I’m not going to make a prediction until tomorrow, but…
Heat Hawks will not be your typical 1v8 series
And I don’t think anyone wants Trae Young on YOUR court in a game 7
‘Trae is the worst defender in the NBA’ means you don’t watch the Hawks and you listen to dummies
‘Trae doesn’t win’ oh yeah? His record in playoff games is 13-16 (never playing on a contender)
Haliburton has never played in a playoff game
Brunson is 18-18 in playoff games
The coaching move that won this game for the Hawks:
JC didn’t play at all in the 4Q
Jalen played 2:18 in the 4Q
Trae had 15 pts in the 4Q on 5-9/1-2/4-4 shooting, 1 assist, no turnovers
Saddiq played all 12:00 in 4Q, made but one shot and gave them SO MUCH
I will continue to say this
I can’t imagine why a team building around Trae Young would consider moving John Collins off of the roster
I mean, you know, unless you are reading for a top-10 or so player in the league
The pairing of those two is so powerful
Hawks fans - a frustrating season to watch in some ways
I had an absolute blast watching along with you this year and keeping the conversation going all year
Let’s have a great offseason
And lots of fun playoff basketball left to watch!!
If Hawks fans want to be upset about something officiating-related in this series don’t focus on the Dejounte suspension
Focus on why three different officiating crews let Al Horford set wildly illegal screens for all of three games
We are about to see a season where Trae has
1) requisite shooting around him
2) another lead ball handler/creator
Trae’s best season coming up if you ask me
I want to show you something cool here (watch several times)
Wolves line up to rebound the FT wrong, should have two on JJJ, one on Clarke
Josh Okgie (who didn't play) sees this and communicates to Beasley to help all the way down onto JJJ instead of boxing out the shooter (Ja)
Listen, there is absolutely no difference between these two players, except the team each plays for. If Thibs would have given the keys to Quickley the way Atlanta gave thier keys to Trae, you'd have the same results. Quickley shouldn't be coming off the bench, Thibs did that.
Talked on the pod(s) about how for some reason NBA officials let Horford get into a stance and move as a screener
This is absolutely absurd
Ervin Mitchell does not care
I have so much respect for what Saddiq Bey gave Hawks last year
A supremely flawed roster and he stepped up and tried to fill gaps even in areas not aligned to his strength
Was incredibly coachable and unselfish entire season
Heading toward RFA and being that unselfish >>>
Hawks fans will 'enjoy' this
Out of a timeout, all by design
Herro with an illegal screen on Mobley
Mobley tries to work through the illegal screen
Butler creates all the contact and then throws himself on the ground
Zach Zarba falls for all of it
Butler free throws
I really wish Embiid would stop this
He often just falls down when there is inconsequential contact on a rebound, and it seems like the officials fall for it every time
I really think there a lot of Hawks fans who don’t understand what a good young trio OO, Jalen, and AJ are
Apart from teams that have tanked multiple seasons there are not many teams that have what the Hawks have in those three
Really impressive that ahead of trade deadline Hawks put out sourcing that everyone was on table except Trae and Jalen
And now reporting is that ‘league sources’ are saying they expect Hawks to consider trading Trae
Nice work everyone
Hawks fans - read a super frustrating season. Changes coming for sure.
But the most important thing to say now is that we have an awesome community here. We have silly fights sometimes. But lots of wonderful people in our community.
Much love.
Lets have a great offseason
Okongwu is doing so many little things that suggest his confidence continues to grow
Being ready here to put the ball on the floor immediately and attack the rim with no hesitation
That's fairly rare for players at his position
He's going to be so good
That was the weirdest game I’ve ever seen from a team with an opportunity to get a series to 2-2
We likely won’t get real information (re health/injuries) until the season over but
Trae did not attack at all today
Bogi looked rough today
Capela hit a wall early
JC - we know
I know a lot of you dislike Hunter and the bad plays jump out
But he worked hard to keep Tatum from comfortably getting to his spots tonight
Team best +10 despite the rough offense
Tatum was 5-11 on 2s and 4-11 on 3s
@Grant_Shirley4
No, that's not what happened. You may remember Trae getting teed up a few times for making that motion to refs. The Hawks bench asked what the tech was for and this was the ref telling them Trae did that. He HAS to stop that.
Hawks fans arguing about Jaylen Brown lol, I love this fan base
Let me share my non-argumentative view
On offense: he would be super optimized playing with Trae
On defense: he’d make them better but wouldn’t move the needle as much as some might think
Pour one out for all the Celtics fans that laughed at my Celtics in 6 prediction
It may end up being Hawks fans that are making some fun of me and that's OK
Even though this doesn’t seem like a series that’s going to get a lot deeper
I think absolutely the most important development in this series on the Hawks side is Quin helping get Trae get on track offensively
Prior coach wasn’t able to do that
People can be down on Trae if they want. I respect that he’s been putting in much more work on defense. Communicating, helping organize, taking initiative to keep himself out of bad spots.
Not a surprise the offense at times suffers.
He will adjust and put it all together.
It's been a different season with different challenges... and it hasn't been perfect at all
But Trae Young is REALLY REALLY good and one of the single best guards in the NBA
I will leave it at that
Hawks fans that were hoping for a top 50 or so player in the DJ trade I get it
Totally normal expectation to have
Hawks continuing to building with big picture in mind it seems
I don’t expect you to love it or to agree with me
But they are addressing areas of need so far
Ok separately now from me being legitimately happy for the guys that made it
Trae not being on the team is an absolute freaking joke
There is 0.0% logic there
D Murray would be an incredible fit next to Trae (but of a discount version if SGA)
1) could robustly attack the seams on weak side
2) huge upgrade defensively re PGs and other lead guards
3) really takes care of the basketball
4) likely to be more efficient in secondary role
I’m usually the last person to jump into what I perceive to be a dumb basketball argument
And I think it’s pointless to get too worked up about NBA awards
But it’s hard not to be fed up with people commenting on Trae who clearly don’t bother to watch the Hawks play
This is funny:
TLC inserted in the starting lineup, not much time with this group at all
Capela: TLC you are on the wrong side, go to the other side
TLC goes to opposite side
Huerter: TLC you are coming to the wrong side, go to the other side
Trae: I got this
Patty Mills is a great vet to have on the team and can give them some third point guard production
But this trade only makes sense if
This creates space for another more impactful move
Great game winner by Trae
But this was the very blueprint of a game where because of what the opposing defense can throw at Trae…
Hawks don’t win this game without the specific ways Dejounte helped with the offensive workload down the stretch
Silver lining is that Trae is absolutely playing the best all around basketball of his career right now
Doesn’t make the losses feel better but it absolutely matters
This is a great development for the Hawks
The fit aspect may still require careful roster/lineup construction
But we haven’t seen them with Quin yet really
Need a good mix of shooting and defense at 3 and 4 spots for sure
Dejounte helped his team with this
Atlanta Hawks All-Star Dejounte Murray and CEO of Klutch Sports Rich Paul are finalizing a four-year, $120 million veteran maximum extension with the franchise, sources tell
@TheAthletic
@Stadium
. Deal includes a player option.
Posting this per a special request
Just a a ridiculous pass by Trae
There is so much going on here, notice Trae looking off Smart like a QB moves a safety
(Hunter decides to get a little bit into the screen freedom here)
After a full rewatch I think that might have been Trae’s best game of the year
Further, coming off of not making the allstar team he continued playing within what the team needs from him instead of trying to make a point via a stat line
Important to note amid the ongoing noise about a Dejounte trade that one of the keys to the Hawks win last night was that they had a secondary scoring option to leverage when Warriors took the ball out of Trae’s hands
Warriors did not have that
Will discuss more on the pod
the idea that nothing matters now that ATL didn’t make a deal is wrong
1) Okongwu needs starters reps the rest of the way
2) AJ needs to play
3) Kobe needs to play
4) they need to figure out how to keep Hunter on floor (20-25 min/gm off bench?)
For Hawks fans that were hoping for a real test to materialize for this front office… to see if they are going to operate differently…
This will be a real test in that way
He has some important things to work on but those of you that want to do so can give up on De’Andre Hunter without me
He’s the same age Pascal Siakam was in his third season
You just don’t find guys and strong and big as he is with the raw tools baseline he has
All the dummies having dumb takes about Trae v Dejounte are oblivious to the big picture stuff
Good habits starting to be a more consistent thing
Young players should growth and development
Lots of stuff to be excited about that have nothing to do with the other stuff
Trae Young games 3-6 (after they we able to get him on track)
33.8 ppg 11.8 apg on 422/365/933 shooting
Against the number 2 defense in the league
I know he wishes all 6 games went that way
But breaking through was really important