Hawks Squawks: Mavericks 111, Hawks 103 (OT)
– What is it lately about the Hawks and these surreal endings? First Phoenix, then Golden State and now J. Kidd goes gangsta on Woody.
– Woody took the hit for the loss. No, that’s not a bad pun by me, that’s what he actually said (and he wasn’t smiling). ““He made a heck of a play. Jason Kidd is an All-Star, a Hall of Fame guard and he’s had a hell of a career. He did what he had to do. I’ve got to take the hit on that. I shouldn’t have been on the floor.”
– After Kidd ran into Woody, he woofed at the coach and Woody responded in kind as Hawks players, officials and Mavericks coaches intervened. It all happened right in front of me and I still can’t believe it.
– “It was a big deal,” J.J. said. “He just blatantly ran into our coach. I’ve never seen that.”
– As play continued Hawks fans near the court jeered Kidd, who shrugged his shoulders and told them: “Hey, it’s a smart play.” And I guess it was but, dang, that’s kind of messed up.
– “I saw him run towards him. I didn’t know what was going on,” Josh said.
– “This is one for the ages,” said Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle. “I don’t think there’s ever been a smarter player in this league than Jason Kidd.”
— Hawks players said Kidd’s play and the made free throw on the technical shifted momentum. “It kind of changed the game, but that’s not what lost the game for us,” Johnson said. “They went zone and we couldn’t get no continuity on offense.”
– I’m glad he said that because, from the players’ perspective putting this one on Woody’s tech is kind of weak. It looks bad because the Mavs needed that point for overtime but another Hawks meltdown was well underway before that play.
– Things fell apart when Dallas scored seven straight points without the Hawks even getting off a shot: Brendan Haywood scored on a putback and was fouled, Kidd rebounded the missed free throw and passed to Jason Terry for a 3, and Kidd stole the ball from Horford leading to a Jose Barea layup.
– After Jamal’s layup gave the Hawks a 90-79 lead, they missed five of their last eight shots in regulation and 10 of 12 attempts in overtime. The Mavs switched to a zone and the Hawks reacted as if they’d never seen one before.
– “I think we settled too much in the zone instead of attacking,” Smoove said. “It really wasn’t an aggressive zone. They were just letting us shoot jump shots.”
– And why wouldn’t they? With the notable exception of the Jazz game, show some resistance against the Hawks late in games and they will stop moving the ball to get better shots.
– “They were smart enough to save the zone until they needed it at the end,” Jamal said. “But I”m sure if we came in here tomorrow we’d make (those shots).”
– Josh was among those who stopped attacking. He’d been the catalyst when the Hawks made runs in the second and third quarters but then stopped going to the basket when things got tight.
– “We just played one-on-one against the zone,” J.J. said, and he was one of the worst offenders. This was bad Iso-Joe: missed leaner on the baseline, a pass to Smoove for a miss, and two missed runners in the lane.
– Once again, the Hawks compounded their stagnant offense with lackluster D and rebounding. The Mavs made 14 of 23 shots in the fourth quarter and 5 of 7 in overtime. Yeah, the Mavs got hot, but the Hawks also allowed 10 fasbreak points in the fourth.
– “Defensively we couldn’t make stops when we needed them,” J.J. said. That seems to happen a lot when they take bad shots, doesn’t it?
– But the Kidd-Woody collision will be the big story. “It was a big play, for sure,” Jamal said. “I’m sure that’s what 20,000 people will remember the most. It definitely shifted momentum.”
– “Coaches are always on the floor but nobody tries to run into them,” J.J. said. “I might have to do try and do that.”
– 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
174 comments Add your comment
Avery Johnson
February 27th, 2010
12:51 am
hey paul, imma see you homie!! and when i do imma make you wish you wouldve never stole my job
Mike Woodson
February 27th, 2010
12:52 am
hey guys what are we talking about
Paul Silas
February 27th, 2010
12:52 am
ummmmmmmmmmmmm……(looks a avery)
Avery Johnson
February 27th, 2010
12:53 am
uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……….looks at sund
Rick Sund
February 27th, 2010
12:53 am
ummmm……….hey woody been meaning to talk to you
keno
February 27th, 2010
12:54 am
LOL @ Joe Johnson saying he may try to run into a coach and see what happens. He’d probably get tossed from the game. I see what Woody was trying to do by not calling a timeout, but he should have stopped the bleeding. He did the same thing against the Warriors. I see the Hawks weakness is still defending the three. I thought defense was Woody’s specialty, but this has been a glaring issue the last two seasons.
Mike Woodson
February 27th, 2010
12:54 am
sure rick whats going on??
Rick Sund
February 27th, 2010
12:54 am
well, woody you f#$@ing suck, pack ur s##t and gtfo
Mike Woodson's son
February 27th, 2010
12:55 am
Hello, my name is Marvin Williams and I play starter’s minutes in the NBA when I’m barely bench worthy on ANY playoff team.
Mike Woodson
February 27th, 2010
12:55 am
crys*** “angry rage” this is all because of jason kidd isnt it?
Mike Woodson
February 27th, 2010
12:56 am
hello son, they are firing us here in atlanta all because of jason kidd, we must destoy him, you must avenge me son!!
Paul Silas and Avery Johnson
February 27th, 2010
12:58 am
yea………we dnt want any part of this……..(sneak out the room)
jason kidd
February 27th, 2010
12:59 am
aye homie, i heard you and you duckling been popin s#it about me
Mike Woodson
February 27th, 2010
1:00 am
yea you lying fat s,o,b, you lost me my job!!!! now you must pay
marvin williams
February 27th, 2010
1:00 am
QUACK QUACK……….
jason kidd
February 27th, 2010
1:01 am
……..yo, did this ni66a just quack at me?
Mike Woodson
February 27th, 2010
1:01 am
duckling ATTACKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
marvin williams
February 27th, 2010
1:02 am
QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK
jason kidd
February 27th, 2010
1:03 am
O SH@# !!! yall r freaking crazy, im out
Mike Woodson
February 27th, 2010
1:04 am
good job son….you quacked him right outta the building……so sund…can i have my job bacc?
Rick Sund
February 27th, 2010
1:04 am
sure woody, just dont sic that rapid duck on me
Rick Sund WOODY MARVIN, PAUL AVERY
February 27th, 2010
1:05 am
we all live happily ever after
Man Yall Crazzy!!
February 27th, 2010
1:11 am
LMBSAOFF!!! LOL Just got home and started reading this Blog. Somebody got some serious ISSUES. Funny stuff. Go to BED man!!! Damn Lol.
IREPATL
February 27th, 2010
1:13 am
looooooooool wow @ the story, funny stuff
Jarvis
February 27th, 2010
1:22 am
seriously, your are that uspset at the loss that you blogged nonsense for 45mins straight? ha ha i marvins parts though
Jarvis
February 27th, 2010
1:23 am
liked marvins parts i meant to say
Dirk
February 27th, 2010
2:18 am
You guys need to calm down… Great game tonight I enjoyed every minute of it… Especially those dagger 3’s I put down on yall…….
JeJe
February 27th, 2010
2:23 am
SMOOVE IS NOWHERE CLOSE TO BEING A DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR. HE LEFT DIRK OPEN FOR SHOTS THE ENTIRE GAME. HE DIDN’T EVEN TRY TO MAKE HIM DRIVE. EVERY SINGLE SHOT DIRK TOOK HE HAD 3 FEET OF SPACE. WHAT A JOKE. JOSH IS OVERRATED AND HIS NUMBERS DON’T MEAN !@#$. HE CANNOT DEFEND 1 ON 1 AND IS IMMATURE. GOOD JOB GIVING DIRK 35+ POINTS U MORON
Grandad
February 27th, 2010
2:24 am
I ranted about Kidd on the other blog so I won’t repeat nor recant.
*Kidd’s bush league!
*Carlisle:
“I don’t think there’s ever been a smarter player in the league than Kidd.” Hyperbole!!!
*Had he done the same to Chuck Daly during the ‘bad boys’ era:
I imagine Mahorn…Laimbeer…Rodman…et al, would have proven the relative intelligence of such a move would be open for debate.
*Zone offense – (basketball is a simple game)
1. Put your best player [Joe, *Joe Smith] in the middle [flash post]
2. Put a versatle ath. that can score, in short corner [Josh, **Al, Mo]
3. Surround with [3] perimeter shooters/slashers/penetrators:
[Jamal, Bibby, Marv, ***Teague, Mo]
*Joe Smith would make a terrific high post/mid range scorer.
**Al – afterthought since he was having a bad night.
***Teague – As we’ve all been saying…he could penetrate the zone.
Najeh Davenpoop
February 27th, 2010
2:50 am
There’s no shame in losing a hard-fought game at home to a very good team in overtime.
There is, however, a lot of shame in the way it happened. The Hawks have now blown big leads in 4 out of their last 5 games, and only pulled out the one against Minnesota because the T-Wolves suck. This is unacceptable. There’s really no other way to put it. If you can’t put teams away in the 4th quarter, you will get murdered in the playoffs. If the Cavs are down by 10 against this team in the playoffs going into the 4th, LeBron James will be smelling blood and will erase that deficit like it never existed.
Don’t blame the Kidd-Woody incident for this loss. That accounted for a grand total of one point, momentum or no momentum. At the time the Hawks were up by 2; after the technical free throw, they were up by 1. The fact that they were up by 14 earlier in the quarter and let that lead slip away has much more to do with the loss of momentum and the loss of the game.
And anyway, despite all of that, the Hawks were still tied heading into overtime (obviously). After all that drama, they could have still woken the f-ck up and regained control in the extra period. Instead, they continued their collapse and allowed Dallas to take control of the game both mentally and on the scoreboard.
This is not as bad as the Golden State loss, just because Dallas is a very good team, but the way they lost makes it close. They better get their 4th quarter mentality fixed quick.
DecentJ
February 27th, 2010
4:03 am
Man it’s 4 in the morning and I just woke up from a nightmare…I keep having these dreams that Hawks keep losing games in the 4th Quarter…Is this really a bad dream or will these nightmares continue?? Someone please tell me this is all a bad dream
Mike Hunt
February 27th, 2010
7:29 am
The biggest problem the Hawks have is the same problem they had going into this season and last season, etc. No legitimate inside game. No center. Horford ain’t it. That said, the Hawks clearly had this game in hand and blew it in the 4Q. No excuse for that. It may be time for Woodson to leave after this season, but that alone won’t fix this team’s problems. They have got to get a center or they will continue to be a pretender.
Big Ray
February 27th, 2010
7:46 am
Always interesting to look at comments after a loss. Well, morbidly interesting, that is.
The JKidd/Woody play was some BS that happened. It wouldn’t have mattered one bit, or probably have even happened if we hadn’t blown that 13 point lead in a mere handful of minutes.
Here’s a list of things that shouldn’t be surprises (but evidently are, to some of us):
1) Crawford thinks the way to beat a zone is to shoot over the top. Why are we surprised? He was taught that in NY and had it reinforced in GS. No one has made him think otherwise.
Now ask yourself this question: has he been taught differently in Atlanta? Here’s a clue from a guy who made the following statement after losing a game the exact same way in an earlier contest this season:
“Said (guess who), “We should have posted the ball a little bit more, because I thought [forward Josh Smith] and Al somewhat had their way, but [the Knicks] stayed with the zone and sometimes those jump shots look very appetizing, and we didn’t make them.”
Figure out who said that and then tell me if these guys are being taught how to beat a zone…
2) Dirk Nowitzki is hard to guard one on one. He’s hard to guard at all. He’s a 7-footer that’s shooting 48% and is averaging 25 points per game. Josh Smith is a weak-side “rover” defender, perimeter defense is not his forte. Employing a switch defense means Nowitzki might be left open. Why are we surprised he was left open? Our switch defense doesn’t work all the time, especially if a very good pg is playing against it. One of the best to ever hit the league was playing against it last night. Even when the switch defense is working, and guys are rotating properly, there is a chance for a mismatch. I’ll say it again: Nowitzki is averaging 25 ppg. But he ain’t the one who beat us.
3) Al Horford struggles against Brendan Haywood. Why is this a surprise? Haywood is one of the few guys in the league who is left to guard freakin’ Dwight Howard all by himself. He actually gets the job done halfway decently. Al Horford isn’t as good or as big as Howard. Really people, it’s simple math. I’m sure Truth Serum is having a ball with this. Everybody needs a hobby….
4) The Hawks didn’t know what to do in overtime, or when the “grind it out” tactics came into play. Surprised? Shouldn’t be. The Hawks haven’t been in an overtime game on the regular. Heck, this might have been the first one all season, I don’t remember. As for adjustments, the Hawks have never been able to adjust to a counter tactic by a good team, in a tight game. Not with any consistency, that is.
5) The zone kills us. It requires adjustment. 57 games into the season and we still don’t know what to do with it. What else can be said?
These are not surprises.
Big Ray
February 27th, 2010
7:49 am
For the record, getting a “real” center does nothing for the Hawks, other than maybe mean more wins against the weaker teams that we should have been beating in the first place.
I hate to break that bit of news. People call for a “real center”, but they still can’t see that our offense is guard-heavy. Late in the game, you have Bibby, Crawford, and Johnson. Do you really think that they are there just to look pretty? No, they aren’t.
If you can’t figure out how to bust a zone with two capable low post guys, then you can’t bust one with a “real center.” Sorry, but it just isn’t happening. Read the quote above. Zones have to be penetrated. Centers don’t penetrate. This is simple basketball.
JeJe
February 27th, 2010
8:00 am
SMOOVE IS NOWHERE CLOSE TO BEING A DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR. HE LEFT DIRK OPEN FOR SHOTS THE ENTIRE GAME. HE DIDN’T EVEN TRY TO MAKE HIM DRIVE. EVERY SINGLE SHOT DIRK TOOK HE HAD 3 FEET OF SPACE. WHAT A JOKE. JOSH IS OVERRATED AND HIS NUMBERS DON’T MEAN !@#$. HE CANNOT DEFEND 1 ON 1 AND IS IMMATURE. GOOD JOB GIVING DIRK 35+ POINTS U MORON
JeJe
February 27th, 2010
8:15 am
Watching Smoove in the post is almost painful. He does his moves and then just freezes because he realizes his post game sucks and that he has no idea what he has doing there
Jody
February 27th, 2010
8:38 am
The big pink elephant in the room (lack of size) made an appearance last night and cannot be ignored much longer.
PMC
February 27th, 2010
8:49 am
in fairness… maybe he just misjudged the distance to coach W due to the size of his gigantic head.
Eman
February 27th, 2010
9:02 am
Woody failed to make adjustments especially on defences. Why would you leave Dirk for an 36 year old j- Kid in the post. Let, J Kid make a few post up plays first, then if he is hot double him with somebody else man. This play sparked their run, thus, the hawks lost because of coaching!!
If they were posting kid then but Jamal in instead of Bibby or play 2-3 zone. This team is very talented but we need a coach and a center that would make this team a champion contender. Woddy this one for you buddy!!!
THE TRUTH IS ....
February 27th, 2010
9:36 am
DUH
AL HORFORD IS A DEFENSIVE BUM. ITS NOT JUST HAYWARD, HERE IS THE COUCH POTATOES NUMBERS
OF ALL NBA CENTERS:
# 9 FOR DOUBLE-DOUBLE
#15 FOR REBOUNDS
#23 FOR BLOCK SHOTS
#8 POINTS SCORED
#12 FREE THROW PERCENTAGE
TURNOVERS 1.5 PER GAME
STEALS .74 PER GAME
THIS EXPLAINS TO ME WHY TEAMS GO RIGHT TO THE BASKET AGAINST HORFORD.
#23 AMONG CENTERS FOR BLOCK SHOTS!
KIZZ MY A__!
section119lady
February 27th, 2010
9:38 am
First dirk scoring 35 points is not the problem, news flash he is gonna do that or close to that against most players except Lamar, Kenyon, Caron (B4 the trade) and the player formally known as Tracy Mcgrady. Josh takes the hit for that okay we can’t have it both ways, we criticize him for not doing what he is coached to do in the past, but blam him for this defense that doesn’t work against the AAU Atl Celtics? Breaking a zone is something these guys shoulda known to do, especially JJ, Bibby, they both played substantially college ball, but Woody stupid a$$ didn’t call time out and remind them.
The Kidd play should have not been able to affect the game, so forget about that. It is his play the 2nd half that disturbs me. You may laugh but Woody should have done something to take him out of his comfort zone, like put in that dam Mario West to frustrate the hell outta him. Could he have been any worse than what we were doing?
My bigger concern is that if a team has a big man the Hawks seem to be SCARED to go to the paint, how the hell the hornets, without Chris, beat the dam Magic.
For the record, I wish we hadded gotten Nate from the Knicks, at least he aint scaried.
Get rid of Woody
The Hobbyist!
February 27th, 2010
9:44 am
Mike Hunt, its amazing that every one and his mother can see that what you say is true, yet we will be having the same conversation this time next year.I call that stubborn, the problem is clear yet we keep trying to fix what aint broke. Yes, this was the same major problem from last year.
Idiot watch
February 27th, 2010
9:45 am
Is Hadded the past tense of had?
Nate ArchiBALL
February 27th, 2010
10:01 am
Billy Knight may have drafted Marvin Williams but Rick Sund signed him to a long-term big money contract. (no need to list his deficiencies – just check out any of Rod from College Park posts)
Billy Knight drafted Josh Childress but Rick Sund chose not to offer him a decent contract because he saw potential in Marvin (that Rick Sund is a great judge of talent)
Billy Knight picked up ZaZa at 2.5 million a season but Rick Sund signed him to a long-term 4.5 million perseason. Grossly overpaid for what he contributes (as I’ve posted before that head-butt with Kevin Garnett was the most overrated play on the history of the Hawks franchise) I’m almost to the point I would rather see “Pork Chop” Collins out there – at least he only makes 1.1 million.
dap01
February 27th, 2010
10:06 am
If Bibby tried to run into a coach, the opposing coach would have plenty of time to get out of the way.
dap01
February 27th, 2010
10:08 am
We need Heyward, we need a new coach.
L
February 27th, 2010
10:48 am
Another dissappointing loss by the Hawks. My hat goes off to Kidd, with the Woody incident. He saw an opportunity to help his team win. Woody should have never been on the court. The play was inexcusable. I can’t not understand for the life of me, why Woody did not call a time out when the momentum shifted and the Mavs began to make their run, Even the announcer, Hubie, said that a time out needed to be called, but we didn’t and that overall led to our defeat. I also don’t understand why we cannot adjust to the zone defense. It’s our kryptonite! With Jamal’s speed and ability to break down defenses, there is no reason why he should not have been able to do this and create inside shots for himself or dish it out to somebody for an easy basket. Yet, we continued to throw up jump shots, which ultimately led to our defeat. Al playing 50 minutes is unbelievable and Josh at times, gets too comfortable (actually the whole team). There were a couple of times when Joe had the ball out on the perimeter, but he chose to give it to Josh for a jumpshot. As much as the announcers were praising Josh for playing intelligent basketball and not shooting jumpers that he has no business shooting, he shot about 5 or 6 in the game. Marvin missed two key jumpshots as well and quite frankly, I wish they would trade Mo Evans. There are other players in the league with great defensive skills, but can also go out and get you 10 points a game. If Woody does not get his bench developed, we are in trouble come playoffs. Where is Othello and why didn’t Mario West get a chance to D’up Kidd. Bibby is worthless on defense. If Teague is supposed to be our up coming point guard, I don’t understand why he is not getting the playing time. It’s sad when the ESPN announcers expose us whenever we are playing on national tv. We’ve blown some key games this last week. We cannot dwell on the losses, but we need to figure out how to win against the zone defense. It won’t be the last time we see it. The starters, except Al, need to stop trying to be individual heros all the daggone time, and play as a team to win a game. Joe holds the ball entirely too long in most situations. We stand around too much. We have a great athletic team who can run and gun with the best in the league, but mentally, we struggle to stay in the entire game. On another note: I’m sick of the announcers ridiculing our fans. Yes we get hyped when we see Jamal knock down a 3 or witness Josh soaring through the air with a dunk or Joe breaking down the defense with the infamous teardrop floater, but when it goes bad, we know what’s about to happen to our team…they break down mentally. We understand that there is so much potential in this team and it is at times heartbreaking to see a game slip right from under their feet. This is the A and we love our team, we just have to do a better job in supporting them when their down. Come Ryan Cameron let’s get the crowd , “all the wayyyy turned up” Go Hawks!!!
Gamer
February 27th, 2010
10:52 am
Jeff Teague got the speed and quickness to play against speedier guards like J. Kidd. But does he have the discipline to keep offensive players in front of him?
Before the playoffs start, Woody might as well experiment with Teague more through play time during regular season games.
Because Bibby keep getting burnt by faster guards.
darrell starks
February 27th, 2010
11:09 am
Woody got 2 go he will never get it as a coach POINT BLANK PERIOD LET HIM WALK AT THE END OF THE SEASON.
GO HAWKS!!!!!
terrell
February 27th, 2010
11:09 am
The fourth quarter blues. To be continued!