#1 vs. #8 playoff history

[circlecitysportsfan]

Re: #1 vs. #8 playoff history

^^^ Most encouraging news i've heard about that game.

[Trader Joe]

Re: #1 vs. #8 playoff history

Blaming Turner is only part of the story. He wasn't supposed to be guarding Teague. Team didn't rotate correctly. This is stuff that they should be able to fix with film.

[Kstat]

Re: #1 vs. #8 playoff history

here's the last 3 minutes of game 2. It's hard to believe this is the same suns team that won 62 games and would go on to give the bulls all they could handle in the finals.

It's more hilarious with Magic Johnson laughing hysterically (nice unbiased choice of color guy NBC) as the Suns just crumble under the weight of the moment.

[TinManJoshua]

Re: #1 vs. #8 playoff history

here's the last 3 minutes of game 2. It's hard to believe this is the same suns team that won 62 games and would go on to give the balls all they could handle in the finals.

It's more hilarious with Magic Johnson laughing hysterically (nice unbiased choice of color guy NBC) as the Suns just crumble under the weight of the moment.

I hope that was intentional. Funny.

Damn edit ninja

[Kstat]

Re: #1 vs. #8 playoff history

I hope that was intentional. Funny.

Damn edit ninja

autocorrect is funny sometimes

[ksuttonjr76]

Re: #1 vs. #8 playoff history

Huh? ATL has the best shooting front court in the NBA probably. Milsap and Antic can both camp the 3. This is the biggest issue. The whole reason Teague got loose in game 1 was because Roy and West were 20 feet from the hoop. vEven then we still may need to consider just letting Antic do his thing. The dude is only a 32% shooter from 3, Milsap is actually the better shooter at 36%.

A couple things to remember about this Hawks team

1.) They've had a lot of injuries the past two years. Horford obviously has been a major missing piece, but don't forget that last year they didn't have Lou Williams against us either, he gives them another perimeter creator we have to at least account for. They've also had injury issues this season too. Milsap missed 8 games. Korver missed 11. Lou missed 22 this season. Antic only played in 50 games. When Milsap missed his longest stretch of the year, end of FEB into start of MAR, ATL went from a .500 team and slid down to where they are now. They struggled when he got back too as he got up to speed then really played well end of MAR into APR. FEB in general was a really tough month for the Hawks and was when they went from being above .500 to .500 and then dipped under and they didn't have Antic that entire month. Antic is not a huge statistical monster but he is an important part of what Budenholzer wants to do from a game plan stand point.

2.) Teague is quietly now one of the most playoff tested point guards in the NBA. This is his fourth straight year of starting at point in the playoffs for the Hawks. Yeah they haven't seen a ton of success but at this point he's certainly not intimidated by the moment. I thought he played really loose in game 1.

3.) This Hawks team is better than the one we beat last year. Yes, I know not by record, but in terms of game plan and how they play together they are better. At least right now. April was arguably their best month of basketball and while I don't really believe in momentum, I do believe that sometimes a team can click at the right moment. You knwo what game 1 actually reminded me of? Our game 1 against CHI 3 years ago, a team with a solid game plan and a couple matchup advantages giving the much more talented team all they can handle. If you all remember, after Tyler's steal and dunk, it looked like we were about to run away with it, now Rose went nova late and saved the day for Chicago, but had we kept rolling from the Tyler dunk we might remember that game 1 the same way. ATL absolutely can and will give us problems, but in the end I do think our talent will win out. This series from a matchup perspective may be way scarier for us than our round 2 opponent.

Right now it's about circling the wagons, we shot the ball well in the first half of game 1, we actually rebounded pretty well too (14 offensive boards off 47 misses is decent), you would probably look at me crazy if I told you we had more assists than the Hawks but we actually did (19 assists to their 13)

Atlanta did beat us and in the 3rd Q they beat our brains in really, but to me the biggest thing for the P's tonight is not giving up 29 free throws to a team that isn't really looking to get inside all that often. That is in the end what ended up dooming us Saturday. Lots of bad fouls. West's foul trouble in the 3rd coinciding with PG deciding to get his quad checked out is what allowed ATL to get breathing room and play loose in the fourth quarter.

So what you're saying is that Atlanta had a legit shot even if they played against the Pacers from early in the season?

Personally, I see Paul George guarding him, and the whole team would be done. Beyond Teague, who else is a legit scoring threat? Yes, they're using a 3PT lineup threat, but it will fall apart easily if they have no one to drive into the paint to force our defense to collapse

[Trader Joe]

Re: #1 vs. #8 playoff history

Yes, I believe ATL this year matches up with us exceedingly well.

Our first matchup with them came in ATL, we were 28-6 and lost. Then we went on to win 5 straight including the blowout of the Clippers and the big win in Golden State to kick off the road trip. We were still playing good ball. The BLITZED us in the first quarter of that game on January 8, 25-12. Similar to the way they blitzed us in the 3rd quarter on Saturday.

Our next matchup with the Hawks came in ATL again on Feb 4th, the team had still not gotten shakey yet though we had maybe dipped a bit. The Pacers responded better in this game and won a pretty gutsy game on the second night of a back to back. West was huge with 22-10 on like 52% shooting. We still only won by 4 and ATL almost pulled off their now what could be considered patented second unit comes in in the fourth agianst the Pacers and almost wins the game trick.

Third matchup was in Indy on Feb 18. The first game out of the all star break. Indy won by 10 and came out blistering in the first quarter. Scoring 35 points in the first frame. Pacers would go on to win 6 out of 7 coming out of the all star break in what was their last stretch of winning basketball on the season. Paul had a great game, but again David West was efficient 17 points on 6/10 shooting, like I said in another thread, West is the key to this matchup for the Pacers.


The fourth matchup in Indy came on bloody Sudnay and probably doens't need to be discussed here, but yeah I do believe ATL has shown this year they match up with us very well especiallyw hen they can play Antic and Milsap.

Also, legit shot is debatable. Did we have a legit shot to beat Chicago in 2011? No we didn't but we did have some solid matchups and got some strong performances out of our vet (Danny or in ATL's case on Saturday Teague). I still think the Pacers win this thing 5. Honeslty I do, but I think the Hawks are going to make us go through hell to do it.

[Pacersalltheway10]

Re: #1 vs. #8 playoff history

2003. #1 Pistons vs #8 Orlando

Pistons go down 3-1 then win 3 straight to take the series.

[BornIndy]

Re: #1 vs. #8 playoff history

this team is too good defensively to get upset by an 8 seed.