Sixers 105, Hawks 100
Greetings, all-
Hang another L on the tree. If you’re still counting, the Hawks have lost four of five, eight of 11 and 14 of 21. I’d say it’s looking more and more like Philadelphia will catch the Hawks, which would likely put them in a first-round matchup with the Miami Heat. Yikes. The other possibility is Boston.
- I know you’re wondering, so I’ll bring you Larry Drew’s comments on why Jeff Teague got his 12th DNP-CD, particularly with a little guy like Lou Williams making hay (17 points on 5-of-8 shooting in 20 minutes).
“That wasn’t the problem,” Drew said of the defense of Williams. “I thought we did a really good job on Louis. A couple times we played him a little too soft and he just jumped right up and shot it. We actually fouled him twice at the 3-point line to send him to the free-throw line. That wasn’t the problem. We had the game under control. We just let it get away.”
I’m not sure what to say. Maybe it didn’t come out quite like the way he intended.
- Another symbol of the Hawks’ status as a rising power bit the dust, a few days after the five consecutive years with an improved record. With the loss, the Hawks will not finish at or above .500 in this brutal month, ending their string of 15 consecutive months with a record of .500 or better. (If memory serves, the stat the Hawks touted was consecutive winning months, and then they went .500 in February, so it was consecutive months of .500 ball or better, and now it’s kaput.)
- Interesting quote, in some ways, from Al Horford: “I think we played well. We just kind of ran out of gas at the end.” Perhaps it was because this was a game the Hawks might have lost even when they were playing well — against a surging team in its building on the back end of a back-t0-back – but it doesn’t sound like the Horford I’m used to hearing after losses.
- Joe Johnson was pretty downcast, more than anyone in the locker room I saw. The highlights:
“Down the stretch, I just think we don’t understand who should get the ball. Throughout the game, everyone’s free-flow playing, taking shots, making plays. … (But in the last five minutes), we don’t understand or we don’t know who that person is. If you notice the last four or five minutes, (expletive), I don’t think we know who should take the (expletive) shot.
On if it’s because plays aren’t being called: “I don’t know. It’s frustrating to me. You’ve got to go with the flow.”
More Johnson: “That’s why we look a little stagnant and lost the last three or four to five minutes, because nobody knows and everybody’s out there just jacking up shots.”
Finally: “I’m just frustrated. Like I said, we do a lot of talking but at the same time, we get out there on the court and we do nothing right, even though we know what to do.”
I’ll say this. Johnson is the one who seems most bothered by the way the team’s playing.
- A very strong game by Josh Smith – 33 points and 12 rebounds. Played closer to the basket.
“I was just trying to play off the guys that were getting plays called for them. I know they were trapping Joe heavily and I was just trying to put the onus on myself not to settle.”
- Kirk Hinrich sprained his right thumb in the second quarter. He still ended up playing 38 minutes, but he only scored three points after that. He said he’d be fine.
- Drew played seven guys – off the bench, Jamal Crawford and Zaza Pachulia were the only ones who got in. Both contributed well, I thought. Crawford had some pop in the rather free-flowing first half.
Horford said the minutes, particularly on the second night of a back to back, was a factor.
“I think it was,” he said. “I thought we were solid, but they just kind of kept bringing it. We had a good effort tonight, we just couldn’t get it done.”
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
230 comments Add your comment
cp
March 23rd, 2011
11:58 pm
lol@LD’s comments. Didn’t think that was the problem huh. Didn’t think that was the problem when Rose was killing Jamal either. I can honestly see why Woodrow did not listen to this cat. Terrible defense on Williams was not the problem lol. You almost have to just laugh at the stuff LD comes up with. This could also explain why he is so slow to react to certain situations on the court, he doesn’t think its a problem.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 24th, 2011
12:00 am
“Hawks don’t allow fans to post on their facebook wall. Good idea.”
They used to until as recently as two weeks ago. I remember going there a couple of weeks ago and seeing pretty much entirely negative comments on there. I figure they got tired of it.
Booo!
March 24th, 2011
12:01 am
Jamal is so inconsistant, which is why marvin needs to come off the bench. Philly murdered us with their bench scoring tonight! Besides marvin went back to his old shy self in the second half anyway smh.
Buddy Grizzard
March 24th, 2011
12:02 am
SteveW, I thought the shortened rotation was predictable. LD knows his job is on the line… say what you want about Mark Bradley but he’s been here a long, long time. It’s not an insignificant thing when the local columnists announce to the world that the local NBA team has quit on its coach.
Going into the 4th they had a 6 point lead and you could just see the expression on Drew’s face when they lost it. He looked like a man who sees the axe hovering overhead. He went with the guys he trusts most to execute his game plan and try to save his job. The reason he’s going to lose it is because he should have developed trust with more than 7 players by now.
Rev in Tampa
March 24th, 2011
12:02 am
Teague his several 3’s last night, but has anybody looked at his shot from out there? It almost looks like he flips it out of his hands rather than shooting it. Since the Hawks are a jumpshooting team they don’t need anybody out there with an ugly shot.
rusty
March 24th, 2011
12:04 am
Larry drew don’t have a lick of common sense so how could he be a good basketball coach
rusty
March 24th, 2011
12:06 am
Larry said to himself I will fix that big show off going out there trying to make me look bad,I just sit his ass on the bench tonight
rusty
March 24th, 2011
12:08 am
Oh yea rev we have just a great team of jump shooters
Rev in Tampa
March 24th, 2011
12:12 am
Teague missed a contested lay-up last night. What if he had missed one with the game on the line tonight? Its a good thing Drew did not put him in the game.
Hawks Fan In New Oreans
March 24th, 2011
12:13 am
FIRE LD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DREW IS THRU!!!!!!
Najeh Davenpoop
March 24th, 2011
12:13 am
OKC played 9 players at least 10 minutes tonight.
Orlando played 8 players at least 10 minutes.
New York played 9 players at least 10 minutes.
Memphis played 10 players at least 10 minutes.
Boston played 8 players at least 10 minutes.
Miami played 9 players at least 10 minutes.
Indiana played 10 players at least 10 minutes.
Not all of those teams even have the depth the Hawks do. All of those teams are currently in the playoffs.
Jae Evolution
March 24th, 2011
12:14 am
If we fall to sixth seed it’s either Boston or Miami, which equals a first round exit, at least with Orlando we have about a 10% chance of advancing.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 24th, 2011
12:17 am
Right now I don’t think the Hawks would win a playoff series against Indiana.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 24th, 2011
12:19 am
I posted something on the Hawks Facebook page and it got deleted by the time I refreshed the page a minute later. Good to know that the Hawks have someone on the payroll to censor their Facebook wall. I guess now we know what the $3 million the Hawks got for the #31 pick in last year’s draft is paying for.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 24th, 2011
12:19 am
On second thought, maybe they get Etan Thomas to do that in between blog posts.
Jae Evolution
March 24th, 2011
12:20 am
At this point, and I’ve seen it all year, until we get a coaching change that will listen to the fanbase Teague won’t get any minutes. You look at the Pacers, Frank Vogel becomes the coach, Psycho T looks like an all-star against the Knicks and Paul George is finally getting some development. We need a coach next season that WILL NOT let good young talent rot away on our bench.
K.W.
March 24th, 2011
12:20 am
LD and his rotation…
Buddy Grizzard
March 24th, 2011
12:21 am
Yes I will take a first round series with Orlando over dropping to 7th place and facing Boston, Miami or Chicago. We fall out of 5th place and we get swept in the first round. Orlando is vulnerable. They traded away most of their size for Hedo and Arenas, two players who are in rapid decline. These are not the Orlando Magic who swept the Hawks last year. Of course, they’re more well-coached than the Hawks. But the Hawks could give them a fight on pure talent.
Hawks Fan In New Oreans
March 24th, 2011
12:23 am
Braves fever – catch it!
Jae Evolution
March 24th, 2011
12:24 am
Watching this Nuggets vs Spurs game, Ty Lawson is a monster in the open court, NO ONE can stop his drive.
cowbulls
March 24th, 2011
12:31 am
OK, fire this low rent idiot excuse for a coach NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Does he really not understand that 7 guys can’t play the entire second game of back to back games? There are 20 better high school coaches in Georgia that could do a better job with this team.
Jonesy
March 24th, 2011
12:34 am
I find it hard to believe that we cant do the same thing the Nuggets do with Lawson/Felton with Teague/Heinrich
Najeh Davenpoop
March 24th, 2011
12:34 am
13 points in the 3rd quarter for Jordan Crawford vs. LAC.
Montana
March 24th, 2011
12:35 am
Fire Larry Drew.
Trade Josh Smith.
Trade Marvin Williams.
Rebuild this franchise around the only two solid players we have in Al Horford and Joe Johnson.
rusty
March 24th, 2011
12:41 am
Montana. I can’t really believe you want iso Joe back
Jae Evolution
March 24th, 2011
12:49 am
Man the Nuggets are so good now, the Thunder aren’t guranteed anything in the 1st round if that is the matchup.
MsDee
March 24th, 2011
12:53 am
In Joe’s defense, when he is getting trapped, (which he has the past 5 or so games), and he throws the ball out, doesn’t mean that player should keep it and force up a shot. It SHOULD only mean for that player to re-leave him temporary and throw the ball BACK to Joe to make something happen in the 4th. Just think about it, in the 4th quarter of a Miami’s game or the Lakers game, when they need for Kobe or LeBron, or Wade to take over, the surrounding players LOOKS for their ’superstar’ to take over. If Kobe/Wade/LeBron is being trapped, they throw the ball out to IMMEDIATELY receive it back. HOW OFTEN DO ANY OF THE HAWKS PLAYERS DO THAT FOR JOE??? NO ONE..well, maybe Horford is the only one who does that but NO ONE ELSE TRUST JOE TO WIN THE GAME FOR US! I don’t think Joe meant it literally that no one knows who should shoot the ball, I believe he was being sarcastic about it that there are too many selfish & jealous players on this team that aren’t happy with Joe’s contract and are hell bent on making Joe’s life with the Hawks MISERABLE!! I believe Joe IS aggregated and upset with how this team is playing of late, he just isnt a vocal Wade/Lebron/Kobe type of player..he is who he is and he cant help that. The guys on the team just should do their part and allow Joe to shine for this team. I look at it like Joe is in the same boat as Teague. Teague NEEDS minutes to improve his game while Joe NEEDS the right amount of respect on a daily basis to be affective. JUST MY TAKE ON THE SITUATION!!
Where the cuss is Steve Smith?
March 24th, 2011
12:55 am
Hawks are losing on purpose for that sixth seed and Heat match up in playoffs. More face time on national TV and better hookers in Miami. Ask Josh.
slimjr
March 24th, 2011
12:55 am
Man those Hawks are really surging????? Right?????Surging in the wrong direction for sure!!!!
Get mad at the ASGEEmen and your boy Sund…………Who hired LD….LD you are off your rocker for not playing Teague!
Wow the Heimlich Maneuver had 3 pts! Great trade Sund?????? Not……
Atlanta Expatriate
March 24th, 2011
12:58 am
To sum all of this up….
This has to be the most dysfunctional yet fully operational team I’ve seen.
Does anyone here remember the Falcons ownership experience with the Smith family? Can you see any similarities?
If you think ASG as cheap and budget conscious, I remember reading reports of Rankin Smith walking through the Falcons locker room asking the equipment managers to pick up used tape roll remnants in order to use them again.
The Smith family was caught in a losing spiral affect as a result of signing marginal talent (Players and Coaching Staff) while expecting and collecting higher revenues.
Let’s just face it. The ASG will cash in by selling out while leaving the new owner(s) stuck for the next 6 years (Thanks PMC – March 23, 2011, 11:31 pm) with this financially strapped mess of a payroll.
Good luck to the new owner(s) who will step into this one…..
That’s it!
I’m done………
slimjr
March 24th, 2011
12:58 am
Red Alert!! Abandon Ship. I repeat Abandon Ship!!
Scottie jettison the core! Yes Captain……….
slimjr
March 24th, 2011
1:01 am
“Fire Larry Drew.
Trade Josh Smith.
Trade Marvin Williams.
Rebuild this franchise around the only two solid players we have in Al Horford and Joe Johnson.”
Nobody wants Marvin………..
rusty
March 24th, 2011
1:03 am
MsDee I would say you were right if jj wasn’t playing like crap. He was disturbed after the game because he knows he is playing like a scrub.
slimjr
March 24th, 2011
1:07 am
Hey Sund why not hire basketball great Paul Hewitt??
slimjr
March 24th, 2011
1:11 am
JC2 is ballin!!!!! Great trade Sund????? Not……………
Hawks mane
March 24th, 2011
1:13 am
Hinrich trade was awful has anyone seen how well Jordan Crawford is doing… shows you how terrible Drew is. I bet Teague would be great on another team.
slimjr
March 24th, 2011
1:17 am
drmaryb if your up, tune into coast2coast am with George Norry..640am wgst or 1510am wlac are streaming.Interesting stuff..
Buddy Grizzard
March 24th, 2011
1:26 am
“Watching this Nuggets vs Spurs game, Ty Lawson is a monster in the open court, NO ONE can stop his drive.” – Jae Evolution
Lawson just another pg the Hawks missed out on. He was going to fall to the Hawks and Denver traded up to pick him one pick ahead of us. We ended up with Teague, which still isn’t bad for late first round. But damn… we almost had Ty Lawson.
Harry Hawk
March 24th, 2011
1:26 am
My favorite thing in the preseason was how we gave JJ that max deal and then, lo and behold, we were going to ask him to do less.
Mein Gott, why pay the guy insane money if you’re not going to ask more of him? We should be running ISO Joe all night, right? Damn.
EmirS.
March 24th, 2011
1:33 am
Yea we could have had Ty Lawson sitting on our bench insteaf of Teague and Jordan.
-Sigh-
EmirS.
March 24th, 2011
1:34 am
Instead*
Jae Evolution
March 24th, 2011
1:49 am
What I was about to say EmirS. you can only think Teague would be ballin out in Denver and Ty would be stuck on the bench for 2 years straight over here.
HawkEye
March 24th, 2011
1:58 am
I wish I had a dollar for every stupid thing LD says. I’d be one rich mofo. With every press conference, LD looks more like an idiot. No wonder he lost the team, because he is lost himself.
LD’s stupidity defies all reason and logic. I think Harry the Hawk would be a better HC for this team that him.
dddhouse
March 24th, 2011
1:59 am
Montana, what are you smoking over there, you want to keep joe johnson and trade Josh Smith?
tell, when was the last time joe showed up for a big game? look at the last three games. joe is not a go to player, he is like a 2nd or 3rd option on a team. trade him, get him out of town.
MsDee
March 24th, 2011
2:06 am
@rusty,
I believe Joe is playing like ‘crap’ b/c he tries to force the action sometimes cause he knows he wont be receiving the ball back anytime soon. I think same goes for Josh. Both Josh and Joe shouldnt be on the team together if u ask me. I think Charles Barkley said it b4 also about a couple of years ago. He said,” Either Joe or Josh must go for that team to go anywhere.” I didnt believe him then but I do now. If I had to choose between the two, I would let Joe go and keep Josh. I also believe the reason both Josh & Jamal played so very well last season was b/c they thought Joe would be on another team this season. Josh wanted to prove to ASG that he could be the face of the ATLANTA HAWKS. He played totally under control, attempted ONLY 6 3pters, should have easily been an ALL-STAR that year..I mean, IMO, that was Josh’s best NBA season of his career thus far!! Jamal also was at the top of his game last season..He wanted to stay in Atlanta b/c his baby mother & child lives here, his 1st time playing on a team that made it to his 1st playoff series, and played well enough to earn the 6th Man award..Jamal was playing for an extension from the Hawks and he probably too assume Joe would be gone so he could get the money he wanted while sliding into Joe’s footsteps if he was gone. UNFORTUNATELY NONE OF THAT HAPPENED!! Joe received the biggest contract of any player that year, causing Josh to get angry and revert back to the Josh of old and causing Jamal to demand an extension OR to be traded!! Well, neither happen for Jamal causing him to have an on-court meltdown cause lately, he hasn’t been able to throw a penny into the ocean. I say ALL this to say, that is why Joe may feel the team is jealous and selfish cause of his HUGE PAYCHECK!!
hawks_4_life
March 24th, 2011
2:17 am
SO MY B-BALL TEAM IS GOING NOWHERE AND THERE IS NO FOOTBALL SEASON……AWESOME
Grandad
March 24th, 2011
3:29 am
“Down the stretch, I just think we don’t understand who should get the ball. Throughout the game, everyone’s free-flow playing, taking shots, making plays. … (But in the last five minutes), we don’t understand or we don’t know who that person is. If you notice the last four or five minutes, (expletive), I don’t think we know who should take the (expletive) shot.” — Joe Johnson —
And there’s your problem.
That explains why Al doesn’t get the ball in the 4th qtr.
[which has been discussed on here many times]
Joe thinks he gets the ball in the 4th.
Josh is perpetually whining about trust.
LD doesn’t trust Teague.
If Marvin gets it he’s gonna jack it up…he don’t care.
Jamal’s thinking…well LD wants me to get going;
” I’m suppose to shoot ”.
It’s not trust…It’s chaos.
Every man for himself + *we don’t have many thinkers out there.
*[that's a nice way of putting it]
__________________________________________
What’s funny is the whole Pape Sy experiment.
That was LD’s baby from the get go.
That worked out real well.
RMikel58
March 24th, 2011
5:12 am
Hawks are a worst team by far then last years team. The Atlanta Zombie’s play on their heels during these past 21 games. Theres no leader out there, just seems like most of them want to just end the season and take off. You know it would seem like if you paid millions of dollars to perform then i’d say that youre fulfilling your agreement to your contract.
Because i’m sure if the Hawks were not fulfilling their end of a contract, the player and his agent would be all over the hawks Mgmt.
There needs to be a new collective bargaining agreement made……….. Only pay a player based on performance every year and see how many stay in basketball.
These guy’s are so spolied, getting 100,000 a minute or a game and under perform on most nights. They sign a 5 year contract and play great only 1 year.
Its not entirely the Coach’s fault. But if it was me, i’d take out most of those players that didnt wanna play, give them less minutes and only put players that really want to be out there.
Players like Kobe Bryant play hard every night eventhough he makes millions. What makes him so good is that on every play he is aggressive and looks for ways to help his team win and involve other players in the game.
We gotta stop pandering to these players that are selfish individuals and are not there to win but to collect a check on friday.
The Coach can try to motivate, run plays, encourage but once that player steps onto the court its up to him to perform at a high level.
Play the Rookies i’d say………… This starting lineup for the Hawks is killing us and before you know it well drop 2 spots below Philly and New York.
ATL RAISED INDY LIVING
March 24th, 2011
5:26 am
JORDAN CRAWFORD HAS AVERAGED 14 PPG SINCE LEAVING THE HAWKS…IM JUST SAYIN…ANOTHER GOOD PLAYER THAT HAS SLID THROUGH THE FINGERS OF THE HAWKS
Buddy Grizzard
March 24th, 2011
5:43 am
Ok so, once again my Hawks rebuilding plan:
1. The Hawks have a major leadership void and it starts at the top with the dysfunctional ASG. In this economy they may not be able to find a buyer, so they need to protect their investment as best they can. Step 1 to regain some faith from Atlanta fans is to immediately, before the playoffs even begin, fire Larry Drew. Prove that you are not so cheap that you can’t burn $1m to pay for a mistake and a bad hire and go look for a coach that can get this team to reach anything close to its potential.
2. Fire Rick Sund. He has a HORRIBLE track record of coaching hires… Larry Drew AND BOB WEISS???? He cannot be trusted to find the coach that can turn this franchise around.
3. Trade Joe Johnson. The most likely scenario is New Jersey, since they have an owner with unlimited funds and a deadline to improve the team before Deron Williams leaves as a free agent. To Cleveland for Antawn Jamison is a possibility. Dan Gilbert also has an open check book but he may not want JJ because he would hurt their draft position without actually making them good. Another possibility is Dallas, where Mark Cuban is desparate to win a championship and his core is aging rapidly. We would have to take back Brendan Haywood and some other garbage but we could use a center.
4. Trade Josh Smith. He’s my favorite Hawk, and I love when he plays like he did last night. But his role on the team is identical to Horford’s. They are both jump shooting power forwards. Josh’s contract will run out sooner, so he should be traded while he still has value. You don’t want to extend him long term because then you don’t have money to fill out other positions on the roster. Marvin is untradeable so you build around him, Teague and Horford. Hopefully with Jamal Crawford gone, Marvin can finally get consistent shots and become a consistent performer.