No news = good news?
You can bet Matt Harpring, Jerry Sloan and the Jazz will be ready to go against the Hawks tonight at Philips Arena.
HAWKSVILLE – The status of Hawks starting small forward Marvin Williams hasn’t changed since yesterday. He’s still sidelined indefinitely with a lower back injury that could ultimately cost him the rest of this season.
But as of game time Wednesday night at Philips Arena, Williams and the Hawks are still awaiting word from specialists at Duke University before they announce any further information. It still sounds like it’ll be the end of the week, and perhaps even a bit later, before anything certain comes to light in regards to Williams.
What should be a heck of game is being overshadowed by the ongoing story surrounding Williams. The Jazz showed up tonight sporting a 12-game win-streak, the NBA’s longest current streak of the kind.
These two teams also have some interesting bad blood leftover from a couple weeks back, when Josh Smith whacked former Marist and Georgia Tech star Matt Harpring on a hard foul and was ejected from the game the Hawks lost in Utah Feb. 23.
Smith promised before the game that anything that happened that night was in the past. I’ll bet the Jazz coaches reminded Harpring and everyone else in their locker room about what went down. Those are the sorts of things that a hard-nosed bunch like the Jazz won’t forget.
They’ll be ready to rumble. So the Hawks better be as well.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
427 comments Add your comment
Melvin
March 11th, 2009
8:06 pm
Good half by the Hawks…
bigdave
March 11th, 2009
8:07 pm
MORE MARIO!!!!!
chuckw/deadjournalist
March 11th, 2009
8:09 pm
melvin – dead-on on mario on d. williams. mario can guard the slow-footed pg’s around the league. although i’ll be honest, i still miss the pressure d that royal ivey could put on the ball. i hope sund is watching this game. while the jazz are playing about as bad as they could and the hawks have hit a lot of jumpers, the flow of the game is much better for the hawks when they play at a frantic pace like tonight.
Blast
March 11th, 2009
8:11 pm
This is the old Joe we all know and like. He’s basically scored his season average by halftime.
Josh is balling.
Mario needs to play more.
If the Hawks win this game, then they have earned the bragging rights of NBA’s Streak Stoppers. They snapped Detroit’s 4 game win streak, snapped the Hornets 7 game win streak, now they have another shot tonight. I never thought they would beat Utah here tonight, but the Hawks are making it look easy. We still have one half of bball to play, so it’s not over until it’s over, but I’m loving the Hawks right now.
cp
March 11th, 2009
8:12 pm
Great first half. Joe has found his game…. The bench came in and played well. Mario is showing why he should get at least a few minutes every game. Evans continues to do nothing…. Like Melvin said, let Mario guard Deron so Joe wont extend all his energy trying to keep up with him….. It really ain’t much to complain about other than the terrible free throw shooting, giving up some easy boards, and how Milsap was owning Pachulia… Hopefully they come out in the second half with the same type of energy and don’t try and slow the game down.
mississippi
March 11th, 2009
8:12 pm
this is the team that we need to see every night. The rotation is great, m.west and acie are both doing what people have said they could do. I haven’t seen enough games, many on radio, to talk about what m.evans brings on a nightly basis that doesn’t show in the stat line, but it sure seems like m.west could guard some of the smaller SF in the league and back up pg. Let Flip be the back up shooting guard. We have a team.
The Hawksta
March 11th, 2009
8:14 pm
This game is the opposite of the one we played in Utah! Just keep the defense up and we got these guys! Same rotation in the second half too. Mario is giving Utah fits!
Melvin
March 11th, 2009
8:14 pm
Hopefully the Hawks can put their foot on the Jazz necks in the 3rd qtr. But I won’t count the Jazz out b/c Sloan is a very savvy coach…
Chuck, I think AC can play def better than Ivey. Notice how D.Williams was not getting into the lane when AC guarded him…
KevinA
March 11th, 2009
8:15 pm
Mario ought to play with energy. Been resting all season. How many other sleepers are on the bench with plenty of rest? JJ needs some bench time so he can close the game. How about a Hunter sighting. Solo could use 5 min. Fun first half.
KevinA
March 11th, 2009
8:16 pm
Bibby could use a couple of 10 min breaks in the second half.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 11th, 2009
8:16 pm
I only caught the last 4 minutes of the first half… I still think at least some of Mario’s defensive effectiveness results from playing limited minutes and having the luxury of wasting fouls, but he does provide a ton of energy and has gotten a lot smarter when it comes to not fouling. He’s a useful weapon to use against elite opposing guards who are too quick for Bibby. I’d like to see the Hawks use him on D-Wade next time they play the Heat…. I think it would be a pretty good matchup.
Great to see Joe Johnson (and the rest of the team) hitting their shots. Even better to see the team rotating and anticipating on defense.
Sekou K. Smith
March 11th, 2009
8:17 pm
If the Hawks hold on here, Rio’s contribution along with Joe’s monster first half and the work Josh put in on both ends of the floor will have helped them end the Jazz’s win-streak at 12 games in convincing fashion.
terrell barron
March 11th, 2009
8:17 pm
Hey Blast, they also stopped Cleveland’s 11 game streak.
Big Ray
March 11th, 2009
8:19 pm
BigDave,
I agree, Mario would be one heck of a safety!
KevinA
March 11th, 2009
8:22 pm
Hard to believe were winning the rebound battle. Keep it up Hawks.
chuckw/deadjournalist
March 11th, 2009
8:22 pm
melvin – ac did play some good d on d. williams but he was out of the game a big chunk of time that ac was in there. d. williams could post him up pretty easily, but i hear you on ac over ivey.
the first four minutes of this half will be huge …
Blast
March 11th, 2009
8:23 pm
Hawks win the game only if they win the third quarter and maintain a double digit lead. Utah players look a little despondent right now, but you can never count them out. But if Utah continues to trade baskets and cannot stop the Hawks, that streak is over.
Watch out for Deron Williams, though. He ain’t going out easy. Hawks cannot sleep on him, and they need to stay on the 3 point shooters. Hawks must continue to attack the rim, because Utah will foul you.
And oh yeah, defensive rebounds, and please make free throws!
Melvin
March 11th, 2009
8:25 pm
I don’t like the way we started the 2nd half. Utah has slowed the game down…
chuckw/deadjournalist
March 11th, 2009
8:26 pm
oh boy.
Blast
March 11th, 2009
8:26 pm
Hawks starting the 3rd quarter bad, man. 4 team fouls already!
chuckw/deadjournalist
March 11th, 2009
8:28 pm
time out now woody!
Melvin
March 11th, 2009
8:30 pm
Take Mo and Bibby out. They are not giving us anything… Hopefully Joe has shot all his bullets in the 1st half and it’s not helping he has to run around the court and guard Deron…
Blast
March 11th, 2009
8:31 pm
You are right Terrell. I knew they did that to a good team in the first half of the season, but I could not remember who! Thanks!
bigdave
March 11th, 2009
8:31 pm
aight fellas… lets dig in…
Najeh Davenpoop
March 11th, 2009
8:34 pm
Jerry Sloan gave the Jazz the anti-Woodson speech during halftime. They look like a completely different team. Okur is outplaying Josh Smith in every way right now.
Also, did David Stern make some kind of secret decree that one Hawk has to suck at free throws at all times? Tonight it’s Horford…
Blast
March 11th, 2009
8:35 pm
Hawks caught a break on that turnover. Bibby needs to sit for Flip.
chuckw/deadjournalist
March 11th, 2009
8:37 pm
fellas, who here isn’t shocked by what has happened this quarter?
niremetal
March 11th, 2009
8:37 pm
Way to go Woody – find out what works (i.e. MARIO) and then go away from it. Brilliant.
bigdave
March 11th, 2009
8:37 pm
lets move this rock around…
Melvin
March 11th, 2009
8:37 pm
The Hawks let the Jazz comeback and take the lead. And all our coach will do is stand with his arms folded and watch Bibby shoot us right out the game….
Blast
March 11th, 2009
8:38 pm
Now, Hawks have to play above and beyond themselves to win this game. They allowed Utah to win the third and take the lead, now the Hawks have to scrape and fight.
bigdave
March 11th, 2009
8:39 pm
once again…
dont see a need for Bibby right now…
rms
March 11th, 2009
8:39 pm
way to go woody for leaving the lineup in there that blew the lead. Typical Hawks!!
rms
March 11th, 2009
8:41 pm
and on top of that he left bibby in the game who is giving us nothing.
chuckw/deadjournalist
March 11th, 2009
8:41 pm
worse coach: woodson or dunleavy?
Melvin
March 11th, 2009
8:43 pm
Woody sucks… He rather play a cold Bibby instead of sticking with the players (Mario & AC) that got him the lead… This is bad coaching at its best…
KevinA
March 11th, 2009
8:44 pm
So much for the inside out game. JJ and Bibby just shooting away.
Blast
March 11th, 2009
8:44 pm
Hawks relying on Joe too much now. They need to post Josh up some more. Jazz has confidence at this time, and Hawks stand a good chance of losing this game unless they step it up.
Where is Mario to guard Williams?
Hawks lose if they enter the 4th trailing.
The Hawksta
March 11th, 2009
8:44 pm
Thought we fired Woody?
Najeh Davenpoop
March 11th, 2009
8:46 pm
Damn… incredible move by J-Smash!
bigdave
March 11th, 2009
8:47 pm
D. Will got that ole ignorant playground crossover…
The Hawksta
March 11th, 2009
8:47 pm
The defense is back
Najeh Davenpoop
March 11th, 2009
8:48 pm
“Hawks relying on Joe too much now. They need to post Josh up some more. Jazz has confidence at this time, and Hawks stand a good chance of losing this game unless they step it up.”
They finally posted up Josh and on cue he got an and-1. It’s amazing how obvious this is to so many of us and how tough it is for Woody to understand. Work inside out and the game becomes easier for everyone.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 11th, 2009
8:49 pm
“worse coach: woodson or dunleavy?”
Did you see Bill Simmons’ article today? Woody is bad, but if his description of Dunleavy is true, man… Woody ain’t even close to that bad.
welikebaseball2
March 11th, 2009
8:50 pm
Why is Flip running the point again?!!!! He either shoots (or should I say hogs the ball) or turns the ball over. Love his mentality as a SG but he’s no PG Woodson!
Najeh Davenpoop
March 11th, 2009
8:50 pm
Acie Law for 3!
Josh Smith decked another Jazz player… this one wasn’t no flagrant though.
KevinA
March 11th, 2009
8:50 pm
Down 2, could have beed worse?
rms
March 11th, 2009
8:50 pm
nice shot ac
dmortone
March 11th, 2009
8:52 pm
Dunleavy. As bad as this is, we didn’t blow a 19 of lead in the 4th
cp
March 11th, 2009
8:53 pm
As always we go away from what works. Bibby just ain’t got it sit him down.