Opportunity Wasted

How many times is Josh Smith going to score 33 points on 12-15 shooting and 3-3 from three point land? Once that's how many. Unfortunately the rest of the Hawks left their offensive game in Atlanta with the possible exception of Flip Murray in his homecoming. Unfortunately the Hawks 27 turnovers. That is inexcusable. I think church league teams average less than that. Mike Bibby is one of the league leaders in assist to turnover ratio, but still the Hawks were unable to hold on to the ball enough to even threaten Philadelphia. Anytime Bibby and Joe Johnson fail to make a shot in the first half the Hawks are going to lose. The only reason it was even close was due to completely uncharacteristically efficient offensive outburst from Josh Smith. Although, it was to be expected by anyone who has watched the Hawks all season. They rarely have energy on the road and this was no different. The Hawks were once again a step slow to the loose balls and also managed to give up a number of layups and easy baskets, then when the Hawks did play good defense, they allowed a tip in or offensive rebound. I dream that someday the Hawks will show up for a road game with some energy and enthusiasm. I get the feeling that this is directly related to Mike Woodson, while he has gotten an improved win total each season, he also sits on the bench and watches the game and can not seem to get maximum effort from his players. He also is too stubborn to move away from his strategies if they fail. He allowed Tony Parker to drive to the basket whenever he wanted to by never changing his strategy away switching on picks. Offensively, he feels "the offense will take care of itself." That's a great strategy. You think Phil Jackson or Greg Poppovich would ever say that. The Hawks offense rarely shifts away from Joe Johnson driving one on one, and while that sometimes works well, even Joe Johnson has an off night. Even when a post player has a mismatch Woodson will not shift the focus to moving the ball through the post. The Hawks almost always win when Josh Smith and Al Horford have matching double doubles, but they rarely get enough offensive opportunities to both score at that rate. Here's hoping Rick Sund sees this as clearly as I do and decides that Avery Johnson or perhaps Flip Saunders is a better fit with this squad. Although it may be tough to justify it since that Hawks have improved by almost ten games this year. Perhaps next year the Hawks will not waste these golden opportunities.