Atlanta Hawks at Heat: Begging for bench boost
Miami–The Hawks survived to beat the hapless Kings but to do it needed big minutes from Al, Bibby, J.J and Smoove.
Now they face the Heat, who are without Bosh tonight but get back LeBron. The Hawks have been suspect defending in transition lately anyway and now I’m imagining D-Wade and LeBron galloping in the open court against their tired legs.
About 90 minutes before tip, L.D. said he wasn’t sure which starting lineup he would use. He was waiting on Erik Spoelstra to reveal his starters.
“There’s going to be a wait-out,” Drew joked.
Atlanta’s pregame board had Bibby matched on Arroyo, J.J. on Wade, Smoove on LeBron, Al on Juwan Howard and Twin on Ilgauskas.
Whichever way he goes, the Hawks will be looking for a bench boost. Jamal is a pretty good bet to give them something but the other guys are a mystery.
“I wasn’t anticipating playing my starters the amount of minutes I played [them] last night,” L.D. said. “I’m going to need production from my bench tonight. Coming in on a back-to-back, playing a team like Miami it’s going to take a total team effort.”
Still here
Damien Wilkins is glad to still be with the Hawks on another 10-day. He knows his time could be limited and admits it’s hard not to think about that because he so badly wants to stay with Uncle ‘Nique’s franchise.
“If this was a team where I wasn’t happy here, it wouldn’t be on my mind as much and not bother me,” he said. “It’s tough because this is where I want to be.”
Last time Atlanta was here Wilkins did a good job harassing LeBron. He plans to use the same strategy this time: Get physical and cut off his space. And he wants redemption.
“I felt so bad about letting Tyreke get that layup last night,” Wilkins said. “I couldn’t even sleep. I was pissed about that. Luckily, we got that win. But tonight is a totally different animal. I am up for the challenge. He is a great player. I love watching him play and IU love playing against him.”
Etc.
“Limit” was the theme for the Hawks’ pregame board. On defense the Hawks want to limit transition scores, offensive rebounds, 3-pointers foul shots and the crowd. On offense they want to limit turnovers, bad shots, missed screens and standing. . . .
The Heat has been slipping defensively, too. Spoelstra: “We have to get back to our identity and do it consistently. It has been a long time since we’ve held a team to under 90 points and under 40 percent [shooting]. We were doing that semi-regularly in the month of December.”
MC
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635 comments Add your comment
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2011
8:38 pm
That’s what the Hawks get coming out of a timeout? An iso-Joe out of rhythm 3?
J.J.M
January 18th, 2011
8:39 pm
can we get anymore predicable by going to joe
Blast
January 18th, 2011
8:39 pm
Joe needs to stop pressing so much! What happened to the ball movement?
Dept. of Unintended Irony
January 18th, 2011
8:39 pm
“The Hawks are mystifying sometimes. We miss point black layups because no one goes up strong.”
The Heat are making me feel point blue…..
Opps, blanked out there for a minute.
bigdave
January 18th, 2011
8:40 pm
not only be there to receive the basketball.. but FINISH.
bunch of damn jump shooters and guards.
No Woody for Me
January 18th, 2011
8:40 pm
The ghost of Woodson’s offense rises once again.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2011
8:40 pm
If Kevin Martin’s skinny azz can be top 5 in free throw attempts, Joe Johnson can too.
lukas
January 18th, 2011
8:41 pm
Woody let JJ singlehandedly get the Heat in this game.
ATL FAN
January 18th, 2011
8:42 pm
talk about low scoring half…
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2011
8:42 pm
Not a good end to that half, but being down 1 on the road against them is not a bad situation. They need to come out in the 2nd half with the same level of defensive intensity with which they started the game.
Rod from College Park
January 18th, 2011
8:42 pm
All the complaints about we need a point guard, and a center. We really need someone who attacks the basket like Wade and Lebron, and can get to the line.
Freshfromatl
January 18th, 2011
8:42 pm
I wouldn’t mind seeing Mo being replaced with JC2
O'Brien
January 18th, 2011
8:42 pm
And this is one of those games where it would be nice to have a PG who can penetrate, maybe get fouled and go to the line
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2011
8:42 pm
I don’t know why Bob and Nique are so surprised about this game being low scoring, though… the Hawks lost the previous meeting between these teams 89-77.
bigdave
January 18th, 2011
8:43 pm
hey DrSteam.
the more i look @ them.. he’s playing in some exclusive.. Jordan Pure J
white, blue, red…
leedsatlanta
January 18th, 2011
8:43 pm
pound
leedsatlanta
January 18th, 2011
8:43 pm
pound pound pound
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2011
8:43 pm
Heat have out-shot the Hawks from the line 16-3. Some of that can be attributed to a couple of BS calls, but more of it can be attributed to the Hawks starting to settle for jumpers in the 2nd quarter.
Freshfromatl
January 18th, 2011
8:43 pm
Dept. of Unintended Irony is one funny dude lmao!
Sautee
January 18th, 2011
8:44 pm
Wade and Queen have 12 FTs between them. Hawks have 3 and JJ has 2 of those.
We need to be more aggressive on offense.
leedsatlanta
January 18th, 2011
8:44 pm
Enter your comments herepound pound
and LD wonders how we blew a 13 point lead
pound!
FanfromFL
January 18th, 2011
8:44 pm
Thats exactly why he gets to the line Najeh… hes got the foulable look… JJ is too big looking to get the calls every time
Ben G.
January 18th, 2011
8:45 pm
Talk about hogging the ball…
Why don’t the Hawks get it? Iso-Joe doesn’t work against good teams. It hurts our team, every time! I’m so tired of watching Joe pound the air out of the ball while the other team goes on a run. Larry Drew needs to scream at the team during the halftime break and slap Joe upside the head.
Blast
January 18th, 2011
8:46 pm
Loved the 1st qrt, hated the second, but Hawks only down 1. Anybody’s ballgame, but Hawks got rattled when Heat made their run and reverted to Iso Joe. I hope Drew addresses this at the half. Iso Joe will not win this game. What happened to the pick and pop with AL?
Well, when Al popped, Joe did not drop him the ball! More offense needs to be ran with Josh and AL.
And no more jumpers, Josh! They are not going in tonight!
If Hawks don’t find their mojo in the 2nd and still plays scared, then they might get blown out, despite a low scoring game.
leedsatlanta
January 18th, 2011
8:47 pm
Teague and Crawford give us more offense than Collins,Evans, Zaza, Wilkins and Powell put together!
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2011
8:47 pm
Al and Smoove having 2 fouls each contributed to the 2nd half offensive swoon too. Neither one of them was on the floor for a long enough continuous period in the 2nd half to get into the flow of the offense. Smoove also missed a couple of heavily contested layups earlier in the quarter.
Ben G.
January 18th, 2011
8:48 pm
The Hawks are not playing scared. They are just playing stupid. The Hawks were pushing the Heat around inside before Joe started dribbling the air out the ball and ignoring his teammates. That entire collapse in the second quarter was due to our poor isolation offense, and the majority of that blame goes to Joe, The Hawks better come out playing smart at the start of the third quarter.
northcyde
January 18th, 2011
8:49 pm
Looks like I jinxed JJ on that last blog, when I said that it looks like he was going to roll a big number.
LOL . . he’s 1 – 10 FG since that comment.
Pick it up Mr. Johnson. Quit holding the ball if you’re not going to make a play. Catch and shoot, if you’re looking to score.
Melvin
January 18th, 2011
8:51 pm
We can criticize Joe for pounding the ball too long but the fact is the Hawks did have any other person on the court that could create their own shot off the dribble. The Hawks PG pass the ball as soon as he cross halfcourt than go stand in the corner or along the perimeter waiting on a jumpshot….
Melvin
January 18th, 2011
8:51 pm
*Hawks did not have any other
smartguy
January 18th, 2011
8:52 pm
ISO JOE = DEJA VUE.
HOw long do the dumbasses runnin this team NEED TO REALIZE THIS OFFENSE IS A JOKE.
I TUNED IN AT 30-17, HAWKS. AFTER 5 OR 6 JJ ISO’S AND NO SCORES, THE GAME IS TIED.
WAKE UP
WAKEUP\\\\\\\\\\\
HELLOO.
YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME, NOT TO GIVE joe johnson WASTED SHOTS.
O'Brien
January 18th, 2011
8:52 pm
JJ is being too indecisive (imo). he must have looked over and saw Woody in the stands
Blast
January 18th, 2011
8:54 pm
And the Hawks cannot expect to get any calls from the refs in this game, except for the most obvious ones the refs cannot ignore. I’m shocked that Hawks are not used to this already against the ‘elite’ big market teams.
No Woody for Me
January 18th, 2011
8:55 pm
Why do we need somebody to create their own shot off the dribble? Joe can create his own shot, but it doesn’t go in. And meanwhile you have 4 teamates standing around with their hands on their hips. 1 on 5 doesn’t work, unless you are Kobe. And Joe ain’t Kobe. Ain’t never gonna be.
cp
January 18th, 2011
8:56 pm
At one point Bob and Nique were talking as if the Hawks were up 30 or something….I really dont understand why Mo plays as much as he does. What does he bring to the table? He is constantly beat off the dribble, cant finish in traffic, and is a streaky outside shooter….Its cool to have a defensive specialist and a 3 point specialist on your team but the Hawks have too many 1 dimensional players. Joe tried to do way too much and yes it would be nice to have a guy who can attack the rim.
Ben G.
January 18th, 2011
8:57 pm
By the way, Josh is once again taking way more shots than he should. This is a recurring theme.
O'Brien
January 18th, 2011
8:58 pm
Or my mother.
bigdave
January 18th, 2011
8:59 pm
ill be happy when Al can score over James Jones.
northcyde
January 18th, 2011
8:59 pm
Big win by the Vols over Georgia. Brian Williams with the airball rebound off of a missed 3 pointer, that he catches and shoots in one motion, and goes in.
Tough way for the Bulldogs to lose, but another gutty win by the Vols.
Now if I can just get a Hawks win tonight over the Heat, I’ll be happy.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2011
9:00 pm
The Miami fans don’t seem to be in too big of a hurry to get back to their seats.
rusty
January 18th, 2011
9:00 pm
If we played teague 15 min a game would we really hurt the team or would we really see that he should play more. The small & inconsistent min he gets is not fair & makes no sense out all. How could anyone play well when he is getting dnp or a few minutes at a time. As far as nortcyde there is a man who makes no sense out all, jjust trys to justify his point with so called,stupid stats. How can we not play jt or jc2 but play one one like mo who has no potential what so ever.
fs
January 18th, 2011
9:01 pm
smartguy, I tuned in at the same time (30-17) and have been cussin ever since!
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2011
9:01 pm
Nobody stepped out on James Jones as he bricked that 3. That’s not a good sign.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2011
9:01 pm
Joe takes too damn long to make a decision with the ball.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2011
9:02 pm
Hawks need to create more of those transition opportunities.
bigdave
January 18th, 2011
9:02 pm
damn Joe’s handle is sick.. in rhythm.. he drove baseline.. between the legs, then kicked to open Bibby..
northcyde
January 18th, 2011
9:02 pm
LOL @ NBA TV flashing the Heat’s injuries on the screen. D-Wade and Lebron don’t look hobbled to me by an ankle, so stop reporting that they’re hurt.
DUMguy
January 18th, 2011
9:02 pm
Just give it to JJ EVERY TIME. 4 of 14 is a great strategy, and JJ is the BEST POLAYER EVER!!!1
Joe johnson will lead the HAWKS TO THE SUPERBOWL!!!!!!!!!
bigdave
January 18th, 2011
9:04 pm
lol# them running a play for Al when he running up the floor limping.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2011
9:04 pm
Quit whining Wade.