Hornets at Atlanta Hawks: ‘Good to have options’
L.D. wanted to go big against the Hornets so Twin can deal with Okafor. But now Al’s not playing and L.D. is . . . going with Twin to deal with Okafor.
(Drew said the Hawks would decide after the game whether Al or Marvin will travel to Charlotte but it’s likely both guys will stay in Atlanta.)
Mo is at shooting guard, Josh, Joe is at small forward and Josh is at power forward–except for when Josh plays the three and Mo or Joe checks Chris Paul
The point is, with Twin now a regular contributor and so many guys who can play multiple positions, L.D. has multiple combinations he can use.
“It’s good to have options,” Drew said, smiling.
Trevor Ariza is out for the New Orleans after suffering an ankle injury at shooataround. Rookie Quincy Pondexter starts and J.J. will start off on him while Mo gets Paul.
“The first couple of trips up and down the floor may end up seeing Joe on Chris Paul,” L.D. said. “They will flip-flop all night long.”
Powell, Damien, and Zaza all figure to play more minutes.
“It really depends,” Drew said. “We will use different lineups and what’s working we will stay with. I am sure we will be in situations where we have to adjust to them, and they will adjust to us.”
Speaking of options . . .
Paul is decent on pick-and-rolls. The Hawks are bad at defending them. L.D. has mostly stuck with his “accountability” approach and stayed away from the switches. Is he ever tempted to switch more or is he adamant on playing straight up?
“I’m not that adamant,” he said, laughing. “If it starts hurting us and we find ourselves in a switchable situation, we go ahead [and do it]. As much as you don’t want to do it, some teams put you in that situation by the pace of how they run things.”
He cited that play at the end of the Miami game when Bibby ended up guarding LeBron on a switch. L.D. saw the ESPN segment where analysts pointed out that LeBron should have went baseline on Bibby.
“But actually Mike was up on him far enough, [LeBron] had the ball in his left hand and he could not crossover in front of Mike,” L.D. said. “He played that switch the right way and funneled it right to the help [Smoove] was.”
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
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269 comments Add your comment
Najeh Davenpoop
January 21st, 2011
8:39 pm
I was expecting to see good D from the Hornets based on their 6th ranked defense, but the Hawks’ offensive woes in this game are not really a result of good D. The Hawks have just missed a ton of makeable shots.
northcyde
January 21st, 2011
8:41 pm
Uglyyyyyyyy. Horrible foul by JJ at the end. Oh well. The first 5 minutes of the 3rd quarter will decide if this game is a blowout or not.
Drew may have to think about pulling Collins earlier, and get Zaza in the game, just to see if he can grab some offensive boards.
Sleepy
January 21st, 2011
8:42 pm
Mike Bibby, 0-6
Maurice Evans, 0-2
Josh Smith, 5-9
Joe Johnson, 3-8
Jason Collins, 1-2
Jamal 4-9
Teague 0-2
zaza 0-1
It was 28-27 Hornets when LD subbed jamal out for Mo and when he put jamal back in with 34 seconds left it was 47-33
19-6 run WTH
Najeh Davenpoop
January 21st, 2011
8:42 pm
Apparently the “Crazy Fan” section started yelling out “Marvin’s better” while CP3 was shooting free throws. There is a difference between “crazy fan” and “certifiably insane fan”.
Sautee
January 21st, 2011
8:42 pm
What’s wrong with this picture? The team that likes to walk it up has 7 fast break points, while we have just 5.
It’s like we tried to run and instead of taking it to the hole we threw it out to jump shooters who missed, so we called off running.
We cannot beat this team by walking it up the court.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 21st, 2011
8:43 pm
15 free throw attempts for the Hornets, 5 for the Hawks. It ain’t the refs’ fault.
Ramon
January 21st, 2011
8:43 pm
Najeh, watch ISO Joe in the 3rd quarter,as LD’s big adjustment, lol. Seriously though, maybe LD should go with a playground line up this quarter to get the team out and running.
Bibby, JC1, Mo, Joe, Josh (or the one I would prefer Teague, Bibby, JC1, Joe, Josh). Run their bigs off the court with foul trouble. Joe is just as big as West, and can guard him.
Mr. PJ Jones
January 21st, 2011
8:44 pm
Nique is so annoying, always repeating the same crap, I want Steve Smith Back.
terrell
January 21st, 2011
8:48 pm
This just in:
IF AL HORFORD EVER GOES DOWN FOR AN EXTENDED AMOUNT OF TIME, WE’RE TOAST.
Nique's Revenge
January 21st, 2011
8:49 pm
joke johnson. paid $250,000 for playing this game tonight. 7 points so far at halftime. $125,000 / 7 = $17,857.14 per point so far. ohhh but his “presence”
cp
January 21st, 2011
8:51 pm
Just flat out ugly. Mo has an occasional decent game but more often than not he is terrible. If Bibby is not knocking down open jumpers he is pretty much ghost out there because he does nothing else.
Nique's Revenge
January 21st, 2011
8:51 pm
dear joke johnson,
please sign all of your paychecks over to a “Mr. Al Horford”
That is all.
thank you.
SteveW
January 21st, 2011
8:52 pm
Some observations:
The worst 5 minutes of basketball we’ve played this season was maybe the last 5 minutes of the half. We look lost.
Haven’t liked LD’s substitution’s. He looks scared to take JJ out, and he looks scared to let a guy make a couple of mistakes.
Sure Teague missed a couple of shots and had a TO, but he wasn’t in the game when we got down by 15. Let him get into the flow of the game, and he may produce. Let him play against Paul, he may wear him out.
Just a bad half of basketball, and I’m not sure LD realizes we play back to back. Hope he’s not pushing JJ too much.
Last observation, I think we are still in this game, and may even win it. I can’t see us playing that bad for 2 halves.
Sautee
January 21st, 2011
8:54 pm
Josh has 4 TOs but 2 were Mo’s fault. Vacated his spot on one and bounced a pass off Josh’s leg that Josh got partial control and then lost on the other.
SteveW
January 21st, 2011
8:54 pm
Cp -Co-sign. LD just leaves Bibby in there hoping he’s going to hit a couple of treys. And Wilkens not playing until the last few seconds of the half? Give me a break.
northcyde
January 21st, 2011
8:57 pm
Wow . . this game is close to being over already. They better buckle down, or they might lose by 25 tonight.
Nique's Revenge
January 21st, 2011
8:57 pm
david stern sucks
NBA sucks
refs suck
sigh, golf is cool
SteveW
January 21st, 2011
8:58 pm
Play Teague, Jamal, JJ, Josh, and ZaZa and see what happens. Sub Bibby for Teague/Jamal, Sub Wilkens for JJ, Powell for Josh, and Collins for ZaZa (maybe even Etan). Let Mo’ rest the 2nd half. I think we win this game by playing that line-up and sub pattern.
Blast
January 21st, 2011
8:58 pm
Bad call on Collins. We didn’t get a F 2 on the other end!
Sautee
January 21st, 2011
8:58 pm
Well, I hope Etan is ready for some minutes.
northcyde
January 21st, 2011
8:59 pm
LOL . . what a weak azz call. But this may be a blessing in disguise. We need some energy from Zaza. Let’s see if he’ll give it to us.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 21st, 2011
9:00 pm
I could be wrong about this, but I don’t think Al’s presence would have made this game that much better. His presence wouldn’t have stopped Bibby and Joe from sucking all game long.
Nique's Revenge
January 21st, 2011
9:00 pm
zaza can’t give us nothin but a fresh salad and some meats
Ramon
January 21st, 2011
9:01 pm
Najeh, I agree. The backcourt have performances like this all of the time.
SteveW
January 21st, 2011
9:01 pm
If we get fown by 20, I hope we just put Teague, JC2, Wilkens/JJ, Josh/Powell, Zaza/Etan out there and see what happens for about 6 minutes. We may be surprised.
Sautee
January 21st, 2011
9:01 pm
I think the refs were putting too much emphasis on the earlier tangle between West and Twin. They thought “retribution”.
SteveW
January 21st, 2011
9:02 pm
Najeh – co-sign
Mr. PJ Jones
January 21st, 2011
9:02 pm
JORDAN CRAWFORD
Blast
January 21st, 2011
9:02 pm
The Wasps can’t miss, the Hawks can’t score, this blowout game is over.
Sautee
January 21st, 2011
9:02 pm
When did we last score?
Ramon
January 21st, 2011
9:03 pm
Its funny Josh has 0 assists, but have had the best passes all night.
bigdave
January 21st, 2011
9:03 pm
i mean seriously .. what was Al going to do take (more jumpers)? maybe he makes some..
Melvin
January 21st, 2011
9:03 pm
My goodness. Can the Hawks just mail in the score instead of finishing this game… This is a very disappointing showing…
Ramon
January 21st, 2011
9:04 pm
Sautee, I think Jamal’s free throw in the 2nd quarter was the last score. It was either that or Josh’s dunk.
Hawks Fan In New Orleans
January 21st, 2011
9:04 pm
Bibby is 0 for 7 and sucks on defense. We have inside presence without Horf. And they sloppy wth rock all first half, hence the rout in the third quarter.
Nique's Revenge
January 21st, 2011
9:05 pm
lol @ the score
Nique's Revenge
January 21st, 2011
9:06 pm
retireeeeeeeeee bibby
Melvin
January 21st, 2011
9:06 pm
Clear the bench LD. The regular rotation guys dont have any fight in them tonight.
bigdave
January 21st, 2011
9:07 pm
Hawks dont need to play on Fri nights.
Nique's Revenge
January 21st, 2011
9:08 pm
hawks just thinkin about the cheerleaders and hoes later tonight
Melvin
January 21st, 2011
9:08 pm
SMDH, Hawks down 30pts and LD still will not play Teague.
Ramon
January 21st, 2011
9:08 pm
Could this be a good thing? Could this force Sund to see the top four players need some help?
bigdave
January 21st, 2011
9:08 pm
Hawks dont need more that 2 days b/t games..
Hawks Fan In New Orleans
January 21st, 2011
9:10 pm
Is this the worst game of the year for the Hawks? Bibby is 0 for 7 and sucks on defense. We have inside presence without Horf. And they sloppy wth rock all first half, hence the rout in the third quarter.
cp
January 21st, 2011
9:10 pm
The blog monster is killing me smh
bigdave
January 21st, 2011
9:11 pm
XMEN
Sautee
January 21st, 2011
9:11 pm
Too bad we didn’t play last night. We are pretty good on back-to backs.
Mr. PJ Jones
January 21st, 2011
9:11 pm
This is the reason, no one takes the Hawks seriously, FIRE LARRY DREW.
Melvin
January 21st, 2011
9:11 pm
As much as I rooting for LD, if was Sund I would light into his azz after this game. Team down 30pts and you can’t find time to play your backup PG. Why not let him play against CP3 to get valuable playing time.
Nique's Revenge
January 21st, 2011
9:12 pm
drew, jj fired