Friday Night Playoff Preview

The fourth quarter in Charlotte on Friday night wasn't a portent of playoff doom, but I suspect we'll see something similar again in April. Not the spectacle* of Dwight Howard getting ejected, but the mostly empty offensive possessions the Hawks managed from 5:54 to 1:17 of fourth quarter.

*Howard wasn't playing especially well before the ejection, his frustration with Cody Zeller causing him to call for the ball in the post which, at best, wasted several seconds of half-court possessions. The Hornets could afford to over-defend Howard, fronting him in the post and sagging toward him from weakside because the only Hawk you absolutely can't help off of (someone tell the Bucks this) is Kyle Korver.

Mike Muscala missing everything on a wide-open corner 3, Kent Bazemore and Dennis Schröder losing the ball in the lane after working to beat the initial defender aren't examples of a flawed process, something that can (or needs to) be fixed. They're examples of useful players butting up against the limits of their abilities. Sometimes they will convert those opportunities but more often they simply won't be able.

Swarm Millsap, don't help off of Korver, and force the other Hawks on the floor to make plays will be the default defensive strategy against this team on every possession that matters. Dwight Howard's freedom to go after offensive rebounds offers something the Hawks have not previously had on the back-end of initial possessions that end in a missed shot, but he doesn't add much on the front-end* of them.

*The Schröder/Howard pick-and-roll may develop enough to change my mind, but right now, teams can throw one to one-and-a-half help defenders toward it safe in the knowledge that Schröder largely operates on a binary - shoot or throw a lob to Howard - decision tree.

Running out Malcolm Delaney, Tim Hardaway, Jr., Thabo Sefolosha, Mike Muscala, and either Paul Millsap or Dwight Howard to grind down opposing second units is a good thing, and a viable path to 50 regular season wins. An effective second unit will be less valuable in the playoffs, where the margins are narrower*, and the team's inability to put multiple multi-dimensional offensive players on the court simultaneously will strangle a fair number of crucial offensive possessions.

*Unless you draw a clearly inferior version of yourself, as the Hawks did in the first round last season.

Initial Feedback: The City That Offensive Talent Forgot

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: Carried the Hawks offensively and was the number one non-Hornets reason for the win. 24 points on 11 shots, 4 assists, and nary a turnover. Not sure you can play better than that. 9/10

Joe Johnson: A terrible shooting night but another entry in the ledger of wonder: How was Al Horford's presence preventing Joe Johnson from rebounding? 5/10

Marvin Williams: From one perspective, a very able sidekick to Teague. From another, the best possible game one can have while blowing the finish on an alley-oop in embarrassing fashion. 6/10

Josh Smith: Not a great night, but if you're going to phone one in, the Hornets are as good a team as any to do so against. The most impressive thing about Smith's night were the blocks he got while playing help defense against his own man after getting beat. 4/10

Zaza Pachulia: A workmanlike effort. Nothing more was needed. 4/10

Willie Green: There was worry about the Hawks replacing Jamal Crawford but between Jeff Teague's non-rebounding and Willie Green making 30-footers at the end of quarters, the Hawks haven't missed a beat. Willie Green is having a career season. Maybe Larry Drew is to whatever Willie Green is as Mike Woodson was to Crawford and Flip Murray. 6/10

Tracy McGrady: I don't envy the fine line Larry Drew needs to walk between keeping McGrady sharp and not taxing his body. I'll admit to flinching as McGrady landed following his fourth quarter alley-oop from Hinrich. 5/10

Kirk Hinrich: He's nowhere near sharp but, without exaggerating matters, the value he can provide this team is still apparent. 4/10

Ivan Johnson: In a laugher against a terrible team, Ivan Johnson's presence provides pure, uncomplicated enjoyment. 4/10

Jason Collins: I don't know why you play Jason Collins instead of Vladimir Radmanovic against the Hornets, but I'm pretty sure that it doesn't affect the result. The Hawks were +23 in the 25 minutes Collins didn't play. Effectively padded his rebound total in garbage time. 2/10

Vladimir Radmanovic: Can't blame a man his age for going through the motions and running out the clock. 1/10

Jannero Pargo: If anything, he should shoot more once the game's decided. 2/10

Jerry Stackhouse: This space left intentionally blank. 1/10

The head coach
The Hawks are, in Al Horford's absence, essentially a defensive team. They aren't going to score efficiently or consistently enough to keep pace when their opponent scores on a regular basis. This isn't to say that the Hawks are an excellent defensive team but they can certainly handle a team that uses Jarrett Jack and Jason Smith as options one and two and plays Trevor Ariza and Al-Farouq Aminu together on the wing. Even on a sub-par night, the Hawks could thoroughly overwhelm what was left of the Hornets. 6/10

A thought regarding the opposition
Poor Monty Williams. At least he didn't have to suffer the indignity of Dominique Wilkins insisting that the Hornets' offensive problems were down to scheme rather than the "talent" available.

Seven Reasons Why the Hawks Won't Trade For Chris Kaman

Marc Stein reports:

The New Orleans Hornets are actively trying to trade center Chris Kaman, who was not with the team for its home game Friday night against Orlando as the league-owned Hornets field trade calls for him.

The Hornets have decided to shelve Kaman until they can find a trade home for him after making the decision to give his minutes to young players. Kaman had been made inactive for Wednesday's loss at Oklahoma City even though he's not injured.

1) Chris Kaman makes $14 million this season and the Hawks are still over the luxury tax line. Per Sham Sports:

[P]layers with less than two years experience that are signed to the minimum salary are, for luxury tax purposes only, counted as having the minimum salary of a two year veteran/third year player. Therefore, Greg Stiemsma's $762,195 salary and cap hit is treated as $854,389 for tax calculations, and only for tax calculations. The same is true of the first- or second-year minimum salaries being paid to Mickell Gladness and Terrel Harris of Miami, Donald Sloan and Ivan Johnson of Atlanta, and Gary Neal and Malcolm Thomas of San Antonio.

2) Related: The Hawks lost $15 million last season. That's without paying the luxury tax, receiving their share of the luxury tax paid by other teams, and playing six home playoff games. Also related: There's no one with money who wants to buy the team.

3) Chris Kaman has been good and healthy exactly once in the last four seasons. A better record than Jerry Stackhouse or Jason Collins...maybe this isn't the best example. However, I doubt present-day Chris Kaman will or should be the guy for whom the Hawks go over the tax line.

4) Chris Kaman's an okay player. So is Zaza Pachulia. So is Kirk Hinrich can play. So is Marvin Williams. So might be next year's first round draft pick. The Hawks would have to give up some combination of the four to acquire Kaman. Plus, if the Hawks choose to trade another first-round pick, it should be traded for someone better than Chris Kaman if this team's going to improve significantly.

5) The Atlanta Hawks think that Jason Collins can play in a general, rather than highly specialized, sense.

6) Though the Hawks are having a very good season, so are the Bulls and the Heat and the 76ers. The Hawks' playoff chances are a function of both their quality and the quality of the rest of the conference. The Eastern Conference is seriously top-heavy. The Hawks are without Al Horford, they don't know if he'll be back for the playoffs, and being without him has made a difference:

2011-12	Off Eff	Def Eff	Diff
w/ Horford	109.2	100.6	+8.6
w/o Horford	104.2	100.4	+3.8

Is this really the season the Hawks should completely throw financial caution to the wind?

7) The Hawks already made their big move. They locked up Joe Johnson in full knowledge that doing so would severely limit their flexibility. Expecting a subsequent blockbuster trade or free agent signing seriously misreads the powers that be.

Quotes, Notes, and Links: New Orleans Hornets 100 Atlanta Hawks 59

Recap

Hoopdata boxscore

Highlights

Larry Drew:

"That was about as bad as we've played this year, from start to finish."

Drew on the offense:

"We couldn’t make shots and we just panicked. We just lost our composure. Then we had defensive breakdowns and the game just slipped away from us."

Six of Atlanta's first eight points came on:

• Josh Smith makes 23-foot jumper
• Jason Collins makes 17-foot jumper
• Josh Smith makes 21-foot jumper

The offense looked horrible even during the brief, early stretch where shots were made.

Drew:

"We started pressing very early with some quick turnovers, and they made shots."

The Hawks committed seven first half turnovers, six of them coming before the 5:15 mark of the second quarter and none of those six occurring with the Hawks trailing by more than one point.

Mo Evans:

"The difference was they made shots. That’s very discouraging throughout the course of the game. Early on, we played great defense on Chris Paul, and he came down and shot a 35-footer. That was the type of night it was for them."

Josh Smith:

"You really can’t explain it. You have games like this. I think Chris Paul is a very smart point guard. I think he just got the ball where he wanted to with dribble penetration."

You can explain it but I certainly understand why those involved don't want to have that discussion in public.

Jamal Crawford:

"I'd be lying if I said games like this are easy to forget. But if you lose by one or lose by 40, it’s still a loss. You just have to move on. It’s not like football where we have to wait a week. So we have an opportunity tomorrow."

Evans:

"It’s one loss, whether it’s by one or 80. No matter how disappointing or embarrassing, it’s one loss. Tomorrow we’ve got a chance to go out there and show what kind of team we really are."

Of course, it's just one loss but the Hawks also "really are" a team capable of losing by 41 at home.

How unusual is that?

Per ESPN Stats & Information:

Atlanta, which entered the game with a 28–15 won-lost record, is the first team in NBA history to lose a home game by 40 or more points after entering the game at least 10 games over .500.

Entering the game, the Hawks were outscoring opponents (through 43 games, 3900 offensive, and 3910 defensive possessions, mind you) by 3.3 points per 100 possessions on the season. After Game 44 and another 85 possessions, the Hawks are outscoring opponents by 2.1 points per 100 possessions on the season.

The Hawks also dropped three projected wins in John Hollinger's playoff odds and fell from eighth to thirteenth in Hollinger's power rankings in the course of a day.

After scoring 152 points on 180 possessions in their last two games, the Hawks are back to scoring less efficiently than the league's worst offensive team (now the Cleveland Cavaliers rather than the Milwaukee Bucks) when they play a team with a winning record.

Michael Cunningham's not impressed with what he heard in the locker room after the game:

How can the Hawks follow up a strong effort at Miami by laying down to the Hornets at home? Some of the Hawks’ answers top the question made it sound as if they’d just loss a close one at Boston.

...

Yes, the Hornets made some shots, especially in the third quarter, when Belinelli made some deep threes. But that’s about the only unusual thing that happened. The Hornets basically played like a competent NBA team and won by 41 at Philips.

...

Yes, CP3 is a very smart and skilled point guard and he did hurt the Hawks with dribble penetration. But Paul had only 16 points and eight assists in 30 minutes while shooting 4 of 10, and the Hawks always struggle with dribble penetration.

...

But the Hawks missed shots at Miami, too, and they didn’t stop competing. So, one more time: Can the Hawks explain how they got handled like this at home after handling their business at Miami?

At Peachtree Hoops, Jason Walker on the missing piece:

Al Horford's MVP stock just went nuclear.

Detonating with the power of a thousand Nowitzkis. Dallas was outscored by 53 points over the 10 games Nowitzki missed.

At Hornets247.com, Ryan Schwan calls "Washington Generals" on the Hawks.

At At the Hive, Rohan provides more from the New Orleans perspective:

The Hornet defense was primarily in a man configuration for this game. Monty Williams popped the zone in and out during some stretches, but for the most part, he stayed with individual assignments. While Atlanta's total lack of a creative scorer outside of Jamal Crawford (Joe Johnson routinely settled for horrible jump shots) played a huge role, the Hornet defense was simply stifling. In many ways, this game epitomized what Monty Williams has brought to the team in 2010-2011.

The only positive Hawks news of the night comes from Provo, Utah where Pape Sy set a (D-League) career scoring high (16) for the third consecutive game. Sy has made 15 of 18 two-point shots (his TS% is up to 49.9%) over the last three games en route to 10, 15, and 16 points. His assist and turnover rates are dropping so may have been given an offensive role he can more easily handle at this time.

The First Half Was the Good Half: New Orleans Hornets 100 Atlanta Hawks 59

Boxscore

Team	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
NO	85	1.176	53.3	26.7	31.4	16.5
ATL	85	0.694	31.6	11.4	15.4	16.5

Yes, 59. Just the 22nd time since the 1986-87 season that an NBA team scored fewer than 60 points and the only Atlanta Hawks team ever to score so few.

The Atlanta Hawks didn't lose this game because Al Horford didn't play. Even Horford isn't good enough to make a 42-point difference in a game. All Horford's absence did was exacerbate the team's existing (and long-standing) weaknesses. The Hawks lost the game because they struggled to defend on the perimeter, demonstrated an inconsistent interest in taking high-percentage shots, lacked depth, and are not a good rebounding team. All of those weaknesses exist when Horford is present and he does an awful lot to mitigate each of them but his excellent contributions those areas did not prevent a loss in Atlanta's last home game nor did his absence for most of the second half prevent the Hawks from winning in Miami.

There wasn't a single Hawk that gave a creditable performance:

• Josh Smith and Jamal Crawford put the ball in the basket most often but neither were at all effective, with bad shots and turnovers undermining Smith's scoring and Crawford's pitiful defensive performance easily negating his offensive contributions.
• The typically fine New Orleans defense completely stymied Joe Johnson and he appeared thoroughly incapable of impacting the game on the defensive end.
• Mike Bibby probably took more good shots than any other Hawk. Unfortunately, he missed all of them and is several inches shorter than Marco Belinelli, rendering decent defensive positioning irrelevant.
  
• Quite unfairly, Mo Evans was asked to guard Chris Paul. Quite predictably, he failed to slow the league's best point guard.
• Just as unfairly, Jeff Teague was asked to come off back-to-back DNP-CDs (and just 48 minutes over the last 8 games in which he'd appeared) to face Paul. Just as predictably, Teague failed to play well against him.
• Jason Collins made few basketball plays before being ejected (harshly) for not making a play on the ball when fouling David West early in the third quarter.
• Zaza Pachulia personified the emptiness of effort with production.
• Josh Powell personified Josh Powell.
• Given his youth and inexperience, Jordan Crawford deserves neither criticism for his poor moments nor praise for his flash of potential.
• Given their age and roles, neither Damien Wilkins nor Etan Thomas deserve either criticism or credit for providing empty minutes in garbage time.
• Al Horford appeared to be wearing a cardigan under his suit jacket.

As for Larry Drew...

• His team didn't make any concerted effort to get the ball to Josh Smith in the post in the first half.
• He used Smith to double Paul early in the second-half, clearing the way for David West to get involved in the game in a non-pouting way.
• He went zone which only served to prove that Jamal Crawford can't keep track of Mario Belinelli if Belinelli remains immobile four feet away from Crawford
• And he (allegedly) designed a second-half game plan around his guards driving the ball and getting to the line which would be great if he coached a different team.

Nothing good came out of this game for Atlanta but the only way the loss will make the season demonstrably worse* is if the margin of the defeat causes Al Horford to return to action before his ankle heals.

*Pretty much negating the future value of breaking down the team's stats against teams with winning records and comparing those to the team's stats against teams with losing records doesn't count.

January 21st Game Preview: New Orleans Hornets (27-16) @ Atlanta Hawks (28-15)

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/Hornets

ATLANTA INJURY REPORT: Al Horford and Marvin Williams are listed as doubtful but have also been categorized as "probably" out for this game and tomorrow's in Charlotte. UPDATE (6:59pm): They're both out tonight.

NEW ORLEANS INJURY REPORT: Marco Belinelli is probable.

BY THE NUMBERS

2010-11	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
NO (off)	89.1	1.046	48.7	23.7	25	13.3
ATL (def)	90.5	1.047	48.3	26.9	25.4	14.4

2010-11	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
NO (def)	89.1	1.024	48.4	27.9	23.4	14
ATL (off)	90.3	1.08	50.9	22.3	23.8	15.3

OTHER PERSPECTIVES: Hornets 247, At the Hive

FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: Atlanta -4, 184.5 o/u

PREVIOUSLY...the New Orleans Hornets beat the Memphis Grizzlies 103-102 in overtime at home on Wednesday night. It was the sixth straight win for the Hornets and the third of those wins to come after overtime.

New Orleans started the season 11-1 and have won 9 of their last 11 with a 4-13 stretch serving as the sadness meat in their season sandwich.

The Hornets beat the Hawks 93-86 in New Orleans on December 26th, a game most memorable for Maurice Evans being inserted in the game for the purposes of guarding Chris Paul.

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

Quotes, Notes, and Links: New Orleans Hornets 93 Atlanta Hawks 86

Recap

Gameflow

Hoopdata boxscore

Highlights

Larry Drew:

"We missed some defensive assignments against [Chris Paul] on how we were defending the pick-and-roll. Then we tried to mix it up and play a little zone to get him off balance a little bit. But he made some shots and he got too deep on us on the pick-and-roll a couple times. We went underneath, which was a missed assignment."

Because these assignments were missed by Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby and Jamal Crawford, rest assured that no one's playing time was affected.

Jamal Crawford on defending Paul:

"He’s seen every coverage by now. You just have to live with it sometimes."

That dismissal of one's own agency and responsibility aptly sums up the limitations of this basketball team.

Drew:

"As bad as that third quarter was, we were still right there and had a chance. But against good teams we have to be able to follow through on the game plan, especially defensively. On the road you have to have better shot selection."

If that was the defensive game plan, an alleged lack of follow-through is the least of the problems. And if you want better shot selection, stop enabling the tenured guards and Josh Smith, jump shooter (48 jumpers vs. 25 shots at the rim in his last 8 games).

Mo Evans:

"The game was tied at 78-78 and then I think we were stagnant in the latter part of the game. They continued to run their offense. CP continued to create for other guys and put it in position where all they had to do was score the ball or shoot it. They got great looks every time down the floor and eventually that is going to win out."

New Orleans won despite making just 2 of 17 three-point attempts and 9 of 15 free throws. They were just massively better at getting the ball inside.

Joe Johnson:

"I was kind of taking what the defense gives me. Our offense, basically everybody is moving the basketball, and if you are open, you take the shot."

David West on Atlanta's first-half offense:

"We let them move the ball where they wanted to."

Doing what you want rather than what they give you is preferred.

Jarrett Jack on Paul:

"I told him, 'Hey, you have to be a scorer for us. Our offense is kind of stagnant there. You've got to be aggressive and be ready to score."

Rohan of At the Hive, on the zone defense New Orleans employed for much of the second half:

New Orleans ran the zone a number of times in the first half; in the second, they went to it on virtually every defensive possession. The Hornets have been remarkably successful employing the zone in limited doses this year; seeing it work over a 20+ minute stretch against a plus shooting offensive team was heartening.

Interestingly, the team used David West to show on to the wings on all perimeter screens. This often led to West and a guard (Jack or Paul throughout the second half) going to a pseudo-trap on the perimeter, with Trevor Ariza and Emeka Okafor accounting for either the roll or the weakside backdoor cut. It worked with remarkable consistency. The concept of employing Ariza to deny the passing lanes created by screens (instead of having West sit back) was a novel one, but Ariza performed it well. Again, it was yet another wrinkle in Monty Williams' impressively effective defensive strategy.

New Orleans Hornets 93 Atlanta Hawks 86

Boxscore

Team	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
ATL	86	1.000	45.9	26	18.6	16.3
NO	85	1.094	50	10.7	28.6	9.4

The Christmas break killed Larry Drew's tactical momentum. The Horford Treatment reappeared. As did Josh Powell as part of an expanded, incoherent rotation. Jeff Teague disappeared. And, in his absence, there was no rational approach to guarding Chris Paul. Joe Johnson drew the bulk of the work on that score and his method of standing six feet from Paul, allowing the league's premier point guard essentially warm-up jump shots worked for a half. As did the Atlanta offense.

For "offense," please read that to mean "the jump shots went in." The Hawks made 12 of 26 jump shots (5 of them three-pointers) en route to 55 first half points. They made just 6 of 21 jumpers (4 of them three-pointers) in the 31-point second half. A relative paucity of shots at or near the rim combined with a poor rate of conversion on those should-have-been higher-percentage shots left the Hawks inert and impotent offensively down the stretch.

At the defensive end, as Paul became more aggressive attacking Atlanta's perimeter defenders in pursuit of his own shot, Drew managed to turn his first half unit of Bibby/Crawford/Evans/Powell/Pachulia into a relatively reasonable defensive lineup in retrospect. Joe Johnson can't stay in front of Chris Paul? Bring in Mo Evans to guard him. Josh Smith picks up his fourth foul with 4:07 left in the third quarter? Put Jason Collins in to face a steady diet of pick-and-roll. Mike Bibby (7 points on 8 shots, 5 assists, just 1 turnover thanks to his teammates salvaging some truly poor passes when under pressure from Paul) and Jamal Crawford (10 points on 9 shots, 5 turnovers) are playing poorly offensively and must both be hidden from Paul defensively? Leave them both on the court for the final 18:03* and play some zone. Playing three poor defensive guards causing problems throughout the second half? Never play Josh Smith and Marvin Williams at the same time over the final 18:03.

*This didn't actually happen. In my amazement over Mo Evans being put in the game specifically to guard Chris Paul, I did not note that he replaced Bibby. I also missed the chance at correcting my error when examining the play-by-play. Jamal Crawford played the final 18:03 of the game (during which time he committed four of his five turnovers). Bibby only played alongside him for 15:16 of that stretch.

Drew consistently aggravated the potential damage of the admittedly limited defensive options at his disposal. Marvin Williams, Mo Evans, and Jason Collins can be useful defensive players but not when Williams is used at power forward, when Evans plays small forward alongside Bibby and Crawford, or when Evans and Collins are asked to stop Chris Paul from running pick-and-roll over and over and over.

With the exception of Josh Powell (whose limitations should be obvious to anyone with access to game tape or Basketball-Reference.com or Basketball Value or 82games.com), Drew has been around these players for between two and seven seasons and, on this night, demonstrated no understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. It's not encouraging. Especially considering the understanding the rest of the league demonstrates about the Hawks: attack them off the dribble, attack the offensive glass as the frontcourt deals with dribble penetration, attack them in transition, encourage them to take jump shots, rebound the misses. Some teams (Cleveland, for example) lack the talent to beat the Hawks but that doesn't mean they don't know how to go about trying to beat the Hawks. Do the Hawks know how to give themselves the best chance at winning games?

Boxing Day Game Preview: Atlanta Hawks (19-12) @ New Orleans Hornets (17-12)

TIP-OFF: 7pm (EST)

TELEVISION: SportSouth

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

GAME NOTES: Hawks/Hornets

ATLANTA INJURY REPORT: Jamal Crawford is questionable.

NEW ORLEANS INJURY REPORT: Pops Mensah-Bonsu is out.

BY THE NUMBERS

2010-11	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
ATL (off)	90.1	1.07	50.7	22.1	23.9	15.2
NO (def)	88.4	1.035	48.2	29.1	22.4	16.3

2010-11	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
ATL (def)	90.2	1.049	48.3	27.6	25.5	14.4
NO (off)	88.4	1.065	49.4	23.9	24.3	15.9

OTHER PERSPECTIVES: Hornets 247, At The Hive

FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: New Orleans -4, 184.5 o/u

PREVIOUSLY...the New Orleans Hornets have won just 6 of 17 games following their 11-1 start to the season. They appear to have turned a corner on the most deflating stretch of their season. They've only split their last four games, but the victories were by 29 points against Utah and 14 against New Jersey, while the losses were by a single point at Indiana and by 3 points (in overtime) at Detroit.

What is Boxing Day? Per Wikipedia:

During the late 18th century, Lords and Ladies of the manor "boxed up" leftover food, or sometimes gifts, and distributed them the day after Christmas to tenants on their lands. Many poorly paid workers had to work on Christmas Day and took the following day off to visit family. As they prepared to leave, employers presented them with these Christmas boxes.

Pape Sy visits the D-League tomorrow.

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

Hornets 96 Hawks 88

Boxscore

Gameflow

Highlights

Team	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
ATL	86.9	1.013	39.4	14.9	36.4	9.2
NO	86.9	1.105	50.6	11.8	28.9	13.8

I don't know if it was due to travel, to the Hawks playing their second game in two nights, to the amount of effort summoned to defeat the Rockets on Friday night, or a combination of all three* but the Hawks appeared very heavy-legged last night in New Orleans, none moreso than the team's two best players, Joe Johnson and Josh Smith.

Johnson struggled to get himself into dangerous positions, either for himself or in service of setting up his teammates, offensively needing 18 shots to score 14 points and carded just three assists. Defensively, Johnson appeared to have no chance to keep up with Marcus Thornton.

Smith was credited with seven assists, the result of solid play and his teammates making an inordinate percentage of the few jump shots they made on the night after he passed them the ball but he needed 12 field goal and 8 free throw attempts to score 14 points and was generally less aggressive than he has typically been this season, a situation exemplified best by either his using four of his twelve field goal attempts on jump shots** or his actions after David West overpowered him in the post to the lay the ball in with 2:53 in the game to put New Orleans up 88-76. While in-bounding the ball Smith complained vociferously and animatedly to the nearest official about...something, Jamal Crawford brought the ball up court at the galloping pace one would expect from a team down 12 late and trying to do something about it. Smith, however, does not appear in the picture until 16 seconds are left on the shot clock and even then he's seen strolling sort-of into position outside the three-point line at the top of the key.

*Not that any or all these represent a failing of some kind so much as human reality writes the man recapping the game 12 hours after its conclusion.

**He missed all four and has missed his last 12 jump shots over a period of time spanning back to the third quarter of the game in Boston.

The Hornets missed their first eight shots which seemed like a good sign three-and-three-quarter minutes into the game. An 0-8 stretch is bad. An 0-8 stretch to start a game is obvious and attention-grabbing but likely no more damaging than 0-8 stretch at any point in the game. An 0-8 stretch followed by a 37-77 stretch that includes 12 made three-pointers isn't, after all, that damaging a start and certainly is better than a consistent, game-long 35-94 effort from the field that includes just four made three-pointers.

Extending that line of thought* to a season-long perspective, an 11-2 start is great and relatively rare. Partly due the fact that each team only gets one first 13-game stretch of the season. But there are lots of 13-game stretches and thus lots of opportunities to win 11 of 13 games over the course of an entire season.

*and previewing an upcoming post

It's easier to win when everyone's healthy and available to play. There's no word yet how long Mike Bibby's ankle injury will keep him out. I don't believe any of us who have watched every moment of every Hawks game this season have an explanation as to why the Hawks have been so good defensively when Bibby is on the floor but they have been and he could be missed defensively. We do know that, good as he's been as a complementary player so far this season, Jamal Crawford has never played a key role on a good team and, as promising and talented as Jeff Teague is in the long-term, guards drafted outside the lottery rarely contribute meaningfully in their rookie seasons. Should Bibby miss any time (and the four days off until the Thanksgiving night game against Orlando increase the chance that he won't) the Hawks figure, in his absence, to face their toughest test of the season, one which will provide valuable perspective on the team's hot start.

Mike Woodson on Bibby's injury:

"He's a big part of what we do and we don't know how long he'll be out."

Joe Johnson:

"Marcus Thornton was definitely the story of the game. We really didn't have an answer for him. Their guard play really helped then get over the hump. ... They shot lights out from the 3-point line."

I suspect that Drew is using understatement to put the loss into perspective here:

It only took three losses, but opponents now have a clear understanding of how to beat the Atlanta Hawks. Drill three pointers at a clip your team will not see the rest of the season and force long jumpers by the Hawks.

Finally, Niall Doherty recaps the game from the Hornet perspective and provides an opportunity for some Hawks fans to indulfe their rookie guard jealousies.

November 21st Game Thread: Atlanta (11-2) @ New Orleans (5-8)

TIP-OFF: 8pm (EST)

TELEVISION: Fox Sports South

RADIO: Hawks Radio Network, Audio League Pass

GAME NOTES: Hawks/Hornets

ATLANTA INJURY REPORT: None.

NEW ORLEANS INJURY REPORT: Chris Paul is out. Ike Diogu is questionable.

FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: Atlanta -5, 203.5 o/u

OTHER PERSPECTIVES: Hornets247.com

PREVIOUSLY, THE NEW ORLEANS HORNETS...won two straight home games: 110-102 over the Clippers and 110-103 over Phoenix. The Hornets' defense was merely less below average in the two wins than in their blowout loss in Atlanta last Saturday. They won because they averaged 120 points per 100 possessions, an excellent rate fueled not by especially good shooting or by not turning the ball over but by controlling the offensive glass, over the course of two games, about as well as Houston did last night. New Orleans grabbed 43% of possible offensive rebounds against the Clippers and 51% against Phoenix.

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

Hawks 121 Hornets 98

Boxscore

Gameflow

Highlights

Team	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
NO	95.8	1.022	47.8	12.1	31.1	17.7
ATL	95.8	1.262	58.5	20.4	38.6	14.6

Joe Johnson tipped in Josh Smith's missed breakaway layup with 9:26 left in the first half to put the Hawks up 8-6. New Orleans never caught the Hawks. Three-and-a-quarter, erm, quarters of indifferent defending kept the Hawks form putting the game away until the 16-0 run that began somewhat inauspiciously with Mike Bibby making of one of two free throws and turned a 95-89 lead with 8:22 left in the game into a 11-89 lead with 4:03 left.

To date, this is an outstanding offensive team, capable of scoring, in terms of an NBA game, essentially at will despite making just 62% of their free throws and 40% of the team's rotation (Marvin Williams, Jeff Teague, Mo Evans, and Joe Smith) combining to make just 6 of 25 field goal attempts. The five Hawks who played the most minutes last night: Johnson, Josh Smith, Al Horford, Mike Bibby, and Jamal Crawford shot 74.1 eFG% for the game. It was a tremendous offensive performance even if it partly revealed how far New Orleans' problems extend beyond Byron Scott or Chris Paul's absence.

I can't imagine what it felt like for a Hornets fan to watch this game, the team without Paul and Tim Floyd newly installed in a prominent place on the bench. I'm sure they don't want sympathy any more than Hawks fans did during the long, dark days not-so-long ago. Without the experience of watching a bad, seemingly hopeless basketball team for so long, would watching this Hawks team feel so fulfilling? This team isn't perfect, as the losses in Los Angeles and Charlotte demonstrated, but it is very good and has proven capable of combining four good offensive quarters with one good defensive quarter to comfortably see off inferior opposition. Having also demonstrated a higher level of sustained two-way execution in both Portland and Boston one can't* nitpick the inconsistent defense with a clean conscience.

*At least this one can't.

The Atlanta Hawks are calmly and coolly taking care of business into the season's fourth week. Their success doesn't feel like an illusion, and, though they're unlikely to win 80% of their games the rest of the way, I suspect that will have more to do with the vagaries and length of NBA season than fundamental flaws in the team.

Mike Woodson:

"They knew it was that time to buckle down. You could hear guys saying, ‘Let's go,' and they went right out and did what they said they were."

Al Horford:

"I think that's when we're at our best, when we're running, when we're just freelancing and playing, but it all starts getting that stop on defense and getting the rebound."

Jamal Crawford:

"It's not going to be pretty, but as long as you leave with a win, that's all that matters."

Joe Johnson:

"We'll take it."

Cue dramatic music.

Johnson:

"But the work is not finished."

Now, that's a post-game quote we can all get behind.

November 14th Game Thread: New Orleans (3-7) @ Atlanta (7-2)

TIP-OFF: 7:00pm (EST)

TELEVISION: Fox Sports South

RADIO: Hawks Radio Network, Audio League Pass

GAME NOTES: Hawks/Hornets

ATLANTA INJURY REPORT: None.

CHARLOTTE INJURY REPORT: Chris Paul is out. Ike Diogu is questionable.

FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: Atlanta -12.5, 196.5 o/u

OTHER PERSPECTIVES: Hornets247

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

Hawks 108 Hornets 102

There's no narrative to a game that doesn't counts. Hence, bullets...

• Joe Johnson (17 points on 10 shots, 4 assists, 0 turnovers) looked sharp.
• Josh Smith looked like himself as well: solid production despite questionable shot selection and unnecessary griping at the officials.
• Joe Smith (left knee), Mo Evans (left knee contusion), and Jason Collins (strained right quad) all sat out so Othello Hunter was the second big man off the bench and Mario West the first wing.
• Frank Robinson and Randolph Morris were first guys from deep on the bench to enter the game, both got a cameo at the end of the second quarter.
• Mike Wilks came off the bench. Juan Dixon and Aaron Miles did not. If Wilks makes the team, please remember I called it.
• Not that Wilks did anything of note.
• Post-game, Woodson singled (tripled?) out Teague, Mario West, and Othello Hunter for doing "an excellent job" filling in for their injured teammates.
• Woodson also intimated that they're only keeping "one of five or six guys." I think that means Randolph Morris is going to have his contract honored. I don't see how else they get to 13 unless West and Hunter fall in some other category as returning free agents.
  
• Garret Siler came in with 5:57 left in the fourth quarter. He drew a shooting foul on his first offensive possession and made one of the two free throws.
  
• The Hawks pressed full-court for a couple of second quarter possessions against the Hornets' bench with a Teague/Crawford/West/Hunter/Pachulia.
• Teague is visibly slighter than Chris Paul.
• Don't take that to mean that he can't finish at the rim.
  
• I don't know if it was due to caution or intelligence but Teague waited until Chris Paul was not guarding him to attack the basket off the dribble.
• Teague gambles/anticipates a lot defensively with tapping the ball from behind his fall-back strategy if beat. Dwyane Wade, he ain't yet, however.
• In the excitement following his second quarter breakaway dunk, Teague needed reminders from both Bibby and Josh Smith as to who he was supposed to pick up defensively.
• New Orleans didn't provide much resistance inside without Emeka Okafor, Ike Diogu, and even Hilton Armstrong.
• Zaza Pachulia took pleasure in getting to play against Earl Barron and Sean Marks.
• Chris Paul is incapable of coasting.
• James Posey is not.
• How do we know this was a pre-season game? Mike Woodson and Byron Scott let their teams play a 100 possession game.
• If anything, the replacement refs were thorough in calling fouls. There were long stretches of summer league quality action and, just as we shouldn't draw too many conclusions about players from the pre-season games, nor should we with regard to the replacement refs.
• If the company lets you use the luxury suite for a pre-season game do you feel good about that?
• Based on informal observation in and around Section 118, adult men who attend a pre-season Hawks game are more likely to sport the jersey of a former player than a current one.
• Hornets247 was generous enough to value my opinion of their side of the game.
  

Pre-Season Game #1 Thread: What Do You Care About?

Hawks and Hornets open the exhibition season tonight at 7pm at Philips. I doubt that anyone will anything of substance but I'm curious about what you're curious about tonight's game.

For me, and in no particular order...

• Injuries (Joe Smith and Mo Evans sat out yesterday's scrimmage.)
• Jeff Teague
• If any of the training camp invitees play
• If any of the training camp invitees play well

Leave your litanies of interests in the comments.

GAMEDAY LINKS

• Lang Whitaker previews the Hawks for SLAM Online:

  What should we consider a successful year for the Hawks this season?

  I think 50 wins is a completely realistic goal, as is retaining home court in the first round of the Playoffs. Realistically, these Hawks are still a few players away from being a Championship contender — they could use another point guard besides Jeff Teague, and maybe another swingman.

  But just as realistically, the only thing holding these Hawks back from being a title team? Themselves.

• One of the most consistent criticisms leveled against Mike Woodson (and one Lang mentions in his preview) is his tendency to make reactive rather than proactive decisions. Whether any of this plan comes to pass (Sekou is openly skeptical in the story), the forethought is a positive sign.
• DeJuan Blair debuted last night and I still do not understand.
• Emeka Okafor and Ike Diogu are out for New Orleans tonight.
• Could be a bittersweet night for Aaron Miles and/or Courtney Sims fans. I'll try and hold it together.
• In the next eight days, the Hornets will play pre-season games in Greensboro, New Orleans, Wichita, and Kansas City. That strikes me as a less than ideal itinerary.
  

This post will be updated with any relevant news as the day progresses.

Hawks 89 Hornets 79

Boxscore

Gameflow

Team	Poss	Off Eff	eFG%	FT Rate	OR%	TO%
NO	85.5	0.92	41.9	15	20.5	12.9
ATL	85.5	1.04	46.8	22.1	23.8	10.5

Over the game's final 42 minutes the Hawks played defense like they did in the season's first three games (including the 87-79 win in New Orleans). They packed in below the three-point stripe, kept Chris Paul (for the most part) out of the lane, let the Hornets lack of off-the-ball movement (Julian Wright excepted) stifle themselves, and (this cannot be overemphasized) controlled the defensive glass.

The last time Atlanta grabbed 79.5% or more of their possible defensive rebounds was on February 27th against Miami. I think that was also the last time I had much positive to report about the Hawks defense. As in that game, the Hawks got the benefit of their opponent missing some decent shots* but, had the Hawks not set up their opponent's role players to become comfortable standing around watching their 1st Team All Pro teammate try and create sufficient offense all by himself it wouldn't have made much difference.

*David West, in particular, were he to take the exact same 21 shot attempts another night would struggle to make only 8 of them.

Not that the Hawks did a great job (with Joe Johnson being a very large and obvious exception) of knocking down their open shots. Both Mike Bibby and Al Horford failed to convert a majority of their good shot attempts and Josh Smith, well, a lot of the open shots* he took were open by New Orleans' design.

*Five jump shots, only one made. Which still leaves him 4-8 FGA, 3-6 FTA, 3 assists, and 4 turnovers on his less bad-to-good offensive plays. Not a great offensive night for Smith. Again. The defense and the 13 rebounds probably made up for it.

Most interestingly, two days after choosing not to go to his bench much at all on the back end of a back-to-back, Mike Woodson leaned on his reserves and was rewarded for the trust he demonstrated. Starting Maurice Evans was out of necessity, using Flip Murray for 29:57 is about par for the course now, but playing Zaza Pachulia for the entire fourth quarter* and giving Acie Law IV stints of 9:49 and 9:56 were both marked changes. Furthermore, Sekou Smith reports this was a conscious, premeditated choice.

*It was an odd choice to leave Al Horford on the bench for the final 9:59 unless Horford was suffering from an undisclosed and unreported injury but it didn't hurt the Hawks.

Mike Woodson:

"Everybody that came off the bench was solid. Flip played a solid game, but to see Acie and Solomon, guys who hadn’t played a lot of minutes lately, to step in and give us some positive minutes was huge tonight."

Josh Smith:

"Acie came in and did the job and Solomon has done it all year when guys have been out. We just have to keep playing hard and playing defense the way we’ve been these past two games. And as long as we keep getting these home wins, nobody can complain."

I guess I was not sufficiently impressed by Solomon Jones' put-back dunk and complete lack of production outside of that moment during the 6:46 he played.

Tyson Chandler:

"They switch across the board and they come at you with 6-7, 6-8 guys or better who are all athletic. And it caused problems for us tonight. Their scrambling caused some mismatches for us and made things difficult."

I'll wait and see how that athletic switching does against Utah's half-court offense before I stop assigning some of the credit for stopping the Hornets to the Hornets themselves, especially the bizarre cult of James Posey.

David West is frustration personified in this quote:

"I think they didn't do anything to us defensively. We couldn't guard them. Our defense just couldn't guard them. We couldn't put together enough stops by any stretch to beat this team. When we're not necessarily getting quality shots or making shots, our defense has to get even tougher. And we didn't do that. They're able to do what they want to do on the offensive end, and we were basically on our heels the whole night defensively. We didn't do enough defensively to give ourselves a shot. We didn't come in with the right mindset. We know Joe Johnson is the guy, and we weren't able to put the clamps on him. I thought we didn't play with the right intensity defensively. Our defense has to be our constant."

Blaming effort and defense for a loss is a constant across all teams and levels of basketball. The Hornets held the Hawks about 4% below their average offensive efficiency. Some of that may have been Marvin Williams' absence, but New Orleans' defense didn't lose this game.

Ryan Schwan at Hornets247:

Atlanta packed the defense in more and more as the game wore on, and the Hornets didn't knock down their long range shots to force them to play a more honest perimeter defense to open driving lanes. It was so bad in the second half that they started almost every defensive posessions with no player within six or seven feet of the three point line. The Hornets almost always attacked by finding a post up mistmatch and trying to exploit that. Unfortunately, Posey and Butler may be bigger than the guys guarding them, but they aren't so good at scoring from the post, and little came of it except a pass back out to the perimeter with only a few seconds left on the clock.

At Peachtree Hoops, Drew pulls off the difficult feat of making a compelling case for how Chris Paul and Zaza Pachulia are similar players.

Marvin Williams' back gets a separate post to follow shortly.

March 9th Live Blog: New Orleans (39-22) @ Atlanta (35-28)

TIP-OFF: 7pm

TELEVISION: SportSouth HD

RADIO: Hawks Radio Network, Audio League Pass

GAME NOTES: Hawks/Hornets

ATLANTA INJURY REPORT: Marvin Williams is out.

NEW ORLEANS INJURY REPORT: Peja Stojakovic and Morris Peterson are both expected to return to action at some point during New Orleans' four-game road trip.

FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: New Orleans -1.5, 188 o/u

OTHER PERSPECTIVES: Hornets247, At the Hive

PREVIOUSLY, THE NEW ORLEANS HORNETS...have won seven straight games, the last two victories (Dallas, Oklahoma City) featuring Julian Wright in the starting lineup in Peja Stojakovic's absence. The Hawks beat the Hornets 87-79 in New Orleans on November 5th.

Hornets 116 Hawks 101

Boxscore

Gameflow

I don't think anyone expected the Hawks to win in New Orleans last night. David West's absence made things interesting for two-and-a-half quarters but the first of what I hope to be many productive nights from Julian Wright helped the Hornets put the game away early enough that they could focus on entertaining the crowd during the lengthy fourth quarter delay cause by a busted net.

So I don't have much to say about the Hawks this morning. I don't know why josh Smith played less than 30 minutes. I don't know why Mike Woodson thinks points scored by the other team in last two minutes of the first half don't count as much as points scored during the rest of the game.

All I have are a couple of Hornets-related thoughts that I'd like to get down for my own reference if nothing else.

1) I downgraded Chris Paul prior to the 2005 NBA Draft because of concerns I had about his defense and the difficulty of playing point guard on a bad team. In the future I endeavor to limit the focus of my draft evaluations to the player's demonstrated ability and potential for improvement. Assumptions about what might happen aren't relevant at the time of the draft. If a bad team/franchise screws up a player's development I'll comment on that when it happens.

2) The Bulls essentially traded Tyson Chandler because he and Scott Skiles didn't get along. Less than two years later, Skiles is gone and a good chunk of the money they would have spent on Chandler had they kept him is being paid to Larry Hughes. Now Skiles is/was an above average head coach and it was still turned out to be a bad idea to trade Chandler. I'll keep this in mind when considering the futures of Zaza Pachulia and Salim Stoudamire this summer. Are they incapable of being productive bench players or is their future ex-head coach incapable of using them in a productive manner?

The Hawks play for three results this weekend. For The Drive For 35 to continue apace they have to secure at least two wins though anything less than a sweep may just be delaying the inevitable. Charlotte (now Jeff McInnis free) beat Golden State 118-109 at home last night. The Hawks gave away their last game in Charlotte. If they lose there Friday night it will be time to consider getting on with our lives for the remainder of the regular season.

Hornets 92 Hawks 86

Boxscore

Gameflow

I took in a cross-cultural doubleheader of mediocrity last night. I don't know who delivered a more disappointing performance, Joe Johnson or The Selmanaires.

The are nights when it's apparent that the Hawks need Joe Johnson to carry the offense and on some of those nights he's capable of doing so and on others he isn't but neither is he culpable for the offense's inadequacies.

Last night however, Johnson kept the ball out of the hands of the players capable of helping him carry the offensive burden. For the first time, I noticed either Johnson's inability to or disinterest in feeding the post. Al Horford isn't a polished post player yet but Hilton Armstrong isn't a polished post defender. Horford should have been allowed a chance to take advantage of Tyson Chandler's absence in the second half but he repeatedly failed to get the ball when he posted Armstrong up.

It's a shame the team doesn't utilize its smartest and most aggressive player more. Horford is certainly the Hawk most willing to push the basketball up the court. He's arguably the Hawks' best option to run the fast break. The sooner Mike Woodson treats Horford and Marvin Williams as members of the team equally valuable to Joe Johnson and Josh Smith, the better.

Admittedly, the game was likely lost due to Atlanta's awful backcourt defense. Chris Paul predictably toyed with Anthony Johnson all night (Paul made his first 7 shots of the night. Considering that Mo Williams was 9-9 from the field Wednesday night. That's at least 16 makes in a row by the opposing starting point guard. The last miss by an opposing starting point guard occurred when Kirk Hinrich has a shot blocked with 3:25 left in the second quarter on Tuesday.) but Byron Scott didn't even need Paul for most of the fourth quarter as Jannero Pargo lit up the Hawks like Jose Juan Barea, Eddie House, and Chris Duhon before him. If Peja Stojakovic had been able to make an open jump shot, New Orleans would have beaten the Hawks as badly as the Bulls did Tuesday night in Chicago.

Despite that, the most infuriating moment for this spectator was Mike Woodson's decision, with 6:26 left in third quarter and the Hawks' two-point halftime lead having been turned into a four point deficit, to replace Marvin Williams, who had scored the only 4 Hawks points (on a single field goal attempt and two free throws) of the quarter, rather than Joe Johnson or Josh Smith, who had combined for three missed shots and three turnovers in the quarter, with Josh Childress.

Mike Woodson can't identify (or can't utilize) his players strengths and he can't identify which of his players is playing well at any given moment. It's time for him to go.