Bucks at Atlanta Hawks Game 5: Quiet At Home
The Hawks like it here.
So how much conversation has there been among the Hawks regarding the rumors swirling around Woody’s future with the team?
“That’s the first I’ve heard about it when you told me,” Al said today at shootaround.
In addition to illustrating the often-insular world players occupy, the lack of buzz on the team about Woody’s status demonstrates that the familiar postures haven’t changed.
Rick Sund still is not going to do address Woody’s deal until after the season and there’s no guarantee an offer (even a “low-ball” one as described in the Yahoo! report) is forthcoming. ASG’s Michael Gearon Jr has suggested the Hawks’ postseason will have a bearing on that decision and others. Woody isn’t happy the Hawks haven’t started contract talks and has said so (though he also says he wants to return). The Hawks believe the lack of an extension hasn’t hurt Woody’s ability to coach the team.
The news to come out of the Yahoo! report is that there could be another job out there for Woody if he doesn’t return and the team’s willingness to sell their first-round draft pick for $3 million to raise money to re-sign J.J.. (That everything seems to be Joe-driven is causing great consternation for hawksdawgs at Peachtree Hoops.)
Meanwhile, the Hawks have a playoff series to finish. Asked about the Hawks’ confidence in coming back to Philips Arena, where they’ve won 14 in a row, Al said it “feels good to be back home” but then couldn’t help also talking about the Hawks’ troubles on the road.
“If we had the same swag that we have at home like we have on the road, we’d be a tough team,” he said. “But first we have to handle this game tonight. We are happy to come back here.”
– For all the consternation about the Hawks’ inability to win road playoff games (and I know most of that is because of what it would mean for the next round) this Milwaukee Journal Sentinel headline summed up Milwaukee’s issues: Bucks must win at least once in Atlanta to advance.
Forget for a minute that four games into the series, the Bucks are talking about what it will take to advance instead of how they can avoid elimination. The Hawks desperately need to win. The way they did that in Games 1 and 2 was by slowing Brandon Jennings and hammering the Bucks with Smoove and Al. Look for Milwaukee to use a similar approach against those two tonight:
The Bucks worked hard to frustrate Hawks center Al Horford and forward Josh Smith in Milwaukee, after those players were dominant in the first two games. Bucks forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute defended Smith in Games 3 and 4 after primarily guarding Hawks guard Joe Johnson in Atlanta, and veteran center Kurt Thomas drew the assignment defending Horford.
And the Bucks have relied on help defense, with Jennings and other guards digging down on the ball when the Hawks’ big men begin to make their move in the paint. That did free up Atlanta’s perimeter players in Game 4, and the Hawks hit 10 of 19 three-pointers, led by Mike Bibby, who sank 5 of 7 attempts.
Smith still had 20 points and nine rebounds in 40 minutes in Game 4, but he wasn’t getting easy dunks off lob passes the way he did earlier in the series.
“He had a good game, and he scores in a variety of ways,” Bucks coach Scott Skiles said of the 6-foot-9 Smith, who was booed loudly by the Bradley Center crowd. “We’ve just got to keep him in front of us, try to make him take contested jump shots, try to keep him off the boards.
“We need to keep him from running out in transition, keep him from getting lobs after timeouts. We did that in both home games. Those are areas where at least we can have a little say-so in what he’s doing.”
– Woody has said he uses the switching defense to “hide” weak defenders. Brett LaGree, writing at Hoopinion, agrees but says switching also can make things harder for those weak defenders and the good ones:
It is hard to play good team defense without good defensive players.
Mike Bibby is a poor defender. Jamal Crawford is a terrible defender. Joe Johnson has amply demonstrated he cannot keep Brandon Jennings in front of him. Nor can Johnson fight through a Kurt Thomas screen. It’s no surprise that Mike Woodson has tried to address* these limitations. His singular method of address, to switch every screen, has pushed Josh Smith too often to the perimeter, exposing his primary defensive weakness (lateral movement) while simultaneously negating** his overwhelming strength (help defense).
*We’ll ignore, for the purposes of this discussion, how self-inflicted some of these limitations are.
**This is essentially what Orlando’s stretch 4 does to Smith when the Hawks play, and, typically, lose to the Magic.
MC
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677 comments Add your comment
o.O-Mac-Town -Macon, Georgia- Westsider-O.o
April 28th, 2010
9:07 pm
The Hawks and their elite talent getting pushed to the limit by a rookie PG and a bunch of role players. This is disgusting. I thought they would really come out strong tonight.
drmaryb
April 28th, 2010
9:08 pm
Horford is rushing his shot! The whole team is! We need to calm down & play measured.
Move the ball & make them move on D. Milk the clock and stop – shooting from outside!
VenomSpitter
April 28th, 2010
9:10 pm
The hawks should be ashamed that the Bucks are actually keepin up with them.
Wabe
April 28th, 2010
9:11 pm
Co-sign mac.
I expected to see them thump the Bucks tonight. Still lots of bball left, but I was expecting us to be in control going into the half.
terrell
April 28th, 2010
9:11 pm
Just 2 AVG teams playing a game. The winnner will get swept by Orlando anyway.
terrell
April 28th, 2010
9:12 pm
Why’d they go away from Marvin? He was actually playing pretty good to start the game. Did I just say that? lol!
o.O-Mac-Town -Macon, Georgia- Westsider-O.o
April 28th, 2010
9:13 pm
Yeah, no telling what will happen in the 2nd@Wabe….but if the first was an indicator…then this really sucks….especially after all of the talk about how THEY KNOW they havent “played with energy”
They know how they’ve looked and how they needed to come out strong and just didnt. Maybe they cant.
Melvin
April 28th, 2010
9:14 pm
The best defense for Marvin hot hand was Woody play calling…
o.O-Mac-Town -Macon, Georgia- Westsider-O.o
April 28th, 2010
9:15 pm
Well, I think the Hawks thought they were good enough to “turn on the switch” at anytime they wanted with the Bucks, and handle them in this series fairly with ease…and now they seem shell shocked to find out they cant and arent that good.
BONE
April 28th, 2010
9:15 pm
THIS GAME IS BOOOOOOOOOOOORING!!!!!!!!!!!!!
o.O-Mac-Town -Macon, Georgia- Westsider-O.o
April 28th, 2010
9:17 pm
“The Hawks are just a soft team.”
-Charles Barkley
Najeh Davenpoop
April 28th, 2010
9:17 pm
Marvin came to play today. For all the sh-t he gets from us, he deserves to be recognized for his performance that half.
The rest of the Hawks look like they have a date for a fishing trip with Kenny and Charles. The only reason they are winning this game is because the Bucks are missing all the shots they made at home.
JeJe
April 28th, 2010
9:18 pm
FIRE MIKE KNAPP
Najeh Davenpoop
April 28th, 2010
9:20 pm
Did Chuck and Kenny say anything else about our beloved team?
terrell
April 28th, 2010
9:21 pm
The Hawks and “their elite talent”? What elite talent? Jennings > Bibby, JJ > Salmons(but not by much), Delfino > Duck, Stack > Mo, Illyasova and Ba moute > Josh Smith by himself(Woody refuses to play Joe Smith), Horford > Thomas. We might be more athletic, but as far as actual basketball talent? Idk about that.
o.O-Mac-Town -Macon, Georgia- Westsider-O.o
April 28th, 2010
9:21 pm
lmao@Kenny,Ernie and Charles……..lol..Bill Wennington
Big Ray
April 28th, 2010
9:22 pm
Marvin looks better than anybody else in a Hawks uniform on offense. Crazy, but true.
We can’t stop Jennings, but his teammates are missing all kinds of shots.
Waiting for a dose of that mental toughness this team is supposed to have.
Not seeing that Joe Johnson “supernova” explosion of take-over-the-game type of play. I don’t think we’re going to see that, but I’ll settle for a second half of him shooting better than 50%, and some screens set so he can actually take open shots.
Skinny 3 point lead at the half.
I don’t FEAR THE DEER. I FEAR THE “DEER IN THE HEADLIGHTS” look…
o.O-Mac-Town -Macon, Georgia- Westsider-O.o
April 28th, 2010
9:23 pm
lol Oh I know where you’re going@terrell
I was just saying it like others seem to think and say all the time.
terrell
April 28th, 2010
9:26 pm
And oh yeah I forgot, Skiles >>>>>> Woody
VenomSpitter
April 28th, 2010
9:26 pm
I gotta give it to Duck. He’s been our best player. But Woody shut him down and went away from him.
Ken Strickland
April 28th, 2010
9:29 pm
Marvin has been completely stopped offensively, and it hasn’t been by the Bucks DEF, but his own teammates. You’d think Woodson would direct the players controlling the ball and the OFF to make an effort to get him the ball. But, then again, Woodson doesn’t care about OFF.
Big Ray
April 28th, 2010
9:29 pm
All part of the plan, VenomSpitter .
terrell
April 28th, 2010
9:30 pm
Just like Woody to go away from Duck when he’s actually looking like he belongs in the NBA. I thought Marvin was ya boy Woody. lol!
bigdave
April 28th, 2010
9:30 pm
oh joy..
we get to look forward to a few defensive adjustments according to Coach Jim Todd
NUNNA!
April 28th, 2010
9:31 pm
drmaryb said:”STOP Switching to their strengths!”
—————————————————————————————-
you can yell loud as u want,even if u were sitting next to woody,he would not hear u nor would he stop the switching..
I like the pass that josh threw to horford to end the half..it showed me 2 things.
1.josh is trying to open up our fast break game and catch them napping after made baskets,cause its been there all series long..
2.he wants to play aggresive and i think we got them there..
skiles threw the wrinkle in against us by playing both ridenhour and jennings together..that gave them the advantage when we switch on defense..
trust me,he only threw it in (skiles with the 2 speedy guards)for a minute in the 1st half.
and in the 2nd half and in game 6 on friday we will see tons of it..
we need and inside game coming out in the 3rd..
we need to back to marvin attacking the basket..
josh getting passes as he is cutting towards the basket..
horford 5 feet and closer before he even gets the ball thrown his way..
bibby driving and kicking out to joe for the drive or the 3 ball..
and if anyone of those plays are contested before we shoot,then,kick out to bibbs near the 3 point line..and every offensive shot must be met with us pounding the boards for any offensive rebounds..
Big Ray
April 28th, 2010
9:31 pm
Ken ,
Remember the time last year when Woody said he played JJ all those minutes all year long because he wanted to make sure Joe got to the all-star game? This year, he’ll say he did it because he wanted to make sure Joe got his 20 ppg and a max contract. LOL…
VenomSpitter
April 28th, 2010
9:31 pm
Marvin is the bestplayer we got LMAO
Maavelous
April 28th, 2010
9:32 pm
We ain’t soft like Chas says. We just dumb.
Stuey Rock
April 28th, 2010
9:32 pm
The Only way to explain the weird and inconsistent play of the Hawks and questionable decisions by Woody is to assume that the Illuminati is behind it.
northcyde
April 28th, 2010
9:33 pm
Despite all of the whining and complaining ( mainly based on the first 6 minutes of the game ), the Hawks have been very good defensively tonight. They’re closing out better, not totally switching every play, and reboundng the basketball.
Just need for JJ to stop selling us out a little bit, and the rest of the team to mimimize the turnovers.
Keep this defensive effort up in the 2nd half, and we’ll pull this game out . . even if the offense is ugly.
Great job by Marvin in the 1st half, since hardly anyone is giving him props.
Big Ray
April 28th, 2010
9:33 pm
NUNNA , good observations.
VenomSpitter
April 28th, 2010
9:33 pm
Marv is a beast
Wabe
April 28th, 2010
9:33 pm
Here’s your one breakout game from Marvin.
Props to him for stepping up.
Stuey Rock
April 28th, 2010
9:34 pm
Illuminati is the reason Teague didnt get minutes this year.
Big Ray
April 28th, 2010
9:34 pm
Northcyde ,
JJ wasn’t selling us out. He was trying for “supernova”….
Melvin
April 28th, 2010
9:34 pm
Joe with a slam …
Patty
April 28th, 2010
9:34 pm
Thank God for Marvin Williams tonight. We need to shut Tevin Campbell’s twin down.
Big Ray
April 28th, 2010
9:35 pm
I love Barkley. But he has zero rings.
VenomSpitter
April 28th, 2010
9:35 pm
Kurt is a b.itch
Patty
April 28th, 2010
9:35 pm
It’s good to see Joe slam. He doesn’t do that enough.
Big Ray
April 28th, 2010
9:36 pm
Joe with a dunk? Hot damn!
Wabe
April 28th, 2010
9:36 pm
Damn, supernovaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
O'Brien
April 28th, 2010
9:37 pm
Bad possession by Joe Johnson again. He forced that one. But he makes a very difficult shot .
o.O-Mac-Town -Macon, Georgia- Westsider-O.o
April 28th, 2010
9:37 pm
if we could just move the ball well on a consistent basis
Wabe
April 28th, 2010
9:37 pm
SUPERNOVAAAAAAAAAAAA
VenomSpitter
April 28th, 2010
9:38 pm
Now were sizzling
Ah So Joe
April 28th, 2010
9:38 pm
Nice foul, Maaaav. Geezus we are a dumb team.
O'Brien
April 28th, 2010
9:38 pm
JJ. Heating up. Northcyde must have called him on that last timeout…
Wabe
April 28th, 2010
9:38 pm
With 4 Bucks around him…
VenomSpitter
April 28th, 2010
9:39 pm
Good run.
FIRE WOODY