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
drmaryb (*_-)
April 3rd, 2011
9:12 pm
Were too busy to feed you. Google it! Its the same feed as always!!!!!!!!!!
Prison Mike
April 3rd, 2011
9:12 pm
Needed that point.
Wabe
April 3rd, 2011
9:13 pm
His IQ?
Really? How much of an IQ do you need when you just bring the ball up the court, call the play, and make the pass to the guy who the play is called for?
Truth is, Hinrich’s role with this club is no different from Bibbys. He just brings the ball up the court and hands the ball off. His defense is definitely an upgrade from Bibby’s, but that’s all we’ve gotten in this trade. A slightly better defender.
Teague’s defense, ability to penetrate, his ability to create for others, his ability to get these guys running are all reasons he’s a better fit at PG for this team…
steve
April 3rd, 2011
9:13 pm
well that was lucky
O'Brien
April 3rd, 2011
9:13 pm
What is jamal doing? His tricky dribbling gets him in trouble sometimes…
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
9:13 pm
Lucky. Potential disaster turns into something good.
Sautee
April 3rd, 2011
9:14 pm
3 wasted possessions in the last 4 min.
Prison Mike
April 3rd, 2011
9:14 pm
Joe was just complaining a week ago about who should get the ball in these situations, we obviously know he’s not the one.
steve
April 3rd, 2011
9:15 pm
what the heck was that jamal
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
9:15 pm
Terrible coming out of the timeout.
Prison Mike
April 3rd, 2011
9:15 pm
Jamal is horrible.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
9:15 pm
Kirk letting Lowry get in the lane and open it up for Scola.
Wabe
April 3rd, 2011
9:15 pm
What Lowry just did there is what Hinrich doesn’t do, but it’s what Teague can do.
Penetrate, draw the defense, dish to a wide open Scola…
Melvin
April 3rd, 2011
9:16 pm
Don’t know why we running a play for Jamal at this point in the game… He should be the second option off of ball reversal…
Prison Mike
April 3rd, 2011
9:16 pm
Even the houston commentators knew joe or jamal was going to blow the game.
steve
April 3rd, 2011
9:16 pm
ballgame
bigdave
April 3rd, 2011
9:16 pm
Lowry killing Kirk all game.
LD puts him in, for no reason. just to have his starters minus Marv plus Jamal in.
dribble penetration killed us all game.
offense over defense..
good game Josh.. Joe.. Jeff.
O'Brien
April 3rd, 2011
9:16 pm
Wow. Coming out of a timeout, jamal takes a contested 3? I know the clock was winding down, but horrible shot…
And how many open shots has the Rockets got from the Rockets guard and their penetration?
I wonder if LD should have stuck with Teague instead of going back to Kirk…
Sleepy
April 3rd, 2011
9:16 pm
shot clock running down
Art Vandelay
April 3rd, 2011
9:16 pm
Sigh… the iso.
I don’t like it… but you live by the sword you die by the sword.
lewis
April 3rd, 2011
9:17 pm
im over hinrich
bigdave
April 3rd, 2011
9:17 pm
STARTING POWER FORWARD
JOSH SMITH.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
9:18 pm
Now would be a good time to bring Teague in. You’re fouling on the catch anyway — might as well put someone in there who might get a steal on the inbound.
Good post up by Smoove. Don’t know why they didn’t go to that more often down the stretch.
Melvin
April 3rd, 2011
9:18 pm
Hinrich is/was clearly struggling to guard Lowry and LD continue to let him play instead of playing Teague…
O'Brien
April 3rd, 2011
9:18 pm
Score is 109-107, and Nique said both teams have played really tough defense…SMH
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
9:18 pm
I don’t blame Jamal for that shot coming out of the timeout as much as I blame LD. Gotta get the ball inside somehow on that. Once the clock was at 6 and Jamal was at half court he had no choice.
Wabe
April 3rd, 2011
9:18 pm
Don’t get me wrong, I like Kirk Hinrich.
But, I just call it like I see it. And truth is, I really don’t see Kirk bringing that much more to the table than Teague. In fact, I think minus the jumper, it’s a no brainer that Teague’s game brings more gives this team more both offensively and defensively.
Melvin
April 3rd, 2011
9:19 pm
Now he put Teague in the game with 20 seconds left… SMH
ceeCee
April 3rd, 2011
9:19 pm
This game is on LD! Whast the point of having a point guard if he is not going to facilitate the last minute of the game! Joe an JC are not good decision makers down the stretch! No matter if its Teague or Hinrich….they dont even bring the ball down the florr for the selfish play of the other guards. No young player can develop their games under these guys!
ceeCee
April 3rd, 2011
9:20 pm
NOW TEAGUE?!!!??? This guy is hilarous.(LD)
bigdave
April 3rd, 2011
9:21 pm
is Kirk high?
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
9:21 pm
Good drive by Joe, but why the hell did it take so long for them to foul Martin?
Prison Mike
April 3rd, 2011
9:21 pm
Good god that’s a slow caucassin boy.
Wabe
April 3rd, 2011
9:21 pm
I’ll never understand this organization…
steve
April 3rd, 2011
9:22 pm
maybe thats why teague doesnt play
welikebaseball2
April 3rd, 2011
9:22 pm
Good old Hawks…wins over Orlando & Boston, then a loss to Houston. I’d call myself for overreacting if this type of inconsistency wasn’t a sickening pattern.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 3rd, 2011
9:22 pm
LD did that on purpose. Those 10 seconds took Teague over 20 minutes and serve to f-ck up my Teague update.
Marcus
April 3rd, 2011
9:22 pm
looks like the piss-poor scoring in the 3Q cost us …
can’t see the game, but I would guess it was iso-heavy or jumper-palooza that gave teh 14 point swing in the quarter (up 9 at half, down 5 by end of 3Q).
cp
April 3rd, 2011
9:23 pm
terrible coaching down the stretch
Prison Mike
April 3rd, 2011
9:23 pm
I’m guessing no timeouts to advance the ball.
Worldwide Clyde
April 3rd, 2011
9:23 pm
Teague was fouled
bigdave
April 3rd, 2011
9:25 pm
lol @ Poop..
he dirty aint he.. lol
Wabe
April 3rd, 2011
9:25 pm
Ok, I’ll admit, he shouldn’t have taken that shot.
But Jeff Teague still should start.
And Josh Smith, I know you’re not getting upset about Teague taking a dumb 3 pointer…
Prison Mike
April 3rd, 2011
9:25 pm
I wish drew owes a former ref money so he can get the ass whopped
bigdave
April 3rd, 2011
9:26 pm
Rockets pieces go together nicely..
not to mention well coached.
Wabe
April 3rd, 2011
9:27 pm
Pink Slip,
Your point is valid. His IQ isn’t where it should be. Not because he’s *dumb*, but because he’s *young*.
If coach would play the kid from day one, he’d be a lot smarter and wiser out there. Vets only become vets with time on the court. Everybody makes dumb mistakes, younger guys tend to make them more. Not because they’re dumb, but because they lack experience.
That last play right there exemplifies that. He’s not dumb, he’s young.
And big whoop, we lost a regular season game. We’re already locked into the 5-seed as it is. Who f’n cares?
lewis
April 3rd, 2011
9:27 pm
hinrich looked good coming off the bench with teague starting
Worldwide Clyde
April 3rd, 2011
9:27 pm
Teague’s 3 pointer > Jamal Crawford’s 3 at the end of the clock
bigdave
April 3rd, 2011
9:27 pm
welp.
Braves hit the ball well today.
Prison Mike
April 3rd, 2011
9:27 pm
Drew obviously blew all the timeouts, what an amateurish coach.