Monday, January 14, 2008

Hawks 105 Bulls 84

Boxscore

Gameflow

One day after I bemoan the Hawks' offensive inefficiency they go and score 69 points in the first half against the Bulls. Of course, the 36 points they scored in the second half combined both to restore faith in my own judgment and restore my long-term doubts about this team's potential. (Again, not to diminish the very real progress they have made.) Plus, it's not like the Bulls pushed the Hawks much in the second half. Unless my waning interest fouled the integrity of my notes, Chicago never got closer than 12 points in the fourth quarter.

Thus, the only notes I took that turned out to mean much at the conclusion of the rout concern Mr. Acie Law IV.
  • I am not adamantly opposed to the Acie Law/Tyronn Lue backcourt (though I am convinced that over enough minutes it would prove disastrous defensively) but Tyronn Lue cannot be the primary ball-handler of that tandem. Acie Law can penetrate off the dribble. Tyronn Lue can make (at least he has made in the past) open jump shots. Let's try that combination of skills rather than vice versa.
  • Law has to start converting his shot attempts at the basket. Like most any rookie, he's going to make mistakes, turn the ball over, and take bad shots. He can't also get nothing of value from the good plays he creates by failing to finish them.
Other than that, I think there's little to do but savor a rare Hawks blowout win, forget that I picked the Bulls to reach the NBA Finals a couple of months ago, and speculate as to how the Hawks will perform when presented with a real test by Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night.

Ballhype: hype it up!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not a comment specific to this post, but more to your overall blog. I rarely see comments, so I just wanted to say that I think your blog is great. As a Hawks fan living in Jacksonville, FL, it's hard to catch any of the games on TV unless they are playing a Boston or Detroit and Orlando isn't at home. Sure, I could easily follow the media coverage of the AJC, but mainstream media, even teh AJC at times, is bland at best and the writing is usually of the "I got stuck covering this so I have to write it" variety and having an honest fan blogging allows me to keep up with my(our) Hawks from afar.

I enjoy your detailed opinions of Woddson's coaching schemes, player rotations, and overall gameplan and I appreciate you taking the time to put something like this out there for the rest of us. So, although you rarely have comments, just know that you have a fan out here reading and looking forward to your blog every day. Keep up the good work and thanks.

-Jesse

Bret LaGree said...

Thanks, Jesse.

Much obliged.