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: Jeff looked really good against the 5'9" Isiah Thomas, scoring 16 points (shooting 7-for-11 from the floor) with 7 assists and 3 steals. Made the only 3 he took and had a sick dunk off of a turnover. 7/10
Joe Johnson: In the first half it looked like the knee was still bothering Joe a great deal as he started 1-for-7. He did have 6 assists, but at times seemed timid and too willing to give up the ball. Totally turned that around in the 2nd half finishing with 21 points (his highest point total since January 31 against Toronto). Made all 9 FT attempts which was vital in the final minute to preserve the victory. 7/10
Kirk Hinrich: Hinrich got the start at the 2 even with Joe back in the lineup to try and match the smaller size Sacramento put on the court. Finished with 12 points (helped by 2-of-5 shooting from behind the arc), 3 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals. Played 42 minutes (the most of any player) and was most useful defensively as Tyreke Evans and Marcus Thornton were both held way below their ppg averages. 6/10
Josh Smith: Tonight was precisely why the Hawks cannot afford to trade J-Smoove. Josh led all scorers with 28 points, 19 coming in the 2nd half. The 3rd quarter was all Josh, Joe, and Jeff as they scored 26 of the Hawks 29 points (Vlad Rad hit the 3). Smoove kept playing aggressive and when he was double-teamed did a great job of finding the open man (which was usually Joe Johnson standing alone at the 3 point line) resulting in 3 assists. Did work on defense getting 3 blocks and 3 steals. Still took too many jumpers (FIVE 3 pointers!), but finished shooting 57% from the floor 9/10
Zaza Pachulia: Zaza was a beast in the first half, recording a double double with 4 minutes remaining in the 2nd quarter. Was outmatched at times by the 6'11" 270 lb Cousins, but grabbed 13 rebounds to go with his 10 points. Disappeared in the 2nd half when he got into foul trouble, but Marvin and VladRad were able to give quality minutes 7/10
Marvin Williams: Marvin didn't get the start tonight, but had a great game off of the bench finishing with 12 points and 5 rebounds in 24 minutes. Marvin showed incredible effort in the 2nd quarter with the second team. One of the biggest plays of the night was Marvin's steal that he took coast-to-coast and finished with a dunk and an and-1 that fouled out DeMarcus Cousins. Was vital in the final minute when Zaza fouled out and Drew decided to put Marvin at the 4 and Josh at the 5. 8/10
Vladimir Radmanovic: Was a beast off of the bench grabbing 10 rebounds in only 16 minutes of work. Only had 5 points, but was much more useful battling under the hoop. 5/10
Jannero Pargo: Had two just ridiculously bad turnovers in his 7 minutes of action, all coming in the first half. Had one made basket and one horrible airball. Was the only Hawks player with a negative plus/minus (-5) to further demonstrate how bad those 7 minutes were. 1/10
Erick Dampier: Damp came in to spell Zaza for 6 minutes in the first half and did not take a single shot. He was able to grab 2 rebounds to go with an assist and a block. incomplete
The head coach Leaving Marvin on the bench to start the game and going with 3 guards seemed questionable at tipoff. It was even more questionable when the Kings scored 12 of their first 14 points in the paint. However, Marvin seemed to get a spark coming in at the 3:03 mark of the 1st quarter, and for just the second time in the last 31 games all 5 starters scored double figures for the Hawks. Going small obviously worked to slow down the Kings' guards.
7/10
A thought regarding the opposition
The Kings are a young team that show it with their carelessness with the basketball. They're dangerous from behind the arc and get a ton of minutes from their bench. Cousins is going to be a stud.
Showing posts with label kings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kings. Show all posts
Monday, March 12, 2012
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Atlanta Hawks 100 Sacramento Kings 98
Boxscore
Gameflow
Highlights
In the first half, the Atlanta Hawks squandered any benefit of the doubt they received following Saturday night's home loss to the Houston Rockets. Unlike the Rockets, the Sacramento Kings are a comprehensively sub-par offensive team and not at all a bad matchup for the Hawks. But the Kings beat the Hawks down the court for easy buckets*, beat the Atlanta guards off the dribble for easy buckets, and rebounded 11 of their 23 first-half misses, often resulting in, yes, easy buckets. The result: 62 Sacramento points on 49 possessions. Only through the stalwart offensive efforts of Joe Johnson (18 first-half points on 15 shots, 4 assists) and Al Horford (15 first-half points on 12 shots, 3 assists) were the Hawks still in the game at halftime.
*The nadir probably being Donte Green's first quarter fast-break, alley-oop lay-in following a made Al Horford jumper.
One need only subtract 98 from 62 to realize that the Hawks defended far better in the second half. They slowed the tempo (Sacramento had just 41 second-half possessions), did a better job against dribble penetration, and rebounded almost 75% of Sacramento's misses.
Atlanta's offense perked up in the second-half, though the slower pace might hide the fact. Joe Johnson remained unstoppable, finishing with 36 points on 27 shots, 6 assists and no turnovers. Al Horford made the most of his rare (despite playing the entire second half) second-half touches, adding 8 points on 4 shots and 3 assists to his first-half totals, and Josh Smith, after using five of six field goal attempts on jump shots in the first three quarters, took six of seven* shots at the rim in the fourth quarter, scoring 10 essential points in the final 12 minutes.
*The seventh was the corner 3 he made off a pass from Horford with 3:17 left to put the Hawks up six.
As much as a win outweighs the bad performance that earns said win, there were some worrying aspects to this victory:
Larry Drew:
Gameflow
Highlights
| Team | Poss | Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% | TO% |
| SAC | 90 | 1.089 | 45.1 | 12.6 | 36.2 | 8.9 |
| ATL | 89 | 1.124 | 50 | 20.5 | 21.1 | 11.2 |
In the first half, the Atlanta Hawks squandered any benefit of the doubt they received following Saturday night's home loss to the Houston Rockets. Unlike the Rockets, the Sacramento Kings are a comprehensively sub-par offensive team and not at all a bad matchup for the Hawks. But the Kings beat the Hawks down the court for easy buckets*, beat the Atlanta guards off the dribble for easy buckets, and rebounded 11 of their 23 first-half misses, often resulting in, yes, easy buckets. The result: 62 Sacramento points on 49 possessions. Only through the stalwart offensive efforts of Joe Johnson (18 first-half points on 15 shots, 4 assists) and Al Horford (15 first-half points on 12 shots, 3 assists) were the Hawks still in the game at halftime.
*The nadir probably being Donte Green's first quarter fast-break, alley-oop lay-in following a made Al Horford jumper.
One need only subtract 98 from 62 to realize that the Hawks defended far better in the second half. They slowed the tempo (Sacramento had just 41 second-half possessions), did a better job against dribble penetration, and rebounded almost 75% of Sacramento's misses.
Atlanta's offense perked up in the second-half, though the slower pace might hide the fact. Joe Johnson remained unstoppable, finishing with 36 points on 27 shots, 6 assists and no turnovers. Al Horford made the most of his rare (despite playing the entire second half) second-half touches, adding 8 points on 4 shots and 3 assists to his first-half totals, and Josh Smith, after using five of six field goal attempts on jump shots in the first three quarters, took six of seven* shots at the rim in the fourth quarter, scoring 10 essential points in the final 12 minutes.
*The seventh was the corner 3 he made off a pass from Horford with 3:17 left to put the Hawks up six.
As much as a win outweighs the bad performance that earns said win, there were some worrying aspects to this victory:
- Four starters needing to play more than 40 minutes to beat the Kings by 2 at home.
- Mike Bibby playing 42:33 of an NBA game in 2011.
- Bibby and Jamal Crawford sharing the court for most the final 15-and-a-half minutes despite combining to shoot 1-9 from the field over that stretch and their on-court presence encouraging Larry Drew to try out that 2-3 zone again.
- Jeff Teague not being a part of the rotation in either game against the Kings. I guess he really doesn't match up well with Pooh Jeter.
- Lester Conner being interviewed on TV at the start of the second quarter and talking about the coaching staff demanding a commitment to defense from the players. Great sentiment. But while Conner spoke, one could clearly see Jamal Crawford, Josh Powell, and Etan Thomas all on the court for the Hawks, their presence rather undermining the coaching staff's sentiment.
- Damien Wilkins being asked, after sitting all but 5 seconds of the previous 34 minutes of game action, to guard Tyreke Evans on Sacramento's penultimate possession. The one where Evans drove right past Wilkins for a game-tying layup.
- Lots and lots of isolation sets over the final 3 minutes, not just for Johnson but for Crawford and Bibby as well.
Larry Drew:
"After the way we played against Houston, I really expected us to come out and play with more of a sense of urgency, especially having lost a game, having had a bad performance against Houston. I told our guys at halftime we came out soft and we played soft across the board."Tom Ziller on Larry Drew's use of Damien Wilkins:
Hawks coach Larry Drew had inserted Wilkins, a 31-year-old veteran roleplayer who averages a few minutes a week, specifically to guard 'Reke on the important possession, thus conceding any votes he would have gotten for Coach of the Year.At NBA Playbook, Sebatian Pruiti has little positive to say about either team when breaking down the final play of the game.
Monday, January 17, 2011
MLK Day Game Preview: Sacramento Kings (9-29) @ Atlanta Hawks (26-15)
TIP-OFF: 4pm (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/Kings
ATLANTA INJURY REPORT: Marvin Williams is still listed as day-to-day.
SACRAMENTO INJURY REPORT: None.
BY THE NUMBERS
OTHER PERSPECTIVES: Cowbell Kingdom, Sactown Royalty
FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: Atlanta -9.5, 201.5 o/u
PREVIOUSLY...the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Kings 108-102 in Sacramento 13 days ago.
Consider this an open thread for all pre-game, in-game, and post-game (but pre-recap) thoughts.
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/Kings
ATLANTA INJURY REPORT: Marvin Williams is still listed as day-to-day.
SACRAMENTO INJURY REPORT: None.
BY THE NUMBERS
| 2010-11 | Poss | Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% | TO% |
| SAC (off) | 94.1 | 1.026 | 47.3 | 20.1 | 29.8 | 14 |
| ATL (def) | 90.6 | 1.049 | 48.6 | 26.7 | 25.1 | 14.5 |
| 2010-11 | Poss | Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% | TO% |
| SAC (def) | 94.1 | 1.087 | 50.9 | 32.6 | 26.9 | 14.1 |
| ATL (off) | 90.4 | 1.081 | 51.2 | 22.7 | 23.7 | 15.4 |
OTHER PERSPECTIVES: Cowbell Kingdom, Sactown Royalty
FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: Atlanta -9.5, 201.5 o/u
PREVIOUSLY...the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Kings 108-102 in Sacramento 13 days ago.
Consider this an open thread for all pre-game, in-game, and post-game (but pre-recap) thoughts.
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
Atlanta Hawks 108 Sacramento Kings 102
Boxscore
Gameflow
Hoopdata boxscore
The Atlanta Hawks will earn no style point for this victory, with a 22-point fourth quarter lead shrinking to a 6-point victory after allowing the Sacramento Kings to score 39 fourth quarter points, 34 of them in the game's final seven minutes. But the Kings never had a real chance to win the game and the clumsy nature of the game's finish shouldn't overshadow a generally good performance from the Hawks.
In his pre-game blog, Michael Cunningham reported the following:
Box out: Extraordinarily successful. The Hawks limited Sacramento, an excellent offensive rebounding team, to grabbing 26% of their potential offensive rebounds. The Hawks were even better in the first half when they built their insurmountable lead. The Kings grabbed just 8.3% of their potential offensive rebounds before halftime.
Mike Bibby probably best exemplified the team's commitment to rebounding. He grabbed 10 rebounds in 33 minutes. The last time Bibby grabbed that many rebounds also came in Sacramento, almost five years ago.
Defend one-on-one: Successful. During the period of the game when the Hawks competed and played their regular rotation, the Kings struggled mightily to score. The Kings took the shots the Hawks wanted them to take.
Granted, Sacramento appeared to be the rare team disinterested in attacking the Atlanta backcourt off the dribble. Tyreke Evans consistently beat Joe Johnson off the dribble on the rare occasions he forswore a bad jump shot. Pooh Jeter consistently contented himself with getting Mike Bibby on his heels before pulling up for a 20-foot jumper. Beno Udrih allegedly played 26:20 but I have no recollection of that.
Defend in transition: Successful until the Hawks started turning the ball over in the fourth quarter. It's difficult to get beat in transition too often when you make more than half your shots and attack the offensive glass. The Hawks had a 27.8 offensive rebound rate despite securing zero fourth quarter offensive boards.
Play hard: Sure.
Take good shots: Very successful. Jamal Crawford and Joe Johnson took 35 of Atlanta's 78 shots. No one on the Kings could guard either player so those were all essentially good shots. Josh Smith missed all five of his jump shots but was 5-6 in the paint. Al Horford was 4-14 from the floor. That happens and he didn't choose exceptionally bad shots but some of his misses were so ugly that the mind's eye tried to count them twice.
Make the extra pass: Successful but not especially relevant. Often, all it took was one pass to break down Sacramento's defense or start a successful fast break.
Execute the offense: Successful. See above.
Put away bad teams: Unsuccessful. The Jamal Crawford/Evans/Wilkins/Smith/Pachulia lineup patently failed to put away the Kings.
Poor Jeff Teague, he sat for three-and-a-half quarters, finally got to join in the garbage time play with 3:54 left. Jamal Crawford turns the ball over, leading to a Tyreke Evans layup which cut Atlanta's lead to 12 and leading to Larry Drew re-inserting the starters (plus Crawford) with 3:26 left.
Crawford and the starters were outscored by six more point over the final 3:26.
Larry Drew:
Gameflow
Hoopdata boxscore
| Team | Poss | Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% | TO% |
| ATL | 98 | 1.102 | 56.4 | 25.6 | 27.8 | 20.4 |
| SAC | 98 | 1.041 | 47.4 | 25 | 26 | 11.2 |
The Atlanta Hawks will earn no style point for this victory, with a 22-point fourth quarter lead shrinking to a 6-point victory after allowing the Sacramento Kings to score 39 fourth quarter points, 34 of them in the game's final seven minutes. But the Kings never had a real chance to win the game and the clumsy nature of the game's finish shouldn't overshadow a generally good performance from the Hawks.
In his pre-game blog, Michael Cunningham reported the following:
Lester Conner’s pregame board has a different look tonight. The offensive and defensive keys are each labeled with “good teams.” As in . . .How did the Hawks succeed in ticking off the boxes on Conner's list?
Defensively, good teams: box out, defend one-on-one, defend in transition and play hard. Offensively, good teams: take good shots, make the extra pass, execute the offense, put away bad teams.
At the bottom of the keys: “REALIZE We are a good team.”
Box out: Extraordinarily successful. The Hawks limited Sacramento, an excellent offensive rebounding team, to grabbing 26% of their potential offensive rebounds. The Hawks were even better in the first half when they built their insurmountable lead. The Kings grabbed just 8.3% of their potential offensive rebounds before halftime.
Mike Bibby probably best exemplified the team's commitment to rebounding. He grabbed 10 rebounds in 33 minutes. The last time Bibby grabbed that many rebounds also came in Sacramento, almost five years ago.
Defend one-on-one: Successful. During the period of the game when the Hawks competed and played their regular rotation, the Kings struggled mightily to score. The Kings took the shots the Hawks wanted them to take.
Granted, Sacramento appeared to be the rare team disinterested in attacking the Atlanta backcourt off the dribble. Tyreke Evans consistently beat Joe Johnson off the dribble on the rare occasions he forswore a bad jump shot. Pooh Jeter consistently contented himself with getting Mike Bibby on his heels before pulling up for a 20-foot jumper. Beno Udrih allegedly played 26:20 but I have no recollection of that.
Defend in transition: Successful until the Hawks started turning the ball over in the fourth quarter. It's difficult to get beat in transition too often when you make more than half your shots and attack the offensive glass. The Hawks had a 27.8 offensive rebound rate despite securing zero fourth quarter offensive boards.
Play hard: Sure.
Take good shots: Very successful. Jamal Crawford and Joe Johnson took 35 of Atlanta's 78 shots. No one on the Kings could guard either player so those were all essentially good shots. Josh Smith missed all five of his jump shots but was 5-6 in the paint. Al Horford was 4-14 from the floor. That happens and he didn't choose exceptionally bad shots but some of his misses were so ugly that the mind's eye tried to count them twice.
Make the extra pass: Successful but not especially relevant. Often, all it took was one pass to break down Sacramento's defense or start a successful fast break.
Execute the offense: Successful. See above.
Put away bad teams: Unsuccessful. The Jamal Crawford/Evans/Wilkins/Smith/Pachulia lineup patently failed to put away the Kings.
Poor Jeff Teague, he sat for three-and-a-half quarters, finally got to join in the garbage time play with 3:54 left. Jamal Crawford turns the ball over, leading to a Tyreke Evans layup which cut Atlanta's lead to 12 and leading to Larry Drew re-inserting the starters (plus Crawford) with 3:26 left.
Crawford and the starters were outscored by six more point over the final 3:26.
Larry Drew:
"Everyone has games like this. This is the NBA. These things happen."Drew:
"I thought we would do a better job finishing up. I wanted to give the starters some rest but we just let our guard down. We stopped defending. We stopped executing. We stopped running. They made some shots."Jamal Crawford on Sacramento's futile comeback:
"They sped the game up and started trapping. They junked it up and it gave them some life."Paul Westphal on the two jumpers Joe Johnson made in the final 3:26:
"We made them put their starters back in the game and Joe Johnson just kept making play after play, big shots."Larry Drew on Joe Johnson:
"Joe is Joe. Put the ball in his hands, and he'll deliver for us. He's a tremendous weapon on offense and can score at will. He's been criticized about being in a shooting slump, but once his elbow is 100 percent, he'll regain his stroke."Johnson:
"The elbow is getting better, but it's not quite where I want it to be yet. It [shooting slumps] happen (sic). I never make any excuses about my statistics."Josh Smith:
"We have to go to a tough environment at Utah on a back-to-back in a mile-high road game. We could have used that rest."At Cowbell Kingdom, James Ham on Jamal Crawford:
The veteran bench scorer torched the Kings early and often, tallying 31 points on 10-17 shooting and adding seven assists. Every time the Kings got close, Crawford seemed to sense it and drill a big shot. Joe Johnson was amazing as well, especially in the fourth quarter, but Crawford scored eight in the first, seven in the second, six in the third and ten in the fourth for a very balanced 31 points.
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
January 4th Game Preview: Atlanta Hawks (22-14) @ Sacramento Kings (7-24)
TIP-OFF: 10pm (EST)
TELEVISION: SportSouth
RADIO: The Hawks have moved to 97.9 on the FM dial this season.
CHAT: Daily Dime Live
GAME NOTES: Hawks/Kings
ATLANTA INJURY REPORT: Marvin Williams is not with the team.
SACRAMENTO INJURY REPORT: Beno Udrih is questionable.
BY THE NUMBERS
OTHER PERSPECTIVES: Cowbell Kingdom, Sactown Royalty
FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: Atlanta -5, 190.5 o/u
PREVIOUSLY...the Sacramento Kings beat the Phoenix Suns 94-89 on Sunday. It was Sacramento's second straight home win (the Kings beat Memphis 100-98 last Wednesday). In fact, their last five wins have come at home. Unfortunately for the Kings, one must look back as far as November 1st to find the first of those five wins. That makes the Kings 5-23 in their last 28 games.
One reason why: the inefficiency with which Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins use a high volume of possessions.
Consider this an open thread for all pre-game, in-game, and post-game (but pre-recap) thoughts.
TELEVISION: SportSouth
RADIO: The Hawks have moved to 97.9 on the FM dial this season.
CHAT: Daily Dime Live
GAME NOTES: Hawks/Kings
ATLANTA INJURY REPORT: Marvin Williams is not with the team.
SACRAMENTO INJURY REPORT: Beno Udrih is questionable.
BY THE NUMBERS
| 2010-11 | Poss | Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% | TO% |
| ATL (off) | 90.1 | 1.071 | 50.8 | 22.6 | 23.5 | 15.3 |
| SAC (def) | 93.1 | 1.082 | 50.2 | 25.1 | 27.2 | 13.8 |
| 2010-11 | Poss | Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% | TO% |
| ATL (def) | 90.3 | 1.047 | 48.3 | 27.3 | 25.3 | 14.5 |
| SAC (off) | 93.1 | 1.01 | 46.3 | 20 | 30 | 14.1 |
OTHER PERSPECTIVES: Cowbell Kingdom, Sactown Royalty
FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: Atlanta -5, 190.5 o/u
PREVIOUSLY...the Sacramento Kings beat the Phoenix Suns 94-89 on Sunday. It was Sacramento's second straight home win (the Kings beat Memphis 100-98 last Wednesday). In fact, their last five wins have come at home. Unfortunately for the Kings, one must look back as far as November 1st to find the first of those five wins. That makes the Kings 5-23 in their last 28 games.
One reason why: the inefficiency with which Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins use a high volume of possessions.
Consider this an open thread for all pre-game, in-game, and post-game (but pre-recap) thoughts.
Monday, November 15, 2010
ESPN.com: Stein: Testing the Early Trade Winds
Marc Stein reports the Sacramento Kings offered the Atlanta Hawks Jason Thompson for Jeff Teague:
Another reason the Hawks may have turned the deal down: unlike Powell or the two-headed third-string center monster, they'd have had to pay Jason Thompson's entire salary this season and the next. Bad contracts limit a team's options in lots of ways.
More from the other perspective courtesy of Tom Ziller at Sactown Royalty
It wasn't long ago that Thompson, selected with the No. 12 overall pick in the 2008 draft, and Spencer Hawes were being touted as the Kings' frontcourt tandem of the future.I presume the Hawks declined the offer (assuming that "featuring" means that Teague and Thompson were the two best players in the proposed deal) because of the lack of cover this would leave the Hawks at the point rather than any satisfaction in Josh Powell's performance. If you're going to use a horrible defender as your backup power forward, I suspect you'd rather he be a younger player who can score than an offensive black hole.
Now?
Thompson is averaging just 15.4 minutes per game off the bench and has been shopped by the Kings, who according to one source with knowledge of the talks offered the 6-11, 250-pounder to Atlanta in a deal featuring young point guard Jeff Teague. The Hawks declined.
Another reason the Hawks may have turned the deal down: unlike Powell or the two-headed third-string center monster, they'd have had to pay Jason Thompson's entire salary this season and the next. Bad contracts limit a team's options in lots of ways.
More from the other perspective courtesy of Tom Ziller at Sactown Royalty
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Hawks 108 Kings 97
Boxscore
Gameflow
Hoopdata Boxscore
Highlights
I don't know that much was learned from that victory. We already knew the Hawks can outlast inferior opposition at home with only sporadic defensive contributions. We already knew that the Hawks are difficult to beat anywhere when Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford make their shots (14-26 FGA, 4-9 3PTA combined). We already knew that the Hawks will not ask their post players to carry them offensively even when they posses seriously significant* matchup advantages. Josh Smith and Al Horford combined for 31 points on 17 shots, were 9-11 at the rim, and earned seven** assists between them. Still, the Hawks used more than a quarter (21 of 78, 26.9%) of their field goal attempts on long two-point shots.
*Sacramento's post rotation: Jason Thompson, Jon Brockman, Hilton Armstrong, Spencer Hawes. There's not a good defender on that list.
Paul Westphal:
**Six of those assists coming in the more competitive first half.
Amidst all that sameness, one thing stood out: Mike Woodson made a concerted effort to rest his starters. With the exception of Josh Smith (who missed the last 6:40 of the first quarter after getting kneed in the left quad), the starters rested for at least the first 4:23 of the second quarter, none played more than 8:34 of the third quarter, and Marvin Williams (who ably attacked Sacramento's interior defense himself, scoring 13 points on 9 field goal and 5 free throw attempts) was the only starter to play more than half of the fourth quarter. He played six minutes and one second fo the fourth.
The second unit (mostly) repayed Woodson's trust. Joe Smith, Zaza Pachulia, and Mo Evans were all active and reasonably productive. Jeff Teague and Mario West were both active and even Randolph Morris worked effectively against Sacramento's post defense in his late cameo.
West again got off to a terrible start defensively, giving up Tyreke Evans layups* on the first two possessions he played, fouling Jon Brockman on a breakaway dunk** and committing two more fouls in his first 153 seconds on the court. From that point on, though, he did a decent job making it difficult for Sacramento to get Evans the ball. Is this perhaps a strategy to force Woodson into giving him extended run?
*That West couldn't guard Evans was neither a surprise nor unique among Hawks players.
**Which, had Brockman made the free throw, would rather have compounded the team's embarrassment at letting Jon Brockman score on a breakway dunk.
Unable to get Evans the ball whenever and wherever he wanted it, Spencer Hawes (for some reason) took it upon himself to be the focal point of Sacramento's offense. That Paul Westphal neither called a timeout nor removed Hawes from the game to prevent this from happening was the largest factor in turning a four point Hawks lead with 2:26 left in the third quarter into thirteen point lead at the end of the quarter.
Zach Harper of Cowbell Kingdom:
I don't understand 1) Why more people don't attend mid-week games. 2) Why people can't get to games by tip-off. 3) Why this is considered a valid factor for some of the (completely unsurprising) mediocre defensive performances from the Hawks. Yes, it would help the team if they had a raucous home crowd behind them 41 times a year but it can hardly be a surprise to them when they don't.
Mike Woodson:
JOSH SMITH LINKS
Gameflow
Hoopdata Boxscore
Highlights
| Team | Poss | Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% | TO% |
| SAC | 91.6 | 1.058 | 48.9 | 17.2 | 26.8 | 15.3 |
| ATL | 91.6 | 1.179 | 54.5 | 29.5 | 31.4 | 16.4 |
I don't know that much was learned from that victory. We already knew the Hawks can outlast inferior opposition at home with only sporadic defensive contributions. We already knew that the Hawks are difficult to beat anywhere when Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford make their shots (14-26 FGA, 4-9 3PTA combined). We already knew that the Hawks will not ask their post players to carry them offensively even when they posses seriously significant* matchup advantages. Josh Smith and Al Horford combined for 31 points on 17 shots, were 9-11 at the rim, and earned seven** assists between them. Still, the Hawks used more than a quarter (21 of 78, 26.9%) of their field goal attempts on long two-point shots.
*Sacramento's post rotation: Jason Thompson, Jon Brockman, Hilton Armstrong, Spencer Hawes. There's not a good defender on that list.
Paul Westphal:
"Their bigs dominated the paint."Tom Ziller:
All season, the biggest defense problem for the Kings has been a dearth of resistance in the interior. The Kings allow the league's fourth worst opposing field goal percentage at the rim, allowing opponents to shoot 63.7 percent within five feet. Switching up the starting line-up didn't help: Atlanta shot 75 percent at the rim on its way to a solid victory over Sacramento. The Hawks also happened to win a ton of second chances (11 in 35 opportunities, 31 percent), capitalizing on the Kings' lack of defensive rebounding prowess.I happen to think it's something of an accomplishment by Westphal that Sacramento's 26th rather than 30th in the league in defensive efficiency but there's only somuch any coach could do with this roster.
The record player's broke, and ain't no one on this roster fixing it.
**Six of those assists coming in the more competitive first half.
Amidst all that sameness, one thing stood out: Mike Woodson made a concerted effort to rest his starters. With the exception of Josh Smith (who missed the last 6:40 of the first quarter after getting kneed in the left quad), the starters rested for at least the first 4:23 of the second quarter, none played more than 8:34 of the third quarter, and Marvin Williams (who ably attacked Sacramento's interior defense himself, scoring 13 points on 9 field goal and 5 free throw attempts) was the only starter to play more than half of the fourth quarter. He played six minutes and one second fo the fourth.
The second unit (mostly) repayed Woodson's trust. Joe Smith, Zaza Pachulia, and Mo Evans were all active and reasonably productive. Jeff Teague and Mario West were both active and even Randolph Morris worked effectively against Sacramento's post defense in his late cameo.
West again got off to a terrible start defensively, giving up Tyreke Evans layups* on the first two possessions he played, fouling Jon Brockman on a breakaway dunk** and committing two more fouls in his first 153 seconds on the court. From that point on, though, he did a decent job making it difficult for Sacramento to get Evans the ball. Is this perhaps a strategy to force Woodson into giving him extended run?
*That West couldn't guard Evans was neither a surprise nor unique among Hawks players.
**Which, had Brockman made the free throw, would rather have compounded the team's embarrassment at letting Jon Brockman score on a breakway dunk.
Unable to get Evans the ball whenever and wherever he wanted it, Spencer Hawes (for some reason) took it upon himself to be the focal point of Sacramento's offense. That Paul Westphal neither called a timeout nor removed Hawes from the game to prevent this from happening was the largest factor in turning a four point Hawks lead with 2:26 left in the third quarter into thirteen point lead at the end of the quarter.
Zach Harper of Cowbell Kingdom:
[W]hen I was watching this game a certain play seemed to stand out to me and sum the entire contest.Michael Cunningham:Spencer Hawes drove up the right side of the floor and endured a bit of contact and some ball swiping. Hawes lost the ball or was stripped of the ball or lost the ball while he was stripped and instead of fighting for the ball, he just looked to the ref for a foul call. While he was silently protesting the non-call, Mo Evans took the ball the other way, flew up the court and flushed it home.
Why was this play a summary of the game for the Kings? Well, they were aggressive but couldn’t quite execute the way they needed to...
So the Hawks had a video session Tuesday in which Woody calls out his vets for not leading the effort on D. J.J. agrees and says the perimeter guys in particular need to pick it up.A lovely sentiment, the practical implications of which are best ignored.
I don't understand 1) Why more people don't attend mid-week games. 2) Why people can't get to games by tip-off. 3) Why this is considered a valid factor for some of the (completely unsurprising) mediocre defensive performances from the Hawks. Yes, it would help the team if they had a raucous home crowd behind them 41 times a year but it can hardly be a surprise to them when they don't.
Mike Woodson:
"We can't do anything about the fans not showing up. The bottom line is we still have to play the game, and we've got to be professional about how you approach the game when you step out on the court. You've got to generate your own energy."I'm actually quite interested in why attendance remains low but lack any coherent or constructive analysis. If anyone has a useful theory to explain any part of the reluctance to watch a good basketball team in person, please pass it along.
JOSH SMITH LINKS
- Kelly Dwyer touts Josh Smith for the All-Star game in his mid-season review of the Southeast Division.
- Jeff Green would like a word regarding Sean Deveney's one-line case for Josh Smith as Defensive Player of the Year:
Terrific in help and one-on-one situations.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
January 20th Game Thread: Sacramento (15-25) @ Atlanta (26-15)
TIP-OFF: 7pm (EST)
TELEVISION: SportSouth
CHAT: Daily Dime Live
RADIO: Hawks Radio Network, Audio League Pass
GAME NOTES: Hawks/Kings
ATLANTA INJURY REPORT: None.
SACRAMENTO INJURY REPORT: Francisco Garcia is out.
BY THE NUMBERS
FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: Atlanta -9 , 205 o/u
OTHER PERSPECTIVES: Cowbell Kingdom, Sactown Royalty
PREVIOUSLY, THE SACRAMENTO KINGS...lost 105-103 at Charlotte on Monday. It was Sacramento's fourth straight loss, the last three coming in the first three games of a six-game road trip against Eastern Conference teams. Sacramento have won just three (@Utah, @Chicago, @Milwaukee) of nineteen road games this season with those three victories coming by a total of 10 points.
Sam Amick of The Sacramento Bee reports (HT: Cowbell Kingdom) that Jon Brockman and Donte Green will replace Spencer Hawes and Omri Casspi in the starting lineup tonight.
Rebounding rates:
Brockman scores almost literally half as often as Hawes but Hawes isn't especially efficient, and, with Kevin Martin back, I suspect that Sacramento can sacrifice Hawes's efforts to put the ball in the basket in exchange for lots and lots of rebounds. As for the other lineup switch, whether it's Green or Casspi on the court, there does not appear to be a King Mike Bibby can reasonably be expected to guard.
The Hawks beat the Kings 113-105 in Sacramento on November 4th.
Consider this an open thread for all pre-game, in-game, and post-game (but pre-recap) thoughts.
TELEVISION: SportSouth
CHAT: Daily Dime Live
RADIO: Hawks Radio Network, Audio League Pass
GAME NOTES: Hawks/Kings
ATLANTA INJURY REPORT: None.
SACRAMENTO INJURY REPORT: Francisco Garcia is out.
BY THE NUMBERS
| Team | Poss | Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% | TO% |
| SAC (off) | 93.2 | 1.088 | 50.0 | 21.8 | 28.9 | 16.6 |
| ATL (def) | 89.9 | 1.074 | 50.0 | 28.1 | 26.9 | 16.2 |
| Team | Poss | Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% | TO% |
| SAC (def) | 93.2 | 1.118 | 50.5 | 31.3 | 28.0 | 14.9 |
| ATL (off) | 89.9 | 1.132 | 50.6 | 21.2 | 28.1 | 13.3 |
FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: Atlanta -9 , 205 o/u
OTHER PERSPECTIVES: Cowbell Kingdom, Sactown Royalty
PREVIOUSLY, THE SACRAMENTO KINGS...lost 105-103 at Charlotte on Monday. It was Sacramento's fourth straight loss, the last three coming in the first three games of a six-game road trip against Eastern Conference teams. Sacramento have won just three (@Utah, @Chicago, @Milwaukee) of nineteen road games this season with those three victories coming by a total of 10 points.
Sam Amick of The Sacramento Bee reports (HT: Cowbell Kingdom) that Jon Brockman and Donte Green will replace Spencer Hawes and Omri Casspi in the starting lineup tonight.
Rebounding rates:
| Name | OR% | DR% |
| Hawes | 8.2 | 16.5 |
| Brockman | 21.7 | 20.4 |
Brockman scores almost literally half as often as Hawes but Hawes isn't especially efficient, and, with Kevin Martin back, I suspect that Sacramento can sacrifice Hawes's efforts to put the ball in the basket in exchange for lots and lots of rebounds. As for the other lineup switch, whether it's Green or Casspi on the court, there does not appear to be a King Mike Bibby can reasonably be expected to guard.
The Hawks beat the Kings 113-105 in Sacramento on November 4th.
Consider this an open thread for all pre-game, in-game, and post-game (but pre-recap) thoughts.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Quotes, Notes, and Links: Hawks 113 Kings 105
Gameflow
Highlights
I'll let the respective head coaches succinctly and without deviating from socially acceptable coach-speak delineate the difference between being in Year One and being in Year Six of building a team.
Paul Westphal:
More from Westphal:
A longer (early) evaluation of the season long themes is scheduled for sometime during the Hawks' three consecutive off days next week.
Highlights
I'll let the respective head coaches succinctly and without deviating from socially acceptable coach-speak delineate the difference between being in Year One and being in Year Six of building a team.
Paul Westphal:
"I told them (in the locker room), 'If I didn't think they were any good, I wouldn't be upset.'"Mike Woodson:
"Take nothing away from the Kings, they have guys that can score the ball so I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy game. We knew that fourth quarter was going to be huge. Again, I've got to get us, the most important thing is we came in here and got our win."Coach Woodson's quote comes from Sekou Smith's final game story for the AJC. He's off to write for NBA.com. The Human Highlight Blog offers a fine appreciation of Smith's tenure:
Smith came along in a dark time for Hawks coverage in the paper, as Michael Lee had long since left for the Washington Post, the team was completely rebuilding, and the paper was assigning very unqualified staff writers to cover the game.Ditto.
All Smith did was inject a real beat writer mentality to the position, offered sometimes extremely strong opinion with the "pages" of his AJC blog, and roped quite a few people into good conversation about the franchise. Smith never pulled a punch, offered great material and asked the questions Hawks fans wanted answers to.
Good luck, Sekou--You'll be missed in the land you call Hawksville.
More from Westphal:
"We couldn't stop them. We couldn't stop them pretty much the whole game. The really executed well and went to their big time players. All of them."Zach Harper of Cowbell Kingdom on the decisive fourth quarter:
The Kings failed to find way to get Kevin Martin shot attempts and didn’t have an adequate backup plan during this period. Martin checked into the fourth quarter around the 10-minute mark but didn’t attempt a shot until there was 3:43 left in the game. The Hawks made a concerted effort to keep the ball out of his hands and to force any other King to beat them. And it worked.Yesterday I praised the Hawks' defensive rebounding through four games:
“They had a pretty good plan. Every time we set a ball screen, they were doubling it,” said Martin on why the Hawks were able to keep the ball out of his hands.
The Hawks...are, on the year, grabbing 78% of possible defensive rebounds (3rd in the league). It's early, but that's up from 71.6% last year (24th in the league).Sacramento grabbed 35% of possible offensive rebounds last night so now, through five games, the Hawks defensive rebound percentage is 74.6% and they rank 12th in the NBA. Still above average, still a positive development, but still in flux.
A longer (early) evaluation of the season long themes is scheduled for sometime during the Hawks' three consecutive off days next week.
Hawks 113 Kings 105
Boxscore
It was something of a replay of the opening night win over Indiana. Three quarters of negligible defensive effort from the Hawks against a lesser team. A renewed interest in stopping their opponents from scoring in the fourth quarter gets a boost from said opponents forgetting to get the ball to their best offensive player and substitutions* worthy of first-guessing. Ultimately, it results in a victory whose nature encourages dissatisfaction yet resists complaint.
The Hawks couldn't force a turnover or hold on to the ball themselves. The Kings (the impressive Jason Thompson in particular) dominated their offensive glass. Sacramento scored 112 points per 100 possessions despite Tyreke Evans (7-21 FGA, 0-3 3PTA) using almost as many possessions as Kevin Martin (11-22 FGA, 2-5 3PTA). These are not encouraging signs.
But it was the second of back-to-back road games, the third game of a four game cross-country road trip that the Hawks are now going to split at worst. No team is going to be sharp every night. Winning ugly more often than the next team might be the difference between the fourth- and the sixth-seed in the East. Perfect, let us not forget, is the enemy of good**.
And good things there were...Jamal Crawford made it 53 points in two nights. Joe Johnson narrowly averted a couple of late turnovers and finished strong for the second night in a row. Marvin Williams and Josh Smith*** made the most of their limited offensive opportunities. Al Horford anchored the late defensive stand. Jeff Teague looked fairly impressive in his sole stint. One hopes he doesn't come to feel the need to do as much as possible in limited minutes and initiate a vicious cycle that further limits his opportunities. Wouldn't hurt the young man were his veteran teammates to blow out a weaker opponent.
Charlotte's excellent defense and execrable offense will provide a different challenge on Friday night. I look forward to that game teaching us a touch more about this team.
*Is it really worth it from the Kings' perspective to have Desmond Mason (who had played less than half-a-minute before his fourth quarter stint) rather than Omri Casspi guard Joe Johnson if that means that Jamal Crawford then guards Mason rather than Kevin Martin on the other end?
**Also, a witty saying proves nothing.
***The latest Atlanta big man to commit his fifth foul late in the fourth quarter and get removed permanently from the game. It didn't affect the outcome but that doesn't mean it makes any sense.
| Team | Poss | Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% | TO% |
| ATL | 94.1 | 1.20 | 57.6 | 17.6 | 33.3 | 18.1 |
| SAC | 94.1 | 1.12 | 44.3 | 20.8 | 35.2 | 8.5 |
It was something of a replay of the opening night win over Indiana. Three quarters of negligible defensive effort from the Hawks against a lesser team. A renewed interest in stopping their opponents from scoring in the fourth quarter gets a boost from said opponents forgetting to get the ball to their best offensive player and substitutions* worthy of first-guessing. Ultimately, it results in a victory whose nature encourages dissatisfaction yet resists complaint.
The Hawks couldn't force a turnover or hold on to the ball themselves. The Kings (the impressive Jason Thompson in particular) dominated their offensive glass. Sacramento scored 112 points per 100 possessions despite Tyreke Evans (7-21 FGA, 0-3 3PTA) using almost as many possessions as Kevin Martin (11-22 FGA, 2-5 3PTA). These are not encouraging signs.
But it was the second of back-to-back road games, the third game of a four game cross-country road trip that the Hawks are now going to split at worst. No team is going to be sharp every night. Winning ugly more often than the next team might be the difference between the fourth- and the sixth-seed in the East. Perfect, let us not forget, is the enemy of good**.
And good things there were...Jamal Crawford made it 53 points in two nights. Joe Johnson narrowly averted a couple of late turnovers and finished strong for the second night in a row. Marvin Williams and Josh Smith*** made the most of their limited offensive opportunities. Al Horford anchored the late defensive stand. Jeff Teague looked fairly impressive in his sole stint. One hopes he doesn't come to feel the need to do as much as possible in limited minutes and initiate a vicious cycle that further limits his opportunities. Wouldn't hurt the young man were his veteran teammates to blow out a weaker opponent.
Charlotte's excellent defense and execrable offense will provide a different challenge on Friday night. I look forward to that game teaching us a touch more about this team.
*Is it really worth it from the Kings' perspective to have Desmond Mason (who had played less than half-a-minute before his fourth quarter stint) rather than Omri Casspi guard Joe Johnson if that means that Jamal Crawford then guards Mason rather than Kevin Martin on the other end?
**Also, a witty saying proves nothing.
***The latest Atlanta big man to commit his fifth foul late in the fourth quarter and get removed permanently from the game. It didn't affect the outcome but that doesn't mean it makes any sense.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
November 4th Game Thread: Atlanta (3-1) @ Sacramento (1-3)
TIP-OFF: 10pm (EST)
TELEVISION: SportSouth
RADIO: Hawks Radio Network, Audio League Pass
CHAT: Daily Dime Live
GAME NOTES: Hawks/Kings
ATLANTA INJURY REPORT: None.
SACRAMENTO INJURY REPORT: Francisco Garcia is out.
FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: Atlanta -5.5, 204 o/u
OTHER PERSPECTIVES: Cowbell Kingdom, Sactown Royalty
PREVIOUSLY, THE SACRAMENTO KINGS...won their first game of the season Monday night, outlasting Memphis 127-116 in overtime. Kevin Martin lead the way with 48 points with most of the rest of the scoring coming off the bench, with four Kings reserves scoring as much or more than the other four Kings starters: Spencer Hawes (expected to start tonight) had 21, Beno Udrih had 16, Omri Casspi had 15, and Andres Nocioni (who may start tonight) scored 13. It was Sacramento's best defensive performance of the year as they held Memphis to 108 points per 100 possessions. The Kings' defensive efficiency for the seaon is 114.3 points per 100 possessions.
Consider this an open thread for all pre-game, in-game, and post-game (but pre-recap) thoughts.
TELEVISION: SportSouth
RADIO: Hawks Radio Network, Audio League Pass
CHAT: Daily Dime Live
GAME NOTES: Hawks/Kings
ATLANTA INJURY REPORT: None.
SACRAMENTO INJURY REPORT: Francisco Garcia is out.
FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: Atlanta -5.5, 204 o/u
OTHER PERSPECTIVES: Cowbell Kingdom, Sactown Royalty
PREVIOUSLY, THE SACRAMENTO KINGS...won their first game of the season Monday night, outlasting Memphis 127-116 in overtime. Kevin Martin lead the way with 48 points with most of the rest of the scoring coming off the bench, with four Kings reserves scoring as much or more than the other four Kings starters: Spencer Hawes (expected to start tonight) had 21, Beno Udrih had 16, Omri Casspi had 15, and Andres Nocioni (who may start tonight) scored 13. It was Sacramento's best defensive performance of the year as they held Memphis to 108 points per 100 possessions. The Kings' defensive efficiency for the seaon is 114.3 points per 100 possessions.
Consider this an open thread for all pre-game, in-game, and post-game (but pre-recap) thoughts.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Hawks 119 Kings 97
Boxscore
Gameflow
The Kings didn't/couldn't* play any defense last night. The Hawks didn't play any defense for three quarters. (Sacramento scored 1.22 points per possession over the first three quarters.) It took just six minutes of good basketball from the Hawks on both ends of the floor to open the fourth quarter to blow the game open.
*reader's choice
In the face of no resistance all eight Hawks who played meaningful minutes had productive offensive nights. Defensive credit to Acie Law IV, Flip Murray, Josh Smith, and Al Horford* for putting the game away early in the fourth. Sympathy to Kevin Martin for playing so well on such a bad team and further sympathy to Sacramento fans who must spend their days waiting for the draft and trying to convince themselves that Spencer Hawes and Jason Thompson have a bright future.
*Half-credit each to Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby who split time early in the fourth quarter.
Josh Smith:
Gameflow
| Team | Poss | Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% | TO% |
| SAC | 93.6 | 1.04 | 43.7 | 41.8 | 28.3 | 13.9 |
| ATL | 93.6 | 1.27 | 60.5 | 17.4 | 44.4 | 20.3 |
The Kings didn't/couldn't* play any defense last night. The Hawks didn't play any defense for three quarters. (Sacramento scored 1.22 points per possession over the first three quarters.) It took just six minutes of good basketball from the Hawks on both ends of the floor to open the fourth quarter to blow the game open.
*reader's choice
In the face of no resistance all eight Hawks who played meaningful minutes had productive offensive nights. Defensive credit to Acie Law IV, Flip Murray, Josh Smith, and Al Horford* for putting the game away early in the fourth. Sympathy to Kevin Martin for playing so well on such a bad team and further sympathy to Sacramento fans who must spend their days waiting for the draft and trying to convince themselves that Spencer Hawes and Jason Thompson have a bright future.
*Half-credit each to Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby who split time early in the fourth quarter.
Josh Smith:
"It’s fun when everybody can score and contribute to a win."Al Horford:
"We weren’t on our game defensively, but we’re going to have nights like that. We did what we had to do to win."Horford on Spencer Hawes' hard foul:
"I know I’m going to feel it in the morning."Mike Woodson:
"We picked it up in the third and fourth quarter. The way we started the game, I didn’t think we would ever get to that point. We had no defensive presence in the first half. You can’t start the game the way we did, thinking we are going to outscore teams, without having some sort of defensive presence."Smith, again:
"We didn't want to lose to a team like Sacramento. No offense to them, but (after) beating New Orleans and Utah, teams who are on top of the Western Conference, we didn't want to let ourselves down by losing this game. We're just trying to separate ourselves from the pack. Miami's right on our heels still."Kevin Martin:
"We stopped playing together tonight, and this is happens when you play selfish basketball. I think we all learned a little lesson tonight. They were aggressive from the start. Al Horford is a load in the paint, and Josh Smith is one of the most athletic guys in the league, so that made it tough for us."LINKS
- The Human Highlight Blog celebrates Al Horford:
We've been shining the bronze bust of Al Horford out here for quite a few games now, but we must add that we've seen a dramatic improvement on his finishing inside after contact. It's just another brick in the wall in what should be a nightly memo to Mike Woodson that the game should, in some part, go through Horford in the pivot. When you have a big man that can pass (oh by the way, Horford had 6 assists) and has great hands (my hand twin!), you have to leverage that high percentage option. Well you don't have to, but you could be considered foolish or stubborn to not do so.
- At Sactown Royalty, Tom Ziller details the ten Sacramento possessions that helped turn a six-point Atlanta lead into a 15-point Atlanta lead.
- At Peachtree Hoops, Drew questions the importance of the Hawks' 40th win.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
March 17th Open Thread: Sacramento (14-52) @ Atlanta (39-28)
TIP-OFF: 7pm
TELEVISION: Fox Sports South HD
RADIO: Hawks Radio Network, Audio League Pass
GAME NOTES: Hawks/Kings
ATLANTA INJURY REPORT: Marvin Williams is out.
SACRAMENTO INJURY REPORT: Bobby Jackson is out. Cedric Simmons is listed as day-to-day.
FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: Atlanta -12, 202 o/u
OTHER PERSPECTIVES: Sactown Royalty
PREVIOUSLY THE SACRAMENTO KINGS...The Kings lost 106-104 in Washington Sunday night to run their road record to 4-29. Two of those four road wins came in November.
The Hawks beat the Kings 105-100 in Sacramento on February 18th.
Consider this an open thread for all pre-game, in-game, and post-game (but pre-recap) thoughts.
TELEVISION: Fox Sports South HD
RADIO: Hawks Radio Network, Audio League Pass
GAME NOTES: Hawks/Kings
ATLANTA INJURY REPORT: Marvin Williams is out.
SACRAMENTO INJURY REPORT: Bobby Jackson is out. Cedric Simmons is listed as day-to-day.
FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: Atlanta -12, 202 o/u
OTHER PERSPECTIVES: Sactown Royalty
PREVIOUSLY THE SACRAMENTO KINGS...The Kings lost 106-104 in Washington Sunday night to run their road record to 4-29. Two of those four road wins came in November.
The Hawks beat the Kings 105-100 in Sacramento on February 18th.
Consider this an open thread for all pre-game, in-game, and post-game (but pre-recap) thoughts.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Hawks 105 Kings 100
Boxscore
Gameflow
Mike Bibby's defense gets criticized frequently in this space but the Hawks (probably) don't win last night* without him making two** good defensive plays in the game's final minute.
*They probably don't win without his 29 points on 19 shots with an eFG% of 63.1, either (eFG% for rest of team: 42.7), but that's a little more expected.
**Three if you extend the time frame back to 2:13 of the fourth and give him credit for conning the referee with a flop that drew Jason Thompson's fifth foul. I'm not entirely convinced there was contact on the play. A second camera angle might have cleared that up but the game was broadcast on SportSouth, and thus brought to us by a single, low-definition camera.
Al Horford (13 defensive rebounds) and Marvin Williams (7 defensive rebounds) led the improved effort ont he defensive glass. Sure Sacramento's only 24th in the league in offensive rebounding but the Hawks played without Josh Smith* and Zaza Pachulia for long stretches due to foul trouble that never materialized. Smith sat with two fouls for the final 19:32 of the first half (which ended with the Hawks down 4). He played the entire second half (during which the Hawks outscored the Kings by 9 points) and finished the game with three personal fouls. Pachulia was +10 in 9:47 in the first half. While he sat (and Solomon Jones played and played and fouled Kevin Martin on a made three-pointer and played some more) for the final 9:44 of the first half, the Hawks were outscored by 10 points.
*Who is apparently trying to stop wasting possessions on three-point attempts (just four in his last 17 games) without becoming a better basketball player. He doesn't make those long two-point jumpers appreciably more often than three-pointers, and, on the infrequent occasions they go in they're only worth, you know, two points. Factor in career lows in FT%, blocks (both in volume and rate), and rebound rate (both offensive and total) and Smith's season is, to date, a massive disappointment.
Horford complemented his rebounding effort with a strong offensive game, scoring 18 points on 12 shots, grabbing 5 offensive rebounds, and dishing 4 assists against a single turnover. Williams continued his offensive struggles since Joe Johnson returned to the lineup. In Johnson's absence, Williams, serving as a primary option on offense, scored 52 points in two games, 29 of those points at the free throw line. In the five games since Johnson has returned, Williams has scored just 49 points and attempted only 17 free throws.
Perhaps, if the Hawks were to integrate all of their offensive talent into the offense they wouldn't have to struggle to beat an 11-win team that was without 40% of their starting lineup. Maybe not, though, as there would still be the defensive mediocrity to overcome.
But, hey, the Hawks are 10 games over .500 and have a three-and-a-half game cushion for the fourth seed in the East. Things could be, nay, things have been much worse. I'll try and keep the gnawing concern that there's no good way to get this collection of players (and contracts) from 45 to 55 wins at bay until the off-season.
Gameflow
| Team | Poss | Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% | TO% |
| ATL | 98.6 | 1.06 | 47.2 | 25 | 28.8 | 12.2 |
| SAC | 98.6 | 1.01 | 48.8 | 22.9 | 19 | 16.2 |
Mike Bibby's defense gets criticized frequently in this space but the Hawks (probably) don't win last night* without him making two** good defensive plays in the game's final minute.
*They probably don't win without his 29 points on 19 shots with an eFG% of 63.1, either (eFG% for rest of team: 42.7), but that's a little more expected.
**Three if you extend the time frame back to 2:13 of the fourth and give him credit for conning the referee with a flop that drew Jason Thompson's fifth foul. I'm not entirely convinced there was contact on the play. A second camera angle might have cleared that up but the game was broadcast on SportSouth, and thus brought to us by a single, low-definition camera.
- Up 102-100 (thanks to a nifty clutch bucket from Joe Johnson) with 19 seconds left, Beno Udrih (who, frankly, had his way with Bibby most of the night) threatened to beat Bibby off the dribble and get free in the lane but Bibby stripped the ball which was recovered by Josh Smith who threw ahead to Joe Johnson who was fouled.
- Johnson only made one of his two free throws (This team does nothing to simplify matters for themselves.) so Bobby Jackson had a shot to tie the game with 9 seconds left. Jackson missed. Bibby boxed out Jason Thompson sufficiently well to draw Thompson's sixth foul as the rookie tried to grab the rebound.
Al Horford (13 defensive rebounds) and Marvin Williams (7 defensive rebounds) led the improved effort ont he defensive glass. Sure Sacramento's only 24th in the league in offensive rebounding but the Hawks played without Josh Smith* and Zaza Pachulia for long stretches due to foul trouble that never materialized. Smith sat with two fouls for the final 19:32 of the first half (which ended with the Hawks down 4). He played the entire second half (during which the Hawks outscored the Kings by 9 points) and finished the game with three personal fouls. Pachulia was +10 in 9:47 in the first half. While he sat (and Solomon Jones played and played and fouled Kevin Martin on a made three-pointer and played some more) for the final 9:44 of the first half, the Hawks were outscored by 10 points.
*Who is apparently trying to stop wasting possessions on three-point attempts (just four in his last 17 games) without becoming a better basketball player. He doesn't make those long two-point jumpers appreciably more often than three-pointers, and, on the infrequent occasions they go in they're only worth, you know, two points. Factor in career lows in FT%, blocks (both in volume and rate), and rebound rate (both offensive and total) and Smith's season is, to date, a massive disappointment.
Horford complemented his rebounding effort with a strong offensive game, scoring 18 points on 12 shots, grabbing 5 offensive rebounds, and dishing 4 assists against a single turnover. Williams continued his offensive struggles since Joe Johnson returned to the lineup. In Johnson's absence, Williams, serving as a primary option on offense, scored 52 points in two games, 29 of those points at the free throw line. In the five games since Johnson has returned, Williams has scored just 49 points and attempted only 17 free throws.
Perhaps, if the Hawks were to integrate all of their offensive talent into the offense they wouldn't have to struggle to beat an 11-win team that was without 40% of their starting lineup. Maybe not, though, as there would still be the defensive mediocrity to overcome.
But, hey, the Hawks are 10 games over .500 and have a three-and-a-half game cushion for the fourth seed in the East. Things could be, nay, things have been much worse. I'll try and keep the gnawing concern that there's no good way to get this collection of players (and contracts) from 45 to 55 wins at bay until the off-season.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
February 18th Open Thread: Atlanta (31-22) @ Sacramento (11-43)
TIP-OFF: 10pm
TELEVISION: SportSouth
RADIO: Hawks Radio Network, Audio League Pass
GAME NOTES: Hawks/Kings
ATLANTA INJURY/TRANSACTION REPORT: Flip Murray is out. Othello Hunter has been assigned to the D-League and will be with the Anaheim Arsenal through Saturday.
SACRAMENTO INJURY/TRANSACTION REPORT: Bobby Brown is out tonight. Brad Miller and John Salmons are on their way to Chicago.
FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: Atlanta -6, 207 o/u
OTHER PERSPECTIVES: Sactown Royalty
PREVIOUSLY, THE SACRAMENTO KINGS...lost their final five games prior to the All-Star Break, 13 of their last 14, and 25 of their last 29.
Consider this an open thread for all pre-game, in-game, and post-game (but pre-recap) thoughts.
TELEVISION: SportSouth
RADIO: Hawks Radio Network, Audio League Pass
GAME NOTES: Hawks/Kings
ATLANTA INJURY/TRANSACTION REPORT: Flip Murray is out. Othello Hunter has been assigned to the D-League and will be with the Anaheim Arsenal through Saturday.
SACRAMENTO INJURY/TRANSACTION REPORT: Bobby Brown is out tonight. Brad Miller and John Salmons are on their way to Chicago.
FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: Atlanta -6, 207 o/u
OTHER PERSPECTIVES: Sactown Royalty
PREVIOUSLY, THE SACRAMENTO KINGS...lost their final five games prior to the All-Star Break, 13 of their last 14, and 25 of their last 29.
Consider this an open thread for all pre-game, in-game, and post-game (but pre-recap) thoughts.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Hawks 123 Kings 117
Boxscore
Gameflow
When Mario West was announced as the ill Marvin Williams' replacement in the starting lineup, I first wrote "He can't be serious." I crossed that out in favor of, "Is he daring someone to fire him?"
Shows what I know. Mario West went out and played a useful 7:42 to open the game, scoring seven points with two offensive rebounds and two turnovers. For whatever reason, Sacramento didn't take advantage of West guarding Artest in the first quarter, getting a single made free throw on a single Artest post up against West. West couldn't stay with Kevin Martin when West got matched up with Martin on a switch but even that resulted in nothing more damaging than a made field goal by Martin and a Brad Miller missed jumper.
West played much more as expected in the second and third quarter--undersized, out of control, and ineffective offensively while giving a serious but futile attempt to guard Ron Artest in the post. To his credit, Woodson didn't push his luck and rode Josh Childress for the final 20 minutes of the game.
Somehow, Marvin Williams' absence didn't translate into more minutes for Childress (he was right at his season average of 30 minutes played), though he took full advantage of his extended second half playing time to make the case that, right now, Bibby/Johnson/Childress/Smith/Horford constitutes Atlanta's best five-man unit.
Al Horford played almost ten extra minutes (41:07 as opposed to his season average of 31:30) despite appearances that his night would be over after picking up his fifth foul. He sat from 4:35 to 0:59 in the fourth quarter. Atlanta was +3 during that stretch but got killed on the defensive glass, allowing Sacramento to get 4 of 7 possible offensive rebounds. On the night, Sacramento got 6 of their 16 offensive rebounds in the 6:53 Al Horford wasn't in the game. Atlanta's defensive rebounding percentage with Horford in the game: 72.2%; with Horford out of the game: 53.8%.
Horford and Childress played essential supporting roles, but Mike Bibby made the key difference between winning and losing on a night when Sacramento had to be outscored. If Bibby doesn't score 24 points on 13 shots (plus 9 free throw attempts) and augment that with 12 assists against a single turnover then this morning we'd all be moaning about Bibby's defense (25 points, 8 assists, and 1 turnover for Beno Udrih), Joe Johnson's ball-handling/decision-making in the final minute, and Josh Smith wasting half of his 14 field goal attempts on jump shots. Making matters worse, six of Smith's seven jump shots were launched with at least eleven seconds left on the shot clock and only one jump shot was taken inside of fifteen feet. Four of Smith's jump shots were from at least 20 feet. Smith's three-point attempts are down, but I'd rather he take that step back and take the extra point the one out of every four times he makes a jump shot outside of 15 feet.
Bibby's performance may be most encouraging because it inspired the following from the head coach:
The following is a different story...
Josh Smith Jump Shot Log
February 27, 2008 vs. Sacramento
Gameflow
When Mario West was announced as the ill Marvin Williams' replacement in the starting lineup, I first wrote "He can't be serious." I crossed that out in favor of, "Is he daring someone to fire him?"
Shows what I know. Mario West went out and played a useful 7:42 to open the game, scoring seven points with two offensive rebounds and two turnovers. For whatever reason, Sacramento didn't take advantage of West guarding Artest in the first quarter, getting a single made free throw on a single Artest post up against West. West couldn't stay with Kevin Martin when West got matched up with Martin on a switch but even that resulted in nothing more damaging than a made field goal by Martin and a Brad Miller missed jumper.
West played much more as expected in the second and third quarter--undersized, out of control, and ineffective offensively while giving a serious but futile attempt to guard Ron Artest in the post. To his credit, Woodson didn't push his luck and rode Josh Childress for the final 20 minutes of the game.
Somehow, Marvin Williams' absence didn't translate into more minutes for Childress (he was right at his season average of 30 minutes played), though he took full advantage of his extended second half playing time to make the case that, right now, Bibby/Johnson/Childress/Smith/Horford constitutes Atlanta's best five-man unit.
Al Horford played almost ten extra minutes (41:07 as opposed to his season average of 31:30) despite appearances that his night would be over after picking up his fifth foul. He sat from 4:35 to 0:59 in the fourth quarter. Atlanta was +3 during that stretch but got killed on the defensive glass, allowing Sacramento to get 4 of 7 possible offensive rebounds. On the night, Sacramento got 6 of their 16 offensive rebounds in the 6:53 Al Horford wasn't in the game. Atlanta's defensive rebounding percentage with Horford in the game: 72.2%; with Horford out of the game: 53.8%.
Horford and Childress played essential supporting roles, but Mike Bibby made the key difference between winning and losing on a night when Sacramento had to be outscored. If Bibby doesn't score 24 points on 13 shots (plus 9 free throw attempts) and augment that with 12 assists against a single turnover then this morning we'd all be moaning about Bibby's defense (25 points, 8 assists, and 1 turnover for Beno Udrih), Joe Johnson's ball-handling/decision-making in the final minute, and Josh Smith wasting half of his 14 field goal attempts on jump shots. Making matters worse, six of Smith's seven jump shots were launched with at least eleven seconds left on the shot clock and only one jump shot was taken inside of fifteen feet. Four of Smith's jump shots were from at least 20 feet. Smith's three-point attempts are down, but I'd rather he take that step back and take the extra point the one out of every four times he makes a jump shot outside of 15 feet.
Bibby's performance may be most encouraging because it inspired the following from the head coach:
"He's something we haven't had since I've been here. He's played enough basketball in this league and made enough big plays offensively as far as getting shots. And he's won. He's been successful doing it. So I don't want to screw him up. And I want him to feel free to the point that if he doesn't like things that I'm doing, hey, he's got that right to let me know, and we'll change them."I don't know about you, but I take comfort in that.
The following is a different story...
Josh Smith Jump Shot Log
February 27, 2008 vs. Sacramento
| Result | Quarter | Time | Shot Clock | Distance |
| MISS | 1Q | 11:36 | (:03) | 22' |
| MAKE | 1Q | 9:58 | (:16) | 20' |
| MISS | 2Q | 9:58 | (:12) | 18' |
| MISS | 2Q | 4:08 | (:12) | 23' |
| MAKE | 3Q | 9:29 | (:19) | 14' |
| MISS | 4Q | 8:50 | (:15) | 21' |
| MISS | 4Q | 5:32 | (:11) | 18' |
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Kings 119 Hawks 107
Boxscore
Gameflow
I wasn't optimistic about this road trip but things have been far worse than I anticipated. The final 9:49 of the game last night provided a dispiriting end to a long day. I hope many of you had the good sense to go ahead and fall asleep knowing that the Hawks would play a maddening fourth quarter.
Oh, and Acie Law IV may be seriously injured. Even the possibility of a Salim Stoudamire contract push fails to cheer me up right now. Nor does some mainstream media pressure to fire Mike Woodson.
An injury update should anything become known and more on the imploding team defense later today. Feel free to leave your free agent/D-League point guard suggestions in the comments.
Gameflow
I wasn't optimistic about this road trip but things have been far worse than I anticipated. The final 9:49 of the game last night provided a dispiriting end to a long day. I hope many of you had the good sense to go ahead and fall asleep knowing that the Hawks would play a maddening fourth quarter.
Oh, and Acie Law IV may be seriously injured. Even the possibility of a Salim Stoudamire contract push fails to cheer me up right now. Nor does some mainstream media pressure to fire Mike Woodson.
An injury update should anything become known and more on the imploding team defense later today. Feel free to leave your free agent/D-League point guard suggestions in the comments.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Reactions to the Trade
Before getting to reactions to the trade, I must take a moment to acknowledge that Matt at Atlanta Hawks blog saw this coming.
John Hollinger likes the trade for the Hawks:
Drew at Hawks, Dawgs, and Jesus keeps it brief but his meaning is clear.
As is TZ's at Sactown Royalty. Pookeyguru takes a longer look there at the trade from Sacramento's perspective.
Charley Rosen gives the Hawks a B+ for the deal, breaks down Bibby's game, and again makes me wonder about the copy editing at FOXsports.com. A.C. Law? Come on, Charley, you're better than that.
Scott Howard-Cooper of The Sacramento Bee is extraordinarily pessimistic about what this trade means for Acie Law's NBA career (registration or bugmenot required):
Also in the SacBee, Ailene Voisin looks back on Bibby's time in Sacramento.
UPDATE: One I missed on my first pass through the blogosphere: Braves & Birds gives a good account of how Bibby might make Atlanta better by making Mike Woodson less bad:
John Hollinger likes the trade for the Hawks:
Atlanta's two biggest weaknesses this year have been 3-point shooting and point guard play; at a stroke, Bibby solves both problems.and doubles up my estimation of Bibby's on-court value for the remainder of the season:
...replacing Johnson/Lue with 35 minutes a game of Bibby would be worth about six wins over an 82-game season; over the final 32 games, it would be more like two wins, but that still could be huge, given the tight race for the final playoff spots in the East.Micah Hart reports that there's an overwhelmingly positive reaction to the trade at the All-Star game:
I came over to the Arena tonight with Hawks PR man Jon Steinberg, and every person we saw when we walked into the building stopped to congratulate us on the trade. It seriously feels like we just had a son - I feel like we should be passing out victory cigars. Everyone loves this deal for Atlanta.Sekou Smith reported Tyronn Lue's magnanimous reaction to the trade this morning:
"It's definitely a good trade for the Hawks...If you could trade me and AJ for Bibby, you've definitely upgraded the point-guard position."Sekou also provides three reasons the trade works for the Hawks and goes a bit overboard in his blog with the proposition that Mike Bibby is exactly as good now as he was at his (younger) best:
Bibby can score at a high level (he averaged 21.2 points per game just two years ago). And he can dish at a high level (he averaged more than 8.0 assists per game twice in his career). The fact that can do both at the same time is what makes him so valuable to the Hawks right now.Bibby scored 21.1 PPG two years ago (taking 17 shots a game), but has shot the ball considerably worse than his career average last season and this, and averaged over 8 assists in the 99-00 and 00-01 seasons playing for Vancouver. I don't think he can do either of things right now and he never did them at the same time. An upgrade at point guard? No doubt. An above average player? Possibly. A savior? Certainly not.
Drew at Hawks, Dawgs, and Jesus keeps it brief but his meaning is clear.
As is TZ's at Sactown Royalty. Pookeyguru takes a longer look there at the trade from Sacramento's perspective.
Charley Rosen gives the Hawks a B+ for the deal, breaks down Bibby's game, and again makes me wonder about the copy editing at FOXsports.com. A.C. Law? Come on, Charley, you're better than that.
Scott Howard-Cooper of The Sacramento Bee is extraordinarily pessimistic about what this trade means for Acie Law's NBA career (registration or bugmenot required):
Atlanta, though, invested heavily in a point guard eight months ago, drafting Acie Law with the 11th selection in the draft. The move for Bibby is an obvious sign the Hawks are playing for the moment rather than another season of developing the kids. What it means beyond that, however, is unclear. Lottery picks have to play at some point to get better, unless they are completely clueless, and Law is a leader and is tough. Sitting him now and in 2008-09 greatly diminishes the return on a high choice.Playing Mike Bibby so much that Acie Law doesn't have a chance to develop would greatly diminish the return on this trade as well.
Also in the SacBee, Ailene Voisin looks back on Bibby's time in Sacramento.
UPDATE: One I missed on my first pass through the blogosphere: Braves & Birds gives a good account of how Bibby might make Atlanta better by making Mike Woodson less bad:
This team has a chronic inability to score on critical possessions because they have nothing approaching a coherent offensive structure and they end up giving the ball to Joe Johnson on iso plays, despite the fact that he's not very good at beating opponents off the dribble. The Bibby trade solves some of these problems, as it gives the Hawks a one-on-one option for the end of games. It does not solve the problem that the past six weeks have given me serious reservations about Mike Woodson's ability to coach these players. I feel good about the team now because Bibby can cover some of Woodson's failings, but I'd feel better with Larry Brown in charge.It's amazing. One can't have a conversation about the Hawks or read a Hawks blog (or its comments without the subject quickly moving to those futile, poorly designed isolation plays. Every single person who watches this team regularly understands this yet nothing changes.
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