Article:Hawks vs. Lakers: Please Come to Games They are Awesome

In a game that can only be described as "totally sweet" lets get the bad stuff out of the way.

First, here is the letter i sent to Mayor Shirley Franklin.

Dear Mayor Franklin, your city sucks. Sincerely, Drew Ditzel

The crowd last night had so many Lakers fans it was ridiculous. Like an NCAA game where we were the underdogs. And it was still the best atmosphere of the year. I would take an arena that loud every game even if most of the yelling was for the other team. Still, you know most of those Lakers fans have never left Gwinnett county let alone Georgia. But thanks for coming to the arena. I enjoyed berating you.

Second, not sure if this was clear on TV but Marvin had a terrible game, especially the first half. He made a couple of key second half jumpers, but he just didn't hustle last night. A couple of times we pushed the tempo and Marvin would have had easy lay ups but he just jogged down the floor satisfied with squaring up for a jumper. Off shooting night? fine. Not trying? Don't hurt my feelings like that Marvin.

Now, onto the awesome.

I pour it onto Woodson so i feel i need to give him props when he comes through even though i don't know if his moves last night were more luck or skill.

1. If we are going to resign ourselves to the fact that Woody is never going to play Sheldon ever again, you got to play Zaza. Woody did and he played him just the right amount of time. You may say what's the big deal? And I would say you have never truly looked at the ol' coaches soul hurting sub practices but for at least one game, we can say loud and proud, Mike Woodson: roster manager extraordinare.

2. I was emotionally disturbed to see Tyronn come off the bench before Acie. I admit that. Still not sure why Mr. Law did not play (on a night when Acie's laws came on jubotron no less). But Woodson must have known something i didn't because Mr. Lue was a vital cog in the second half. A few random observations:

If i was Kobe, I would have walked the length of the court with the ball tempting the refs to call a travel. Ryan Cameron was legitimately angry by all the Lakers fans. He was borderline yelling at us to cheer on the Hawks. A Lakers fan behind was wearing a jersey with no undershirt, game shorts, and basketball shoes. He was 45 years old. Horford for rookie of the year. I have now seen Pau Gasol twice and he is soft. No two ways around it. I have not disliked LA so much since Darryl Strawberry was on the Dodgers in 1991. Joe is probably the best person in the whole league at scoring a quiet 28. Josh Smith continues to leave little doubt he is heading toward max money.

Go Freaking Hawks

first appeared at Hawks, Dawgs and Jesus.