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
James
April 4th, 2011
12:02 am
“Drop Step
Back to the Basket move
Bilateral hook shot
Base Line Jumper
Boxing Out
Pump Fake & Drive”
Al can already do most of these things. He has just about all of those moves in his arsenal, as it is. He just fails to use them on a consistent basis. However, what he really should work on is some counter moves in the post, and the ability to finish with his left hand. Those would be huge additions to his arsenal in the post, because as it stands today, his biggest limitation in the post is that he is unable to do much when opponents take away his strong hand (right). This often causes him to shoot a fadeaway jump shot. If he could develop finishing ability with his left off of the block, that would be excellent. The counter moves are something that all big men should work on, as well.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 4th, 2011
12:03 am
“Najeh, Al was not guarding Hayes tonight. He was guarding Scola, and Patterson (to a smaller extent). I don’t know why you keep bringing up his Hayes when talking about Al. That was not the matchup tonight that the Hawks went with Josh was matched up with Hayes. On the offensive end, Al was being defended by Hayes, but not vice versa.”
Huh? Al spent a TON of time on Hayes, especially in the first half, but even in the second. Not that Smoove did much better against Hayes, but Al was giving up boards to Hayes for a significant part of the game.
slimjr
April 4th, 2011
12:04 am
Al should take dance lessons, he has two left feet and no handle………………….Shoot….
drmaryb (*_-)
April 4th, 2011
12:04 am
* Al please do ONE thing on that list and what ever you do?
northcyde
April 4th, 2011
12:09 am
MJC
April 3rd, 2011
11:53 pm
@Get Real
You are going with the archaic argument that Centers shouldn’t try to move their game out of the paint. Olajuwon and Ewing were very good at bringing their games out and it allowed the paint to open up for their teammates.
*******************
But they both had post games as well. Ewing actually used to get criticized all the time for taking too many jumpers. And both were superior rebounders, who also had a pretty good rebounding PF playing alongside them. Ewing had Charles Oakley. Olajuwon had Otis Thorpe.
We got 2 very good PFs that tend to want to play on the outside, than the inside.
One of these guys are going to have to be the “tough guy”. We can’t have both of them being unwilling to mix it up on the inside on a consistent basis.
Start Zaza and let him be a garbage man, if one of those two aren’t willing to do the dirty work every night.
drmaryb (*_-)
April 4th, 2011
12:11 am
Like Amare Said, “he is not that type of player.”
northcyde
April 4th, 2011
12:11 am
LOL MJC. . . I’m a Lady Vols fan, so I’m not shedding any tears for a UCONN loss. I do respect their players though.
And you’re right. What is ESPN going to do with UCONN out of the tourney? They’ll downplay the Championship game now.
slimjr
April 4th, 2011
12:13 am
Hawks outscored by 19 in the third!!! Are you kidding me???? Houston should have been blown out by 25!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Playoffs in 2 weeks!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
northcyde
April 4th, 2011
12:16 am
slimjr
April 4th, 2011
12:01 am
Does anybody have the stat ref the Hawks record against West coast teams this year, I am guessing 4-12? 3-13?? I know its brutally pathetic…………………………
********************
Hawks are 13 – 16 vs the Western Conference
Last year we were 21 – 9
Thankfully, we only have one more game vs a West team . . but it’s against the biggest of the big boys . . San Antonio.
Rusty
April 4th, 2011
12:19 am
Nortcyde yea jj 3 turnovers late in the game didnt hurt us & yes you were right about Joe we would lose if he doesn’t take 20 shots in the game, he only got 19 if he would have gotten one more shotbwe definitely would have won. Too bad he made those 3 turnovers he might have been able to get that last shot.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 4th, 2011
12:20 am
New blog up
northcyde
April 4th, 2011
12:21 am
LOL . . so ESPN is going to carry the entire UCONN press conference? Come on now. I’m a women’s basketball fan, but they’re only doing this because its UCONN. I bet when Notre Dame gets to the podium, they’ll show them for 5 minutes.
Just make sure they show Skylar talk. Oops . . she’s only 20. But still, show her talk.
brigadierjerry
April 4th, 2011
12:24 am
But they both had post games as well. Ewing actually used to get criticized all the time for taking too many jumpers. And both were superior rebounders, who also had a pretty good rebounding PF playing alongside them. Ewing had Charles Oakley. Olajuwon had Otis Thorpe.
We got 2 very good PFs that tend to want to play on the outside, than the inside.
One of these guys are going to have to be the “tough guy”. We can’t have both of them being unwilling to mix it up on the inside on a consistent basis.
Start Zaza and let him be a garbage man, if one of those two aren’t willing to do the dirty work every night.
northclyde great post above and point. One of them has to be the dirty tough” guy like what Oakley and Thorpe used to be otherwise start Zsa Zsa as you have stated. Every championship type team has one of those guys. Boston has Garnett. Lakers have Bynum, SPurs Duncan Blair even Okc Ibaka but who do the Hawks have?Zsa Zsa?He is ok but he isnt a starter it has to come from Horford or Smith.
James
April 4th, 2011
12:28 am
“Huh? Al spent a TON of time on Hayes, especially in the first half, but even in the second. Not that Smoove did much better against Hayes, but Al was giving up boards to Hayes for a significant part of the game.”
Al was not matched up against Hayes for the majority of this game on the defensive end (i.e. Al was not assigned to defending Hayes as a primary assignment in this game). Al was assigned to Scola, while Josh was assigned to Hayes. The only times when Al was matched up against Hayes was on switches or defensive rotations, during the brief periods where L.D. put him on him to try and slow him down (primarily, late in the second quarter), briefly while Zaza was in the game, and on a few selective occasions down the stretch of the fourth. Hayes was not Al’s primary assignment. For the most part, Al was defending Scola and Patterson. He defended Hayes for less than a quarter, total. I even double-checked the footage.
If you are talking about Hayes defending Al, then, yes, Al spent a “TON” of time with Hayes on him, but not the other way around. If you don’t believe me, take a look at the footage. Even the play-by-play, to a smaller extent will illustrate what I am talking about.
Also, as far as Hayes vs. Al tonight, Hayes didn’t score much at all when Al was on him, but Hayes definitely caused rebounding problems for everyone, including Al.
At any rate, regardless of who defended him, Hayes outplayed every big man in this game, which is disappointing for the Hawks.
Not Sund
April 4th, 2011
12:30 am
The Hawks played alright today. They scored a 109 points without any foolishness from Josh.
Houston is tougher to play, that small lineup with some pretty good players can work until a team has time to game plan for it.
lets get the season over with and get the playoffs started.
tjhook
April 4th, 2011
1:20 am
Lol@drmaryb’s effort to minimize her critics. Can’t let you ignore the pain though, doctor. Horford has gotten a double-double in 35 games this year so he is banging down low. The prevailing concern of this team IS what is the order of prioritization when it comes to offensive strategy. Is it more important to have our one on one specialists get warmed up or develop the offense with some persistent inside – out action. I believe in Plan B, but that does mean tweaking the roster (goodbye Crawford) and definitely goodbye Marvin.
Slimjr
April 4th, 2011
2:39 pm
“Get a Clue! Al has disappeared since signing that BIG contract to play as a BIG, not a SMALL! He is too big tp be shooting soft jumpers, at leats Laimbeer banged and decapitated little guards before he stepped outside for his deadly jumper. Al doesn’t even consider moving towards the paint anymore. Next year he said he’s gonna’ add the 3pt shot, is that what you want too see. Joe said, “we are ALL jump shooters. It is what it is, man.” That was not a compliment – it is a damned shame.
How would you like it if your big dck shrunk? Ask your lady?” ouch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!lol
Thats sum classic ish from the one and only drmaryb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Al for Jokiem
Coach D
April 4th, 2011
7:39 pm
To the tune of “Give Peace a Chance” (by John Lennon).
“All we are saying, is give Teague a chance….”