Atlanta Hawks: Pick-and-roll . . . and ‘Pop’
San Antonio–I’m trying to remember off the top of my head all the times this season L.D. has said the team’s pick-and-roll coverages broke down late in games.
The last time was at Miami, when LeBron turned the corner and found that no Hawks player seemed to be responsible for cutting him off as he went barreling down the lane. It happened against the Knicks, too, once Smoove wasn’t in the back to discourage such excursions. Of course Phoenix and Utah gave the Hawks trouble with screen-rolls.
So now here comes the Spurs, with the Tony Parker and Tim Duncan capable of scrambling Atlanta’s defense.
“They are one of the better pick-and-roll teams in our league,” Drew said. “Parker, he is just really good at it. He is one of the best in the league because of the speed, the quickness. He reads the defenses really well coming off the pick-and-roll. That is one of the primary focuses tonight going into this game. We know there is a chance we will probably have to make some adjustments with out coverages. We may start one way and two or three minutes into it may have to make a change.”
The Parker/Duncan vs. Bibby/Twin pick-and-roll showdown looks like a mismatch on paper.
“It will be a big test for [Collins],” Drew said. “But I don’t care who is involved in the pick-and-roll, whether it is Twin or whether it is Josh or whether it is Al–you are talking about three guys that are all a little bit different from a footspeed standpoint but Parker has the ability to still get in the paint off of it. We are going to have to do a good job on it with not just the guys involved in it but the guys off the ball as well.”
Pop gets with it
Here are San Antonio’s league ranking in pace factor starting from the 2002-03 season until last year: 19th, 19th, 24th, 27th, 28th, 27th, 20th.
So far this season the Spurs rank 10th in pace. It’s a change in approach for their old-school coach, Gregg Popovich, but L.D. said he’s not surprised.
“He recognizes that he has a guy, Tony Parker, who has been in the league a long time who still has the wheels,” Drew said. “If I have a guy that has that ability that can put that kind of pressure, I have got to utilize it. Certainly it looks like everybody has made the commitment to get involved in the break It is nice when you have a guy like that who can get into the interior of the defense before the defense is set.”
Pain but no pads
It seems the severity of Marvin’s limp depends on which day you check in on him. I’d put it at about a five on the scale before the game tonight.
“I am doing all right,” he said. “I get treatment when I need it. It is painful at times, other times it manageable. It is pretty much the same. Just kind of plugging away.”
He said he took a shot to the knee from Brandon Bass at Orlando Monday in about the same place where he originally hurt it. But Marvin said he dislikes wearing kneepads.
“I can’t operate in them,” he said. “It just feels too weird. I tried one time in practice and they kept falling down. I tried another set, and I just didn’t like the way they felt. I will be OK. If it starts to hurt too much Coach Drew has been cool about letting me chill in practice.”
MC
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360 comments Add your comment
J.J.M.
December 10th, 2010
9:25 pm
come on josh do a windmil
bigdave
December 10th, 2010
9:25 pm
*board
Najeh Davenpoop
December 10th, 2010
9:25 pm
Work on your right hand in practice, Smoove…
{MAC-Town Georgia 478}
December 10th, 2010
9:25 pm
Smoove gets amazingly wild at times..
pinoy hawk
December 10th, 2010
9:26 pm
smoove.. smgdh..
J.J.M.
December 10th, 2010
9:27 pm
smh hawks will lose if they kep leaving open 3 point shots
bigdave
December 10th, 2010
9:27 pm
nice move..
Najeh Davenpoop
December 10th, 2010
9:27 pm
Hey space aliens, what did you do with the real Marvin?
{MAC-Town Georgia 478}
December 10th, 2010
9:27 pm
wow@marvin
and he didnt fall, stumble, get stripped, blocked, hit by a bus, etc.
{MAC-Town Georgia 478}
December 10th, 2010
9:28 pm
lol marvin the martian
pinoy hawk
December 10th, 2010
9:28 pm
the mighty duck!!
ATL FAN
December 10th, 2010
9:28 pm
lmfao MAC Town
J.J.M.
December 10th, 2010
9:28 pm
lmao@mac
Rev in Tampa
December 10th, 2010
9:28 pm
Crawford is on fire. The Hawks are outhustling the spurs, but they are being outplayed in the fundamentals by the spurs. Hawks are not boxing out well and are slow on their defensive rotations. Also Josh has put up a few dumb shots
RethinkPossible
December 10th, 2010
9:29 pm
I am only going to try meth once…
Sautee
December 10th, 2010
9:30 pm
LOL @ Rethink
J.J.M.
December 10th, 2010
9:31 pm
yea I agree hawks are hustling
{MAC-Town Georgia 478}
December 10th, 2010
9:31 pm
Bibby with his one display of athleticism for the night…….nice
bigdave
December 10th, 2010
9:31 pm
who’s gonna foul Blair..
he shook Marvin right out his shoes..
JSS
December 10th, 2010
9:31 pm
Isn’t it great when they don’t wilt?
J.J.M.
December 10th, 2010
9:32 pm
is blair that good?
ATL FAN
December 10th, 2010
9:32 pm
Why do refs feel the need to call fouls whenever someone larger drives on someone smaller?
J.J.M.
December 10th, 2010
9:32 pm
here we o with all jumpshots
Najeh Davenpoop
December 10th, 2010
9:33 pm
Northcyde’s boy Blair is pretty damn good.
{MAC-Town Georgia 478}
December 10th, 2010
9:34 pm
take this in with only a 3-4 margin vs.8-9
big possessions on both ends comin up…
ATL FAN
December 10th, 2010
9:35 pm
Wilkins!!!!!!!!!!!
{MAC-Town Georgia 478}
December 10th, 2010
9:35 pm
right place at the right time
J.J.M.
December 10th, 2010
9:36 pm
man we cant let them score here
Najeh Davenpoop
December 10th, 2010
9:36 pm
The biggest sign of how well coached the Spurs are is that you never see any Spur doing something they are not good at.
I really wonder what a guy like Smoove would be like if he was coached by Popovich from day one.
cp
December 10th, 2010
9:36 pm
Somebody tell LD it takes 6 fouls to foul out of a game. I dont like seeing Hordord sit all the time with 2 fouls. Damien should also get Mo’s minutes. Mo is terrible
{MAC-Town Georgia 478}
December 10th, 2010
9:38 pm
man my back starts hurtin just watchin marvin walk….UNREAL
J.J.M.
December 10th, 2010
9:38 pm
good point najeh
ATL FAN
December 10th, 2010
9:39 pm
what would he be good at Najeh? you think hed be a good post up player?
Ramon
December 10th, 2010
9:40 pm
Najeh, I think he’d be KG.
{MAC-Town Georgia 478}
December 10th, 2010
9:40 pm
Another L for ORL tonight?
Ree Roe
December 10th, 2010
9:40 pm
Well played first half for the Hawks, but we need to get Al involved in the game. Hustle & effort have been there, but we gotta push the pace. Were getting picked apart in the half court
-REElay to Roe!!!
Sautee
December 10th, 2010
9:41 pm
We had 7 steals in a half. That’s uncharacteristic of the Spurs. And to a large degree, that’s what kept us in the game so far.
{MAC-Town Georgia 478}
December 10th, 2010
9:43 pm
The Spurs are shooting 57.5% overall and 40% from downtown..and it still seems like they left alot on the table that could have easily went in.
lewis
December 10th, 2010
9:43 pm
yeah not lookin great hate the bibby/jamal lineup but marvins as bad
Najeh Davenpoop
December 10th, 2010
9:44 pm
“what would he be good at Najeh? you think hed be a good post up player?”
Probably, but more than anything, he wouldn’t do any of the dumb sh-t that people on this blog have been getting p-ssed at him about since day one. Smoove’s biggest problem is that he is decent or better at a lot of things, and he doesn’t fully understand what he’s better at and what he’s worse at. This is why you see him taking too jump shots, going to his right and then shooting a contested shot, etc. Popovich by now would have had him understanding what his strengths and weaknesses are and playing more efficiently.
If you watch the Spurs, you almost never see anyone taking shots or dribbling outside of their comfort zone. That is all coaching, and more than any other Hawk, Smoove would have really benefited from that. Not that he’s bad right now, but he would be that much better.
RethinkPossible
December 10th, 2010
9:44 pm
Does any one else yell MARRRRvinnnn with that philips arena voice when he gets the rock?
cp
December 10th, 2010
9:46 pm
I meant Horford. I have no idea who Hordord is
Bailey
December 10th, 2010
9:46 pm
The “two foul rule” or the “Horford treatment”, as some people like to call it, is definitely one of L.D.’s biggest flaws as a coach. This is highly reminiscent of the Magic game early in the season where the Hawks were close to tied with the Magic in the second quarter, then Al picked up a second foul and was taken out, and the Magic went on a run. The Hawks ended up losing that game by 4 points. Let’s hope that the result is not the same tonight. I just hope that by some miracle L.D. will learn how to manage fouls on his big men, because right now, he’s one of the main reasons why the Hawks are down. Thank goodness for that last heads-up play by Damien and some nice scrappy play from guys like Bibby on that inbound save/steal and layup, otherwise the Hawks may be down by double digits right now.
Ramon
December 10th, 2010
9:47 pm
Najeh, I agree. When you spend your first 6 seasons under a coach who doesn’t even speak about offense except “Give the ball to Joe”. Then that can happen. And then they add the big offensive juggernaut Tyrone Hill for the post assistant, lol. Surprise with Hill as his coach, Smoove isn’t averaging 27 points a game, lol. Only think Hill ever knew about offense was to stay out of AI’s way, lol.
ATL FAN
December 10th, 2010
9:49 pm
yea, great points Najeh, never could pinpoint what made the Spurs so good but explaining it like that really nails it.
cp
December 10th, 2010
9:49 pm
I thought we would see Teague tonight but LD must be really down on him. I dont understand the Hawks. If you’re not going to play Teague or JC2 then send them both to the D league to keep them sharp and when you call them back up maybe they will be ready to contribute. At this point neither can be as bad as Mo is.
Sautee
December 10th, 2010
9:50 pm
Bailey,
In most cases I’d agree about LD’s 2 foul rule, but tonight when we don’t have Zaza, you’ll have to admit that it makes more sense.
MsDee
December 10th, 2010
9:50 pm
@Sautee,
Those T’O’s were because of good defense by the Hawks and also the hustle plays by the young Hawks vs the older Spurs..so dont discredit what the Hawks are doing out there against them!!
Sautee
December 10th, 2010
9:51 pm
MsDee,
No discrediting here at all. Just saying WITHOUT those steals we’d be down a bunch.
RethinkPossible
December 10th, 2010
9:52 pm
Yea I am really concerned about Teague, wasn’t there once talk of him being the starting PG this season?