Initial Feedback: Heartbreaker in Miami

By James Goeders

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: Kept attacking the basket even after Lebron destroyed him a few times. Was the Hawks second leading scorer with 16 points and had 4 rebounds. Needs to do a better job protecting the ball, as he had 5 turnovers and only 2 assists. His 6 straight points late in the fourth tied up the game, but then went away. 5/10

Zaza Pachulia: Had a tough night playing against the Heat and the officials. Some absolutely ridiculous calls were made against Zaza, but he kept the Hawks close by grabbing 10 rebounds and adding 9 points. He owned Joel Anthony inside with just huge effort all game. Only downside for Zaza were some poor passes that resulted in 3 turnovers. 6/10

Josh Smith: Continues to lead the Hawks while Joe is on the bench with another 20+ point game (23) and 6 rebounds. Scored the first 8 points of the game for Atlanta off jump shots which of course kept him shooting from the perimeter. Had to take two deep 3s as the shot clock expired towards the end of the game, but did make 1 of 2 to give the Hawks a late lead 80-77. Took some really tough shots late, and wasted 9 of the final 12 seconds standing around with the ball when the Hawks needed a tying basket. Not sure how much of that was on Josh and how much is on Larry Drew. 7/10*

*Bonus point for the way he answered Jerome Jurenovich's question before halftime about his thoughts on the Hawks not having a single FT attempt to that point:

"That's what I was asking the officials, I mean, no way in hell have I seen a game where a team is playing that good of a defense. We just gotta keep grinding and hopefully it'll turn around and they'll probably see some stuff they missed in the first half."

Kirk Hinrich: Only had 5 points starting at the 2, but grabbed 4 rebounds and had 2 assists and 2 steals. His one made 3 of the night was big to cap a 10-0 Hawks run to give the big lead in the 3rd quarter. Unfortunately the Heat went on a run right after that to take back the lead. Looked much less lost on defense than last night, but that's mostly because the Heat offense went exclusively through LeBron in the first 3 quarters. 4/10

Marvin Williams: With T-Mac sidelined due to the back-to-back games, I was hoping Marvin would come to life with the added minutes. He did have the best plus/minus of anyone on the team (+8), but only had 7 points for his 31 minutes on the court. Marvin played great defense on Bosh in the first half, but was unable to slow down LeBron (but who can?). Another positive was that Marvin was the only Hawk to not commit a turnover on a night where they had 22 that led to 32 Heat points. 4/10

Jannero Pargo: What was Joe Johnson doing to kill Pargo's offensive game? Pargo had 9 points and was 2-for-3 behind the arc, and there's not more you can ask for from the 5th best guard on the team. The one miss, sadly, was the shot at the buzzer to try and tie. I can't imagine that was the best option the Hawks had on that play, though. Huge situation when the Hawks had no one to take the big shot. 5/10

Jerry Stackhouse: Joined Ivan Johnson in getting the most minutes of anyone off the bench with 19, and was one of only three Hawks in double figures (10). This was Stack's best game in a Hawks uniform, but the 3 turnovers were definitely moments of lost focus. His three to tie the game late in the fourth seemed really big at the time, and would have been huge if the outcome had been different. Can anyone honestly expect a better game from Stack the rest of the season, or even his career? 8/10

Vladimir Radmanovic: Had no chance of slowing down LeBron, so it was always disappointing to see that match-up play out. When his defensive is a liability he needs to be making shots, but VladRad made his only 3 in the first quarter and then went cold. I still was thinking he might get a look in the final 12 seconds when the Hawks were trailing by 3. 2/10

Ivan Johnson: Did a great job defensively against LeBron and Bosh. Had two ticky-tack fouls called on him right after coming into the game but kept going to the offensive glass strong. Only had 2 points, but grabbed 5 rebounds. 3/10

Erick Dampier: Was inserted to battle with Dexter Pittman, but only played 4 minutes. It was almost like he was in just to have another body to get a horrible foul called on. Incomplete

The head coach
It felt like he always waited a possession or two too late to call a timeout when Miami would make a run. I really liked when he switched to a zone with 4 minutes left, and it led to a bad Bosh three point attempt, but then the Hawks completely went away from it and surrendered the lead. Really can't have too many complaints when the Hawks are this shorthanded, but it would have been great to steal a second win in Miami. 5/10

A thought regarding the opposition
The Miami version of the Big Three is too good on a normal night, but when they shoot 16 more FTs than their opponents it's going to be tough to beat them. The Hawks made the most of their trips to the charity stripe (8-for-9), but it was an 11 point swing for Miami. LeBron and Wade were the only Heat players in double-figures, but still combined for 49 points. It stings to lose a game like this that the Hawks had a great chance to win, but at least they looked competitive instead of rolling over like we were seeing before the All-Star break.

Initial Feedback: Hawks Win (The Part of the Game After They Fell Behind By 32)

By Mark Phelps

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
Josh Smith: Josh came hot out of the gates, but it didn't last long. The rest of the team seemed to follow his lead. Points for the other facets of the game, but really a sluggish game from J-Smoove. 4/10

Jeff Teague: Teague, like most of the Hawks, struggled to contain the Heat's attack on the basket, and once he played back to defend the first step, it was too little, too late. 3/10

Joe Johnson: Who can contain the big 3? Don't ask Joe. He clearly does not know. -27 in 28 minutes of floor time. 3/10

Zaza Pachulia: Zaza stayed active on the offensive boards, but had a difficult time blocking out on the defensive end. Stayed consistent on offense. 5/10

Marvin Williams: Abused by James and Co. Marvin looked to get hot toward the end of the first half, but offense was not coming today. Not enough additional effort to contribute effectively. 2/10

Tracy McGrady: McGrady was aggressive in his floor time, but was more out of control than penetrating. 2/10

Kirk Hinrich: Yet another guard being assaulted by the Heat's backcourt.1/10

Ivan Johnson: LeBron had it in mind to make Ivan his patsy when they were on the floor together. Absolutely lost on D. -11 in THREE minutes in the first half. Used some garbage time to pad a few stats, but in the useful parts of the game, Ivan wasn't useful at all. 2/10 (a generous 2)

Willie Green: Give Willie credit for hitting his open shots, but when he was on the floor, D-Wade went into full-attack mode and scorched Green. He had no answer. A game where Willie Green gets 25 minutes is often a bad sign. 3/10

Jannero Pargo: Garbage minutes AKA the fourth quarter. 1/10

Vladimir Radmanovic: See: Pargo, though it was nice to see him hit a couple of threes. 2/10

Erick Dampier: Occupied floor space/got court time workout for 5 minutes. 1/10

Jerry Stackhouse: Simultaneously painful to watch and one of his best games as a Hawk. 2/10

The head coach
Drew preached slowing down the Heat's transition game, and did virtually nothing to actually achieve that. GI Joe said that knowing is half the battle, but maybe Drew didn't understand that the other half is putting that knowledge into action. 2/10

A thought regarding the opposition
The Heat enjoy clogging the lane and daring you to shoot jumpers, so it seems that an effective offense would be one to attack the rim and focus on drawing fouls to weaken the front line. Take a few bricks out, perhaps the house will fall.

Initial Feedback: Fourth Draft Thereof

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: Despite struggling from the floor and the line, Teague was worse defensively. If he consistently gets in the paint and to the line, he'll score. If he can't stay in front of Mario Chalmers or Terrel Harris, he'll have to get in the paint and to the line just to keep up. 3/10

Joe Johnson: Typically mildly productive and inefficient offensive performance but should be embarrassed by Terrel Harris's seven offensive rebounds, grabbing only two rebounds in almost 50 minutes, or his two off-the-ball fouls in overtime. 5/10

Marvin Williams: Without consistent minutes, can't be expected to provide consistent production. Didn't make shots but was active on the glass. Deserves a greater benefit of the doubt. 4/10

Josh Smith: Keyed the third quarter comeback by dint of not shooting terrible shots for a spell. Didn't get back in the game for much of the fourth by dint of Ivan Johnson. Made a conscious decision to play no defense, just to point, on Bosh's layup that made it 90-92. Has generally rebounded and defended well this season. Has had a horrible start to the season overall. 2 of 7 from 16 feet and beyond tonight. 5/10

Al Horford: If he's unwilling to demand the ball and/or unable to do enough with it on the rare occasions he gets it, he's reasonably paid rather than a bargain. The consistent quality of his defense, rebounding, and low-usage efficiency separates him from his teammates. On a night like this, against the least of the Heat, that's damning with faint praise. 6/10

Tracy McGrady: Another wonderful performance reminiscent of late period, post-surgeries Danny Manning (whose last really good season came at the age of 32, during a lockout-shortened schedule). The only worry is that he appeared to be shut down during the first overtime. Not sure that bodes well for the long haul and the Hawks, as is, might be lost without him. 6/10

Willie Green: You can't knock a 14 point quarter. Let's hope he noticed the value of moving toward the basket before shooting. On the other hand, you can't ask Willie Green to play point guard in the NBA. 5/10

Ivan Johnson: Two wonderful, productive bursts of energy, then left out there to demonstrate his inexperience both times. 13 points and 4 rebounds are a lot in 21 minutes. So are five turnovers and six fouls. Could be a decent option if Josh Smith keeps taking terrible shots. Would love to see Johnson and Pachulia on the court together as the fan-favorite with two heads. 5/10

Zaza Pachulia: Didn't produce immediately. Either he's hurt or he has to produce immediately in order to get the minutes he deserves relative to the other options.2/10

Vladimir Radmanovic: Nice effort. Terrible shooting. Unfortunately, shooting is his primary talent. 2/10

Jannero Pargo: Three points in three minutes is, in the grand scheme of things, an excellent performance for Jannero Pargo. 2/10

Jason Collins: Has one skill. That skill wasn't needed. He played anyway. 1/10

The head coach
If the Hawks make free throws, the game's over midway through the fourth quarter. That's not on the coach. He's clearly not going to play Marvin Williams and McGrady at the same time. Willie Green at point guard and Jason Collins' second quarter stint made no sense but, again, making just 70% of their free throws papers over that eccentricity. It's a long season. Getting Josh Smith to stop taking jump shots, by any means necessary, is more important for the team's future. Ivan Johnson may be part of that.

I like Kyle Lowry a lot and hold out hope for Mario Chalmers. However, if the Hawks are bedeviled by those two, I think it's fair to assume that the team defense may be different, it may be better, but it's not going to be especially good. 5/10

Heat Index: Windhorst: Heat suffer first loss on Hawks' changeup

Brian Windhorst:

[M]ostly the Hawks beat the Heat with their scouting report. That left the Heat with more than just a loss but with a headache. Like a hitter who can’t lay off the curve in the dirt, the Heat know they’re probably about to face a steady diet of what finally beat them for the first time in six games.

The season is now a little more than a week old and the book on the Heat has started to get around. The advance scouts have filed their reports. The assistant coaches have a catalog of games to watch to make suggestions. Head coaches have a huge bullet point for their game plan.

Right now, the Heat have a problem with zone defense and the whole league is about to realize it.

First, Jason Collins. Now, an opponent-specific* zone. Like his predecessor, Larry Drew's strengths may be on the opposite end of the floor as was advertised.

*As opposed to last season's use of zone defense as a way to play Mike Bibby, Jamal Crawford, and Joe Johnson all at the same time.

TrueHoop: Hawks slow down Heat in Miami

ESPN Stats & Information break down a couple of the key factors in Atlanta's win in Miami:

The Heat had a season-low 92 points and struggled offensively because they could not get out in transition. In their first five games, the Heat were averaging 101.6 possessions per game and were one of the best transition teams in the NBA. On Monday, Miami had a season-low 92 possessions and struggled to get out on the break.

The Hawks also dominated the Heat down low with a 50-38 advantage in the paint. Entering Monday night, Miami was allowing only 32.8 points in the paint per game, the third-fewest in the NBA, and were outscoring their opponents in the paint by an average of 16.4 points per game.

Miami’s ball-hawking defense was also absent against Atlanta as the Hawks committed only 10 turnovers, the fewest by any Heat opponent this season. The Heat generated just 13 points off turnovers, also a season-low and nearly half of their season average through the first five games.

In its first five games Miami scored 35.7 percent of its transition points directly off “live-ball” turnovers. On Monday only one of the Heat’s 13 transition plays resulted from a “live-ball” turnover, and they scored just one point on that play.

Initial Feedback: Hawks Visit Miami, Remembered To Pack Optimism

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: And the Heat thought they were dumb for insisting on playing Mike Bibby last season. 8/10

Joe Johnson: Considering the opposition, easily his best offensive game of the season. The zone defense seems to suit him, as well. He stepped up with some better-than-normal on-the-ball defense in the second half. 8/10

Marvin Williams: The Hawks took the lead in the third quarter on back-to-back Marvin Williams buckets created by him cutting into the lane to receive passes from Horford and Smith. At some point, the need his good play simultaneous with McGrady's in the fourth quarter. 6/10

Josh Smith: A terrible first quarter. Took three quick, early, long jumpers, one right-handed jump hook, got beaten for two dunks by Chris Bosh on slip screens, and appeared to spend the first two timeouts telling his teammates what they needed to be doing. The rest of his game came around but he couldn't resist the terrible shots. 5/10

Al Horford: Maybe the ability to create your own shot is overrated. Not really, but you can be awfully good player with that weakness if you do everything else well. 9/10

Tracy McGrady: Doesn't do much for three quarters, besides irritatingly spotting up just inside the three-point line. Then, in the fourth, he's all over the defensive glass and knocks down three spot-up three-pointers. 7/10

Vladimir Radmanovic: Gifted an extended second half stint courtesy of Josh Smith's shot selection, he couldn't buy a bucket but remained active on the glass and contributed to the fourth quarter defensive effort. 4/10

Jannero Pargo: 8 points on 5 shots in 12 minutes is the upside of Pargo's willingness to shoot the ball. 4/10

Zaza Pachulia: A concentrated burst of points, rebounds, and blatantly fouling Udonis Haslem. I'd rather Zaza be on the court, but his overexuberance didn't hurt the team tonight. 4/10

Willie Green: He's genuinely unpleasant to watch when the Hawks have the ball, but he was on the court for the big run at the start of the fourth quarter and part of a great team defensive effort. 3/10

The head coach
Went to the bench early, put them in a zone defensively, and kept the game in hand when it threatened to get away. Josh Smith's insistence on taking terrible shots reflects poorly on Drew but the rest of his frontcourt players' inability to finish at the rim early in the game isn't on him. Demerits for the team's disorganized start, many, many more credits for making early adjustments that worked. 9/10

A thought regarding the opposition
Despite the Hawks win and Al Horford's great performance, I don't regret picking Chris Bosh as the better player at The Heat Index this morning. In the half-court offense, Chris Bosh's movement without the ball was unquestionably the best thing going for them. The Atlanta defenders, whether playing man-to-man or zone, couldn't keep track of him. More of that and less of Dwyane Wade shooting jumpers on the left side of the floor, and the Hawks would have hand their hands full.

ESPN.com: 5-on-5: Game 4 Questions

As bringing appropriate nuance to bear on Al Horford's season review remains a work-in-progress, I've been stoking the fire by watching this excellent NBA Finals series. In anticipation of Game 4, I shared a few thoughts, on the relevant greatness of Dirk Nowitzki, LeBron James, and Dwyane Wade, on Rick Carlisle's rotations, and worked a gratuitous dig at Mike Bibby into today's installment of 5-on-5 at ESPN.com.

The Enervating Run-In

The meaninglessness of these final four games is not entirely a result of the vagaries of the schedule and the stratification of the Eastern Conference. The first 78 games the Atlanta Hawks played, even the Summer and parts of Autumn that preceded the season, inform the emptiness even Pape Sy's NBA debut and the signing of Magnum Rolle can't fully fill.

For much of the season, it felt a fool's errand to try to explain or draw conclusions about this team. And that was when they were at full strength and/or trying to win games. Given the circumstances surrounding games 79 through 81, particularly the vague motives regarding injury and rest, it appears impossible to write empirically about the team.

Presumptions are possible in one distinct case: Josh Smith. I presume Josh Smith missed the games in Indiana and Washington because he was injured rather than because he was resting. Joe Johnson, who figures to use a plurality of Atlanta's post-season possessions, has played hurt essentially the entire season. Al Horford has (mostly) played through hand, ankle, and hamstring injuries for months. They both played when Smith did not. Thus, I presume Smith, due to his sprained knee, could not.

Nor did Smith's return exactly inspire, with 15 of his 17 points coming after the Hawks had fell behind by double-digits, fueled by Smith using six of his last eight shot on jumpers. There's no joy in watching Josh Smith play like Michael Beasley.

Given Larry Drew's inscrutable approach to playing time, no such presumptions can be made, with any confidence, about the health of Jason Collins. It's a fair question as to how long Collins, at full strength, can neutralize Dwight Howard in a seven-game series. Overlay the question of the state of his ankle to the subject and, well, good luck with your answer.

The combination of Drew's aforementioned inscrutable approach to playing time and the season-long problem of the odd, unbalanced roster at his disposal undermined the pleasure potential of the spirited fourth quarter comeback Atlanta's second unit offered up last night. The AP recap described Atlanta's fourth quarter unit as "a bunch of backups." Literally true, but far different than the motley collection of young and short-term Washington Wizards who devastated the unmotivated Hawks on Saturday night.

20 of Atlanta's 23 fourth quarter points were scored or assisted by Jamal Crawford, Zaza Pachulia, and Jeff Teague. Hardly LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh but clearly players six through eight in the Atlanta rotation and, competent a trio of Hawks as they are, their comeback may have drawn some aid from the 20-point hole the Atlanta starters dug partway through the third quarter.

The Heat could, quite reasonably, have expected the Hawks (now -56 on the season*) to give up as they'd done so many times before. To their credit, the Hawks didn't. Of course, the comeback didn't succeed for reasons fairly and equally credited to the Heat and blamed on Josh Powell. Powell, the patently terrible signing, provided one last, late reminder of all his flaws as a basketball player while sabotaging the good work of the four legitimate rotation players playing alongside him during the fourth quarter.

To wit:

• Zero (0) defensive rebounds in 23:02
• Two turnovers
• Four personal fouls
• The last two of which created a Crawford for James Jones with the game tied and a turnover with a minute left and the Hawks still down just six

Why did Josh Powell play 23 minutes? Because Jason Collins may or may not be capable of playing basketball at even his limited and particular current standard. Because Pape Sy and Magnum Rolle** were in street clothes making the other two options available to Drew:

• Etan Thomas
• Hilton Armstrong

Of the three, Powell might be the least bad option. But all three are bad, bad options for a professional*** basketball team. Which only underlines that all the limitations inhibiting this team (the rookie head coach, the expensive roster, the lack of depth, the lack of youth) are of their own making.

*Not entirely fair but, considering the Hawks were -4 on the season when they clinched the fifth seed, it's not entirely unfair either.

**Seriously, if Rolle had been signed in September and given Josh Powell's minutes all season, I'd have been interested and engaged. It's the timing of the signing that baffles me. And the age thing is an easy, irresistible gag at the organization's rather than the player's expense.

***I include most of Europe and the entirety of the D-League in this.

Miami Heat 106 Atlanta Hawks 85

Boxscore

Gameflow

Highlights

Team	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
MIA	87	1.218	61.3	27.9	26.7	18.4
ATL	87	0.977	46.2	15.2	10.6	6.9

Possible themes for this game recap...

• The Atlanta Hawks struggle mightily against quality opposition.
• The Atlanta Hawks: competitive as long as their jump shots go in. They were 4-9 outside of 16 feet, including a Hinrich three-pointer in the first quarter and trailed by four. They missed their next 12 shots from that range, a streak broken, with the starters already ensconced on the bench, by Jeff Teague's jumper with 4:24 left in the third quarter that cut the Miami lead to 29.
• Discern and describe the je ne sais quoi that Semih Erden and Erick Dampier share that necessitates starting Atlanta's third-best center against them.
• Josh Smith's knee brace: the perfect accessory for defending LeBron James?
• Over the last 18 games, Joe Johnson has scored 269 points on 267 shots.
• The Hawks have outscored their opponents by three points, or 0.0437 points per game, this season.
• Congratulate everyone who answered "three games later" when asked "When will Jeff Teague fall out of the rotation again following his excellent performance against Portland?"
• Hilton Armstrong: the biggest Mario West you'll ever see.
• Again lament that Josh Powell dresses (but does not play) and Pape Sy does not dress and thus does not get the opportunity to make garbage time (more than 16-and-a-half minutes of it by my count) interesting.
• Admit that after writing more than 300 game recaps about this team over the last four seasons, there may be nights (and mornings after) where the dire predictability of a loss overwhelms one's analytical capacity and just get to the dispiriting quotes, not that the Hawks offered much in that respect, either.

Larry Drew:

"Miami’s a solid defensive team. They do a great job, particularly on the first side of the offense. You have to force them to shift their defense and then you have to attack. We didn’t do that. Once the ball came out, we settled again for threes."

I don't see how starting Jason Collins is going to diminish Miami's commitment to defending the strong side nor how attempting 9 three-pointers (out of 57 field goal attempts) through three quarters gets anywhere near explaining why the Hawks were destroyed in their own building.

As with Mike Woodson, it's not that I expect Larry Drew to get to the heart of the matter through brutal honesty in his post-game press conferences but because the obvious problems persist and the same platitudes get rolled out night after night, there's no sane response but to treat the post game quotes as serious, if unconvincing, comment

Damien Wilkins, indirectly discussing Josh Smith being assigned the job of defending LeBron James:

"To me, it felt or seemed like we were conceding the fact that [James] was making shots. He was way too comfortable pulling up for jump shots, coming down and just doing whatever he wanted to do, just showing way too much respect. … I think we could have done a better job showing a little bit more resistance."

Al Horford:

"We’re going through a real rough patch right now. We’re going to keep fighting and we have to figure it out."

Per Ken Sugiura this was the 17th time this season that the Hawks lost by 10 or more points. Maybe the 17th time will be charm, Al.

NBA Playbook: Breaking Down Hawks/Heat

Not just NBA Playbook, but it's tough to fashion a concise headline representing the breadth of outlets to which Sebastian Pruiti contributes.

1. At NBA Playbook: The Prettiest Turnover of the Season breaks down the inherent (but non-permanent) sadness of Joe Johnson throwing a lob pass off the backboard.
2. At The Basketball Jones, Bassy puts LeBron James on the shabby side of the Savvy/Shabby divide for the inherent comedy of not beating Mike Bibby off the dribble.

Quotes, Notes, and Links: Atlanta Hawks 93 Miami Heat 89 (OT)

Recap

Gameflow

Hoopdata boxscore

Highlights

Larry Drew:

"Everything we got tonight we really had to earn."

Mike Bibby:

"I’ve been saying since I got here, when we help each other and everybody is on a string we are one of the top teams in the league. We did that tonight. We helped, and we rotated out and everybody was moving. When we are that active, we are real good."

Josh Smith on defending LeBron James much of the game:

"It’s so hard to be able to guard so many re-screens. You find your legs getting tired. They beat you up on the screens. But it’s all mental for me and I just fought through it. I wanted to suck it up and be able to stand up for my team."

Larry Drew on Smith's defense:

"I thought he did a real good job against him. He’s out there flapping around, but I do think his length bothers people. And he has the ability to erase a mistake when he gets beat off the dribble when someone goes to the basket."

According to ESPN Stats & Information, last night was the third-worst shooting night of the 26 times LeBron James has attempted 30 field goals in a game.

Josh Smith on his dunk over, on, and through Joel Anthony:

"I kind of looked to the right and still saw him coming. I knew I had to finish hard because he’s a pretty good shot-blocker."

Joe Johnson:

"Their rotation on defense was phenomenal tonight. We just made the extra pass and were getting open shots."

LeBron James:

"I had a week off and that is what happens sometimes. We had everything going and when you have a few injuries it takes the chemistry out, it takes the rhythm out of a team."

Dwyane Wade:

"They fought us well. It was a good Eastern Conference game, a good battle. They made the plays down the stretch."

At Peachtree Hoops, Jason Walker breaks down the game's denouement:

Joe Johnson made three good plays in a row down the stretch in overtime---a heady drive and kick to Jamal for a three when the game glitched and the Heat weren't paying attention to Joe until he drove to the hoop in transition, a strong take to the hoop where he bumped LeBron off balance and hit a baseline floater, and a terrific pass to Josh Smith out of a nearly half court double team, and Smoove finishing the play.

Those three plays were two more than the Heat made, where they decided that LeBron had to keep on taking looooong three point attempts to win. Only one of those three went in and the Hawks hit the free throws down the stretch to win.

Michael Wallace on Chris Bosh's absence:

If Tuesday's loss to the Atlanta Hawks revealed nothing else about the ailing Miami Heat, it showed that Chris Bosh might be the most irreplaceable player on the roster.

Not the best overall.

That would be LeBron James, who returned from a two-game injury absence with a performance that was equal parts rusty and resilient in shooting the Heat out of, then back into and ultimately back out of the game in Tuesday's 93-89 overtime loss to the Hawks.

And Bosh is far from the most explosive member of the Heat's Big Three.

That would be Dwyane Wade, who can take over at any moment and string together 15-point quarters, 20-point halves and 40-point games as fast as LeBron can create a Twitter controversy. That, in itself, makes Wade's disappearing act in the extra period a bit baffling, considering he didn't attempt a shot.

But Bosh, for all of his far-too-frequent settling for perimeter jumpers and occasional reluctance to get his hands and game dirty in the post, is simply the one player the Heat can least afford to lose to injury for any sustained period of time.

Kurt Helin at ProBasketballTalk summarizes the contest:

These two teams combined to take 61 shots from three on the night even though combined they made just 14 (23 percent). That kind of sums up this game — a lot of bad decisions and missed shots. This game was very entertaining. It was filled with sloppy but it was still fun to watch.

Atlanta Hawks 93 Miami Heat 89 (OT)

Boxscore

Team	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
ATL	95	0.979	43.7	10.5	30	12.6
MIA	96	0.927	40.9	33.8	25	16.7

The severity of Al Horford's ankle injury will likely determine the long-term import of this game (there's probably not an NBA team better suited to using Josh Smith at center against than the Heat) but, given the opponent and the quality of Atlanta's play over the first four quarters, the Hawks must be extremely pleased with the result.

If the Hawks needed much to go right to escape Toronto with a victory last Wednesday, they scored the far more impressive victory tonight despite many, many things going wrong. There was the aforementioned Horford injury early in the third quarter, the Crawford/Evans/Wilkins/Powell/Pachulia lineup which killed the momentum generated in the first quarter, a lengthy iso-Joe flashback later in the second quarter, 10 Josh Smith jump shots en route to 15 points on 18 shots, 19 points on 24 shots from Joe Johnson, 23 trips to the free throw line for LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, 8 Joel Anthony offensive rebounds (5 of them coming after Horford left the game), Jordan Crawford appearing out of nowhere in the final six minutes of regulation, which resulted in Jamal Crawford guarding Dwyane Wade for several consecutive possessions, and a beautifully-designed but horribly executed play on the penultimate possession of regulation.

Not that the Hawks didn't do things to earn the victory. Most important were the 16 points they scored on 10 overtime possessions. But their 15 offensive rebounds (including a team-leading four from Horford before his early exit) shouldn't be overlooked, nor the 16 Miami turnovers they forced. And, though neither James nor Wade showed any consistent interest in driving the basketball, the Hawks did little to encourage them to do anything other than settle for using 27 of their combined 50 field goal attempts on jump shots, 14 of those being three-pointers. They made two of the 14 three-pointers, four of the 13 two-point jumpers. Furthermore, it took the combined efforts of James and Wade to match Joe Johnson's 10 assists and the rest of the Heat lack the shot-creation skills (if not the touches as well) of Horford, Smith, and Crawford, who earned eight assists between them. The nine Heat players other than James and Wade who saw action combined for two assists.

That's the upshot (at least for one night) of having a team's talent less concentrated. Without Chris Bosh and with James and Wade playing below their admittedly lofty standards, Miami offered little else. Without Al Horford for half the game, without Marvin Williams and with Joe Johnson and Josh Smith playing below their standards, the Hawks still had Jamal Crawford capable of scoring 19 points on 15 shots (an astounding level of efficiency in the context of this game) and Atlanta will surely take their chances in any game against the Heat which comes down to the relative contributions of Mike Bibby and Mo Evans versus those of Mario Chalmers and Eddie House.

January 18th Game Preview: Atlanta Hawks (27-15) @ Miami Heat (30-12)

TIP-OFF: 7:30pm (EST)

TELEVISION: SportSouth, NBA TV

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

CHAT: Daily Dime Live

GAME NOTES: Hawks/Heat

ATLANTA INJURY REPORT: Marvin Williams is still listed as day-to-day.

MIAMI INJURY REPORT: Chris Bosh and Udonis Haslem are out. LeBron James is a game-time decision.

BY THE NUMBERS

2010-11	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
ATL (off)	90.4	1.082	51.2	22.6	23.6	15.3
MIA (def)	91.1	1.022	46.7	30.6	24.6	12.8

2010-11	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
ATL (def)	90.6	1.05	48.5	26.6	25.4	14.3
MIA (off)	91.1	1.108	51.6	28.3	24.8	13.1

OTHER PERSPECTIVES: The Heat Index, Hot Hot Hoops

FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: Miami -6, 190.5 o/u

PREVIOUSLY...the Miami Heat lost 99-96 in Chicago on Saturday. It was the third straight loss (all on the road) for the Heat. The last two losses came in the absence of LeBron James. The poor finish to Miami's road trip ended a six-week stretch wherein the Heat won 21 of 22 games.

This is the second meeting this season between the two teams in Miami. The Heat won the first matchup 89-77 on December 4th.

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

The Heat Index: Arnovitz/Haberstroh: Atlanta at Heat, 5 Things to Watch

There are no surprises (Joe Johnson's healthy, the Hawks struggle to defend in transition and to prevent dribble penetration) in this typically astute preview assembled by Kevin Arnovitz and Tom Haberstroh for The Heat Index. Most interesting to Hawks fans may be the spreading knowledge of Atlanta's struggles against zone defenses:

Erik Spoelstra isn't a coach predisposed toward using a zone defense for extended stretches, but desperation forced his hand during the final two games of the road trip, when the Heat struggled to guard man-to-man. "I felt helpless, I had nothing else and had to throw a prayer out there," Spoelstra said. Curiously enough, the Hawks struggle against zone defenses, and were thoroughly frustrated by -- yes -- Toronto's zone last Wednesday when they barely squeaked by the Raptors. The Hawks can be an impatient offensive unit and the zone feeds into their propensity to stagnate. They're good-not-great on the pick-and-roll (Horford the exception), and their starting point guard isn't going to break down a defense or penetrate the zone. Against the Bulls and Nuggets, the Heat's zone was a lender of last resort, but against the Hawks it might help the Heat contend with Horford's post-up game and crafty basket cuts.

Quotes, Notes, and Links: Miami Heat 89 Atlana Hawks 77

Recap

Gameflow

Hoopdata boxscore

Highlights

Al Horford on The Horford Treatment:

"I understand where Coach is coming from this game. I thought that Josh Powell and Zaza came off the bench and did a good job. I was OK with it. Obviously it’s frustrating because you want to be out there but I understand Coach’s philosophy behind it."

It's great that Al Horford is such an obviously great basketball player and a seemingly good guy. But, four fouls.

Horford finished the game with four fouls.

He committed his third with 3:10 left in the fourth quarter setting an illegal screen, perhaps overambitious to contribute as he'd barely touched the ball since returning to the game with 6:51 left. He committed his fourth foul with 1:22 left in the game and the Hawks down 11. Were there important minutes to be played after that for which Drew was saving Horford?

Horford played less than 13% of the team's total minutes. He scored 28.6% of the team's points (on 13.8% of the team's shots) and grabbed 23.7% of the team's rebounds. He has been the team's best player over the first quarter of this season. He has been this team's best player almost on a nightly basis. Why in the world would you look for, then stubbornly cling to, reasons not to play him?

Mo Evans on Jamal Crawford filling Joe Johnson's shoes during the fourth quarter to the tune of four points on six shots and one assist:

"We were stagnant throughout the fourth quarter and a lot of the game. They started to lock in on the one guy who was handling the ball a lot."

Al Horford on Damien Wilkins:

"I love that. I love his intensity. I love his toughness on defense. It’s something we need. I’m saying it now: I hope we keep him and he’s with us for the long run. A guy like that can be helpful."

Larry Drew on why he played Mo Evans at small forward down the stretch rather than one of the (now) two small forwards at his disposal:

"When we got it to two, and with the guys that were in there, I just felt good about what we had in there. That’s not something I would second-guess myself over if I had to do it again."

Michael Cunningham provides further context for the decision:

To be fair, there were two mitigating factors for Drew to consider. Wilkins obviously doesn’t know all of the plays and coverages yet, and Drew said he thought Marvin’s energy was sapped on the back-to-back as he still works his way back from the knee injury.

I may have begun to grade Josh Powell on a bit of a curve as Jason Walker's review of Powell's performance last night echoes mine following the Memphis game:

Josh Powell proved tonight that, unless he continues to hit 90-100 percent of his shots, it's not worth the minutes he's playing. His stats look good, but what isn't shown are the massive misses he conducts defensively. Out of position and lacking good post defense, Powell got scored on more than he scored and played way too many crucial minutes, those in the fourth quarter, where his deficiencies surely cost the Hawks. He's a hustle player who is better in much smaller doses, and certainly not down the stretch.

ESPN Stats and Information points out that the Heat set a season high in fast break points last night. Which is what tends to happen when Jason Collins enters the game and clearly improves your transition defense. That's a lot of man to have to circumnavigate to get to the rim.

Erik Spoelstra on Chris Bosh's nine fourth quarter points:

"We, on purpose, ran the offense through him down the stretch."

You can do that?

At the Heat Index, Kevin Arnovitz graded the Hawks' performance as a C+, commenting:

With Joe Johnson sidelined, Al Horford has become the fulcrum of the Hawks' offense. Horford was magnificent, utilizing his speed against Zydrunas Ilgauskas. But those motion sets Larry Drew has installed don't have much command without a perimeter slashing threat. The Hawks had success had on the other end with strong 1-on-1 defensive stands, as they lured the Heat into launching a barrage of contested jumpers.

Miami Heat 89 Atlanta Hawks 77

Boxscore

Team	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
ATL	86	0.895	43.7	10.1	17.8	15.1
MIA	85	1.047	49.3	25	16.7	11.8

The Hawks probably don't win this game even if Al Horford plays more than 30 minutes and 31 seconds (Josh Powell was arguably the second-best Hawk tonight) but it seems perverse to increase the degree of difficulty involved in beating the Heat in Miami on the second night of a back-to-back.

Horford sat for 5:22 late in the first and early in the second quarter as part of the regular rotation. Fair enough. One minute and 32 seconds into his second quarter stint, he committed his second personal foul. Due to Larry Drew's placing a greater priority on Horford not fouling out than on winning the basketball games, Hoford sat for the final 6:28 of the first half. He would finish the game with four personal fouls.

(The admittedly well-rested) Horford dominated the third quarter, scoring 14 (and assisting on 2 more) of Atlanta's 25 points (on just 6 shots), grabbing four rebounds, and forcing the Miami Heat to adjust both their personnel and their defensive game plan in the hopes of slowing him. In retrospect, they needn't have bothered.

Quite reasonably, Horford sat out the last 29.9 seconds of the third quarter. Less reasonably, he sat for the first 5 minutes and 9 seconds of the fourth quarter. Inexplicably, Larry Drew, despite the Hawks scoring just two points in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, held Horford back as he got up to enter the game at a dead ball with 8:52 left in the game. The clock wouldn't stop again until the 6:51 mark and the Hawks scored just three points during the 121 seconds Horford spent at the scorer's table.

Following his third quarter explosion, Horford would go 11 minutes and 40 seconds of game time between shot attempts. Granted, Erik Spoelstra didn't let Horford work on Zydrunas Ilgauskas in the final seven minutes, the Heat focused their team defense on Horford when he was involved in a play, and Mo Evans had a dunk blocked by Joel Anthony erasing a could-have-been Horford assist but the Hawks did a terrible job, first of playing, then of utilizing their best player, their only consistently effective offensive player in this game. Josh Powell (12 points on 10 shots) and Mike Bibby (10 points on 10 shots) had as many fourth quarter shot attempts* as Al Horford. Mo Evans (4 points on 6 shots) had one more. Josh Smith (11 points on 11 shots) had three more. Jamal Crawford (12 points on 16 shots) had four more.

*Counting, for this rhetorical purpose, two-shot fouls as one shot attempt.

Al Horford scored 22 points on 11 shots and 4 free throw attempts. The rest of the Atlanta Hawks scored 55 points on 68 shots and 8 free throw attempts. Miami's fourth quarter defense deserves some credit but the Hawks were very easily dissuaded from getting the ball to their best player down the stretch. The Heat have a more defined hierarchy but it's no coincidence they outscored the Hawks 26-13 over the first 11:47 of the fourth quarter. Save Mario Chalmers's layup with 13 seconds left in the game, every single Miami point in the fourth quarter was scored or assisted by LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, or Chris Bosh.

There's a real advantage in being the team with better players. Larry Drew and the Hawks* helped the Heat consolidate that advantage in the fourth quarter tonight.

*I'm painting with a broad brush here: Josh Powell (more for his three defensive rebounds than his twelve points), Jason Collins (two defensive rebounds and an appreciable effort to getting back on defense in the 4:37 he probably shouldn't have played in the second quarter), and Damien Wilkins (for getting physical and frustrating LeBron James during the near-comeback in the third quarter) did everything that could reasonably be asked of them. Had those Hawks whose talents rest somewhere on the spectrum between Horford and these fellows from the end of the bench been so focused on and committed to playing within themselves the game might have been competitive to the end.

December 4th Game Preview: Atlanta Hawks (13-7) @ Miami Heat (12-8)

TIP-OFF: 7:30pm (EST)

TELEVISION: SportSouth

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

GAME NOTES: Hawks/Heat

ATLANTA INJURY REPORT: Joe Johnson is out.

MIAMI INJURY REPORT: Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem are out.

BY THE NUMBERS

2010-11	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
ATL (off)	90.8	1.099	51.5	23.7	24.4	14.6
MIA (def)	89.8	1.031	47.1	31.9	24.6	15.9

2010-11	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
ATL (def)	90.9	1.064	48.9	27.4	26.9	14.3
MIA (off)	89.8	1.122	51.1	30.2	23.2	14.3

OTHER PERSPECTIVES: The Heat Index, Hot Hot Hoops

FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: Miami -9, 192.5 o/u

PREVIOUSLY...the Miami Heat won a road game Thursday night, perhaps you heard mention of it. The Big Three have struggled amongst themselves and without the full complement of The Medium Three (Miller, Haslem, Mario Chalmers) who were supposed to make up for the paucity of (contemporary) talent at the end of the bench.

Despite the unpleasant surprises they've experienced through 20 games, the Heat still appear to have a promising 62 games (plus post-season) ahead of them. Even at 12-8, they're in the top 5 of the league in both offensive and defensive efficiency and better than average in three of the four offensive factors and all four defensive factors.

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

Encouraging Performance Gives Atlanta Hawks Victory Over Miami Heat

Box Score

Highlights

The 98-89 win was nice but, with the game not counting, carries relatively little import. As to what did...

Joe Johnson was clearly Atlanta's best player, demonstrating a level of activity largely absent in recent seasons. He moved without the ball, generally made quick, strong moves with the ball, and was a presence on the offensive glass against what should be a stout defensive rebounding team. One caveat: though flex sets should provide higher-quality shots for Johnson, it's unlikely to help him get to the line more often (23 field goal attempts, 2 free throw attempts last night) so he's unlikely to become wildly more efficient as a scorer. Of course, adding a couple offensive rebounds and earning six assists against a single turnover makes for an excellent offensive night overall.

Josh Smith isn't going to stop taking jump shots (4 of his 10 field goals last night were jumpers, including a three-pointer early in the shot clock with the Hawks up 3 and 1:39 left in the game) so someone will have to make him. It's a terrible waste to allow him to punt 3- or 4-percent of the team's possessions just because he feels like it. It's a tough decision and won't be easy to implement but the Hawks can't afford to have a good passer who converts his shots around the rim at a 65% rate drifting around the perimeter undermining his own talents and the team. Maybe Larry Drew can tie permission to shoot the occasional jumper to Smith's free throw percentage.

The other reason making Smith accountable for his shot selection difficult is his centrality to the team's defensive success. He was remarkably effective against Chris Bosh and Josh Powell, the player the team seems intent on using as Smith's backup, wasn't given the opportunity to guard Bosh. Larry Drew gave that assignment to Zaza Pachulia.

Powell grabbed seven rebounds but failed to impress even beyond being hidden defensively in a pre-season game. His inability to score in the paint or make jump shots was on full display, augmented by a committing a couple of turnovers with offensive fouls.

Though movement isn't Mike Bibby's strong suit, increased movement off the ball (both from him and his teammates) amplifies his good basketball instincts.

Which is good, because Jeff Teague doesn't appear prepared to play major minutes yet. No one is going to stay in front of him, but he'll need to convert his own shots in addition to setting up his teammates to take full advantage of his speed. Pick-and-roll defense seems a work in progress, as well. Though, as porous as the second unit looked as a whole, it's plausible that it's primarily a contextual problem.

I think we'll still see Jamal Crawford dominating the ball with the second unit. It's not ideal for Teague's development but may be necessary given the limitations of Evans, Pachulia, and Powell.

Al Horford couldn't buy a bucket in the first half, but there won't be many halves where he misses five straight wide-open face-up jumpers. He finally knocked down a jumper in the third quarter and scored a couple of nice baskets in the paint after catching the ball on the move.

Marvin Williams knocked down the dagger 3 to finish off the Heat but the 10 defensive rebounds he grabbed were nearly as important. No, he didn't slow down LeBron James, but he did make him work harder for his points than any other Hawk did. Decent-to-good defense, above average scoring efficiency, and improved rebounding are reasonable standards to hold Williams to in 2010-11.

Larry Drew:

"I’ve seen improvement in the defense the last couple games. Tonight we did a good job collectively on them. One thing I wanted them to focus on was the transition defense. We let LeBron get away a couple times but for the most part we did a good job with that."

It'll be different when the Hawks have to deal with James and Wade but, as mentioned above, Josh Smith matches up very well with Chris Bosh and Al Horford doesn't have to guard anybody really. I would not be surprised if the Hawks are more competitive against the Heat this season than they are against the Magic.

The Hawks play a sure-to-be anti-climactic exhibition in Charlotte tonight before tipping-off the regular season Wednesday night in Memphis.

Thursday Afternoon Atlanta Hawks Links

• No Mike Miller tonight for the Heat.
• Michael Wallace previews the game at The Heat Index.
• Rick Sund calls Hawks "elite." Tonight's Daily Dime Live sure to respond with claims that the Hawks are not "relevant."
• Kelly Dwyer and Dan Devine preview the Hawks at Ball Don't Lie.
• Tas Melas does the same for The Basketball Jones.
• At SBNation, Mike Prada ranks the Atlanta Hawks as the NBA's fifth-least watchable team.

Monday Afternoon Links

A few things to peruse in anticipation of a slim majority of Atlanta Hawks (and that only if Josh Smith goes) participating in tonight's exhibition game in Detroit...

• Peachtree Hoops hunted down a link to a Detroit radio broadcast.
• There's at least one mountain to climb before getting coverage of the home team's pre-season games: having more than 20% of the players pictured on the ticket advertisements be members of the home team. Josh Smith would be well within his rights to throw his arms up in disbelief over that marketing call.
• Two new additions to the TrueHoop Network: The Heat Index brings the most experienced team yet assembled to bear on what could be a fascinating season. HoopSpeak features, amongst other draws, a "slower, shorter, friendlier Mike Bibby."
• I think you should buy Pro Basketball Prospectus 2010-11. Should my recommendation not prove sufficient, read a chapter for free: SCHOENE Explained.