Atlanta Hawks: Hawks at Grizzlies
Memphis–Finally, the games are for real.
Got to see at least some hints about L.D.’s offensive and defensive approaches during the preseason. The one thing that’s still a big mystery is how he will distribute the minutes because (stop me if you’ve heard this one) the injuries made a mess of the rotation.
The Miami game provided the best clue but it wasn’t definitive, unless you somehow think Jamal is going to play just 19 minutes per night.
“I have kind of got an idea of how many I want my starters to play and the guys off the bench,” L.D. said. “I don’t want to wear guys down. I will scale back on a couple starters who played I thought too many minutes in the past. I certainly want to utilize my bench more.”
Like everything else L.D. is trying to do, it remains to be seen if his wishes will match up with reality. He’s committed to going deep in his bench but that means five reserves are going to have to be consistent contributors.
J.J. is all for reduced wear and tear. He said the ideal situation is for the starters to get the Hawks going at the start of the game and after halftime; the reserves hold it down in the second quarter and bridge the third and fourth quarters; and the starters come back to finish the game.
“As long as the starters come out and we start the game off right, come out business-like, that can happen,” he said.
Lakers love
Josh Powell watched the Lakers’ ring ceremony last night and heard Phil Jackson give him a shout out. Some of the Lakers players talked about the team’s cohesiveness. Powell said it was real.
“The experiences and the relationships that I built there are definitely things to miss,” he said. “But I have a new family now and we’ve got things we are trying to accomplish. I wish their organization and team all the best this year.”
No word on when Powell will get his ring.
“I have no idea how that works,” Powell said. “I’m going to get it but I haven’t talked to nobody about that.”
Powell signed with the Hawks for a chance to play meaningful minutes, and L.D. has said Powell will get them. Even when Powell averaged 19.2 minutes for the Clippers in 07-08 the minutes were sporadic.
“For a guy in my shoes for six years and to finally have a real, true chance to be a part of something in the sense of showing what you can do on a night-in, night-out basis and bring somewhat of a leadership role to the guys, I look forward to it,” he said.
Injury report
Mo is still getting his knee up to speed. He said in hindsight he wishes he’d had his surgery earlier in the summer and not pushed the knee too soon after the procedure.
“It’s the residual effects of having arthroscopic surgery and trying to do too much and come back too fast,” he said. “As a professional athlete you are competitive and when I see the guys out there competing, it’s hard to watch. Then you get out there and have success and you get excited and you try to do too much.”
Teague’s ankle isn’t 100 percent yet.
“I feel it sometimes,” he said. “But I will be all right.”
Jamal says his back is fine.
Grizz center Marc Gasol (ankle) is out. Memphis coach Lionel Hollins is starting 6-9 Darrel Arthur in his place with 7-3 Hasheem Thabeet in reserve. Zach Randolph (6-9) can play there, too.
It will be interesting to see if L.D. will go big.
“We’ve got the bodies,” L.D. said. “Against Memphis you may end up using your bodies. They have some bodies and do a good job crashing the boards. You have to block them out. It may take all of our bodies to get the job done.”
MC
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297 comments Add your comment
STEEL(Formerly VenomSpitter)
October 27th, 2010
9:51 pm
Al has been terrible
Ramon
October 27th, 2010
9:51 pm
O’Brien, while Memphis is missing Randolph and Gasol, Arthur and Thabeet both pose a more defensive mind presence against the Hawks.
drmaryb (*_*)
October 27th, 2010
9:51 pm
Josh is very, very stubborn. Like a Mule.
Freshfromatl
October 27th, 2010
9:52 pm
Guys,
We may never hear from “Rod From College Park” again lol
lewis
October 27th, 2010
9:52 pm
horford i stuck up for you dog you makin me look bad
O'Brien
October 27th, 2010
9:53 pm
Freshfromatl,
Let’s wait and see if Marvin can have 2 good games in a row though…
Najeh Davenpoop
October 27th, 2010
9:53 pm
Al has been terrible today, and more importantly, the Hawks are still dangerously over-reliant on Smoove to clean up their mistakes on defense. Just another consequence of not spending the money to get the defensive-minded shot-blocking bench big man this team so desperately needs.
terrell
October 27th, 2010
9:53 pm
Marvin just doesnt look as clumsy as usual. What’s up with that? Lookin pretty damn good out there. Maybe he just needed someone to get his big booty butt in shape. Whatever the case may be, I like it.
Ramon
October 27th, 2010
9:54 pm
Najeh, Memphis finished 40-42 last season. This season (on paper) their roster is improved, and they still have young players who naturally ’should’ get better this season. Phoenix isn’t a playoff team this year unless they find a way to get some rebounds. Portland embarrassed them last night in the second half.
J.J.M.
October 27th, 2010
9:54 pm
choke time
Najeh Davenpoop
October 27th, 2010
9:54 pm
Beautiful floater by Teague. He needs to make that his bread and butter.
J.J.M.
October 27th, 2010
9:56 pm
zaza is more agressive than horford
Hawks Fan In New Orleans
October 27th, 2010
9:56 pm
I’m really digging the league pass on nba.com. Teague is stinking it right on defense. He needs to be that change of pace the Bibby is not.
hawks_4_life
October 27th, 2010
9:57 pm
Our bench is showing up tonight
Wabe
October 27th, 2010
9:57 pm
Hawks 2nd unit…
Props.
Ramon
October 27th, 2010
9:57 pm
Am I the only one who thinks sometimes how many points Crawford has hides the fact that he took away from the game? Crawford ends up with 17-18 points some game. Yet, makes so many errors on defense, or misses so many wide open teammates on offense that it goes unseen because of his point total.
Najeh Davenpoop
October 27th, 2010
9:58 pm
“Najeh, Memphis finished 40-42 last season. This season (on paper) their roster is improved, and they still have young players who naturally ’should’ get better this season. ”
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/teams/mem/depthchart
The only player I see there who wasn’t there last year is Tony Allen. They also added Acie Law and Xavier Henry, who don’t seem to be integral parts of their rotation. Neither one really qualifies as enough of a personnel upgrade to get a below-500 team to the playoffs in the tough Western Conference.
I agree that they have young players who should improve, but calling them a playoff team is a bit of a stretch to me. None of their guys has really impressed me at all today.
O'Brien
October 27th, 2010
9:59 pm
15 and 7 from Marvin? Wow. I like it.
And if teague ever develops a consistent shot? watch out
Wabe
October 27th, 2010
9:59 pm
lol @ Bob Rathbun…
Getting a lil too excited.
Sleepy
October 27th, 2010
9:59 pm
Crawford has 3 steals and is a +13 in this game the highest on the team so yeah Im sure hes taking away from the game with all his mistakes
Melvin
October 27th, 2010
10:00 pm
Does Jamal shot even touches the rim? I think he swoosh the nets better than anybody…
Najeh Davenpoop
October 27th, 2010
10:01 pm
I’ll say this about Teague — he hasn’t been all that impressive offensively, aside from that floater in the lane which kinda sparked this latest Hawks run, but his defensive impact has been big. Just the ability to stay with his man on the perimeter makes such a huge difference when Smoove isn’t on the floor to erase mistakes.
Big Ray
October 27th, 2010
10:01 pm
Why Drew is not Woody part 2:
Wow. I don’t think the Hawks EVER had ball movement that good on ANY possession under Woody. Marvin with the and 1.
Even on the possessions where it seems like they are about to run isolation, it just seems like the Hawks without the ball are communicating more. There was some standing around on that Mo Evans drive to the hoop, but when Mo got the ball, he got a little pick to open up some space for him. That’s something that wouldn’t have happened last year.
STEEL(Formerly VenomSpitter)
October 27th, 2010
10:02 pm
LOL @! Josh whoopin zazas ass
hawks_4_life
October 27th, 2010
10:02 pm
In your face Thabeet……………
Wabe
October 27th, 2010
10:02 pm
Dude…
Zaza’s BEASTING…
J.J.M.
October 27th, 2010
10:02 pm
lmaoooooooooooo man zaza most got some good sex last night
Najeh Davenpoop
October 27th, 2010
10:02 pm
Zaza with a block? Wow.
Thabeet looks to be the Grizzlies’ version of Marvin, except about a thousand times worse.
Ree Roe
October 27th, 2010
10:02 pm
ZaZa’s unstoppable!
-REEview Roe!!!
Melvin
October 27th, 2010
10:02 pm
*fell out my chair laughing*
Oh my gosh, ZaZa block Thabeet dunk…
O'Brien
October 27th, 2010
10:02 pm
Good run by the Hawks to push the lead back to 16
15 and 7 for Marvin.
what a block by ZaZa
cp
October 27th, 2010
10:03 pm
We should trade for Thabeet huh truthspitter .lolllllllllllllll. Thabeet is hot garbage. You need talent to go with size and that dude is terrible
O'Brien
October 27th, 2010
10:03 pm
I think Al’s extension amount just went down after this game
STEEL(Formerly VenomSpitter)
October 27th, 2010
10:04 pm
Yea Al can’t ask for that much money. He has been the worst player.
Ramon
October 27th, 2010
10:04 pm
Najeh, when you think about their frontcourt is out of the game. Also, Arthur is scoring on the Hawks, and he’s their back up big. I could see them having a 4-5 game improvement. And I really don’t see the West being as deep as they were last season. But who knows. By the way, the Grizzlies were 23- 18 at home last season. That’s not stellar, but the Hawks are still playing impressive collectively.
hawks_4_life
October 27th, 2010
10:05 pm
Shooting 54% from the field……
O'Brien
October 27th, 2010
10:05 pm
I would have loved to see ZaZa wave the finger Dikembe style
Sleepy
October 27th, 2010
10:06 pm
Al not getting a extension may be affecting his game Im sure he thought it wouldve be done by now .
Rev in Tampa
October 27th, 2010
10:06 pm
Powell & Jamal are playing active defense. 45-11 is the Hawks bench advantage against Memphis.
I haven’t been able to watch the game tonight until a few minutes ago but I am very impressed… especially since they are playing on the ROAD!!!
Rufus1
October 27th, 2010
10:06 pm
Were up by 16PTS…
Josh has 5pts and AL has none….WE HAVE 91PTS AND UP BY 16PTS
Najeh Davenpoop
October 27th, 2010
10:07 pm
LMAO.. you are pushing your luck there Zaza.
STEEL(Formerly VenomSpitter)
October 27th, 2010
10:07 pm
Teague wit da 3
Najeh Davenpoop
October 27th, 2010
10:07 pm
Nice to see Teague swish the 3. He looks a lot more comfortable in the 2nd half than he did in the 1st.
Melvin
October 27th, 2010
10:07 pm
Teague for 3… Shut them up JT….
drmaryb (*_*)
October 27th, 2010
10:08 pm
To Al’s credit, his ankle is tweaked. It takes a while to heal a sprain.
Drew, has a phenomenal rotation pattern.
Melvin
October 27th, 2010
10:08 pm
Remind me again why did Billy Knight select Shelden Williams over Rudy Gay again….
Ramon
October 27th, 2010
10:09 pm
Josh Powell making Joe Smith look like a CBA reject. His energy and quickness is refreshing.
drmaryb (*_*)
October 27th, 2010
10:10 pm
Highlight Factory is on the road!
Rufus1
October 27th, 2010
10:10 pm
Hey Woody lovers….
You develop your bench…..ITS CALLED COACHING….We wasted 2 additional years with that FOOL!!!
J.J.M.
October 27th, 2010
10:10 pm
zaza getting carried away now