The Hawks have been a foil since they entered the league, but in the last six seasons, they have turned around and slowly become a powerhouse in the Eastern Conference, and in the last few years, the team has experienced two turning points.

Needless to say, the first time was the arrival of star Joe Johnson, who had been with the Hawks for a year since former coach Mike Woodson was promoted. The two have been working together for more than five years, and they can be regarded as a combination of generals and commanders who have worked together for a long time in the alliance. They have a lot of common characteristics, all of them belong to the powerful faction with a lack of star temperament, and they are also very consistent with the image of the Eagles as a mid-stage team.

The second came in the 2007-08 season. At that time, the Hawks had a record of 37 wins and 45 losses, and they were worthy of the last train of the playoffs, but they did not expect to give the Eastern Conference Banba Celtics a shock. So much so that the Green Shirts later won the league, and Woodson did not forget that incident as a shot in the arm for his team, "We can drag the championship to a tie-break, which shows that there is no opponent who cannot be defeated." ”

The Hawks have continued to improve, and it can be said that Johnson's entry into the team has laid the foundation of the team's roster, and the tough game against the Celtics has enriched the team's inner world. As for the other steady improvements, it is due to the development of the potential of the young players of the Eagles, which is a natural thing to do at this age.

However, the league's giants are not worried about the Hawks becoming a championship-caliber team, and why? In fact, it was the bane of General Manager Billy Knight's random draft that year - they were all very good young people, but they were a little worse than the "genius".

Marvin Williams has both range and physical prowess and is enough to start, the question is who would be boring enough to compare him to Chris Paul? Not to mention that the Hawks ignored Brandon Roy in 2006 and picked Sheldon Williams, now a fringe player, a coolie who is not as talented as his wife.

I still remember when ESPN commented on the Eagles' prospects for take-off, and said something meaningful: "It's time for them to improve, not because of how good these rookies are, but because they're at least young and deserve to live up to their potential." Add up all that potential and you should have no problem making the playoffs. ”

In terms of lineup play, this team relies heavily on one-on-one offense, and last season's offensive efficiency ranked second in the league, but if you think that the Hawks are the league's first-line powerhouse, it is actually debatable.

This is well reflected in the Hawks' playoff table. The playoffs have more time to rest, leaving more room for opponents to study. When facing opponents of the same grade, it is difficult for the Eagles to replace the lack of "quality" with the "quantity" of the offense. The Hawks have a single scoring method, and their offense is actually not that good in the first place, but the Hawks in the regular season have the ability to fill this deficiency with other means, and they can't do it in the playoffs.

Everyone knows about the Eagles' problems, but they just don't improve them, and their coach John Drew vowed to improve the Hawks' offense soon after he took over - if Drew were a doctor, he had a good pulse, but it's hard to say if he could get the right solution.

It is precisely because the Eagles have too few capable people who take the initiative to attack that they will allow attackers like Jamal Crawford to make a name for themselves. What Woodson didn't do in six years, it's hard to imagine Drew figuring it out in a single year.

In fact, the Eagles' current difficulties and confusion also represent the situation of most small and medium-sized teams in the league. Their recognition of the stars they are in the driver's seat, and at the same time, they are starting from the draft one step at a time, whether they have wins or losses, at least they are doing things steadily.

It's a way to build a team that can give fans a moment of excitement, such as in the first round in 2008 and last season, when they broke 50 wins; But when the light fades and the demands rise, fans still have to face an unspeakable loss – a loss that is not the same as the sadness that comes after a loss, but more of a desperate frustration.

The Warriors and the Hawks have not played each other this season, and this meeting is the first game of the season, Chamberlain analyzed the Hawks' lineup and tactics, and felt that this team may not be easy to play, because they have no particularly outstanding strengths and no fatal shortcomings.

Looking at their lineup, in the backcourt, the Eagles are dominated by a trio of Joe Johnson, Mike Bibby and Jamal Crawford.

Before the rookie point guard matured, the "White Devil" Bibby will be the Hawks' starting point guard, and Bibby has been starting this season so far.

The 32-year-old Bibby's form has plummeted over the past two years, averaging 27 minutes per game last season, a significant reduction in all counts, and he is often replaced by Crawford halfway through the first quarter.

The point guard the Hawks are focused on developing is Jeff Teague, a sophomore who dished out 24 points and 15 assists in a single game in the finale of last season, and if Teague can improve his shooting, then Biebe's starting journey will be over.

In terms of scoring guard, the "Eagle King" is the offensive core of the team, and with the salary he gets, he is sorry for himself if he doesn't do it.

Just last summer, the Eagles won by 6 years 1. The $2.4 billion extension of Johnson's contract is a garbage contract destined to go down in history, and in this regard, it can be compared to the five-year, $100 million contract that the Magic gave to Rashad Lewis.

But it was such a seemingly commercially incompatible contract, but it was the most beautiful deal the Hawks did all summer, they resisted the temptation to sign and trade Johnson, and defeated the Knicks, Nets or Bulls and other giant crocodile buyers who came to seduce Johnson, and retaining their contract meant that the Hawks had a chance to be brilliant for at least the next few years.

Although he signed a large check for this, from the perspective of renewing the star, it is normal to write a full salary cap, even from a purely commercial point of view, the Eagles have chosen the safest path.

All in all, Johnson's 100 million yuan contract extension this summer has put the team in a "wronged" dilemma, but Johnson's importance to the team is self-evident, he is the real controller of the team's rhythm.

Up front, Marvin Williams, the main small forward, has been questioned since he joined as a top performer in 2005, and in fact Marvin has been improving over the past few years, albeit by little notice. However, in the summer of 2009, after signing the contract, Marvin had a big decline, and his performance was disappointing. Morris Evans, on the other hand, is a small forward substitute who has gradually become a full-time pitcher in recent years.

At the power forward position, the Hawks have the team's defensive ace Josh Smith, and last season was his most praised year since entering the industry, partly because of his continued improvement on the defensive end, and on the other hand, it is commendable that Smith finally sanguinely gave up his three-point shooting, shooting only 26 from three-point range. He missed 6 percent of three-pointers, and he shot just seven three-pointers last season in total, replacing them with passing, and as a result, Smith had career-high assists and rebounds.

The center is another point of pride for the Eagles, Al Horford has done a great job over the past 3 years and has contributed well to the Eagles, but he only has 2. 08 meters, such a height must be very difficult to make a living in the center position, so the Hawks have frequently recruited interior players this summer, such as Shaquille O'Neal, who failed to make the trip.

At present, in addition to Horford, the Hawks' center position also has Zaza Pachulia, Jason Collins and former Thunder center Etan Thomas, to be honest, Horford really doesn't want to play the No. 5 position, but his mobility and range are not enough to play the No. 4 position, and their team does not have anyone in the No. 5 position, so he can only force himself in the restricted area again and again, and fight against those guys who are at least a head taller than him.

Because of back-to-back reasons, the Warriors are not very interested in the game, and Chamberlain went to chat with Horford after entering, after all, they were all classmates in 2007, although Horford was a top student, and Chamberlain was a hard-bogged student.

A simple greeting is the beginning of the game.

Before the players were about to play, Nelson Sr. made the final mobilization and analyzed: "Don't dwell too much with them, use the height advantage to shoot, pass, score, and then win and end the game." Our opponents have little talent, they lack a solid helmsman on the outside, they lack height on the inside, they rely too much on the back in attack, and apart from Crawford, they lack a bench on the bench who can contribute to the second echelon...... In short, they have countless weaknesses, and as long as we grasp these weaknesses, we can win lightly. ”

Chamberlain took a deep breath and nodded, moving his wrists and ankles to get ready to play, and in the final moments, Nelson Sr. added: "Fighting with them on the outside, the Hawks shoot badly, and their shooting percentage is only 14th in the league." Pay attention to their strengths, they rarely make turnovers, and they protect the rebounds very well in the frontcourt, so they always get more offensive rounds than their opponents, and today, we are going to attack from these two points to make them make more mistakes and make them unable to grab rebounds. ”

Defense and rebounding, it's all Chamberlain's business, and in his opinion, it's okay.

The Hawks' starting lineup is: center Al Horford, power forward Josh Smith, small forward Marvin Williams, playmaker Billie, and shooting guard Joe Johnson.

The Warriors' starting lineup is: center Chamberlain, power forward Ibaka, small forward Jamison, playmaking guard West, and scoring guard Carter.

Chamberlain and Horford jumped the ball, he was taller, had a longer arm span, and bounced better, so naturally he won the ball without question.

At this point, Horford didn't waste his energy, he is a very smart interior player, and this kind of interior is really difficult to deal with.

West ran to the front court and waved his hand to direct his teammates to run, Chamberlain stayed in the high post to answer, Bibby stuck to West, and seeing this, the latter simply passed the ball to Chamberlain.

The Hawks balanced offense and defense, Josh Smith switched to Chamberlain, he didn't suffer in terms of strength or speed, and he also had experience in defending Chamberlain.

Looking at the vigilant Smith, Chamberlain grinned, "Someone called you Eastern Spurs, right?" Are you the Spurs in the East? ”

The corner of Smith's mouth picked in response, Chamberlain slammed the ball in his hand, and continued: "But has anyone sued you, even the real Western Spurs, and it's just our Warriors' defeat!" ”

As soon as the words fell, Chamberlain quickly stepped forward with his left foot, pulled down his shoulder with the ball with his right hand, lowered his center of gravity as low as possible, increased his speed as much as possible, and skillfully controlled the ball and went forward.

Smith kept half a step away from Chamberlain, and followed him steadily, Chamberlain rushed out in a few steps in a row, suddenly came to a sudden brake, and picked up the ball with his right hand and rose to the ground.

"Huh!" The basketball simply drilled into the hoop, Smith shook his head in annoyance, Chamberlain's big man's pull-up jump shot can't be defended at all, unless you know in advance that he is going to shoot and then wait for his shooting route, otherwise his height, arm span and bounce, bounce speed are doomed, once he jumps to shoot, the defender has no chance to defend.