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Friday, May 22, 2009

So I Saw Smoltz Last Night...

He pitched in Augusta for his first rehab start. He only went three innings, but it invoked mixed emotions.

On the one hand Smoltz was an Atlanta Brave for as long as I can remember. I can distinctly recall his magical second half of the 1991 season which culminated in him winning the game that clinched the pennant, winning Game 7 of the NLCS, and dueling Jack Morris in Game 7 of the World Series.

On the other hand this is the man who was insulted by the lack of loyalty by the Braves when they would only offer $2-2.5 million guaranteed to a 42-year-old pitcher who was coming off yet another major surgery on his throwing arm and would only pitch half a season... if he was lucky.

I wanted to give him a standing ovation.

I wanted to heckle him mercilessly about his greed and imply he was still paying off his divorce.

In the end I did nothing. As he walked off in the third inning and everyone rose around me to applaud, I sat there motionless and stared.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Cleveland, COME ON DOWN!!!

I know, I know. Everyone is thinking the same thing: Atlanta has no chance against Cleveland. Well I'm here to tell you that you are wrong.

And I know what else you are thinking. There is no way that these two amateurs keep up the pace and preview every game. Well I'm here to tell you that you are absolutely right.

With that in mind, this blog is all about the good news and the bad news.

Good News
Atlanta has a chance against Cleveland. When you get down to it, they are very similar teams. Both run their offense the majority of the time through a wing player who is 6'8". Both have big men who are not the most skilled/utilized on offense, but can play some mean defense. Both have guards that do not create too much offense, but can knock down a shot. Mo Williams is basically a younger Bibby.

On defense, Atlanta has three wing defenders (Joe, Mo, and Marv) to throw at LeBron. If Marvin is healthy, he and Mo will get the majority of the looks. You know, however, that Cleveland will try to employ the same strategy as the Heat and use the Hawks "switch on everything" philosophy to get LeBron more favorable match-ups. The only frontcourt player that can score for the Cavs is Big Z, and all he has is the 15 foot shot, so Josh and Al should be able to help out against LeBron. On the wings, Atlanta has to close out quickly on the 3 ball since the Cavs have tons of shooters with Williams, West, Gibson, Pavlovic, and Szczerbiak. If Atlanta can keep LeBron out of the paint like they did with Wade and close out on the Cleveland shooters, the Hawks can keep the score tight.

On offense there are mismatches to be had. Varejao matches up well with Horford and Zaza, but the Cavs do not have a player, outside of LeBron, who can match up with Josh. And the Cavs won't waste LeBron on Josh. So if he is focused and attacking the rim, Josh can give the Cavs a headache. Additionally, if Marvin is healthy, LeBron will have to choose between guarding him and Joe. This will leave the other guarded by West. While West is a feisty defender, he is all of 6'3", so either Joe or Marvin will have a huge height mismatch they should be able to exploit. So we're not getting shut out...

Bad News
This is your only scheduled preview. And even worse, the Hawks are probably going to lose this series. There is no way the Hawks take two games in Cleveland as they will be lucky to steal one. Additionally it is going to very difficult to win all three at home with the way LeBron can put the Cavs on his back.

Best-case scenario: The Hawks steal Game One from a rusty Cavs team, win one of the two home games, win Game 6, and force the Cavs to beat us in Game 7. Or they could go the same route as the team that no one believed in last year and get destroyed on the road and win all the game at home. Either way, the Hawks aren't stealing two games in Cleveland, and there is no way they are winning Game 7 on the road.

Cavs in 7.

My Live Twittering Project

I forgot to predict Sundays game. I would have predicted a victory and Joe's resurgence (honestly).

I did, however, twitter the whole thing. here it is unedited. I stopped tweeting (or chirping or whatever the hell drew calls it) with about 8 mins to go in the 4th when the game was over basically.



To hell with fraking. Joe fucking johnson showed up from TwitterBerry

Its all over but the crying from TwitterBerry

There's no "d" in beasley from TwitterBerry

Up by 20. Beautiful from TwitterBerry

Hell yeah smoove from TwitterBerry

Freakinnnnnnn joe johnson from TwitterBerry

Dwade: is that sweat or tears? from TwitterBerry

8 second violation. I love it from TwitterBerry

Mmm. Ball movement creates contact from TwitterBerry

Freakin "freakin" from TwitterBerry

"Ball movement" makes me giggle every time I hear it from TwitterBerry

Halftime points: keep up energy. Attack the rim on both ends. Hit your 3s from TwitterBerry

Damn. Missed oop from smoove from TwitterBerry

The announcers just called a wade airball a pass from TwitterBerry

Joe freaking johnson is showing up. Somewhere hawksdawgs is smiling from TwitterBerry

Great pass by flip from TwitterBerry

Great outlet pass after the steal. Playing with heart from TwitterBerry

Bibby for threeeeeeeeeeeee from TwitterBerry

@officiating: sigh from TwitterBerry

That's a holy shit 3 from TwitterBerry

Dirty z all over the place from TwitterBerry

Huuuuuuuuuuuuge 3 by joe from TwitterBerry

Hustle and flow from TwitterBerry

"Dirty" z from TwitterBerry

I can live seeing heat shoot contested jumpers from TwitterBerry

Dear abc: does dwade penis taste good? from TwitterBerry

End of one up by 2. Wade looks exhausted already. We look energized from TwitterBerry

Mario in to club someone. And I'm happy from TwitterBerry

Just realized I didn't write a preview. Here it is. Hawks win on strength of joe josh and bibby. Mo evans hits a big 3 at the end from TwitterBerry

Airball. Airball. Airball from TwitterBerry

Yeah josh. Forcing beasley to go to his right is the best move from TwitterBerry

The nba. Where taking down zaza isn't a foul from TwitterBerry

We have to box out if we want to win from TwitterBerry

James jones looks like curious george from TwitterBerry

How many seconds can anthony stand in the lane from TwitterBerry

Horford needs to go faster from TwitterBerry

Nice dish by smoove. Consistent josh today? from TwitterBerry

Nice up and under from TwitterBerry

Hoop and the harm. Someone needs to step up with bibby from TwitterBerry

I love how demoralizing shot clock violations are. from TwitterBerry

Stop the sloppiness plz from TwitterBerry

Getting josh going to the rim early is a good thing from TwitterBerry

Not sure how I feel about booing wade. You don't want to anger great players like that from TwitterBerry

Difference between al and zaza. Al can jump from TwitterBerry

As will josh dribbling from TwitterBerry

Poor rotation will kill us from TwitterBerry

JO or no jo we need to attack the paint from TwitterBerry

Big al dressed. Hoping to see "the boss" from TwitterBerry

Curious to see who the refs are from TwitterBerry

Live tweeting the hawks game from TwitterBerry

Friday, May 1, 2009

Game 6 in Miami

It's getting chippy in the Southeast. The Heat are mad at Josh Smith for his dunk attempt. They are mad at Mario West for his celebration for stopping Wade. They are mad at how physical the Hawks have been, especially Zaza.

But you know what this all reeks of? Desperation. It's a playoff series. The Heat are one loss away from being eliminated. Do they really need to get mad at the Hawks in order to summon the motivation to put up a fight in this series? Wade and Erik Spoelstra realize that half of their team is ready to pack it in and go on vacation, and they have to conjure up some false beef with the Hawks in order to keep the rest of the Heat motivated. And it might work for this game...

The Heat are going to try and come out tonight like a bat out of hell. This is especially true since the Hawks will be missing both Al Horford and Marvin Williams, and Solomon Jones (god help us) will be starting.

But this game comes down to two factors. First, and most importantly, is how Wade's back feels. If he is still tentative and refuses to drive the lane, like he has been the last two games, then the Heat do not stand a chance. If he can loosen up his back and is hitting the lane like he was in the first two games, then the second factor will come into play. Second, is whether the rest of the Heat show up for Game 6. The Heat won Games 2 and 3 not only because Wade was clicking, but because his teammates were hitting shots.

Due to the evidence from the second half of Game 5, I'm going to say that Wade does get loosened up for Game 6 and goes off at home. Similarly, the rest of the Heat find inspiration from the home crowd, grows a collective backbone, and actually helps out Wade. But the Hawks will scratch and claw the whole way and make this the first game decided by single digits.

Hawks 86, Heat 94.