Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Suns a lot Hawks very little

Boxscore

Gameflow

I, too, decided to save myself for the second game of the Phoenix/Los Angeles back-to-back after it became clear in the third quarter that the Hawks were going to continue to switch on every single pick-and-roll despite Acie Law IV being in the game. It's a testament to their team spirit that the Suns frontcourt players didn't get into a single argument over who would get to set the pick and post up Acie Law this time down the court.

Adjustments?


But, hey, in a complete blowout Woodson was able to give Acie Law stretches of (almost) 2 and 4 minutes at point guard before saddling him with Tyronn Lue.

I kept watching to the bitter end in the hopes that a Salim Stoudamire/Eric Piatkowski shootout would break out but ended the night disappointed on that front as well.

Forget about last night's game. You can't expect a plodding team like the Hawks to compete on the road against the shot-blocking, ball-hawking Phoenix Suns.

Oh.

Nevermind.

Go read this instead.

Josh Smith Jump Shot Log
January 29, 2008 @Phoenix
ResultQuarterTimeShot ClockDistance
MISS1Q11:40(:06)19'
MISS2Q11:19(:02)23'
MAKE2Q9:41(:01)17'

The Mario West Defensive Stopper Scorecard will not appear today as Mr. West was inactive last night.

Ballhype: hype it up!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

How much of the offensive problems is Woodson and how much is the roster? Does the team need coaching heads to roll more or a wholesale roster shakeup (aside from Joe, Horford, Marvin, and Childress presumably)?

Bret LaGree said...

It's not a good offensive roster but I think they could at least approach the league average efficiency were they to put what talent they have to its best uses. I'd recommend the following.

1) Get Josh Smith the ball in the high- or low-post a lot in the half-court. He's shown the ability to get to the rim from that spot even when his defender plays off of him. He's also a far better passer when he's relatively stationary.

2) Get the ball to Horford in the post more often.

3) Get the ball to Joe Johnson and (especially) Marvin Williams in the post less often. Let them knock down jump shots.

4) Take advantage of Anthony Johnson's surprisingly competent season by installing Acie Law IV as the backup point guard and letting him run pick-and-roll with Pachulia or Horford as much as possible with the second unit.

Woodson used three point guards in the first 10 minutes last night for discernible reason.

Long term they still need a good point guard, more shooters, and another big man but I don't think this team has to be this poor (22nd in the league as of today) offensively.

Drew Ditzel said...

i just realize i may have subconsciously stolen a lot from this post for a recent post on my blog.

if so, please take it as a compliment and not a malicious act. i would cut and paste if it was malicious.