They’re looking more sharp than Orlando or Miami or Washington, just off the random box scores and whatnot.

They may not collectively know what it takes for a run outside of guys like Mike Woodson and Joe Johnson, but the team has a lot of energy to blow through and get there.

Agree about Lue, put him on the bench and start Law ASAP.

Flip Murray has been pretty good lately (minus last game), but he doesn’t pass enough to be point guard. Murray should never be point guard, he excels when someone else is at point so he can drive to the basket. Put someone else (who passes) at PG when Murray is on the floor so other players can get their open shots.

I like to mix up even amounts of driving to the basket and midrange jumpers with a little bit of 3’s. It breaks down and spreads out our opponents defense, not knowing where we are going to take our shot from. Stuckey drives to the basket too, but he’s not as selfish with the ball.

Tay looked good at backup PG, how many PG’s are tall enough to guard him? Because the size difference between Prince and most PG’s, someone would have to help the PG guarding Prince if he gets close to the basket. Which would leave a Piston with an open shot.

With how much we need Maxiell in close games, Amir is going to have a hard time getting minutes unless we are up a dozen plus points in the 4th. We almost have to many good players (I know that’s not really a problem), I always want a guy or two to get more minutes (Amir and Nazr last game), but there’s only so many minutes in a game. Once Stuckey is back there is going to be one hell of a fight for minutes.

Say a player enters a game twice, in the first and second half. Say he plays five minute during each stretch. The score when he first enters the game is 25-20, his team is winning. If he leaves and the score is 35-28, then his team added two points during his time on the floor. So he gets +2. Then say in the second half, he comes in when the score is 67-63. When he leaves, his team is leading 78-75. His team lost a point on the lead, so he gets -1 for that stretch. For the game, he had a +2 and a -1, so his +/- for the game is +1.

Just do it for more minutes and more stints in the game.

I say give Afflalo some run subbing for Chauncey with Tayshaun running the point. Watching Murray stink it up in the first half last night showed how important Stuckey is. Either Murray needs to learn how to run the point, maintain momentum, and let the game come to him, or he needs to be the reserve point guard, rarely coming off the bench but kept as insurance in case Rip or Chauncey go down. As a starter, you can spend a little time shooting your way into the game, but off the bench trying to maintain a lead, it doesn’t work.

Josh Smith is nice but there’s still a major flaw in his game, that jumper. He’s a the kind of guy that can help a team win with all the things he does so well, but I don’t don’t think he’s the type of player you can build around.

Acie Law and Al Horford looked really good though. I think the Hawks are good enough to battle for an 8th seed.

Do you mean Joe Johnson?