Time To Heal

看板Hawks作者sssfrost (神遊物外)時間18年前 (2007/04/29 22:20)推噓4(4推 0噓 0→)

留言4則, 4人參與討論串1/1

Time To Heal Injuries kept the 2006-07 Hawks from making the leap to a long-awaited playoff series but did not break their spirit. By Jon Cooper 當一支球隊以三十勝五十二敗結束一個球季，人們談論的焦點不會集中在他們錯過了季後賽，而是選秀、重建、交易與遍地野火，但老鷹的目標自始自終都是季後賽。在你笑之前，想想他們這個球季所遭遇的困境，不要告訴我季後賽遙不可及。 Woody 說道；「今年的第八種子不過贏了四十場比賽」喔喔，雖然他的球隊年年有進步，也還差了十場比賽。「你不可能說服我，當這支球隊的每位成員都能保持健康，他們也不可能多贏那十場比賽，所以對於未來我非常樂觀。」美好的時光雖然短暫，但確實存在。每位球迷都記得開季四勝一敗、大西洋龍頭、東區第二種子的戰績。那時的老鷹擊敗了魔術與騎士，兩支後來闖入季後賽的球隊，排名甚至超過今年的大西洋組冠軍暴龍。然後？傷病狂流席捲全隊，先後帶走了十位球員，核心球員無一倖免。他們總共缺席了163 場比賽，聯盟排名第十三；闖入季後賽的球隊中，只有勇士、火箭、熱火與籃網排名超越老鷹。老鷹尤其在控衛的位置上面臨嚴重的困境，去年季後我們所獲得的最重要球員 Speedy 缺賽 39 場，老將 Lue 不惶多讓，27 場。 Chlliz 提出他的看法：「我認為無法讓Speedy 健康出賽是最大的問題，因為我們一直想要加快比賽的節奏。」這瘦竹竿也好不到哪去，今年他的兩隻腳都曾骨折，十一月因為左腳的傷勢而缺席 19 場，季賽的尾聲又換成右腳，讓他錯過最後8 場賽事。「那不是我當初所期望的，沒有人希望它發生，但我們還是必須克服。」他們也的確盡力了，為了保持競爭力，Woody 不得不常是多達 21 種不同的先發組合。老鷹曾擊敗六個分區冠軍中的五支球隊，而要不是他們在面對爵士的那場比賽中於第四節搞砸二十分的領先優勢，他們應該有機會全部拿下（過）的。老鷹甚至創下自00-01 年賽季以來最長的五連勝紀錄，也在一次西區客場之旅中擊敗西區球隊，是的，那是自 1998 年後未曾有過之事。這支球隊更加強韌，六年來他們第一次能夠在下半場與對手來回纏鬥，跨越雙位數的落後劣勢。但是年輕與傷病終究毀滅了這支球隊。連自 02 年二月就未缺賽過，已經統治鐵人界的 JJ 都被擊倒了。去年十二月十日，鐵人的連續出賽紀錄中斷在376 場。右小腿的扭傷讓他缺席了四場比賽，隨之而來的挫傷讓他錯過了本季最後 21 場比賽。 When he was healthy Johnson was dynamic, finishing tied for 10th in the NBA in scoring (25.0 ppg) and second in minutes per game (41.4). He led Atlanta in points, minutes, field goals made, three-point field goals made, three-point field goal percentage and was tied in assists. Johnson, who is already fifth on the Hawks’ career list for three-pointers (247), set a record by scoring at least 25 points in the Hawks’ first seven games, then was chosen to play in his first All-Star Game, becoming the first Hawk to be so honored since Shareef Abdur-Rahim in 2002. While Johnson again was the team’s unquestioned first option, unlike his first season in Atlanta, this year’s Hawks helped him shoulder the load offensively. But his supporting cast really stood tall when Johnson was hurt. “When Joe went down about two months ago, it put guys in a different light, where they didn’t have to really rely on Joe Johnson,” said Woodson. “That’s to Joe’s advantage. Because now there’s going to be a lot more trust in guys like Josh Smith and Marvin and Childress to be able to make plays and it relieves Joe from all the pressures of having to make plays all the time to get us over the hump.” Despite Childress’ foot injuries, he put up career-highs in points (13.0 points per game), minutes (36.8 mpg), rebounds (6.2 rpg) and assists (2.3 apg) and led the team in field goal percentage for the third consecutive season. Josh Smith retired the “superstar-in-the-making" label he wore his first two seasons and became a leader and go-to guy in Johnson’s absence. Smith, the team leader in rebounding (8.6 rpg) and blocks (2.33), raised his defensive game even higher, earning the right to be considered a candidate for the NBA All-Defensive Team. He was one of three players in the entire League to be in the top 20 in rebounds, steals and blocks, joining Chicago’s Ben Wallace, a four-time Defensive Player of the Year, and Phoenix’s Shawn Marion. But Smith really came on offensively. Besides hitting for a team-high 32 double-doubles (he missed his first triple-double by one point,) Smith raised his scoring average every month of the season. While more attention was paid to the occasions that his emotions got the better of him late in the season, “J-Smoove” is determined to get people’s attention by getting the Hawks to the next level. “I’ve been to [playoff] games, it just eats me up inside because I want to be there so bad,” said Smith, who was second on the team in scoring (16.4 ppg) and steals (1.40). “I had a good year this year and I’m looking forward to an even better year next year.” The rest of the Hawks’ kiddie corps also improved dramatically over the course of the season and got a better feel for the NBA game. Marvin Williams showed he could handle the three, averaging 13.0 ppg, including back-to-back-to-back 20-point games in April and 12 20-point games overall. “[This season] has got to be a learning process for all of us,” said Williams, who had the first 20-point/10-rebound game of his career, while setting a personal single-game high of seven assists. “I’m going to go back, hit the weights as hard as I can, try to work on my lateral movement and come back a better defensive player for next year.” Fellow-second-year pro Salim Stoudamire showed tremendous firepower at the end of the season before a right ankle sprain ended his season six games early. Stoudamire averaged over 16 points in his final nine games, shooting .519 from the field, .488 from three and .944 from the line. He set career-highs with 37 points and three-point field goals made (seven). Meanwhile, in the paint, the future looks bright after watching the play of rookie power forwards Shelden Williams, who won NBA Rookie of the Month for April, when he averaged 11.6 points, 7.2 rebounds in 30.4 minutes, and Solomon Jones, who scored 7.2 points, pulled down 4.3 boards and swatted 1.2 shots in April. The duo gave the Hawks quality play inside and gave a much-needed hand to the steady — and steadily improving — Zaza Pachulia (a career-best 12.2 ppg, and 6.9 rpg). Though there is still a lot of work to be done, the message Woodson is trying to get across appears to be getting through. “A lot of these guys have gotten better. If they hadn’t gotten better then I would ask management to let me go because it’s defeating the purpose of what we’re trying to build here,” he said. “As a young group they have gotten better and they will continue to get better. As the years go by, they will continue to get better because they are competitive, young men that like playing basketball.” That competitiveness has the young, eager Hawks itching for next season. “I feel we’re going to be a pretty exciting team [next year],” said Williams. “We have a good core of young guys and we’re all excited to play with each other. If we stick together and continue to play the way we’ve been playing, we’ll have an exciting year next year.” “I think last year you just saw everybody out there just playing free, no mental setbacks, just out there playing their game and that’s a good gauge to see what guys can do,” said Childress. “With the addition of the guys that were injured, if we play that same style, we’ll be very hard to deal with.” “There are a lot of variables going into winning,” he added. “A lot of times we had a couple. We have to just stay together and make sure guys know that this isn’t acceptable.” Woodson stressed that while the group is going its separate ways, they shouldn’t get too far apart and that the unit that started to come together under the duress of the season, needs to use the off-season to strengthen that bond under more relaxed circumstances. “I’ve stressed that this summer has to be spent bonding, the core guys bonding together as a unit, playing basketball together in different areas of our country,” he said. “Spending three- and four-day cliques together where they play and work out and eat dinner together and start building chemistry that way so when we get to veterans’ camp, everybody is in shape, ready to go and feeling good about themselves. “I know these guys are hungry,” he concluded. “They knew that they were very, very close to making the playoffs this year. But we didn’t get it done. I can’t wait until we get back to veterans’ camp.” 原文轉載 http://www.nba.com/hawks/feature/Hawks_0607_Season_In_Review_042607.html -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 61.230.43.62