Blazers at Atlanta Hawks: Horford out; Zaza and Teague in
Teague and Zaza have been in and out of L.D.’s rotation this season. Now they both will start tonight with Hinrich at shooting guard, J.J. at small forward and Josh at power forward.
Zaza gets the nod because Al, according to a Hawks spokesman, hurt his left ankle (not the one he injured before) when he came down on Deng’s foot at Chicago last night. Teague will start and Marvin goes to the bench because Atlanta’s free fall has prompted the lineup tweak that Drew has hinted at since before the All-Star break.
“We’ve lost four in a row,” Drew said. “I’ve got to shake things up. We’ll see if we start with more energy.”
Teague didn’t play at Chicago until garbage time despite Hinrich’s foul trouble and D-Rose’s easy (for him at least) drives into the lane. Now Teague gets Andre Miller, a matchup that Drew had concerned when Teague started at Portland while Hinrich got up to speed.
Zaza had one of his best games of the season at Portland, a couple days after L.D. indicated he favored Josh Powell and Zaza said he was unhappy. Two games later Zaza got just six minutes against the Thunder and then one minute against the Knicks.
After playing 22 minutes against the Lakers, logging 17 at Chicago and now starting tonight, Zaza presumably is back in Drew’s rotation.
“He’s done a good job,” L.D. said. “Looking back at our last game we played them, he played pretty well. Hopefully he will bring that type energy tonight. With Camby and Aldridge, they are pretty long. I was toying with the fact of starting Twin but elected to go with Zaza just [for] more of an offensive presence. It gives me a bit more flexibility.”
As for Al (who was in the training room pregame), L.D. said he thinks he’s still favoring the right ankle after suffering the injury at Miami on Jan. 18.
“I know he’s been a little sore,” Drew said. “I can tell he’s not moving as well as he has in the past. I saw it early in last night’s game. He tried to turn and shoot and had nothing, no lift on it as if he didn’t want to put any kind of pressure on it.”
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
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380 comments Add your comment
EmirS.
March 12th, 2011
8:35 pm
Wow…..basketball these days…..Seems like a sport for “sissys”.
Booger
March 12th, 2011
8:35 pm
Nice 3 ball by Josh.
Sautee
March 12th, 2011
8:35 pm
Perfect set up by Teague for an in-rhythm 3 for Josh.
When he shoots in rhythm like that I’m totally fine with it.
Jae Evolution
March 12th, 2011
8:36 pm
Why did they remove handchecking, was it so bad?
slimjr
March 12th, 2011
8:36 pm
“LOL it’s only a little over $199,000 per game”
@Sautee
I stand to be corrected Sir.. Give ISO a Mop..199k per night is pure stupidity No Sund…..
Jae Evolution
March 12th, 2011
8:37 pm
@Sautee, Lol how many times does Josh shoot in rhythm, half the time his teammates swing it, and when the ball ends up in Josh’s hands, no extra pass just look around for 5 seconds jab once, and shoot a long 2.
drmaryb (*_-)
March 12th, 2011
8:37 pm
Josh 3 ball looks really, really good. And, better as the year goes byb
Can you say Rasheed Wallace? Especially, with that last technical.
How many times has Josh been T’d up this year? I don’t think it’s a whole lot. Nice 3 ball.
hawks_4_life
March 12th, 2011
8:37 pm
The funniest thing Ive noticed is the grumblings in the area as Josh shoots a three. LOL
slimjr
March 12th, 2011
8:37 pm
Hawks lose by 10!!Cant get stops…
Jae Evolution
March 12th, 2011
8:39 pm
Now that is what Josh should be doing, drawing the defense in and kicking it out.
Booger
March 12th, 2011
8:39 pm
Just keep Marvin on the bench and we can win this thing!
EmirS.
March 12th, 2011
8:40 pm
Nice assist.
EmirS.
March 12th, 2011
8:40 pm
Holy mother of God…Teague…..
MsDee
March 12th, 2011
8:40 pm
LOL…Jamal must think he is Teague!!!!!
Tremaine
March 12th, 2011
8:41 pm
TEAGUE!!!!!!!!!!! Terrible pass Joe Johnson.
Sautee
March 12th, 2011
8:41 pm
Joe is giving up SO many backdoor plays this year. Where is his head on D?
hawks_4_life
March 12th, 2011
8:41 pm
Jamal got stuffed by a midget lol.
drmaryb (*_-)
March 12th, 2011
8:41 pm
Teague – Time!
Team Teague!
Drive – Time!
This guy is bringing some fierce ENERGY!
He must have drank that – 5 Hour Energy stuff.
Jae Evolution
March 12th, 2011
8:41 pm
Why did Jamal try to bang on Rudy, LOL. He should’ve went up and tried to draw the foul.
kaminari
March 12th, 2011
8:42 pm
That play where Josh didn’t hand the ball to Hinrich, the next play on the other end, Hinrich gets knocked down trying to take a charge, Josh is standing right next to him and doesn’t give him a second look. What’s up with these Hawks and their sportsmanship? Aren’t you supposed to lift up your players?
Melvin
March 12th, 2011
8:42 pm
Just turn the TV on and Teague is flying thru the air with a dunk…
hawks_4_life
March 12th, 2011
8:42 pm
Its a good sight seeing Joe and Jamal give the ball up to Teague. He needs to say in the starting line up some how, Id keep ZAZA in there too.
EmirS.
March 12th, 2011
8:43 pm
There should be no reason that Teague isn’t starting.
Next game if he dose’nt start…I’ll start offering petitions.
slimjr
March 12th, 2011
8:43 pm
Josh u are clueless dude
Jae Evolution
March 12th, 2011
8:43 pm
This is the Jamal, I expect every game, lets go!
Jae Evolution
March 12th, 2011
8:44 pm
Josh trying to be Jason Kidd with look away passes all the time…
hawks_4_life
March 12th, 2011
8:44 pm
Josh, dude…..One thing I can say about Marvin is he is a good one ball defender.
Tremaine
March 12th, 2011
8:44 pm
Josh Smith is trying hard to lose this game.
MsDee
March 12th, 2011
8:44 pm
Good call..LD
O'Brien
March 12th, 2011
8:45 pm
Josh could have easily had 7 turnovers. In addition to his 5 turnovers, he almost had 2 offensive fouls called on him.
And most of his turnovers is because he wont give the ball up on the break.
I’m loving the defense and fastbreak this quarter though.
Booger
March 12th, 2011
8:46 pm
That clueless dude has 12 points, 12 rebounds,6 assists, and 2 blocks.
slimjr
March 12th, 2011
8:46 pm
Uh oh going into the 4th qrtr with a lead……….
Mac-Town, Georgia (urban-macon.blogspot.com)
March 12th, 2011
8:47 pm
wow just got in from the mall and was getting settled down….what;s this I heard when I first turned on the TV, that boy Teague was showin out???
prison mike
March 12th, 2011
8:47 pm
smith is trying too hard but he’s holding it down vs. aldridge who has averaged 23.6 points his last 10 games.
drmaryb (*_-)
March 12th, 2011
8:47 pm
O’B, Najeh, Sautee, Bigdave?
Do yall think losing Bibby may have disrupted our team’s chemistry and cost us those games? You know, getting acclimated to Kirk and him us?
I mean, all the other teams in trades had a big lull too – right?
Miami, Orlando, Phoenix … et.al.
___________________________
That was the best 3rd Qrtr in a while. Man, Jamal “hot-sauce” has got some serious handles. Can that man handle the rock or what?
Pistol Pete?
Jae Evolution
March 12th, 2011
8:48 pm
Lol, I just looked at the Bulls-Jazz Box Score, this kid DRose has taken 6 shots total all from three, he is 5-6, kid is becoming a serious problem.
jwdog8
March 12th, 2011
8:48 pm
smith needs to get out on the fast break and finish instead of being the point guard on the break
MsDee
March 12th, 2011
8:48 pm
The fast break numbers are b/c of Teague and his defense!!
Najeh Davenpoop
March 12th, 2011
8:49 pm
TEAGUE PARTY MOVEMENT IN FULL EFFECT
Mac-Town, Georgia (urban-macon.blogspot.com)
March 12th, 2011
8:49 pm
Marvin has got to hit these open shots he’s been getting
Mac-Town, Georgia (urban-macon.blogspot.com)
March 12th, 2011
8:50 pm
lol Teague Party
Jerry West
March 12th, 2011
8:50 pm
why does Josh hate the guards on fast breaks?
hawks_4_life
March 12th, 2011
8:50 pm
Second Marvin punch out.
hawks_4_life
March 12th, 2011
8:50 pm
Nothing else to follow on that dude, however Teague is balling.
Mac-Town, Georgia (urban-macon.blogspot.com)
March 12th, 2011
8:51 pm
Teague’s confidence is growing..
Sleepy
March 12th, 2011
8:51 pm
This team cannot play tight . Drew can say anything he wants but at the end of the day for this team to be successful he has to recognize when they are pressing and start to tighten up and learn how to lighten the mood.
We have been playing at home turn teague loose push the tempo live with the turnovers AS LONG AS THEY BRING THE ENERGY !!
We all know this team is EMO
EmirS.
March 12th, 2011
8:51 pm
I’m gonna buy a Teague jersey…..
Sautee
March 12th, 2011
8:51 pm
drmaryb,
I think it’s Jolt Cola
Melvin
March 12th, 2011
8:51 pm
KPT… Keeping playing Teague, LD….
Blast
March 12th, 2011
8:52 pm
Joe and Josh are on the bench as Jeff and Damien push up the lead.