Read + Write + Report
Home | Start a blog | About Orble | FAQ | Blogs | Writers | Paid | My Orble | Login

Pro Sports Wrap - Sports Personality of the Day:Dan Haren

4/11 Game Preview: Heat and Hawks

April 11th 2011 14:35
The Heat are currently in a vicious battle with the Celtics for the East's number two seed. They may have the upper hand now after finally beating the Celtics in a 100-77 statement win that featured an insane block from Dwayne Wade and an even more impressive performance from LeBron James. The Hawks are going to be the 5th seed in the East, and they will pose a challenge for the Heat who are looking to distance themselves from the Celtics in the standings.

The Hawks have been playing poor defense of late, and they have to get back on track against a team that will rip them apart if they do not defend well. Offensively, the Hawks have to be able to spread the ball around. They can do that with guys like Kirk Hinrich, Al Horford, and Joe Johnson. Hinrich is the X-Factor in this game. He is Bibby's replacement, and he can burn up the former Hawk as Bibby is one of the worst defensive point guards in the game.


The Heat's bench is far worse than the Hawks' solid bench. Jamal Crawford is the best scoring sixth man in the NBA, Marvin Williams is a solid bench player, and Zaza Pachuila is much better than James Jones and Joel Anthony. Mike Miller is the only worthwhile bench player for the Heat.

Josh Smith needs to be able to key in on LeBron James. Now is not the time for him to risk everything for a chase-down block. Jeff Teague is another interesting player in this game. If Teague gets to play against Bibby, I could see him hassling the veteran point guard from time to time. Teague is a solid defensive player, and he is very quick.

The Hawks are the better team on the interior and have more depth, but the Heat's big three is extremely athletic. They're on a mission, and they have the main intangible coming into this game; hunger. I don't like to use the saying "They want it more" as a key factor in deciding a game, but I do use it as a minor intangible factor because this mentality does exist in games. The Hawks aren't playing for anything. They already know their seed. I see this being a tight game, but LeBron's star power gets the Heat by a difficult test.

Pushing for 2 in East
31
Vote
Add To: del.icio.us Digg Furl Spurl.net StumbleUpon Yahoo


   
subscribe to this blog 


   

   


Comments
4 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Short

April 11th 2011 15:05
I agree with you I think that the Heat's win last night and their race with the Celtics pushes them ahead of the Hawks tonight.

Comment by Rick Gillispie

April 11th 2011 15:31
I also see the Heat coming out on top. Come playoff time the Heat's bench will need to produce for them to have any shot at title.

Comment by Joe Soriano

April 11th 2011 16:18
Rick, I agree with you completely. The Heat will get exposed by teams like the Bulls that have deep benches and top notch defense. I just don't like the way the Hawks are playing on defense lately. A five game losing streak will do that to you.

Comment by nbageek

April 12th 2011 01:58
Yeah, I agree as well. The Heat will win here, but need more out of bench players come playoff time.

Add A Comment

To create a fully formatted comment please click here.


CLICK HERE TO LOGIN | CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Name or Orble Tag
Home Page (optional)
Comments
Bold Italic Underline Strikethrough Separator Left Center Right Separator Quote Insert Link Insert Email
Notify me of replies
Your Email Address
(optional)
(required for reply notification)
Submit
More Posts
11 Posts
31 Posts
28 Posts
520 Posts dating from August 2006
Email Subscription
Receive e-mail notifications of new posts on this blog:
0

Joe Soriano's Blogs

26443 Vote(s)
79 Comment(s)
289 Post(s)
Moderated by Joe Soriano
Copyright © 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 On Topic Media PTY LTD. All Rights Reserved. Design by Vimu.com.
On Topic Media ZPages: Sydney |  Melbourne |  Brisbane |  London |  Birmingham |  Leeds     [ Advertise ] [ Contact Us ] [ Privacy Policy ]