5 Questions: Bulls vs. Hawks

Josh Hill — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:26:11 +0000

I had the chance to sit down with Will Sevidal, editor over at Soaring Down South to discuss tonight’s matchup between the Chicago Bulls and the Atlanta Hawks, fresh of an impressive win over the Miami Heat.

1. The Hawks have a rough division stacked up against them this year with the Heat and Magic both ahead of them at the moment. Being a playoff team last year, how disappointing will it be if the Hawks miss the playoffs this year given it’s a 66 game schedule?

I don’t think there will be anything more disappointing. This Hawks team is easily a top 8 team in the East. I don’t see how some analysts or fans believe otherwise. I actually have the Hawks pegged as the 3rd best team in the East behind Miami and Chicago. Some can argue Boston and New York are better, but the way I see it Boston’s top players are old and New York has no depth in any position and their weakest position is at (in my opinion) the most important position, point guard. To get back to the question, if the Hawks don’t make playoffs, 2 or 3 of the Hawks best players must have gotten injured. There’s no way they don’t make playoffs, I’m willing to bet my right arm and my left leg on that.

2. Atlanta’s coming off a rough loss to the Rockets. From what you saw in that game, how confident are you that the Hawks can come into Chicago and down the Bulls?

That game really was rough, I’m not sure if there was one Hawks player that played well that game. But the win over the Heat last night more than made up for their performance that night against the Rockets. But to answer the question on how confident I am that the Hawks can upset the Bulls tonight, not too confident. Tonight’s game will be the 2nd game of a Hawks road back-to-back, so I would assume fatigue might have some effect on some of the Hawks players. I’m not saying the Bulls will win for sure though, this Hawks team is more than capable of challenging the Bulls and winning the game. They have the talent to challenge the Bulls, but if I were a betting man, I’ll go with Chicago winning tonight.

3. It’s early, but five games into the season who would you say is the Hawks MVP thus far?

Really hard to pick one. There isn’t a Hawks player that has dominated each and every game. In all of the Hawks 4 wins, they got good (more…)

Bulls vs. Hawks Positional Breakdown: Centers

Josh Hill — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 06:45:19 +0000

To kick off our breakdowns of the Bulls and Hawks and how they match up positionally, we begin with the big men in the middle: the centers.

The matchup: Joakim Noah (CHI) vs. Jason Collins/Zaza Pachulia (ATL)

The initial favorite is Noah simply based on his name and his notability. But the question is does he really stack up against the Hawks Collins?

The answer is clearly yes. Noah most likely would have been an All-Star had it not been for his thumb injury which caused him to miss almost 10 weeks of basketball. He’s really the number two guy in Chicago if not in terms of talent then in terms of energy and swagger.

Just as Rose is able to, Noah can not only energize his teammates, but he has the ability to electrify an entire building by simply screaming like a warrior. He can also electrify an opposing arena by simply aging hard nosed basketball.

Atlanta would be lucky to get a large whimper from the fans when Collins or Pachulia are on the court and they don’t score. And when they do score, fans are erupting over the points alone as where when Noah scores, he transfers his energy to everyone around him as well as the bonus of him scoring.

He even does it when he doesn’t score.

Noah absolutely dominates the stat war against both Collins and Pachulia as well. In three games against the Hawks this year, Noah averaged 10.0 rpg compared to Collins averaging 0.3 and Pachulia’s 2.7.

That right there tells you all you need to know about this matchup.

The only place Atlanta has the advantage is Collins two inch height advantage at 7’0″ over Noah’s 6’11″. Hardly a deciding factor. The Hawks centers averaged 4.3 and 1.0 ppg against the Bulls while Noah averaged 7.0 in the three games.

Chicago has the clear advantage in this matchup with Zaza Pachulia actually being the better option for the Hawks when they matchup against the Bulls. But despite his marginally better numbers than Collins when playing Chicago, Atlanta’s centers don’t score and they don’t rebound against Chicago. Noah wins this matchup by a mile and a half.

Plus the Bulls have Kurt Thomas and Omer Asik to sub in for Noah when he needs rest or is in foul trouble. That alone gives them an advantage.

Edge: Chicago Bulls

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5 Questions: Bulls vs. Hawks

Bulls vs. Hawks Positional Breakdown: Centers