Hinrich to start, Smith out for Hawks
After coming off the bench for his first two games, new Hawks guard Kirk Hinrich will make his first start Wednesday night at Philips Arena. He’ll do it against his old team, the Chicago Bulls.
Hinrich won’t have the benefit of having forward Josh Smith in the lineup, however. Smith, who sprained the medial collateral ligament in his right knee against Denver Monday, tried to practice at the Wednesday morning shootaround but was in too much pain.
Since acquiring Hinrich in a trade that sent Mike Bibby to Washington last Wednesday, coach Larry Drew had been starting Jeff Teague to give Hinrich time to acclimate. Drew said he felt Hinrich had learned enough of the team’s plays and defensive schemes to start.
“I want him to get acclimated as fast as he can,” Drew said. “He’s going to be my starting point, so I kind of want to throw him not the fire and get him into a role that he’s going to be in for the remainder of the season.”
Hinrich missed the Denver game with a sore right calf, but practiced Wednesday and said he will play against the Bulls, for whom he played his first seven seasons in the NBA before getting traded to Washington last summer.
“We’ve got a tough schedule coming up this month but we have a lot of home games,” Hinrich said. “Hopefully we can take care of business. If we hang our hat on our defense like we did there the last three games of the trip, we should be O.K.”
Drew did not have a timeline for Smith’s return. He is considered day-to-day. Drew said he actually thought Smith would be able to play Wednesday prior to the shootaround.
“He said some of the swelling has gone down from [Tuesday], but he went out there and shot a little bit and it didn’t feel right,” Drew said.
Not having Smith in the lineup complicates matters against Chicago, which has a formidable front line with center Joakim Noah and forwards Carlos Boozer and Luol Deng. The Hawks will start Jason Collins at center, Al Horford and Marvin Williams at forward and Joe Johnson and Hinrich at guard.
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218 comments Add your comment
terrell
March 2nd, 2011
5:37 pm
Whay yall bringing up old stuff? lol! Still cant believe we took Marvin. Upgrade over Smith and Harrington my a..
Ron
March 2nd, 2011
5:38 pm
With Smith out, that means either tons of minutes for Horford or significant minutes for Zaza and Powell. I don’t like the sound of the latter. Chicago is one of the most dangerous teams in the league right now. I’d say they are second best in the east behind Boston; not necessarily due to their team, as a whole, but due to the fact that that Derrick Rose is a beast and they are very good defensively. Against good defensive teams, our offense has looked awful this season, and we all know how much trouble we’ve had against elite guards. At least most of the trouble we had with guards and dribble penetration was related to having Mike Bibby. Hinrich should be able to alleviate that problem a bit. I’m curious to see how he does out there tonight with the starting unit. It should be pretty interesting. I’m also very excited to see the Boozer-Horford matchup. At any rate, this will likely be a tough game, and not having Smith will hurt us. Hopefully, we can pulll this one out and get a big win.
terrell
March 2nd, 2011
5:40 pm
Wish we had Josh/Al instead of Al/Collins tonight. Oh well.
J from the A
March 2nd, 2011
5:43 pm
It looks like Josh is going to have an MRI after all. The MRI is supposed to happen tonight. Anyone know when we will get the details of the MRI results passed along?
Ken Strickland
March 2nd, 2011
5:49 pm
I don’t understand Drew’s decision to start Collins, since Noah is very mobile and an excellent rebounder, which Collins isn’t. It would appear to me that Zaza would be a better matchup against Noah. This would also be a good opportunity to give HArmstrong some mins, to help protect the lane and force the Bulls to beat outside the lane.
mykhalc
March 2nd, 2011
5:51 pm
@tony…”can some1 plz tell me what website the hawks are playing tonight?”
google atdhe
Jamilliondadon
March 2nd, 2011
5:57 pm
Najeh i cosign your comments on teague and josh. I think & know teague should start. Kirk needs to be our anchor from the bench. Can’t see hawks winning by starting kirk & josh out we need teague 2 penetrate & put pressure on rose
tyger
March 2nd, 2011
6:01 pm
Funny as it sounds – Pape Sy may be better than Marvin or Smooth.
Ken Strickland
March 2nd, 2011
6:03 pm
RON-Any DEF improvemet we see will be initiated solely by the players, not by anything Drew does or says. When it comes to DEF, he lost the ear of his players long ago when he insisted on relying so heavily on his 2 biggest DEF liabilities. Then he pulled a Woody, by blaming the remaining players for their unwillingness, or inability, to compensate for his decisions.
Wabe
March 2nd, 2011
6:15 pm
No J.Smith?
I don’t think we win this game…
To all of those who say J.Smith is a cancer…
Did you watch what happened in Denver when Smith sat out in the 2nd half?
To those screaming about the Hawks lack of interior defense, and defense in general, did you see how our defense performed with Smith in the game as opposed to him being out of the game?
If not, watch tonight. Lets see what that ‘interior defense’ looks like minus J.Smith.
terrell
March 2nd, 2011
6:16 pm
So we recalled Sy from the D-League?
O'Brien
March 2nd, 2011
6:17 pm
Whatever amount of PT Teague gets, he better get after it defensively. He can’t afford to take steps back, because LD wil have no problems playing Hinrich and Jamal at the backup PG.
Najeh,
With Dallas signing Brewer, does that mean they will not resign Caron Butler next year?
AJ,
I’m on your Free Hilton Armstrong bandwagon.
terrell
March 2nd, 2011
6:18 pm
Me either Ken. Me either.
Shake Something
March 2nd, 2011
6:21 pm
Hawks do have 2 2nd round pick this year.Weak draft but I think the Hawks could steal a shooter like Iman Shumpert,Jordan Williams ,Tyler Zeller,Lucas Nogueira Just naming a few with one of those 2 picks.
Trade Marvin and Zaza of course maybe to New Jersey since they would be in the lottery, and take Jonas Valanciunas.(Impossible??I know right LMAO!! just dump the guy some where)If we can drop those two guys some how we could be in a whole lot better boat
I would gamble on Oden if it isn’t to expensive;then sign McGrady, along with Joe Alexander & Da’sean Butler out the D League.Make a run for McRoberts as well.
superiorblogman
March 2nd, 2011
6:21 pm
Hinrich is overrated. Teague is better defensively and its not close. The Hawks will be blown out and I am glad that it will be Hinrich to be blamed and not Teague. Looking forward to see D Rose dominate the great white hype.
slimjr
March 2nd, 2011
6:21 pm
UH OH, Marvin will be expose again tonight……………………….
Chicago by 15….
Shake Something
March 2nd, 2011
6:21 pm
Free Hilton!!!!111111
terrell
March 2nd, 2011
6:22 pm
LD and his rotations??? We’re gonna be too slow to keep up with the Bulls with a Duck/Al/Collins frontcourt. When Collins isnt needed LD decides to start em. Go figure.
slimjr
March 2nd, 2011
6:22 pm
Hinrich=Tyron Lue..Stays hurt….
ag
March 2nd, 2011
6:23 pm
tyger
March 2nd, 2011
6:01 pm
Funny as it sounds – Pape Sy may be better than Marvin or Smooth
Man what are u on? This guy averaged 5 ppg in Europe last year and only 8 ppg in the D- League!!!
terrell
March 2nd, 2011
6:23 pm
Perfect night to give “The Hotel” some burn.
slimjr
March 2nd, 2011
6:24 pm
Waive Marvin. He dose not like playing basketball.. Watch him tonight…… A busted #2 Lottery pick………………………………………….Yawn…………………..
terrell
March 2nd, 2011
6:25 pm
And tell Zaza he’s getting traded after the season. Maybe that will light another fire under his azz. lol!
slimjr
March 2nd, 2011
6:26 pm
Check that.. Chicago by 20 at the half. May win by 30?
ag
March 2nd, 2011
6:29 pm
You guys are real high on Hilton. Why? He has done nothing his entire career. He is a draft bust by the Hornets, shipped to the Wizards and they have given up on him. In the trade, we gave up way to much, and should have gotten Thorton (at least he avg 16ppg one season with the Clippers). Tonight would be a good game for Mo because Marvin is struggling.
terrell
March 2nd, 2011
6:31 pm
Cant blame Josh or Teague if we get our asses handed to us tonight. Cant wait to see how much hate is thrown at Marvin and Joe. Cause nobody in their right mind would put any blame on Al Hordord. Regardless of how he performs. Just sayin.
terrell
March 2nd, 2011
6:32 pm
And Jamal look out. You’ll prolly be the scapegoat tonight. lol!
lewis
March 2nd, 2011
6:33 pm
Blogman, I don’t think Teague can guard the 1 and 2. I also don’t think he’s experienced enough or capable of putting himself in a position to take game-winning charges. I also don’t think he can change the entire defensive identity of the team upon arrival. Stop letting the fact that he is white skew your perception; he has high bball IQ, plays hard and is a natural leader.
That said, he is 30, and injured, and I don’t really know what he can do at this point against Drose. Starting Teague and bringing him off the bench would be a better move imo.
ag
March 2nd, 2011
6:35 pm
I love the Hawks, but without Josh, a tough hill to climb.
terrell
March 2nd, 2011
6:36 pm
Hope we win. If we dont the Josh Smith haters wont know what to do. Prolly turn to Joe/Jamal/Marvin. lol!
Allen
March 2nd, 2011
6:36 pm
L.D. is a joke. The biggest mistake that Hawks’ management made this offseason was hiring Drew. He’s a terrible coach and he’s even starting to make Woodson look like a coach of the year candidate. “Defend, rebound, and run” will always be a superior strategy to “move the ball…[to joe]“. L.D. is far from being even a decent head coach, and we are going to have to hope that he doesn’t get embarrassed by Thibodeau tonight.
terrell
March 2nd, 2011
6:38 pm
“A good game for Mo”? lol! Rather play Hilton. All we need him to do is play a little defense and get a few rebounds. Mo cant even do that.
O'Brien
March 2nd, 2011
6:38 pm
From espn.com;
ATLANTA — Kirk Hinrich has never been the type of guy to mince words, so when he talks about how difficult it is to guard Derrick Rose, it’s even easier to understand why the Bulls’ 22-year-old point guard has become a legitimate MVP candidate in just his third season.
“It’s a nightmare,” said Hinrich, who was traded by the Washington Wizards to the Atlanta Hawks last week. “With his strength and athleticism it definitely has to be a team effort for sure.”.
http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/nba/news/story?id=6174636/
terrell
March 2nd, 2011
6:40 pm
Why not start Teague and bring (an injured) Kirk off the bench with Jamal? I just dont get it. Let Teague chase around D.Rose for a while.
drmaryb (*_*)
March 2nd, 2011
6:45 pm
To start a game, is all about setting tempo and feeling if the opponent came to play. Starting is overrated – Finishing is where you win the game. We need horses maane, not the pony express.
EmirS.
March 2nd, 2011
6:46 pm
Hinrich knows how to play the game of basketball. Do you honestly think with Kirk starting that if Josh was to keep making stupid plays, that he’d get the ball at all? Ofcourse not. We will miss Josh tonight. Fact.
I’m not saying we’ll lose. When your a fan you dont throw in the towel 15 mins before your team starts playing. So while I’m doing Hill Climbs in the gym, I will still be rooting on my Hawks to take out the Bulls.
Lets get it.
terrell
March 2nd, 2011
6:46 pm
lol @ he stinger pumpin up Marvin.
drmaryb (*_*)
March 2nd, 2011
6:51 pm
“Why not start Teague and bring (an injured) Kirk off the bench with Jamal? I just dont get it. ”
___________________________
Because, Teague is not a starter. (duuh!) If so, why trade for Kirk and give up Jordan? Think people Think.
Sautee
March 2nd, 2011
6:51 pm
slim,
Hinrich is not as injury prone as you are making out. He DID miss 31 games in 08-09 with a thumb injury, but other than that he’s missed a total of 29 games in his other seven seasons. That’s about 4 games missed per year, and some of those were games off just before the playoffs started.
Once again, perception is NOT reality.
Mac-Town, Georgia (urban-macon.blogspot.com)
March 2nd, 2011
6:52 pm
this is goin to be interesting
JeJe
March 2nd, 2011
6:55 pm
This team consists of Al Horford (winner) and a bunch of losers. I have no idea why he wanted an extension with this pathetic franchise
The Game Has Changed
March 2nd, 2011
6:59 pm
The bottom line is that we dont have a true starting point guard again. Before Bibby we had Delk, J. Terry, and a few other shooting point guards. They should have just put Joe at the put with Josh, and Al, and traded for a premier center. Now we have two backup point guards.
terrell
March 2nd, 2011
6:59 pm
Mary B, if “starting is overrated” as you say, then why does it matter who starts and who comes off the bench?
terrell
March 2nd, 2011
7:00 pm
Jamal is not a starter either. duh. Neither is Ginobli. Duh. Starting IS overated. You were right the 1st time.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 2nd, 2011
7:02 pm
New blog up
slimjr
March 2nd, 2011
7:07 pm
Keep Al…Everyone else?????
joey
March 2nd, 2011
7:10 pm
khuig
ag
March 2nd, 2011
7:14 pm
Starting is overrated. START JEFF TEAGUE!
Wabe
March 2nd, 2011
7:17 pm
FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF MARVIN WILLIAMS
Wabe
March 2nd, 2011
7:19 pm
The Hawks look like they’ll get blown out of this gym quick