Mike, Ashley, Ismail and I went down to Philips for the Hawks-Suns Sunday night special. There were a ton of Suns fans in the stands, no doubt Nash bandwagoners. I highly doubt the fans were actually from Arizona or Canada. Anyhow, the game started off very well for the Hawks as Josh Smith caught an alley-oop on the first possession of the game. The Hawks would jump out to an early 8 point lead-then the wheels fell off. The Suns went on an offensive spree that I can’t ever remember seeing before. In the last five minutes or so of the 1st Quarter, the Suns would score on basically every possession and wound up with 37 points at the end of the first. Amare Stoudamire led the way in this turnaround and would tear us up all night; he finished with over 43 points, 16 rebounds, 6 assists and had two nasty dunks on Josh Smith.

The 2nd Quarter was a little better for the Hawks as they were able to whittle down the lead to three points with 2 minutes left before the half. Of course, the Hawks couldn’t sustain their efforts for the whole period as the Suns went on a 13-0 run to take a double digit lead into halftime.

The 2nd Half was a little more consistent for the Hawks as they continued to battle with the Suns and eat away at Phoenix’ lead. With about six minutes left in the 4th Quarter, the Hawks would actually take the lead (by a point) and had a chance to extend it to 4, but a three pointer was missed, the Suns came down, shot and missed, got one of their seemingly 200 offensive rebounds that night, kicked it back out and drained a three. From there, the Suns never looked back and the Hawks crumbled down the stretch. I can’t tell you how many times i’ve seen the Hawks shoot themselves in the foot when they have chances late in the game. It always seems to be a missed shot or turnover that gets converted by the other team into some big play. The Hawks, many times, are their own worst enemy.

Anthony Johnson played a great game in his Hawks’ debut; he didn’t start, but ended up playing most of the 2nd half. He drilled two huge threes in the 4th Quarter to help the Hawks reduce Phoenix’ lead and he finished with 17 points. I like the way he uses his body, especially when he posts up his opponent (in this case, the weaker Steve Nash). I think that we’ll get a lot more out of him over the next few months as he seems a lot more durable than Ty and Speedy.

Marvin had a career high 23 points and shot the ball very well; pretty much all of his points were off jumpers. He didn’t really take it to the hole very often. I hope that he’s not going to be settling for jays every night instead of taking it to the rack on a consistent basis.

The Spin- Hawks T-Shirt; Mike- Free Coke; Ashley-Hawks Coozie

Ismail received old school Hawks shorts as the Promo item for the game; the shorts should be the right size for him- in about 7 years. Who makes these decisions to make all short for kids 14 and under the same size?

Hawks used a lot of energy to compete tonight with the Suns; away tomorrow at Dallas is probably going to be a trainwreck, given our track record in back-to-back games.

Kim and I went to the Mavs game Saturday here in Dallas. This was my first Mavs game of the year and I was anxious to see the best team in the NBA after watching countless games on TV. We were a bit late as parking was a huge hassle. Finally arriving at our seats with 6 minutes left in the first quarter, the Nuggets were leading by a few points until Dallas went on a bit of a run to lead at the half. Iverson went to the locker in the second quarter due to an injury but he was back pretty soon and went right back in the game. This was Kim’s first game so I decided not to spoil her with good seats (much like I did at UGA/Tennessee). We were very high up but the views at the AAC are pretty good everywhere.

The big intrigue became whether or not Dirk would get a triple-double as he had 9 rebounds and 8 assists with 4 minutes left in the third. Naturally, when he came back in the 4th, the Mavs seemed to miss every shot he would have received an assist on. He finished with over 30 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists. M.V.P. indeed. The Mavs look to extend their home streak to twenty Monday against the Hawks. Not sure they have much of a chance of winning this game as it is the second of a back to back. Looks like Dallas will probably extend their current win streak to 12.

Worst performance of the season by the Thrashers, on a night when they really needed a win. The Thrashers never threatened and did nothing on the Power Play. Their only goal was in the 3rd Period when they scored short-handed on a counter off a Canes Power Play. This made it 1-2 and it looked like even though the Thrashers were sucking it, they could at least have a chance to get back in the game. Those thoughts quickly vanished minutes later when the Canes scored again. The final ended up 4-1. The loss puts us only one point ahead of the Canes and doesn’t move us closer to the Lightning, the new team in 1st place. We’ve gone from leading the Division the whole season to possibly not making the playoffs.

The only positives of the night were that Ismail and I got Lehtonen statues. Also, Debra Moss sat behind us; she’s married now and has an 8 month old girl. She’s married to a guy that looks a lot like Kevin Feibelkorn.

The spin sucked- I waited in a long line and when I got to the front there were no vouchers on the wheel. I got the Team Gear Coupon, the worst possible spin. Basically, you have to buy a hat and you get the second one half off. So you have to spend 30+ dollars to make use of the coupon. What a gip.

I’m glad that I didn’t spend money on the tickets; they were from redeemed vouchers. I would’ve been pissed if I had bought tickets and saw that kind of performance. The Thrashers have been bad in games that they’ve sold out. This really sucks because this is the best opportunity to win repeat customers, but the results leave a bad taste in the casual fan’s mouth.

They made a trade last night for Keith Tkachuk; hopefully this will get us back on track because nothing else seems to be working right now.

What a fantastic cultural experience - Asian Heritage Night was light night at Philips Arena, coinciding nicely with our Hawks battling China-man Yao Ming’s Rockets.  Well, not that nice, as Yao was out, presumably resting his over-taxed stack of dimes neck. 

The Asians showed out in full force none-the-less, offering hilarious cheers and working their thundersticks as McCrady stroked J after J.  Our Hawks perservered T-Mac and the Asian antics and looked really good from start to finish in a great win for the team.  I love Joe Johnson and Josh Smith - they both play so hard and as Josh Smith develops, I think this will be the 1-2 combo that takes us into the playoffs next year.  

Quin and I went to the game and made it into the 4th quarter before all the Asians finally freaked him out and he demanded to go home.  Seriously, our row was full, as was the row in front of us, all with Asians.  First time I’ve seen it like that they were giving away General Tsao’s chicken a few games ago. 

We didn’t leave before we spun the wheel, though, and came away with a nice spirit item (BMT) and squeeze ball.  Also, they are now offering blue cheese dip with the chicken fingers - fantastic, although the value proposition is still not there with a charge of $8.50 for the basket.  I took extra napkins home to get it back, for sho. 

I am looking forward to the Knicks game with everyone next weekend and the ensuing snake pit(s) in the stairwell down to Headlines.     

Ismail and I went to Wednesday night’s Tech-Wake game at the Thrillerdome. My dad’s friend hooked us up with great tickets-two rows behind the player’s tunnel. Tech had another great defensive outing as they created several turnovers, dominated the boards and limited Wake to jump shots. Crittendon had another fantastic game offensively as he finished with 22 points and 9 assists. Thaddeus had a good game as well, with a mix of inside and outside shots made for a total of 17 points. A player who’s really starting to stand out in DeAndre Bell; his defense has been phenomenal and he’s been earning a lot more playing time from Paul Hewitt.

Overall, Tech controlled the flow of the game and Wake never really showed much. They had one small run to get the game within four, but Tech was able to build the lead back into double digits and it would end that way with at 75-61 final.

This was a much needed game if Tech is to make it to the NCAAs. Tech now sits at 18-9, 6-7 in the ACC. Saturday at UVA will be tough, as will Boston College and UNC. I think if Tech can somehow can win 2 of those 3, then they are in. Remember the days when a team could make the tournament at 17-13 or even 16-14? Those times are long gone.

Anybody watch the game last night? I watched it this morning. What a comeback! Josh Smith came up huge in the 4th Quarter. I thought that they were dead after the horrendous 3rd Quarter. Has there ever been a coach that fails to get his team motivated at halftime any worse than Woodson? Tim Floyd maybe? Damn, i’ve seen so many games where the Hawks play a solid first half and then get manhandled in the 3rd quarter. They usually claw their way back in the 4th Quarter, but most times it’s too late and they have nothing left late in the 4th Quarter or OT.

Anyway, nice run right before the All-Star Break. So far, February hasn’t been the disaster everyone thought it would be for the team. However, after the break, it’s going to be tough with the Spurs, Mavs and Rockets all on the schedule.

I’m assuming you guys saw this…but Joe Johnson was named to the All-Star team today. Congrats to JJ.

Also, I’m heading to Vegas this weekend for All-Star, and the whole SLAM staff will be covering the weekend and posting updates throughout at SLAMonline.com.

My dad called yesterday with two tickets for Sunday’s Tech-UConn game so Ismail and I went to the game today. The game was at the Georgia Dome; it was a Test Run to work out all of the kinks for the upcoming hosting of the Final Four.

It was probably the best game i’ve seen from the Jackets all season, especially on the defensive end. The Jackets picked up defensively where they left off in the 2nd Half of their comeback win vs. NC State. Everyone contributed in making steals, tipping/defelcting balls away and coming up with key rebounds.

Offensively, Morrow, Crittenton and Young looked good. All of them had streaks where they hit 3-4 shots in a row.

Tech led by 8 at the half (33-25), but with about 8 minutes to go in the 2nd Half, the Jackets had a 55-35 lead. UConn never really threatened and the Jackets continued to pressure the ball and make UConn turn the ball over. The 65-52 score is not really all that indicative of how dominant the Jackets were. If they can continue to at least give similar defensive efforts for the rest of the season, they should be able to get an at-large bid in March. Hopefully, they’ve turned the corner and will show a little more consistency during this crucial month of February.

The game atmosphere was not very good; the Georgia Dome is just too big and doesn’t hold noise very well when the crowd is only 20 K or so. When I went to the Final Four, the noise was pretty loud, but of course, that was over 50 K in attendance. Tech games are usually pretty loud in the Thrillerdome and would’ve been good in Philips, but the home court advantage wasn’t really much of a factor in the game today.

The Hawks (specifically, Micah Hart, the web guy for the team) contacted us at Riseup about participating in a Blog Night during the Hawks-Lakers game. As I didn’t have the Riseup season tickets for this game (Steve has both) and considering that this is probably the most anticipated game of the Atlanta Pro Hoops season, I was quick to say yes to this opportunity to represent Riseup. I’m writing from a suite on Level D with a perfect overhead view of the action. Also included besides the Suite access was a tour of the facilities (couldn’t make it for that because of soccer practice), Spirit Bucks for free food and the chance to go to the postgame press conference. I figured that it should make for a unique experience.

The Game

1st Quarter: Philips Arena is awash with the putrid colors of Purple and Gold; Kobe jerseys are cheap tonight. Unfortunately, I think that there are as many people cheering for the Lakers as there are for the Hawks. I’m surprised as I would’ve figured that Kobe would’ve done his image permanent damage with the Colorado incident. He’s definitely a polarizing figure- when he was announced there were a ton of cheers and a ton of boos. I just don’t get the allure of Kobe’s game- the guy shoots way too much and doesn’t seem to elevate the players around him. I think that this was evident last season when Kobe was sitting at home during the playoffs and Shaq was winning another ring with the Heat. I’ve always argued that Shaq was the Show in LA and was the primary reason for the Championships; I think somewhere in Kobe’s mind he knew that too and that’s why he was always crying and pouting about Shaq.

The 1st Quarter was a low scoring affair as both sides only managed to score a total of thirty points (LA 16-14). However, that didn’t stop the Kobe Love Fest Brigade from drooling all over themselves every time he touched the ball. I think I even heard some “oohs” and “ahs” when he farted in the huddle during a timeout.

2nd Quarter: Josh Smith flushed a backwards alley oop to start the Quarter; it received quite a response from the fans. The Hawks seem to be having a hard time finding their rhythm offensively; I had a feeling after watching the Hawks pull off the OT victory the day before that they would have tired legs tonight. Fotunately for the Hawks, the Lakers aren’t looking too sharp either, most likely the effects of being in the fifth game of an eight game roadtrip. The Hawks scored maybe 3 or 5 points in the last five minutes of the half, and the Lakers took advantage of this (slightly) to take a 40-31 halftime lead. Amazing play to end the half- Kobe drove the lane, took some contact and did not get a foul called. See Kobe, you are no Jordan- Mike would’ve gotten that call 100 times out of 100.

Halftime Show: Rubber Boy; this guy is basically elastic and can contort himself in unimaginable positions. If Dave had this ability, he’d never leave the house…

Sekou Smith came up to the Suite to meet the bloggers. I mentioned to him that I was a good friend of Lang and he laughed. As he was leaving, he told me to tell Lang that he’s a sack of s***. Tell us something we don’t know, Sekou.

3rd Quarter: The Hawks started off strong and reduced the deficit to four in the first few minutes. Unfortunately, the run didn’t last and the Lakers were up by ten again with six minutes to go in the Quarter. Josh is having a good game for the Hawks, with 12 pts, 7 rebs and 5 assists at the 2:30 mark. JJ has 18, 5 and 4. In the last two minutes, another Hawks run was in the cards and a strong finish found the Hawks down only five going into the 4th.  

4th Quarter: The Hawks are continuing to battle and keep whittling down the deficit to three, only to see the lead balloon back to 5 or 6. Kobe is starting to take over- he’s just hit three absurd shots with JJ all over him to keep their lead at six. At this point, i’ve definitely come to the conclusion that there are more Lakers fans in the house or at least they’re louder than us. JJ is keeping us in the game with some great shots of his own, but he’s falling into the one bad habit that he seems to have-missing free throws down the stretch. The Hawks have nothing left in the last few minutes and end up losing the game 90-83. They battled hard but it was obvious that the Nets OT win took its toll.

Kobe finished with 27 pts on 10/18 shooting. I was impressed (for once) with his array of shots in the 4th Quarter and the way he took over down the stretch. However, this is the struggling Hawks. When he can do it against the Mavs, Spurs or Suns over the course of a seven game playoff series, then I might change my mind. Until then, I will always view him as an overrated, overhyped Corporate Shill.

Post Game: We went down to the post-game press conference in the Hawks Practice Gym. Woody spoke for a few minutes about the game and like that, the conference was over. The most interesting part about being there was when Woody walked in, I happened to see Jon Kon-Crap come strolling through the doors. He looked shockingly run-down- he had a five o’clock shadow, shaggy hair and lots of acne. To top it off, he was wearing Birkenstocks with dark-blue socks. I’m not sure what’s scarier-his current look or the pre-jaw surgery neandrathal days.

After the press conference, we went back upstairs and from there, the evening was over. A good time was had by all and I would definitely do it again. It was easier in some ways to blog as the game goes on, but at the same time, I found that I lost sight of the flow of the game at times. If I were to do it again, I would try to be more conscious of that and strike a balance between watching and blogging.

Random Musings: For no particular reason, I felt the need to write this statement- Andrew Bynum is a manchild…Elle Duncan, the sideline reporter for the Hawks game is so fine. I remember she used to be on the 2 Live Stews and those guys were always talking her up….There is a “Spin to Win” wheel in the Suites part of Philips. However, the wheel is more like a mini-wheel about 18 inches in diameter. My spin was “Enter to Win” aka zilch. Two games in a row with this spin; my luck seems to be running out on the spins after much early season success.  

Celebrities in the House: Tim Allen (what a tool..guy), Martin “Shenenay” Lawrence, Bow Wow (nee Lil’)

I heard the Hawks are getting new team colors and new uniforms for next season. Their colors will become red, blue and white. Home uniforms are white with blue trim and their road uniforms are blue with red/white. I heard the blue is kind of a weird pale shade, almost like on the Bobcats uniforms.

I haven’t seen them, but I’m all for the new colors. Red, white and yellow looks just like a fast food franchise.