For Hawks, Pistons behind, Bulls next
Greetings, all
Hope you’re well. Sorry I couldn’t blog Sunday night. Georgia State is introducing its new coach today (Monday), which I found out last night and so I had to start digging around to find out who it was, right about the time I was going to sit down to blog.
This will be on the brief side, so my apologies again.
- Not sure how much to take from the game. It’s a win, which is the important thing, but a) it’s only one win; b) it was against Detroit. Still, beats the alternative. The Hawks played with a bit more energy. Kirk Hinrich: “We talked about it as a team. We’re aware of it and there’s going to be nights that don’t go our way out there. We have to stick together, rely on each other and just play through it.”
- I counted 40 shots from 16 feet or more, out of 70. The Hawks started out shooting the ball well – they made seven of their first nine from 16 feet and out, and then 11 of the final 31. Off the top of my head, I’m not sure how this compares with a typical game, but it makes me wonder a little if the biggest difference in the game (opponent aside), or at least one of the biggest differences, was that the shots that they took went in after not going in against Miami, Denver, etc.
That said, I did think they were more intentional about running and to some degree played more physically on defense, although the Pistons still shot 50 percent from the field.
- The Jeff Teague update – 11th DNP. Larry Drew’s explanation – he didn’t want to start him because Tracy McGrady was a matchup problem, as well as Richard Hamilton. He said the starting unit got into a flow so he didn’t want to disrupt it. Also, he said he wanted to try to give Jamal Crawford more minutes than he would have otherwise to try to get him going before the playoffs start.
“I’m going to have to get him going and I’ve got to make sure he’s feeling good about himself as we move down the stretch,” Drew said. “He’s a guy we’re going to need down the stretch.”
- Chicago and Philadelphia ahead. Those games, I think we can agree, will be more telling than Sunday.
“We have to mirror this game but play with a little bit more energy and try to get the win against Chicago,” Josh Smith said.
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289 comments Add your comment
jgsbirds
March 21st, 2011
11:47 am
it’s all about coaching, nothing else!
this team has enough talent to be playing way better than it has of late. there’s a lot missing and i mean a lot! the team classifies them selves as a jump shot team but really and truly they are not a great jump shooting team. i mean the two best jump shooters on the team are hinrich and horford (set shot). i used to believe jj would be in that mix but not now–his shot is long been gone. jamal crawford–very streaky as is marvin. jsmoove has improved his outside shot but not near enough to keep hoisting them every trip down. teague is not a great shooter at all, neither is wilkins, zsa zsa not bad, twin-no, etan-no and hilton–don’t know but probably not. so enough already from the hawks about being a jump shooting team–you’re not!
play team ball–move it around and find a great shot. think inside/out and get it out on the break as much as possible. they also need to go over fundamental defense–help out and certainly box out on rebounds…
finally–play with some heart! if a team starts steamrolling you–show some fight. give a hard foul to lebron, wade or bosh or whoever that it may be..kudos for zsa zsa against miami the other night…but if you are going to do it–get your moneys worth next time. they’re going to call it anyway!
JeJe
March 21st, 2011
11:50 am
Amen, SteveW
FIRE LD
Slimjr
March 21st, 2011
11:57 am
Hawks dont even make the playoffs this year if they played in the Western Conference. They have been torched by teams from that conference!! Heck, the Thunder own the Hawks and have swept them 3 straight FREAKIN YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hold on the BEAT DOWN IS COMIN…………………..
vava74
March 21st, 2011
12:00 pm
Nothing to be particularly happy about this game. The Pistons played reasonably well but never put a real hard fight. Most of their player’s effort was a little above scrimmage level and even so they managed to keep up.
Hinrich is miles ahead of everyone else in the team in intelligence and toughness.
He won the game for us last night with his D on Hamilton (never allowing him to get into the game) and afterwards – with some ups and downs due to his injury – on Stuckey.
Again Jamal had a clear detrimental impact to our game. On both ends. It’s sooo clear when you watch the game devoid of any emotion and with enough time to watch plays more than once.
Josh is never focused during game and has frequent lapses on D to go along with his jump shot happy, TO prone offense. He was good with his jumpers yesterday and delivered a couple of baskets in crunch time but facing Daye who is about 60lbs lighter than he is, that is not a feat.
If something came out of this game is the realization that LD has entered into FULL DIAPER MODE and will run down the starters to exhaustion to try and scrape off as many wins possible to pad up our record, regardless of what will left in the tank for the playoffs.
Slimjr
March 21st, 2011
12:01 pm
Phil couldn’t and wouldn’t help this cast of characters………………………..
vava74
March 21st, 2011
12:04 pm
Astro,
You are not entirely right on Collins and SteveW has a point. He needs some minutes per game to keep his mojo flowing.
Collins has not been the problem as the game against the Heat was a good example.
Collins may not be effective against many line ups but his presence usually gives good defensive consistency in the post.
Obviously MIA is not a bad match up for Collins in the post with Dampier, but even so, the fact is that whilst he was in the game we were playing well and had a lead so it was not from his side that things went south:
http://popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/gameflow.cgi?date=20110318&game=MIAATL
Astro Joe
March 21st, 2011
12:09 pm
vava, I was speaking to the remainder of the season whch includes one throw-away game against Miami. That fact is that Collins is a niche player… effective against some and disasterous against others.
Hey, what happened to all of those Carmelo fans? Knicks were better without him and so are the Nuggets.
doc
March 21st, 2011
12:11 pm
yes moke.
aj good point on fouls, we get so many of the flagrants when we barely push then get ambushed with no call. got to agree with svg, summthn is going on.
JeJe
March 21st, 2011
12:17 pm
Joe Johnson’s numbers are down this season in EVERY category besides assists (5.0 vs. 4.9 last year)
Max Player
Trojan
March 21st, 2011
12:17 pm
A real coach would make Tracy McGrady worry about matching up with Teague’s speed.
MannyT
March 21st, 2011
12:24 pm
Fire Woody, fire LD, fire in the hole.
LD has to make playoffs. If he somehow wins in 1st round and wins a game in 2nd round, he’s more job secure than Woody was…and has a lower salary too.
Not saying he’s the answer, but he’ll be forgiven if he finds any playoff success. Remember Woody got a new contract after barely winning at home 3 times and getting blown out in Boston 4 times.
I suspect the Teague playing time deal is similar to what Jeff got in the Woody days. When coach feels pressure, the inexperienced get glued to the bench.
In the 3 guard line up, Hinrich is the PG & Jamal is the SG, BUT, he hoards the ball enough that it’s hard to tell. Easier to tell when Jamal plays with Jeff. Teague barely touches the ball and has little to do on offense except watch Jamal not pass the ball to him.
I hope the Hawks show some fight on Tuesday…it’s a TNT game.
Rufus1
March 21st, 2011
12:25 pm
Defensive roster with an offensive coach…
Play to your strengths…
John
March 21st, 2011
12:28 pm
All Collins does is allow the team to say a seven footer starts at center. He does nothing. That big lineup is so stupid and I don’t think it is why we beat Orlando twice this year. I never thought I would say it, but I miss Woody. At least you knew he wasn’t going to play Teague, instead of telling the press how great he is only not to play him. Talk about messing a young kid up. Iso-Joe and Jamal worked better than Drews “great offense”. I have tried to be patient all year but it is so frustrating. I think every player on the team has regressed offensively except maybe Al and that is because he improved his jumpshot, not a by-product of the offense. I usually don’t bash coaches, but Drew’s decisions make no sense.
John
March 21st, 2011
12:29 pm
Well said Trojan. Let other teams match up with our athletes.
JeJe
March 21st, 2011
12:31 pm
START DAMIEN AND BRING MARVIN OFF THE BENCH
START SOMEONE WHO ACTUALLY HAS HEART
vava74
March 21st, 2011
12:39 pm
Astro,
“Collins is… disastrous against others.” When?
Disastrous was Smoove’s overall attitude and game against the Heat. Lebron started 6 for 6 from the field with a few assists with Josh strolling around like a “prima donna”, jacking up jump shots, being completely absent on the boards…
Grandad
March 21st, 2011
12:39 pm
I’m actually pullin’ for a lock-out.
O'Brien
March 21st, 2011
12:55 pm
Although Collins has helped us do a better job on Dwight, there is a trickle down effect because Josh ends up on the perimeter even more playing SF. Naturally, I am concerned about his shot selection when that happens.
From Marc Stein’s power rankings, talking about our Hawks;
Going 3-2 on a six-game homestand entering the finale against Chicago is somewhat understandable given the quality of the opposition. The unacceptable part? Atlanta has topped 91 points three times all month..
Nice to see the motion offense that nobody else in the NBA runs or has ever seen racking up the points…
Joe
March 21st, 2011
12:59 pm
Have anyone noticed Jordan Crawford numbers with the Wizards? Amazing how proper coaching and a chance to play makes a significant difference!
EricT
March 21st, 2011
1:00 pm
If Josh smith ever decides to just start taking the ball to the hole and trying to dunk every time he touches it he and the team would be AWESOME!
mykhalc
March 21st, 2011
1:04 pm
KA BOOM!!! PLEASE!!!
but until then could i please see Kirk/JJ/Josh/Al/Hilton…just one time….please????
bunch of idiots!!!
tremaine
March 21st, 2011
1:11 pm
Sometimes I think that our local media is scared to hold these guys accountable. Larry Drew and the sports south broadcasters act like we found something new with yesterday’s lineup. All he did was go back to the lineup that was getting blownout over and over again before he started Teague.
Daniel
March 21st, 2011
1:11 pm
Wow, this blog is nuts today.
Couple of points of clarity, Jordan Crawford’s numbers with Washington are meaningless when playing on a losing team at the end of the season, etc. If you are unaware of this please do not continue to posit any opinions regarding player talent and development.
Anyone that suggests Al Horford is the problem or that he should be traded for Nene(ha!) should immediately have all blog priviledges revoked.
As I have been saying all year long, the problem with this team is its fragile psyche, ever since Orlando embarrassed them and this city and no one on the team had the balls to call out the truth which is that the team are a bunch of whiny, disinterested quitters lead by a former assistant coach who was given the job by blaming his former boss for all the aforementioned problems and an ownership group that doesn’t know anything and the highest paid player who disappears for months, tells the media he doesn’t care what the fans think, but still manages to complain that his team isn’t getting the “proper” amount of fan support.
Daniel
March 21st, 2011
1:13 pm
Manny T “I hope the Hawks show some fight tonight”- I have been hoping for that for a season and a half. Please tell me when it happens.
ICECOLD
March 21st, 2011
1:16 pm
Jeff teague would be a superstar if we can get a true center that is big and a scoring threat… we need a center that can average 10 points , 12 rebounds and 2 blocks a game… tyson chandler, Nene, d Howard , bynum , Perkins , lopez, deandre Jordan , Chris kaman, or Gotact ….. that’s who we need to go after this off season… trade Marvin , and or zaza…. for any one of them… and then start Jeff teague … bench damien wilkins, jamal Crawford, kirk, and armstrong ….9 deep , when you play big teams, go 11 deep with Etan Thomas ( better athlete ) then Collins if you need some extra bigs….. u are a contender like that.
Daniel
March 21st, 2011
1:21 pm
just the facts ma’am “id take Nene over Al all day long” Really? with all that is wrong with this team, you would rather have a mediocre center than a legit all-star 4/5 and easily the best player on your team? Maybe the Hawks should hire you as GM then, since they are clearly not interested in winning. You would do a great job at that.
darrell starks
March 21st, 2011
1:40 pm
Daniel the biggest problem with horford is that he is not a center, but LD continue 2 play horford at center, which his strenght is powerford, look the hawks are rank 26 in NBA in rebounding, and josh, horford in frontcourt just want cut it JUST 2 small.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!
darrell starks
March 21st, 2011
1:42 pm
Why is so hard for LD 2 ROTATE HILTON, COLLINS, ZAZA, at center and keep horford at powerford at all time.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
tremaine
March 21st, 2011
1:42 pm
Fire Sund
Fire Drew
Fire Dominique
Fire the ball boy who passes the ball to Josh so he can practice on his jumper.
Fire the guy who picks up Jamal jumpsuit when he comes in to play the point.
Rehire Mike Woodson and then fire him again for letting LD be his assistant coach.
darrell starks
March 21st, 2011
1:49 pm
Teague should starte point blank, because of the energy he bring 2 the team, i remember when the hawks made the trade and LD was force 2 starte teague against the warrior’s the hawks blew them off the court, but then it’s like LD HAVE alzheimer’s and forget how teague perform, that not a RICK SUND PROBLEM THAT WOODY JR POOR DECISION, FIRE LD.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SteveW
March 21st, 2011
1:51 pm
LD is scared McGrady and Stuckey gonna post of Jeff.
He was scared Andre Miller was gonna post Jeff, but Miller couldn’t keep up with Jeff’s speed and was completely dominated by Jeff.
And LeBron couldn’t handle Rondo recently either.
LD doesn’t like Jeff Teague. Must be a veterans coach. Rest of those have been fired.
But we’ll never know about McGrady and Stuckey, because LD never put Jeff in the game to see.
I guess LD was afraid Bibby was going to post up Jeff also Friday night by not playing him when it mattered.
Fire LD. No GM/Ownership group in history can cover for his incompetence.
SteveW
March 21st, 2011
2:03 pm
I guess all PG’s all of a sudden have bad nights against Jeff Teague, because he has handled all of them recently defensively.
Astro Joe – My point was it is impossible for us to shorten the rotation, as one blogger suggested, and get some chemistry, as you suggested. Because we will be playing a different lineup depending on who we play in the playoffs.
So to get chemistry by playing the same 5 and getting the rotation set, we can’t do that, unless you want to start Collins every night and play Josh at 3. Am I making any sense?
If we open with the C’s, we’ll almost assuredly start big if Shaq and Jermaine are healthy. And we’ll need Teague on Rondo to spell Hinrich (not according to LD however). But that puts Josh covering Pierce and Green. Uh-oh.
Bulls – who knows what lineup we’ll throw out there. I think LD just shows up in fetal position.
Same with the Heat.
And against the Magic, it’s big time. But then we got Josh covering wings. Uh-oh.
LD refuses to play a 9 man, sane rotation that will give us a chance. 10 when we play Collins some. We could even go 12 deep giving Hilton and Etan some burn.
But not going to happen. Why?
My speculation is that Drew is getting 1.5m next season whether he stays or goes, so at this point, I doubt he cares. Just play the vets, take the easy way out, tell the media what they want to hear, and wait for the axe to fall. If it doesn’t fall, Coach next year and get your money. Simple
Bird
March 21st, 2011
2:04 pm
LD says that he wants to get JC1 ready because he’s going to need him down the stretch. I guess he’s not going to need Teague down the stretch.
drmaryb (*_-)
March 21st, 2011
2:09 pm
Spiritual Vitamin!
Between the Hoop-La? Take a minute to be aware of The Times:
(This is off topic, so “Get to Scrollin”, if you don’t Believe.)
____________
In response to slimjr’s post a few blogs bag re:
The End of Man’s Rule over The World!
__________
“Matthew 24:3-8 (New International Version, ©2011)
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.”
________________
I know that this blog is an escape from the real world, but fellas, remain on the watch and don’t get caught up.
- drmaryb -
Big Daddy
March 21st, 2011
2:10 pm
Astro Joe, while I hear what you are saying, it is still undeniable that LD has not used his bench, including Jeff Teague, in a way that is going to help the team or Teague in the long run. You can’t say how much you believe in the kid one day and then 2 games later he gets a DNP-CD. Of the games like he had last week, I never saw Stoadamire, Law, JC2 play like that the entire time they were here. As far as rotations being set, what is going to happen in Hendrich goes down just before the playoffs or at the beginning. Is he going to play Crawford at the point? Teague may be just what we need going against Jameer Nelson if we play Orlando.
Our woes are being noticed by many of the sports writers and some or pointing to Drew’s offense as the reason why the team looks dysfunctional. Checkout this writeup from statscube.
http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2011/03/19/statscube-the-demise-of-the-hawks/
mykhalc
March 21st, 2011
2:16 pm
to the writer of that article…1st and number one fact…Woodson was NOT fired!!! do some damn research if you wanna be or seem credible!!!
ICECOLD
March 21st, 2011
2:18 pm
Fire Sund
Fire Drew
Fire Dominique
Fire the ball boy who passes the ball to Josh so he can practice on his jumper.
Fire the guy who picks up Jamal jumpsuit when he comes in to play the point.
Rehire Mike Woodson and then fire him again for letting LD be his assistant coach.
_______________
That was funny as hell… but u might be right….
Lol.
mykhalc
March 21st, 2011
2:21 pm
@SteveW…my guess is LD’s termination pay is tied to his/the teams performance this year. he probably only sees a portion of what his salary would be if he is retained for his final year if the Hawks slip from the Woodson days. my guess anyway…and it’s how i woulda presented a contract offer to him…especially given that he was bitin’ at the bit to get a HC job!!!
Daniel
March 21st, 2011
2:22 pm
tremaine- I am in total agreement with ICECOLD, funny as h.., and probably more true than we can take.
Big Daddy
March 21st, 2011
2:36 pm
@mykhalc. You read the article and the only thing you came away with was he said Woodson was fired. While maybe the words “You are fired” were not stated. In most business circles that I am aware of if you are told your contract will not be renewed, that means you are fired. It may sound nicer but the meaning is the same. Also, I did not see a comment at the bottom of the article by you about that. I did see one by Najeh.
Astro Joe
March 21st, 2011
2:39 pm
Big Daddy, my guess is that LD believes in Pape Sy too but that doesn’t mean that he will play him in meaningful time for the remainder of the season. I agree with the sentiment that Teague should get more back-up PG minutes than Jamal… but I would cap those minutes right around 10-12 per game.
SteveW, I agree that the starting line-up du jour strategy makes it hard to build chemistry heading into the playoffs. At the same time, I don’t like the notion of using games for player development at this stage of the season. The 5-man unit MUST come first at this point, not any individual player.
vava, I don’t recall the game where LD tried to play Collins and later said “it was too fast for him”.
If LD’s offense is predicated on a “5 Man Attack” (as he said shortly after being hired), then starting out with a player who struggles to score in the scheme (Collins or Teague) kind of defeats the offense from the jump ball. My guess is that both could do better in a different scheme, but I’d much rather see those guys ride the pine then have LD try to install a new scheme at game #70.
I’m not thrilled with LD either, but the cards he is trying to play is not a winning hand. It wasn’t last year with Woody and it isn’t this year with LD. And if they bring in Larry Brown, Coach K or someone else next season and make no roster changes… many of the same issues will re-surface. I personally think that Woody maxed out the “sacred core” with 53 wins in the regular season. Maybe LD could find a way to max out the talent in a playoff run (2 wins in the second round). But this isn’t a championship-level roster, coaching staff, front office or ownership group. Slightly changing anyone of those problems won’t fix things.
ICECOLD
March 21st, 2011
2:41 pm
Numbers ain’t everything… the problem is zaza… have u ever noticed , when the he is in the game.. no matter what he does , if the hawks are winning, the lead shrinks and it ends up tied, or if the hawks are losing , as soon as he gets in, it slowly turns into a blow out
Then when Marvin , jamal, and zaza is on the floor at the same time , it gets real ugly real quick… if you don’t believe me , watch the game tomorrow… zaza might look good as some plays , but he look good at those plays because how of how bad he look on most plays , he is like a little kid, he does one thing good and its like… GOOD JOB.. WHO’S A GOOD BOY… I’M SO PROUD OF YOU FOR TRYING EVEN THOUGH YOU LOST… Marvin is the same way…
Think about it.. what are your thoughts about it..
Sautee
March 21st, 2011
2:49 pm
MannyT,
“Fire Woody, fire LD, fire in the hole.”
Nice. An early Steely Dan reference.(even if it was unintentional)
Actually those song lyrics are somewhat apt to the Hawks these days:
“With a cough, I shake it off, and walk around my yellow stripe.
Should I hide and eat my pride. or wait until it’s good and ripe.
My life is boiling over. It’s happened once before.
I wish someone would open up the door”
“Don’t you know there’s fire in the hole
and nothing left to burn.
I’d love to run out now.
There’s nowhere left to turn.”
Ouch, MannyT.
JeJe
March 21st, 2011
2:53 pm
If Ken Sugiura is writing the blogs these days, can we please get his picture on the AJC Hawks page too?
joey
March 21st, 2011
3:11 pm
123…………
phil
March 21st, 2011
3:19 pm
Wow. They beat the Pistons. Stop the presses. A team that stinks worse than we do. The Bulls will run us out of the arena in a day or 2…..
tyger
March 21st, 2011
3:34 pm
Lately, a lot of the heat has fallen into LDs lap. I disagree with the masses, those issues were obvious last spring, during the Orlando massacre. However, mgt. did nothing to address those issues, besides signing JJ to a $120M contract.
LD brought ball movement to the Hawks. Everyone was in 100% agreement that the Hawks offense needed diversification. They could not compete with JJ dribbling the clock out and heaving last second off balance shots. Unfortunately, the new offense is providing worse shooters with more shots and JSmoove has once again taken to the long jump shot.
The Bibby trade was a last ditch effort to salvage a sinking season that has backfired. Neither the defense nor offense has improved with Hinrich and the cost was way too high. Jordan Crawford and this year’s #1 pick? Crawford has had two 25 pt. outbursts and has become a regular part of the Wizards rotation and who needs a #1 pick this year more than the Hawks?
Fortunately, the season is grinding to a slow halt. The Hawks will disgrace themselves before a half-empty playoff house. The coach will get fired and God-willing, the team will get sold to ownership that can afford it.
Deeper questions lie in how to get better? Many franchises go through peaks and valleys, but somehow maintain there winning brands. Lakers, Jazz, Spurs, Celtics, Heat, etc. They identify their core. They don’t hesitate to pull the trigger. They have extremely strong managers and they draft well. They know how they want to play and they get players that fit.
The Hawks do none of these things well.
Katie
March 21st, 2011
3:48 pm
@ICECOLD
Actually, I have come to somewhat like ZaZa’s gameplay recently, more specifically, since the trade deadline. I think they may have tried to deal him but that didn’t work out. Then he had that DNP-CD against the Warriors and the very next game against the Trail Blazers he balled out. I mean, he was our leading scorer AND had the most rebounds at 19/10(it might have been 9, but i think it was 10).
it’s funny, earlier this season my boyfriend and i went to a game where he bought a Pachulia shirt. I couldn’t believe it, especially while clutching my Horford shirt. I asked him why he was getting Pachulia and he said because he plays his best when he’s pissed off. I think now it’s true.
tremaine
March 21st, 2011
3:48 pm
tyger- the hawks hired LD because they thought he was going to make them better. They are worse. That is on him and management.
Katie
March 21st, 2011
3:49 pm
**he was our leading scorer AND had the most rebounds at 19/10(it might have been 9, but i think it was 10) against denver the other night