The Heat are currently in a vicious battle with the Celtics for the East's number two seed. They may have the upper hand now after finally beating the Celtics in a 100-77 statement win that featured an insane block from Dwayne Wade and an even more impressive performance from LeBron James. The Hawks are going to be the 5th seed in the East, and they will pose a challenge for the Heat who are looking to distance themselves from the Celtics in the standings.

The Hawks have been playing poor defense of late, and they have to get back on track against a team that will rip them apart if they do not defend well. Offensively, the Hawks have to be able to spread the ball around. They can do that with guys like Kirk Hinrich, Al Horford, and Joe Johnson. Hinrich is the X-Factor in this game. He is Bibby's replacement, and he can burn up the former Hawk as Bibby is one of the worst defensive point guards in the game.

The Heat's bench is far worse than the Hawks' solid bench. Jamal Crawford is the best scoring sixth man in the NBA, Marvin Williams is a solid bench player, and Zaza Pachuila is much better than James Jones and Joel Anthony. Mike Miller is the only worthwhile bench player for the Heat.

Josh Smith needs to be able to key in on LeBron James. Now is not the time for him to risk everything for a chase-down block. Jeff Teague is another interesting player in this game. If Teague gets to play against Bibby, I could see him hassling the veteran point guard from time to time. Teague is a solid defensive player, and he is very quick.

The Hawks are the better team on the interior and have more depth, but the Heat's big three is extremely athletic. They're on a mission, and they have the main intangible coming into this game; hunger. I don't like to use the saying "They want it more" as a key factor in deciding a game, but I do use it as a minor intangible factor because this mentality does exist in games. The Hawks aren't playing for anything. They already know their seed. I see this being a tight game, but LeBron's star power gets the Heat by a difficult test.

Pushing for 2 in East

Vote

Comments (4)

Add Comments

[ Link ]

Posted By: Joe Soriano - Category: NBA, NBA Predictions, Celtics, Hawks, Kirk Hinrich, Jeff Teague, Joe Johnson, Jamal Crawford, Marvin Williams, Zaza Pachuila, Josh Smith, Al Horford, Heat, LeBron James, Mike Bibby, Dwayne Wade, James Jones NBA, Joel Anthony, Mike Miller

Email this Post to a Friend

3/9 Hoop Talk: Coaching Extensions and The Big Games

March 9th 2011 16:05

Yeah, Hoop Talk is a new thing where I'll just start talking about basketball. I'll start with some topics and work my way through the news of the day- sort of. Anyway, George Karl got a three year extension, no surprise because Karl is an icon in Denver. Nate McMillan got a two year extension. He is a great coach that manages players well, he has great strategies, and he deserved like a five year extension. McMillan is one of the best coaches in basketball, and his team plays very efficient basketball.

Kobe Bryant just topped Moses Malone for sixth on the all-time scoring list with his 26 points against the Atlanta Hawks. I called the winner- easy- but I also called the MVP- Andrew Bynum. He of the 16 points and 16 boards with 3 blocks on 8-10 shooting had a boom-roasted kind of day against Atlanta. Bynum was easily the most efficient player on the court in that game. Only Zaza Pachuila could even think about challenging him on the boards. Bynum was easily the most dominating defensive player in the game. He was impressive- as usual- in the paint.

I want to talk about the Portland-Miami game, and that's it for game reviews for today. The Blazers took this one 105-96, and they were the better team heading into this game anyway. All the Heat drama aside, the Blazers have the better roster when you look at it bit by bit. Dwayne Wade and Gerald Wallace both played some impressive defense, and both of them were the MVPs of their teams. LeBron was also good, but the Blazers proved something that I have been saying all year long. You can't win without depth.

6 players on the Trail Blazers scored double digits compared to just 3 such players for the Heat. Brandon Roy was ruthlessly efficient in the 23 minutes he played. Roy shot 3-3 from beyond the arc too. He showed us again what we are missing as fans. Overall, it was a game won by depth even though LeBron James and Dwayne Wade were incredible. They need other people to step up. By the way, Mario Chalmers's ten points was the other double figure point total for Miami.

You can look at box scores to get game analysis, so it's time to just take a small part of this post to just rambling about basketball stuff. I love how the Celtics have secured a playoff spot already, even though the top team out west- San Antonio- has the better record. It sure goes to show you that the superstar flow to the Eastern Conference doesn't change the fact that the Western Conference is still far better and more competitive.

Did you know that Quinton Ross is the most inefficient player in the NBA? This one guy named LeBron is the most efficient. Marcus Camby is the best rebounder in the league this year- Love is second and Howard fourth. Jamal Crawford is the worst. Go figure. Joel Przybilla is the most turnover prone player, but James Jone is the least. Neither of them handles the ball much- Jones handles the ball the least of any player in the league that gets significant playing time- so the stats are a little bit skewed, but interesting all the same. Przybilla has also missed a chunk of the year with an injury.