Do the Hawks remind anyone of the 2014 Pacers?

[J Shuttlesworth]

I remember last year, everyone was thinking the Pacers would beat the Heat in the ECF before the all star break happened. They had a damn good record and started drifting in the 2nd half of the season. It got to the point where they weren't even considered an elite team or a contender. The fans didn't have faith in them, and the team seemed discombobulated.

Look at the forum right now after months of Hawks threads. Nowhere to be found anymore. Cawkfan and his disciples have toned it down since the hawks have been mediocre lately. Nobody is picking them to win the East anymore, let alone the ring. Like the Pacers, they will maintain the first seed, but nobody considers them a legit contender. It seemed like it was this point in the season last year where the Pacers became "irrelevant"

[navy]

No. The Pacers straight up melted down. The Hawks just cooled off.

[Prime_Shaq]

Yeah the Pacers just straight up melted down, their offense was horrid.

[atljonesbro]

What's up with the "if it happened once, it will happen EVERY time" logic? The Hawks are nothing like the Pacers and match up favorably vs the Cavs. The Cavs just don't match up with the Hawks players at all. They have an answer for everything the cavs can throw at them.

[J Shuttlesworth]

What's up with the "if it happened once, it will happen EVERY time" logic? The Hawks are nothing like the Pacers and match up favorably vs the Cavs. The Cavs just don't match up with the Hawks players at all. They have an answer for everything the cavs can throw at them.

What? I didn't even mention anything about Cavs vs. Hawks. I'm just talking about how they seem to be having similar seasons, although the Pacers were worse at this point.

[unknowns8]

no coz the 2015 Hawks are a far more disciplined outfit than the 2014 Pacers and it shows in the way they play their basketball ... if you really paid attention you would've noticed this already

[SwishSquared]

I can see some parallels in the way both teams looked pre and post ASB. A couple things to consider though is that ATL has a much better offense and a better bench, even if a couple guys are banged up currently.

Indy had to play balls-out defense to be dominant and had a grinding offensive game. The Hawks system is much more fluid on offense, which helps them out. I see ATL picking it up once again before the playoffs begin. I doubt that they get pushed to the brink by an 8th seed, unless they draw Miami.

Indy had chemistry issues and melted down and I think the Hawks are hitting a rough patch. Not as severe correction to the mean, I guess.

[J Shuttlesworth]

I can see some parallels in the way both teams looked pre and post ASB. A couple things to consider though is that ATL has a much better offense and a better bench, even if a couple guys are banged up currently.

Indy had to play balls-out defense to be dominant and had a grinding offensive game. The Hawks system is much more fluid on offense, which helps them out. I see ATL picking it up once again before the playoffs begin. I doubt that they get pushed to the brink by an 8th seed, unless they draw Miami.

Indy had chemistry issues and melted down and I think the Hawks are hitting a rough patch. Not as severe correction to the mean, I guess.

Yeah I'm not really trying to say they have a similar style of play... Pacers were more elite defensively, but didn't have near the offense the Hawks have. Pacers were also better on boards, and they were built around a superstar, unlike the Hawks.

I just notice shit just seems to be hitting the fan at the wrong time of the year, but the Pacers were actually in danger of losing their first seed, where as the Hawks still have a comfortable margin.

[SwishSquared]

Yeah I'm not really trying to say they have a similar style of play... Pacers were more elite defensively, but didn't have near the offense the Hawks have. Pacers were also better on boards, and they were built around a superstar, unlike the Hawks.

I just notice shit just seems to be hitting the fan at the wrong time of the year, but the Pacers were actually in danger of losing their first seed, where as the Hawks still have a comfortable margin.

True, true. I'm not disagreeing. I didn't mean for my post to come across as comparing team styles, but my bad that it did. I think Indy simply ran out of gas from playing so hard. The effort required on the defensive end to make them dominant burned out their guys, especially with the weak bench. Their lack of offensive cohesion and talent made it even harder on them.

I think Atlanta's system at least has their guys fresher b/c they have such an easier time offensively, even if Scott's injured and Thabo hasn't been super healthy. I think ATL maybe eased up as playoffs loom, or maybe Scott was a nice sparkplug that they haven't replaced suitably (would love to see some bench stats but I'm too lazy to look up lol).

Both teams seemingly peaked too early, but I have a lot more faith in this Hawks squad returning close to top form than I did in the Pacers last year. Pacers were an absolute disaster entering playoffs. I think it's also fair to say Pacers overachieved more pre ASB last season and the regression to mean was much more severe down home stretch

[J Shuttlesworth]

True, true. I'm not disagreeing. I didn't mean for my post to come across as comparing team styles, but my bad that it did. I think Indy simply ran out of gas from playing so hard. The effort required on the defensive end to make them dominant burned out their guys, especially with the weak bench. Their lack of offensive cohesion and talent made it even harder on them.

I honestly wonder if something happened... They seemed like such a "group" early in the year, and then they appeared to just have terrible chemistry issues all across the board by the end of the season. We saw shit like PG calling out Stephenson for barking up the wrong tree when he was messing with LeBron. It was just a mess all over. Maybe someone ****ed hibbert's wife or something

[SwishSquared]

I honestly wonder if something happened... They seemed like such a "group" early in the year, and then they appeared to just have terrible chemistry issues all across the board by the end of the season. We saw shit like PG calling out Stephenson for barking up the wrong tree when he was messing with LeBron. It was just a mess all over. Maybe someone ****ed hibbert's wife or something

I wonder if they just got sick of Lance. Apparently he's more high maintenance than I thought. His rebound snatching probably got worse as he got closer to a new deal and I know that ticked off Hibbert. The LBJ hijinx were stupid. Could have been last straw. Don't think Larry Legend co-signed that

Didn't they say PG had an affair with Hibbert's wife? Could be misremembering but there was some rumor of that lol. I think it didn't help their cause that PG went Prince mode after his scorching start, and maybe MVP talk got to his head. Dude was dressing like he was dating a Kardashian haha.

[AnaheimLakers24]

Contract years. Hawks dont give a ****

[imdaman99]

Shows you just how historically bad the east was/is. As everyone said, the pacers melted down yet they were still in the conference finals. And then the team that beats them gets bent over and violated over and over so bad in the finals that it forces their best player to quit on them and leave with his tail tucked between his legs

[J Shuttlesworth]

Shows you just how historically bad the east was/is. As everyone said, the pacers melted down yet they were still in the conference finals. And then the team that beats them gets bent over and violated over and over so bad in the finals that it forces their best player to quit on them and leave with his tail tucked between his legs

Really puts into perspective just how bad Melo/the Knicks are.

[coin24]

Shows you just how historically bad the east was/is. As everyone said, the pacers melted down yet they were still in the conference finals. And then the team that beats them gets bent over and violated over and over so bad in the finals that it forces their best player to quit on them and leave with his tail tucked between his legs

Had to go home and re stack