Atlanta Hawks: Playoff preview bonanza
Finally, it’s almost time to end the talking and start the games. Here is my take on the match ups and below are some series previews from around the Inter Webs for your pleasure:
Jason Walker (aka THHB), Peachtree Hoops
My serious summary is this: The Hawks have proven, on the court, that they match up very well with the Magic, even when the Hawks don’t bring their “A” game. If the team is able to defend Howard one-on-one and maintain the defensive blueprint for closing out their shooters, as they have consistently this season, then they can win 4 out of 7 games against this team and move on.
I believe they can and will do just that.
Final Prediction: Hawks in 7
Now, back to my padded white room.
Evan Dunlap, Orlando Pinstriped Post
“[Team X] will only go so far in the postseason as [Player Y] takes them” is an axiom in professional sports, and almost invariably [Player Y] is indisputably the team’s best player. As it applies to the Orlando Magic in this year’s playoffs against the Atlanta Hawks–or against anyone–Dwight Howard is [Player Y]. And it’s equally popular to say, in life at large, that axioms become popular because they are true.
That axiom does not apply in this case.
What Howard does for the Magic–end opponent possessions, score inside, space the floor for his teammates–will be there every night, no matter the opponent, based solely on the consistency and reliability his reputation and skill afford him. No, for the Magic to do anything of note this postseason, the task falls to Jameer Nelson.
More than any other player, even Howard, Orlando’s diminutive point guard makes the team go offensively. Nelson’s skill in running the pick-and-roll, as either a driver or shooter, fits perfectly in coach Stan Van Gundy’s pick-and-roll-heavy approach, while his ability to hit jumpers off the catch helps space the floor and enables him to play off the ball if necessary. It’s true against all teams.
There will be elbows, there will be bruises, there will be complaints about the refereeing, there will be technical fouls. This series will be tucked away among the least-attractive television time slots, but it could be the tightest matchup of the first round in the East. Atlanta will make things ugly, but it can’t hold Howard down in every game, and Orlando has enough outside shooting to make the Hawks pay for giving Howard too much attention. Magic in six.
Kurt Helin, Pro Basketball Talk
Jamal Crawford: Put simply, Atlanta need scoring off the bench so they need Crawford. They really need last-season’s Crawford, who operated out of isolation sets and simple pin-downs to get him free. This season Larry Drew made the Hawks offense more complex and Crawford has been one of the guys struggling to adjust. They need him now.
The Magic aren’t much different from this Hawks team. The same Hawks team that’s two months away from auctioning off Josh Smith and conceding that the current roster just isn’t good enough to compete in the East. Orlando’s got Dwight instead of Joe Johnson, so things don’t appear quite as dire, but the pieces around Dwight are even worse than Atlanta’s supporting cast. So, split the difference, I guess? The Pick: Orlando in 6.
David Thorpe and Anthony Macri, ESPN.com/NBA Scouts Inc.
The Hawks barely limped into the postseason, playing under .500 basketball for a stretch coming in, and having lost six games in a row. While the Magic have not exactly been on a tear themselves, their recent results were significantly better than those in Atlanta. However, the way these two teams have matched up throughout the season would suggest an entirely different result. How these competing bits of conventional wisdom interact will yield the winner in this series, one that should be competitive and hotly contested.
Prediction: Magic in six
Video previews:
Trey Kerby, The Basketball Jones
Josh Robbins and Brian Schmitz, Orlando Sentinel
Dwight Howard and various media types, NBA.com
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
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191 comments Add your comment
darrell starks
April 16th, 2011
9:47 am
If the hawks are going have any success in playoffs 2 things must do.
1.Big body defense in the paint, who fit that COLLINS, not HORFORD but COLLINS.
2.Easy transition point of turnover or defense rebounding, who fit that TEAGUE, not HINRICH but TEAGUE.
hawks in 6 if LD follow this instructions.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!
J from the A
April 16th, 2011
10:44 am
superiorblogman
April 15th, 2011
8:53 pm
“[snip] [trade proposals]:
Hinrich, Marvin, Zaza for Kamen and Mo Williams
Hinrich, Marvin, Zaza for Al Jefferson and Devin Harris
Hinrich, Marvin, Zaza for Rashard Lewis and Javale McGee”
Except it is hard to see how any of these trades make the Hawks better. Maybe the Jefferson, Harris trade, but then the Hawks would become even more loaded with undersized big men. Kaman is washed up and injury-prone; it is hard to see how Mo Williams would be [much] of an upgrade. McGee and Lewis? That’s a winning combo! A mediocre center (albeit one that can block shots and has an upside) and one of the league’s worst contracts will definitely make the Hawks a championship contender for years to come! All three trades also make the Hawks bench even shallower than it already is.
Dwight and Orlando may find themselves in a Carmello-eque sitation. Perhaps Dwight will list Atlanta as one of the teams he would be willing to sign an extension with if he was trade. If we want to dream a dream that has at least a (long shot) of coming true, let’s dream the Dwight Howard dream.
J from the A
April 16th, 2011
10:45 am
On topic: Atlanta in 6
J from the A
April 16th, 2011
10:45 am
F it! Hawks in 5.
Double Zero Eight
April 16th, 2011
11:12 am
We will know in the first 10 minutes if the Hawks stand
a chance of winning the first game. If they get behind by
double digits within that time frame, they will give up.
Booo!
April 16th, 2011
11:16 am
I think our big rotation for Dwight should be:
Collins, Etan, Zaza, Horford(or maybe hilton?)
From what i’ve seen, Etan is stronger and gives Dwight more resistance and fits than Zaza.
Booo!
April 16th, 2011
11:19 am
They can’t continue to keep falling behiend anymore. Orlando will NOT let us back in the game…..this is not the regular season anymore.
Kirk needs to Post up Jameer.
Jimmy Jam
April 16th, 2011
11:20 am
This series will be over in exactly 8 days on Easter Sunday, if not for travel and off dates it would be over in 4 days, The Hawks are trotting out a worse line up than last year’s playoff team with a rookie coach at that. The Magic are waaaaayyyy improved and will embarrass the Hawks again. Next!!!
lewis
April 16th, 2011
11:37 am
If the Hawks win game 1 the series will go to 7, do not know who will win / if our players health can handle a 7 game series. If not I gotta say Magic in 6.
Rusty
April 16th, 2011
11:44 am
Knicks Amari goal let’s go all the way. JJ says don’t blame me.
vava74
April 16th, 2011
11:45 am
Najeh,
I am glad that my “Jamal Watch” produced another believer in the negative influence that Jamal has on our play (both ends of the floor).
Again, I am not a Jamal hater, simply consider him to be a liability when he is on the floor for 30 minutes and in particular as a PG, or when LD uses a small line up to close the 3rd quarter and for the whole 4th quarter looking for offense and ends up with yet another dud.
His one dimensional game (all offense and all one on one) cannot warrant more than 10-20 minutes per on a contender with his minutes carefully monitored and managed depending on production and match ups.
Also, his offense is mostly productive against reserves. I wish I could find updated stats but his per minute averages in the first and second quarters must AT LEAST DOUBLE his averages in the 4th.
On Jamal’s defense, one of the problems that we have been experiencing is that is usually comes in late in the first and in the second to play with Zaza which amplifies his horrible D.
A porous perimeter defender paired with an interior player who does not swat shots on help defense and generally plays small at the rim is a disastrous combo.
Our roster has good serviceable bench players. Nothing to be boisterous about but sufficiently good to contribute on several areas of the game.
The issue is how to combine them.
I know that these were only official pick up games but Etan showed some ruggedness down low that we don’t have with neither Zaza nor Collins (who has been very good this season when match ups favor him = Howard, Bogut, …).
Come on, how many guys topped 4 blocked shots for us during the whole season (season best = sb)?
Smoove (7 sb), Al (7 sb) and Etan (4 sb).
Zaza had a season best 2 blocks twice, Powell 1 sb, Collins 1 sb. Even Teague managed 3 against Portland.
IMO we should have had better crafted rotations carefully devised to mix and match the roster’s specific characteristics favorably instead of combining players whose characteristics mesh badly.
vava74
April 16th, 2011
11:51 am
from AJC “Coach Larry Drew’s rotation has fluctuated for much of the season, but he said three reserves would play regular minutes: guard Jamal Crawford, forward Marvin Williams and center Zaza Pachulia. He said Wilkins and guard Jeff Teague also could play roles.”
The above is spelled: Jamal at the PG reserve slot, ORL in 5.
lewis
April 16th, 2011
11:55 am
from AJC “Coach Larry Drew’s rotation has fluctuated for much of the season, but he said three reserves would play regular minutes: guard Jamal Crawford, forward Marvin Williams and center Zaza Pachulia. He said Wilkins and guard Jeff Teague also could play roles.”
Game. over. At least Drew will be fired.
lewis
April 16th, 2011
11:59 am
Hawks coach Larry Drew begins quest to save his job tonight
Kurt Helin Apr 16, 2011, 11:36 AM EDT
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Larry Drew’s seat got hot fast in Atlanta.
Which is on one way unfair — they gave him the exact same team that had been making the playoffs, getting to the second round and getting crushed and expected him to turn that water into wine. Not happening. But those were the expectations because the Hawks front office paid a lot of money last offseason to keep that roster together, a big extension for Al Horford (smart move) and the biggest contract anyone got last summer to Joe Johnson (not so smart).
The Hawks got worse under Drew. They dropped from 53 to 44 wins. Their defense was basically the same but their offense went from an ugly isolation-heavy series of sets that worked to a more fluid ball movement offense that players never fully bought into or executed and got worse. They went from 111.9 points per 100 possessions (second in NBA) last season to 106.1 this season (20th in NBA).
Add to that dissention in the locker room with Josh Smith reportedly leading the insurrection and you’ve got problems.
Those problems are not all Drew’s making, but he will take the fall if the Hawks don’t do better in the playoffs.
So tonight in Orlando Drew and the Hawks begin the campaign to save Drew’s job. If they can win the series over Orlando — who embarrassingly swept the Hawks out of the playoffs last season — Drew stands a chance of staying on. If not, he could well be gone reports Marc Spears at Yahoo.
Which means Larry Drew’s job rests in the hands of Jason Collins. Scary.
Drew was the top assistant of former coach Mike Woodson and the Hawks were able to hire him on the cheap (he is due just $1.5 million next season). Again, if they wanted change why bring in the top assistant of the guy you just let go? He made changes but the players were not on board. It all echoes the Hawks long-standing problem of overvaluing the talent they have in house, thinking what they have is better than it really is.
And unless Collins is better than I think he is — he was effective during the regular season keeping Howard out of the post but the Magic are going to 1/5 pick and roll him to death this series — the Hawks may make a change. And Hawks fans should hope it’s the first of a few changes that shake up the roster
lewis
April 16th, 2011
12:02 pm
If we play through Josh in the post I think we will succeed, hes become a lot more patient passing the ball back out lately, not sure if its his knee or what
darrell starks
April 16th, 2011
12:23 pm
I cosign that lewis, BUT HERE IS SOMTHING BETTER IF LD PLAY JOSH IN THE POST AT THE 3 HE SCORE AT WILL.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
cp
April 16th, 2011
12:29 pm
LD has no clue. I want the Hawks to win but I have no confidence in him making the correct decisions.
Booo!
April 16th, 2011
12:29 pm
Etan has a lot more spring in his step than he did at the beginning of the season. I think all that time off allowed his body (specifically his knees) to heal and recover.
Booo!
April 16th, 2011
1:03 pm
Is Vince Carter a UFA this offseason? I certainly wouldnt overpay for the Hawk-killer but he would shore up the wing and give JJ another Robin to play alongside.
Buddy Grizzard
April 16th, 2011
1:32 pm
KevinM,,,dmaryb we doing this thing at taco mac tonight? Anybody else want to meet up for the game?
Buddy Grizzard
April 16th, 2011
1:34 pm
Phillips Arena taco mac was the plan if anybody’s interested.
Buddy Grizzard
April 16th, 2011
1:35 pm
Boo, VC has a $4 million buyout that the Suns will almost certainly exercise, rather than pay his full salary. That would make him UFA so stay tuned.
bigdave
April 16th, 2011
1:37 pm
commentary mentioning Rose wanting to become more vocal..
im sorry, but this matters in leadership..
you dont have to be a raah… raah, beat my chest type to do this.
jason
April 16th, 2011
1:39 pm
We’re gonna miss u LD. Now hire a God damn coach that knows how to run a 50+ winning ball club!! Mike Brown? Jeff Van Gundy?
Buddy Grizzard
April 16th, 2011
1:56 pm
Both top of my list as well jason.
dacheesecakeman
April 16th, 2011
2:02 pm
wow Indiana looking good so far!! Still a 4 quarter game, but they looking impressive so far
The Game Has Changed
April 16th, 2011
2:04 pm
JeJe-If I hear you talking about firing LD im gonna scream, cry, and yell. Man, can we wait until the series is over. Please playboy. Stop hating.
Ernest
April 16th, 2011
2:08 pm
Just heard Shaq will miss game 1 of the playoffs along with the fact that he missed 45 games this past season. In hindsight, I wonder if the Hawks made the right ‘move’ in not signing him
.
The Game Has Changed
April 16th, 2011
2:08 pm
We need to send Howard to the line 40 times. Thats only 20-25 points. 6 fouls for Za Za, 6 for Collins, 6 for Thomas, 6 for Horford, 6 for Armstrong, 6 for Powell, and 4 for Josh
northcyde
April 16th, 2011
2:12 pm
And unless Collins is better than I think he is — he was effective during the regular season keeping Howard out of the post but the Magic are going to 1/5 pick and roll him to death this series — the Hawks may make a change. And Hawks fans should hope it’s the first of a few changes that shake up the roster.
If that happens, this is a BIG PROBLEM, because that would put extreme pressure on the PG to fight through those screens and disrupt the flow of the pick and roll. Hinrich better play extremely tough if this happens. They’ll kill Jamal in this scenario, if he plays the point. And while Teague may be effective in staying in front of Nelson, he may be a little too small to fight through a Howard pick.
Jason better play extremely smart if this happens. Keep that body on Howard, while not giving Nelson a free pass to the hole. He’ll need help too, which means either Al or Smith will have to rotate into the lane to either stop the penetration or to get the defensive rebound. But that may leave multiple shooters open on the outside.
I hate to say this, but the adjustment to this may have to be JJ guarding Nelson, just so you have a big body in front of Nelson that could possibly fight through a pick and roll.
Indiana looks GREAT in this game so far. Darren Collison stepping up to the challenge and offsetting the production that Rose is giving the Bulls.
Booo!
April 16th, 2011
2:16 pm
BG, Thanks. I’ve always been a vince fan. It would be awesome if we could get him and a Big in here.
It’s crazy that Indiana is playing all young guyss! That could’ve been us if we kept JC2. If indy doest re-sign Frank Vogel he needs to come to the ATL! Or maybe th HCof the Butler Bulldogs, he’s good too. Or Jeff Van Gundy.
northcyde
April 16th, 2011
2:19 pm
No Ernest. AT least the Celtics have the hope that Shaq will play for them in the playoffs. We have nothing of the sort here. Shaq’s size alone would’ve been a great addition to this team. The dude doesn’t give up easy shots in the post to mediocre post players. And the great ones like Howard have to work extremely hard to get thier points vs Shaq.
Then on the other end, if Shaq gets the ball down deep in the post, you still have no choice but to foul him, because he’s going to score 70% of the time when he gets the ball at the rim. We don’t have a player like that here.
A frontline of Shaq – Horford – Smith would’ve made this team EXTREMELY dangerous. Even with Shaq’s injuries, I would love just to have the option to put that out on the floor.
And nice to see Jalen Rose back working again. Glad that ESPN didn’t punish the dude too much for the stupid DUI charge that he got.
Sleepy
April 16th, 2011
2:24 pm
The Vava and his its jamal crawfords fault is absolutely hilarious and then he claims hes not a hater but all hes done is rag on jamal for months now lol
“I dont hate Jamal but he is reason we lose his points mean nothing ”
Jamal should not play more than `10-20 minutes if we want to win roflmao
How can people take stuff seriously ?
If we cut jamal right now and he could sign with any team he wanted every single playoff team right now would play him more than 20 mpg .
This is how I know people like Vava dont actually follow the nba and for all there numbers crunching simply dont understand it .
Sautee
April 16th, 2011
2:29 pm
northcyde,
All the stats in the world won’t help convince me that Joe doesn’t take plays off on D REGULARLY. That eye test was passed with flying colors, and not only this year, IMO. And even more irritating to me is how often he loafed after he had turned the ball over. Like he was pouting or something. Vava had one thing right… when things turn ugly for the Hawks, Joe looks like he becomes autistic, withdrawn and sullen.
You can say all day that you think he’s an elite defender, but to me, elite defender means something different. Like all-out effort, which I rarely see from Joe. Just my two cents.
I WILL say however, that due to the fact that Joe is mostly guarding smaller players, he is an effective defensive player WHEN HE DECIDES HE WANTS TO BE. Not elite, in my book. But effective when he wants to be.
If he takes possessions off against the Magic, I’ll be sure to point it out. And if he makes a good play, I’ll be just as quick to laud that as well.
Sleepy
April 16th, 2011
2:30 pm
Bulls losing at the half because they dont really have enough scorers .
Pacers ran all those active bigs at Boozer and he has 3 fouls already his backup has two fouls as well
Hibberts size has bothered Noah and kept him at bay on the offensive glass
Deng has been a non factor as well as I think the size/quick combo of Granger/Gorge has bothered him
and last but not least Derrick Rose needs to man up and play some defense
cp
April 16th, 2011
2:39 pm
The Pacers are looking good even with Granger struggling. The Bulls are really missing another scorer.
cp
April 16th, 2011
2:42 pm
Well Granger has it going now and Boozer cant stay on the floor
Ernest
April 16th, 2011
2:42 pm
Good perspective, northcyde! Shaq at 50% could have made a BIG difference in our team this year.
brigadierjerry
April 16th, 2011
2:47 pm
Even though Bulls will probably win series Bulls reminds me of a little better offensive type team of the Sixers 2001 team with Allen Iverson. Bulls have Rose but lack of another big time 2nd option is hurting the team. Boozer is very overrated to me and Noah is not a scorer.
cp
April 16th, 2011
2:50 pm
Rose cant buy a 3. At this point he should probably stop launching them and go back to attacking the rim.
brigadierjerry
April 16th, 2011
3:02 pm
Rose game is very similar to how Iverson plays very ball dominant point guard player. Other players hard to get in flow of offense. I am not sure that will win a championship in the long run unless you have another scoring option
Sleepy
April 16th, 2011
3:03 pm
If I was the pacers coach Id seriously consider going zone for a minute or two in the 4th just o try and disrupt what they want to do with Rose since no one else is making shots .
MannyT
April 16th, 2011
3:04 pm
Cosign what niremetal said
http://blogs.ajc.com/hawks/2011/04/15/atlanta-hawks-playoff-preview-bonanza/?cxntfid=blogs_hawks#comment-197445
The Hawks are only consistent at being inconsistent. It is their greatest strength & weakness. Like F. Gump (and his momma) said Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.
Good luck Hawks
northcyde
April 16th, 2011
3:11 pm
Sautee . . . take plays off? LOL . . this is the NBA man.
Even Kobe technically “takes plays off”. Players even take plays off on offense. The difference between the guys who can defend, and the guys who can’t, is if they can slow down or stop somebody when they need to. That’s the time in which the elite defenders make their money. Not in the 2nd quarter of a game in which they may give a guy an open jumper to catch his breath.
I’ve never seen JJ take a play off in the 4th quarter, when the game can be decided by a defensive stop. His off the ball defense isn’t stellar, I’ll agree to that.
But it’s crazy how people talk crap about a guy who has to guard 3 positions on a given night ( PG, SG, SF ), and say that he “takes plays off” defensively. 3 different positions. 3 different speeds and strengths.
People forget that one of the few playoff adjustments that Woody DID MAKE during last year’s playoffs, was to put JJ on Brandon Jennings. Anytime some perimeter player is lighting us up, JJ is called upon to stop him . . or he decides himself to try to stop him.
LOL @ taking plays off. That dude has had to guard PGs and sometimes even PFs, because other people on this team can’t do it.
But it’s like I say. People see what they want to see sometimes. He doesn’t take a charge, or get a block, or get 2 steals a game, so that makes him a mediocre defender I guess. But everytime the dude goes out of a game, things seem to fall apart. I wonder why that is?
Jason Richardson in 2 games vs the Hawks when matched up with JJ
3 – 8 FG . . 9 pts
1 – 7 FG . . 3 pts
Total: 4 – 15 FG ( 27% FG ) . . 12 pts ( 6 ppg )
That’s a guy averaging 14 points and shooting 43% FG while a member of the Magic . . and he’s been relegated as a NON-FACTOR by Mr. Johnson the last 2 games. As long as that continues to happen, we’ll be right there. That’s Orlando’s 2nd leading scorer folks.
Sleep on JJ’s defense if you guys want.
bigdave
April 16th, 2011
3:19 pm
lol look @ DENG!
drmaryb (*_-)
April 16th, 2011
3:20 pm
Northcyde
Amen Bruh, it is usually the Michelin-Man body types that like to call out athletes when it comes to stamina and agility plays, like on defense.
I tried to play Basketball in college, it was so hard that I developed a new found respect for the game. It is a lot easier than it looks to play.
Much like Tennis, which is my game BTW. I played 4 years in college on a Title IX scholarship. Basketball is the #2 best conditioned athlete of all sports behind Tennis.
This is not a lazy man’s game.
bigdave
April 16th, 2011
3:21 pm
PSYCHO T!
northcyde
April 16th, 2011
3:22 pm
Haha @ Psycho T.
Please Marvin . . give us a performance like that tonight. The dude is knocking down every midrange jumper he takes.
terrell
April 16th, 2011
3:23 pm
Hansborough on fire. lol. Beat them Bulls!
Dre
April 16th, 2011
3:23 pm
Lol at the fans on Chicago blog saying they want to get the Hawks in round two.