Atlanta Hawks at Rockets: Clinching seed is the carrot
There’s a juicy carrot out there for the Hawks tonight.
Beat the Rockets and they clinch the No. 5 seed in the East. Clinch the No. 5 seed and then all of their tired bodies and minds might get a break over the final five games.
“I want to clinch before I even think about doing that,” L.D. said.
That’s some pretty good incentive.
“It should be for the guys,” Drew said. “A couple of weeks ago we were talking about it but kind of looking at how we were playing, looking at the schedule, it wasn’t a sure lock. Here we are with an opportunity to clinch it.”
No one can be blamed for not trusting the Hawks. A season’s worth of questions were not suddenly answered by two good efforts that included likely outliers like J.J. getting to the line, Josh draining tough jump shots and Zaza wrecking the team he likes to wreck most.
What L.D. thinks can most be duplicated is the focus and determination that allowed the Hawks to win ugly against good opponents.
“Probably the grind-em-out presence that we played with in both games,” Drew said. “Against Orlando, I thought we did a really good job in matching their physicality. I thought we did a good job in playing physical. Those type opponents, that’s the type of effort you have to have against them. I thought it was the same thing against Boston. Both games turned into half court games, we turned them into grind-em-out games and we played with a physical toughness.”
Game notes
- “Regular” lineup for the Hawks: Hinrich, J.J., Marvin, Smoove, Al.
- The Rockets seemingly were done after they traded away Aaron Brooks and Shane Battier at the deadline. Instead they’ve surged and are desperately trying to make the playoffs. Henry Abbott at TrueHoop reported that the Rockets are motivated to stick it to fans, media, and the team’s front office, and I’m wondering if that might work for the Hawks, too.
- The Rockets are a better offensive rebounding team than the Magic and Celtics. Impressive work considering they aren’t a big team.
- “Scola bangs inside, Hayes bangs inside, Hill comes in and bangs inside, Patterson comes in and bangs inside,” Drew said. “They play extremely fast, they get up and down the floor, but yet they play with a physicality. I am hoping that the way we played the last couple games will carry over into tonight’s game.”
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
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418 comments Add your comment
bigdave
April 3rd, 2011
7:40 pm
LD doesnt believe in resting Joe.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
7:40 pm
Teague floater!
Melvin
April 3rd, 2011
7:40 pm
Yeah Teague….
Melvin
April 3rd, 2011
7:41 pm
Yeah Teague…
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
7:41 pm
Teague step back jumper!
cp
April 3rd, 2011
7:41 pm
Teague with the floater then jumper
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
7:41 pm
(Although, to be real, that wasn’t a great shot early in the shot clock. In Teague’s case, though, signs of him being more aggressive on offense are good.)
lewis
April 3rd, 2011
7:42 pm
kevin martin leads the league in free throws made
bigdave
April 3rd, 2011
7:42 pm
Teague setting him up..
Jae Evolution
April 3rd, 2011
7:42 pm
Kevin Martin draws fouls so easy, it’s almost as if refs are expecting him to get fouled.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
7:42 pm
Marvin is struggling to chase Kevin Martin around those screens. Someone smaller and quicker — Kirk maybe? — would probably be a better matchup.
bigdave
April 3rd, 2011
7:42 pm
Al knocking em down..
drmaryb (*_-)
April 3rd, 2011
7:43 pm
TKO
Somebody tell Lowry to pay his cable bill! Didn’t he know Hawks fight dirty? ZaZa puts in elbow in his MOUF!
Rathbun just completed the MVF list:
Manu Ginobli#2
Derrick Fisher #4
Kevin Martin #5
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
7:44 pm
I’d like to see the Hawks attack Martin on the other end. If Marvin is going to be matched up on him, let him post Martin up.
Melvin
April 3rd, 2011
7:44 pm
Bench players are playing well…
cp
April 3rd, 2011
7:44 pm
good move taking Marvin off of Martin
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
7:45 pm
I was typing when Zaza got fouled — who set him up with the pass?
Worldwide Clyde
April 3rd, 2011
7:45 pm
FREE TEAGUE
doc
April 3rd, 2011
7:46 pm
najeh:
Depends on who he’s guarding. He seems to do better against players who can’t just use brute force to back him down and create space. Scola and Hayes are both capable of doing that to him.
amen to that. boozer just beat teh hell out of him with bumps as he pushed him backwards. it was not pretty. josh was helpless to defend him.
bigdave
April 3rd, 2011
7:47 pm
Jeffrey.
cp
April 3rd, 2011
7:47 pm
nice effort there Jamal smh
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
7:47 pm
Jamal gets burned by Courtney Lee on the screen for the and 1. Zaza pays the price with the foul.
bigdave
April 3rd, 2011
7:48 pm
keep playing PG Jeffrey!
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
7:48 pm
Way to get it back Jamal.
Melvin
April 3rd, 2011
7:48 pm
Teague is balling….
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
7:49 pm
Good minutes for both Teague and Zaza. Hopefully they get some more run as the game goes along.
bigdave
April 3rd, 2011
7:49 pm
Hawks play soo much faster on both ends w/ Jeff. hate to see him leave the game.
bigdave
April 3rd, 2011
7:50 pm
thats your game Marvin..
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
7:50 pm
Good take by Marvin. Houston has no shot blockers. The Hawks should not be scared of taking the ball inside against this team.
cp
April 3rd, 2011
7:50 pm
Teague playing well and LD takes him out smh
Big Ray
April 3rd, 2011
7:51 pm
“I want to clinch before I even think about doing that,” L.D. said.
Oh, this can be applied in so many ways….
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
7:52 pm
Nice look Jamal. Keep looking for those big fellas inside.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
7:54 pm
No Hawks in double figures, but five Hawks with at least five points. Wish it was like this every game.
Smoove rolling to the basket makes a huge difference.
cp
April 3rd, 2011
7:57 pm
jamal started off cold but has it going right now
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
7:57 pm
Jamal’s effect on the team may not be a good one all the time, but as an individual player he is fun to watch when he has his offensive game rolling.
Melvin
April 3rd, 2011
7:58 pm
Big Al can drive to the basket on some of his open shots b/c the lane is open
Melvin
April 3rd, 2011
7:59 pm
Joe warming up from 3pt range.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
7:59 pm
Joe heating up…
cp
April 3rd, 2011
7:59 pm
Lowry having no trouble getting around Hinrich
bigdave
April 3rd, 2011
7:59 pm
what a pass though from Josh..
wow..
Melvin
April 3rd, 2011
8:00 pm
Josh give the ball to Hinrich on the fast break please….
Jae Evolution
April 3rd, 2011
8:00 pm
Heatin’ up.
Big Ray
April 3rd, 2011
8:00 pm
Smith leading in three major categories (rebounds, points, assists). Love it when he’s playing to his strengths.
MistaGamer
April 3rd, 2011
8:00 pm
That was a helluva pass. Al has got to grab that ball
bigdave
April 3rd, 2011
8:01 pm
Dwight catches and throws those down..
guess Bargnani i mean Al has to adapt back to playing inside after floating around the perimeter for so long this game.
MistaGamer
April 3rd, 2011
8:02 pm
Honestly don’t think Al thought that was coming
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
8:02 pm
Damn man. Bargnani? That is harsh.
Prison Mike
April 3rd, 2011
8:02 pm
Seriously wtf is slim shady good for?? Can’t guard solid pgs like lowry let alone top tier ones. Drew the tard takes out teague for an aimless hinrich, WTF.
bigdave
April 3rd, 2011
8:02 pm
glad to see LD go back with JEFF OK LD!
kirk wasnt doing much
Melvin
April 3rd, 2011
8:02 pm
OH my, LD put Teague back in the game for a 2nd appearence in the 1st half…