff opponent during the Joe Johnson era, this first year without him, Hawks perception is not going to change, but a PLAYOFF UPSET could upset alot of people. Let's see the Hawks TURN UP for the Playoff-push season!

-WORLDinFAMOUS

After brilliant performance against Utah, Josh Smith has terrible game letting the new-teammate Morris Brothers shine in a 87-92 Suns Win

Well, Josh Smith can only be Josh Smith.

 This is why it takes an enormous amount of patience and FAITH to be a 2012-2013 Atlanta Hawks fan. Josh Smith has continually improved in his handling of responsibilities and being a team leader, but just as soon as a fan gets excited about what we see, he has a dud game. 5 points on 2/11 FGs 0/5 3ptFGs 1/4 FTs 10 rbs 5 asts and 5 TOs is not a good stat line, Josh.

It didn't help it was the same night Jeff Teague had an off-night as well. 6 points (3/10 FGs) 1 ast 4 TOs 2 stls.

Al Horford has his 8th game in a row of 20+ points with 20 pts (8/16 FG3 2/2 3ptFGs!) And what's up with Al Horford hitting all these threes lately?! Could it be Al has a little Dirk in his blood?

It could have simply all been divine in order for the only pair of twin brothers in the NBA to shine as they finally have unexpectedly become teammates, due to a trade-deadline deal with the Houston Rockets.

Markieef Morris was drafted by the Suns with the 14th pick in the 2011 draft and admitted it was a bit difficult to get used to playing without his brother, Marcus, early in his career. He became a good impact player, but now these identical twin brothers will get the comfort and empowerment of playing with each other on an NBA-level, and the Atlanta Hawks were simply the latest victims of that, likely by accidentally taking this 13-32 Suns team lightly.

Hopefully, this game was the wake up call the Hawks needed in order for them to play well enough to defeat the 29-30 Kobe-Bryant-will-not-be-denied-.500 Los Angeles Lakers.

Al Horford scores career-high as Josh Smith anchors a balanced offense and defense in a 102-91 win over Utah for 4th place in East

A brilliant performance.

The Utah Jazz were determined to get a win after a gut-wrenching overtime defeat against the Boston Celtics where Paul Pierce scored 26 points, 7 in OT to give the Jazz their 26th loss. Knowing the Los Angeles Lakers were gunning for their playoffs-necks, they were determined to beat the visiting 14-13 road record Atlanta Hawks.

But the Hawks were TOO GOOD!

Josh Smith led the Hawks in a brilliant performance as the Hawks went into the 4th quarter with a 82-56 lead and survived a futile rally for a 102-91 victory. Josh had one of his classic, awesome "i-cant-believe-this-guy-is-not-an-all-star-WTF-is-wrong-with-you-NBA-coaches" games, scoring 24 pts (9/19 FGs 1/4 3ptFGs 5/7 FTs) 14 rbs (3 off) 7 asts and 1 stl. He virtually controlled the pace of the game in all 42 minutes of his playing time, imposing his will on the game definitely helped Al Horford have an AMAZING GAME scoring a career-high 34 pts (14/22 FGs 6/6 FTs) 15 rbs (4 off) 5 BLOCKS! and 3 asts in 43 minutes of playing time. It was Josh Smith's 8th game this season with 7 assists or more and his 8th game with 24 pts or better.

Al Horford described the the grit and determination he and Josh play with now as the primary scorers on the team, "We just kept fighting and I kept fighting. we worked too hard to give it up," Horford said. "It was one of those things where you don't want to lose, so you kind of do whatever you have to do."

Al Horford seems to be the biggest beneficiary of the Joe Johnson trade for the Hawks, he has always led the team (AND led the LEAGUE at his position!) in Field Goal %, with more touches in a more balanced offense he has averaged a career-high scoring average, which has his season stats at 17.1 ppg 10.1 rpg 3.2 apg on 55.6% FGs, tell me that's not an ALL-STAR! but a career-low free throw shooting at 61.5% 



Jeff Teague had a great game orchestrating the offense and being at the right spots on time, he scored 19 pts and 7 asts, and Devin Harris has been a good duel-point guard starter with Jeff as he scores 12 pts.

The Hawks are now 33-23, on pace for a 48-24 record, an IMPROVED winning percentage from last season, they continue their road trip by going against the Phoenix Suns on Friday and the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday. Chalk up the Phoenix game as a win but that Lakers game is going to be very tough, as they fight for their playoff lives AND they get prepared to make their once-a-season trip to Phillips Arena on March 13, only 10 days after that game. 

Speaking of the Hawks/Lakers game, there is a special event happening before that game. There is a brand new sports organization on the bubble that is VEEERYYY intriguing in Atlanta. The ModelsBasketball League is a women's basketball league established in 2011 that promotes beauty and fitness through basketball, and they are actually opening up for the Hawks/Lakers game. They have previously played at Phillips Arena at Hawks/Grizzlies match-up on 02/06/2013 and at the Hawks/Nuggets on 12/5/2012, it may not be NBA level basketball but it is a whole 'nother level of beautiful ;) 

LET'S GO HAWKS! Until next time...
 

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

the New Josh-led Atlanta Hawks are as much a Championship contender as any team in Eastern Conference, to be seen tonight in first game on ESPN

Hello, World. My name is World Infamous

Welcome to the PlayoffsHawks dominion, it is not quite a domain, but for now this is the site that will dominate all content related to Atlanta Hawks, NBA Basketball news, and End-of-the-World predictions, and i will do it with an interesting perspective, to say the least. 

Let me just say to begin, fuck all of you. 

and likely you will say as a reply, well, fuck you too, World Infamous guy. 

And that would be fine.

The question is will you fuck WITH me or try to fuck me. Or, ladies, you can just fuck me ;)

But i say all of this to say i will say what the fuck is i feel un-censored on this blog, and if you don't like it, FUCK OFF!

Josh Smith is the 3rd best forward in the East (LeBron, Carmelo) [HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSH!]

Al Horford is easily a top-10 "frontcourt-player-a-position-formerly-known-as-CENTER"

Jeff Teague is EASILY a potential all-star-in-the-making 

AND

Louis Williams is one of the most talented scoring guards in the league and will thrive as a ATL-hoopslegend finally on his hometowns NBA team

Anthony Morrow is one of the best shooters in the league, Georgia Tech draftee

Kracker Korver is one of the best shooters in the league, excellent off-season acquisition 

Ivan the Terrible is still playing terrible, one of the worst role players in the league #WorldInfamous 

Devin Harris is adjusting to the role of being a role player, but he is still a very good guard

Deshawn "2011 NBA Champion" Stevenson

Zaza Pachulia is still the best foreign big-man name in the NBA

these guys can beat any team in the NBA on any given night, shit, especially if the Washington Wizards can defeat the Miami Heat when motivated, no matter the EGO, "We took this team lightly" is a loser-excuse!!

Tonight is the new Josh-led Atlanta Hawks debut on ESPN, the first time these ESPN guys are gonna be forced to talk about the Atlanta Hawks ALL NIGHT and actually OBSERVE the strengths and weaknesses of this team, and of course either display their inevitable bias against us or actually recognize the TRUE POTENTIAL championship potential core of this team! 

Listen, if Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant and them Lakers can be 7-8 and i guarantee they still expect a championship this season, there is no reason why my 9-5 Hawks, currently riding a 6-game winning streak can't whoop on these Nuggets to Shock the World when they see how good this team is when Josh and Jeff lead the offense and everybody plays in sync. 

I predict tonights game be a victory of course to the tune of 109-105 in a fast paced game that goes crucial possessions in the 4th quarter.

watch me or watch the game with me @DJ_BROUGHHAM

#PlayoffsHAWKS