Game time!
HAWKSVILLE - With the Hawks’ point guard ranks thinning by the hour, it might be time for desperate measures with the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers invading Philips Arena for the weekend.
Who is this unmasked man?
And desperate measures means a Speedy Claxton sighting – not necessarily in the game but at least in uniform for the first time in nearly two years.
Tony Parker’s shredding of the Hawks’ defense Wednesday night proved that a point guard that can guard another lightning quick point guard is definitely needed. And with Acie Law IV out with an ailing back, the Hawks have to go somewhere for relief.
Mario West saw spot duty and played well. And Flip Murray tried his hand at slowing Parker down but got into foul trouble and was needed more for his offense than anything else. Might Claxton, were he to actually suit up and possibly play, be the answer?
Hey, it can’t hurt anything. After all, the man is on the payroll. Claxton says he’s healthy. Why not give him a shot and see if he can give your team a spark?
Who knows, he might actually slow Rajon Rondo down for the first a second or two. It would be the first time that’s happened since the Hawks and Celtics locked horns in the playoffs last year. And it’s something the Hawks desperately need to be able to do if they have any chance of beating the Celtics tonight.
There’s no guarantee it happens. But it’s at least worth thinking about considering the Hawks’ depth issues at point guard right now.
KG + STARBURY = LOVE
The Celtics’ arrival also brings former Georgia Tech star Stephon Marbury back to town for the first time this year (he missed those trips with the Knicks due to his estranged relationship with the team before he was jettisoned and allowed to link up with the Celtics).
While some people love to take shots at Marbury for all the drama that has transpired the past couple of years, at least one of his former and now current teammates, is showing him major love.
Celtics superstar Kevin Garnett praised Marbury, per my main man Marc Spears of the Boston Globe.
“Steph’s leadership has been sort of questioned and damaged if y ou will. But once a leader, always a leader,” KG told Spears and other reporters in Boston. ” I’ve told a lot of the young guys that haven’t seen a lot of Steph, I thought we got a steal in grabbing him. His different relationships with different ball clubs is a thing of the past. If you look at some of the guys on this team, they haven’t always had the best reps. We deal with each other on how we deal with each other. He fits right in. Not only is he versatile, but people forget that Steph was one of the premier guards in this league for a while.
“Other than him not playing for a year, we all expect good things out of him. He expects a lot of big things out of himself. He works extremely hard. You just don’t be the (man) from a point guard standpoint all them years of being who you are, obviously the facts are there, but you just don’t become that. You get that through hard work, watching film. I know dude and what kind of drive he has inside. I think he is going to help us in the long run. He’s definitely different from what everyone sees and their perception of him. But you make your bed, you lay in it. I’m not trying to defend him, nothing like that. But he’s a different soul. It’s about repetition, getting it down and moving forward.”
You talking to me KG?
Garnett is only expected to play limited minutes, something like the first seven to eight minutes of each half (per my man Stevie “Crickets” Bulpett of the Boston Herald).
That means the Hawks will almost certainly need to start both the first and third quarters with their big boy lineup of Zaza Pachulia, Al Horford and Josh Smith with Smith dealing with Paul Pierce at small forward.
It’s not even a gamble in my eyes. It’s a necessity. Garnett, even in small doses, is enough to warrant a tweak in the lineup. Besides, Pachulia’s played well in whatever role that’s been asked of him this season. And with his history with the KG, it might not be a bad idea to have him on the floor early to see if he can disrupt what the Celtics might have in store.
More importantly, those lineups add more sizzle to this rivalry (I don’t care what Rondo says, this is a rivalry to me if only because both teams despise each other). And with the weather as lousy as it is today, I’ll take sizzle anywhere I can get it.
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255 comments Add your comment
Elijah
March 27th, 2009
3:04 pm
Some of you guys are crazy.
Speedy, when healthy, is one of the top 5 defensive point guards in the league. Dude HARRASSES other team’s point guards. He was a key reason the Spurs won the NBA title in 2003. He has said he’s healthy and hasn’t played in forever. I’m sure his whole body is fresh (no homo) and he can play fine. He is a perfect player to put on Rondo or Parker, not the lethargic and fat Mike Bibby.
However, I don’t see Speedy playing because if he plays for 1 second, we lose his insurance payments (Sekou please correct me about this)…?
Elijah
March 27th, 2009
3:06 pm
Why would Speedy be in uniform, but not play? We have exactly ONE healthy point guard, and Bibby’s legs are probably dead from playing 38 minutes every other game
Ariose
March 27th, 2009
3:29 pm
Ace Boogie’s got a new mix….check it out..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzy_ja_9yLM&feature=channel_page
doc
March 27th, 2009
3:40 pm
melvin i will have the tix.
Elijah
March 27th, 2009
3:52 pm
A few comments about Sekou’s article on if we can hang with Celtics or Lakers:
1) 9 intense games with Celtics dating back to the playoff series? I don’t think 4 of the games have been remotely competitive
2) If we start ZaZa and Horford, who the heck comes off the bench? Do we really want to see Solomon Jones on huge players like Leon Powe or Big Baby? We need Speedy to play tonight, and we should start Mo.
kirkinga
March 27th, 2009
4:32 pm
If nothing else, I am curious as to how Speedy will play if given the chance. He practices, but we know he is not in game shape. That said, he’s still has quicks, quicker than Bibby we presume.
This should also be an interesting for all those Woodson-watchers to see how he uses Speedy, a veteran. It seems to me that having a veteran PG who is playoff-tested in our rotation is a good thing.
Where exactly in that rotation is the a question as well. When Acie returns, does Speedy sit, if he has played, and played well? If he does play well, what happens when should Marvin return for the playoffs?Could a suddenly reinvigorated Speedy, fresh and playoff-tested displace Acie?
Bottom line is, Speedy is a part of the team and Coach Woodson should find some minutes for him given the present situation.
terrell barron
March 27th, 2009
4:38 pm
What are the insurance implications? Sekou? Anyone?
Astro Joe
March 27th, 2009
4:52 pm
Kirk, in my opinion, now is not the time to be worried about player development. That should have been addressed in the first 65-70 games of the season. Now, Woody needs to be focused on finding the right combinations to address specific issues that may arise in the post-season. This is no time for tutorial sessions. So if Speedy plays well, then Acie can sit with RandMo and Hunter on the far end of the bench. And if he appears like he can’t help this team, then Speedy can keep paying those dry cleaning bills for those suits that he wears. But Woody should not be worried about player development. It’s time to get ready for the post-season and to figure out how to use his available resources properly.
Blast
March 27th, 2009
5:02 pm
If Speedy can and want’s to play, which I think he is, then Woodson will be a fool not to play him. Hawks are shorthanded as it is, especially at the point, and Bibby’s inability to guard the point has been well documented on this blog. If Speedy still has any of the quickness that gave him his nickname, then by all means play the guy. Hawks needs bodies in uniform.
If there is any chance Marvin or Acie will not return for the playoffs, shouldn’t the Hawks consider a late season pick up or two? Since they have a starter and bench player out of the rotation, and Othello, Gardner and Randolp Morris not getting any playtime, anyway.
darrell starks
March 27th, 2009
5:03 pm
WOW speedy in uniform unbelievable, the game will be pack tonight.GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Numberonehawksfan
March 27th, 2009
5:08 pm
Good luck with Woodson using his “resources”. I think he only knows rotational substitutions and not situational substitutions. I don’t know how many times I saw Tony Parker zoom by Al Horford (not Al’s fault). I understand the switching defense but after 2 or 3 times of the same player getting burned, it’s time to try something else. Like stop switching and put in someone to play hard nosed defense on smaller, quicker guards. Hey Bibby, “I think Tony Parker just scored again!”
Old Blue
March 27th, 2009
5:14 pm
Give Speedy a speedy trip out of sight. Please keep him out of sight and mind. What a waste. . . worse than outright theft and socialism.
doc
March 27th, 2009
5:21 pm
i would welcome speedy to see if he can help now or in the playoffs. i would also assess whether he is part of the solution to next years issue at point.
look, as hard as mario played he still got lost on the court against the spurs. after he made his steal parker showed him a move that told the world that parker was not going to be played by mario again. the unbelievable spin move ended up with an easy lay in. woody took a lot of time with mario explaining the good and how he had gotten beaten as well during one time out as he left the court, very civil it appeared. i think mario was left behind on more than several moves and screens.
defense is what speedy can do. do i expect much out of him? no, not really. look to the article on kg talking about what can be expected from starbury after so much time away to get an appreciation of what speedy has to overcome. if speedy is more than we think, then cool, need to find out.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 27th, 2009
5:28 pm
“It really makes the fans look as though we are less than intelligent and need to be told when to cheer for our team because Ryan insists on asking us to get involved before we are ready!”
I hate to be the one to inform you, but most of the fans at Hawks game are less than intelligent. Well, maybe not less than intelligent, but certainly not attentive. Most of them do need to be told when to cheer, because they are not paying any attention in the first place. If Ryan Cameron doesn’t tell them to yell, they are not going to yell. Straight up.
I agree with you that the arena music sucks though. Not that I really notice when the A-Town Dancers are shaking their junk at me…
L L
March 27th, 2009
5:31 pm
I DID NOT WANT SPEEDY WHEN THEY SIGNED HIM AND I SURE AS HECK DO NOT WANT HIM NOW
Ben
March 27th, 2009
5:46 pm
If he is practicing why in the hell is he not even playing? Our bench is the thinnest in the NBA as it is. Sekou, why would Woody not play him if he is healthy? WTF.
KevinA
March 27th, 2009
5:47 pm
I would love to see a Speedy sighting. At 5 mil a year, why not? We could sure use some defense at pg. If he can hang it would give us another option. Of course if Woody uses him and he does well better than Acie he will never get playing time. If he does bad Woody will play min just so he can be dissapointed and scowel.
KevinA
March 27th, 2009
5:49 pm
We need 4 wins at the most to get the 4th seed. Looking at the schedule it looks like that all the teams from the 4th seed on down will play at less than 50%. The Hawks pretty much have a lock.
Josh shot poorly, he kept attacking. So did Al. As in football, you run a balanced offense. The reason we played so well in our run during the fourth quarter is the softening up process by banging bodies down low all night. While we may not win all games this way, I believe we will win the most this way.
Marvin is the one other guy besides Josh, Al and ZaZa that isn’t afraid of contact. We miss his driving the ball to the hoop and drawing fouls.
The most distressing trend over the last three games is were back to jacking jumpers without passing to the front court first or passing three four times to create some motion and rotation. I realize Josh and Al had a tough night but we quit going to them. When do JJ, Flip and Bibby quit shooting when they miss a few?
Whether we win or lose we need to prepare for playoff basketball. When we were kicking butt we were going down low on a consistent basis. As mentioned often we could use a few minutes from Solo and even a couple more for ZaZa in the first half and 3rd quarter. Woody just doesn’t believe in fresh legs for the end of the game.
When JJ , Flip, or Bibby take over the game for a long period of time our defense suffers. We all knew, but Woody, that Bibby he had no chance against Parker. So what was Evans doing on the bench? Or Mario, or anybody else? Why were we switching out so Parker could go one on one with centers?
Bibby is a great player in certain situations. Playing against awesome quick PG’S is not one of them.
At times we gripe about free throw percentages and one could look back and say we threw away a few games. I have a different theory, even at 60% it’s a higher shooting percentage than jacking jumpers. Let’s hope we go back to playing physical and attacking the basket. To our star back court, pass the ball.
Mychelfromatl
March 27th, 2009
5:56 pm
Wow, Rajon Rondo has given the Hawks strong “Bulletin Board” material. I wonder If Woody and the gang will use it?
kirkinga
March 27th, 2009
6:07 pm
Um, ok, I guess my last post was eaten.So sorry if this ends up being a double post.
Joe-I think it’s not as easy as it may seem to sit Acie now. He has missed games before, but also returned to his limited role when he recovered.
As doc mentioned, Speedy should also be an upgrade over Bibby, but what I’m looking for is offense. Can Speedy provide an offensive spark should he play? If he can, then I think Woodson has a plausible case for sitting Acie at this point in the season.
I agree that this isn’t the time for player development? But it is time for team development. Last season the Hawks made the playoffs, but were a losing team. This season they learned how to win in the regular season, and this playoff season will be about learning how to win in the playoffs. Not just games, they’ve done that, but a series. We don’t know if they can do that yet.
There’s been a lot of mention of Tony Parker, I’d just like to add that Parker performs well against almost every team. His performance against us was not unique to the defense, or lack thereof, of Bibby. In the NBA, quick guards are going to to do their thing. Elite guards, like Parker, do them against every team every night. Yes Bibby was overmatched, but Parker can play and we shouldn’t lose sight of that.
Also, Speedy isn’t Mike Hampton. We know he’s healthy and we know he wants to play. It’s the organization, not the player, that is responsible for his lack of playing time. The guy is still part of the team, so it can’t hurt to at least see if he can perform.
Go Hawks!!
hawkfan
March 27th, 2009
6:12 pm
From reading the boston posts, I see that Rondo says this is not a rivalry and the cavs are and then I see him and KG as gametime decisions, and then the boston fans are saying that the c’s should tank the game and lose to rest the starters and prepare for the playoffs. Some are even saying they don’t care if they lose, so either way if the hawks when there will be excuses like injuries and refs or whatever but who cares, we need to get our SWAG back like jsmoove said it.
Elijah
March 27th, 2009
6:22 pm
So Sekou, what are the insurance implications on Speedy playing?
bigdave
March 27th, 2009
6:28 pm
who doesn’t like Ryan King…? wow…?
JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY Smmmmmooooooooooooth
Wit tha Jaaaaaam!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05o1X4a4iDI&feature=channel_page
bigdave
March 27th, 2009
6:30 pm
correction…
SMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmoooooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvveeee…!!!
Elijah
March 27th, 2009
6:31 pm
So since there have been no insurance payments involved, one must assume ASG/Woodson inexplicably have decided not to play Speedy. Which means they are the biggest idiots on this earth.
This is the same PG who helped SAS win a title and who Bibby called “one of the best last year.” The dude has not played a game for 2 years. He is freaking healthy. Why do we have scrubs like Gardner and West getting minutes over him? HE’S YOUR 3RD HIGHEST PAID PLAYER
Elijah
March 27th, 2009
6:32 pm
Speedy “will not be on the team next year” which is why he’s not playing now.
Good job ASG. Probably could have 3 or 4 more wins if we put him on the other teams’ quick PGs
Sekou K. Smith
March 27th, 2009
6:52 pm
No Kevin Garnett tonight. we were just told he’s out with soreness in the right knee that’s already cost him 13 games this season. So much for all that drama with he and Zaza. It’ll have to wait until next time.
Elijah
March 27th, 2009
7:14 pm
Why do people act like we need to have a big lineup (Horf Smoove ZaZa)? Has it occurred to anyone we can just put Joe on Pierce and Evans on Allen.
OMG Elijah! You are brilliant! Putting two players on two other players of equal size! You should be the new coach!
DJ
March 27th, 2009
7:43 pm
We are not just paying the man but we are paying him ALOT. I do hope to see him place tonight though. He’ll want to prove something to the coaches and try step his game up and play with great intensity. Mario West is my man though so I dont want minutes taken away from him, he was playing good defense on Tony Parker and did anyone notice the defense he played on Lebron James?
Win tonight on the ROAD!! Speedy and Mario contribute big time. GO HAWKS!~!~!~!~!~!~!
otrhawksfan
March 27th, 2009
7:46 pm
too bad all the blogers went to the game tonight. Good to see that the arena is full from the jump ball.. the hawks more than likely will have that 1st game saturday afternoon.. so shout out to all tha hawks fans watching the game in person tonight and not a home.
DJ
March 27th, 2009
7:49 pm
My bad…it’s at home.
Astro Joe
March 27th, 2009
7:50 pm
Hawks look like they are playing with more brains than they did against the Spurs. Maybe they didn’t take the Spurs seriously (for some stupid reason). At least they look ready to play (so far).
Sekou K. Smith
March 27th, 2009
7:51 pm
I hope someone stayed home to hang out around here tonight. But the crowd does look pretty good. And they did give you an extra half hour to get here.
Astro Joe
March 27th, 2009
7:52 pm
Pierce misses a few 3s and decides to attack the basket. What a novel idea… change it up if one thing isn’t working. Wow.
Astro Joe
March 27th, 2009
7:55 pm
With Rondo in foul trouble, Speedy may not be needed. OK, Flip… light them up!
bigdave
March 27th, 2009
7:58 pm
i like Josh on Paul P.
Astro Joe
March 27th, 2009
7:58 pm
Woody is trusting Joe to play with 2 fouls in the first quarter. Dangerous move IMO. Flip is playing too well of late to take that chance. Let Joe play with around 5 minutes left in the half but he needs to sit now.
JohnGTFan
March 27th, 2009
8:00 pm
We’ll learn A LOT about Atlanta tonight…no KG yet (if at all tonight), Rondo out of the game with foul trouble early….if ATlanta cannot win this game at home…the playoffs will be over quickly. Say what you want…but if Atlanta can’t win this game..there’s no reason to think they can win a 7-game series against anyone.
Astro Joe
March 27th, 2009
8:02 pm
Has Mo made a contested shot this season?
otrhawksfan
March 27th, 2009
8:02 pm
dont worry sekou smith we are here
Astro Joe
March 27th, 2009
8:04 pm
JohnGTFan, we’re missing Marvin and Joe Johnson is out with foul trouble. We may have an advantage but it’s very small. Based on who is healthy and nt in foul trouble, Pierce is the best player on the court (and Ray Allen is second).
bigdave
March 27th, 2009
8:07 pm
“the only game that was an out of reach game would have been game 7 of the playoffs…”
-Dominique Wilkins
obviously Nique’ didnt watch the series…
O'brien
March 27th, 2009
8:08 pm
Did Nique just say that the only game last year (in the playoffs) that was out of reach was game 7? Really Nique?
Hawks need to step up their defense. And stop giving up the 3 point shots.
Astro Joe
March 27th, 2009
8:08 pm
Josh SMASH!
bigdave
March 27th, 2009
8:09 pm
Smoove eats the Leprechauns for lunch…
JohnGTFan
March 27th, 2009
8:11 pm
Astro…
I know what you’re saying…and it’s not that I don’t disagree (plus I posted before Joe picked up his 2nd). But losing JJ and Marvin is NOTHING like Boston losing KG and Rondo!!!
Astro Joe
March 27th, 2009
8:13 pm
John, it’s less about who is lost and who is left. You play with who’s left.
otrhawksfan
March 27th, 2009
8:14 pm
why does hawks fans clap after boston scores.This is now all star game people!!!
Astro Joe
March 27th, 2009
8:14 pm
Joe wanst to “be the man” again. Pass the freakin’ ball!
Astro Joe
March 27th, 2009
8:16 pm
Mikki Moore will make at least 2 “does he play for the Celtics?” bone-headed plays this game. Watch and count.