Atlanta Hawks at Bulls: Drew says low post is priority
Chicago–Plan A hasn’t been working for the Hawks’ offense.
What does L.D. want to see tonight instead of jumpers?
“First, establish ourselves in the low post,” he said. “If the ball does come on the kick out, everything doesn’t have to be a three. We are sitting outside, sitting at that 3-point line, [and] we can move in closer. Instead of turning it into a 3, turn it into an 18- to 20-footer. Our drive-and-kick game has to be up to par, force them to not just defend a shot on the closeout but teams have to have a fear about closing out and putting the ball on the floor.”
Even considering their poor 3-point shooting as of late, this season the 3-pointer has been (not surprisingly) much better for the Hawks than long 2-pointers. Then again, Bibby is gone and J.J. is in a slide, leaving Smoove as the team’s best 3-point shooter (not counting Al’s 2 for 4 and Twin’s 1 for 1).
L.D. dismissed Al’s back injury as a factor in his game moving outside.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “I think sometimes players they stay with what’s comfortable to them. Obviously he is making jump shots but both he and Josh have to establish themselves down in the low post still. We run plays to get them involved in the post and they have got to establish themselves in there.
“Just keep mixing it up. I don’t want them to be predictable in what they do. I want their overall offensive game to be hard to predict because they both have the ability to play inside and out.”
Game notes . . .
- “Normal” lineup for Hawks: Hinrich, J.J., Marvin, Josh, Al. Etan and Pape are inactive.
- Boozer is out for the Bulls and Kurt Thomas will take his place. Luol Deng is a game-time decision.
- Even with Boozer out, the Bulls still have Thomas, Noah, Omar Asik and Taj Gibson on the front line. No wonder they managed to keep winning despite Boozer missing 15 games and Noah sitting out 30 (of course it also helps to have D-Rose and that Noah’s absence from Dec. 18 to Feb. 17 coincided with a soft spot in Chicago’s schedule).
- Said Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau: “We’ve had injuries before with with Boozer and Joakim out. We feel like we have quality bigs up front and all of them have started.”
- After Al went off for 31 and 16 in the first meeting, Thibodeau said Gibson would be part of a gang effort against him: “At different times he will guard him. All of the bigs will. All four guys give us different looks. He’s a tough matchup.”
- Hinrich was asked how the Hawks held down D-Rose last time: “He missed shots.”
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
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401 comments Add your comment
Najeh Davenpoop
March 11th, 2011
8:59 pm
Great D by Damien on Korver broke up that play and forced that 24 second violation.
Sautee
March 11th, 2011
8:59 pm
Shot clock robs Al of his third block of the half.
Sleepy
March 11th, 2011
9:00 pm
Jamal played some decent defense on rose during that stretch . Je should give this sort of effort all the time defensively .
Jerome
March 11th, 2011
9:00 pm
Does it surprise anyone that Josh is, once again, leading the team in field goal attempts? I don’t what it is about Josh. I guess he just thinks that he is a lot better than he really is on the offensive end.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 11th, 2011
9:00 pm
“I think the Hawks matchup better with the Bulls than any of the top four teams in the East….”
You may be right, but they have played well against the Magic and Heat this season too.
drmaryb (*_-)
March 11th, 2011
9:01 pm
The Hawks match up well with The Bulls roster. We are a better team than they are at most all positions. We are a load for them.
We are a tall team on the perimeter, rose couldn’t see the shot clock before that T.O. That’s why Marvin plays people, he has size and defends the perimeter very, very well.
Sleepy
March 11th, 2011
9:02 pm
cmon gotta chase down that rebound
Najeh Davenpoop
March 11th, 2011
9:02 pm
None of the damn box scores are refreshing for this game…
Najeh Davenpoop
March 11th, 2011
9:04 pm
“Does it surprise anyone that Josh is, once again, leading the team in field goal attempts?”
Does it surprise you that he has made half his attempts and has looked pretty good on the block?
If you are complaining about his jump shots you have a better case, but he shot 3 of his 4 jump shot attempts early in the game.
drmaryb (*_-)
March 11th, 2011
9:04 pm
Josh has more attempts because he is more aggressive than his team mates on offense. Josh is prolly leading the scoring. Don’t hate – congratulate!
Najeh Davenpoop
March 11th, 2011
9:05 pm
Nice bucket by Joe, finally looking like he might be breaking out of his slump a little bit. Good close to the half by the Hawks.
cp
March 11th, 2011
9:05 pm
LD still has baffling rotations but at least the Hawks are up.
hawks_4_life
March 11th, 2011
9:06 pm
Still not happy about points in the paint.
Sautee
March 11th, 2011
9:07 pm
Najeh,
Try this one: http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=310311004&refresh=30
Sleepy
March 11th, 2011
9:07 pm
The problem with Joshs scoring is that he ignores rebounding and and shotblocking which is what this team actually needs from him .
Bulls winning the boards 23-14 but hey Josh’s jumper is falling . When neither your PF/C want to do the dirty work you are not gonna go very far .
Najeh Davenpoop
March 11th, 2011
9:09 pm
Preciate it Sautee.
2 FOR JOHN DREW
March 11th, 2011
9:10 pm
@ drmaryb
I’ve notice about Marvin, his balance sux he’s on the floor all the time
Najeh Davenpoop
March 11th, 2011
9:11 pm
“Bulls winning the boards 23-14 but hey Josh’s jumper is falling . When neither your PF/C want to do the dirty work you are not gonna go very far .”
3 of his 4 buckets have come inside. I agree with you about the boards though. They have to get a body on Noah/Gibson/Asik, and that falls on all the Hawks’ front court players (Smoove/Al/Zaza), who have taken turns giving up boards in this game.
terrell
March 11th, 2011
9:11 pm
Definitely a DNP coming for Teague tonight.
drmaryb (*_-)
March 11th, 2011
9:11 pm
Melvin and Mary Ellen think alike! LOL! Re:Hawks matchup well.
_______________
Anybody seen Horford. He must be doing the dirty – little things.
He is not being aggressive offensively at all. He is not even looking for his.
terrell
March 11th, 2011
9:12 pm
Glad to see Damien in the rotation though.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 11th, 2011
9:13 pm
One thing about that half, though, is that Chicago went 0/7 on 3’s. Mostly this was due to good Hawks defense, but it doesn’t take much for Rose, Korver, or Deng to get hot from out there. Chances are they will make a few of those in the second half, especially if they continue to get offensive boards. The Hawks need to be able to answer when that happens.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 11th, 2011
9:13 pm
Sixers are about to beat Boston.
terrell
March 11th, 2011
9:13 pm
Can the Hawks hold on? That’s he BIG ?
drmaryb (*_-)
March 11th, 2011
9:16 pm
Stinking – Thinking!
The Hawks are playing very measured.
Don’t Think about it – Be about it!
___________________
Josh, Kirk and Jamal carried us offensively in the first.
I guess all the other jump – shooters are playing defense tonight?
_____________________
I guess Joe called his team out for jump-shooting, so they are trying to find their back-up game now. (the jump shooters, that is)
________________________
The Hawks struck: bubbling crude, black gold, texas tea – Oil, that is!
We won the game – 1st Half! NICE!
Sautee
March 11th, 2011
9:18 pm
10 out of 40 shots in the paint and we only converted 3 of those.
That’s not good enough. We need to go back down there over and over.
Jerome
March 11th, 2011
9:18 pm
For the record, Najeh, yes, I was complaining about Josh’s jump shots. Almost every one of them was contested. I’m fine with him playing on the low block, but just in case you didn’t notice, the majority of his shots have been long jump shots, and he has missed the majority of those shots. His made only one of his jump shots, meanwhile making 3 of his shots in the paint (one of them was a fast break dunk).
Even if he’s making those jumpers, if they are contest long jump shots, early in the shot clock, I do not approve of him taking those shots. I don’t encourage bad shots, even if they’re going down.
Think of it this way: If Joe was isolating every time down the floor and dribbling out the clock before shooting tough, contested jumpers, but he had made 5-10 of those tough shots, would you still want him taking those shots? I wouldn’t.
doc
March 11th, 2011
9:21 pm
josh is not close to full speed and wont be the rest of the season if at all in the post season. he has lost something in certain directions if folks havent picked up on it yet. the injury is significant to affect his game but allow him to play at less of what we expect. be patient folks some players might sit the 4 to 6 weeks to heal.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 11th, 2011
9:23 pm
Calm down Smoove…
Ra'mon
March 11th, 2011
9:23 pm
How does Dominique expect Josh to just stick and go with 4 seconds on the shot clock, and 3 Bulls in the lane waiting to draw a charge? Also Nique always talks about making the extra pass, but how many times in the playoffs did Niue choose not to make that ‘extra’ pass?
doc
March 11th, 2011
9:23 pm
personally i dont thing these guys know how to finish at the rim. i am amazed at how they tend to shy away at the end rather than dunking or using the back board. they as a whole are very tentative in close.
terrell
March 11th, 2011
9:24 pm
Wtf is Josh doing??
Najeh Davenpoop
March 11th, 2011
9:25 pm
Smoove’s last two shots were the worst shots he’s taken all game… and both came when he tried to drive. HE CANNOT DRIBBLE, PEOPLE. CALLING FOR SMOOVE TO DRIVE IS LIKE CALLING FOR ZAZA TO SHOOT 3′S.
Sautee
March 11th, 2011
9:25 pm
Bad stretch for Josh. Two very tough shots and a to.
JaeEvolution
March 11th, 2011
9:25 pm
Why does Josh get in this ‘force everything’ mode. That’s like 4 straight terrible forced passes or shots.
Ra'mon
March 11th, 2011
9:26 pm
Jerome, Josh didn’t have a fast break dunk.
Tremaine
March 11th, 2011
9:26 pm
It’s never Josh fault. He is our savior, maybe we should trade Al for a center then.
James
March 11th, 2011
9:26 pm
I definitely don’t like the start to this third quarter. Scattering defense and 3 bad offensive possessions in a row. Josh needs to tone it down a bit. He’s starting to force shots a little bit. We can’t play like this against the Bulls. Every possession has to be a smart one.
Sleepy
March 11th, 2011
9:26 pm
@ Doc… you are right Josh is not anywhere close to full speed mentally
Ra'mon
March 11th, 2011
9:27 pm
Tremaine, most nights Al is just a taller rebounding Rip Hamilton.
Jerome
March 11th, 2011
9:28 pm
Ra’mon,
I guess that wasn’t a fast break dunk for Josh. It was a wide open dunk though, when Chicago fell asleep on defense.
drmaryb (*_-)
March 11th, 2011
9:28 pm
DOC! Absolutely on point! I told the Josh haters basically the same thing.
I was thinking a minimum of 14 days. I was floored when he returned.
That man has HEART if nothing else.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 11th, 2011
9:29 pm
Yeah Marvin, that’s a fantastic shot right there.
Tremaine
March 11th, 2011
9:29 pm
Marvin what are you doing give the ball to Josh.
James
March 11th, 2011
9:30 pm
These turnovers are really getting out of hand…
terrell
March 11th, 2011
9:30 pm
Enough is enough. Bench Josh already.
JaeEvolution
March 11th, 2011
9:30 pm
Josh are you serious? Why?
Najeh Davenpoop
March 11th, 2011
9:30 pm
Going back to the theme of this blog, the Hawks have zero post ups in this half so far if I’m not mistaken.
drmaryb (*_-)
March 11th, 2011
9:31 pm
Peach Turnovers!
We should be up by 12.
terrell
March 11th, 2011
9:31 pm
All those dumb ass passes. This aint the Allstar game.