Hawks Squawks: Heat 94, Hawks 76
Haslem part of Heat's bench beatdown of Hawks. (Curtis Compton/compton@ajc.com)
– The Hawks needed something extra from the bench on the second night of a back-to-back and with Jamal out and J.J. getting over his flu. But the Heat’s bench players outscored their Hawks counterparts 45-8, including 26-5 in the second half.
– With that kind of production from the Heat’s reserves, it hardly mattered that Dwyane Wade had a relatively quiet game with 18 points. “Their bench really beat us,” Smoove said. “Mostly when they had their run, ‘D-Wade’ was on the bench. We can’t let that happen.”
– That was bad, yet the most alarming part was seeing the Hawks sag their shoulders, scrunch their faces and seemingly throw in the towel when the Heat made its fourth-quarter run. “We had a lot of mishaps we don’t normally have,” J.J. said.
– Smoove looked particularly sour in the fourth. “It’s kind of frustrating when you don’t even give yourself a chance to win from the beginning,” he said. “I don’t think we really came to play.”
– The Hawks saw their three-game winning streak snapped and missed out on tying the 1993-94 team for most Ws before the All-Start break (34).
– After hearing a teammate talk about his plans for the break, one Hawks player said to another teammate: “It was like guys were already on vacation.” His teammate agreed.
– The Hawks needed someone else to score with Jamal (shoulder) a late scratch. Instead, J.J. was 7 of 21; Marvin was 3 of 11; Bibby was 1 for 6 on 3s, and Joe Smith, Mo, and Teague combined to shoot 2 for 8 in 41 minutes.
– The Hawks didn’t do much against the Heat’s zone D. “I like when teams play zone but we didn’t respond to it very well,” Woody said.
– Both teams played last night but only the Heat looked sluggish early. The Hawks came out challenging everything on D. Then the Heat’s bench took over.
– Udonis Haslem scored 10 points in the second, Dorell Wright had five in the third and Daequan Cook made all three of his 3-point attempts in the fourth. The Heat outscored the Hawks 27-12 in the fourth.
– “Just an awful fourth quarter,” Woody said. “We either ran out of juice or didn’t have the energy to get through it. They (the Heat) were laboring a little bit in the fourth quarter too but they found some energy somehow and got it done.”
– Interesting quote from Wade on Cook’s night: “Tonight versus a team that has a roamer in Mike Bibby, he was able to get into a rhythm with his shooting.”
– Woody wants the Hawks to come back from the break re-committed. “I think this will be good in the long term,” Al said. “We just have to come back refocused.”
– Iso-Joe wasn’t good tonight. Three possessions with a missed fadeaway 3-point attempt by J.J. (Mo rebounded, got fouled and made 1 of 2 FTs), a baseline layup by J.J. and a missed J.J. runner in the lane as fans grumbled.
– The Iso-Joe count in the fourth quarter of five games: 10 possessions, 11 points, one turnover, two missed shots by teammates and two offensive rebounds.
– I’m out, Hawks fans.
MC
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
112 comments Add your comment
KevinA
February 11th, 2010
5:14 pm
Not to mention woody played Josh 36 min. We were going on break – why not play him 44 like he played Al.
Traceman
February 11th, 2010
5:21 pm
Very true GeeMack. Woody never gets any credit for the good things he does but is it really a coincidence that first Flip and now Jamal are having the best years of their careers under Woody?
GS was trying to GIVE Jamal away and there were no takers. The BEST offer they got was Speedy Claxton and Acie for Jamal. Think about that. Now, under Woody, many think he should be an All Star. I could certainly make a STRONG case for him.
Flip was GREAT last year. He was so good that MANY questioned the decision to bring in Jamal in place of Flip.
Both Jamal and Flip have always been able to score but what they have never been able to do is score within a system where the team had success. Woody has found a way to emphasize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. I would argue that he has done that with an aging Bibby as well.
Woody is not perfect but he is FAR better than many give him credit for being and he is a legitimate COY candidate. If the vote were taken today, I think he would win.
Rod from College Park
February 11th, 2010
5:24 pm
ESPN is reporting that apparently Iverson and Kobe will not play in the All-Star game, and will be replaced by David Lee, and Jason Kidd.
The disrespect that Josh Smith gets from the NBA in general is really amazing. The kid can’t get any calls in the games, he might well be one of the most exciting defensive players the league has seen in the last ten years, and he can’t get any respect. David Lee has been good, but he should not be in over Josh. Jason Kidd????? I won’t even start.
Traceman
February 11th, 2010
5:29 pm
Joe,
It would be nice to see Mo get hot again from deep as that would take some pressure off Jamal to do virtually all of the bench scoring.
As for Crawford, he is actually shooting BETTER as the season goes along. He has been ON FIRE lately. I think the biggest reason for that is that he has grown more comfortable with his role and he is getting a LOT of one on one opportunities, primarily because of JJ.
Lacsho
February 11th, 2010
5:30 pm
Ramon- you are onto something. Why adjust to other teams, we should make other teams adjust to us. Therefore we need upgrade Zaza, Mo, and Collins.
Bibby would be stronger with the second unit. I’d run Bibby off of picks, and let Jamal do his thing. Teague would go to the IVEY role, and use him as a facilitator. We have enough scorers in the starting lineup.
cp
February 11th, 2010
5:40 pm
Last night was a great opportunity for Marvin to step up but once again he did not. Moving Marvin to the bench might not do any good either. I think a change of scenery is best for Marvin. His style of play just does not fit this system. I’m all for the trade proposal O’Brien has been talking about. I still don’t understand why we signed Mario when we have Mo Evans. Mario is Mo without the 3 point shot and to be honest with you Mo has been pretty bad this year . As far as the bench talk on here. I look at it like this. I know you have to take advantage of whatever minutes you get no matter how small or how many they are but its hard to expect guys to come in and play well when they barely play. IF we could get Boone and CDR from the Nets like O’Brien has been talking about then I think we would have a much better bench. The problem is our assets . I don’t think we have anything they want unless they just want to dump those guys.
Traceman
February 11th, 2010
5:53 pm
CP,
Marvin’s STYLE of play is perfect for this system, he simply needs to play up to his potential more consistently. At his best, Marvin is a long, athletic SF with a sweet J who is quick enough to run the floor on offense and also be a key part of Woody’s switching defensive scheme. That is when “good Marvin” shows up.
“Bad Marvin” gets lost for long stretches and doesn’t play as aggressively as he should when his shot is not falling. There are certainly other guys out there who would fit well in Woody’s scheme at SF but Marvin fits as well.
Grandad
February 11th, 2010
6:11 pm
Why in the heck do profesional athletes who have a 33-17 record prior to last evening need to re-focus. How can they be unfocused. It is
unfathomable that they seem to care less than we do. Bill Simmons calls that a sports crime when the home team cares less than the fans. Honestly, I want to say that Wdsn is to blame, and he is. However, these guys are getting paid more in one yr. than most of us will make in a lifetime and they mail one in. Police officers, firemen,
school teachers, doctors, air traffic controllers, can’t lose focus.
It’s their vocation/job/proffesion for crying out loud.
How in the heck do you need 10 days off from ‘playing’ basketball
to regain focus. Really, do the Lakers, Celts, Spurs have these inane quotes after games.
Astro Joe
February 11th, 2010
7:14 pm
Strickland, you’re right, I did think this bench would be good but I was wrong. You seem like an observant type, surely you have noticed that most of Joe Smith’s shots bounce off the front rim. He was injured early, so maybe he didn’t have his conditioning at first. But now? Maybe he will have a strong second half, but right now, he is Solo-esque. Have you noticed how slow Zaza has been on defensive rotations this year (not to mention his bricks off the rim on offense)? Maybe it was his hip and after whatever treatment he is now receiving, he will be back to previous form. But it’s fairly obvious that he has had a less than decent start this season. Mo Evans, other than that little streak earlier, he has been a more expensive version of Mario. Collins? He has gained so much weight he is only effective against the league’s heaviest player.
It’s one thing to say “wow, that guy was playing well, why isn’t he getting more time”. But let’s be honest, these guys are NOT playing well.
And yes, without Crawford, Marvin should have done more with those 3 extra shot attempts he received last night. Wow, he went froom 8 to 11 FGAs… I guess he should have yanked the ball out of Joe’s hands.
And since I haven’t seen anyone else ask this question recently, when will Josh Smith shoot over 65% from the free throw line? Or is that asking too much considering his draft position?
Wabe
February 11th, 2010
8:17 pm
I wouldn’t really blame Woody for the bench play. Truthfully, there isn’t much talent on the bench. Teams like the Magic/Lakers have players on their benches that could literally be starting on other teams. Guys like Ryan Anderson or Michael Pietrus or the solid gaurd combo in LA featuring Farmar/Brown are solid players to rotate into the game and get results from. Aside from Jamal Crawford, there really isn’t too much talent on the Hawks bench. Joe Smith and Zaza are decent at best. Teague isn’t there yet. And Mo Evans doesn’t impress me. Mario West was just signed from the D-League, and can occasionally bring energy and make a play on defense, but doesn’t have much of an offensive game.
We don’t have enough offense coming off of the bench. Jamal is basically a bench player playing starters minutes, so I’m excluding him from this discussion. Aside from Jamal, there’s really not much offensive firepower on the bench. Zaza’s a good energy guy, and Joe Smith has been alright, but hasn’t seemed the same since he got hurt (haven’t seen him hit a spot up jumper in a while).
I think if we could pick up another forward that can create for himself or another quality big to come off the bench to battle with the likes of Howard/Shaq, we’d be in great shape.
Mac-Town'z Finest 478
February 11th, 2010
8:34 pm
Dukester9
February 11th, 2010
3:38 pm
I was at this game, it shows this team has no heart no spunk and its lead by JOE. I like his talent but everybody is talent in the NBA. Let him go to free agency, try to sign Wade get a center in here,(Dalembert) and use Marvin to get him. So sick of watching this shoulder shrugging team they are a 3,4,5 team waiting to get knocked out of the playoffs. Now if you cool with that Hawks then stay the way you are.
……………………….
I agree 1000% with this Dukester guy. I see so much talk on here revolving around special “tweaks” and “adjustments” to what we already have as players and coaching. H3LL, I can even see where some of yall were coming from, and I even kidded myself into changing (or atleast considering) my views, but I’m going to stick with my original beliefs which are still proving to be true. I hope I’m proven wrong, but with this current coach and roster, we’re exactly the type of team as this Dukester dude is decribing. It’s just as simple as that.
Hawk Str8Talk
February 11th, 2010
9:23 pm
Here’s a link to a chat we did with Rick Sund and the bloggers before the Heat game last night…
http://www.hawkstr8talk.com/2010/02/grizzlies-heat-chat-with-rick-sund.html