Game 2: Atlanta @ Boston
It wasn’t a pretty sight on Sunday Night to see the men in green walk all over the Atlanta Hawks. The bad thing is the Hawks have a very talented staff, but due to the short term vision of coaches and owners, the Atlanta Hawks have done won their championship. The team was so set on making the playoffs this year, since they didn’t have a number 1 draft pick in this year’s NBA draft and that short term focus will cause the Hawks to fall further back from the elite teams in the NBA. The GM Billy Knight wanted to fire head coach Mike Woodson and that would have been the right move and to keep the team in Atlanta growing. The owners stopped this and thought it would be too much of a distraction. So the short term focus and the ability not to put the best 5 players on the court makes being a Hawks fan hard.
I don’t expect much difference tonight in Boston and Joe Johnson is the cancer on the team. The head coach gives him the playing time to cause this and Mike Woodson might have a championship ring, but was making regular season moves in the biggest basketball game the state of Georgia has seen in 9 years. You can’t promote Joe Johnson with words and playing time. Joe has to go out there and be good enough to prove he is a leader and a star in this league. Joe Johnson has been given the keys and hasn’t drove this team anywhere. It’s the same way the Atlanta Hawks set up a website for Al Horford and trying to promote him as the rookie of the year in the NBA. I think Al’s basketball game should do that and putting up a website for him, shows you just exactly the short term vision the coaches and owners have here in Atlanta. The Atlanta Hawks have one of the most talented bunch in the NBA, but most people will never see that due to the lack of focus on winning an NBA title. The Atlanta Hawks put all their resources into making the playoffs this year and they have won their championship, but will never bring home the real NBA title that the rest of Hawks Nation wants.
Sit Joe Johnson in game 2 more and give Josh Smith playing time. Josh Smith is the one that has carried this team to the playoffs and Joe Johnson is just a player that gets the chance to succeed every night and only comes through 1 out of every 5 basketball games. The Atlanta Hawks can beat the Boston Celtics, but not with Joe Johnson getting 40+ minutes a game. Mike Woodson’s philosphy on riding guys that have been to playoffs is weak; when you have players on the team better and would be much more productive on the floor.
Your shutdown defense starters for game 2 in Boston:
PG Josh Childress
SG Mario West
SF Josh Smith
PF Al Horford
C ZaZa Pachulia
Marvin Williams dead aim mid range stroke and the ability of Bibby, Joe Johnson and Salim Stoudamire to knock down the 3; would be an excellent group to bring off the bench and score on the 2nd string of the Celtics. Let’s put our defense in and shut those guys down!
