Another 4th Quarter lead, another 4th Quarter collapse. How do you blow an 11 pt. lead with less than five minutes to play? We were up 9 with 3:20 to play. Piss poor defense is mostly to blame- no defense against either the three or drives to the lane. Of course, some offensive mismanagement from Josh Smith, some open looks missed by Joe and a total lack of structured play calls from the bench didn’t help.

A great team effort fror the first 44 minutes pissed down the drain. When will this end?

About 3:00 yesterday, I found out that I was going to get two tickets for Ismail and I to go to the All-Star Game. There were two no-shows from the La Amistad program that I mentioned in my previous post, so I got the chance to go as a Chaperone again, but this time take I was able to take Ismail.

The Hives opened up the proceedings with a few songs and then played intro music for the All-Star Players’ entrances.

The first period was simply amazing- Rick Nash scored the fastest goal in A.S. history in the 12th second of the game. From there on, the East dominated, scoring 5 goals in the next 15 minutes.

In the 2nd Period, the West would score two goals to make it a 5-3 game. Kovy had two great chances to score, but San Jose goalie Nobokov was equal to the task. As Kovy skated off, he jokingly threw his stick to the ice, basically indicating that he just can’t do any more than he’s already done to score.

The third period was the craziest period of the game as the West would tie it, go ahead, and then lose the game. Marian Hossa would score for the East, sending the crowd into hysterics. With the game looking like it would head to OT, the East made one more push to score. With 20 seconds left on the clock, former Thrasher Marc Savard received a pass in the center and he slotted it home for the East win. Savard, who had received several boos all night from the fans because he left the Thrashers, was now being cheered once again as a hero. Rick Nash picked up a hat-trick in the losing effort.

The Game’s MVP went to Jordan Staal, who scored two goals and had an Assist for the East. I would’ve given it to Ovechkin as he scored two goals and electrified the crowd all weekend with his exciting play and goofy attitude.

Overall, a great night with a lot of goals and open play.

Ismail and I went down to the NHL Card and Memoriabilia Show at CNN Center in the morning. When we got there, we saw that Blackhawks legend Bobby Hull was signing autographs, so we went and bought a Blackhawks puck and got in line. Well, the line was slow moving and we were nowhere close to getting up there to get the autograph. As Hull was leaving, Ismail and I ran up to the exit and Ismail handed him the puck; Bobby signed for him and then was rushed off to an awaiting car by his handlers.

There were a lot of giveaways by some of the companies; Ismail got a lot of free cards from Upper Deck. He also bought a limited edition Marian Hossa McFarlane figure only available at the show. Overall, it was a pretty good time, but extremely crowded as the Battle of the Bands was going on at the Dome at the same time and the atrium/food court where the show was being held was packed.

This is the last home game before the five game road trip; we really need a win to set the team off in the right direction. No AJ for today-a one game suspension for the Flagrant Foul in Friday’s Toronto loss.

Today’s game will be a family affair for us as Janet, Ismail, Olivia and I are all going to the matinee.

3 meltdowns in the 4th Quarter over the last week; shades of past Woody-misled teams starting to creep back into the picture. Woody’s Strategy= Dribble the ball down to 3 seconds and then force a jumpshot. No offensive movement, no picks, just waste time. Not a good sign with the West Coast Trip coming next week.

 If anyone watched the Toronto game last night, you should begin to realize that AJ might just be the most Valuable player on this team. Without him, they looked lost.

Ismail, Olivia and I went to the game. Janet had to work last minute, so I had to take Olivia with me. It was somewhat of an ordeal taking the baby by myself, carrying the diaper bag and watching Ismail all at the same time. I think i’ll pass along the tickets to someone else if that type of situation arises again. 

The Hawks played the best half i’ve ever seen from them in the past three seasons. They scored 69 points in the first half (38 and 31) and had a 20 pt lead at halftime. Joe had 19 in the first half (and finished with 37) and everyone was hitting shots.

The feeling I had at halftime was that the Hawks would have their inevitable 3rd Quarter collapse and let the Bulls back in the game; there was no way that they could continue at that pace. The collapse did occur offensively as the Hawks turned over the ball at least 6 times (J-Chill was called for three travellng violations in the 2nd half), picked up several offensive fouls and missed a ton of wide open looks. However, the Bulls were unable to capitalize-partially due to good defense from the Hawks but also from some poor shooting from everyone except Nocioni.

The Bulls would threaten at times, bringing the lead down to 12 at one point, but the Hawks were able to thrwart any serious Bulls runs and they went on to win 105-81. It was never really close, but the second half made me feel unjustifiably uneasy, esepcially after the 11 point Third Quarter. 

One of my sports heroes- Boris Becker, was at the game. I have no idea why-he was with some actor guy that’s in something called “The Gospel”. Marian Hossa was also at the game.

The Spin: A Hawks Chip Clip.

The Giveaway: A Hawks Coozie shaped like a jersey.

With the poor run over the last ten days, this week is shaping up as the most important week of the season. With three home games, they need to win all three or at least two of three. With a killer roadtrip out West at the end of January, they might play themselves out of contention if they don’t take a winning record out there.

What’s going on with Joe Johnson? He looks unmotivated and appeared to be sulking on the court against the Nets.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/jim_trotter/01/04/niners/index.html

Too bad the Falcons aren’t in the old NFC West anymore- that would be two wins for Atlanta.

Ismail and I are going to the game tomorrow night. I took these tickets as I always try to go watch Jason Kidd every year. Ever since we saw him play in the McDonald’s All-American game back in 1992 over at Tech, i’ve been a huge fan of his game.

Hawks are up-and-down over the past week (mostly down). It’s halftime right now in Indy and they are not looking good; they simply are not defending the three. Hopefully, coming back home will get them back on track.

Did anyone watch this one last night? I was flipping back and forth in the fourth quarter and saw Joe Johnson hit some crazy 3’s at the end to keep hope alive. Unfortunately, Lebron made all his free throws to pull out a victory for Cleveland.

How did the Hawks look for the rest of this game?