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
MsDee
March 12th, 2011
9:17 pm
Has Teague sat yet??
Najeh Davenpoop
March 12th, 2011
9:17 pm
They are trying to start the “We Want Pape” chant up in here.
Section 212
March 12th, 2011
9:18 pm
Wow!
prison mike
March 12th, 2011
9:19 pm
scary how good roy could be if healthy, those are how the dice shakes sometime
jwdog8
March 12th, 2011
9:19 pm
better let the kid sit this one out
ThePro
March 12th, 2011
9:19 pm
Teague may very well play better with starters but my question is if that is the case why hasn’t LD realized this before now…we’ve needed a quick penerating guard all season
hawks_4_life
March 12th, 2011
9:20 pm
Sorry, you balled tonight but Im not a fan of you at all Jamal.
Paradise Lost
March 12th, 2011
9:20 pm
27 fast break points tonight according to Bob. Guess Teague didn’t get the memo outlining how we’re a jumpshooting team.
Melvin
March 12th, 2011
9:21 pm
We want see Pape. At least to see if his uniform fit him properly…
jwdog8
March 12th, 2011
9:21 pm
i think LD knows this. the question is whats going on behind the scenes that is preventing him from doing so. This aint rocket science
Najeh Davenpoop
March 12th, 2011
9:21 pm
I started the MVP chant for Teague, haha. Glad it got picked up on the TV broadcast.
Blast
March 12th, 2011
9:23 pm
Give Teague the game ball.
Conspiracy Theorist
March 12th, 2011
9:25 pm
I just saw a fan throwing up the pyramid. Amazing how this follows the Japan Earthquake.
The end is near.
Melvin
March 12th, 2011
9:25 pm
Almost forgot how a win feels….
MsDee
March 12th, 2011
9:25 pm
Teague gets a walk off interview…GO TEAGUE!!!!!!!!111
Tremaine
March 12th, 2011
9:26 pm
Najeh nice. Glad to see Teague getting his props.
drmaryb (*_-)
March 12th, 2011
9:27 pm
“FOUL on wallace’s hair”
________________
Can you say – Alopecia (sp)?
prison mike
March 12th, 2011
9:28 pm
naj, too bad the house wasn’t full to join the chant. If teague could be this consistent, phillips would be nearly full more often.
MsDee
March 12th, 2011
9:29 pm
Look at how Teague handled A. Miller…0-8fg, 3reb, 4ast,and….1 pt!!!!!!!!!!!
MsDee
March 12th, 2011
9:30 pm
And trust me, that wasnt Marvin’s stat line..I promise ya!!
Blast
March 12th, 2011
9:30 pm
1st time Jeff ever got a live game interview. Happy for him, man!
Tremaine
March 12th, 2011
9:30 pm
Teague, Damien, and Zaza great game.
Sautee
March 12th, 2011
9:31 pm
drmaryb,
Careful Mary Ellen. Villanueva might get his feelings hurt.
MsDee
March 12th, 2011
9:31 pm
Kirk with only 15:47min and 0pts..wow, go figure!
MsDee
March 12th, 2011
9:32 pm
Wow..can u believe, both Teague & Zaza had +22 combine!!
SteveW
March 12th, 2011
9:33 pm
Teague does vey well against Nash and Dragic a couple of weeks back.
Teague really shuts down Andre Miller
Then he really shows his stuff against Ty Lawson and Felton.
Then he is relegated to the end of the bench
Teague plays great tonite
Don’t be surprised by gradually more pine time for him after this
mykhalc
March 12th, 2011
9:33 pm
what will LD take from this game???
Paradise Lost
March 12th, 2011
9:33 pm
Really Josh Powell?!? Blocking an ambulance??? You couldn’t drive around the block? I hope your side of the story is a convincing one…
Double Zero Eight
March 12th, 2011
9:33 pm
Most of us bloggers have been saying give Teague a chance.
It paid off tonight. It was only one game, but most of us feel
he has potential. He was the star tonight! Great win!!!!!!!!
MsDee
March 12th, 2011
9:33 pm
Joe sucks..wow can Jamal scores 20pts ALL IN THE 2ND HALF?? Joe finished with 11??????????
JeJe
March 12th, 2011
9:34 pm
Hilton Armstrong, C 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
JeJe
March 12th, 2011
9:35 pm
Teague DNP-CD on Tues or 5 minutes
MsDee
March 12th, 2011
9:35 pm
Josh & Joe totaled for 9TO’s..wow..Teague with only 1!!!
MsDee
March 12th, 2011
9:35 pm
Teague played 44+mins with only 1TO!!!!
drmaryb (*_-)
March 12th, 2011
9:36 pm
Agent 0!
I guess that 0 on Teague ’s jersey stood for how many minutes he has played. Perhaps, Jeff should change his jersey ‘nimber’ now.
Aye Sund! When you drafted Jeff? It was not a bad pick!
Tremaine
March 12th, 2011
9:37 pm
Josh should have had 10+ turnovers but got bailed out 3 or 4 times.
JeJe
March 12th, 2011
9:38 pm
Teague played well out West then LD forgot about him. We started losing games after he stopped starting.
Try this Teague/Hinrich/Joe at 1 2 3. That’s hellish defensively.
Double Zero Eight
March 12th, 2011
9:38 pm
Good game by Zaza. He played with heart and emotion, which was
something the Hawks needed!
Worldwide Clyde
March 12th, 2011
9:39 pm
Jordan Crawford had 16 points off the bench for Washington tonight. If we would have just made Bibby a reserve and started Teague we would be alright.
Mac-Town, Georgia (urban-macon.blogspot.com)
March 12th, 2011
9:40 pm
“I never stopped believing in this kid” – Larry Drew
…………except last game
Tremaine
March 12th, 2011
9:41 pm
Maybe Zaza should start to?
O'Brien
March 12th, 2011
9:41 pm
northcyde, MC (or maybe it was ken Sugiura),
Do you still think starting Jeff Teague and ZaZa would be a panic move?
HawksGoingBackward
March 12th, 2011
9:45 pm
@ Michael Cunningham
Whats the worse thing you can do to a guy who got a really big check doing something that fit him in a certain system??
Change the system!
Joe made a living when the Hawks had no players worthy of demanding the ball, iso Joe was what worked. But now the team has legitimate players who demand shots and attention and Joe cant dominate the ball anymore.
Ask yourself this question, when in Joes careeer in Atlanta has he ever had a legitimate point guard? Tyronne Lue, Speedy Claxton, Acie Law, Joe has always dominated the ball and played hella minutes, thats how he averaged his pts, asts, and rebs.
Now the offense has changed and requires the point gaurd to set up the offense, and for Joe to make open shots in rhythm which he has never shown he can do, everyone just assumed that because Joe scored the ball well that he was a good shooter which in basketball isnt necessarily the case.
Now he has been revealed for what he is, a ball hogger, who could score for a team that wasnt playing for much, that style of play got him a big contract but its not that style of play that this team can rely on to win games against good teams.
Cant expect ASG to understand something like that, and you also cant be surprised by what your seeing from Joe Johnson. His attitude, leadership, production in a real offense that not centered around him. This should be nothing new for anyone who has been watching Joe Johnson since he got to Atlanta.
MsDee
March 12th, 2011
9:45 pm
Some of these ‘leaders’ should speak up and demand the starting lineup to be Teague, Damien, & Joe @3 since LD still doesnt have a ’set’ lineup, right?
Dept. of Unintended Irony
March 12th, 2011
9:45 pm
“Maybe Zaza should start to?”
Start to what?
superiorblogman
March 12th, 2011
9:47 pm
Good game Teague do it again Tuesday. I am not being hateful but like I said when they made that trade it is a lateral move. Could have just sit Bibby to give more firepower off the bench and traded Jamal’s expiring for a big like Dalembert.
JeJe
March 12th, 2011
9:48 pm
OMG DAMIEN WILKINS IS AWFUL
WORST BACKUP SF IN THE NBA
Naren
March 12th, 2011
9:49 pm
JTO makes ESPN’s days Top performers along with Dwade and Lebron.
Shame on LD and the Hawks organization to not giving this kid a chance and truly trying this option.
They should have Wilkins and Teague start now on.
Tremaine
March 12th, 2011
9:49 pm
Zaza
Al
Josh
Joe
Jeff
JeJe
March 12th, 2011
9:52 pm
JEFF TEAGUE IS A POOR MAN’S DERRICK ROSE/RUSSELL WESTBROOK
FIRE LD