Atlanta Hawks: Knicks 102, Hawks 90
Felton isn't the only one who does this to the Hawks. (Christopher Pasatieri / Newsday)
New York–After all the hype surrounding this game, it came down to some basic, boring (and familiar) truths about the Hawks.
- A team like New York, which has penetrating point guards, threats to roll to the rim and 3-point shooters, can slice up the Hawks because the first thing leads to the other two. And the Hawks can easily be induced to take long jump shots, either because opponents force them to do so or, like tonight, the Hawks abandon the game plan after a few misses in close.
- Both things happened against the Knicks, and so the Hawks were subpar both on offense (aside from making 11 of 22 3-point attempts) and defense (48 percent shooting allowed, 18 fastbreak points).
- Defense was the real problem for the Hawks, who never could put together any kind of sustained run because New York would easily get an open shot and make it.
- “Every time we tried to [rally], they made a big three or a big basket,” Al said. “It was a little demoralizing. We stayed with it, but we just didn’t have enough tonight.”
- The issues, like most times, started on the ball.
- “They run a ton of pick-and-rolls and we were trying to figure out the best coverages for it,” L.D. said. “They do a great job in the pick-and-roll with Felton and then they have a guy who is a forceful roller with Stoudemire. You have to defend the guard, you have to defend the big guy on the roll and then they spread out with shooters. It makes it tough for us. “
- Sounds like he pretty much just described the Celtics. Or the Bulls. Or the Magic. Shoot, take away the roll man but add two of the best screen-roll ball-handlers in the league and it’s the Heat.
- “We just had more individual breakdowns on a lot of simple things [like] transition defense, closeouts,” Drew said.
- “It’s kind of hard to really help, especially when they are knocking down the jump shot like tonight,” Smoove said. “We gave up too much dribble penetration and then we helped and were scrambling from that point on.”
- I’m thinking I can save time by putting the above three quotes in a macro file.
- At one point, a New York hack sitting next to me asked: “So, basically, whomever Bibby is guarding scores?” Me: “Not always. Sometimes his man passes to open shooters when everything breaks down, and they score.”
- Later from the hack: “If this team had a different point guard they could be so good.” I told him it was supposed to be Teague, and he asked: “Is he hurt or something?”
- I couldn’t decide if my blog people would have laughed or cried if you had heard that conversation.
- Al never really could get on track, though he dismissed his beef with Stoudemire as a factor: “I thought it was something small to begin with that he tried to blow it up and run with it. I think it was just a lot of talk. He didn’t say anything out there on the court. I went out there and played my game and he played his.”
- For the first time I can remember, Al complained about his touches. That’s odd since there have been plenty of other games when the Hawks did forget about him for long stretches but tonight he was involved.
- “I started to get touches a little later in the game as opposed to early or the start of the second half,” he said. “I didn’t get touches in the post like that so I could really get established.”
- I thought the Hawks might have been able to keep up if they had stuck with the post-ups. Joe and Marvin got into good position by backing down their men. Smoove got some drives at the basket and Bibby some good spot-up looks when passes came out of the post.
- The Hawks had trouble finishing at the basket, though, and instead of keeping at it, they went to their favored jump shots. That approach also quickened the pace.
- “We want to think inside out,” L.D. said. “Once you show you can attack inside they have got to collapse, they have got to double team. We missed some easy ones and then we started settling for outside shots, jump shots. On the road, it can be your demise. When they pressured us and sped us up some, we didn’t handle it well.”
- “We was rushing and they were giving us the jump shot,”Smoove said. “We weren’t able to knock them down tonight.”
- Especially not Josh (6 of 16) or Jamal (3 of 11). The latter forced things at times, as he tends to do when back in New York (usually with better results). He jacked a jumper on the baseline while double-teamed after the Hawks got within 74-65. They never recovered.
- The Hawks enter the All-Star break in fifth place in the East, a full game behind Orlando
- “I think we will come back re-focused and ready to go,” Al said. “I don’t think we are playing our best basketball yet. We are starting to be a little more consistent, we just have lapses like we did tonight. I hope we can get there.”
- I’m off to L.A. tomorrow, blog people. I’ll get back to blogging when I get out there.
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
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374 comments Add your comment
KevinM
February 18th, 2011
3:29 pm
DMB, The Nets are headed to Brooklyn in 2012, so they are basically in the heart of NY and now Melo might be part of a new Big 3:
Melo/Billups/Lopez
Not a bad big 3….The Knicks will never be able to top that offer unless they gut their entire starting lineup minus Amare.
JoJo the Godfather
February 18th, 2011
3:54 pm
Now that it looks like Theo Ratliff is out for the rest of the year, I wonder if the Lakers would want Powell back. Josh P for D Caracter works for me.
northcyde
February 18th, 2011
4:53 pm
We’re not making a trade.
Stop tormenting yourselves with the trade talk. No one wants our garbage. And the ASG isn’t going to add additional salary for next year.
Our roster is at capacity, so we can’t even add a player. LOL . . sad to say, but I wish we had Mario West back, just to throw out somebody who will play with energy ( even if it is reckless energy ) off the bench.
drmaryb (*_*)
February 18th, 2011
4:58 pm
KevinM
Yeah, but NJ will never play at The MSG and NJ will never have Amare for Melo to play with and NJ will never have Spike Lee waving his towel on their sidelines. There is a lot more to Melo heading to NYC than just to play with Billups (whom he already has had) or Lopez who is a nobody.
I never seen Lopez on anything, commercial, endorsement or an ESPN highlight reel. Why would Melo want to rebuild anything at this point.
He had a great team in Denver and they didn’t get it done there.
Besides, IF Melo was gonna’ sign a NJ extension? He would have done that a long, long time ago. He can virtually walk to MSG next Summer as a free man. A trade only benefits Denver, not The Knicks nor himself, unless you’re counting the 65M which he has already truned down many times. It’s about winning now. Not money and definitely NOT rebuilding anything. Melo is in his prime and it’s all about the ring now, not the Benjamin’ s. Also, CP3 is their 3rd piece after next year, allegedly.
Hey man, it’s all about doing what Boston did and Miami is doing now.
IMHO. Read my lips … Melo will not sign that NJ extension.
Booo!
February 18th, 2011
5:02 pm
dang northcyde,
your realist attitude just crushed the imaginations of many
I sm deeply sadddend by this….Mike Bibby and Mo Evans are love bad step children that nobody wants….it’s truly a shame. At this point, i’d just GIVE them away. Maybe LA will take Bibby?
Booo!
February 18th, 2011
5:03 pm
*like bad step children
drmaryb (*_*)
February 18th, 2011
5:09 pm
Besides, Melo will never see all of that 65M anyways, after Uncle Sam swoops in and takes his 35% cut or more off the top. The money is all relative to paying the luxury taxes on a disposable personal income tax
bracket anyway. Melo will still net a sizeable income AND play for whom his hearts desire.
Not to mention, all the off court mega endorsements and new shoe contracts Melo will get for just playing in a Knicks uniform at MSG!
That will more than compensate for any loss revenue he may incur.
NJ is like a Hawks Fan – Dreaming!
drmaryb (*_*)
February 18th, 2011
5:20 pm
Pimps and Busters!
The Pimps and Busters Award goes to these 8 guys:
“This situation is tearing up the insides of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. He doesn’t want to be the guy who allowed Atlanta to lose an NHL franchise for the second time. But he knows it’s a horrible situation created by horrible ownership, which he has called on the carpet before. There is no incentive for an outsider to purchase only the hockey team and keep it in Atlanta. There also is no market right now for the Spirit to sell both teams and the arena rights, even though both have been on the market for at least two years.
The Spirit admits in a current complaint against their former attorneys that they’ve been seeking to sell the Thrashers almost since closing the deal to buy them. How can somebody claim to be putting out the best possible product and at the same time be looking to dump it?
There’s a word for that: fraud.”
____________________________
This is just an excerpt from a Mark Bradley article about these ASKG – Pimps and Busters!
If these clowns do anything at all by the trade deadline it will be for Ramon Sessions in exchange for probably Marvin and some expiring contracts. If they are lucky, perhaps they can keep Marvin and ship out the other losers on this b!tch – bench.
Other than that, all I got for ASKG is a: Kanye Shrug!
ryan
February 18th, 2011
6:06 pm
Does anyone have any ideas how to get rid of ASG bring in owner that will create a buzz i am sick and tired of this D12 will be a Laker we wont get Derron Williams 2012 looks like 2010 with same boring roster .
drmaryb (*_*)
February 18th, 2011
6:21 pm
“Does anyone have any ideas how to get rid of ASG”
___________________
legally?
ryan
February 18th, 2011
6:42 pm
I don’t know boycott i am not saying anything drastic i wish there somebody local that had the money to buy the Hawks like the former owner of the Dream he was good owner built that team from scratch and the Dream went to the WNBA finals .
northcyde
February 18th, 2011
8:49 pm
I agree with drmaryb . . unless Jersey have a hell of a plan up their sleeves that they can sell Melo on. I can easily see Jersey overpaying for some young talent, or big name veteran free agents, to try to give off the perception that the Nets ( with Melo ) will be an up and coming team next season.
northcyde
February 18th, 2011
9:00 pm
With a Melo – Billups – Lopez combination already in place, I can see the Russian Billionaire grossly overpaying for young talent like Nick Young and Aaron Brooks. Then he’ll try to lure vets like Vince Carter and even a Tayshaun Prince to the mix.
I doubt even all of that would get Melo to sign with Jersey. The only thing Melo may be worried about, is how much of a cut he’d have to take when the new CBA comes out.
Sautee
February 18th, 2011
9:01 pm
drmaryb,
LOL, you make the ASKG sound like a disease.
I wish we had the right ointment to make ASKG fall away like some leprous sore.
drmaryb (*_*)
February 18th, 2011
9:26 pm
Diagnosis 101!
Sautee Baby … what’s up?
ASkillerG problem is DX: Hydrocephalous Elite-itis
(water accumulation on the brain from thinking they’re Elite)
______________________
ROF – LOL & kicking the couch!
______________________
Aye Sund! You Sir, got needs. Get a Life and fix your roster, Sir. You got D days and 15 hours till that deadline comes and goes – now go sell some tickets to that show!
drmaryb (*_*)
February 18th, 2011
9:32 pm
* 5 days and 15 hours.
Najeh Davenpoop
February 18th, 2011
9:39 pm
“Shellhead looks like he is headed to team number 7 since being drafted in ‘06. FYI, the record is 12, so perhaps Shell is headed for that record.”
Haha, I didn’t even realize this until you pointed it out. Shellhead is the new Tony Massenburg. (Who? Exactly.)
Najeh Davenpoop
February 18th, 2011
9:40 pm
““Does anyone have any ideas how to get rid of ASG””
The same way the Egyptians overthrew their dictatorship?
Najeh Davenpoop
February 18th, 2011
9:40 pm
I wouldn’t entirely be surprised if Billups asks for a buyout. He has gone on record as saying he doesn’t want to leave Denver.
O'Brien
February 18th, 2011
10:04 pm
Najeh,
Even if Billups does not ask for a buyout, he has a player option for next year, so what do the Nets do for a PG next season?
If I’m Melo, I dont think I would sign with Nets. They are giving up 4 first round picks, so there goes that opportunity to find cheap talent for 3 years, and Lopez is a good player, but he is not a dominant player.
And if Chauncey leaves, then what? If I’m Melo, I plead with the Knicks to sweeten their deal with Denver. At least they have Stoudemire already, and Felton is decent, and they already play in NY. And in 2 years, CP3 might try and work his way there (which is what he said he would try and do).
With the Nets, Melo would have to wait until 2012 before getting a chance to play in Brooklyn.
I would be very surprised if he signs an extension with the Nets.
drmaryb (*_*)
February 18th, 2011
10:26 pm
Rip Van Winkle!
He slept for 99 years and finally woke up after his life had passed him by.
I wish I could sleep for 99 years and let this world pass me by.
Aye … Can I get an Ambien with an indefinite extended release?
Rip Hamilton has been put to sleep in Detroit after delivering Joe Dumars a Championship Ring and has been nothing short of a model citizen on and off the court. There are no cracks in his game year in and year out!
Joe Dumars should be ashamed of himself for doting on a Brother like he has. That has to irk his teammates and should make every player in this league – irate!
Where is there any incentive to play nice and “Johnny Be Good”?
LeBron did the right thing when he bolted Ohio to satisfy his needs.
______________________
There is NO loyalty in Basketball.
There is NO crying in Baseball.
Melo should do Melo. Bump all that NOISE in Denver and New Jersey!
If that man wanna play at The MSG? I don’t have a problem with that.
Rip Hamilton is so beat down right now, that last week he said:
“I will give back a sizeable portion of my guaranteed 25M contract – Just to be Free! Don’t ever under estimate the Heart of a Champion nor the value of a man’s Freedom!
Like they say, “All the money in the world, can not buy you happy-ness!”
drmaryb (*_*)
February 18th, 2011
10:42 pm
“Does anyone have any ideas how to get rid of ASG”
___________________________
RAID! Kills Roaches Dead.
Najeh Davenpoop
February 18th, 2011
11:21 pm
“If I’m Melo, I dont think I would sign with Nets. They are giving up 4 first round picks, so there goes that opportunity to find cheap talent for 3 years, and Lopez is a good player, but he is not a dominant player.”
True. At the same time, the Knicks at this point are about to give up so much to get Melo (they would basically be left with Billups, Fields, Melo, Amare, Mozgov, and nobody else) that they are not going to be a serious contender any time soon either.
If Melo really wants to win, he should just say he’s not signing an extension with anyone. It will be a hell of a lot easier for him to land in a true contending situation if he just signs outright as a free agent wherever he wants to go instead of orchestrating a trade.
Najeh Davenpoop
February 18th, 2011
11:22 pm
New blog