Cavaliers at Atlanta Hawks: Sitting On It (UPDATE: Marvin to play, other starters to sit)
Cavs coach Mike Brown said today at shooataround that LeBron and Shaq
won’t play tonight. Woody said he hadn’t made up his mind: “Game-time decision.” But chances are Hawks starters won’t play or get only token minutes considering the Hawks can’t improve their playoff seeding and that’s the way Woody approached last season’s finale under similar circumstances.
(EDIT: In pregame, Woody said Marvin would start alongside Teague, Joe Smith, and Zaza.)
The consensus among Hawks players is they’re fine with sitting.
“If anything, it helps after such a long season, Al said.
These two will watch the game tonight. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)
For Brown, the main motivation behind sitting LeBron and Shaq is to avoid injury. “That had a lot to do with it,” he said.
This will be the fourth healthy scratch in a row for LeBron. Shaq just recently was cleared to return after missing six weeks with a thumb injury.
The Cavs will enter the playoffs with their full lineup of LeBron, Shaq, Mo Williams, Antawn Jamison and Anthony Parker having played together for just three full games. Brown wasn’t ready to say that’s not a worry because his team is so veteran.
“You worry,” Brown said. “As a coach you worry about a lot of things. You hope your worries don’t come true.”
After the shootaround, LeBron joked about whether his Atlanta fans want to see him play. Yeah, they do, and by the way does he feel for fans who bought tickets to games to see him as the main attraction? He shook his head: “I’ve played in every arena this year.”
That’s true, though I doubt it’s much solace for his fans who picked the wrong game to buy tickets. Some advice for those fans: If you want to see a star player on a good team, and his final visit is scheduled within the last week or so, best to catch him the first time he comes to town.
– There’s a feeling among the Hawks that the Heat might not go all out to beat the Nets tonight because Miami would rather face the Hawks than the Celtics. That’s not hard to believe. Heat coach Erik Spoelstra says manipulating the seeding would be “messing with the basketball gods” but, depending on how many lines you want to read between, the Hawks’ suspicions can be confirmed by looking at this Miami Herald story by Izzy:
Jermaine O’Neal, who missed one game and started only five against the Hawks (in the playoffs) last year because of a concussion, said the difference between the Hawks and Celtics is predictability.
“[The Hawks] can put you in a tough situation, especially in Atlanta,” O’Neal said. “They play at another level. But you never really know what to expect with those guys. But with Boston, you know it’s going to be very physical, it’s going to be a grind-out type of a game, every-possession-counts type of a game. So it’s kind of like, pick your poison, really.”
Of course, even if the Heat tanked it would need the Bucks to beat Boston tonight to “secure” the No. 6 seed. That should happen since the Celtics are likely to rest their starters, too, but you never know. Maybe the Bucks want the Hawks, too.
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
543 comments Add your comment
jay dubu
April 14th, 2010
9:44 pm
As Rick Flair would say, “In order to be the man, you have to beat the man!”, or “In order to be the best, you have to beat the best”. If the Hawks want to be be at the top, they should take on all comers…no need to try and look for matchups.
They should have won 60 games this season anyway. They gave away games to Chicago, Orlando, Dallas, Golden State, NY Knicks, Detroit, & Toronto. There were others that should have been won, but you have to figure, you’re going to lose one of two of the winnable games.
O'Brien
April 14th, 2010
9:45 pm
So Teague plays 27 minutes, and seems to be improving. Imagine that.
Even Woody said Teague wont have to worry about playing his game or making mistakes. And that goes a long way for a young rookie PG.
But people wil say that if Teague played like that all year, he would have gotten more minutes. And not accept the possibility that its hard to play that way when you only receive 9 mpg, and its a very inconsistent 9 mpg, and when you make a mistake, you get pulled.
In related news, Mario West has a +20 rating for tonight. WOW
Melvin
April 14th, 2010
9:45 pm
J.J.M,
Then shouldnt Teague be scrubbing since he’s the only rookie on the court?
VenomSpitter
April 14th, 2010
9:45 pm
Marvin u are complete garbage
Big Ray
April 14th, 2010
9:46 pm
Truth Serum ,
Is it Horford you take issue with, or Sund? If it’s Sund, I understand.
By the way, even Dwight Howard doesn’t get two steals for every turnover he commits…
Also, we don’t have that much money sunk into our PF-converted to-C. As I recall, it’s Joe Johnson that folks are saying we have to commit max money to this summer. I’m wondering how we’ll afford a real center that’s better than Horford after we do that…
J.J.M.
April 14th, 2010
9:46 pm
im just saying with lebron and them playing i doubt teague status would be this good…just sayin
o.O-Mac-Town -Macon, Georgia- Westsider-O.o
April 14th, 2010
9:46 pm
lol@nique
Southeastcyde
April 14th, 2010
9:46 pm
Hey BONE, did you suck on the bone or what?
Melvin
April 14th, 2010
9:46 pm
Super Mario….
VenomSpitter
April 14th, 2010
9:46 pm
LOL @ new jersey. Nique and Bob clowning them
Damn Mario
o.O-Mac-Town -Macon, Georgia- Westsider-O.o
April 14th, 2010
9:47 pm
lol I knew it was comin
Najeh Davenpoop
April 14th, 2010
9:47 pm
Damn Mario!
J.J.M.
April 14th, 2010
9:47 pm
lamo like mac said mario wants to dunk
bigdave
April 14th, 2010
9:47 pm
finially got that one out of his system…
Melvin
April 14th, 2010
9:47 pm
Its a dunk fest for the Hawks… Lebron aint dancing now..
VenomSpitter
April 14th, 2010
9:47 pm
Even bobsaid he needs mins
Taylor
April 14th, 2010
9:48 pm
Might be a bunch of scrubs out there but at least Hawks bringing out the dunkd
Big Ray
April 14th, 2010
9:48 pm
VenomSpitter ,
I saw that photo. Dang, that was just wrong …
Blast
April 14th, 2010
9:48 pm
This is the ‘Rook’s coming out party!
LouFan
April 14th, 2010
9:48 pm
Dang!!!!!! Loving the dunk show!!!
Mel
April 14th, 2010
9:49 pm
in other news, miami is up 64-51 going into the 4th
teague can play
April 14th, 2010
9:49 pm
where is northcyde and ree roe? they sure is quiet with hawks beatin cavs and teague ballin against delonte west
VenomSpitter
April 14th, 2010
9:50 pm
Teague with 16 pts 10 ast
bigdave
April 14th, 2010
9:50 pm
*finally
Bob seems to agree with those of us who think the kid could use more minutes.. i mean, thats assuming he’s apart of our future plans…
guess he thinks he’s a “baller”…
tiger woo
April 14th, 2010
9:50 pm
Heat 64 – N.J. – 51 after 3 qtrs.. . .
If Miami is tanking it, they aren’t doing a good job . . . so much for that theory.
VenomSpitter
April 14th, 2010
9:51 pm
Northcyde and Ree Roe are probably trying to find a way to say teague sucks.
Big Ray
April 14th, 2010
9:51 pm
I knew Mario would get himself one sooner or later. Is that his career high in points?
We can keep calling this a scrub game, but a win is a win, and it is nice to see our reserves out there playing fairly well instead of looking extremely lost.
VenomSpitter
April 14th, 2010
9:51 pm
Jamal is a stand up guy.
cp
April 14th, 2010
9:51 pm
Teague is quick as hell. Dude tipped the ball and got down the court for the dunk.
Sleepy lol im sorry but I’m done with waiting on Marvins potential. He can take me off his x mas list as long as we get Travis Outlaw in here.
J.J.M.
April 14th, 2010
9:51 pm
boston getting killed
ree roe
April 14th, 2010
9:52 pm
Teague still sucks . . .
REEtarded ROE !!
Melvin
April 14th, 2010
9:52 pm
Jamal may have a career in politics after basketball. That’s a smooth fella…
Melvin
April 14th, 2010
9:52 pm
Collins shot a 3????????
Najeh Davenpoop
April 14th, 2010
9:52 pm
Was that Jason Collins taking a 3?
VenomSpitter
April 14th, 2010
9:52 pm
Our bench is playing good.
Melvin
April 14th, 2010
9:53 pm
Woody may grow his eye brows back after the Collins 3pt attempt…LOL
Big Ray
April 14th, 2010
9:53 pm
where is northcyde and ree roe? they sure is quiet with hawks beatin cavs and teague ballin against delonte west
Heh….
Najeh Davenpoop
April 14th, 2010
9:54 pm
“If Teague is playing like he’s at Wake Forest, I don’t know what the Cavs are playing like at this foul line…” — Bob
Georgia Tech?
J.J.M.
April 14th, 2010
9:54 pm
anybody got xbox live?
Blast
April 14th, 2010
9:54 pm
Rathburn just echoed what I said in the preseason. Jamal Crawford is the most important acquisition in the off season for any team, bar non.
VenomSpitter
April 14th, 2010
9:54 pm
Punch big Z in the face
Big Ray
April 14th, 2010
9:54 pm
LOL!
Now I know that was not the real Ree Roe.
O'Brien
April 14th, 2010
9:54 pm
You can’t put too much into this game, but…Our bench has outplayed the Cavs bench.
Maybe the Cavs bench shut it down because they know it doesnt matter, while our bench know that they dont get much PT, so they have to make the most of it.
Either way, our bench does not look that bad.
The most important thing to me, is Teague’s potential should be obvious. He needs to work on his shots, and with consistent PT, he will force Woody to play him more.
o.O-Mac-Town -Macon, Georgia- Westsider-O.o
April 14th, 2010
9:55 pm
lmao im sorry…but it sounds like nique and rathbun are KILLING these scrubs
J.J.M.
April 14th, 2010
9:55 pm
lmao@joe johnson nose
Melvin
April 14th, 2010
9:55 pm
Delonte West is going to see Teague is his sleep tonight…
o.O-Mac-Town -Macon, Georgia- Westsider-O.o
April 14th, 2010
9:55 pm
lol@”looks like mario west has a chance to break double figure tonight”
“….first time since Georgia Tech”
“…..been along time …tell ya that”
(-snickering on the bench)
Ken Strickland
April 14th, 2010
9:56 pm
I realize both teams are using mostly backup players, but you see the production you can get from Teague when he (1)gets a chance to play extended mins, (2) knows he doesn’t have to look over his shoulder everytime he makes a mistake and (3) gains confidence. If only Woodson could have put his ignorant bias against young PG’s in his back pocket and given Teague the mins, opportunities and room to make mistakes and grow.
This is what I mean when I say some of Woodson’s coaching philosophies and ideas have held this team back, as well as some of its players.
VenomSpitter
April 14th, 2010
9:56 pm
Derrick Rose is gonna torch the cavs
Sautee
April 14th, 2010
9:57 pm
Truth-serum said:
“Horford has about peaked and did not improve much over the last season or for that matter the season before. ”
LOL, I guess that’s why the coaches chose him as the second best center to Dwight Howard in the East.
Well, if you are going to peak early and level off, at least it should be at an All-Star level.
LMAO!