Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Quarter Two: It's a Long Way Down from Here

11:50 - The Hawks lead 34-22 going into the second quarter. The Denver defense is as suspect as advertised, although the fact that they're letting the Hawks cut sans resistance certainly helps. I'm fearing a little bit of a clampdown from Denver this quarter.

9:43 - I've probably said this before, but Josh Childress would benefit the most from playing with a great point guard. He's terrific at moving without the ball and a great finisher around the basket. I'm still refusing to agree that the Hawks erred by taking him over Deng and Iguodala.

7:56 - And Childress makes me look good with a high hoop IQ play. He catches an attempted alley-oop pass from Acie Law that carried him past the basket. Instead of doing something dumb, he calmly locates Joe Johnson in the corner for an open three, which Joe nails. Kudos to Joe for running to the spot even though Law was throwing an alley-oop on the play.

6:20 - It's 49-33 right now. The Hawks are moving beautifully without the ball and passing the ball. 15 assists on 19 baskets. On defense, they're putting in the effort that the Nuggets aren't, thus making Denver earn their points.

5:48 - The A-town Dancers are gyrating in oversized white dress shirts and ties to ZZ Top's Sharp Dressed Man. Oddly, the shirts stay on for the entire routine. Typing ceases again.

5:02 - Billy Packer says "tssk tssk" about you hanging from the rim, Melo.

3:30 - Josh Smith doesn't get the memo on sharing, as he misses Marvin on a nice cut. He is kind enough to miss the shot so Marvin can get the rebound and putback. Josh makes amends on the next possession by hitting Al Horford underneath for a dunk. 61-41 with a chunk of the second quarter still to go.

:05 - The offensive tour de force that was the first half concludes with Childress stealing the ball after a Denver defensive rebound, resetting the offense because he didn't have numbers, and then hitting an uncovered Mario West for the jam. 65-44 at the half. Ryan Cameron, I see hoarseness in your future.

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