Hawks advance to round 2

[Flaming Homer]

I was not really sure what to expect from our first round matchup against the 76ers. Philly showed during the year, that they are finally able to use their talent and can beat anyone.
Our regular season matchup's were close, but the strategy I had in mind was mostly working.

The most important game in my opinion, was already game #1. Without Exum there was a good chance that we drop this one and loose home court.
Luckily we were able to survive in a overtime thriller, thanks a lot to MCW and Derrick White, who both picked up the missing Exum-scoring. The defense was not as good as used too, but we could outscore them for once.
I think this game set the tone for the rest of the series, even with loosing a few more players during the following games, we seemed to have take control of the series.
Exum helped a lot as this steady force on D and O after his return, but what surprised me the most, was the contribution of MCW and Yurtseven as they saw their playing time increase with other player out.

Even if it looks like 4-1 was an easy series, Philly played us tough and restricted especially our front court during the whole series. That has to get much better, if we want to have a chance against the Pistons big's, mostly SJJ who is playing out of his mind right now.
Our front court was doing ok in protecting the boards, but were shooting badly compared to the regular season (except Yurtseven, who may see more playing time than expected).

Big thanks to BT for keeping an eye on the team during my trip. The changes for game 5 were very important to give the injured player some time to rest and be back for round 2.


Round 2 ... This will be my first encounter with Jon and his bad boys in the playoffs and I'm not sure where this will go.
The key will probably be to keep SJJ away from the line and make sure the other very capable Piston's are not going total off on us. Our regular season games were all close.
But we will have to steal one in Detroit, that will be tough.
I see forward to it and am curious how the individual player will perform.

[Stockton12]

Should be a good contest

[cb4raptorscb4]

An impressive round 1 for the Hawks. It's going to be tough against Detroit, especially with Ish injured for the first couple. The fact you keep going even with GDP is great.

[emplep7]

You guys played us really well during the regular season so we will need to change some things up for sure. SJJ has been playing great these playoffs which I'm happy about, but I'm still waiting for some other guys to step up.

Its going to be a battle for sure though so good luck (but not too much)!

[hardenwithnod]

Like I have said to you before, this team is very well built for this new engine, and as long as you guys stay healthy, then I can definitely see you guys making a deep run in the playoffs.

[Flaming Homer]

All signs point to a very competitive hard nosed playoff series!! Good luck as well Jon, hope my guys show up and make it a series.

[bt]

Exum from 36 mins in the first series to 42 mins in this one will keep Detroit on their toes.

[GreenBear]

This should be a fantastic and entertaining series. Two very well balanced teams that played each other well in the regular season. Looking forward to this one.

[Flaming Homer]

BT had a call to Exum for game 1 lol
Do it again please

[TheTwoWallaces]

It’s looking like a great series already!