"He was scoring but the other guys weren’t getting as many touches. That was just a decision I made to stay with that particular coverage. I did not want to open up any type of opportunities with their 3-point shooters."
Josh Smith on Jason Collins defending Howard:
"He got in his head a little bit. Even though Dwight had an explosive game I think he did a pretty good job on him, especially in that second half."
Smith on Hinrich's defense on Jameer Nelson:
"He’s getting over screens. He’s fighting, picking up the point guard full court and turning him in the half court.
Zaza Pachulia, who played less than nine minutes despite finishing the game with just three personal fouls:
"I am sure like us they are going to see what they can do better but it doesn’t matter for us. We know individually what we can do. If we play together for 48 minutes I think we should be in good shape. We are going to have a chance to win the series if we play just like today. Together, help each other defensively, share the ball. It was beautiful to watch our team."
And there's beauty (well, effectiveness) to be tapped should Pachulia get the minutes wasted on Etan Thomas and Josh Powell in Game 1.
Joe Johnson on his excellent offensive performance:
"I wanted to attack early and just try to make the game easier. I was getting in there and making plays for myself and my teammates and it worked out."
Josh Smith, coach on the floor:
"He has to keep that up. What I always stress to him is make quick moves. That’s what he’s been doing."
Jason Collins:
"We are here to win. We are not here to get a free T-shirt and head home or anything like that. We accomplished the fist step. We got the win tonight, and Part 2 is on Tuesday night."
Stan Van Gundy:
"The primary problem is we couldn’t guard them at all."
Jameer Nelson:
"Offensively we have to get better, move the ball, whatever. I don’t know. I really can’t put a finger on it right now."
"I'm not coming in here angry at players who had bad games. My focus right now is on me and my game plan. I've got to do a better job. I've got to find a way that we can guard them more effectively, and we've got to find some answers on the offensive end of the floor to get some of these other guys going, too. I want to get to the film as soon as I can and get back to work."
Jameer Nelson's strong stat line of 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting belies the defensive work done by Kirk Hinrich, an underrated player in the game. Nelson went off for 13 points and his only assist in the final 4:13 of the third quarter, after Hinrich went to the bench. Hinrich had a game-high plus-21 in just 28 minutes of action. He was acquired at the trade deadline to beef up Atlanta's perimeter defense, and in Game 1, he did just that, doing a good job of containing Nelson's penetration and preventing him from collapsing the Hawks' defense.
...
Collins didn't necessarily stop Howard, who scored seven points on him in the game's first seven minutes, but the Hawks' big man deserves credit for being on the floor during a critical 11-0 run in the third quarter. Plus, six of Howard's eight turnovers came when Collins was on the floor.
Jason Richardson was absent, contributing nothing to the cause and getting picked apart defensively by Johnson. There’s no question that Johnson has an advantage on Richardson with his size and strength. Head coach Stan Van Gundy tried a number of options in hopes of slowing down Johnson, including using J.J. Redick and Quentin Richardson defensively. Johnson was too strong and athletic for Redick. As for Richardson, even though he did a decent job of checking Johnson when he was matched up against him, two costly turnovers in the fourth quarter negatively impacted his contributions on defense.
Hedo Turkoglu was just as bad. Josh Smith is too strong and athletic — there’s a pattern here — for Turkoglu, bullying his way to the basket and doing an excellent job of not solely relying on his jumpshot. Even though Turkoglu’s engagement on defense improved in the final period, there’s no question that he will continue to struggle containing Smith all over the court.
As for Brandon Bass and Ryan Anderson, they have no chance against a big man of Al Horford’s caliber. Horford abused Bass and Anderson not only in the low post but on pick and rolls, as his ability to accurately shoot mid-range jumpers killed Orlando time and again. The Magic struggled to rotate properly on Horford as he jumped out between 16-23 feet, knocking down four shots in that range. Bass and Anderson are not entirely to blame for allowing Horford to enjoy plenty of open looks from the perimeter, but they weren’t helping the cause either.
It's tempting, I believe, for Magic fans to panic here. I'm not entirely sure that's warranted. Yes, the Hawks scored efficiently. I understand that much. But it's the Hawks' first truly great offensive performance against the Magic's typically stout defense since March 22nd, 2008, when Mike Bibby (five three-pointers) helped the Hawks score 112 points in 96 possessions... in an Orlando victory. Indeed, the Hawks went more than three years without cracking 1.1 points per possession against Orlando, and I'm skeptical their jump-shooting core of Johnson, Jamal Crawford, and Josh Smith can continue to hit mostly difficult shots with a high degree of accuracy.
But the Magic still have serious issues to work out if they are to rally back and take this series. Apart from the serious scoring imbalance, turnovers continue to plague the team. Their 18 miscues tonight led to 21 Hawks points. Howard will draw criticism for his 8 turnovers, but if anything, Quentin Richardson (2 turnovers in 7 minutes despite hardly ever touching the ball) and Arenas (3 in 12 minutes) deserve a bit more scrutiny.
Having said all that, the Magic did manage to get some great looks for Jason Richardson (4 points, 2-of-8 shooting, 41 minutes) and J.J. Redick (4 points, 2-of-6 shooting), but they didn't fall. Orlando had a chance to win this game, and I wonder if it were to be played again, with each player on both sides getting the same exact shot attempts, if the Magic would prevail.
It might be a bit generous to say that Atlanta’s Jason Collins allows the Hawks to defend Howard one-on-one in the post; Collins wasn’t much of a difference-maker, as Howard went above, through, and around both Collins and anyone else tasked with defending him. However, the fact that Collins is on the roster allows Hawks head coach Larry Drew to make a defensive commitment to Orlando’s peripheral players. The fact that Howard can’t single-handedly beat the Hawks isn’t an indictment of his offensive game, but simply a statement about the dynamics of basketball.
[L]et's give Atlanta credit defensively. They got after it in contesting shots, and they did well to grab those 18 Orlando turnovers. This was an impressive win.
In their last four wins, the Hawks have allowed between 90 and 102.5 points per 100 possessions. In their last seven losses, the Hawks have allowed at least 110 and as many as 132.6 points per 100 possessions. I have no confidence in either of those performance types representing the true nature of this team. The Hawks are three points to the good after 77 games. They're a mediocre team, albeit a highly variable one.
"We didn’t do a great job helping one another. We gave up way too many points in the paint. We didn’t play inside out defensively and make them make those shots. We made it tough on ourselves."
Josh Smith:
"We gave up too many dribble-drives, too much dribble-penetration. They scored 56 points in the paint; that’s way too many. I think if we could have closed in some of those gaps and made them kick it out to shooters, it might have been a different outcome."
Chuck Hayes, could-be Hawks blogger:
"They hit a lot of jumpers [in the first half]. Out of 60 points, they only had 20 in the paint. So they were taking the shots we wanted them to take, they just made them."
The Hawks were 17 of 33 on long (16-23') two-point jumpers for the game.
Rick Adelman:
"They did just what we said they were going to do: isolations, post-ups and pick-and-rolls. Then in the second half we came out with a much better effort defensively and then down the stretch we switched Courtney [Lee] onto Johnson. He did a great job on Johnson in the last three minutes. He made him take tough shots."
Larry Drew:
"At some point you hope that it clocks in to stay with that’s working."
Or just consistently create scoring opportunities that have a better than average chance of being converted. If your primary offensive attack is the least efficient shot in basketball, even if your players are adept at making that shot, consistency will remain out of your reach.
The Hawks got killed in the third quarter because they missed 75% of their long two-point jumpers. The Hawks were in the game because they made 60% of those shots in the other three quarters.
Yes, the burst of free throw attempts (12) in the second quarter (most of them coming from Marvin Williams, Jeff Teague, and Zaza Pachulia) provided a material difference but the Hawks scored 51 points on 46 possessions over the first and fourth quarters despite getting to the line just five times. The free throw attempts were a pleasant aberration. The reliance on jump shots was constant.
"Zaza was playing super, super well. I was not going to take him out of the game. He was doing a great job. He was a presence in there, he was rebounding, he was going after loose balls. He was doing a lot of big man things. We got into a rhythm when he came into a game and I did not want to break that rhythm."
Doc Rivers:
"I thought Zaza Pachulia was the toughest dude on the floor and changed the whole game. He was banging everybody, getting offensive rebounds, and I thought that was a great move by them."
Josh Smith:
"Zaza was playing his ass off. You have got to reward a man by putting your trust in him so that’s what I did. I was one of the biggest cheerleaders over there. Individual accolades don’t mean anything as long as we win as a team and play consistently that’s all that matters."
Al Horford on the Celtics and Pachulia:
"They can be very arrogant sometimes. I think they have come at ‘Z’ the wrong way and it’s fired him up. ‘Z’ is not going to back down from anyone. For some reason they think they can come at him. ‘Z’ is a good player and I am very proud that he came out and showed what he can do."
Zaza Pachulia:
"We learned. Maybe it was late, but it always good to figure out something."
Drew:
"Clearly our defense was the staple tonight. When you stay within striking distance at home, all you are looking for is to get on a little of a roll, a little run and gain some momentum. We did that when and Jamal came in the game and energized us when we were flat."
Horford:
"Third quarter it could have gone either way. Guys really stayed together, we took it a play at a time and we didn’t get discouraged. Instead of hanging our heads we focused more on defense. That’s a good sign. We are starting to figure it out."
Smith:
"We answered the bell and guys really stepped up and I’m just really proud of my teammates. Even thought shots were not falling we are playing stingy on the defensive end. We are not scoring, they are not scoring. That’s what we need to do with get consistent wins."
Drew:
"I made a conscience effort in second half to put the ball in Joe’s hand as much as we could. I thought the guys responded to that."
Rookie coach Larry Drew has taken a lot of heat for his stewardship of the Atlanta Hawks this season, but for the second straight game he had all the right answers as the Hawks beat an Eastern Conference contender.
After using Jason Collins to stymie Orlando's Dwight Howard on Wednesday, Drew shifted gears and didn't play Collins a minute tonight -- instead using 7-footer Zaza Pachulia extensively as the Hawks rallied from 12 points down to top Boston 88-83.
Pachulia played the entire fourth quarter while a struggling Josh Smith cooled his heels on the bench, and the move allowed the Hawks to pound Boston into submission on the glass. He scored 15 points and added 10 rebounds, including five on the offensive boards, as the Hawks enjoyed a 14-3 edge in offensive rebounds and an 18-2 edge in second-chance points.
The Hawks caught a break in scheduling, getting the aged Celtics one night after the Green People played (and won) in San Antonio. “We got in a 4 o’clock,” said Rivers, who looked as if sleep had come grudgingly if at all.
The game was no classic. The Hawks fell behind by eight at the half, by 12 in the third quarter. And here you thought, “They’re doing it again.” But they didn’t. They rode the will of Zaza and a cluster of misses by the Celtics’ Glen Davis to a five-point victory. It was a game that meant far more to the Hawks, and to their credit they grabbed it.
After Friday’s victory, the excellent-as-ever Al Horford suggested the Hawks are beginning to “figure it out,” but this correspondent would be insincere if he suggested he saw much figuring. This team has no idea what it’s going to be from night to night: In Wednesday’s narrow victory over Orlando, Jason Collins had his game of the year; two nights later he didn’t play. To beat Boston, the Hawks banked on Zaza Pachulia, whose bullishness was the difference, and didn’t deploy Josh Smith in the fourth quarter. Yeah, it worked. But is that the formula for lasting success?
After Friday’s victory, Smith said: “We’re as good as anybody — when we put an effort to it.”
First: Do the Celtics ever feel the need to remind anyone how good they are? They just know. That the Hawks ascribed so much weight to two late-season victories tells us they still aren’t sure what’s what, and how could they be — on to Part 2 of Smith’s proclamation — if effort isn’t a constant? Do you know how hard it is for a team with a winning record to lose three home games by 30-plus points? In the history of the NBA, it had never ever happened. Until now.
We’ve stopped believing in the Hawks because we’ve stopped trusting them. This remains one of the NBA’s most gifted teams – on paper, it’s clearly better than the Magic, its sure-to-be Round 1 opponent — but then you check the numbers and you note that, after 76 games, the Hawks have outscored opponents by eight lousy points all season. What have they been doing?
We on the periphery don’t know, and the Hawks surely don’t, either. Sometimes they play hard, sometimes not. Often they get embarrassed, but sometimes they rouse themselves and make a stand. “Some reporters might write us off,” Smith said, “but we’re a playoff team and we know it.”
And there it was again, the reason we no longer believe in these Atlanta Hawks: Because they’ve gotten better at telling us how good they are than at showing us. Maybe they’ll make all of their skeptics look silly when the real season commences. Maybe, but I’m skeptical.
"He was absolutely sensational from start to finish on both ends of the floor. Defensively he did a great job of picking the ball up and harassing the ball. His speed and his quickness is just something we don’t have. When we put him in games we rely on him to be a nuisance defensively and offensively just to stay in the attack mode."
His speed and quickness is something the Hawks have had for almost two full seasons and, for almost two full seasons, two head coaches have chosen not to utilize it for reasons that are not obvious given his age, draft position, and on-court performance. Perhaps that has now changed permanently.
Now, I'll admit that I thought Andrew Miller would dominate Teague in the post and we'd witness a repeat of a rusty Teague's embarrassment at the hands of Chris Paul. Larry Drew got it right last night.
Drew:
"I am hoping this will be kind of a springboard for him. It’s been kind of an up-and-down season for him. He’s played some minutes, he’s started a few games, and he’s gone stretches where he hasn’t played. But during that stretch I never stopped believing in that kid because I saw the package that he brings. He can make shots, he’s got speed, he’s got quickness, he can go from end to end. Defensively he can be a nuisance.
It’s important that he keeps believing in himself because I will never lose the belief in him. I’m committed to him. I know that at times he shows signs of a lack of confidence. For whatever reason, I don’t know, because I recognize the fact that this kid if he’s playing at a level I know he can he can be pretty good and tonight he showed that. I just have to keep being that little birdie on his shoulder and keep letting him know how good he can be for our team."
I'm just speculating, but I'm guessing the 10 DNP-CDs and 10 more appearances that lasted less than five minutes might have, possibly, adversely affected Teague's confidence.
Teague:
"It felt great to get an opportunity to get out here and play, something I’ve wanted to do all year."
Teague:
"Coach told us to get up there and put on the pressure and try to overplay the passing lanes and make something happen. I got my hands on a couple of the balls. I got lucky."
Nate MacMillan on Teague's spectacular steal-free throw, steal-dunk, steal-three stretch over the final 12 seconds of the first quarter:
"Those possessions at the end of the first quarter changed things."
Wesley Matthews (I think he just beat Joe Johnson on another back-door cut) on Jeff Teague:
"Jeff Teague had a great game. He played the passing lane well and was really active and caused some problems for us."
Teague had five steals and three blocks in 44:18 last night. Compared to his fellow Hawk guards:
Name
S
BS
Min
Johnson
37
7
2066
Crawford
51
12
1829
Bibby
39
6
1673
Teague
34
19
713
Per 100 on-court possessions, that looks like:
Name
S
BS
Teague
2.56
1.53
Crawford
1.5
0.35
Bibby
1.25
0.19
Johnson
0.96
0.18
Among Hawks this season, Teague trails only Josh Smith (2.56) and Al Horford (1.55) in BS/100 possessions and Teague has a higher defensive rebounding rate than both Johnson and Damien Wilkins, as well.
Drew on Atlanta's decent success against Portland's zone:
"We actually went back to our man-to-man offense against the zone which turned out to be pretty good."
"Take nothing from Oklahoma City; they are a good team. The disappointing thing is the physicality in which they played with, we didn’t match it. We didn’t get after loose balls. We didn’t get on the floor. Yeah, they were coming over our backs on some plays but you have got to box out, you have got to get your body into them. They fought screens. They played with a physicality that we did not match."
Al Horford:
"I don’t think we did well as far as protecting the paint.It had something to do with me being in foul trouble and not wanting to be as aggressive helping out. They took advantage of that in the first half. After that, they seemed to have the shooting and the scoring in the paint going.
I like the way that our team came out and showed up. Yeah, we could have probably picked up the intensity more. But I felt like we played hard. We were one or two plays away but we couldn’t get it done."
Joe Johnson:
"I thought we came out with the right energy and effort in how we wanted the game to be dictated. But we just didn’t get stops when we needed them down the stretch like we wanted to."
"The Hawks are a great team and they bring the best out of us. We shot well against them from three, and me and Russell and James all were hitting from outside."
I honestly don’t think the Thunder’s doing a whole lot differently, but they are definitely picking up a little bit of comfort in their new skin. They’re understanding who fits where and you can just tell how much stronger they are inside. Nazr Mohammed and Serge Ibaka didn’t do anything incredible tonight — 14 points, 11 rebounds between them — but they sealed off the inside and held Al Horford to just 15 points. A big part of that was Nick Collison’s outstanding effort off the bench, but as a whole, I think it’s becoming more and more clear that the Thunder’s just better right now.
...
This was a game where it really felt like the Thunder was the superior team throughout. The Hawks have enough offensive talent in Joe Johnson, Jamal Crawford and Horford to always stay tight, but without Josh Smith, OKC kind of seemed dominant. I don’t think it was the case, but really, other than the Hawks getting it to two with a minute left, I never felt much worry about the outcome.
"He was an absolute beast tonight. … He was our anchor tonight. During the timeouts, he was in the huddles cheering the guys, and just telling the guys to keep plugging."
Horford on his corner 3:
"My heels were at the 3 (line) so I said, 'I might as well take a step back' and I was in a rhythm and I feel confident taking that shot."
"When he shot that 3 in the corner, I knew he was rolling. So I just wanted to make sure I got him the ball in the sweet spots."
Drew on the newfound possibility of point guard defense:
"[Hinrich] gives me the luxury of matching [Johnson] up late. Whereas matching up early, it can wear him down."
Joe Johnson on the turnover he forced on Chicago's penultimate possession:
"When I noticed him taking the ball out. I wanted to deny him, because I knew he'd throw it in and get a handoff. I just wanted to deny him the best I could and make Boozer throw a tough pass."
Marvin Williams on his spectacular fourth quarter block of Derrick Rose:
"I was just trying to make a play. I was telling these guys, it was a split second from going the other way, he probably could have put me in the basket. He's an explosive jumper, but that didn't cross my mind; I just went after it."
Tom Thibodeau on Atlanta's defense on Rose:
"They did a good job on him. I thought he had some shots he normally makes that he couldn't put down."
John Hollinger on Kirk Hinrich's early impact:
Atlanta used the combination of Hinrich and Joe Johnson to shut down Chicago star Derrick Rose, enabling the Hawks to rally from a 19-point deficit and stun the Bulls 83-80.
...
Hinrich did all the dirty work through three quarters, but the bigger Johnson took over down the stretch run. With fresh legs, Johnson denied Rose off the ball and forced a turnover as Carlos Boozer attempted a handoff, and went in for a dunk that put Atlanta up three with 20.6 seconds remaining; out of timeouts, Chicago's two desperation tries for a game-tying 3-pointer came up empty.
The second half I saw a team worth watching. The second half reminded me why, not so long ago (meaning pre-Orlando sweep), I’d come to like the Hawks and the way they played. You can say it was just one game of 82, and you’d be correct numerically, but if this one game had become just another meek home loss we’d have been dismissing the Hawks altogether. But you cannot dismiss a team that surges from 19 points down without its third-best player to run down a big-time opponent at the end.
Jamal Crawford was matched up on Korver when he made both of his shots in the fourth quarter, yet with a three-point lead on the final possession it was Hinrich that drew Korver while Johnson was matched up on Rose.
"We couldn't get stops and we couldn't score. Beat ourselves at the end. Fouls 94 feet from the basket. Turning the ball over. But the game was lost long before that. When we got the big lead I thought we got real loose at the end of the second quarter. It carried over to start the third. ... You got to play 48 minutes. You don't do that, you're not winning in this league."
"We couldn’t get [stops]. We ended up switching. Nash is a smart point guard. He knew where the mismatches were. Tip your hat to Channing Frye, he hit some tough shots on Damien. Damien was all over him but when you are 6-10, 6-11 you get that ball in position you want it’s kind of hard to block the shot."
Jamal Crawford on getting hot in the second half and the Hawks using a 31-year-old free agent small forward signed mid-season to defend one of the greatest offensive point guards in the history of the league in the fourth quarter:
"I’m getting back to being me, for sure."
Larry Drew on Jeff Teague:
"I thought he came out aggressive in attack mode and used his speed and quickness. We need that. I thought he did a tremendous job breaking the defense down and getting to the basket. That’s the way he has to play. Don’t worry about turning the basketball over, just keep the pressure on the defense."
"It was one of those games. I was happy with our team's effort in the second half and I wish we would have maintained throughout the game. We did a much better job of staying poised and playing our style of play."
"It is just totally unacceptable to come out and play with that type energy, that type so-called passion, to play almost as if they don’t care. And that’s a reflection of me. If that’s the case, then I am going to have to make some changes to my starting lineup. I’ve seen that way too often and if that’s the way we are going to start basketball games, I am not going to sit here and take it I am going to make some changes."
To which Michael Cunningham asks:
Which changes could he possibly make to fix what have been persistent problems for this team?
Drew can get Al back in the lineup, ASAP. That’s not going to suddenly make the Hawks be a team that doesn’t rely heavily on making jump shots to score, rebounds on defense, defends dribble penetration and slows opponents in transition that match (or exceed) their athleticism.
Mike Woodson Drew on his team's defensive performance:
"Bad defense. That’s all it was. We were broken down off the dribble where it was man-on-man. We were exploited off the dribble. We know Philadelphia has guys that are capable but we cannot come out and constantly let a team penetrate our interior like that. And it happened from the start and it happened until the end. When you play where team is constantly breaking down off the dribble, you are in a lot of rotation situations, you are forcing bigs to come and help, they put it up in the glass, they get the offensive rebound."
More from Michael Cunningham:
Perhaps this a chicken-and-egg thing for the Hawks. Do they just not care enough to play better than this against an opponent they eclipse in talent, or do they just look like they don’t care when they can’t play better than this against an opponent they eclipse in talent?
Marvin Williams:
"I don’t think anybody didn’t care. Obviously when you get down by such a huge deficit, guys’ body language is going to change and that’s what frustrates [Drew] the most. He doesn’t like to see that. But anybody that laces their shoes up cares, especially on this team. I can say that wholeheartedly."
Jamal Crawford:
"I don’t care who we are playing, we should never be down by 30. I think that is just caring more. We have got to continue to hold each other accountable and keep getting better."
Joe Johnson:
"When we wasn’t making shots, every rebound they got they were pushing it and pounding the ball down our throat. We wasn’t playing no help defense. The defense tonight was just non-existent. They got whatever they wanted."
Drew:
"You are going to miss shots. But there is no excuse for giving up easy baskets the way we give up easy baskets. It starts from our starters. When they come out and play like that at the very beginning it’s hard to overcome a deficit like that."
"The third quarter to me was all about maturity, and I told them that. We weren't going to let them back in the game."
Josh Smith followed up the three jump shots he took in the first three minutes of the game with two jumpers in the first 110 seconds of the second half. Maturity.
When you see Josh Smith score three times inside, over, around, and through Elton Brand, you wonder that Josh ever sees in that tramp, the jump shot.
And Walker's shorter recap of the game:
Let's be clear: This had nothing to do with coming out flat or any other myth. It has to do with poor perimeter defense, lack of execution on offense, accepting a homogeneous shot selection that doesn't involve the paint, and carelessly turning over possessions.
For me, the MVP debate is finished after last night, and the man whose name should be on the trophy is Atlanta’s Al Horford.
Horford has now missed four games for Atlanta this season. Yes, the Hawks are 2-2 in those games. But the two wins were over Washington and Charlotte, which doesn’t move the needle much. The two losses, on the other hand, were to New Orleans and rejuvenated Philadelphia, and the Hawks lost those games by — let me make sure I have this right — a bajillion points. At home no less.
I can’t think of a single other NBA team that performs as poorly sans one player as the Hawks without Horford.
/checks standings, sees Cleveland
Oh. Right. Well, maybe a second-place vote for Horford then.
"We played very unselfishly. The offense was there. The defense was non-existent in the fist half."
Drew:
"I wanted to establish some type of rhythm with the rotations tonight. I wanted to keep a couple of the starters out there with three of the reserves. Tonight I was able to do it because we didn’t get into any kind of foul trouble. That’s pretty much what I’ve always tried to do but sometimes fouls and [injuries] dictate that."
Joe Johnson:
"I think everybody on the team understands if I am getting doubled and they are open I am going to make the extra pass. Tonight I was just trying to get into the teeth of the defense and when I got double teamed, I was just trying to find the open man."
Take note of perhaps the only time Toronto's defense will be described as toothsome.
Drew on Johnson fitting into the offense:
"He’s getting into a rhythm. I think we are doing a good job moving him around to different spots offensively. And I think our guys are reading defenses. We put him in the post and they play him on one side, we are getting the ball to him on the other."
Michael Cunningham:
[T]he Hawks really only played defense for short spurts and won only because the Raps couldn’t stop them.
What Atlanta does so well against the Raptors is that is fully takes advantage of the Raptors strategy to switch at every opportunity. Why not just put Calderon on Horford to start off with, because even the most harmless pick will produce the same matchup anyway? A big, usually Barganani, gets caught on the perimeter far too often and then the token double comes in and then it’s just a matter of making the right pass or two for Atlanta to get an open three. Don’t these guys know how to fight through screens?
"That was almost a similar situation like we collapsed fourth quarter against Milwaukee. Losing focus of what got us the lead. I threw the challenge down at halftime. We played well, let’s see what we are made of the third quarter because we knew that team was not going to quit. But we got into a situation of trading baskets and against a team like New York you can’t do that because they have a lot of firepower."
"[W]e have to learn from it. To me, that's the most important thing. It happened to cost us a game but the most important thing is that we learn from it. We cannot allow that type of play in the fourth quarter. We cannot allow the snowball effect."
There was some of "that type of play" in the first half of the fourth quarter but good play far outweighed it over the course of the game.
"I’m proud of the way our guys responded. They did not lose their composure. They got back into a rhythm. Josh Smith did a great job when we were struggling somewhat for a basket and we were able to post him and he took advantage of it, made some really nice moves down low."
Drew on Joe Johnson:
"Everyone looks at his scoring but I look at his assists and rebounds because those are areas we really need help in. And he’s been defending like crazy. He guards ones, he guards twos. I’ve always stated that he’s a very underrated defender."
Odd night to praise Joe Johnson's defense. (I'd say after Johnson typically plays atypically good defense against Deron Williams would make a stronger case than a night the Hawks allowed Raymond Felton and Landry Field significant freedom and the Knicks 112 points per 100 possessions.)
Also, if Larry Drew likes Joe Johnson's rebounding (10.8 DR%), you know who he might love? Jeff Teague (12.6 DR%).
He had his usual ho-hum, 19 points on 12 shots night, with 14 rebounds and 6 assists tossed in. Is there any doubt that Al Horford is an All-Star? Despite not getting 21 shots like Amare Stoudemire, Horford outplayed him across the board. Put Horford in an offense that averages more than 90 possessions a game and see what kind of numbers he might put up nightly. Once again, Horford was boss in crunch time...scoring 5, grabbing 2 rebounds, and mixing in an assist and block.
[Smith] was clearly into this game and was a factor on both ends of the floor. His final line of 24 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists looked much better but the 9-13 shooting may have been the best part. He started inside and got some easy baskets in transition and usually after getting in a rhythm that leads to more success from the outside for Smith. He knocked down 2-3 3-point shots including one to push the lead back to eight late in the fourth.
"It was just a total collapse on the defensive end, I thought. We didn’t play with the energy, we didn’t play with the juice, we didn’t play with the intensity that, having been in that situation before, we’ve done in the past."
At what point does bad defenders playing bad defense stop being blamed on an absence of energy, intensity, or, god help me, "juice"?
Larry Drew:
"It was not a good display of shot selection, which we talk about over and over, especially on the road. We settled."
I've been sympathetic to both Drew and his predecessor for the lack of depth both have been given but it's hard to remain fair on that score when neither uses all the options available to hold players' minutes accountable to their on-court actions on both ends of the floor. If Zaza Pachulia or Marvin Williams or Mo Evans or Jeff Teague came into the fourth quarter of a game because someone took a bad shot or shots or because someone couldn't stay in front of a 34-year-old little person or keep track of the whereabouts of Garrett Temple, or if the team ran one m&*^*$#u@#*&g play for its best player to try and stop a run then this sort of fourth quarter collapse would be less familiar, less easily explicable.
Al Horford:
"It’s a lesson still being learned, I feel like. I guess when it gets to a point where it hurts you and really bothers you, then you do something about it. I don’t know that we’re there as a team yet."
Joe Johnson:
"With everybody back, it seems that the flow is a little different. We just had no chemistry throughout the whole game."
Yes, it was Al Horford's 17 points on 9 shots and 5 assists that disrupted the team's chemistry. Or maybe the 5 rebounds* that Marvin Williams grabbed in less than 13 minutes. Let's not let the magnitude of Josh Smith's poor play in the fourth quarter take away from the near-total ineptitude of iso-Joe or his Crawfordesque off-the-ball defense.
*That would 4 more rebounds than flow diagnostician Joe Johnson managed to find in 33 minutes of play.
Zaza Pachulia:
"I believe we didn’t play smart the last couple minutes of the fourth quarter, I’d say the whole fourth quarter. We let them make a run and let them do what they wanted."
Garrett Temple only arrived in Milwaukee yesterday, but picked up everything he needed to by game time. And the stuff he didn’t know about, he was fed by his teammates throughout the game. Temple said he practiced mainly at point guard in his lone practice with the team, but he saw action exclusively at the two and three on Wednesday night. He looked like a natural fit.
He finished with just eight points, but made three of five shots, grabbed three rebounds and handed out three assists while not committing a turnover. He made a particularly key pass to Delfino in the fourth quarter. With the Hawks in a zone and the ball swung to him on the right side, he skipped his pass across the court to a waiting Delfino outside the arc. Delfino finished the play by making the three and the Bucks were up five with 2:29 to go. Plays like that haven’t always been made for the Bucks this season.
It's as if there's freely available talent out there if a team were to broaden its search beyond...
Guys who have played for the team previously.
Guys who played high school basketball in Georgia.
"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.
"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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
"I’ve been saying since I got here, when we help each other and everybody is on a string we are one of the top teams in the league. We did that tonight. We helped, and we rotated out and everybody was moving. When we are that active, we are real good."
Josh Smith on defending LeBron James much of the game:
"It’s so hard to be able to guard so many re-screens. You find your legs getting tired. They beat you up on the screens. But it’s all mental for me and I just fought through it. I wanted to suck it up and be able to stand up for my team."
Larry Drew on Smith's defense:
"I thought he did a real good job against him. He’s out there flapping around, but I do think his length bothers people. And he has the ability to erase a mistake when he gets beat off the dribble when someone goes to the basket."
"I had a week off and that is what happens sometimes. We had everything going and when you have a few injuries it takes the chemistry out, it takes the rhythm out of a team."
Dwyane Wade:
"They fought us well. It was a good Eastern Conference game, a good battle. They made the plays down the stretch."
Joe Johnson made three good plays in a row down the stretch in overtime---a heady drive and kick to Jamal for a three when the game glitched and the Heat weren't paying attention to Joe until he drove to the hoop in transition, a strong take to the hoop where he bumped LeBron off balance and hit a baseline floater, and a terrific pass to Josh Smith out of a nearly half court double team, and Smoove finishing the play.
Those three plays were two more than the Heat made, where they decided that LeBron had to keep on taking looooong three point attempts to win. Only one of those three went in and the Hawks hit the free throws down the stretch to win.
If Tuesday's loss to the Atlanta Hawks revealed nothing else about the ailing Miami Heat, it showed that Chris Bosh might be the most irreplaceable player on the roster.
Not the best overall.
That would be LeBron James, who returned from a two-game injury absence with a performance that was equal parts rusty and resilient in shooting the Heat out of, then back into and ultimately back out of the game in Tuesday's 93-89 overtime loss to the Hawks.
And Bosh is far from the most explosive member of the Heat's Big Three.
That would be Dwyane Wade, who can take over at any moment and string together 15-point quarters, 20-point halves and 40-point games as fast as LeBron can create a Twitter controversy. That, in itself, makes Wade's disappearing act in the extra period a bit baffling, considering he didn't attempt a shot.
But Bosh, for all of his far-too-frequent settling for perimeter jumpers and occasional reluctance to get his hands and game dirty in the post, is simply the one player the Heat can least afford to lose to injury for any sustained period of time.
These two teams combined to take 61 shots from three on the night even though combined they made just 14 (23 percent). That kind of sums up this game — a lot of bad decisions and missed shots. This game was very entertaining. It was filled with sloppy but it was still fun to watch.
"Our first couple wins against Indiana, we did the exact same thing, just went to some of the matchup problems, and if they didn’t come down, we scored. If they did, we got the ball out and made them pay."
"When we can swing the ball and get open looks, we're tough to beat."
Al Horford:
"It's fun. We're getting everybody involved. Jamal is starting to play like himself again and Joe, as well. It's great playing with them."
Mike Dunleavy, Jr. provides the opposite perspective:
"We're just really not playing well, particularly on the offensive end. There's not a lot of rhythm or flow to our offense, and it's not a whole lot of fun to play or watch right now."
"I think in watching Joe and watching Al and Josh and all those guys, it seems like they’re stating to really pick up what were trying to do and they’re having fun with it."
Jeff Teague was not present on the court or on the bench during garbage time as he was receiving treatment on a contusion on his right hand he suffered during his first half stint.
"From start to finish I thought it was one of the most complete games where we controlled it from start to finish on both ends of the floor. Defensively, I thought we did a great job. And then we actually got out and ran, made the extra pass."
Jerry Sloan:
"They pass the ball well. They got it to who was supposed to have the ball almost every possession. We didn’t seem to be able to do anything with it."
I'm not entirely clear if Sloan means that the Jazz didn't move the ball as well as the Hawks did or that the Jazz couldn't deal with Atlanta's ball movement. Either interpretation makes sense.
Drew on Atlanta's defense:
"We tried to take away a lot of the easy touches. The system that they run, they are so good at it. They put you in a position of switching and if you are not careful you can get back cut. I thought we did a good job of defending that. I think we forced them into more one-on-one situations than what they are accustomed to and then we defended it."
It is so much easier to avoid getting burned on back cuts when you don't switch every off-the-ball screen.
Josh Smith:
"We did a good job with team defense.
We wanted to match their physicality. I think we did a good job at really pressuring them and stopping them from swinging the basketball easily. We got in the passing lanes and did a nice job of limiting them to one shot and rebounding and getting the ball out."
"We are starting to figure things out about how L.D. wants things to be run offensively and defensively."
Kris Willis on Johnson's return to form over the past two games:
One of the biggest developments of this season has been the increased impact of Josh Smith and Al Horford offensively on the Hawks. With the injuries that the Hawks have suffered this season, both players have had to carry the load for the team. Often they have carried the load even with Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford both in the lineup. We have talked many times about the quality looks at the basket that the motion offense had produced Johnson and that he hadn't been able to cash in on a lot of those opportunities during the first quarter of the season. That left us wondering what this Hawks offense would look like if Johnson was able to return to form. We have got our answer the last two nights in Sacramento and Utah.
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.
Lester Conner’s pregame board has a different look tonight. The offensive and defensive keys are each labeled with “good teams.” As in . . .
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.”
How did the Hawks succeed in ticking off the boxes on Conner's list?
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.
"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."
"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."
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.
