Hawks VS Celtics (Game 6)

Hawks Win Series 4-2

The Hawks closed out the series last night. They played great and look like they are looking forward to their match up vs the Cavs. Let's just take a look at what the Hawks did this game that they must carry over to next series.

This Hawks team played great defense. They had amazing defensive rotations and were very, very sound defensively. They had the Celtics shooting just 36.2% from the field. They were contesting tons of shots, not allowing any easy points from the Celtics. This defense was so great. I can see them really pressuring LeBron next series when he tries to drive and they might let him take outside shots as well. The Hawks seem like they can handle the Cavs defensively, but what about offensively?

The Hawks were great offensively. 6 players had at least 10 points. Horford was back on track as he had 15 points. Millsap had 17. The team shot 51.4% from 3. They were getting off great shots as well. They shot very well in the paint, in fact, they had 48 points in the paint. They are going to need to cut down the turnovers because they had 18 of them on the night. If the Hawks are going to win next round, Horford and Millsap are going to have to take over in the post. Millsap needs to just destroy Love. I think that the Cavs would be smart to start Mozgov on Horford for a better defensive matchup. If the Hawks can make shots like they did last night, they will be in the position to win against them.

I really enjoyed watching this series. It was nice that they had a couple of games that were close and 1 even went into overtime. The Hawks now most prepare for their next series, because they have a tough road ahead of them. If anyone can do it, it's the Hawks!

Hawks VS Celtics (Game 4)

Series Tied 2-2

This was a crazy game. There were a lot of plays that you could say decided the game. Let's take a look at them.

This game was an amazing win for the Celtics. Amir Johnson was amazing defensively. He really kept Al Horford quiet. Horford only had 5 points on the night. Starting Amir at the 5 has lead to 2 Celtic wins and 0 losses this postseason. The whole team really did a great job defending. The Hawks shot just 37% from the field and 27.9% from long range. The Celtics really let the Hawks take tons of mid-range shots. The Hawks didn't make many of them either.

The Celtics offense was great. Most of the shots they took were either open 3's or open looks in the paint. Jonas Jerebko really took some pressure off Thomas as he had 16 points shooting very well from 3. Marcus Smart also played well. He had 20 points while also dishing out 6 assists off the bench. The Celtics moved the ball so well it helped get their players wide open looks.

If the Celtics played so well, then why was this such a close game? Well, Paul Millsap really carried the team. He had 45 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 blocks, and 2 steals. The Atlanta Hawks relied on him to make plays. However, towards the end of the game in OT, Paul Millsap wasn't looking to score. Since he wasn't aggressive, this ultimately lead to the Hawks downfall.


The Hawks made some weird plays down the stretch. Something that I noticed was that Korver closed out hard on Jae Crowder at the 3-point line, a guy that shot 2-9 from 3 in the game and really bad from 3 in the series. Crowder blew by Korver, kicked it to Turner, who threw it out to Jonas Jerebko who was wide open from 3. He decided to shoot the ball and he ended up making it. So why did they close out so hard on Jae Crowder but left the guy who was shooting 50% from 3 in the game wide open. Jerebko is one of the Celtics best 3-point shooter and Jae Crowder is struggling. This was towards the end of the 4th quarter too.

I was also confused on how Jeff Teague went into isolation and with 3 seconds left had another player kind of interfere with the play so Jeff Teague had to put a 3-pointer, but didn't even put it up. But I can't really blame this loss on Teague because he is the reason the game went into OT.

While there were some slip ups, this was an amazing game to watch and I really hope the rest of the series is just like this.

Hawks VS Celtics (Game 1)

Hawks Lead Series 1-0

This game was a tale of 2 halves. Boston lost the first half, Atlanta lost the second. After watching this whole game, I realized that this was going to be an interesting series.

If you take a look at the first half, the Celtics played very poorly. Jae Crowder shot just 1-10 from the floor and Isaiah Thomas shot just 2-8. The team shot just 23.1% from the field, 12.5% from 3, and ended the half with just 34 points. They also had no fastbreak points! Defensively, the Celtics seemed late on every defensive rotation, the help side was always late, and they gave up 26 points in the paint.

Boston's 1st half - shot chart - www.nba.com/stats

As for the Hawks, their big men dominated. Horford, Millsap, and Bazemore had a combined 31 points. Boston's big men were just too slow to react to the guards and the bigs of the Hawks. Jeff Teague was doing a wonderful job of making the extra pass to find the big man off the high pick and roll that Millsap and Horford thrive in. The Hawks were doing great.

The second half came around and the Celtics did a great job of defending the pick and roll. Everyone was on the same page. Crowder and Thomas stepped up their game and the Celtics picked up their percentages. They shot 50% from the field and 47.4% from deep in the second half. The big thing that brought them back into the game was transition. The Celtics went from having no fastbreak points in the 1st half to having 15 in the 2nd.

As for the Hawks, their bench couldn't convert in the second half and Korver was just brutal. He has 0-7 from 3 on the game. They were well defended, but the Hawks just didn't get back in transition. What won the Hawks the game was their late game defense. They made sure that every shot was contested and defended the ball handler really well. They executed in the last few minutes which got them the win.

While the Celtics lost, if they had a different 1st half, it could've been a much different game. I am very excited for this series as it continues and I think this could come down down to an amazing game 7. It will really depend on who wins, Atlanta's frontcourt or Boston's backcourt.

Fantasy Fridays: Power Forwards

Power Forwards will give you rebounding and blocks. The best ones are the ones that will give you multiple 3 pointers. Power Forwards are necessary to having a great fantasy team. If you have ones that are dominant in the post and can stretch the floor, it's very beneficial. So you want some great PF's, well here are the top 10.

10. Thaddeus Young: Now with the Nets, he will have to take on a bigger scoring load. I certainly can see the PF averaging at least 16 PPG. One big thing is that he is a power forward that can steal the ball. He averaged 1.6 steals last season. He will also knock down a couple of 3s from time to time. He knows his role and I expect Thadd to do great next season.

9. Serge Ibaka: Averaging 2.5 blocks per game last season, Serge was doing great. He averaged 14.3 PPG last season, however, with Kanter, Durant, and Westbrook, I fear that could decline. However, that isn't was it is about for Serge because it's the little things that matter for him. Serge averages 7.8 rebounds, 0.5 steals, and shoots a great 37.6% from 3 points range and makes about 1 per game. Serge will get you quite a few things that many PFs will not.

8. Pau Gasol: Pau is going to have his numbers drop this next season no doubt. He really isn't that best fantasy player and struggles with consistency. While he averaged a double-double, that will be most likely not the case next year. I have a strong feeling that he will average around 15 PPG next season and about 8 rebounds, mainly because of Derrick Rose returning, and the rise of Jimmy Butler.

7. Paul Millsap: The Hawks played great last year, and Paul Millsap had a lot to do with that. Millsap last year averaged 16.7 PPG, 7.8 RPG, 3.1 APG, 0.9 Blocks, and 1.8 steals. No doubt he will continue this next year and could find an increase in points and rebounds. I would assume that Millsap will be a great fantasy player to grab.

6. Dirk Nowitzki: He is a lights out shooter and will be great to have on your fantasy team as always. Dirk is getting old however and his PPG will most likely drop a little. He was never the best rebounder, so don't get him for that reason. But Dirk will shoots lights out from FT, 3, and FG.

5. Kevin Love: Hopefully, he will have a better season than last year. That's what we hope. And if are hopes come true, fantasy owners with him on their team, will be rewarded. Kevin Love used to have 26 PPG and 13 RPG with the Wolves but production sure has slowed down with the Cavs. Hopefully the Cavs will incorporate him into the offense a little more and he will have an increase in stats.

4. Chris Bosh: he averaged over 20 PPG last season, and hopefully he will do the same after his recovery from the blood clots on his lungs. The only problem with Bosh is he isn't the best rebounder and doesn't have much else to offer other than scoring. So that is what I recommend using him for, scoring.

3. LaMarcus Aldridge: He is definitely going to have one of his best seasons yet and I expect his defensive numbers to rise. LaMarcus will no doubt get more rebounds than ever and will be faced with lots more assists and scoing opportunities in the Popovich system. Aldridge is going to be a great fantasy player this year so pick him up if you can.

2. Anthony Davis: 24.4 PPG, 10.2 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.5 Steals, 2.9 Blocks, 80% FT, and 53.5% FG in his 3rd season. Nuff Said...

1. Blake Griffin: "What, this can't be right, Blake Griffin in front of Anthony Davis! How can this be!" Yeah, well guess what. The 2015 playoffs were unlike anything we have ever seen from Blake Griffin and I personally think that Blake is about to enter Stardom. In 14 games in the playoffs, Blake averaged 25.5 PPG, 12.7 RPG, 6.1 APG, 1 Steal per game, and 1 block per game. I figure that this will continue into the 2015-16 season and it will also improve. I have a feeling that Blake will be doing some stuff that we have never seen from anyone before and I think Blake will be the ultimate fantasy player to get. With Chris Paul slowly decreasing on the scoring side, I expect Blake to take on an even bigger scoring load.

Well, there you have it. The Power Forwards will most likely be the best fantasy position this year. There is so much talent so make sure you stock up on some great PFs.

Hawks VS Cavaliers (game 1)

Final Score: Cavs win 97-89



Cavaliers lead series 1-0

This was a really weird game. The Hawks build up a lead. Then the Cavs catch up. J.R. Smith knocks down a bunch of shots. The Hawks fall way behind. DaMarre Carroll gets injured. Then the Hawks fall behind a lot but catch up a little. The Cavs ended up winning in the end. Really odd game and a lot happened. Let's take a look.

• 1st Quarter: The Hawks played great in the first quarter. They had a 26-20 lead at the end of the first quarter. They limited LeBron to just 1-3 shooting and he had just 2 points. At that point though, the Cavs lead the rebound advantage 15-6. Jeff Teague had 9 points in the quarter. Kyrie Irving had 2 threes and Tristan Thompson and Timofey Mozgov had a combined total of 11 rebounds.
• 2nd Quarter: This quarter was a little different. By the end of the quarter the game was tied and the Cavs had scored 31 points in the quarter. LeBron shot 7-9 in that quarter and had 14 points. J.R. Smith had 3 threes in the quarter and shot only 4. Only 4 Cavs players scored in this quarter. Matthew Dellavedova missed all 4 shots he took including 3 three pointers. Jeff Teague had 8 points in the quarter. Kyle Korver didn't even take a shot as he was the only one that didn't score on the Hawks that quarter. The Hawks had a total of 5 turnovers in that quarter.
• 3rd Quarter: In this quarter, the Hawks only made 4 shots. 4 shots! They shot 23% from the floor. What saved them? Paul Millsap's free throws of course. He was 5-6 from the free throw line. The team was 7-8. The Hawks were outscored 23-16 in that quarter. The Hawks also had 5 turnover in the quarter again. They did do a better job on LeBron as he had shot just 1-5 in the quarter but LeBron shot 4-4 from the free throw line. J.R. Smith had 8 points in that quarter.
• 4th Quarter: Now this was just a disaster for the Hawks. DeMarre Carroll ended up getting injured. Then Paul Millsap was just getting sick of LeBron and could not guard him. Millsap ended up getting a technical for arguing. The Hawks only made 1-8 from the 3 point line in the quarter. And J.R. Smith hit 3 threes in the quarter. Again, only 4 Cavs players scored in that quarter. LeBron had 9 points. The Hawks ended up loosing the game.

The Hawks just have to play LeBron better. I think the main thing is just that they have to get Kyle Korver involved in the game more. Also, they can't have 10 turnovers in 2 consecutive quarters. That kills them. They also just need to shoot better. They need Korver to just take shots. The Hawks can't be shooting 4-23 from 3 point range. Hopefully Carroll recovers fast and the Hawks can have a better game.

Hawks VS Nets (game 5)

Final Score: Hawks win 107-97



Hawks lead series 3-2

The Hawks got their game together. And Deron Williams lost his again. I guess it was just a one game kinda deal. The Hawks could put it away next game. Let's breakdown what they have to do.

The Hawks have done okay in this series but they picked it up in this game to the great old Hawks like the time they won all those game in the regular season. I really want to give credit to Jeff Teague who had 9 of his 20 points and 3 of his 8 assist in the 4th quarter. He was such an important in the fourth. Horford just needs to keep doing what he's doing. He had a double-double of 20 points and 15 rebounds with 2 blocks and 2 steals to go along with that. One thing that bothered me was Paul Millsap's play. He only had 10 points in the game. It wasn't much of a concern though. He just couldn't hit shots. In fact, he passed the ball, set screens and really helped out his team. He just couldn't hit shots. Hopefully he can do better next game and the Hawks can put this series away.

The Nets played okay. They played great in the fourth but the Hawks always had an answer on the offensive end. Alan Anderson had a great game coming off the bench. He ended the game with 23 points and 7 rebounds. Deron Williams had 5 points in the game. Not to mention, the team was horrible with him on the court. Deron Williams had a low offensive rating of 97.8 and a horrible defensive rating of 117 when he was on the court. They played best when Jarrett Jack was on the floor. People that say it's because Deron Williams is playing with his ankle hurt, I don't buy that one bit. Deron Williams ran a total of 2.26 Miles while running an average of 4.14 MPH. So don't tell me that he's hurt. The team did great from three point range and I would look for them to shoot more threes. Other than that, there isn't much they can do.