Atlanta Hawks at Magic Game 2: J.J. is All-NBA but is he fading away?
J.J. can't find his groove.
ORLANDO–A reminder that J.J. is considered to be among the best players in the league, at least by media types: He was named to the All-NBA Third Team, the league announced today. It’s the first time for J.J. and the first time the Hawks have had a player selected since Dikembe in 97-98.
The timing is interesting since J.J. is slumping in the playoffs. He’s not the only one, of course, but he’s the lead dog. Before the playoffs opened, J.J. said he knew that as the Hawks’ veteran star he would take the heat if they don’t meet expectations or get the glory if they make a breakthrough. He said he embraced that role. Now, though, both J.J. and Woody seem to want to avoid putting the onus on him to deliver a big game when the Hawks need it most.
Looking at the other guys on the All-NBA teams, all of them except maybe Bogut would be looked at to be The Man for their team in trying times. J.J. needs help–more from fellow All-Star Horford, second-team All-Defense Smoove, Sixth Man of the Year Jamal and Woody. But if the Hawks’ All-NBA star doesn’t come through it’s hard to see them making this a series. It also could end up costing him in free agency.
– You have to be an Insider to read it, but ESPN.com’s John Hollinger makes a case that Iso-heavy offenses like the Hawks and Blazers run are good for the regular season, not so good for the playoffs.
Atlanta, as the league’s third-best offense, should at least be able to battle these defenses [Milwaukee and Orlando] to a draw. But even before Tuesday’s Game 1 implosion against Orlando, they were struggling. The Hawks can’t make shots, ranking just 14th out of 16 teams in postseason TS percentage. While they’ve still been able to generate second shots (they lead all teams in playoff Offensive Rebound Rate) and have been somewhat successful at avoiding turnovers, the net result put the Hawks 11th among the 16 playoff teams in postseason Offensive Efficiency.
So what is it? Perhaps the Hawks and Blazers have just had some bad games against some pretty good defenses. But between the two, we’ve built up a 31-game sample showing that something more nefarious might be at work.
Obviously, this has important implications for Atlanta’s Game 2 in Orlando on Thursday. Iso-Joe has had its moments; Game 4 of the 2008 Boston series, for instance, when Johnson single-handedly tore apart one of the best defensive teams in history. But in the aggregate, its failures have been far greater than its successes, and it’s notable that the most similar offensive team has faced similar troubles.
Is there something about iso-heavy offenses that makes them vulnerable in the playoffs? We can’t say it with certainty yet, but the case is building rapidly. The Hawks have three games left to show that Iso-Joe can be as effective in May as it is between November and April.
– In Game 1, the Hawks ran two isolation plays in the first quarter, one for Bibby (miss) and one for J.J. (a make, but it came just after a steal and Orlando’s defense hadn’t yet set). They ran four isos in that awful second quarter: Marvin (miss), Zaza (miss), J.J. (miss) and Jamal (miss). Of those six plays, all but two were long, challenged jump shots: Marvin got his layup blocked by Dwight Howard and Jamal missed on a runner near the end of the half.
– I covered Stan Van Gundy so this doesn’t surprise me. The guy is fanatical about not letting his team slip. And the Magic are aware of what happened against ‘Nique’s Celtics in ‘95. Still, I keep wondering what lesson there is to learn from a series they ended up winning, anyway.
– Slam Online ranks the Euroleague players and puts Childress at No. 5.
MC
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815 comments Add your comment
O'Brien
May 7th, 2010
12:30 am
Najeh,
Did you know that against the Spurs in the these playoffs, Haywood only averaged 6 and 6 in 23 mpg. His career average is 8 and 6. If he is willing to take a short term contract, then he would be worth looking into.
But at 30 years old, this might be his last big contract, so he may want something long term.
Peter
May 7th, 2010
12:31 am
The Hawks are a ……..POOR TEAM……Financially….
The Spirit is Loosing money every year…… the Hockey team is not very good, and the support is even less then with the Hawks.
We will not get a real coach because they will need to spend real money…….
darrell starks
May 7th, 2010
12:33 am
HERE IT IS TAKE NOTE.
Josh, Bibby, and hawks first for Lopez, Devin and maybe another player 2 make it work the nets will be stupid not 2 take that trade.
JOSH WITH JOHN WALLL THAT WOULD BE SICK.
Sign joe for 4 year 17mill a year.
Coach Avery
bring chill back i think he had enough of playing football over there.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!
south ga boy
May 7th, 2010
12:37 am
Najeh, nobody on this blog repects your NBA IQ more than me, and Im sincere when I say that, but I truly think that, even if ASG thru Sund could pull off the mid-level exception for your type of player, I still feel like its putting neosporin on skin cancer. And you have to admit, when you say “magic, cavs, bucks, and Lakers require a lot of defensive attention” is the core of my point. We can keep going down the road we are on with our current roster configuration with possible upgrades here or there, and still win 50+ games every yr and continue to get bounced out of the playoff’s in round 2 yr after yr. We can do that, but getting to the level of the Lakers, Cav’s, and most importantly the Magic is going to take a large re-make of the team, not patchwork. Josh has had 6 yrs and I cant see in him the Kobe like or Lebron like mental toughness to win a championship. I cant see JJ raising the level of his game to be the max-contract leader a team needs to take them to the promise land. Its just not in his personality, and his game has gone downhill from the Celtic series 2 yrs ago. That was JJ’s highwater mark, and “why,” its because he’s trying to be someone he’s not. Billy knight screwed this team several yrs ago with his drafting. There is a saying “the outcome of the battle is determined by the layout of the land.” We have too many forwards. We have no true starting center, and we dont know whether we have a true point guard in Teague, but we definately know we dont have one in Bibby. I just dont think you can tweak the roster and overcome all that “ROSTER ADVERSITY”
darrell starks
May 7th, 2010
12:42 am
ATLANTA HAWKS 2010 AVERY COACHING
STARTER DEVIN, JOE, CHILL, HORFORD, LOPEZ.
BENCH JAMAL, MOE, MARVIN, ZAZA, MORRIS.
RESERVE TEAGUE, COLLINS.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!
south ga boy
May 7th, 2010
12:43 am
Darrell put the acid down. The Nets would never trade a top flight point guard and one of the 2 or 3 best young true centers in the league for Josh and whoever. secondly, your assuming they would get the no. 1 overall to get Wall, and of course there will only be, I think, about a 30% chance that they get the no 1, even with the worst record in the league. Your forgetting those damnable ping pong balls and David Stern cant pick out the frozen card last at the bottom of the bowl like he used to be able to do. Can you say Patrick Ewing.
Najeh Davenpoop
May 7th, 2010
12:44 am
south ga boy, you may be right that no amount of additional pieces can be added to this core to have them competing at the level of the Cavs, Lakers, and Magic, and I can’t fault your logic in coming to that conclusion. But while upgrading the role players around the current core may or may not ever lift this team to championship-level, I am almost certain that upgrading the coach will lift this team significantly past their current level. I’d just prefer to make that change and see how far they go before breaking up the core of players. If nothing else, it’s a hell of a lot harder to dismantle and reassemble your roster and come out on top than it is to upgrade the coach.
Grandad
May 7th, 2010
12:55 am
Josh + B-ball IQ is fine.
Self discipline can be trained. If and only “if” he wants to change
and, this is important, he recognizes the need to change.
He seems like a good kid.
An astute Coach could help him see that, as opposed to…all that;
lets call it, “tough love” [yelling/bullying].
He loses concentration very easy. So easy he forgets the game
continues as he pitches a fit. (tough love = sit on the bench)
Now are you ready to play or do you want to continue your bickering?
The Coach, a real Coach, should recognize that and get him off the floor when he loses concentration.Officials easily take him out of the game [mentally & emotionally].
You know the other team is baiting him.
[DH] knows him better than anyone.
Josh will be fine with the new guy & if there’s not a new guy?
Uh Oh!
*Budenholzer
*Zoubek
That oughta do it!
south ga boy
May 7th, 2010
12:59 am
Well, You may be right, and Im cerainly in favor of a new coach. Im not a Woody hater like some on this blog. I appreciate the fact that he was given nothing to work with 6 yrs ago except some lottery picks, a terrible judge of talent in a GM with a bonehead mnodel on how to make an elite team, and the most dysfunctional, hoopty (and Im a white dude)., cheap, lawsuit driven, sorry excuse for “so called” owners pro sports has ever known. And the team did improve every yr, so rather than tell Woody goodbye and give him a loaded gun and a “how to” suicide book on the way out the door like some Hawks fans would do, I say tell Woody goodbye and at least thank him for taking a team from 13 wins to 50+ with very limited resources. Get a new coach and maybe try your idea for another yr, but i dont have much confidence that it will even get us to a conference finals muych less a champoinship. And What if Bosh, or God forbid Lebron, went to the Heat to play with D-Wade. Hell, we couldnt get past 3rd place in our own division. I want a championship, as I know you and everyone else does too, and Im afraid we need to move Josh for a true 5. Im willing to take a risk, not blow the team up but more than a bandaid, because its going to take risks in this division with the free agents out there and the no state tax in Fla if we want to be able to compete with the Magic. We cant do it the way we are now.
south ga boy
May 7th, 2010
1:12 am
Granddad, I wish I believed you were right about Josh but I just dont think so. I do believe Josh is a good guy. Helping the family of the young man that was tragically died here in Atl is a sign that he has a good heart. But, when it comes to basketball his emotion rules over his intellect time and time again, and I dont think John Wooden, Lenny Wilkens, or Red Augherback could get him to play under control and think before he acts. And we cant keep saying “oh he’s young” anymore. He’s had 6 yrs in the league, he’s 24, and has a lot of NBA games under his belt now. We love his talent and his ability to make us come up out of our chair with a “holy sh%t did you see what Smoove just did” moments. BUt, we cant keep ignoring his lack of desire on defense “all” the time, or the stupid pass, or shooting when he could have drove to the hoop and gotten a better shot or at least a foul, or the constant complaining to the ref’s when he should be getting back on defense. I just cant keep making excuses or overlooking all his faults anymore. Its a hard truth, because he’s my fav player, but the team wont get any better until they move him in a trade for a real center and move Al to the 4. Im convinced of it.
Grandad
May 7th, 2010
1:18 am
south ga boy:
Your logic is sound, but so is Najeh’s.
Wdsn cannot coach an elite team. Period. Case closed. No debate.
I’ve looked @ this thing a thousand dif. ways.
Beginning in the mid 60’s & me or the Hawks haven’t got it right;
YET!
BK didn’t do us any favors. But he did leave us choices.
BK’s vision, I think, was a running, pressing, hard nosed,
pedal to the metal, athletes runnin’ around, jumping oughta the gym,
fans packing the house, towel waving, exciting, highlight factory,
innovative style of play. Somewhere along the line, he realized,
maaannn, I’ve got Woody @ the wheel!
I’m sure, for him, it was an Oh s___ moment.
south ga boy
May 7th, 2010
1:21 am
lol, maybe so. Gotta sleep for now, Granddad. Peace
Grandad
May 7th, 2010
1:32 am
south ga boy:
Responding about Josh; he may have passed the threshold.
It may be too late for a new Coach to turn him.
It’s like I said before…It’s now or never on trading him.
He does play harder than most.
We can’t just focus on a [5].
Need to get a Quality ‘player’/not just a passable [5].
A Dominant player. Pkg. who we must, otherwise we need to keep him.
He is a valuable commodity.
Like Najeh says – a new coach, someone with whom he connects?
You hate to see him go away & become All-Pro!
Good talkin with you. Evenin’ all.
Nate ArchiBALL
May 7th, 2010
2:17 am
Give me the name of the center you would get for Josh. We keep saying we need a “Perkins like center”….. give me a name…. please.
It is my thought that that person / center doesn’t exist.in today’s NBA.
Is it
Marcus Camby / Brad Miller / Ben Wallace / Andrew Bynum, / Mehmet Okur / Chris Kaman /
Nenad Krstic / Tyson Chandler / Samuel Dalembert / Kwame Brown / Jeff Foster / Brendan Haywood /
Erick Dampier / Rasho Nesterovic / Andris Biedrins / Shaquille O’Neal / Al Jefferson
or pick one from the 103 players who played the center position in the NBA this season
http://www.hoopsstats.com/basketball/fantasy/nba/playerstats/10/6/eff
Can you imagine Perkins in the current Hawks offensive scheme? He would look like ZaZa. Perkins has the luxury of playing with with the Garnett, Pierce, Allen and Rondo.
Mack
May 7th, 2010
2:27 pm
Man REALLY!! Its not just this series with J.J. He is vastly over paid and overrated.The guy doesn’t do anything,but shoot fade-away jumpers.Thats it! He doesn’t drive or create for nobody. He very selfish and he is fighting the success of Jamal Crawford.Like really! Everytime JC gets going JJ tries to take the shine by taking 80 dribbles and shooting that broke fade-away. Please get rid of this dude! He is killing the Hawks chemistry along with MR.I-JUS-WANT-A-DUNK-SMITH.