Atlanta Hawks at Kings: Good team, bad team
Sacramento–Lester Conner’s pregame board has a different look tonight. The offensive and defensive keys are each labeled with “good teams.” As in . . .
Defensively, good teams: box out, defend one-on-one, defend in transition and play hard. Offensively, good teams: take good shots, make the extra pass, execute the offense, put away bad teams.
At the bottom of the keys: “REALIZE We are a good team.”
The Kings, who own the worst record in the league, qualify as a bad team. Sacto has won two of its last three, though, and the Hawks haven’t truly crushed a “bad” team on the road since Nov. 28 at Toronto.
“We don’t even look at the record,” L.D. said. “You have got to respect all opponents. Anybody can be beaten on any given night. They are a team that’s capable. I watched their game against Phoenix, and if you would have stopped the tape at the five-minute mark you would have thought that Phoenix was going to come away easily with a win. Sac kept playing, they made some shots and they ended up winning the game.
“In this league, anything can happen. We have got to play with that consistent effort that we have been searching for for a few games now.”
Going big
L.D., influenced by Kings rookie DeMarcus Cousins, is using the big lineup again.
“He is a load,” Drew said. “I didn’t want to put Al on him at the very beginning. At some point Al will be at the five but I didn’t want to start with Al banging with him because he is a presence in the low post. He’s a big body. He’s been playing pretty well.”
Cousins is averaging 21.7 points in his last three games. . . .
It doesn’t appear JC2 is joining Pape Sy in the D-League anytime soon.
“His name came up even before Pape went,” L.D. said. “That hasn’t been anything solid as far as that is concerned. We brought his name up weeks and weeks ago. We are just going to leave our options open with that.”
MC
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
220 comments Add your comment
J.J.M
January 5th, 2011
12:06 am
smh the bench scrubs
J.J.M
January 5th, 2011
12:07 am
this is why josh and jamal are still in the game
slimjr
January 5th, 2011
12:07 am
Can anybody guess how much Utah beats the Hawks by tonight?? 10,15,18,20+? DWILL is going to put on a show and light up the Hawks guards..
thank you Billy Knight…U genius…………………not….
EmirS.
January 5th, 2011
12:08 am
Nevermind, Teague’s in…now.
Melvin
January 5th, 2011
12:08 am
oh well, Jamal turnover will cause the starters to come back in…
Ramon
January 5th, 2011
12:12 am
What a shot by Joe!
bigdave
January 5th, 2011
12:13 am
Cousins can handle down in traffic..
Najeh Davenpoop
January 5th, 2011
12:13 am
Cousins looked like sh-t for the first three quarters, but in this last quarter he has kinda shown what made him the #5 pick. Say what you want about his attitude or defense, but his raw offensive talent is as good as anyone in the league.
bigdave
January 5th, 2011
12:13 am
co-sign..
he can flat out play.
slimjr
January 5th, 2011
12:14 am
HAWKS SUCK!!!! Only up 7 on this team???Are you kidding?? Chicago is lickin their chops SUND!! Get ready dude…..
bigdave
January 5th, 2011
12:16 am
Al just let him have it.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 5th, 2011
12:16 am
23-8 run for the Kings. Major league choke job by the Hawks in this one, regardless of the outcome.
slimjr
January 5th, 2011
12:16 am
Hawks only up 5. They look rattled…U think??
Najeh Davenpoop
January 5th, 2011
12:18 am
Nique talking about this game like it’s over already.
slimjr
January 5th, 2011
12:18 am
The Bulls have won 5 in a row…UH Oh….
Van
January 5th, 2011
12:19 am
This Hawks team is exceedingly boring and predictable.
If only college ball wasn’t terrible.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 5th, 2011
12:23 am
Kings going crazy from 3 in this last minute. Good thing the Hawks are getting the ball in the hands of people who can knock down free throws.
slimjr
January 5th, 2011
12:24 am
Sund says this team has improved! He knows they have the 28th easiest schedule in the NBA up to this point…He does not believe that bull cause if he does I’ll sell him the Brooklyn bridge..
HAWKS UP BY 4 LOUSY points!!
yodaddy
January 5th, 2011
12:25 am
Lack of focus lets mediocre/horrible teams gain confidence versus the Hawks….when I turned the hawks were up by like 18
slimjr
January 5th, 2011
12:26 am
more iso Joe tonight if they want to beat the Jazz. Come on Allstar Joe!
JeJe
January 5th, 2011
12:26 am
Whoever says Jamal is redundant or not needed, knows nothing about basketball.
He is one of the most brilliant scorers in this league and has dominated these last few games. Try get the guy for 7 or 8 M a year with a new contract. He’s worth far more
yodaddy
January 5th, 2011
12:28 am
Kings scored 39 in the 4th….this is simply unacceptable
SteveW
January 5th, 2011
12:28 am
Major choke job by the Hawks. Up by 20 with under 6 minutes left. Barely hang on.
Tried to tell you Bibby vs Tyreke was not a good match up. Almost cost us the game.
Ramon
January 5th, 2011
12:29 am
Yodaddy, it was the bench who allowed the Kings to get back in the game. Zaza couldn’t guard Cousins. So by the time the starters came back in (reluctantly) Cousins and Evans had heated up.
SteveW
January 5th, 2011
12:29 am
But we did get Teague in for 8 seconds tonight. Good job LD. Glad the Hawks won, no matter how ugly. Why can’t we blow a team out?
slimjr
January 5th, 2011
12:29 am
This is a shot across the bow for Sund..This team is a train wreck waiting to happen in April. Just watch…..
slimjr
January 5th, 2011
12:31 am
Hawks cant blow anybody out because they arent talented enough…That simple
SteveW
January 5th, 2011
12:31 am
Up 20 with 6 minutes left, we should have been able to play Teague, JC2, Wilkens, Etan, and ZaZa and still won by 10+.
JeJe
January 5th, 2011
12:32 am
LOL. This is all LD’s fault. If he knew what SHOT SELECTION meant, he’d know that our shot selection was pretty bad the whole night. The guy panics, puts the starters back in, and like the first 5 shots we take are heavily contested 2s or 3s. Great coaching!
Didn’t even use Teague tonight (except for those 5 seconds he was in)
Pathetic coaching
EmirS.
January 5th, 2011
12:33 am
Got 40 points from Jamal on my NBA Pick-One-Challenge.
Wish they doubled the points for bench guys.
JeJe
January 5th, 2011
12:33 am
Where the hell is Josh Powell? Where was Jeff Teague? Should Mo have played all those minutes?
Absolutely pathetic coaching
JeJe
January 5th, 2011
12:34 am
ASG is so smug. They act like this win tonight was impressive. They probably think we’re even that much more amazing since our brilliant #2 overall player was out
Worst ownership/front office in sports
SteveW
January 5th, 2011
12:34 am
Man, ended up having to play our starters too much with a game later today. In a different time zone.
DeRon is probably licking his chops to go against Bibby after the Tyreke show.
Good job Jamal and JJ!
It’s going to be Jamal and Jason Terry fighting each other for 6th man of the year honors again. Jamal has come on strong. And that was the best JJ has shot in a long time % wise.
SteveW
January 5th, 2011
12:37 am
Kept having that bad feeling up by 20 in the 4th. If we’d of lost the game, wow, what would have happened. I wonder if LD is yelling at the team right now?
Ramon
January 5th, 2011
12:38 am
SteveW, Joe had me dreaming of how he used to play last night.
JeJe
January 5th, 2011
12:39 am
Someone PLEASE answer this question:
Who will the PG be of this team in 2 years if Teague gets no minutes now, and Bibby will be expired?
Thanks.
slimjr
January 5th, 2011
12:40 am
The Kings dropped 37 in the last 7:35!!Ouch!!!
Clyde
January 5th, 2011
12:40 am
Free Jordan Crawford
Ramon
January 5th, 2011
12:40 am
Jeje, Pape is actually in a better situation in the D-league than Teague is here, because Pape will get consistent minutes and be able to develop.
JeJe
January 5th, 2011
12:41 am
CLYDE, MY MAN, STOP IT WITH THE FREE JORDAN CRAWFORD ISH
PUT JORDAN IN JAMAL’S PLACE TONIGHT AND WE LOSE BY 20
THE GUY IS ONE-DIMENSIONAL. HE BRINGS NOTHING TO THIS TEAM BESIDES A GOOD LOOKING JUMPSHOT, WHICH HARDLY EVER GOES IN
DAMNIT
Clyde
January 5th, 2011
12:41 am
Our frontline defense looks real suspect
EmirS.
January 5th, 2011
12:42 am
@JeJe
Your wish might come true real soon. Jamal just sky-rocketed his trade value. Maybe we get a 2 for 1 that involves a PG?
slimjr
January 5th, 2011
12:42 am
“Who will the PG be of this team in 2 years if Teague gets no minutes now, and Bibby will be expired?”
To save money, Sund will hire Larry Drew to run the point! He averged 14.7 pts/ 6.6 assist from 1981-1986 for the Kings..
JeJe
January 5th, 2011
12:45 am
DO NOT TRADE JAMAL. HE IS THE BEST SCORER ON THIS TEAM. HE IS NOT TRADEABLE. TRADE HIM FOR A STARTING PG AND WE HAVE THE WORST BENCH IN THE NBA. ONLY TRADE HIM IN A PACKAGE FOR NASH AND SOMEONE LIKE CHILDRESS
YOU CANNOT TRADE JAMAL UNLESS IT’S FOR A SCORER.
Clyde
January 5th, 2011
12:45 am
JeJe Jordan Crawford hasn’t played enough for you to say he is one dimensional. When he has played he came in scoring.
JeJe
January 5th, 2011
12:46 am
LOL @ LARRY DREW FORMERLY BEING A PG, YET OUR PGS BLOW
LOL @ LD EMPHASIZING DEFENSE, YET OUR DEFENSE SUCKS
LOL @ LD EMPHASIZING HIS MOTION OFFENSE, YET WE JACK UP 3S AND AWFUL SHOTS ALL GAME
SMH
ASG, WAKE UP. DO SOMETHING RIGHT FOR THIS FRANCHISE
JeJe
January 5th, 2011
12:47 am
JeJe Jordan Crawford hasn’t played enough for you to say he is one dimensional. When he has played he came in scoring.
^^^^Jordan played with 4 min left in the 2nd qtr of the 2nd Boston game. As soon as he came in, Boston murdered us and had a lead at halftime after we dominated the entire half.
He is MUCHHHHHH better off in D-League right now. We will get roasted out there if he gets minutes. At least with Mo, even if he gets 3 layups stripped every game, he is not that bad. Jordan will screw us over badly if he gets regular minutes
Rod from College Park
January 5th, 2011
12:48 am
“Whoever says Jamal is redundant or not needed, knows nothing about basketball.
He is one of the most brilliant scorers in this league and has dominated these last few games. Try get the guy for 7 or 8 M a year with a new contract. He’s worth far more”
I totally agree JeJe.
JeJe
January 5th, 2011
12:51 am
DAMN MY 2 HOMIES ON THIS PLACE: ROD FROM CP AND CLYDE
ROD KEEPING IT REAL ABOUT MARVIN “DUCK” WILLIAMS” AND CLYDE STILL INFATUATED WITH JORDAN
DOES ANYONE REMEMBER WHEN WE GOT BIBBY 3 YRS AGO DURING THE ALL STAR BREAK, THE FIRST GAME WAS @THE LAKERS AND MARVIN DIDN’T KNOW WHY LAKERS FANS WERE BOOING BIBBY?
LOL. YOU’D THINK THAT WAS PATHETIC. THEN YOU REALIZE MARVIN DOESN’T ENJOY WATCHING BASKETBALL
SMDH
cp
January 5th, 2011
12:52 am
Really hard to tell the difference between LD and Woodson at this point. LD has went to a 8 man rotation, no player development, and some guys do as they please on the court. Not much of a difference from last year. New coach same shid. The Kings didnt look like they cared for about 3 quarters. And can we please get the Stinger back. Nique is just flat out terrible.