Atlanta Hawks

It looks like the lights are starting to fade out for the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James. What seemed to be an easy playoff series in their first two match ups has changed around since the Orlando Magic have arrived on the scene. Dwight Howard and his teammates have actually won against the Cavs in easy fashion in each game they played. The poor NBA officiating has led the games to being close and the calls that LeBron James gets every game is just ridiculous. The NBA has tried to create a superstar around LeBron James and he’s just not that good of a player. He may develop into a great player, but he’s no MVP right now. He has a poor attitude on the court and shows off way too much to be considered one of the best players in the NBA. He has a lot to work on and it’s not his game that needs the work. LeBron has a lot of character issues he needs to get worked out and until he figures this part of the NBA game out, he’s just a great player that will never win an NBA Championship. Stay thirsty LeBron my friend, because the 2009 is not your year.

NBA referees are calling the game too one-sided and the Orlando Magic has been on the wrong end of the calls in each game. You can’t draw a charge on LeBron James and teams just need to learn how to give him a hard foul, instead of trying to pick up charges against the man they call King James. The NBA and LeBron must end this partnership they have going with the NBA and all of his marketing potential. It’s just not fair to the other teams in the league and the Orlando Magic is clearly a better team in this Eastern Conference Final series. LeBron can’t win a NBA championship playing one on one basketball and it’s not the guys on his team’s fault. He doesn’t pass the ball and he holds on to it for too long and he’s the reason the other guys can’t get into a flow. The guys from TNT seem to think the other guys on the Cavaliers need to step up, but that is hard to do when LeBron doesn’t pass the ball.

Michael Petrus for the Orlando Magic has played great defense against LeBron James. The officials keep bailing out LeBron on these ridiculous calls and way too much attention is given to number 23 that plays on the Cleveland Cavaliers team. If you take away the poor officiating from these games; then the Orlando Magic would have won these games by double digits each time. It’s only the referees that keep these games close and it’s a black-eye for the NBA. Everyone can see the calls Lebron is getting on the court and he does not deserve half of them. If you are the Orlando Magic, you must foul him hard and make him pay for driving to the hoop. Lebron is a poor free throw shooter and he can’t beat you from the foul line. Don’t try to take a charge on LeBron, because you won’t get the call. Just foul him hard and send him to the line and make him earn his points there. The refs are not going to give you the call over the league’s MVP and it’s an award he didn’t deserve.

Lebron James you need to stay thirsty by friend, because the Orlando Magic isn’t going to let you win this series for a chance to play in the NBA Finals. We should get to see the best two teams play in the NBA Finals and this would be the Los Angeles Lakers and Orlando Magic in 2009.

Game 6 in the series is set for tonight in Orlando. Let’s hope the officials keep the whistles quiet and we can wrap up this series and give the Orlando Magic their chance to play the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals. The NBA playoffs are great, but poor officiating this year has hurt them a little this year.

They didn’t have the best shot of winning but the Los Angeles Clippers managed to beat out the other teams in this year’s NBA Lottery. All the teams that didn’t make the playoffs this past season are eligible for the lottery in the NBA. It was announced on Tuesday night that the Clippers was the lucky team and will have the top overall selection in the 2009 NBA Draft. We also know where every other NBA team will be picking in the draft that will be held this summer. Now that the teams know where they are picking at in this year’s draft, they can start to talk with other teams and see if there might be any trades that take place before draft night.

Most people have penciled in Blake Griffin from the Oklahoma Sooners as the top pick in the 2009 basketball draft. He was the Consensus National Player of the Year this past season in college basketball. He is a very talented big man that has great shot blocking abilities on the defensive side of the court and able to put up huge numbers on the offensive side and he can do this in a variety of ways. There is no doubt that the 6′ 10″ and 255 pound Blake Griffin will be a great player on the next level. He will be starting for some NBA team before his professional basketball career is over and the first team that has an opportunity to take him will be the LA Clippers. Griffin has been spending time in San Francisco working out and polishing his skills that he hopes will lead him to a solid NBA career. He was also in the L.A. area recently to receive the Wooden Award that he won for his tremendous play on the court. The city of Los Angeles or the state of California is not unchartered territory for this young man and the Clippers might just be a good fit for him.

Do you think Blake Griffin is the best basketball player in this year’s NBA Draft?

I got to watch him a few times and he impressed me each time. I can understand why there is already so much hype around this guy and he’s worthy of that top overall pick. He scored 22.7 points a game this year for Oklahoma and grabbed over 14 rebounds a game. The athletic ability and size is NBA quality. Can he continue to grow on the next level and how coachable will he be for the Clippers or any other NBA team that he might land on this summer is a couple of questions that remain. If Kevin Durant and Greg Oden were in this year’s NBA draft; then it would be a struggle to come up with the order these guys would get drafted in. Now that we have saw Durant and Oden play in the NBA; the draft order would likely go Durant first, Griffin second, and Oden being the third pick.

Is there any chance that the LA Clippers will trade the top overall pick?

I think there is a strong possibility here and it’s not going to surprise me if another team works out a trade with the Clippers. The Memphis Grizzlies will be picking 2nd in the draft this year and I think they are happy at this spot. The interest starts to build up some when you look at which team got the 3rd pick in this year’s draft order. The Oklahoma City Thunder have that spot and how much would they be willing to pay to get a hometown college guy from the Oklahoma Sooners to join up with the pro team in Oklahoma? No way does the Thunder let Durant go to another NBA team and he’s a franchise player they will want to keep for many years to come. They do have two other young prospects that are doing very well and I’m sure lots of NBA teams would like to have Russell Westbrook or Jeff Green on their team. If I was the Clippers general manager and the Thunder offered me both of these guys, I would trade them the top pick for Green and Westbrook. Big guys are hard to find in the NBA and especially the ones that are as skilled as Blake Griffin. I just couldn’t see passing on two quality guards that are proven NBA players for someone that has never played a minute in the NBA. On the flip side of things, would the Thunder be willing to pay this much for the top pick? I might be willing to pull the trigger if Griffin has some outstanding workouts before the draft and he does something special during this time. I’m not sure just offering one of these guys with other players would be enough to tempt the Clippers. Guys like Nick Collison or Demond Mason don’t interest me enough to trade away the top pick, I would have to get Green and Westbrook both or no deal. It should be interesting to see if the Thunder do make an attempt and they also have the 3rd overall pick, so I’m sure that would be included in any trade that takes place with the Clippers and Oklahoma City Thunder.

Did your favorite NBA team get a pick better than expected or worse than expected from Tuesday Night’s results?

The 2009 draft class for the NBA does look like a solid one and we should see some quality guys that develop well on the next level going late in the first round or early in the 2nd round.

2009 NBA Draft Order

This year’s NBA Draft will be held on Thursday, June 25th at 7 PM EST or 4 PM PST. The location for the 2009 NBA Draft is Madison Square Garden in New York. I’m sure lots of Clipper fans like Penny Marshall and other die-hard Clip fans will be tuning in on June 25th to see what new player the Clippers add with their talented first round pick last year that was from Indiana. His name was Eric Gordon and he had a great rookie year. I think Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon would be two fine young men for any NBA team to build their program around. The fans in L.A. should be excited and they are slowly putting together a team that will be able to compete with the other Los Angeles NBA team. It might take Gordon and Griffin a few years to catch Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers but I like the potential for the Clippers team, since they did win the NBA draft lottery.

What: 2009 NBA Draft

Where: Madison Square Garden in New York

When: Thursday June 25th at 7 EST

You can see the NBA draft live on ESPN at 7 Eastern Time; 6 Central Time; 5 Mountain Time; or 4 Los Angeles Clipper Time. ESPN will cover the entire 2 rounds of the NBA draft that will show us where the future stars of tomorrow will be playing. The fun starts June 25th and this is on a Thursday, so be sure to mark your calendars now.

*The Sacramento Kings have the 4th overall selection in the NBA draft and also will pick again at number 23 in the first round. They have the top pick in the 2nd round of the draft and this will be the 31st overall pick. This means there will be one other California NBA team that is excited about the 2009 draft and look for the Kings to improve with these 3 new players they will get to add to their team on June 25th from Madison Square Garden in New York City.

It’s not been pleasant for the Atlanta Hawks or their fans through the first 3 games of the playoff series with the Cleveland Cavaliers. They have certainly got their work cut out for them if they do plan to come back from a 3-0 deficit. I think everyone is aware of how hard that might be to do; but is there a chance? Can the Atlanta Hawks get a win in Game 4 and get enough momentum from that to win 3 straight games? They would have to win 2 Games at Cleveland and they have been a tough team to beat at home. The Hawks have threw away all their mulligans if this were golf, but they are on a Par 4 course and they just need 4 good licks.

It might seem like an impossible challenge now but with every win it would bring hope. The Hawks must defend their home floor and win Game 4 in Philips Arena Monday night. The Hawks and Cavs will tip things off at 7PM Eastern Time in Atlanta and this is their chance to show some life in this 2nd round playoff series. A win at the Highlight Factory tonight would have the toughest challenge facing them next game in Cleveland. If the series does go to a Game 5; then the Hawks would need to play at the highest level possible to win. If the team figures out how to win in Cleveland, you would get to bring them back to your home floor and anything could happen in a Game 7 back in Cleveland.

You never know what might happen and it’s to the Hawk’s best interest to play this series out to the end. If LeBron James turns an ankle or another key guy in their line up; then things could dramatically change in this NBA playoff series. In order for the Atlanta Hawks to start winning they must do things differently. There hasn’t been a lot of changes to their approach for these first 3 games. Maybe on Monday they will at least try something new. You don’t have anything to lose at this point and it would be nice to try a different game plan with these guys. Full court pressure and running the ball up and down the court would be a nice change of pace. The Hawks can out run Cleveland if they will constantly push the ball for 48 minutes; this means you must make frequent substitutions to keep guys fresh on the floor. A more physical game is needed in this series. There should be more technical fouls and pushing and shoving in this series and it hasn’t happen yet. The layups and dunks the Hawks are given up must stop or be met with hard fouls. Foul trouble early in the game doesn’t matter because they are beating the Hawks in 3 quarters right now. Don’t take guys off the floor due to foul trouble. Encourage the guys to foul and play much more physical with Cleveland to get them out of their game.

Coach Mike Woodson does need to stop analyzing stats and coach the game. He told the team after the 1st quarter in Game 3 that the defense was good and things would be great with a little offense. The reason Mike Woodson said this is because the Hawks were losing to the Cavs by a score of 22 to 19. Yes, 22 points isn’t bad to give up in a quarter. However, those 22 points came from dunks and lay ups and that had to be addressed. You can’t give up dunks and lay ups in the NBA playoffs and this is the most important thing the team needs to take care of right now. Mike Woodson often looks at free throws attempted and made in games too and he hates to lose that stat. The Coach for the Atlanta Hawks is looking at every stat except the only one that counts. The score is the only stat that matters and Woodson must learn this and quit analzying things from a stat perspective. He’s good about telling you why the team did well or struggled for a half or a quarter of basketball. He will tell you every little thing that went wrong or right for the Atlanta Hawks. The only thing that puzzles me is why did he leave the same guys on the floor that was causing these problems?

I could tell right away in Game 2 with Cleveland that the body language from the team just wasn’t there. Later on, Mike Woodson mentioned this; yet he left the same guys out there that had the bad body language. If you see something that is wrong out there Coach; you must make line up changes to correct it. Hoping the guys on the floor figure it out soon is not working right now and you must be more aggressive with your substitutions during games. We did see great body language in the last minutes of Game 2; when guys like Thomas Gardener, Mario West, and Solomon Jones got in to play. Even Hunter from Ohio State was playing a great game during the trash time that was left from the starters.

Keys to the Game for the Atlanta Hawks: More up-tempo style of offense and more defensive pressure on the ball. Plus a more physical game inside is a MUST for the Hawks to mark a tally in the Win column.

The legendary coach of the Detroit Pistons is no longer with us. He passed away at his Florida home on Saturday morning. Daly led the Pistons to NBA championships and our Olympic team to a gold medal in 1992. Chuck Daly will be missed in the NBA community and he was good for the league and the sport of basketball. The coach had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer back in March and had been fighting it ever since. He leaves his mark on the NBA after his 78 years of life on Earth.

The coach that use to roam the sidelines up in Auburn Hills, Michigan may no longer be with us, but he certainly leaves behind his mark. All the coaches are currently wearing a pin on their suits with the letters “CD” for the legendary coach that has been battling cancer. He has had tremendous support around the league and the old ball coach fought just as long as he could until passing away early this morning. I’m sure all the coaching staffs around the league will continue to wear the special pin in support and now memory of Chuck Daly. I fully expect the NBA to do special ceremonies before the next round of games begin in the NBA playoffs and we will probably have our first tribute in Atlanta tonight as the Atlanta Hawks host the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 3 of their best of 7 playoff series.

The votes are in and we have a winner! The National Basketball Association announced that LeBron James was this year’s Most Valuable Player in the NBA. He was in the running with the Lakers star Kobe Bryant. It seem the voters felt like King James was the top player in the NBA this year and LeBron James is the MVP of the League. He will be given the award tonight in Cleveland as his Cavalier team faces the Atlanta Hawks in the 2nd round of the NBA playoffs. It should be a great time for all to celebrate the award as the NBA playoff excitement increases with the 2nd round games already underway.

LeBron James led his Cleveland Cavalier team to a Central Division Championship in the East with a record of 66 wins and 16 loses. This was also the best record in the Eastern Division and gave the Cavs the top seed in the NBA playoffs. Their first round opponent was no match and the Detroit Pistons got beat in 4 straight games. Many think the same faith is destined for the Atlanta Hawks team too, but the fans in Atlanta are not buying into the hype surrounding LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

LeBron did have a great season and this is perhaps his biggest achievement in the NBA so far. He did lead his team to the NBA Finals two seasons ago, but they weren’t able to win the final series. The fans of Cleveland hope for a better story this year as their favorite player has just won the most special individual award in the NBA. It’s a great honor to be named the best player in the league and only one lucky player gets to hold that honor each year. I’m sure it will be even more special to cap the MVP award with a NBA Championship this year. LeBron James is the first Cleveland Cavalier to ever win the NBA MVP Award. We will have to wait for the rest of this fairy tale story to play out and see if the Cavs do have the best player and the best team in the league right now.

Dwayne Wade did lead the NBA in scoring and he fell short of his NBA Championship for this year. Kobe Bryant led the Los Angeles Lakers to the League’s best record and he placed a distant 2nd in the voting this year. It just seems voters had their minds made up early and they wanted LeBron James to have the MVP. I think it will fit if he does manage to win it all this year. I’m not sure if he deserves the award if the Cavaliers do suffer a defeat in one of the playoff series. They will have to face two more Eastern Conference teams; then if they succeed there, it will be on to the NBA Finals to face the top team in the Western Conference.

The party starts tonight in Cleveland and the trophy for MVP will be presented to LeBron James. The ceremony will take place right before the tip-off between the Atlanta Hawks and the Cleveland Cavaliers. It should be a great night in Ohio for the fans, players, and coaches of the Cleveland Cavaliers. The game starts at 8 Eastern Time for the Cavs and Hawks and this will be the first game of the playoff series between the number 1 and number 4 seeds.

The Atlanta Hawks did something that hasn’t been done in 10 years in Atlanta. They advanced to the 2nd round of the NBA Playoffs. It wasn’t an easy playoff series for the Hawks and they got blew out in 3 of the 7 games they played with the Miami Heat. The good news is that the Hawks blew the Heat out in 4 of the games and this makes them the winner of the 1st round series.

Dwayne Wade did all he could for his Heat team through this playoff series. He was often smiling and laughing while the Heat was on the winning side of things. He even did a head butt to Solomon Jones that resulted in a double technical foul on the two players. He also got a rebound in Game 6 near the end of the game; where he held the ball back and gave a stare down to the opposing Hawk’s defender. His antics on the court seemed to go unnoticed by the guys from TNT Sports and then again on the national broadcast Sunday on ABC. No one seem to mind the behavior or actions he did throughout this series and his behavior did fire the Hawks team up in this best of 7 playoff series.

Josh Smith Dunking Between the Legs Attempt

It seems this little move did catch the eye of ESPN and TNT Sports. They felt it was showing up the other team and was not called for. The guys from ESPN on Sunday actually got to hear a Josh Smith response; when he stated it was for the fans in Atlanta. His remark was labeled as a “weak excuse“.

Well national media, ESPN, and the guys from TNT like Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, and Kenny Smith; I got news for you. If you would show more Atlanta Hawks games on TV; you may know the team and players better. Since you don’t watch the Hawks or know about them; let me fill you in on a little secret. Since coming into the league Josh Smith has always rattled the rims with flashy dunks. Over the past 2 seasons, it seems Josh now has a pattern for his dunks. He has had many wide open dunks on the road and often these are just a casual lay-in or a normal dunk. When Josh has the opportunity at home (in front of hometown fans) he puts a little extra on them. The crowd and the fans of Atlanta want to see what Josh can do. We like to seem him dunk and we prefer the ones you would see in a dunk contest. Josh gives great performances on his slam dunks and always rewards the fans in Atlanta well.

Since this was the playoffs and the crowd was a lot larger than other home games for the Atlanta Hawks, I’m sure Josh felt the need to do a little something extra. A two-handed tomahawk dunk would have not been good enough and he needed to bring out the extra creativity in this breakaway dunk. Throwing the ball off the floor, the glass, or going between the legs like he did was really his only option. His dunk was purely for the fans and he would have did something special in a tighter game or one that had the Hawk’s on the wrong side of the scoreboard. There was never anything in this playoff series with the Heat that would suggest Josh would “show up” the other team. The between the legs dunk attempt was for the fans and only the fans. Josh has done spectacular dunks in the last two seasons during home games and rarely serves them up on the road.

Everyone on National TV that commented about the Josh Smith dunk attempt never did consider the fans point of view. Sometimes things are bigger than just the game between two teams and Josh understood this and gave the paying fans what they wanted. It’s the fans that make the sport possible and they are the ones paying the checks, so taking care of them is important. Josh Smith took care of the fans and the guys from TNT and ESPN have no clue about Josh Smith or the Atlanta Hawks team.

Hawks Travel to Cleveland Now

It’s time for the Atlanta Hawks to take on the Cleveland Cavaliers in round 2 of the NBA Playoffs. The Hawks are heavily favored to lose this series with the Cavs. People are still not aware of the great 9 players we have on the roster yet and if these 9 get a chance to show their stuff, the Cleveland Cavaliers may find a fight on their hands. The Hawks are gifted with players that can run up and down the court and they all get off the floor really well. They can cause many problems for the Cavs offense and not sure they will put up enough points to win 4 games in this series.

Obviously you can’t consider the Cleveland Cavaliers team without talking about LeBron James. He’s a great player and all eyes will need to be on him this series. The guys like Ilgauskas and Williams have hurt us with their mid to long range shooting. Hopefully the Hawks keep a close eye on these two, clog the paint where James can’t drive to the basket, and force Lebron to take jumpers. LeBron doesn’t have a consistent stroke from outside and he’s not Dwayne Wade. Let him take open jumpers. He may knock down a few, but LeBron James can’t beat you with his jump shots. His penetration into the lane and the ability to finish at the rim or to dish to great jump shooters is his specialty and the Hawks can limit this by leaving him open beyond the arc. LeBron is confident in his game and it would be nice to see the Hawks let him shoot open jumpers. He can’t make enough to win this series and his pride will be on the line if you leave him open from outside.

The first game will be on Tuesday night in Cleveland. The game time for the Cavs and Hawks will be at 8PM Eastern Time. It should be fun to watch the Hawks and Cavaliers tip it off for real on Tuesday. I think a lot of NBA fans will get a better chance to see what has been cooking in Atlanta for the last few years. The Hawks are ready for this series and they come in a little wounded from the Miami playoff series. The Hawks will need to play under control in the first half and then get the game in a running style in the later quarters.

The first two games will be in Cleveland on Tuesday and Thursday night. Both games will have a tip-off time of 8PM. The Hawks don’t have to win both games, but winning one on the road in Cleveland does give the Hawks home court advantage in the series. They will need to defend their home court in every game they play against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.