Hawks trip over Nets

[wxwax]

Patch and I went to the Atlanta Hawks NBA game against the New Jersey Nets this evening. The Hawks are miserable while the Nets are hoping to be contenders, so I was expecting a lopsided game.

What I wasn't expecting was to get seats four rows off the floor behind the basket, which made my 300mm lens useless for our end of the floor. I wasn't able to bring the 70-200 because they don't allow bags over 12" into the arena. So my close ups aren't very close-up - most shots are of the other end of the floor. :wxwax. I was curious to see how well the 300 f4 would handle the available light.

Overall I come away lusting for a 300 f2.8 or a 400 f2.8. Why? I had to go to ISO 1600 to get a fast enough shutter speed. That means noisy pix. And the autofocus was slow on the f4... I wasn't able to track players, despite using a camera built for sports (1DmkII.) The focus is soft on many of these shots, I think.

OK, enough coveting and whining, here are some piccies of the horrendous Hawks, who actually made a bit of a game of it.

Here are a couple of the really big boys going at it.

http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/12601694-L.jpg

[wxwax]

This is guard Tony Delk about take a free throw.

http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/12599818-L.jpg



To the left is star new Jersey guard Jason Kidd, coming back from injury, I believe. The Hawk is Al Harrington.

http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/12600149-L.jpg

[wxwax]

This is Al with the ball. Tough shot to get the focus on... I may rent a 2.8 just to see if the autofocus really is that much faster.

http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/12599966-L.jpg



Here we have the Hawks' only reliable scoring threat, Antoine Walker. He gets a lot of defensive attention.

http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/12599580-L.jpg



Our friend Antoine gets double teamed a lot, possibly because there's no need to worry about the other 4 Hawks. :lol3

http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/12601076-L.jpg

[wxwax]

I thought face guarding was illegal? Doesn't matter, so's pushing off, but that doesn't stop Antoine!

http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/12598685-L.jpg



Before every free throw, Jason Kidd blows a kiss to his son. Before every free throw. And he had a lot of free throws tonight. In fact, he won the game down the stretch by converting them.

http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/12597593-L.jpg

[wxwax]

OK, I'm about done. One last game shot - the tall wood stretching for a rebound.

http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/12598306-L.jpg



And here are a couple of shots of the halftime show - men jumping on trampolines. :evil

http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/12600793-L.jpg



http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/12600591-L.jpg

[ian408]

Where were you two sitting?????

ian

[wxwax]

Where were you two sitting?????

ian

Four rows up, almost directly behind the basket. Great seats. The Hawks draw so poorly I got them at the window 45 minutes before tip-off.

[mgound]

Four rows up, almost directly behind the basket. Great seats. The Hawks draw so poorly I got them at the window 45 minutes before tip-off.I do not mind the grain when it comes to sport shots because that is what we see in SI all the time. The shot of Delk taking the FT is a great shot. Thanks for sharing.

Mitch