Quote of the Day -- May 11, 2012

Larry Drew:

"That [Josh Smith's missed corner two with nine seconds left] wasn’t [the play]. We were in our wrong spots. We did not execute what we had drawn up in the huddle. We can’t have that type of mental breakdown at the end of a game. You just can’t have it. That play is not designed to be at the elbow shooting a jump shot. We did not execute it."

The Hawks sorted it out in their final huddle of the game, a collaborative masterpiece:

HoopSpeak: Jason Collins Doin' Work

50 Seconds of Thunder: The Jason Collins Mixtape, a short film by Beckley Mason:



4/29/12. Never forget.

NBA Playbook: The Art of the Thief

Brett Koremenos on Jeff Teague's five first half steals in Philadelphia:

Any good thief has either quick hands or great instincts. The special ones, like Jason Kidd, have a combination of both. Against Philadelphia, Teague showed he may be in that elite category.

HoopSpeak: Mason: Chicago goes to the half court trap to trip up the Hawks

Friend of the blog, Beckley Mason, on the turning point of the game:

Judging by the Atlanta Hawks' defensive energy and focus, you wouldn’t have guessed they were on the second game in a brutal back to back that began with the Heat. But with 7 minutes left in the third, Atlanta was in absolute control of the Chicago Bulls. The offense wasn’t exactly humming, but certainly grinding. Snappy ball-movement and running Joe Johnson in swooping circles around a series of screeners was giving the Bulls fits. When the Bulls’ aggressive big men hedged to Johnson, Josh Smith and Al Horford quickly slipped back door for alley-oops.

When a team is getting pounded, sage commentators intone that the team “needs to change something.” Really, sometimes a team only needs to make open shots, or take better care of the ball. Certainly either would have helped the Bulls, but it wasn’t just execution–the Hawks were taking it to them. They were beating them to loose balls, disrupting the Bulls already choppy offense and abusing the Bulls defensive philosophy with clever reads.

The Bulls won 61 games last season, and will win a whole bunch this year because night in and night out, they simply play harder and more aggressively than their competition.

So in an apparent effort to reclaim that identity, coach Tom Thibodeau unleashed a half court trap in the second half that dramatically shifted the flow of the game. With all those long and fast players, the Bulls second unit–which often includes Luol Deng– is a near perfect group for trapping.

But the Bulls debuted the trap with Carlos Boozer, of all people, on top. That’s because the goal wasn’t to get deflections and steals, but to divert the Hawks theretofore flowing offense into channels unaccustomed to handle the volume of offensive responsibility, and to burn precious seconds off the clock before the Hawks could initiate their offense.

Click through for video and further analysis.

ESPN.com: Atlanta Hawks Season Preview

The 5-on-5 season previews turn to the Southeast Division this week. Discussion of the Hawks leads things off and, for anyone needing a 60-second summation of the Hawks with a reference to the pending change in ownership shoehorned in at the last minute, there's a video that I produced in my kitchen. Fair warning and all that.

NBA Playbook: Atlanta's Strategy for Dwight Howard

Sebastian Pruiti breaks down how single coverage complemented by late digs once Dwight Howard began a post move, helped the Hawks defend Orlando on the perimeter in Game 1 of their playoff series and takes a guess as to how Orlando might counter:

It will be interesting to see if the Magic can counter by running a few more plays for their three point shooters (for example throwing it into Dwight and setting a screen away from the ball for a shooter, then having him kick it out. A play like that doesn’t require a double to get an open look), or if they will continue to dump it into Howard and let him work one on one.

Sebastian also confirms my live impression that Dwight Howard's three-second violations had most to do with the ball arriving late.

NBA Playbook: Round 1 Preview: Orlando vs. Atlanta

Today, my recently made friend* in real life, Sebatian Pruiti, put up the best and most thorough preview of the upcoming playoff series between the Atlanta Hawks and the Orlando Magic you will read.

This post may be up for awhile. Coverage of the final four games of the regular season will depend on the events therein. Breaking news--an injury, Pape Sy's NBA debut, Al Horford attempting a free throw--will be worthy of attention. Going through the motions will not.

*Sebastian at least tolerated me. Really, that's all I ask.

Only Buster Bluth Rates Juice More Highly Than Does Larry Drew

As reported by Michael Cunningham, Larry Drew on the Hawks breaking their four-game losing streak:

"They seemed to have a little bit more juice. Heck, I seemed to have a little bit more juice. It’s good to break the streak. You are almost 70 games into the season. It’s been a long grind, and you just welcome those kind of moments."

Previously.

Also, previous to that.

Sweet, Delicious Highlights: Hawks/Bulls 3.2.11

I've been in Boston* for about two hours. Hopefully these will help tide you over until I can more thoroughly encapsulate Pape Sy's D-League career.

*More to follow in this space and at TrueHoop over the weekend concerning the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.

Al Horford dunks on Luol Deng to give the Hawks their first lead of the game, or, Al Horford makes Bob Rathbun's voice break:



Marvin Williams blocks Derrick Rose's dunk attempt:



Joe Johnson defends a point guard brilliantly:

NBA Playbook: Kirk Hinrich's Game Winning Charge

Sebastian Pruiti breaks down a rather new sight for Hawks fans: a point guard moving to make a key defensive play in the paint.

NBA Playbook: Breaking Down Hawks/Heat

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

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

NBA Playbook: The Hawks Struggle Against Toronto's Zone

Sebastian Pruiti analyzes the video evidence of Atlanta's stagnant zone offense:

The reason why the Hawks’ struggled against the zone is because it seemed that they reverted to their ISO tendencies once they saw the zone. The ball really started to stick, and that is the worst possible thing that you can do against the zone.

...

The Atlanta Hawks did just about everything they could to look bad against the zone, making just about every mistake you can against it. Despite that, they were able to eek out a win with a Mike Bibby three. It was against man to man defense.

Sebastian also breaks down how the Hawks got Mike Bibby open for his game-winning three.

Josh Smith: Dunk of the Night

Enjoy:

40 Years Ago Today

The Atlanta Hawks, featuring Lou Hudson, Bill Bridges, Walt Bellamy, and rookie guard Pete Maravich visited the Phoenix Suns on Christmas Day.

Enjoy:

Bet It Hit Rim #5: The False Center

On Al Horford against the Phoenix Suns Sunday.



Further reading: The Positional Revolution

Further listening: Sebadoh

NBA Playbook: Hawks Get the Dagger With a Lob

Sebastian Pruiti looks at the Josh Smith-to-Al Horford lob that put the Hawks up 93-87 with 1:37 left Saturday night.

Atlanta Hawks 2010-11 Season Preview Compendium

COACHING AND TACTICS
Larry Drew and Predictions
Bet it Hit Rim #4 takes an early look at Larry Drew's new offense
NBA Playbook does the same

PREVIEWS AND PREDICTIONS
John Hollinger's Atlanta Hawks forecast
Lang Whitaker's Atlanta Hawks preview from SLAM Online
Peachtree Hoops preview
Basketball-Reference.com Blog Atlanta Hawks preview
A prediction roundup
The Atlanta Hawks season preview chat from ESPN.com

PLAYERS
Josh Smith
Al Horford
Joe Johnson
Marvin Williams
Mike Bibby
Jamal Crawford
Jeff Teague and Zaza Pachulia
What Kind of Point Guard Can Jeff Teague Be?
Maurice Evans
Josh Powell
Jordan Crawford
Etan Thomas and Jason Collins
Pape Sy

EXHIBITION GAMES
111-115 (OT) Memphis
85-94 at Detroit
92-107 at Washington
84-74 vs. New Orleans
73-102 Orlando
98-89 Miami
66-99 at Charlotte

NBA Playbook: Looking At The “New” Atlanta Hawks Offense

For those blacked-out locally from tonight's nationally broadcast exhibition game against Orlando, I offer Sebastian Pruiti's thorough look at the new elements of the Atlanta Hawks offense from the October 12th exhibition game in Washington.

Bet It Hit Rim will address the same topic in a new video to premiere Thursday night or Friday morning.

Truth About It: Notes From the Other Side

Rashad Mobley spoke with Larry Drew before tonight's exhibition game.

NBA Playbook: Atlanta Hawks Preview

Sebastian Pruiti looks at how effective the Atlanta Hawks were when they used off-the-ball screens and how terrible they were in transition defense last season in an attempt to divine what the 2010-11 season might hold.