- Magic 4, Hawks 0... I think everything has pretty much been said... disappointed by the effort to be sure... but Orlando just magnified every weakness the Hawks have, and yet Atlanta continued to plow on with those same weaknesses... an abundance of isolation plays, deep 2-point jumpshots, and the inability to defend point guards (to name a few things) contributed to the downfall... Rashard Lewis' +/- rating in the 4 games? How about +110.... in 4 games! I'd like to thank Josh Smith for his performance on the defensive end... a real stopper... It's an overly negative time... but I'll recognize that the thought of 53 wins 4 or 5 years ago would've been a pipe dream, and there's something to be said for that.... but alas, this is the ceiling of this current roster teamed with the current coach... if Joe Johnson's rate comes down? Bringing him back wouldn't be the worst thing... I like his game, and I feel like if there was a capable tactician on the sideline, the iso-Joe game would be far more covered up... but what I can't support is bringing back Mike Woodson to coach this roster... I just can't see it... anyway... it is what it is... looking forward to seeing what happens this summer... mostly with terror....
- The Lakers swept Utah as well.... less words here (lol)... too much size, too much Kobe.... done and done... Utah couldn't survive a subpar effort from Boozer and a non-world-beating effort from Deron Williams last night... it happens... Utah was competitive in the series, and really should've won Game 3... so the same sort of vitriol that the NBA community has for the Hawks rollover shouldn't apply here... it was an undermanned team facing a bad matchup...
Elsewhere...
- The AP "re-voting" for Defensive Rookie of the Year because of Brian Cushing's positive drug test is ridiculous... the award was given 4 months ago...
- Tiger Woods' swing coach Hank Haney steps down... there has been widespread bashing of him... and not just in recent days... even when Tiger was dominating pre-Thanksgiving, there were not-so-quiet whispers of his swing not being where it needs to be... interested to see what direction this goes in....
Baseball stuff....
- Pitching Line of the Day - Tommy Hanson... 8 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 8 Ks... nasty stuff
- Batting Line of the Day - Carlos Ruiz... the unheralded Philly catcher goes 4-5, HR, 2 RBI....
- The Braves got a win... and their first Grand Slam since 2008.... wow is that ridiculous... anyway, nice to see the bats, and they really can't afford to lose games that Hanson and Hudson pitch right now with Jurrjens' injury getting worse and the Kawakami/Lowe blackhole...
What to watch for...
- Celtics/Cavs... Game 5 8:00 TNT... pivotal for obvious reasons... I like Cleveland in the game... and interested to see what Mike Brown does on Rondo... it seems easy to put Lebron on him... but good luck handling Paul Pierce with Delonte West if Cleveland plays that small lineup...
- Braves/Brewers - 8:00 SportSouth... Hudson/Bush... another favorable pitching matchup for Atlanta... and Heyward should be in the lineup
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