They are one of four remaining unbeaten teams at 3-0. Nobody has impressed me more than them. Look at their three wins: @ Magic 99-85 76ers 95-88 @ Hornets 87-79 Wow! Hornets were leading the league in scoring before this game AND had THREE full days of rest to prepare for this game, yet they couldn't even get 80. Either they completely underestimated the Hawks, or the Hawks and their defense is legit. So far, no team has even scored 90 on Atlanta. So much for their team greatly missing Josh Childress.
Only 3 games, I wouldn't call them for real yet but if Joe Johnson continues to lead the league in scoring they will be very good.
Yes I think they are for real. They could end up winning their division. Joe Johnson is an underrated Superstar. Josh Smith continues to develop and I think his offensive game is going to continue to improve. I saw him hit a 3 last night. They lost Childress but they added Mo Evans who is a very good athletic player and defender, and they added Flip Murray who is a good scorer.
Also remember they took the Celtics 7 games in the playoffs last year. I think they gained a lot of confidence from that series.
They started clicking when Bibby joined the team. Now he'll have a full season with them. They'll miss Josh Childress but they have enough young talent on the bench to make up for it that nobody saw last season.
They are definitely a dangerous team. You can tell they have matured a lot since last season. Smith has become a much better shooter (sans last night) and is a monster on defense. Joe Johnson has been one of the leagues most overlooked superstars for a while now. Phoenix made a huge mistake. They should have dumped the cancer in Shawn Marion.
Come on... they won @ New Orleans. Plus Evans is a Texas Longhorn! Their home atmosphere in the playoffs was Warriors-esque in intensity and put ours to shame. Now lets see if they can win some road playoff games. Just winning one road playoff game per series could be enough.
The use to have attendence problems. I think the fans have finally started buying into them, but that was a playoff game. I'm not sure how the attendence has been so far this season. Mo Evans is underrated
Inevitably they have to be. When you're so bad for so long, you accumulate the assets you need to at least take a stab at being competitive. They've made some good moves! Draft, trade, FA... they look like a legitimately good team. I would love to face them in the finals if I'm interested in winning it all. Like someone said before, the fact that they took the champion Celtics to 7 games shows that they are more than what another person flippantly called an east team. Yeah, but any NBA coach will tell you that you can lose to any team on any given night. These are all pro players. Let's give them a little respect. Anyway, Mutombo is ours. They totally lost the Mutombo.
I think they'll finish in one of the lower seeds to make the playoffs (6-8). They are full of great athletes but they don't shoot the three very well or from the field.
I watched the game and they are pretty good when they play disciplined, which they did for stretches last night. However, there were a host of ill advised shots taking, which shows they are still young, including Josh Smith taking too many contested jumpers and three's. Most of what I saw last night though was more of a combination of the Hornets' underestimating the Hawks and 1st game back rust from Peja/Chandler, than the Hawks just destroying them.
I think they are good for a 5th or 6th seed in the playoffs and knocking off their first round opponent. I have been saying for a while that if JVG coached that team they could be in the Finals in two years.
Bibby and confidence from the playoff series last year definitely helping them go 3-0...JJ is playing great.
