Notes On 100% of Something

Sure, I could have looked at the schedule before blurting out that you should check this space every Monday, but I didn't and now I have to gin up some perfunctory conclusions after two games, one of them against a legitimate NBA team. Not that winning both of these games, and by healthy margins, should be taken for granted. I say this as someone deeply skeptical of the idea that Bradley Beal is a good NBA player.

The Hawks closed at -172 to win against the Wizards and -365 to win against the 76ers, implying a 63% probability of a Hawks win on opening night and 78% on Saturday afternoon. They should have won both games but, by actually winning both games, they outperformed market expectations by 0.58 wins through two games. (I'm now predicting 44 wins.)

What news there is is all good news so far. In brief:

• Paul Millsap is still excellent (extra credit due for providing another argument in favor of shortening the pre-season).
• Kyle Korver, too.
• Dwight Howard looked like a good role player (this is actual praise, not a smart ass and cutie pie faint praise gag).
• Thabo Sefolosha keyed some really good bench play against a couple of benches one would hope your team's bench would look good against.
• Will Mike Muscala finally be able to convert being in generally good places on the offensive end into good offensive play?
• Tim Hardaway, Jr. played pretty well. Not pretty well just by his standards, but by the objective norms of NBA reserves.
• No conclusions drawn about point guard play until at least half of their minutes have come against stiffer competition than Trey Burke, Sergio Rodriguez and TJ McConnell.
• Joel Embiid has faced Steven Adams and Dwight Howard. He scored 34 points in 38 minutes with a 56.1 TS%. Passing will come (he was credited with 3.6 assists per 100 possessions at Kansas), his defense will tighten up, and, eventually, the turnovers will decline. It is so nice to have him back.

Hawks Need 76ers' & Bucks' Help to Finish 3rd

I had pretty much written off any possibility of the Hawks catching the Pacers after the loss to the Celtics. Indiana has a number of games against mediocre teams remaining. However, I hadn't looked very closely at which teams those opponents were. Over their next 5 games, the Pacers play Milwaukee twice and Philladelphia twice, two teams that are battling for the final playoff spot in the East. The other opponent is Minnesota, which is struggling. But in those 4 games against the 76ers and Bucks, nobody is going to lay down for the Pacers.

Meanwhile, between now and April 21st when the Pacers play the last game of that 5-game stretch, the Hawks play Toronto twice, then the Pistons, and then the Celtics on Friday, April 20th. Let's say, just for laughs, the Hawks go 4-0 in those 4 games while the Pacers go 3-2. The Pacers would be 40-24 and the Hawks 39-24, a half game back. At that point, the Hawks would control their own destiny as they would be even in the loss column with Indiana. If the Hawks finish with the same record as the Pacers, they own the tie break by virtue of winning the season series.

As for the upcoming home-and-away set with Toronto, the Hawks can take nothing for granted after a massively-depleted Raptors squad stunned the Celtics last night. Here's a piece by Eric Koreen in the National Post that is yet another example of how Dwane Casey continues to get rave reviews even as his team has struggled. Quoth Casey:

"They’re playing for home-court advantage. We’re playing for pride. We’re playing for culture. That’s about it. Everybody who was in uniform tonight contributed to that. This win was huge."

Celtics Provide Heat Check For Hawks Tonight

It's been 23 days since the Hawks faced the Celtics and I noted the tough road ahead for Boston, at the time the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. Since then, the teams in the middle of the Eastern playoff pack have headed in sometimes unexpected directions. Orlando is 5-7 since March 19th and has fallen from 3rd in the East to 6th, thanks in no small part to issues between Dwight Howard and coach Stan Van Gundy.

Meanwhile the 76ers, once clearly the third-best team in the East, have been overtaken for the Atlantic Division lead by the Celtics and dropped to 7th. This is thanks in no small part to the team apparently tuning out Doug Collins while simultaneously turning on each other. In the former link, former 76ers beat writer Kate Fagan describes the culture clash between the 76ers old guard and younger players since the team changed ownership. In the latter, Andre Iguodala is quoted by Sports Illustrated saying that teammate Lou Williams "can't guard anybody." Not the sort of team-building togetherness you want right before the playoffs.

By contrast, and despite a schedule heavy on road games and teams in playoff position, the Boston Celtics are on fire. The best explanation I've read of the Celtics' late surge is this piece by ESPN.com's Kevin Arnovitz:

[Brandon] Bass didn't arrive in Boston with the reputation as the league's most linear thinker on defense, but in the confines of the Celtics' system, he is doing fine. That's the thing about systems, Boston's in particular. [Ray] Allen was regarded as a sieve when he came over from Seattle in 2007, but immediately adopted the principles that governed the Celtics' D.

Arnovitz notes Doc Rivers' decision to move defensive ace Avery Bradley into the starting lineup and bring Allen's offense off the bench. The results are hard to argue with as the C's have gone 10-3 since March 19th, including impressive home-and-away wins over Miami. The team's only losses in that stretch were to West-leading San Antonio, East-leading Chicago and the formerly-impressive 76ers.

This leads me to conclude that it is very much in the Hawks' interest to overtake Indiana for the 3rd seed in the East. Assuming the current leaders win their divisions, the Hawks may need to achieve the 3rd seed to avoid facing Boston, Chicago or Miami in the first round. A first-round matchup with Orlando or Philadelphia, two teams in disarray, or Indiana, featuring the player (Roy Hibbert) who took Josh Smith's spot on the All-Star team, sounds a bit more appealing.

The Hawks must also win in Boston tonight to avoid losing the season series to the Celtics and thus a tie-break advantage in the event the teams finish with identical records. Since losing the first game of the season series to Boston March 19th, the Hawks have gone 8-3. However, only one of those wins came against a team currently in playoff position (March 30th over the Knicks).

The Celtics play the second night of a back-to-back after flying home from Miami, while the Hawks play after three days off. If the Hawks want to win the battle for perception and prove that they are better than they are given credit for, tonight's game will be a good place to start. I may end up eating my words from early in the season when I referred to Collins as a "successful" coach. It appears Larry Drew may be succeeding where Collins is failing.

Initial Feedback: 76ers out-Hawk the Hawks

Initial feedback: A completely subjective and immediate response to the events of tonight's game, featuring a comment and rating, the latter on a scale of 1 to 10, on every player who saw the floor and the head coach, along with ephemera and miscellany as the author deems necessary.

Your ratings and commentary, dear reader, are welcomed in the comments to this post.

Boxscore

Players
Jeff Teague: The Hawks outscored the 76ers on fast break points and points in the paint. This game wasn't about the Hawks getting dominated inside or run out of the gym. This game was about the 76ers making shots. They made just enough tough, contested shots with the clock running down to win. Jeff Teague made two shots. 2/10

Joe Johnson: Hawks players still do not know their roles. Joe Johnson's role is to score more than 15 points. 4/10

Kirk Hinrich: Hinrich shot 50%, the best percentage of any Hawks guard, and had more assists (6) than Teague (4) vs. 2 turnovers each. But again, it just wasn't enough. The Hawks needed someone to take some of the scoring burden off of Josh Smith, but Kirk was 0-for-3 from 3-point range and scored only 8 points. 4/10

Josh Smith: Josh shot 12-for-18, scored 34 points, grabbed 9 rebounds and dished out 5 assists. He was also 9-for-11 on free throws despite a decided lack of help from the referees. What more can you ask? 9/10

Zaza Pachulia: Neither Spencer Hawes nor Elton Brand is a good matchup for Zaza. Joined Hinrich and Teague among starters who failed to reach double figures with 4 points on 2-for-7 shooting with 7 rebounds. 3/10

Marvin Williams: After his nice game against the Knicks, he led the reserves in this game with 27 minutes. But he was not the shot maker Larry Drew was looking for as he hit only 1-for-4 on threes, 2-for-8 overall and finished with 6 points. 3/10

Willie Green: I'm going to sound like a broken record, but I don't know what else to say. Willie Green shot decently but didn't make enough shots. 3/10

Ivan Johnson: This game featured some promising developments. Despite the short rotation, Jason Collins did not see the floor. Ivan Johnson scored 7 points on 3-for-5 shooting and pulled down 6 rebounds in only 16 minutes. He was the only player with the right combination of size, strength and foot speed to slow down Brand. During his first appearance, spanning the first and second quarters, the Hawks outscored the 76ers 16-8 and Elton Brand did not score. However, on a night when the Hawks only went 8 players deep, Ivan only played 16 minutes. 4/10

The head coach
This is the closest the Hawks have come to defeating the 76ers during the current losing streak to this team that dates back to last season. Drew was unable to use telepathy to prevent the ball from going in when the 76ers shot. Drew allocated zero bad player minutes during the close loss. 5/10

A thought regarding the opposition
The 76ers are third in the Eastern Conference in point differential but somehow have fallen all the way to 7th in playoff position. A team that looked like world beaters early in the season, blowing out opponents with reckless abandon, now sits only 6 games above .500. They even struggled against the Hawks, which hasn't happened in a while.

Initial Feedback: Teams With Winning Records Are Tricky

By Buddy Grizzard

Boxscore

Players

Josh Smith: This time you couldn't blame the loss on Larry Drew's, um, "creative" lineups. The damage was done with the starters on the floor, starting when Josh checked back in with 6:58 to play before halftime. From that point Philadelphia closed out the half on a 26-11 run (pre-halftime runs by Hawks opposition are becoming a regular occurrence). On a 2-for-11 shooting night, Josh wouldn't make his first basket until 7:46 to play in the third quarter. Charles Barkley and others have championed Josh as a candidate for an All-Star reserve selection. After a fourth consecutive atrocious offensive performance, you have to wonder if maybe Josh is such a contrarian that he has to prove people wrong no matter what they say about him, good or bad. Points awarded for the 10 rebounds and 7 blocks. 3/10

Marvin Williams: Scored his 8th point one minute into the second half then put on his invisibility cloak for the rest of the game. Points awarded for scoring 8 points when he only saw the floor for 20 minutes. 3/10

Zaza Pachulia: Played competently against Andrew Bogut and Marc Gasol but met his match in Spencer Hawes. Zaza is a good man-to-man defender and position rebounder, but he's never going to be a rim enforcer, erasing the mistakes of perimeter defenders who let their man blow by them, as happened in this game and Thursday's game against the Grizzlies. Scored 4 and collected 3 rebounds in only 23 minutes as Ivan Johnson again had a big night. 3/10

Joe Johnson: A much better showing than the game in Philadelphia but he worked for all 16 points on 7-of-16 shooting, along with 5 rebounds. He didn't reach his season average but it's all you could have asked against Andre Iguodala. It just wasn't enough to make up for Josh Smith's putrescent performance. 6/10

Jeff Teague: Atlanta's not-ready-for-prime-time player (according to NBA.com's Sekou Smith) showed up in a big way with 21 points, 7-for-8 free throw shooting and 6 assists. He valiantly fought to get the Hawks back in the game throughout the second half, but the nightly pre-halftime opponent's run was too much to overcome. 7/10

Tracy McGrady: Iso-Mac was good for 7 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists in only 17 minutes, but joined Willie Green as the only reserves to post negative +/- numbers. Too much time on the floor with Josh Smith, one supposes. 4/10

Vladimir Radmanovic: Did I read the box score correctly? Six rebounds? Bonus points awarded: 4/10

Kirk Hinrich: Shot only 2-for-6 from the floor. I'm not worried about Kirk... he needs to keep playing himself back into game shape and we know what he can do from the Orlando series last year. 4/10

Willie Green: Missed two shots in 6 minutes. Not his night. 1/10

Ivan Johnson: You may recall I stated earlier today in my game preview that Ivan Johnson is a better NBA center than Kendrick Perkins. Many no doubt laughed at the assertion. Spencer Hawes' line for the night: 14 points on 7-for-11 shooting with 5 rebounds. Ivan Johnson's line for the night: 14 points on 7-for-11 shooting with 13 rebounds. Would the prosecution care to rebut? 8/10

The head coach
In my preview, I built this game up as a referendum on Larry Drew's coaching style. It's really hard to draw any conclusions other than that the 76ers are a better, faster, deeper team that probably won't lose to the Hawks any time soon. The team fought hard in the second half to repair the damage from the first, so we will table any sweeping judgements for the time being. The question remains, is Drew the wrong coach to bring the best out of Josh Smith, or has Josh already checked out as he looks ahead to forcing a trade to a team he'd rather play for? 4/10

A thought regarding the opposition
Hawks fans should pray that their team finishes no worse than 5th in the Eastern Conference. If the team slips to 6th and faces the 76ers in the first round, it will be a short series.

Facing Philly at a Crossroads: An Un-sarcastic Look Ahead

By Buddy Grizzard

I recently penned a trilogy of articles for Hoopinion in response to Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Jeff Schultz' opinion piece, "Larry Drew deserves credit for holding Hawks together," in which I sarcastically accused Schultz of nominating Drew as an early candidate for Coach of the Year. Since that time, noted NBA.com blogger and former AJC Hawks beat writer Sekou Smith has stated without sarcasm that "Drew's name should come up in conversations about Coach of the Year."

In that spirit, I would like to make an honest assessment of where the Hawks stand as they continue a brutal February schedule against their Atlantic Division-leading nemesis tonight. At this point in Hawks history, I believe you have three main factors that are going to determine if the team continues its surprising run and earns a high-enough playoff seed to avoid Chicago or Miami in the first round, as Hoopinion's James Goeders suggests they could. Those factors are (1) the center position, (2) Josh Smith's nascent stardom and (3) Larry Drew's coaching.

1. The Center Position

In the Hawks' Jan. 23rd win at Milwaukee, Zaza Pachulia outplayed former #1 overall draft pick Andrew Bogut at both ends of the floor. Bogut, when healthy (and he was at the time of that game), is considered one of the top centers in the NBA. I was looking forward to Thursday's match-up with Memphis to see Zaza face off against potential Western Conference All-Star Marc Gasol. Unfortunately Zaza only played 21 minutes, making it hard to draw any conclusions. One interesting comparison is that Ivan Johnson, who entered the game as the Hawks' third option at center, had virtually identical production to Gasol while matched up with him much of the game.

When Jason Collins left the game with a sprained elbow, it prompted many to panic. The Hawks were already perilously thin in the power rotation after the loss of Al Horford. This left the Hawks with only Zaza and Ivan as viable options at the 5. However, I believe there may be a silver lining.

If you go to John Hollinger's player statistics and click on PER at the top of the highlighted column, you will see players listed in reverse order. Unsurprisingly, Hollinger has Collins listed second from the bottom in Player Efficiency Rating among all active NBA players averaging at least 6 minutes per game. I'm not here to argue the validity of Hollinger's PER rankings. What's inarguable is that for the second year in a row, Larry Drew is giving significant minutes to a player who is in the conversation as possibly the worst player in the league.

The silver lining is that the Hawks will face the 76ers tonight without the slow-footed Collins. Ivan Johnson played credible defense on Gasol and matched his production in 6 fewer minutes (although he needed three more shots). He is still making rookie mistakes but I predict that Friday you will see him guard Dwight Howard man-to-man and not embarrass himself. He's that strong, which makes up for what he lacks in height. He's already a better NBA center than Kendrick Perkins.

The Hawks did not get killed in the post against Memphis (Atlanta outscored Memphis at the position 17-13 and only trailed 12-11 in rebounds). Where the Hawks got killed was on dribble penetration, brought on by the type of defense Radmanovic displays at the 1:15 mark of this game recap. Collins' absence can do nothing but help the Hawks as it takes a slow-footed player out of the rotation against one of the fastest teams in the league.

2. Josh Smith's Nascent Stardom

On ESPN TrueHoop Network Affiliate HoopSpeak.com yesterday, Ethan Sherwood Strauss gave voice to an opinion I have long held: Josh Smith may be a better player than Carmelo Anthony. I've long held this belief because I see Carmelo as a player in the Dominique Wilkins mold, a quintessential me-first, personal-stat-obsessed player who does not want to exert energy on the defensive end. Wilkins' aversion to defense prompted the Hawks organization to fire Mike Fratello and bring in "players' coach" Bob Weiss, a move that precipitated the controlled demolition of a Hawks era, as many reading this will recall.

If anything, I think Josh Smith is not stat-obsessed ENOUGH. Tracy McGrady has been trying to instruct Josh on the finer points of getting to the foul line to up his scoring average. Despite the tutelage, Smith has only scored 6, 7 and 11 points in the last three games against relatively weak opposition. I think all it will take for Smith to vault into the stratosphere is for someone to flip a switch and get him to play consistently like he did in game Game 4 of the playoff series against the Bulls. In that game he showed the player we all knew he could be by attacking the basket, posting up and completely dominating the league's deepest front line with 23 points, 16 rebounds and 8 assists.

I think Smith is a better player than Carmelo, despite not being near the offensive talent, because he is an outstanding team basketball player (note the assist total mentioned above) and because he impacts the game at the defensive end like no other player on the planet. Where Josh goes wrong is in trying to do too much, as when he refuses to give the ball up to Teague on the fast break. Josh has the ball handling ability to take it coast-to-coast or set up a teammate with a pinpoint pass, but he's also shown the frequent capacity to throw the ball away. Is Larry Drew the coach who can flip that switch?

3. Larry Drew's Coaching

The last two times the Hawks have gone into a game ranked first in the Southeast Division, the team has been blown out in humiliating fashion. Thursday against Memphis was the most recent instance, and tonight the Hawks get a rematch with the 76ers squad that destroyed them 90-76 in a meeting of division leaders Jan. 20th.

My sharpest criticism after that game was of Drew's deployment of Collins against possibly the fastest team in the NBA. Afterward, Drew said his players quit in the third quarter, a characterization I strenuously objected to. This becomes significant because I think Drew may have made the accusation in a calculating fashion, looking ahead to tonight's rematch. Given the poor efforts the Hawks have shown against the 76ers, dating back to last season, he may have decided to challenge their pride.

If I'm right, then tonight's game will serve as a litmus test for Drew's coaching style. If the Hawks win, the team regains stature and Drew's approach is validated. If the team lays down again, it may be an indication that the players have started to tune Drew out.

As far as the more recent game against Memphis, LD took out Ivan Johnson with 4:42 to play in the half with the Hawks trailing 36-35. He played Josh Smith at center as Memphis closed on a 17-8 run to lead 53-43 at halftime. It was Drew who threw in the towel in that game, yanking his starters early in the third quarter and letting the reserves play out the string.

Which brings me back to NBA.com's Sekou Smith and his opinion of Drew's coaching ability. This is the same Sekou Smith who wrote in the wake of the Hawks' trade for Kirk Hinrich that, "Jeff Teague, the Hawks’ second-year point guard, is clearly not ready... He’s the latest in a long line of supposed point guard solutions that ended up being a problem."

This is the same Sekou Smith that I booked several times for Art Mehring's sports talk program on 640 WGST in the Summer of 2005, when the hot topic was the upcoming NBA draft. The consensus was that Marvin Williams would go to the Hawks at the #2 pick, but I had misgivings. I emailed Sekou and asked a direct question. Given the Hawks' obvious need at point guard, and given that this was the strongest point guard draft in a generation, shouldn't the Hawks draft for need rather than gamble on Williams' potential at a position the Hawks already had depth at? Smith responded that no, in his opinion the Hawks should draft Williams on the basis of his superstar potential.

My opinion, and I say this without the slightest sarcasm, is that Sekou's ability to evaluate coaching talent is roughly on par with his ability to evaluate player talent.

Initial Feedback: Those Shots? They're Not Efficient.

Initial feedback: A completely subjective and immediate response to the events of tonight's game, featuring a comment and rating, the latter on a scale of 1 to 10, on every player who saw the floor and the head coach, along with ephemera and miscellany as the author deems necessary.

Your ratings and commentary, dear reader, are welcomed in the comments to this post.

Boxscore

Players

Jeff Teague: Teague showed both his utility and his limitations. He's an above average player but he lacks the combination of ability, confidence, and experience to take over a game at this point. 5/10

Joe Johnson: Just as there was no shame in Josh Smith getting outplayed by Kevin Love in the win over Minnesota, there's no shame in Joe Johnson getting shut down by an excellent defender like Andre Iguodala. Unfortunately, Johnson wasn't able to contribute in other areas of the game. 3/10

Marvin Williams: I think any discussion of Marvin Williams deserving more playing time can take the night off. 3/10

Josh Smith: 11 jump shots, made just three. Grabbed but five defensive rebounds on a night the Hawks allowed Philadelphia to rebound 15 of their own misses. 4/10

Jason Collins: A contributor to Philadelphia's offensive rebounding excellence. Collins is clearly stretched beyond his abilities when asked to play 19 minutes in a game. He averaged less time than that on the court against the Magic, when his presence had a clear purpose, last season. 2/10

Tracy McGrady: I continue to believe he'd be more effective playing the bulk of his minutes alongside the starters. The 76ers made him look a little old and slow when the Hawks tried to run the offense through him. Still the second most effective Atlanta player on the night. 5/10

Zaza Pachulia: Another Hawk who disappointed on the defensive glass sufficiently to undermine an otherwise acceptable performance. 3/10

Willie Green: The Hawks don't score 70 without Willie Green tonight. A shame to waste this performance. Jamal Crawford would have killed for a return engagement this effective. 5/10

Vladimir Radmanovic: I don't know if it's the missed shots or the irregular playing time, but if Radmanovic doesn't shoot when he's open beyond the three-point line he's limiting his contributions to team success. 2/10

Jannero Pargo: Ehh. 2/10

Ivan Johnson: Meh. 1/10

Jerry Stackhouse: Wha? 1/10

Donald Sloan: Hm. 1/10

The head coach
Doug Collins talks openly about wanting the other team to take jump shots. The Hawks needed a contested 30-footer to hit double digits in the decisive third quarter, a period in which they attempted just three shots in the paint.

It was only a matter of time before the Hawks missed Al Horford, at least for a game. I doubt he would have reduced the team's reliance on jump shots but his ability to defend the pick-and-roll and rebound on the defensive end would have come in handy. 4/10

A thought regarding the opposition
The 76ers were no paragon of offensive efficiency themselves, but the second chances they made for themselves (as well as those they almost thoroughly denied the Hawks) and the fast break points they scored wore the Hawks down. It's impressive to beat a good team so thoroughly despite your own obvious weaknesses.

Philadelphia 76ers 105 Atlanta Hawks 100

Boxscore

Team	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%		TO%
ATL	86	1.163	53.1	17.3	21.1		10.5
PHI	86	1.221	54.8	15.5	24.4		7.0

In a nice change of pace, I had some very complementary and pleasant comments prepared. Then the fourth quarter happened, and I have to return to two persistent and recurring themes.

The jump shots stopped falling and the Hawks stopped scoring.

The Hawks made one jump shot between 3:17 of the third quarter and 2:15 of the fourth quarter. At 3:17 of the third quarter, Josh Smith's 19-footer* put the Hawks up 77-66. At 2:15 of the fourth quarter, Joe Johnson's 18-footer cut the Philadelphia lead to 99-90. The Hawks scored 13 points over more than a quarter's worth of playing time. What makes it so frustrating (this time) is that, in the first half, the Hawks did an excellent job of complementing their jump shooting with transition buckets and trips to the free throw line. Over the final fifteen minutes, both of those elements disappeared from Atlanta's offensive attack.

*Smith's 33 points broke down thusly: 3-8 outside of 16 feet (including a three-pointer), 1-2 on foul line jumpers, and 9-11 (plus 6-7 from the free throw line) inside of 10 feet.

The Hawks scored 12 of their 20 fourth quarter points in the final 2:15, after they'd fallen behind by more than 10 points and victory was highly improbable. Heck, 6 of Atlanta's 20 fourth quarter points came after they'd essentially given up by not fouling down seven with less than 45 seconds left.

Over the first 9:45 of the fourth quarter, Al Horford scored four points on three shots. Josh Smith scored two points (with the bucket assisted by Horford) on four shots. Joe Johnson scored two points on two shots. Jamal Crawford and Zaza Pachulia were both scoreless on two shots each.

Poor defense put tremendous pressure on the Atlanta offense in the fourth quarter.

Clearly, the fourth quarter against Denver, the end of the second and third quarters against Detroit, and the second quarter against the Bulls last night have done nothing to dissuade Larry Drew from playing Jamal Crawford and Joe Johnson together in the backcourt. Nor did their fourth quarter offensive ineffectiveness appear likely to curtail either their playing time or their touches.

After the Hawks struggled to get stops for several minutes with that pair attempting to defend on the perimeter, Drew replaced Marvin Williams with Kirk Hinrich and broke out a new kind of ineffective zone defense, a 1-3-1/1-2-2 hybrid with Hinrich at the zone's point, Johnson and Crawford lost somewhere on the wings, and one of Josh Smith or Al Horford defending at the free throw line and unable to help protect the basket.

Defense was a problem throughout the game* for the Hawks, mostly in familiar ways. Watch how often the Hawks switch on screens (on- or off-the-ball) seemingly on impulse rather than by design. When the ball goes in the post, watch perimeter players sag to a spot where they're neither double-teaming the ball nor in position to close out on a spot-up shooter. Watch how often, in transition, a bigger Hawk stops at the three-point line and waves an in-position Kirk Hinirch off the opposing ball-handler, forcing Hinrich to go chase down his teammate's nominal defensive responsibility.

*It was 59-53 at halftime. In a 43 possession game.

Five individuals wearing matching uniforms can fairly easily and frequently create opportunities to take jump shots. Five individuals wearing matching uniforms cannot play good defense. Over the last five games the Hawks have allowed 115.9, 121.8, 114.3 (this in their win over the Pistons), 132.6, and 122.1 points per 100 possessions.

Quotes, Notes, and Links: Philadelphia 76ers 117 Atlanta Hawks 83

Recap

Gameflow

Hoopdata boxscore

Highlights

Larry Drew:

"It is just totally unacceptable to come out and play with that type energy, that type so-called passion, to play almost as if they don’t care. And that’s a reflection of me. If that’s the case, then I am going to have to make some changes to my starting lineup. I’ve seen that way too often and if that’s the way we are going to start basketball games, I am not going to sit here and take it I am going to make some changes."

To which Michael Cunningham asks:

Which changes could he possibly make to fix what have been persistent problems for this team?

Drew can get Al back in the lineup, ASAP. That’s not going to suddenly make the Hawks be a team that doesn’t rely heavily on making jump shots to score, rebounds on defense, defends dribble penetration and slows opponents in transition that match (or exceed) their athleticism.

Mike Woodson Drew on his team's defensive performance:

"Bad defense. That’s all it was. We were broken down off the dribble where it was man-on-man. We were exploited off the dribble. We know Philadelphia has guys that are capable but we cannot come out and constantly let a team penetrate our interior like that. And it happened from the start and it happened until the end. When you play where team is constantly breaking down off the dribble, you are in a lot of rotation situations, you are forcing bigs to come and help, they put it up in the glass, they get the offensive rebound."

More from Michael Cunningham:

Perhaps this a chicken-and-egg thing for the Hawks. Do they just not care enough to play better than this against an opponent they eclipse in talent, or do they just look like they don’t care when they can’t play better than this against an opponent they eclipse in talent?

Marvin Williams:

"I don’t think anybody didn’t care. Obviously when you get down by such a huge deficit, guys’ body language is going to change and that’s what frustrates [Drew] the most. He doesn’t like to see that. But anybody that laces their shoes up cares, especially on this team. I can say that wholeheartedly."

Jamal Crawford:

"I don’t care who we are playing, we should never be down by 30. I think that is just caring more. We have got to continue to hold each other accountable and keep getting better."

Joe Johnson:

"When we wasn’t making shots, every rebound they got they were pushing it and pounding the ball down our throat. We wasn’t playing no help defense. The defense tonight was just non-existent. They got whatever they wanted."

Drew:

"You are going to miss shots. But there is no excuse for giving up easy baskets the way we give up easy baskets. It starts from our starters. When they come out and play like that at the very beginning it’s hard to overcome a deficit like that."

Doug Collins:

"The third quarter to me was all about maturity, and I told them that. We weren't going to let them back in the game."

Josh Smith followed up the three jump shots he took in the first three minutes of the game with two jumpers in the first 110 seconds of the second half. Maturity.

Jason Walker on Smith's shot selection:

When you see Josh Smith score three times inside, over, around, and through Elton Brand, you wonder that Josh ever sees in that tramp, the jump shot.

And Walker's shorter recap of the game:

Let's be clear: This had nothing to do with coming out flat or any other myth. It has to do with poor perimeter defense, lack of execution on offense, accepting a homogeneous shot selection that doesn't involve the paint, and carelessly turning over possessions.

Micah Hart on the MVP race:

For me, the MVP debate is finished after last night, and the man whose name should be on the trophy is Atlanta’s Al Horford.

Horford has now missed four games for Atlanta this season. Yes, the Hawks are 2-2 in those games. But the two wins were over Washington and Charlotte, which doesn’t move the needle much. The two losses, on the other hand, were to New Orleans and rejuvenated Philadelphia, and the Hawks lost those games by — let me make sure I have this right — a bajillion points. At home no less.

I can’t think of a single other NBA team that performs as poorly sans one player as the Hawks without Horford.

/checks standings, sees Cleveland

Oh. Right. Well, maybe a second-place vote for Horford then.

Philadelphia 76ers 117 Atlanta Hawks 83

Boxscore

Team	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
PHI	94	1.245	56.3	35.4	25	10.6
ATL	94	0.883	42.4	11.6	20.8	16

The Hawks got off to a horrible start offensively with Josh Smith taking three jumpers in the first three minutes, Joe Johnson unable to beat Andre Iguodala one-on-one, and no viable third option in Al Horford's absence.

The lack of defensive competence (there's no doubt the Hawks lacked talent and energy on that end tonight) rendered any attempts at making offensive adjustments pointless. Philadelphia scored 33 points on 24 first quarter possessions, then 32 points on 23 second quarter possessions. Even the second half of that sentence threatens to take the game too seriously in its particulars. No need to gild the lily. The game was over three minutes into the second quarter with the Hawks down 23 and no apparent avenue back into the game on either end of the court.

Maybe Al Horford shouldn't miss any more home games.

The Hawks lost a third of their efficiency margin for the season in the 41-point loss to the Hornets. They lost another thirty percent off of what was left of it tonight. Along with any remaining benefit of the doubt.

The Hawks are still a half-game ahead of the Magic for the fourth seed in the East but they'll have to play much better than they have over the last nine games when they've gone 5-4 despite being outscored by more than five points per game, more than eight points per 100 possessions.

A seven-game road trip starts on the 14th with the final two games (at Portland and at Denver) kicking off the 20-day stretch wherein the Hawks play 10 games against teams with winning records plus the make-up game against the Bucks, who have already beaten the Hawks convincingly in Atlanta this season.

February 8th Game Preview: Philadelphia 76ers (23-27) @ Atlanta Hawks (33-18)

TIP-OFF: 7pm (EST)

TELEVISION: SportSouth

RADIO: The Hawks have moved to 97.9 on the FM dial this season.

CHAT: Daily Dime Live

GAME NOTES: Hawks/76ers

ATLANTA INJURY REPORT: Al Horford expects to return tonight.

PHILADELPHIA INJURY REPORT: None.

BY THE NUMBERS

2010-11	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
PHI (off)	91.2	1.062	49.2	22.4	24.9	12.8
ATL (def)	90	1.056	48.8	26.8	25	14.1

2010-11	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
PHI (def)	91.2	1.059	48.6	31.2	25.5	13.3
ATL (off)	89.8	1.079	50.7	22	23.7	15.1

OTHER PERSPECTIVES: Philadunkia, Liberty Ballers

FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: Atlanta -4, 192.5 o/u

PREVIOUSLY...the Philadelphia 76ers lost 117-103 at the New York Knicks on Sunday.

The Hawks won both previous meetings with the 76ers this season: 104-101 in Philadelphia on October 29th and 93-88 in Atlanta on December 3rd.

Consider this an open thread for all pre-game, in-game, and post-game (but pre-recap) thoughts.

Atlanta Hawks 93 Philadelphia 76ers 88

Boxscore

Gameflow

Highlights

Team	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
PHI	91	0.967	44.3	21.4	20	13.2
ATL	93	1.000	45.2	29.1	17	9.7

With 8:45 left in the game, the Atlanta Hawks trailed 85-72. The Hawks appeared equally incapable of stopping the 76ers as they did (Marvin Williams* excluded) of creating and converting a decent field goal attempt.

But then the 76ers stopped attacking. They slowed down and tried to score on isolations (many of them Andre Iguodala against Marvin Williams rather than Jrue Holiday or Lou Williams against Mike Bibby or Jamal Crawford) as the shot clock wore down. Philadelphia made one (1) field goal in the final 8:45, made one (1) free throw in the final 8:45, Lou Williams missed one (1) fast break dunk in the final 8:45, Jrue Holiday had one (1) jump shot blocked by Mike Bibby in the final 8:45, and the team committed five turnovers in the final 8:45.

On the other end of the floor, Marvin Williams finally got some help. Mike Bibby (who entered the game with an eFG% of 64.8% but went 3-8, with 1 three-pointer from the floor) and Al Horford** (who entered the game with an eFG% of 60% but went 5-15 from the floor, just 3-9 from inside 6 feet) got a shot to fall, Jamal Crawford demonstrated how isolation basketball should be played, and Zaza Pachulia (playing in pace of the jump shot prone Josh Smith*** down the stretch), through his passing and screening, kept both the ball and his teammates moving and picked up Crawford with an offensive rebound after Crawford missed two free throws with 18 seconds left and the Hawks up one.

The Hawks finished the game on a 21-3 run. A game they had no business winning given the events of its first 39 minutes and 15 seconds. A game they did not lead until Horford's free throw made at 89-88 with 31.1 seconds left.

*Not coincidentally, Williams was the one Hawk capable of exploiting Philadelphia's lone defensive weakness: an inclination to put opponents on the free throw line.

**In Horford's case two shots, one of them being the and-1 that gave the Hawks their first lead of the game.

***Smith clearly re-entered the game early in the fourth quarter with a brief not to shoot jump shots. He ignored his instructions and there were consequences. He sat for the final 6:04, save for Philadelphia's final offensive possession. Even better for Larry Drew and the power of discipline, the Hawks won without Smith. To Smith's credit (or to the eternal frustration of his well-wishers), he played a dynamite 59 seconds while Pachulia waited at the scorer's table to replace him. Furthermore, it was a good night for Drew overall as Jeff Teague played 9:19 of pretty poor basketball in the first half but was allowed to play through his mistakes and rewarded his head coach's faith with a very solid stint (2 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds) in the second half.

Marvin Williams:

"We got down but we were never out. A couple years back we would have folded. We are all older guys now."

Al Horford:

"At the end I wanted us to win so bad I’d do whatever it takes."

Larry Drew:

"You’re not going to put the perfect game together every time. There’s going to be some games where you’ve just got to grind it and gut it out. I’m very proud of our team because we did that tonight."

More from Drew:

"I didn’t think we were very sharp running our offense. We settled. We will do enough things to give us the movement but we cannot settle for the perimeter shot. We’ve got to get the ball inside and establish our inside game. I’ve got to give Philadelphia credit, too, because they did a good job defending us."

Drew on Josh Smith:

"We were in a situation we had to be a little bit more focused on getting the ball inside and getting the ball to the basket. He took two ill-advised shots. When the game is a grind, we can’t settle for that type shot. I explained that to him, he did it again, so I took him out the game.

At the start of the fourth quarter, I subbed Josh in to give Al a blow. The minute I did that their lead went right back up on a couple of bad offensive possessions. I thought I have got to go with what was working, and in this particular game was Zaza and Al together with Jamal and Mike and Marvin. I went with my gut and I’m glad I did that."

Locker room talk, baby.

Josh Smith:

"Obviously I wanted to be in the game. I knew that my offensive game wasn’t clicking. I’ve got to thank Zaza for stepping in there. He played big minutes tonight. Every time we go to hug each other, I make sure to tell him he plays a big part in what we do."

Jamal Crawford:

"I thank Zaza. If I would have missed those two and they wouldn’t won I would’ve walked to Miami tonight."

Zaza Pachulia:

"When the game is on the line like that, it's the little things that are important, and I had to do my part and get the rebound. When I saw he missed, I just followed the ball."

Doug Collins:

"We couldn't get a basket in the last 5 minutes. We tried to put the ball in some guys' hands, but we just couldn't get a basket. And that's been my concern the whole year long is in a close game finding a basket. Our defense was good enough to win . . . It's pretty disheartening for the guys."

To me, it looked like the Sixers, rather than working to finish the game off, just wanted it to end for the last seven minutes. As to the issue of getting a basket, Marreese Speights or even (shudder) Spencer Hawes would help far more than Tony Battie in that respect.

At Peachtree Hoops, Jason Walker breaks down the early offensive struggles:

The Hawks began the game almost matter-of-factly, as in, patient almost to a fault, and then, unlucky. They worked the ball and got open shots, and they didn't fall. Then, they went inside, as they were wise to do, and those shots wouldn't go in, either.

December 3rd Game Preview: Philadelphia 76ers (5-13) @ Atlanta Hawks (12-7)

TIP-OFF: 7:30pm (EST)

TELEVISION: SportSouth

RADIO: The Hawks have moved to 97.9 on the FM dial this season.

CHAT: Daily Dime Live

GAME NOTES: Hawks/76ers

ATLANTA INJURY REPORT: Joe Johnson is out.

PHILADELPHIA INJURY REPORT: None.

BY THE NUMBERS

2010-11	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
PHI (off)	91.5	1.051	48.8	22.6	24.4	15.7
ATL (def)	90.9	1.069	49.1	27.6	27.2	14.4

2010-11	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
PHI (def)	91.4	1.077	47.5	36.9	25.6	15.6
ATL (off)	90.7	1.104	51.9	23.4	24.9	14.9

OTHER PERSPECTIVES: Philadunkia, Liberty Ballers

FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: Atlanta -6.5, 192 o/u

PREVIOUSLY...the Philadelphia 76ers have won two straight games, beating the New Jersey Nets 102-86 last Saturday and the Portland Trailblazers 88-79 on Tuesday. Both of those games were in Philadelphia where the 76ers have enjoyed what little success they've had this season.

On the road, the 76ers are 1-9 with the lone win coming in New York on November 7th.

The Hawks beat the 76ers 104-101 on October 29th in Philadelphia.

The 76ers aren't a bad defensive team. They rank 11th in the league in defensive efficiency despite being next-to-last in the league in opponents' free throw rate.

Consider this an open thread for all pre-game, in-game, and post-game (but pre-recap) thoughts.

Quotes, Notes, and Links: Atlanta Hawks 104 Philadelphia 76ers 101

Gameflow

Hoopdata Boxscore

Highlights

Larry Drew on the fourth quarter offense:

"We’ve had some success running the pick-and-roll with Mike and Joe, and they did a good job defending it. We came up with a couple of bad possessions."

Drew on the transition defense:

"We got a little lackadaisical and we didn’t get back on defense, which was one thing we really wanted to do against this team."

Again, I think it's an open question as to whether it's a lack of effort or simply due to inherent personnel limitations (exaggerated by a reluctance to play Marvin Williams in the fourth quarter) that prevents the Hawks from getting back on defense.

Another aspect of how poor transition defense hurt the Hawks is that the Hawks were pretty effective guarding the 76ers in the half-court blocking 8 shots and forcing Philadelphia to use 28 of their 85 field goal attempts on long two-point attempts. They made just six. The 76ers were, to a man, more than willing to take those low percentage shots. Eight of the nine Philadelphia players who played at least 10 minutes took at least two long two-point jumpers. The ninth, Tony Battie, took one.

Joe Johnson:

"We just kind of made some boneheaded plays down the stretch, with me leading the pack definitely. We’ve got to know the time and the score. In the fourth quarter, under five minutes [to play], we’ve really got to take care of the ball. That’s on me."

On a happier note, Joe Johnson has attempted 23 free throws in the first two games of the season. His previous high for free throw attempts in consecutive games for the Atlanta Hawks was 20, accomplished on November 5th and 7th, 2006 and November 11th and 12th, 2008.

Josh Smith:

"We was able to get it done. It wasn't pretty. You are going to have games where it's not pretty, like how it was in the end. But we found a way to get the job done."

Smith on his three-pointer with 47 seconds remaining and the Hawks up two:

"You can't be scared to take them. I wasn't afraid to take it."

THIS IS NOT SOMETHING TO PROUD OF

Through two games, Smith is 2-11 on long two-point jumpers and 2-3 on three-point attempts. He's providing two object lessons: one on his inability to make jump shots, the other on the value of three-point shot relative to one taken one step inside the line. The Hawks can survive one or two Josh Smith three-point attempts a game. It will be more difficult to stomach Smith taking five shots a game that are worth two-thirds as much the 29% of the time they go in. Which goes to show, yet again, how short-sighted and incomplete the "Josh Smith isn't shooting three-pointers" praise was.

At Peachtree Hoops, Kris Willis evaluates Larry Drew's early performance:

The way the Hawks are playing right now offensively the only people slowing them down are themselves. Once they get even more comfortable with the system the turnovers should go down. That is why it is great to steal a win like this when they were less than stellar with ball security. The last thing that I think is notable is that no Hawks starter played more than 34 minutes. Joe Johnson only played 32 minutes in this one after playing 31 in the opener. Thus far coach Drew has done an excellent job in my opinion of handling the rotation and keeping the minutes down. While the results of such a move may not be visible in the early going, they will however play a part later in the season.

Atlanta Hawks 104 Philadelphia 76ers 101

Boxscore

Team	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
ATL	92	1.13	55.7	37.1	29.4	21.7
PHI	94	1.074	44.1	30.6	25	9.6

The Hawks held on to win but, in doing so, exhibited some familiar fourth quarter problems: little ball movement, an inability to identify favorable matchups, an inability to put the team's best players on the floor, and poor transition defense.

For most of the fourth quarter, the Hawks put the ball in the hands of Joe Johnson or Jamal Crawford and asked them to create offense for themselves. Now, the Hawks did this almost exclusively in screen-and-roll rather than isolation sets but the mode of attack remained predictable. Making it more difficult, the 76ers could guard Johnson with Andre Iguodala and Crawford with Jrue Holiday. Crawford managed just two points and two turnovers and Johnson scored six points (two of those coming off of four attempts earned via intentional Philadelphia fouls in the final 12 seconds) on three field goal attempts and six free throw attempts while committing three turnovers. The 6 Atlanta live-ball turnovers (they committed 3 more turnovers on offensive fouls) in the fourth quarter led to 12 Philadelphia fast break points. For the game, 29 of Philadelphia's 101 points came in transition.

Thus, the Hawks consistently attempted to attack the strength of Philadelphia's defense rather than to get the ball to Al Horford against Elton Brand. Horford made all three field goals he attempted in the fourth quarter. Complicating matters, Josh Smith got himself benched for 2 minutes and 40 seconds of the fourth quarter following an offensive foul/technical foul exacta. For reasons he alone knows, Larry Drew chose to replace Smith with Josh Powell (6 points on 5 shots, 4 rebounds in 22 minutes on the night, and no history of success playing in the NBA) rather than Zaza Pachulia (7 points on 5 shots , 7 rebounds in 14 minutes on the night, and a history of success playing in the NBA). Drew also preferred both Jamal Crawford and Mike Bibby to Marvin Williams from the 8:30 mark (Hawks up 81-70) to the 0:47 mark of the fourth quarter (Hawks up 102-97) which only exacerbated the transition defense problems.

The thing is, both Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford were very effective through three quarters as the Hawks made a concerted effort to push the ball up the court following missed Philadelphia shots and to move the ball in the half-court. The pair committed just three turnovers between them through three quarters and, despite their fourth quarter struggles, Johnson finished the game with 22 points on 10 shots while Crawford scored 17 on 9 shots and earned 5 assists.

Josh Smith roughly duplicated his bipolar performance in the Memphis game, exhibiting terrible shot selection on the offensive end while wreaking havoc on the defensive end. Six of Smith's eleven field goal attempts were outside 16 feet. He made two of the shots, including a contested three-pointer that extended Atlanta's lead to 5 points with 47 seconds left. Through two games, Smith is 4-13 from outside 16 feet, good for a 38.5 eFG%. Inside of 16 feet, Smith is 5-8 from the floor (62.5 eFG%) and 3-4 from the line. Smith added six blocks to the five he recorded in Memphis, bringing his season total to 11 in 54 minutes on the court.

The good news is significant, both in size and import. The Hawks are 2-0 without having played at home. They're 2-0 despite self-negating play from Josh Smith, despite a terrible game from Al Horford in Memphis, despite a poor team effort in the fourth quarter in Philadelphia, and despite Jeff Teague still being firmly entrenched as the backup point guard. Things have not gone perfectly, and the Hawks are 2-0.

There will be stiffer tests (though likely not on Saturday night) and greater obstacles to overcome. Eventually, Larry Drew will lose a game he coaches. It hasn't happened yet. The season's off to a good start.

October 29th Game Preview: Atlanta Hawks (1-0) @ Philadelphia 76ers (0-1)

TIP-OFF: 7pm (EDT)

TELEVISION: SportSouth

RADIO: The Hawks have moved to 97.9 on the FM dial this season.

CHAT: Daily Dime Live

GAME NOTES: Hawks/76ers

ATLANTA INJURY REPORT: Mo Evans and Pape Sy are out.

PHILADELPHIA INJURY REPORT: None.

BY THE NUMBERS

2010-11	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
ATL (off)	96	1.24	57.5	33.8	23.1	15.6
PHI (def)	91.4	1.061	53.6	44.9	15.2	17.5

2010-11	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
ATL (def)	98	1.061	48.8	29.1	20.5	14.3
PHI (off)	91.4	0.952	47.6	9.6	23.8	20.8

FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: Atlanta -3.5, 193.5 o/u

OTHER PERSPECTIVES: Philadunkia, Liberty Ballers

PREVIOUSLY...the Philadelphia 76ers lost 97-87 to the Miami Heat on Wednesday night. Philadelphia's bench kept them in the game. Which likely says as much about how well Lou Williams, Thad Young, and Evan Turner as it does about the wisdom of starting Jason Kapono and Spencer Hawes

Consider this an open thread for all pre-game, in-game, and post-game (but pre-recap) thoughts.

Larry Brown Wants a New Job (Natch) But It Leads To Lots of Fascinating and Anonymously Sourced Reporting About the Hawks

I love Larry Brown. He taught me much of what I know* about basketball. I believe he's the best basketball coach in the world. Has been for roughly 30 years. I cannot wait to enjoy or eviscerate the first serious Larry Brown biography. I doubt that imagined volume will be more interesting than this Adrian Wojnarowski piece about Brown's (alleged and assumed) new job in Philadelphia:

Brown is angling to take the Philadelphia 76ers’ presidency, and has targeted Washington Wizards front office executive Milt Newton as his general manager and the Atlanta Hawks’ Mike Woodson as coach, sources said.

and:

[T]he possibility is strong that Brown will coach the 76ers, because Woodson wouldn’t leave an Eastern Conference contender unless the Hawks low-ball him in contract talks at season’s end. His deal is expiring with Atlanta, and several sources familiar with the Hawks’ plans predict an offer that Woodson could easily refuse.

and:

[T]he possibility of Brown coaching the 76ers could rest largely on how things play out with the Hawks. There’s been a cool relationship between management and Woodson, and sources say that the organization’s priority isn’t to reward him with an expensive contract extension. The Hawks are pooling resources to get maximum money available for Joe Johnson(notes). The message has been made clear to the Hawks: Offer Johnson a max contract extension on July 1, and they’re likely to keep him.

Sources say that this is the reason Atlanta is willing to sell its first-round pick for $3 million this summer, and the reason that they’ll likely offer no more than a three-year contract for $1.8 to $2 million a year to a possible Woodson successor.

Milt (Alfreeka) Newton getting a GM job is about the fourth most interesting (to me) thing in this story.

*and/or think that I know

76ers 105 Hawks 98

Boxscore

Gameflow

Highlights

Team	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
ATL	88.9	1.102	51.9	21.8	35.9	21.4
PHI	88.9	1.181	53.7	20.7	37.5	16.9

The victory against Orlando was down more to effort than execution. The loss in Philadelphia was similar, minus the effort.

At this point, the Hawks should be incapable of surprise. The perimeter players aren't suddenly going to become good defensively. Hawks whose first name begins with oe aren't suddenly going to stop taking almost every available jump shots. The team, as a whole, isn't suddenly going to commit to pushing the tempo, or moving without the ball in the half-court, or recognize the value mis-matches in their favor, or recognize the danger of the opposite.

Still, they're frustrating and the cause of the frustration may be ourselves. Perhaps these Hawks can't be better than they are. Perhaps their obvious weaknesses are as inherent as their strengths (both the obvious ones and those we assume to be latent) to who they really are and they will not become what we hope they might. Perhaps the franchise will continue to spend too much on good but great or competent but not good players and remain above average but unable to address their obvious weaknesses.

This is a team with relatively small goals. They print T-shirts for making the playoffs and give themselves a few days off after not quite blowing a game against a team trying to win the NBA championship.

Jamal Crawford:

"You always know after a big game like Orlando can’t have a letdown. We should have handled our business from the beginning and been done with it."

Al Horford:

"I think from the start we just weren’t with it.

I feel like we overlooked them."

Joe Johnson:

"From time to time we come out with a lack of focus.

Mentally we just weren’t in the game."

Mike Woodson:

"We haven't had many games like this one, but we are playing for something. I am trying to tell the team and push these guys to understand that you have to beat teams you're supposed to beat. There are no gimme games. I don't care where you play, when you play on the road, it is tough to win. We just showed up like we were just going to win and it didn't happen."

Joe Johnson:

"Our mindset was back in Atlanta. We just thought we were going to show up and beat a team that was struggling. It doesn't work like that. We have to regroup and get ready for Sunday's game against Indiana. I am very disappointed in the way we played."

I'm very disappointed that Joe Johnson spent more than one possession down the stretch of a second consecutive road game going one-on-one against a bigger, quicker defender. There are times he can dominate a single defender but not when that defender is Mbah a Moute or Iguodala.

The Human Highlight Blog at Peachtree Hoops*:

[T]ime and again the Sixers got wherever they wanted to on the floor, facing little resistance both in transition or in the half court set. Kapono, a known lethal shooter, got set up easily to tie his season high in threes (4). Holiday entered the lane with a free pass all night, setting up many of his (12) assists. The Hawks defense often waited for the ball to fall into their hands after a Sixer miss, and when it didn't, PHL collected their (15) offensive rebounds.

*The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of the Hawks' blogosphere

Soaring Down South:

If a less than casual fan had tuned into this game they would have thought that the Sixers were the team playing for playoff positioning and the Hawks were the team playing the season out.

Liberty Ballers:

So which is it? Did the Hawks sleepwalk through the game? Or did the Sixers decide to play hard? It's neither. The NBA season is 82 games long; there's going to be nights when teams have it, and nights when they don't. There's going to be nights when the Sixers shoot 50% from the floor and there's going to be nights when they shoot 40%. There's going to be stretches where they play good basketball (last 2 games) and stretches when they play terrible basketball (losing to the Granger-less Pacers and Lee-less Knicks).

The better team doesn't always win (tonight's favorites alone only went 5-3 so far), but that doesn't mean they weren't trying. And the worse team doesn't always lose, but that doesn't mean they all of a sudden decided to play hard.

There's a reason the Sixers are 26-47 right now, and there's a reason the Hawks are 46-26 - the Hawks are a good team and the Sixers aren't. They played a good game - leave it at that.