Hawks are grounded: Elimianiton is on the brink after loss to Bucks

I was at the Hawks game last night and had to say that it was the most disappointing loss that I have ever seen up close and personal. This was the blog that I did for Score Atlanta, but it was never posted. Don't know why, but here it is anyway.


In order for the Hawks to take a 3-2 lead in the series against Milwaukee Bucks several things had to happen. They had to play with defensive intensity, have players such as Marvin Williams step up their game and play smart for 48 minutes.

The defense was strong, holding the Bucks to 40 percent from the floor. Williams played one of his best games of the year, scoring 22 points, four rebounds and two block shots. But the one thing that the Hawks did not do is play smart for 48 minutes, especially in the fourth quarter and that is what cause the Hawks to lose 91-87 and are now down 3-2 in the series.

“It’s a tough loss, but it’s still a seven game series,” said Hawks head coach Mike Woodson. “We got to see what we’re made of. Our backs are against the wall."

The Hawks were up as much as 10 at the start of the fourth quarter, but that is when the fallout began. Joe Johnson, who only scored 13 points, committed four personal fouls in four minutes and fouls out of the game with more than two minutes left in the game.

“We depend on him coming down the stretch,” Woodson added. “He wasn’t there tonight and that’s no excuse. Other guys on this team can make plays and we just did not get it done tonight.”

As a result of Johnson out, the Bucks took advantage as Erasn Ilyasova hit a turnaround jump shot to give the Bucks the 83-82 lead. And after a Al Horford missed jump shot, the Bucks sealed the deal with a Mike Delfino three-point shot to give the Bucks the 86-82 lead with 1:16 left.

“These guys have been through a lot,” Bucks head coach Scott Skiles said. “They just keep going on.”

This loss is disappointing just for the fact that the Hawks came out strong in the third quarter, outscoring the Bucks 23-18. But throughout the game the Hawks made bad shooting decisions and just like in Games 3 and 4, there was no offensive slow.

“We really weren’t getting any good looks,” Horford said who led all scorers with 25 points and 11 rebounds. “We kind of got exposed on the offensive end.”
They were also exposed on the defensive end at the beginning of the game as Bucks rookie Brandon Jennings went off with 14 points in the first quarter. He ended the night with 25 points.

“We executed well at the end of the game and hit some big free throws,” Jennings said. “You have to just have to keep fighting.

So now the Hawks backs are against are against the wall and they now have to go back the Bradley Center in Milwaukee on Friday to play Game 6. And everyone knows, including the Hawks, that they have only won one playoff game on the road since
2008.

What do they need to do? For one thing Josh Smith has to get his offensive game going as he scored only seven points. Also, the new Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford has to be more effective from the floor, as he scored 11 points on 4 of 18 shooting. There was no doubt that the Hawks players were more than disappointed after the contest but Horford and the rest of the crew are confident that they can force a Game 7.

“We’re going to go win,” said Horford. “No question about it. That’s the bottom line. We have to bring it back to Atlanta.

NFL Draft 2010 Day 1 Thoughts

I wanted to take this time to talk about the first day of the 2010 NFL Draft because it was interesting one to say the least. The beginning had no surprise with Sam Bradford, Ndamukong Suh and Gerald McCoy being picked first. In fact, there were no real surprises coming out of the first day with the exception of Tim Tebow being picked but I’ll get to that soon enough. But just like any event, there is the good, the bad and the ugly.

The good has to go to the Detroit Lions as they got their quarterback of the future with Sam Bradford and they traded up to the 30th pick to nab Jahvid Best. They are not going to make the playoffs this year but they are headedin the right direction.

The bad has to Jacksonville Jaguars for their draft pick Tyson Alualu, defensive tackle out of Cal. I don’t have a problem with Alualu because I think he will be a fine player. It’s that Jacksonville is on the verge of losing the franchise and they could have got fans in the seats if they drafted Tim Tebow. I know that Tebow is not worthy of a first-round pick let alone a top 10 pick, but this team needs a spark and Tebow would have brought that to his hometown.

And speaking of quarterbacks, the ugly has to go to Colt McCoy and Jimmy Clausen who did not get picked on Day 1. It doesn’t seem like a big deal but when you a team passes on you and picks Tebow instead, that hurts just a little.

Other things I took from Day 1 is that this one of the deeper draft picks in recent memory, so teams that have multiple second and third round draft picks can really make some noise.... I can’t believe Jonathan Dwyer is still on the board because I think there is only one running back better than him and that’s C.J. Spiller. ... I like Sean Witherspoon and I think he will be a great addition to a growing Falcons defense. I talk about him more in my next blog when I analyze all the Falcons picks. ... And finally, having the Round 1 of the draft on prime time was a good idea and I think the NFL should stick to it.

Thoughts on the Atlanta pro scene

Okay. It’s been a while since I blogged about the comings and goings in Atlanta sports. In fact, it was the beginning of the 2010 year when I posted my last blog, covering the Chick-fil-A Bowl. So I have a lot on my mind on the state of the all the sports teams in the area. Let’s dive right in.

If you don’t already know, I’m a huge Falcons fan and I have been covering the Falcons for Score Atlanta since 2006. I will get to the Falcons later but I want to start with the Braves because I think this team has a chance to be special this year. I was at the game as a fan on Wednesday and I was amazed how many people showed for the game. It wasn’t a sellout, but there was close to 40,000 fans, which was amazing considering the fact that it was a Wednesday night. The Bravos won in dramatic fashion with Chipper Jones hitting the go ahead two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning. I think that if the offense can produce better than what they did last year, this team will make the postseason. In a later blog I will talk about Jason Heyward and how important he is to the big leagues and not just the Braves.


The Hawks will make their third consecutive trip to the playoffs, but in opinion the playoffs start now with four games left in the regular season. They are tied with Boston for the No. 3 seed but the Celtics have the tie breaker advantage because they are the leaders of their division. The Hawks are one of the best home teams in the NBA with a 32-7 record. But road win have been tough to come by with a 17-22 record. No matter who they play in the first round, they should win because they are better than Milwaukee or Miami. The question is can they beat an Orlando or Cleveland team in the second round and get the monkey off their back?

Now on to the Falcons who are getting ready for the NFL Draft which takes place on April 22. I know that the Falcons will be more flexible in this year’s draft and what I mean by that is they will not focus on one side of the football. They an equal amount of offensive and defensive players because they have needs on both sides of the ball. That being said, I think they should draft either Brandon Graham or Sean Weatherspoon but with them picking at No. 19, both could be gone at that time. But I trust Thomas Dimitroff more than he knows so whoever the Falcons pick will make an impact right away.

Speaking of making an impact, I do want to mention atlantafalcons.com is looking for the new face of their site as the Taco Mac Insider contest is well underway. The three finalists are Niki Noto, Britton Lynn and Rebecca Hill and all three are extremely talented and it will be a tough decision. If I had to choose, I would have to go with Rebecca because she knows the team due to her working with the franchise as an intern last year and she is also a Falcons fan. But Niki and Britton have experience in journalism and have done a great job so far. Good luck to all three girls for making it this far.


That’s all for now. I will do a better job posting more blogs as I have a lot of stuff on my mind. I will be at the G-Day game tomorrow so I will have a full report on that and I have my thoughts on Tiger Woods and Mistress No. 11 Joslyn James so you don’t want to miss that. Have a good weekend everybody.

Virginia Tech blows past Tennessee in the Chick-fil-A Bowl

I was at the Chick-fil-A Bowl at the Georgia Dome on New Year's Eve and thought I would do a recap on the game. This should be on the Score Atlanta website later today, but if not I have it right here for you guys on the Atlanta Sports Guy Blog. So here's the unedited version.


It’s safe to say that if Virginia Tech lost to the Tennessee Volunteers at the Chick-fil-A Bowl at the Georgia Dome, they would probably not come back to the city of Atlanta as they have lost two games here in the city this season (once to Alabama in the Chick-fil-A College Kickoff game and again to Georgia Tech). But thanks to the strong running of freshmen running back Ryan Williams who ran for 124 yards and two scores and Tyrod Taylor who threw for 209 yards, the Hokies blasted the Vols 37-14 in the New Year’s Eve Classic.

With the win, the Hokies win their 10th game of the season and they are only one of two teams to win 10 games the last six years (Texas is the other team).

“I think that it’s only us and Texas that have won 10 games for the past six years is very special,” head coach Frank Beamer said after the game.

Virginia Tech got the scoring started early in the first quarter when Tennessee quarterback Jonathan Crompton’s pass was intercepted by Rashad Carmichael which set up a Williams 1-yard touchdown.

“Coach did a great job of drawing up plays for (Ryan) Williams,” said Taylor. “He’s a great back. I knew he had potential when I saw him play in high school.

The Hokies were able to increase their lead early in the second quarter when Taylor threw a 42-
yard strike to Danny Coale which led to a Williams 3-yard touchdown to make the score 14-0.

But Tennessee was able to strike back on the ensuing drive as Crompton threw a 40-yard pass to Denarius Moore and that led to a Montario Hardesty 4-yard touchdown run to make the score 14-7.

Later in the quarter, Virginia Tech looked to get another score but Taylor’s pass was picked off by Janez Jackson and that led to a Crompton 3-yard touchdown pass to Moore and the game was tied at 14 right before halftime.
With nine seconds left before half, Virginia Tech had the ball at their own 33-yard line and Taylor was able to complete a 63-yard pass to Jarrett Boykin and that left the Hokies with one second on the clock which led to a Matt Waldron 21-yard field goal to put Virginia Tech up 17-14 at the half.

“That was such a huge play,” Beamer said. “They’re thinking we’re going in tied at the half and the next thing you know we’re up by three.

The second half was all Virginia Tech as Taylor scored on a 1-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter to give the Hokies the 24-14 lead. Williams did the majority of the work on that drive as he carried the ball nine times for 78 yards.

“Ryan Williams is a really great player,” said Tennessee defensive end Chris Walker. “Their Running backs are great.”

The reason that Walker mentioned the entire running back corps is Williams went down with an ankle injury and had to leave the game late in the third. So in came John Oglesby who help led the Hokies on a 9-play, 60 yard drive that led to a Waldron 46-yard FG to give Virginia Tech the 27-14 lead. In the fourth, David Wilson came into the game for the Hokies and carried the ball seven times for 33 yards including a 3-yard touchdown run to put the score 34-14.
Tennessee finishes the year at 7-6 and were able to win their last four of six games. But head coach Lane Kiffin was not happy with the outcome of the game and realizes he has a lot of work to do in the off season.

“Very disappointed in the outcome today,” Kiffin said. “We need to go get some more players and find a special teams coach.”

Virginia Tech on the other hand looks to be in good shape for 2010 as they will have players such as Williams and Taylor coming back and try to compete for the ACC title. But for now they are happy with the win at the Chick-fil-A bowl and finally getting a win in Atlanta.

“We were going to keep coming back until we got it right,” Beamer said about coming to play game in Atlanta. “We hope to come back many more times.”

Looking Back at the 2000 Decade (ATL Style)

The 2000 decade is over and there have been many media outlets coming out with their top teams, players and games of the decade. This made me think about what are some of the best of the decade when it comes to Atlanta sports. So here’s my list of the Atlanta Sports Guy best of the 2000 decade.

Top Local Athlete: John Smoltz – Atlanta Braves. He is no longer with the Braves and the way that he left wasn’t as graceful as he and the Braves fans had hoped, but John Smoltz was the Braves best pitcher throughout the decade. He missed the all of 2000 and most of the 2001 season due to Tommy John surgery and in 2002 he was sent to the bullpen to be the Braves closer. In his first year as a closer, Smoltz only recorded 55 saves which is a National League record and ended the year third in the Cy Young Award voting. In 2003 he would go on to save 45 games and in 2004 he finished with 44 saves. In 2005 he returned to the starting rotation and finished the year with a 14-7 record with 3.06 ERA and 169 strikeouts. In 2006 he finished with a stronger year with a 16-9 record, 3.49 ERA and 211 K’s. He was tied for the NL in wins and third in strikeouts. It was the same story in 2007 where he posted a 14-8 record with a 3.11 ERA and 197 strikeouts. 2008 was a the last year for Smoltz in a Braves uniform and injuries shortened the year for him, but he was able to record his 3,000 strikeout in April and he became the fourth pitcher in major league history to record 3,000 K’s with one team. Other nominees: Chipper Jones, Michael Vick, David Pollack


Top local team: Georgia Bulldogs football. When the Bulldogs defeated the Texas A&M Aggies in the Independence Bowl, it was the eight win for the Dawgs and it was the 13th consecutive season that Georgia has won eight or more games in a season which is a NCAA record. During the decade, Georgia has won three SEC East titles, two SEC titles, been to three Sugar Bowls and finished in the top 10 six times which is the most out of any SEC program. It would have been nice to see this team compete for a national championship, but Mark Richt has done a remarkable job at UGA. Other nominees: Atlanta Braves, Atlanta Falcons, Georgia Tech Basketball.

Top Local Game: Atlanta Hawks vs. Boston Celtics Game 6 2008 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. I was at this game and this was an electric as any game that I went to in the history of Atlanta sports. What made it so great was that the Hawks were back in the playoffs for the first time since the 1998-99 season and they faced a Celtics team that was expected to sweep the young Hawks. The Hawks were down 2-0 and it looked like the sweep was going to happen. But when the series came to Philips the Hawks played inspired basketball and won Games 3 and 4 to even the series. Boston was able to win Game 5 with ease and this led to Game 6 battle that has to go down as one of the great games in Atlanta history. The Celtics came out swinging as the scored 32 first quarter points, but the Hawks hung with them in the second quarter as they outscored the Celtics 29-18 in the second quarter. The third quarter was even for both teams as Boston scored 32 points while the Hawks recorded 30, but it was the fourth quarter where the Hawks took over. The Hawks were up by just 2 with a litter more than a minute and that is where Joe Johnson hit the Hawks only three pointer to give them the 100-95 lead. The Hawks would go on to win 103-100 and the 20,000 plus fans in attendance (including myself) were chanting SEVEN! SEVE! SEVEN! The Hawks would get blown out in the final game which ended their season but that night belonged to the Hawks and made them the team that there are now. Other nominees: Falcons vs. St. Louis Rams 2004 NFC Divisional Playoff game, Georgia vs. Auburn 2002, Atlanta Falcons vs. Philadelphia Eagles 2005 Monday Night Football.

Podcast No. 11

I have a new podcast up. If you want to take a listen click here. I talk about the Falcons, UGA and why I haven't post anything on my blog since September 6.

I'm back and better than ever!

Okay, I know it’s been awhile since I posted a blog, but I’m back. I’ve been extremely busy with projects at Score, plus the fact the summer is slow for sports other than baseball, there wasn’t much to blog about.

Anyway, football season is underway which means I’m going to have more blogs and more podcast for the next few months. But in this blog I’m going to tell you what is going on with me and the football season.

I’m back as the Falcons beat writer for Score Atlanta and you can pick up the latest edition every Friday at every Blockbuster, Quick Trip and Kroger in the Atlanta area. I’m also the Road Atlanta beat writer if you guys are interested in racing.

We have also brought back the prep editions and I’m the Cobb County beat writer and I’ll have plenty of information of high school football in the area.
For radio, I have a segment on the Official Visit every Monday night on 790 the Zone where I have a different top 10 ranking. We will also have a show on during the Falcons game and I’m sure that I will be involved with that.

As for the blog, I will have my thoughts on UGA, Tech and the Falcons, make weekly college and pro picks and post my top 10 rankings from the Official Visit show on Mondays. Of course I will have my podcast at least once a week previewing the football weekend.

So get ready for a great season of football. I know I am. Have a great Labor Day weekend.