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
8:03 pm
lol.. thats right Jeff.. damn settling go to the cup.
cp
April 3rd, 2011
8:03 pm
Teague comes back in and scores
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
8:03 pm
Teague Party Movement in full effect!
Prison Mike
April 3rd, 2011
8:03 pm
Okay I think he’s(drew) seeing some light…..
Mike W
April 3rd, 2011
8:03 pm
teague back in all ready,am i seeing things did LD just do that,somebody pinch me
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
8:04 pm
Teague might have got bailed out on that one…
Melvin
April 3rd, 2011
8:04 pm
That Lowry is a tough little fella….
bigdave
April 3rd, 2011
8:04 pm
Poop im sorry but if Al continues to take his game perimeter, whats the difference? except maybe Andrea can create his own shot and has a good back to the basket game..
cp
April 3rd, 2011
8:05 pm
the bench has been big
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
8:06 pm
They really have those mics on the nets in Houston turned up pretty high.
bigdave
April 3rd, 2011
8:07 pm
whew
sh!d
sTART JEFF!
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
8:07 pm
Did I just see a Hawk point guard split a double team and dish for an easy layup?
Melvin
April 3rd, 2011
8:07 pm
Look at Teague breaking down the defense…
cp
April 3rd, 2011
8:07 pm
good move and pass Teague
Mike W
April 3rd, 2011
8:07 pm
teague good p/r with williams and nice pass,Teague!!!
Jae Evolution
April 3rd, 2011
8:08 pm
Teague is the future.
Melvin
April 3rd, 2011
8:08 pm
I didnt like that last shot from Joe….
bigdave
April 3rd, 2011
8:08 pm
nice to see Jeff directing traffic on that Joe iso 3..
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
8:08 pm
Why the f-ck is Joe taking iso 3’s over Chase Budinger with 8 seconds left…
Rev in Tampa
April 3rd, 2011
8:08 pm
Rockets Commentators said, “Jeff Teague is on a ROLL!”
bigdave
April 3rd, 2011
8:08 pm
that dime from Jeff to Marvin was pure filth..
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
8:09 pm
40 points in that quarter? Damn.
Brad
April 3rd, 2011
8:10 pm
HAHA josh “credit to me”
cp
April 3rd, 2011
8:10 pm
great first half. balanced scoring, good defense, and bench production. lets hope to see more of the same for the second half
Jae Evolution
April 3rd, 2011
8:10 pm
Someone has to get Joe’s head on straight, you don’t pull up for three with enough time left to make a play, why not call for a pick, why not attempt to drive past Chase, why not size him up and pump fake maybe a foul, anything man not that.
Prison Mike
April 3rd, 2011
8:11 pm
Hinrich is 4 for his last 18, he should be picking up his game just two weeks before the playoffs. Of course since drew rallied for the trade for him, teague will only get minutes when hinrich is useless.
Rev in Tampa
April 3rd, 2011
8:12 pm
Raptors up by 2 over Magic with 5 minutes to go in 4th quarter.
lewis
April 3rd, 2011
8:14 pm
lol @ shaq getting hurt again after 5 min of pt
superiorblogman
April 3rd, 2011
8:15 pm
What exactly does Jamal do that warrants him getting so much more playing time than Teague? Finally, good showing after being really bad in his last game by Teague. Open game fits him to the Tee.
davidc
April 3rd, 2011
8:17 pm
Someone has to work with Josh Smih on his interview skills. They are poor a best. You would think somebody around tthere would have noticed or maybe just ignorning he matter. With his income, he can afford to pay for speech training. I know I am not the only one o take note of this. If the Hawk are to continue to succed this mus be corrected..
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
8:17 pm
Thanks for putting me on to the ORL_TOR game, Rev in Tampa. Wouldn’t have noticed otherwise. Orlando was up comfortably earlier and I figured that game was over.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
8:18 pm
Dominique Wilkins can’t talk and he’s a f-cking analyst. I think Smoove can play forward just fine without being able to give good interviews.
Melvin
April 3rd, 2011
8:19 pm
I dont like the fact that we allow the Rockets to chip 5pts off the lead to end the first half…
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
8:22 pm
17 boards in 31 minutes for Reggie Evans; 12 points on 6/8 shooting for Barbosa in that TOR-ORL game. Jamal for those two was one of the many Jamal-related trades I thought would work for the Hawks at the trade deadline.
Not to take away from Jamal’s solid game tonight of course.
O'Brien
April 3rd, 2011
8:23 pm
7 Hawks with at least 6 points. JJ took 8 shots, and was fairly efficient. Plus he was more decisive with some of his moves. I hope he keeps it up.
And Teague looks more aggressive out there, so maybe he is gaining more confidence…
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
8:25 pm
There you go Joe. They can’t guard you in the post.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
8:26 pm
Hawks playing dumb. Not communicating on defense and a bad shot by Smoove on the previous possession.
cp
April 3rd, 2011
8:27 pm
terrible defense to start the third quarter
O'Brien
April 3rd, 2011
8:27 pm
Not a good start to the 3rd. Why is Josh taking that 3?
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
8:28 pm
Magic down 4 with 24 seconds left. They have given up like 8 offensive rebounds to the Raptors of all teams over the last 3 minutes of game play.
Sautee
April 3rd, 2011
8:29 pm
Yeah the Hawks will NEVER succeed if Josh is allowed to talk in public.
WTF????????????????
I’m blown away that someone could actually equate on court success with articulation.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
8:29 pm
There you go Hawks. They look so much better coming out of that timeout on both ends.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
8:29 pm
Kirk coming alive.
cp
April 3rd, 2011
8:29 pm
nice of you to join the game Hinrich
Prison Mike
April 3rd, 2011
8:29 pm
Shady is making shots…
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
8:30 pm
Magic on the verge of losing. Raptors up 4, at the line with 13 seconds left.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
8:31 pm
“I sure hope the hawks can beat a last place team.”
In fairness, this might be the best last place team in NBA history.
drmaryb (*_-)
April 3rd, 2011
8:32 pm
drmaryb (*_-)
The ANIHALATION of an Idiot! Part II
_______________
Idiot watch
April 3rd, 2011
10:19 am
Only an idiot would quote a blogger who is quoting a blogger who is quoting another blogger who says he has translated this paraphrase from coach rivers and then say it is evidence…
Where do they get these people from?
______________________
The Noose is laid .. Now, kicking the Chair!
A Real Blogger …..
Doesn’t have to make stuff up: here is my paraphrase versus the actual quote of a Boston Fan Blogger. One showing Al Love and one showing ZaZa disdain after we whupped that tail!
_____________
That was the gist of what Doc was saying. I read a blogger’s post from last night’s game, intimating that Al Horford has always been one of his favorite players, since his days at Florida. This blogger continued to say, “Al would look really good in Celtic green uniform.
Another blogger, took a dig at Zaza, calling him ZaZa “Gabor”. LOL! saying, he man handled them in the paint with his effective play.
__________________
Here is the actual quotes:
Pistolpete

It sounded like the C’s were playing at the Garden with all of the fans in Atlanta cheering for the Green Team.
Same ol’, same ol’…..back to back has not been kind to the C’s. They score 52 in the first half, then tank the 2nd half.
Al Horford….I really like this kid. I’ve been a fan of his since his college days at Florida, and always thought that he’d look good in Green.
Posted 1 day ago
Reply  Link  Abusive
hoopfan  
Its true Zza Zza Gabor had a good game , he is tough down on the block, always plays against the Celtics. Rajon missed a coulple of layups that if good would have ended the Hawks run. The Celtics are prey to teams that are physical underneath. I thought Jermaine contributed, and will only get better . Go Celtics
Posted 1 day ago
Reply  Link  Abusive
_________________
Again, I would say my paraphrase my pure memory is spot on!
Listen: Trolle, ID-Jacker, 17 people running inside the head:
I’m your lead dog – your only view is my tail-wagging azz!
No BONE for you!
cp
April 3rd, 2011
8:32 pm
smh wide open lane and Josh settles for the jumper
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
8:32 pm
Gotta contest those drives, Smoove…