Earlier this week we heard news out of Atlanta that Josh Smith was throwing things around after being called out by Mike Woodson in practice. Is Woodson already losing his best player before the season starts? Hardly. Smith told reporters the next day that his reaction was orchestrated to get a rise out of everyone. Practical joke or not, it seems he took the message to heart: he scored the first bucket last night on an alley-oop just seconds after the Hawks won the tip, and he immediately came through on the other end with a block. After the game, I spoke to him about the heightened expectations that come with signing a big contract.
Matt Watson: In the first 30 seconds you came through with an alley-oop and a block. Were you trying to come out and make a statement, or did it just work out that way?
Josh Smith: The lob worked out that way, but I definitely wanted to bring more energy. I know when I create energy from the beginning of the game that it carries on to my teammates. You know, we sat down and had a talk about what [coach Woodson] wanted me to do and I let him know that I was frustrated, because I felt like I was letting my teammates down. I understand that its preseason, but it definitely carries over to the regular season. And I wanted to come out here with great intensity -- you [saw] in the first couple of quarters that it carried on that everybody was active on the defensive end. We looked more active than we did throughout the whole preseason in this one game.
