Let the games begin...finally!
To say I have been eagerly waiting for this NBA season is a wee-bit of an understatement. Having endured another miserable season by my Amazin' Braves, I have had very few reasons (if you consider a 13-9 Tennessee Vols victory over the perennial powerhouse called the Northern Illinois Huskies a reason) to even open the sports page since the Olympics ended. So at last my Atlanta Hawks are poised to stun the NBA elite for real. Yes, I say this at the dawn of every season with a great deal of sarcasm. Little has changed on the outside for the Hawks, so a small portion of sarcasm side, this year I do believe that the Hawks will fare much better than others say. They lost one of my favorite players in Josh Childress. Other than Ben Wallace's Detroit-Era hair, no other player's hair captured my heart like Childress'. So the season is officially off the runway for the Hawks as they hand the Orlando Magic a rare opening day loss. My early assessment is simply foolishness, but I am pumped. Let me share the reasons.
1) Atlanta beat the Magic. They may not be the Celtics, but they are a genuine team.
2) This was a road win for the Hawks. Last year their Home-Road split was one of the worst in the NBA. So much of a problem that this year they said this was the most important goal for the team other than locking up Josh Smith for the long haul.
3) Dwight Howard played big time minutes. The Hawks were not an overly deep team last year. In fact, they had very little outside of Horford and Zaza in the paint. Big Men torched the Hawks regularly with Horford and Z playing limited minutes with foul troubles. Not so tonight. They actually put up 18 points and 17 boards compared with Howard's 22 & 15 in the same number of minutes. Oh yeah, and they won.
4) Atlanta's bench outscored the Magic's. With the departure of Childress I wondered how the Hawks would handle the extra minutes. For certain, no one wants Joe Johnson to put more time into the regular season games. I would love to see JJ play 2-3 fewer minutes a game in order to be more rested for the long season and playoffs. Well, the Magic were outscored 27-11 by the Hawks' bench. Good news indeed.
5) Marvin Williams did not play 1 second. Even without him, the Hawks kept up the pressure and asserted themselves early in the game. Marvin won't hurt the Hawks at all when he returns.
6) Atlanta beat the Magic. No one can play the "Well that was the pre-season" garbage on this game. It actually counted and the Hawks took it to the Magic.
In honor of the departure of really fine hair, I post Wallace and Childress.
Labels: 2008, Atlanta, Basketball, Braves, Hawks, Joe Johnson, Josh Smith, NBA, Sports, Tennessee
posted by ER @ 8:00 PM
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3 Comments:
read this and thought of you. From the great Bill Simmons talking about the NBC this year.
"Did you know that Atlanta's bench this year consists of Ronald Murray, Zaza Pachulia, Mo Evans, Solomon Jones and Acie Law? Really? That's your bench? The Hawks should just have Feces Night and have their cheerleaders shoot dog doo out of T-shirt cannons at their fans. What a disgrace."
I hope it goes better than this for you guys.
Hey Rick,
No worries here. You know my thoughts on the "experts." Anyway, the Hawks have done exceedingly better than anyone thought so far. They definitely have had lots of road games (their woe from last year) so far and have fared nicely. They definitely have had lots of back-to-back games and done fine. They definitely have dealt with adversity (Josh Smith is a spark plug for the team defensively and sometimes offensively and has missed several games already). What is the result...they are playing above .500 when the experts said they would easily miss the playoffs with the departure of Childress. Yes, I wish he was wearing a Hawks uniform, but their bench is actually a better rounded bench than last year. So regardless of Mr. Bill's take, the Hawks fans (I am one) are very happy to be moving in the right direction after the last 10+ years of crap.
Oh yeah, Rick, it is hard for me to keep up with what your favorite team(s) are. So which team is the team you are rooting for?
I'm fairly predictable. Just stick with the Atlanta teams. Grew up with them (when they sucked) and stayed with them ever since.
Do you follow Bill Simmons? He would never be called an "expert". He is a fan that happens to be a great writer and write for ESPN. He never makes himself to by anything else. He is only an expert at fantasy sports (as a fan). And he LOVES the NBA more than you can believe.
It is funny to think of him as one of the experts or pundits. He would probably get a kick out of that.
He is the kind of fan that kind of hates most owners and GMs and tells us so. He thinks he could run a team better than the experts and he is funny.
As for your question:
as always, since the advent of the David Robinson days, I am a Spur. Almost 20 years as a fan.
I do love the Celtics due to seeing many games during my time in Boston. They grew on me, especially Paul Pierce. then they went and got my favorite nonSpur of the past 20 years, Garnett. So, I cheer for them, when able.
I like Orlando, but have no strong feelings. If they were in Tampa, I would care more.
I tend to follow players and root a little bit for the teams of players I like, if it is not at the expense of the teams I dearly love.
So, I like AI, any Spur, Kobe (but dislike the Lakers- hard to explain), etc.
My loyalties still remain-
Cardinals in baseball- with secondary loves of Red Sox (waining) and Tampa Bay Rays (but none will enter holy Cardinal land)
Cardinals in football- but I closely follow the Bucs (have since I was a kid- would be a fan if I had not made my allegiance before their arrival). I love the Pats due to my presence during the first Super Bowl run and the energy it brought. I like the Packers because they are my dad's alltime favorite and I always liked Brett.
Hockey- don't really care. Follow the BLues a little. Follow the Lightening not much at all. Always cheer for a Canadian team in Stanley Cup.
Spurs in Basketball- I was originally a Laker kid but stopped when Robinson came to Spurs and Magic got AIDS. Moved to hatred when Shaq came. I automatically hate any team with Shaq. Don't know what would happen if he became a Spur.
FSU in whatever sport they play in college.
It is weird because Florida did not have these teams when I was deciding. if I was a little younger, i would be loyal to Florida teams above all.
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