Atlanta Hawks at New Jersey Nets: ‘Defense is hard.’ Are the Hawks?
Newark, N.J–Over and over the coach preaches defense. He tells his players to execute the coverages, give maximum effort, and stay after it even when (or especially when) things get hard. Most of his preparation time is spent on defense. Pretty much all of his talks are about stopping opponents.
And yet despite all of this, the coach says his team doesn’t do these things to his satisfaction.
Not, I’m not talking about L.D. This was Doc Rivers talking last night before his Celtics waylaid the Hawks. He was asked if things like defensive intensity and focus come from players and not coaches.
“It comes from both. As good as we are at times, last year we were up and down all year. I think that’s a sell every night. It’s just easier to play offense. Defense is hard, and defense is every possession. Defense is hunger and focus and being down on the weak side every single time. It’s amazing how many times we show film of guys standing straight up. It’s hard. Defense is hard. To do it every night is hard to do. As a coach and your whole staff, we harp on it every single day. We could have an 80-point game [allowed] and I could show you 10 times in a game we got lucky and they missed a shot and we were not right. [Defense] comes from all five doing it all the time, where on offense you can have one guy make a shot and it works out for you. Defense, it is just hard.”
While he was saying that I’m thinking: If Doc Rivers has to constantly prod proud, veteran, tough-minded players to get them to do these things, then what chance does L.D. have of getting his younger, volatile, fragile players to play that way?
Mo had the telling quote after last night’s debacle: “The Celtics know who they are. We don’t have an identity, unless it’s when things go bad we go the other way. Maybe that’s out identity and we don’t know it.”
Maybe that’s how it is. Maybe it takes certain kind of players to play the way the Celtics play, and maybe the Hawks don’t have any (or enough) of those players. L.D. says he “very rarely talks about offense” and harps on defense but maybe there’s nothing he can do to make this group of players buy in to that.
“You can look at certain teams with certain players and you can see when the game hits a certain point where players they seem to take over, see certain teams when the game hits a certain point they tighten the screws up,” Drew said before the Boston game. “You can certainly see that. I don’t think we are there yet. I think we have to keep working on it. I do think we can get there. We have the personnel to get there. But we are not quite there.”
The day after
The Hawks players talked after the Celtics game. L.D. said the team met for breakfast this morning and watched video.
“Didn’t want to dwell on it, just wanted to make some points on it and then get ready for New Jersey,” he said.
So I asked Al if he their minds are right.
“We’ll see,” he said. “I’d rather hold all of my thoughts until once we get out here and play. We cant talk about certain stuff but we have to go out there and do it on the floor.”
Smoove took a similar stance on all the talking.
“If that [stuff] penetrates, then we should be good,” he said. “If it gets shrugged off, then maybe not. We are about to see.”
Party time?
L.D. elaborated on his postgame comments last night, in which he seemed to intimate the Hawks are doing too much partying before games.
“I didn’t say party,” he said. “We are not starting the game with a lot of energy. I don’t know if I am practicing them too hard. I don’t know if I am not practicing them hard enough. I don’t know if they are out at night. I don’t know what it is. It is something that is zapping our energy at the very beginning of our ballgame. It is something I have got to figure out what is going on with our team because we are too athletic to start at such a low energy level. Hopefully we will bounce back tonight.”
No rest for J.J.
One of the items the !$%^# blog monster ate last night concerned J.J.’s sore left hand. He got hit on the top of the hand during the preseason and still grimaces and favors it at times.
Good luck trying to get him to reveal how much it’s really bothering him.
“I’ve just got to deal with it,” Joe said. “The only thing that can keep it from hurting is resting but we don’t have time for that. I have to play through it. It’s nothing major.”
The fact that J.J. is wearing that bulky glove on the hand suggests it’s a problem. He said he would continue to wear it (”Got no choice) and that it doesn’t bother his shooting. The hand is not as sore after games when he wears the glove.
L.D. thinks the hand is bothering Joe more than he’s letting on. Would he consider taking the decision from Joe and giving him an extended rest?
“I will consider it, but a high probability of giving him time off? No,” Drew said. “We will probably just try to rest him days that we are not playing, especially when we have a couple days in between. Let him get it treated and keep him out. With those type injuries they always start to feel good and then you get it banged again and it becomes a lingering thing through the season.”
No T-Will for Nets
Nets swingman Terrence Williams (Go Cards) is out for two games due to disciplinary reasons. Dang, T-Will, get it together and rep The Ville right.
MC
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376 comments Add your comment
Wabe
November 23rd, 2010
9:44 pm
Whatever Hawks…
Falcons/Packers can’t get here quick enough.
JeJe
November 23rd, 2010
9:45 pm
LOL @ JOE’S RECENT NUMBERS. JUST WAIT TIL DECEMBER WHEN WE ACTUALLY PLAY REAL TEAMS
Patrick
November 23rd, 2010
9:46 pm
Correction on my last post: I meant to say, can we start looking for a new coach?
bigdave
November 23rd, 2010
9:46 pm
i dont think the Nets are that bad..
Chillin on paradise island
November 23rd, 2010
9:46 pm
If we beat the Packers, we should win out! How great will 14-2 with DOME field advantage sound?
shannon
November 23rd, 2010
9:46 pm
I hope we have a losing season..At least we will get a top draft pick..Larry drew for Coach of the Year lol
~~MAC-ToWN~~ (Area Code 478 Westside Macon)
November 23rd, 2010
9:46 pm
tonight just proves what I’ve thought for a long time, we’re just not as talented as many think we are. The nets just had more players able to knock down big shots and get to the rack.
Sparrows vs. Nets
November 23rd, 2010
9:46 pm
Hawks playoff seeding (IF they make it): 5th or worse
ATL FAN
November 23rd, 2010
9:47 pm
Agree HB, didn’t think it would come to that but we definitely need to start over. Al is the only player we can build around. Joe got his contract, his play has stopped. Josh Smith is way too immature and makes too many careless mistakes, also selfish at times. No true PG, we won’t go anywhere with Bibby or Teague as our PG. Jamal Crawford is clearly not right for the new type of offense we want to play, and we have NO bench whatsoever. This era of Hawks is over.
Hawks Fan In New Orleans
November 23rd, 2010
9:48 pm
Fortunately I was not my computer to watch these last two games but this seems like the back to vback from hell because they got smashed by Shaq who they downplayed when he was available and got beat by the coach they let walk! Smh. This is horrible! Are The Hawks that sorry? Get them off the court! They better trade somebody or I won’t watch no more!!! Lol
ATL FAN
November 23rd, 2010
9:48 pm
Wabe, the reason they wanted him to be their coach so bad is because he’s a player’s coach. We don’t need that now, what we need is a coach who tells the players straight like it is, THEY’RE PLAYING AWFUL, and they need to pick up their game
cory
November 23rd, 2010
9:48 pm
something needs to be done, and soon
Mike
November 23rd, 2010
9:48 pm
I think it is time to blow this team up and bring players in that want to play not this grown up sissy who cant be a 4 – 9 team. Atleast we got the Falcons and Thrashers
YoDaddy
November 23rd, 2010
9:48 pm
all it takes is defense…that’s it…the Hawks don’t play it when they are fully capable of doing it…. DEFENSE….forget the offense DEFENSE DEFENSE DEFENSE. We’ve established that we can score but can we plays some DEFENSE???
Can we bring Coach K in for a two day instructional camp. Can we please pretty please play some DEFENSE????
And no more jumpshots…the players are too good off the dribble for that. When you come off the pick go directly to the basket I don’t care if you get 6 offensive fouls we must turn around the complacency. Attack. On defense everyone crash the boards forget the fast break. No layup policy…if you see someone going for a layup knock them on the head…if its flagrant then so be it.
keith
November 23rd, 2010
9:49 pm
When the Hawks players stop caring, then its easy for fans to give up on them.
Sautee
November 23rd, 2010
9:50 pm
Nets shot 33 FT, we shot 13.
Guess who the aggressor was?
If we are going to go Iso at the end of games, let’s at least post up and not dribble and dribble and dribble and………
cp
November 23rd, 2010
9:50 pm
Its clear some moves have to be made but Sund has a history of staying pat so it looks like its going to be a long season of the same thing. They come out so lethargic in the first quarter that they spend most of the game trying to get back in it. Add in the inability to block out and guys not rotating and there you have the Hawks. Where is the former GM for the Blazers. I think his name was Pritchard or something.
YoDaddy
November 23rd, 2010
9:50 pm
actually missing the playoffs may not be such a bad thing….we have a chance at the lottery if that happens because we got get some players that are hungry in there
ATL FAN
November 23rd, 2010
9:52 pm
Falcons are 1st on the Power Rankings. With a win over Green Bay, we can hold that spot for the majority of the season.
Sautee
November 23rd, 2010
9:52 pm
cp,
You’re gonna give nire a heart attack.
bigdave
November 23rd, 2010
9:53 pm
dispiritedly needed the win but Hawks didnt play that bad. we are who we are. personnel catching up.
last night caught me off guard, so actually playing like they want to win was refreshing.
JeJe
November 23rd, 2010
9:55 pm
MAYBE GOING TO THE LOTTERY ISNT SUCH A BAD THING. IF THE OWNERS JUST WANT ROOKIE CONTRACTS, THAT’S A GREAT WAY TO KEEP PAYROLL LOW. JUST BUY OUT THE WHOLE TEAM AND GET LOTTERY PICKS
FIRE SUND
HB
November 23rd, 2010
9:55 pm
Playing like you want to win means playing defense. They did not play defense.
cp
November 23rd, 2010
9:55 pm
Sautee he must not be a fan of Pritchard?
bigdave
November 23rd, 2010
9:57 pm
we shoot jumpers. period. our back to basket game comes from Joe when he’s defended by smaller guards. Al’s block game doesnt scare anyone. nor will it result in a whistle too often because its not fluid and bully ball from start. inability to throw the ball down low and get positive results will haunt this team offensively. might as well prepare for jumpers and an occasional drive to hoop.
MsDee
November 23rd, 2010
9:58 pm
This is SO NOT LD’S FAULT. The Hawks arent running the plays that are drawn up nor are they hitting their shots. WE DO NOT HAVE THE SAME JAMAL AS OF LAST YEAR!!
bigdave
November 23rd, 2010
9:59 pm
i saw defense out there tonight.. Nets hit big shots.
high percentage shooting came from Brooks dominance.
YoDaddy
November 23rd, 2010
9:59 pm
All the Hawks players need to do a line before the game. Maybe they will run around some more, make some hard fouls, get aggressive, get nasty
The team is too nice. KG is not a nice guy, neither is Rondo or Delonte.
We need some players that will mix it up
ATL FAN
November 23rd, 2010
10:00 pm
Watching the Bobcats, Stephen Jackson is much better than Joe…
Sautee
November 23rd, 2010
10:00 pm
cp,
Yeah, he hates him big time.
bigdave
November 23rd, 2010
10:02 pm
get ready for more speed, quickness, and size coming from the pg position in Mr. Wall.
rusty
November 23rd, 2010
10:03 pm
fk sund,get his azz out of here
MsDee
November 23rd, 2010
10:04 pm
They are suppose to be professionals, to be able to MAKE SHOTS, but we have continued to fail at that. LD is saying the right things, its just that these guys AREN’T LISTENING!!! And LD is not the same as Woody cause he HAD NO PLAN BUT LD DOES. The players are just USED TO THE BAD HABITS OF THE PAST 6 YEARS THAT JUST AREN’T GONE YET!!
rusty
November 23rd, 2010
10:06 pm
nortcyde your buddy jj sure played great(iso joe= choker) jc is hell of a lot more clutch plaaaaaaaaaaaaaayer,not aaaaaafraid like big $$$$$ choker joe
rusty
November 23rd, 2010
10:06 pm
Enter your comments here
bigdave
November 23rd, 2010
10:07 pm
big gee from Wizards went for 24-18 tonight.. w/ 10 offensive boards.. better box out.
Wall 25 8-8 from line.. and thats against a solid perimeter defense in Philly.
JeJe
November 23rd, 2010
10:09 pm
FOR THE TYPE OF MONEY WE’RE PAYING HIM, JOE SHOULD BE SCORING 28 POINTS A NIGHT AND BE A LEADER
HE IS NEITHER
HE IS NO BETTER THAN STEPHEN JACKSON, JOHN SALMONS, A HEALTHY MICHAEL REDD, OR JASON RICHARDSON
THESE GUYS ALL HAVE FARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR MORE HEART THAN BLOW JOHNSON
Patrick
November 23rd, 2010
10:09 pm
Alright, I’m done with defending certain players and attacking L.D. mostly. I still don’t approve of what L.D. is doing, but I really think a very large portion of the blame goes to three players on our team: Joe, Josh, and Jamal. Jamal, was actually pretty decent tonight, but I’ve seen problems from him all season long. First off, there are too many players right now who want to be “the man” on the team and who think it’s all about them. We all know how Jamal and Joe like to dominate the ball and take the majority of the shots using isolation plays, but it’s becoming worse now because a third ball-hog has entered the mix. Josh Smith is becoming the Jamal Crawford of our bigs. He wants to have more shots, and it’s pretty obvious because he takes a ton of ill-advised shots when he should be passing the ball to the open man. This is yet another game where Josh is taking 20+ shots and leading the team in attempts.
Let’s get something straight here. Josh is a great player, particularly on the defensive end when it comes to weak-side help and recovery, but he’s not a great offensive player. He’s an average offensive player, at best. He is able to take advantage of his athleticism to score in a lot of scenarios and that is what he should be doing, not settling for long jumpers and not trying to go 1 vs. 3 in the post. Josh should never lead the team in field goal attempts, unless he’s the beneficiary of a ton of high-percentage shots. And that doesn’t mean, he should take those jumpers because he thinks they are high percentage shots. They aren’t. With Joe, Jamal, and Josh taking 20 shots a night, not only are we going to have trouble on defense, but the offense is going to stagnate too.
I don’t care what anyone says, Al is a much better offensive player than Josh is, and the coaching staff desperately needs to work him into the offense more. Not only that, we need to run more pick-and-roll and pick-and-pop for him. The only one that ever does that is Bibby. Also, if Marvin is going to be out on the floor, he needs to have some sort of impact on the offensive and defensive end. Considering people sag off of Marvin so often, he should be cutting to the basket more and his teammates should look for him when he’s open. As inconsistent as he is, I feel better when he’s taking a wide-open jump shot or 3 from the corner, than when Josh is taking those same shots.
Also, I’m sick and tired of all of the jumpshooting. Goodness, L.D., do you know how to run anything that doesn’t involve Joe or Jamal? Just because Joe and Jamal are good perimeter scorers doesn’t mean that when the Hawks need a basket, it has to be them taking the shot. I thought this new system was supposed to feature post-ups and back-cuts? It almost takes a miracle for someone to throw Al the ball in the post, and it happens maybe once a game, at most, that someone runs baseline and catches a backdoor pass. The Hawks should not be a jumpshooting team. With the personnel we have, this is not how we should be playing. L.D. is not utilizing our strengths efficiently at all when he does this. If your starting five included Bibby, Reddick, and Korver, with a stretch 4, then maybe there’d be motivation for basing your entire offense upon guys coming off of screens and shooting the ball, since that is what they are best at, but that is just not the Hawks. Marvin might as well be team’s water boy with the way he is utilized. Also, Horford might as well be Marcus camby on the offensive end, with the way the offense treats him.
I don’t care if Joe, Jamal, and Josh pout about not getting enough touches on the offensive end, we need to kill the long jumpers when they are not there, and stop letting guys go 1 vs. 3 when we run into trouble. So many time during that overtime period, I saw Joe and Josh make bonehead plays in traffic, trying to be heroes. At the same time, I saw crawford taking long jumper after long jumper (a lot of them happened to fall, so it didn’t look that bad). One time, we ran a pick and roll with Horford and Bibby and it led to a high percentage 2 points. Then, we decided to revert back to the Woodson clinic.
L.D. needs to get his head out of Jamal’s read end, and take his hand out of Joe’s pants, and learn to coach his team to their advantages. How many times has this been said before? I’m sick of the favoritism and lack of accountability from our preacher coach.
Big Ray
November 23rd, 2010
10:11 pm
Smoove took a similar stance on all the talking.
“If that [stuff] penetrates, then we should be good,” he said. “If it gets shrugged off, then maybe not. We are about to see.”
Smoove needs to take his own damn advice. Stop pouting, shaking your head, etc when the calls don’t go right. Smoove’s intensity level was like a roller coaster tonight. It was up and down, then it stopped.
The Funniest Thing I EVER Heard !
November 23rd, 2010
10:11 pm
The players are just USED TO THE BAD HABITS OF THE PAST 6 YEARS THAT JUST AREN’T GONE YET!! This Blog…. This Team ….Pure Comedy!!
YoDaddy
November 23rd, 2010
10:11 pm
John Wall predicted stat line
35 pts, 15 assists, 11 rebs, 3 steals, 2 blocks
Big Ray
November 23rd, 2010
10:16 pm
Blog monster just ate three straight posts of mine….WTF….
bigdave
November 23rd, 2010
10:17 pm
i just dont get the premise in the criticism of Josh Smith. especially the accusation that he’s selfish..
im all for him getting his shots, being that he’s the lone Hawk that contributes in all facets of the game consistently. keep him engaged and not just watching. he could’ve been at the line @ least 3-4 more times tonight..
Bibbster
November 23rd, 2010
10:17 pm
it’s a long season, Hawks will be ok
Big Ray
November 23rd, 2010
10:17 pm
I think we are very solidy headed in a direction we haven’t seen in quite some time. Yep…..below .500 basketball. I’m serious.
rusty
November 23rd, 2010
10:20 pm
why is it that every team has players who knock down the 3 against us,it is because we let them.why cant we, it is because we only have 2 players capable (not really enough) bibby & jc. , maybe jc2 who ld didnt even plaaaaaaay,whyyyyyy what the hell. where was teague at the end of the game,bibby couldnt begin to slow down harris. like i said i want to be able to like ld.i know the hawks arent really good,woody was horrible but i guess he wasnt eally that bad,break this core up. i always said that putting the ball in jj hands at the end of games was a real bad think well i guess im right again. of course this is coming from a guy who watched & loved the knicks in the 70′S, a team that knew how to play team ball. this team will never really know how to due this & the biggest culprit is our 124m man,what a gigantic mistake we made
Patrick
November 23rd, 2010
10:24 pm
And another thing, I really feel bad for the players who do care and want to win, but have no control over the situation due to the coach and teammates taking over, completely. There are guys like Mo Evans out there who at least play with some fire and intensity, even if they only get to play a few minutes each game, yet they are never rewarded. Sometimes, as a player, the most frustrating thing is when you hate what is going on, but no matter how good you play, you can’t do anything about what is going on, because the situation is out of your hands. I know how frustrating that can be.
Where is your esteemed accountability, L.D.? Does it only apply to players who are new to the team or to players whose names are not Joe or Jamal. No matter how bad Joe and Jamal play, they will never be punished with less playing time. If anything, they will be rewarded with more, because you just “need to get them into a rhythm”. And no matter how much you say that the ball needs to move, if the Hawks get into a tight spot, you know you are just going to allow one of those two isolate all night long and ruin the game with no consequences. Oh, and on the reverse end of the spectrum, guys who have actually proven that they deserve minutes will never get them if they are not your favorite players. Jordan Crawford has actually been pretty effective when he’s played. He’s made some rookie mistakes, but it’s been nothing worse than what we’ve seen out of our ball-hogs who can’t hide behind the rookie excuse.
Under L.D., the team may never utilize the full potential of Horford, Jordan, Teague, or anyone else who is willing to play hard regardless of the situation. Maybe one of the reasons why Teague is so timid is because almost every play that the Hawks run involves him having to pass the ball to Joe or Jamal. Aside from that, Teague can’t really run anything with the bigs, because he typically only plays when Powell and Zaza are in, and even if he spoon feeds them with a perfect pass under the basket, they can’t finish the play.
Will the strategy ever change under this coach, with the group of players that we have right now?
Bailey
November 23rd, 2010
10:30 pm
OMG! Indiana is even ahead of us in the standings, now. I’m even scared about the fact that our next game is on national television. It’s like we’re just giving the media more fuel to mock us, and the non-Atlanta basketball fans more reason to make fun of the team and talk trash.
northcyde
November 23rd, 2010
10:36 pm
LOL @ Rusty. Jamal shot the ball well tonight, despite the turnovers and bad defense. Now, if we can only get him to play defense like he shoots sometimes, we’d be in business.
As for JJ, the criticizm is valid. Dude has to make at least 2 of the 4 OT shots that he missed. Can’t go 0 – 4. That’s unacceptable. It’s like I said earlier in the day. If JJ is going to shoot that poorly, he must get to the FT line to balance things out.
LOL @ letting the Nets beat us. The temperature is on BROIL now.
mykhalc
November 23rd, 2010
10:37 pm
packers @ falcons…waitin’ on it!!!