Atlanta Hawks at Indiana Pacers: No road worries
If you want to be optimistic, you can say there’s some solace to be had for the Hawks despite that four-game losing streak. It can be found in the standings, where no team in the East except for Boston has distinguished itself, and more specifically in Atlanta’s 4-1 road record.
(You can also say the three losses at home already cancel that out, but work with me here.)
The Hawks have been more efficient on both offense and defense on the road. Like everything with the Hawks so far, the quality of opponents probably has something to do with that–they had their worst offensive game at Orlando and their best defensive game vs. Detroit–but Atlanta has handled its business on the road.
“So far, so good,” L.D. said. “Just hopefully we can keep it up. Hopefully we are understanding how to play on the road. I’ve always said you have to play with a road mentality. You can’t play as fast, you have to be a little more selective with your shots. Certainly you can’t turn the ball over. All of those are momentum plays for the competition.”
I was thinking about L.D.’s philosophy during the Minnesota game Sunday. The T-Wolves started playing too fast, turning the ball over and jacking up bad shots, and the Hawks seemed to be turning every mistake into a basket. The crowd got into it, the Hawks played with more bounce and suddenly Minnesota was down big.
It might sound strange for a coach to say he wants the team to alter its style on the road but that’s what L.D. believes.
“A lot of people don’t quite understand it, whether they disagree or disagree,” he said. “I think it is important that you control tempo. That doesn’t mean if you are a fastbreak team you don’t get out and run the fastbreak. You still run your fastbreak but you are a little bit more selective with your shots at the end. Because the one thing you don’t want to do is you don’t want to get into a pace that is an advantage for them, especially if you are not making shots.”
Injury report
Mo sat out practice yesterday with swelling in his knee. He said there might be times when he has to back off but that he expects to be part of the rotation from here on out.
Darren Collison (ankle) and Tyler Hansbrough (ankle) are out for the Pacers. T.J. Ford is starting in Collison’s place. Mike Wells of the Indy Star writes that Collison has had problems with Jim O’Brien’s offense and Ford has been playing late in games.
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98 comments Add your comment
Ramon
November 16th, 2010
8:41 pm
For his size and his position (I’m a youngster only 27 so don’t remember the 80s) is Josh one of the best shot blockers ever in the history of the game?
ignition
November 16th, 2010
8:43 pm
I gonna take and guess and say Teague’s brother is better then him….
ignition
November 16th, 2010
8:43 pm
For his position he is the only…
Sautee
November 16th, 2010
8:46 pm
Ramon,
For his size and position, certainly.
Bill Russell was likely the best shot blocker in league history, but when he played the overall talent level was not as high. But he dominated games like none other.
Elliot
November 16th, 2010
8:48 pm
Al Horford has played a whopping 20 minutes tonight, and has been given a massive 6 field goal attempts. Jamal has played an enormous 10 minutes, and Teague, who was actually hitting his shots tonight, has played an absolutely exhausting 6 minutes. Wow, L.D. better be careful, he might wear these guys down with all of those minutes. You’ve got to love Coach Drew. This guy really knows how to manage his rotation.
Dept. of Unintended Irony
November 16th, 2010
8:52 pm
“You’ve got to love Coach Drew. This guy really knows how to manage his rotation.”
More effective when your team is not UP by 12.
~~MAC-ToWN~~ (Area Code 478 Westside Macon)
November 16th, 2010
8:54 pm
LMAO@Zaza
lewis
November 16th, 2010
8:56 pm
TRADE JAMAL HES USELESS
ignition
November 16th, 2010
8:56 pm
I wish Teague wasn’t such a ** rhymes with gushy **
Jermaine.
November 16th, 2010
8:57 pm
Mo Evans has played more minutes than Al tonight. LMAO. Drew must really hate Al. Maybe the Hawks should trade Al so that he can get the treatment he deserves instead of being disrespected and treated like some rookie roleplayer.
Sautee,
November 16th, 2010
8:59 pm
Enter your comments here
ignition
November 16th, 2010
8:59 pm
We up by 12 in the forth why waist Al’s energy if it ain’t needed…
lewis
November 16th, 2010
8:59 pm
Drew doesn’t trust his bench enough, and fears the thought of not having Al available down the final stretch. He’ll have to get over that soon.
Sautee
November 16th, 2010
9:00 pm
lewis,
methinks you are on to something. 7 new posters all with the same agenda.
hmmm
Dept. of Unintended irony
November 16th, 2010
9:01 pm
“We up by 12 in the forth why waist Al’s energy if it ain’t needed…”
Well maybe he’ll lose an inch or two.
ignition
November 16th, 2010
9:03 pm
Where’s the foul for Al??
~~MAC-ToWN~~ (Area Code 478 Westside Macon)
November 16th, 2010
9:04 pm
BAWSE
ignition
November 16th, 2010
9:05 pm
McRoberts went to Notre Dame right??
~~MAC-ToWN~~ (Area Code 478 Westside Macon)
November 16th, 2010
9:07 pm
Smoove was just waiting to crush Solo LOL
lewis
November 16th, 2010
9:07 pm
GET EM BOSS
ignition
November 16th, 2010
9:07 pm
I don’t not like it when Jamal and Bibby are in the game together…
lewis
November 16th, 2010
9:08 pm
yeah Sautee, i havn’t figured it out quite yet.
I think superiorblogman must be truthspitter
Sautee
November 16th, 2010
9:08 pm
The bench held serve in the third and early fourth. Got to have that on the road.
lewis
November 16th, 2010
9:08 pm
but honestly truthspitter’s posts are better
~~MAC-ToWN~~ (Area Code 478 Westside Macon)
November 16th, 2010
9:09 pm
Duke@ignition
Sautee
November 16th, 2010
9:09 pm
lewis,
It IS a little “curious” that one left just when the other appeared, AND that they share many of the same complaints, eh?
~~MAC-ToWN~~ (Area Code 478 Westside Macon)
November 16th, 2010
9:10 pm
lmao…….Crawford left him lookin clueless
~~MAC-ToWN~~ (Area Code 478 Westside Macon)
November 16th, 2010
9:12 pm
man….guys are setting Horford up NICE this season for those mid ranged jumpers.
~~MAC-ToWN~~ (Area Code 478 Westside Macon)
November 16th, 2010
9:13 pm
ball game
Sautee
November 16th, 2010
9:15 pm
Careful MAC
bigdave
November 16th, 2010
9:15 pm
Josh ; allstar.. defensive player of the year… most improved..
ignition
November 16th, 2010
9:16 pm
This so far has been a pretty game to watch as a whole.. Good ball movement.. Al midrange is killer. Josh playing in the post. Our 1 + 2 punch is fierce.. If we can get Joe to join the party consistently man…
We got to rebound better tho…
Bailey
November 16th, 2010
9:17 pm
Seven blocks for Josh tonight. Wow. If he’s not the frontrunner for defensive player of the year this season, I’d be surprised.
ignition
November 16th, 2010
9:17 pm
Seriously that should be a flagrant…
ignition
November 16th, 2010
9:20 pm
The 7 footer gave Al problems as which is to be expected… Didn’t see that foul on Crawford looked like a good steal to me…
LD should start Collins when we play 7 footers…
ignition
November 16th, 2010
9:22 pm
Stop settling for those stupid fade away jump shots.. Irritating drive there was enough on the clock to drive..
ignition
November 16th, 2010
9:24 pm
We a good offensive team, but we have to become better with rebounding and defense.. OVER OVER OVER OVER OVER OVER again…
Sautee
November 16th, 2010
9:24 pm
Glad were looking like we’ll win BUT, I’m still very disappointed in Horford’s rebounding. WTF is up with that?
lewis
November 16th, 2010
9:26 pm
btw, today = example of how hawks play on the road
Sautee
November 16th, 2010
9:31 pm
Road wins are like GOLD.
Bailey
November 16th, 2010
9:32 pm
ignition, how did Hibbert give Al problems?
From what I recall, Hibbert scored on Horford a grand total of 2 times. Both of those attempts were hook shots from less than 10 feet from the basket. Hibbert scored the majority of his points in the second quarter when Al was out of the game and didn’t score at all in the third against Al. In the fourth, he scored once against Al. On the other end of the floor, Horford was 7-12 shooting on the night. I wouldn’t call that having trouble.
ignition
November 16th, 2010
9:33 pm
Hibert had 18pts & 14rb a lot of them on Al…
lukas
November 16th, 2010
9:35 pm
Sautee,
In Horford’s defense tonight (and i totally agree with you in that he’s not rebounding), LD put him in a in/out the court display that would disrup anybody’s game focusing. I wonder how much of that lack of effort in rebounding can be atributable to not wanting to pick fouls so LD could take him out?
Leon
November 16th, 2010
9:37 pm
Sautee,
I noticed Al’s rebounding was down a bit also. Granted that he basically sat out for the entire second quarter, I guess 6 boards isn’t all that bad, but it still seems low for him. I don’t know if it’s a result of being less aggressive due to fear of being pulled out of the game with fouls, or if it has to do with other players being more aggressive and the Hawks shooting the ball better lately. It’s tough to say. It’s been disappointing though.
Bailey
November 16th, 2010
9:39 pm
ignition,
I’m not sure what game you watched. I was paying close attention to that matchup, and Hibbert didn’t score much from the field on Al. The rebounding is another story entirely, but in terms of scoring, Hibbert didn’t do much at all against Al. If you can replay the game, take a look and you’ll see what I mean.
Sautee
November 16th, 2010
9:40 pm
ignition,
Check out the play-by-play. You’ll see that Horford wasn’t in the game for many of Hibbert’s baskets.
http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/playbyplay?gameId=301116011&period=0
superiorblogman
November 16th, 2010
10:00 pm
Poor Indiana, just means they are not a playoff team because we know the Hawks can’t beat a playoff team
Ken Strickland
November 16th, 2010
11:04 pm
Hibbert needed16 FGA’s(6-16) and 8 FTA’s(6-8) to get his 18pts, compared to AHorford’s needing only12 FGA’s(7-12) and 1FTA(1-1) to get his 15pts. Horford also had 3 assists to Hibberts 1. Looking at it from an unbiased perspective, it would appear that Hibbert was the one that had trouble trying to keep up with the shorter, smaller, but quicker, faster and more athletic Horford.
FROM THE PREVIOUS BLOG:
JEJE- lf you have a valid point, there’s no reason to skew, limit, ignore, slant, or omit the facts. Yes, the Hawks have had 3 consecutive home losses, but you conveniently overlooked the 4 consecutive road wins, and the 5-1 road record in only 12gms. That’s outstanding, considering we won only 19 road gms all of last season, and never had more than 2 consecutive road wins.
All during the off season some of our fans predicTED the Hawks would fall far short of last yrs accomplishments because the Eastern Conference had improved so drastically. Yet, some of the same fans that talked about the vast overall improvement in the Eastern Conference can’t seem to figure out why the Hawks aren’t rolling over some of these improved teams like they did last yr. WHERE’S THE LOGIC?
I love the way LDrew shows patience and doesn’t panic when we fall behind, especially with our 2nd team in the gm. He’s allowing them to play through their mistakes. At one point, when SJones was playing center for Indy, he had a lineup of JTeague(PG), JaCrawford(SG), MWilliams(PF), JSmith(C) and JJ(SF) in the gm. It’s obvious to me that LDrew is using the early part of this season for learning, teaching and experimenting.