Thunder at Hawks, AKA Kevin Durant: Dat Boy Good
– Woody says Thunder forward Kevin Durant should be considered for MVP: “His numbers are ridiculous right now.”
– Indeed. Durant has scored 30-plus in five straight games, including 36 in Oklahoma City’s 98-80 victory against the Heat Saturday. Miami coach Erik Spoelstra has seen enough:
“I’m glad that we don’t play (the Thunder) again this year,” Spoelstra told The Oklahoman. “Give us some time to figure him out. He is so big and skilled and can shoot it over the top of you. Even if you are there, he doesn’t even notice you. When he shoots it like he did (Saturday), it just makes it that much tougher. He has grown a lot. I remember in his rookie year, he was nothing like this.”
– Zaza is back.
– Jamal Crawford is quoted in an MLK Day/NBA piece in the Contra Costa Times:
“For the most part, players of this generation try to treat everyone equal no matter their color or gender. … Try to respect one another. There are still situations in life we can improve on, but overall, I think Dr. King would be proud of how far we’ve come.”
– Pretty ho-hum field announced for the All-Star Slam Dunk competition: Shannon Brown, Nate Robinson, Gerald Wallace plus the winner of a “dunk-in” between DeMar DeRozan and Eric Gordon.
Smoove, slam dunk winner as a rookie in 2005, still says he’s done with it for good. Can’t blame him. He’d rather be an All-Star.
– Fire alarm went off in Philips Arena before the game. Joe Johnson ducked in Woody’s office to see if he should panic. Told that he shouldn’t, J.J. told the coach and reporters: “Y’all gonna burn up by yourself.”
– Super commenter northcyde took issue with my critique of the Hawks’ switching D against the Suns. He (you’re a dude, right?) notes that Steve Nash didn’t get his usual numbers and credits the defensive strategy for that. Says northcyde: “It was a great defensive game plan that will go unnoticed by traditional basketball fans that feel that a guard should always be matched up against a guard.”
Well, I don’t think it always has to be that way, but northcyde make some good points. Props.
– After the Hawks overcame a four-point deficit in the final six seconds against the Suns Friday, the Elias Sports Bureau says the last team to come back from a four-point deficit with six or less to win was the Lakers. The did it with four seconds left against the Heat on Dec. 24.
– I see you are accustomed to an open game thread, so talk amongst yourselves.
MC
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217 comments Add your comment
Melvin
January 18th, 2010
3:08 pm
Nire,
Add Carl to that list…
niremetal
January 18th, 2010
3:08 pm
BS, Melvin. We haven’t been in the top 5 in fast break points with a backcourt that walks it up. The bigs certainly are a big reason, but it’s just BS that the guards don’t like to run.
Sautee
January 18th, 2010
3:08 pm
Co-sign, Melvin
Mac-Town'z Finest 478
January 18th, 2010
3:10 pm
bet teage would run
Hawk n the Ham
January 18th, 2010
3:10 pm
Horfy + Smoove = All Stars
O'Brien
January 18th, 2010
3:11 pm
Sautee,
I dont know where that came from lol.
Is something wrong with Marvin? I see that he has played only 6 minutes.
BONE
January 18th, 2010
3:12 pm
niremetal if u don’t shutup
Melvin
January 18th, 2010
3:13 pm
Go ahead and sign Mario for the remainder of the season…
BONE
January 18th, 2010
3:13 pm
LMAO @ PaFoolia. No hops lol
Hawk n the Ham
January 18th, 2010
3:13 pm
Zaza, “D’OH!!”
Melvin
January 18th, 2010
3:18 pm
Durant has 15pts(9 free throws). If Joe could get to the line at that rate, he would avg close to 30pts a game…
Hawk n the Ham
January 18th, 2010
3:20 pm
The reason Joe doesn’t get to the line as much as other stars, he doesn’t take it to the hole hard enough. Not a lot of fouls are made when your main inside game is a running floater.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2010
3:20 pm
I posted this after Friday’s game and I’ll say it again — the Hawks held the Suns to 44% shooting in that game, so the contention that the switching D didn’t work doesn’t hold water. It seemed to me that the Hawks’ problem in that game was more on offense (particularly from long range) than on defense.
To me, the times when the switching D is least effective is when the Hawks play against a team whose offense is centered around a good low post scorer (like the Spurs for example), because it allows opponents to get their low post scorer mismatched on a guard very easily. The Suns, even with Amare, are not really that kind of team because their offense revolves around Steve Nash getting inside and creating shots for people.
Sautee
January 18th, 2010
3:21 pm
O’Brien,
Marvin had two early fouls.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2010
3:22 pm
Joe is not the kind of explosive athlete that Durant, Kobe, LeBron etc. are, which is the main reason why he doesn’t get to the line or finish with authority much around the rim. His ball skills are right there with any of those players. The lack of explosiveness is the main thing that holds him back from being a true superstar.
Wabe
January 18th, 2010
3:23 pm
I honestly don’t get it. I love what Mario West did for the Hawks last season. He’s a hustle guy that can play pretty good defense. He didn’t make the roster this season. But the second he gets called up from D-League and signs a 10-day contract, he sees meaningful minutes and has been asked to defend some solid scorers.
If Woody is that confident in Mario’s ability to play defense, why hasn’t he been on the roster from day 1?
Marvin Williams/Mo Evans – mind showing up? We had a D-League player get on the court and have more success than either one of those guys had in the 1st half combined.
cp
January 18th, 2010
3:25 pm
If it wasn’t for Josh the Hawks might be down 20. Hopefully they keep this energy up. And do we consider trading Marvin around the trade deadline? I’m tired of waiting on this so called potential… The Thunder have a lot of nice young players. If they were in the east they might be fighting for a top 4 spot.
Hawk n the Ham
January 18th, 2010
3:25 pm
CoSign – Najeh
Melvin
January 18th, 2010
3:27 pm
Durant made 3/9 FGs and 1 of his FGs was a dunk. Is he really lighting the Hawks up. By then you have his 9FTs… Ouch..
Wabe
January 18th, 2010
3:28 pm
Kevin Durant – SF – played one year of college ball at Texas – drafted #2 overall = superstar
Marvin Williams – SF – played one year of college ball at UNC – drafted #2 overall = ????
Sid
January 18th, 2010
3:30 pm
Good point Wabe but the difference is in the energy level . Neither Marvin nor Mo seem happy with there roles to me while Mario seems ecstatic and always looking at the opponent as some type of challenge .
Mo is not happy being the spot minute stopper off the bench he thinks he has some offensive game.
Marvin should be salivating at durant and all the other top forwards he gets matched up against as a way to make a name for himself . He should be thinking all defensive team all the way.
But for this game as I said before Josh and Joe has got to match Als energy right from the start if they do then its not even a game. The thunder are winning because they played hard for all 24 minutes while we played hard for 16.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2010
3:31 pm
“If Woody is that confident in Mario’s ability to play defense, why hasn’t he been on the roster from day 1? ”
I think it may have less to do with how good Mario is perceived to be and more to do with keeping an extra big man on the roster and maintaining roster flexibility. I think if they had him on the roster all year they would have been paying him guaranteed money, whereas this way they gave themselves some room to maneuver if a player got injured.
BONE
January 18th, 2010
3:33 pm
“RIGHT IN MARVIN’S FACE”
LMAO
O'Brien
January 18th, 2010
3:35 pm
Najeh,
The switching does work at times. I just wish that when we play those teams for which it doesn’t work (or is not working), Woody would have enough sense to adjust. But he doesn’t. The Hawks switch every game, all the time.
Wabe,
Another possible reason for Mario being a late signee. Maybe early on, Woody had bigger expectations for Teague, but for various reasons, (including his inconsistent shooting, which is not all Teague’s fault)Teague has not performed well enough on offense to give Woody the confidence to trust him on defense.
And this is KD’s 3rd year. Isn’t it Marvin’s 5th? But remember, that Marvin was a 6th man in college, and Durant was a star at Texas. I wonder if there’s ever been a bench player in college who went on to become a bonafide star in the NBA?
I dont understand why Sund gave Marvin the money he did, because his role on this team (defend, rebound, and hit the occasional jumper), he is overpriced.
Melvin
January 18th, 2010
3:37 pm
Najeh,
Kevin Martin avg 25pts last season and he’s that the most athletic guy but avg 9 FTs a game.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2010
3:37 pm
The Thunder are showing what a team can do when their coach gives a sh-t about offense. You can tell from the way the ball is getting moved around and the way players are moving without the ball that they are making a concerted effort to target the weak spots of the Hawks’ defense. On that last play they rotated the ball around until they got Bibby guarding a bigger man in the low post, and came away with an easy basket.
Sid
January 18th, 2010
3:37 pm
that was only the second foul of the game against the Thunders starting 5 . Our starting 5 needs to man up and take it to them .
Hawk n the Ham
January 18th, 2010
3:38 pm
Steve on the radio just said, “…oh No Josh is going to dribble it…” LMAO!
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2010
3:41 pm
If the Hawks had a good offensive coach, they would be finding ways to get Josh Smith isolated in the low post against Nenad Krstic. That’s the weak link of the Thunder defense. They are more athletic and quicker than the Hawks on the perimeter, but inside is where they can be exploited. Instead, it’s the same old same old offensively for Atlanta.
Sautee
January 18th, 2010
3:46 pm
Switching D led to two quick fouls for Horford
rms
January 18th, 2010
3:47 pm
I told ya’ll SAP’s after the Phoenix game the Hawks were gonna get their butt whipped by the Thunder come Monday and sure enough they are proving that they cant handle them at all. They will get frustrated and rely on jacking up jumpshots and not attack the rim. And when they do attack the rim they will miss their free throws.
O'Brien
January 18th, 2010
3:47 pm
Najeh,
Exactly. I am okay with keeping Woody, but more than anything, he needs an offensive coordinator. You cannot rely on defense alone to win games. There will be games where your defense is failing you, and you will need to rely on your offense sometimes.
But this has become a trend for the Hawks. Against Cleveland twice (in the 4th), against Miami (in the 1st quarter), against Phoenix early in the 4th, and now against OKC in the 3rd. Our offensive is too inconsistent.
O'Brien
January 18th, 2010
3:48 pm
Our offense is offensive at times.
That being said, I still expect the Hawks to make a run in the 4th quarter. And I will not be surprised when they come back and win the game
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2010
3:49 pm
I’d really like to know what Marvin does in practice. Because if he’s not making that open 3, I wonder what use he is on offense at all. That’s pretty much the only thing he has to work on in this offense, so that shot really should be automatic.
bigdave
January 18th, 2010
3:50 pm
i like it…!
Melvin
January 18th, 2010
3:51 pm
Man, Hawks can’t seem to get over the hump….
O'Brien
January 18th, 2010
3:51 pm
Rod from CP always makes the point that although Marvin gets a lot of open looks (especially from 3), he can’t make the shot consistently. And he can’t make it at critical times during the game.
Hawk n the Ham
January 18th, 2010
3:54 pm
Crawford should just start shooting his free throws from the 3 point line.
bigdave
January 18th, 2010
3:55 pm
eeeew…. MARVIN!
Sid
January 18th, 2010
3:56 pm
jamal is gamer !!
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2010
3:56 pm
“His nimbers speak for itself”
–Nique, on Jamal Crawford’s All-Star candidacy
Melvin
January 18th, 2010
3:56 pm
Will Woody go with this 5 to finish the game? Well maybe 6 six b/c I’m sure Horford will be coming back in…
bigdave
January 18th, 2010
3:57 pm
Marvin from 3= Josh out of the post
hit or miss…
Mac-Town'z Finest 478
January 18th, 2010
3:57 pm
nice to see we have a go to man for the playoffs
Sautee
January 18th, 2010
3:59 pm
Co-sign Najeh and O’Brien.
We almost never set up a mismatch in our favor on offense.
Remember that Woody had to “plead” with Bibby to get the ball to Horford against the Suns.
There is such a thing a being too laissez faire on offense.
bigdave
January 18th, 2010
4:04 pm
would’ve like to see Jamal lay off the dime there…
Melvin
January 18th, 2010
4:04 pm
We let too many chances to tie or get lead to start the 4th qtr go by…
Sid
January 18th, 2010
4:05 pm
Jamal has got to finish those layups >I have no problem with him attacking the basket over chucking the jumpshots but he has go to go for that dunk and make sure he gets the foul call.
Melvin
January 18th, 2010
4:08 pm
8 missed shots. Can you say tired legs….
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2010
4:08 pm
What a terrible time for this brick festival. If there ever was a time the Hawks could retake the lead, it’s now, with Durant on the bench. Instead, OKC has stretched their lead back to 6, and Durant’s going to be back any minute now.