How Good are the Atlanta Hawks?
November 8th 2008 17:00
Let's face it. We never really knew where the Hawks were coming from.
Atlanta (4-0) had just recently blew out the Toronto Raptors (110-82) who joined the other three playoff teams (Orlando, Philadelphia, and New Orleans) that fell prey to the Hawks early this season.
It has been 11 years ago when the Hawks looked this good to start a season. Atlanta went 11-0 at the gates in '97-'98.
We have been hearing about how sensational the Hawks have been lately. But just as we said before, it's still too early to tell if all this hype about their current surge to the top of the Eastern Conference is for real.
"Come on, these guy's went 4-0 beating fellow playoff contenders so you gotta give them the respect they deserve!" says our conscience.
Respect isn't an issue here. The Hawks have been in the rut for a long time until they made it to the playoffs last year and took the fight to the eventual NBA champs, the Boston Celtics. Everybody has got to admire that! They patiently built their team's foundation and chemistry by making the right moves and decisions in all those years when almost no one gave a tinkers damn about them when it comes to being serious competitors in NBA seasons.
Despite finishing below .500 in the standings last season and making it to a satisfactory 8th seeding in the East playoffs, the Hawks still displayed more than average playoff type of basketball especially in their own home floor (Phillips Arena) where they went 3-0 and eventually bowed out in the first round with nothing to be ashamed about.
The Hawks entered this season with heads held high and the Atlanta faithful has tremendous excitement and anticipation to once again rally behind their hard-fighting Hawks as the team moves on towards future success.
We are also excited about how the future will reward the feisty Hawks but we are more concerned on how they will be able to keep their intensity. Will they be still like the way they are now as the season goes along? How steady are they gonna be especially if injuries rear its ugly head on them just in case? Are they deep enough to truly match up with the contenders? There are just so many questions that must be answered before we can make conclusions about how good Atlanta is.
Below are the current averages of the Hawks' individual players
Atlanta Hawks
Joe Johnson (guard) 25.3ppg, 6.0rpg, 4.3apg
Mike Bibby (guard) 14.5ppg, 6.0apg, 2.8rpg, 1.5spg
Josh Smith (forward) 12.0ppg, 8.0rpg, 2.5bpg, 2.25spg, 1.3apg
Al Horford (center) 9.0ppg, 8.0rpg, 3.5apg
Marvin Williams (forward) 9.0ppg, 5.7rpg, 1.7apg, 1.0spg
Ronald Murray (guard) 12.0ppg, 2.5rpg, 2.0apg, 1.25spg
Maurice Evans (guard) 9.0ppg, 3.5apg
Zaza Pachulia (center) 3.8ppg, 5.3rpg, 1.0apg
Acie Law (guard) 2.3ppg, 2.3apg, 2.0rpg
Atlanta's main man is definitely Joe Johnson who has been awesome lately on offense including his clutch performances.
Mike Bibby is the Hawks top assist man and second best scorer. He was especially highlighted in their last game when he led the first half onslaught that sent the Toronto Raptors to their knees.
Josh Smith is perhaps the team's best all-around performer because of his great contributions on both ends of the floor. He is the team leader in blocks and steals. He also brings in a steady double-figure scoring output every game and his freakish athleticism always make him stand out.
Journeymen Flip Murray and Mo Evans have proven to be key acquisitions in the last off-season for the Hawks because they are turning out to be the team's best contributors off the bench.
Atlanta's frontline is not really regarded as one of the best in the league but they surely did a great job in going head-to-head against the more talented 4's and 5's in the league. Al Horford, Marvin Williams, and Zaza Pachulia are guys who are turning out to be gritty role players.
The Hawks have 78 more games to play and the tougher tasks has yet to be undergone. After crushing the Raptors, they will go on a four-game road trip which includes a date with the Celtics at TD Banknorth.
This trip will surely test their moxie, and to some extent, their endurance. Josh Smith was injured in the first quarter of their last game but it never really affected them. Realistically, it will affect them when they experience times of being over-matched because of the injury to a key player just like Smith. Let's just see how they will handle things in such a scenario.
_____________________________ _________
In other games:
Chauncey Billups had one heck of a homecoming in Denver and it was just so fitting that him and the Nuggets got off on the right foot with a 108-105 win against the Dallas Mavericks.
As if the San Antonio Spurs needed one more headache to deal with! Manu Ginobili will be out until December and they are experiencing such a hard time winning even against the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves. Now Tony Parker goes down with a pretty swollen foot and will be out to 3 to 4 weeks. Hang in there Tim Duncan! This is a much stronger storm to weather. Are Roger Mason and Ime Udoka ready to step up?
Jerry Sloan gets 1,000th win with the Utah Jazz. Sloan actually doesn't want to think about it to much mainly because it would still be worthless without that championship, right?
Atlanta (4-0) had just recently blew out the Toronto Raptors (110-82) who joined the other three playoff teams (Orlando, Philadelphia, and New Orleans) that fell prey to the Hawks early this season.
It has been 11 years ago when the Hawks looked this good to start a season. Atlanta went 11-0 at the gates in '97-'98.
We have been hearing about how sensational the Hawks have been lately. But just as we said before, it's still too early to tell if all this hype about their current surge to the top of the Eastern Conference is for real.
"Come on, these guy's went 4-0 beating fellow playoff contenders so you gotta give them the respect they deserve!" says our conscience.
Respect isn't an issue here. The Hawks have been in the rut for a long time until they made it to the playoffs last year and took the fight to the eventual NBA champs, the Boston Celtics. Everybody has got to admire that! They patiently built their team's foundation and chemistry by making the right moves and decisions in all those years when almost no one gave a tinkers damn about them when it comes to being serious competitors in NBA seasons.
Despite finishing below .500 in the standings last season and making it to a satisfactory 8th seeding in the East playoffs, the Hawks still displayed more than average playoff type of basketball especially in their own home floor (Phillips Arena) where they went 3-0 and eventually bowed out in the first round with nothing to be ashamed about.
The Hawks entered this season with heads held high and the Atlanta faithful has tremendous excitement and anticipation to once again rally behind their hard-fighting Hawks as the team moves on towards future success.
We are also excited about how the future will reward the feisty Hawks but we are more concerned on how they will be able to keep their intensity. Will they be still like the way they are now as the season goes along? How steady are they gonna be especially if injuries rear its ugly head on them just in case? Are they deep enough to truly match up with the contenders? There are just so many questions that must be answered before we can make conclusions about how good Atlanta is.
Below are the current averages of the Hawks' individual players
Atlanta Hawks
Joe Johnson (guard) 25.3ppg, 6.0rpg, 4.3apg
Mike Bibby (guard) 14.5ppg, 6.0apg, 2.8rpg, 1.5spg
Josh Smith (forward) 12.0ppg, 8.0rpg, 2.5bpg, 2.25spg, 1.3apg
Al Horford (center) 9.0ppg, 8.0rpg, 3.5apg
Marvin Williams (forward) 9.0ppg, 5.7rpg, 1.7apg, 1.0spg
Ronald Murray (guard) 12.0ppg, 2.5rpg, 2.0apg, 1.25spg
Maurice Evans (guard) 9.0ppg, 3.5apg
Zaza Pachulia (center) 3.8ppg, 5.3rpg, 1.0apg
Acie Law (guard) 2.3ppg, 2.3apg, 2.0rpg
Atlanta's main man is definitely Joe Johnson who has been awesome lately on offense including his clutch performances.
Mike Bibby is the Hawks top assist man and second best scorer. He was especially highlighted in their last game when he led the first half onslaught that sent the Toronto Raptors to their knees.
Josh Smith is perhaps the team's best all-around performer because of his great contributions on both ends of the floor. He is the team leader in blocks and steals. He also brings in a steady double-figure scoring output every game and his freakish athleticism always make him stand out.
Journeymen Flip Murray and Mo Evans have proven to be key acquisitions in the last off-season for the Hawks because they are turning out to be the team's best contributors off the bench.
Atlanta's frontline is not really regarded as one of the best in the league but they surely did a great job in going head-to-head against the more talented 4's and 5's in the league. Al Horford, Marvin Williams, and Zaza Pachulia are guys who are turning out to be gritty role players.
The Hawks have 78 more games to play and the tougher tasks has yet to be undergone. After crushing the Raptors, they will go on a four-game road trip which includes a date with the Celtics at TD Banknorth.
This trip will surely test their moxie, and to some extent, their endurance. Josh Smith was injured in the first quarter of their last game but it never really affected them. Realistically, it will affect them when they experience times of being over-matched because of the injury to a key player just like Smith. Let's just see how they will handle things in such a scenario.
_____________________________ _________
In other games:
Chauncey Billups had one heck of a homecoming in Denver and it was just so fitting that him and the Nuggets got off on the right foot with a 108-105 win against the Dallas Mavericks.
As if the San Antonio Spurs needed one more headache to deal with! Manu Ginobili will be out until December and they are experiencing such a hard time winning even against the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves. Now Tony Parker goes down with a pretty swollen foot and will be out to 3 to 4 weeks. Hang in there Tim Duncan! This is a much stronger storm to weather. Are Roger Mason and Ime Udoka ready to step up?
Jerry Sloan gets 1,000th win with the Utah Jazz. Sloan actually doesn't want to think about it to much mainly because it would still be worthless without that championship, right?
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