Bulls at Atlanta Hawks Game 3: Real home advantage again?
The postseason Hawks have defied a lot of the expectations created by the regular-season Hawks.
The thought was they can’t win if they don’t make their favored long 2s but after making 43.3 percent during the regular season, they are at just 36.1 percent in the playoffs. You figured defense would be a problem but postseason opponents are shooting just 41.2 percent, second to the Celtics. They didn’t get to the free-throw line much during the season but. . . . well, OK, that one still kind of holds true: .26 free-throw rate during the regular season, .29 during the postseason.
Another big difference: The Hawks have been good at home. Surely part of the reason for that is the atmosphere. Large crowds cheering enthusiastically for the Hawks were a rarity during the season. They were the rule against Orlando.
“I know they’ve been criticized in the past,” Jamal said of fans, “but in the playoffs they’ve been great.”
Smoove said he expects the same tonight.
“The environment is going to be fun,” he said. “It’s going to be as rowdy as they were [in Chicago], if not rowdier.”
Despite their problems at home this season, L.D. said the Hawks were eager to return home to Philips Arena in the first round.
“Coming back from Orlando for Game 2, I could sense the confidence level, the energy level,” he said.
Judging by the chatter among Bulls bloggers and the questions Chicago media types asked today, the visitors are expecting their fans to infiltrate Philips like they did during the regular season.
“Maybe,” J.J. said. “I am sure their fans will come out and show their support. But it is what it is. We can’t control that. The only thing we can control is [that] when we step inside those lines and play hard.”
Notes
- Jamal apparently caused a stir in Chicago with a quote after Game 2.
- Josh on his meeting with L.D.: “He wants me to be more mindful of the timing of the shots. He wants me to be efficient.”
- J.J. on keeping homecourt: “It would be disappointing to let them come in our building and win. We went down there and worked so hard to get game.”
- Josh on homecourt: “It will mean nothing if we go up there and get a split and come back and don’t have a good showing.”
- J.J. on the Bulls: “I think they can play better, especially considering the fact Derrick hasn’t shot the ball particularly well. If we can just keep him at bay I think it will play into our hands.”
- J.J. on if grinding games favor the Bulls: “I think we can go either way. I won’t say it’s a disadvantage for us. We can play a slow-down pace and grind it out as well. We’ve shown we can do that. If that’s the case then we are just going to have to bump it out.”
- L.D. on whether D-Rose’s eight turnovers were due to sloppy play or Atlanta’s D: “Now I’m giving my secrets away. I would say, looking at his turnovers, defensively we are in the right spots.”
- L.D. on if he planned to continue cross-matching Josh and Al: “We will start that way. There is a chance we will go back the other way. Our matchups, I don’t think, have hurt us. I think we have done a good job in our matchups. Defensively, we are on the money. Game 2 clearly our worst enemy was our execution offensively and our shot selection.”
- L.D. on if he planned to stick with Jamal on Rose and Teague on Korver: “We mix it up just to give [Rose] different looks. Sometimes you will see Teague on him, sometimes you will see Joe on him. One thing we try to do is not be predictable in our matchups and find matchups that give us the most flexibility.”
- D-Rose on Teague: “He’s playing well. He’s getting everybody into the game, passing the ball well, shooting the ball well, attacking, knowing his role. He was somebody that was in my [high school] class coming in so I’m happy for him.”
- Al on facing Noah in two rugged playoff games: “We are out there boxing out and wrestling around. It’s all good. That’s the way it is. It’s fun. It’s basketball.”
- Al said he hasn’t talked to or texted Noah since the Hawks advanced to play the Bulls.
- Noah on the matchup: “It’s different. Me and Al shared a lot of great times together in college. We could have been pretty high picks after the first championship [but] we decided to come back for the love of the game and the love of playing with each other and having that taste of winning [another] championship. When you share moments like that and then you have to compete against each other, it’s tough. But it is what it is. It’s OK.”
- Noah on the Bulls trying to take away Al on the pick-and-pop: “He’s a really improved shooter. He’s very consistent at hitting it. We try to have a game plan for it. We know it’s not easy. He’s a hell of a player and a hell of a competitor.”
By Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
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487 comments Add your comment
Slimjr
May 6th, 2011
10:31 pm
@carl its interesting how people like you run and hide in your temples on Saturday live in a glass house and are the first ones to throw stones…
you cant hide from your maker.. you can bet on that bubba…….
Section 303
May 6th, 2011
10:31 pm
Another no-show effort. Gotta say, did not see that coming. Amazing. This series is over. It’s done.
Better be there on Sunday, guys. With the long lockout on its way, probably the last we see of the Hawks for quite a long time. And, I pray, the last we see of Josh Smith in a Hawks uniform ever.
Carl
May 6th, 2011
10:35 pm
Is anything I said incorrect? More black males in jail than college.
In fact, 82% of black males aged 18-25 are in jail. Look it up.
Slimjr
May 6th, 2011
10:39 pm
Carl go run to your temple and serve your master well….
tiger woo
May 6th, 2011
10:40 pm
Poor Carl – still hasn’t gotten over the fact that our President is black and his chick Palin didn’t win.
superiorblogman
May 6th, 2011
10:41 pm
J from the A
May 6th, 2011
10:17 pm
Shut up GI. What you represent has nothing to do with African American culture, black culture, or otherwise. Too bad Carl is too confused to understand this.
True, and I apologize for even getting into that mess.
Carl:
Funny how my black sister moved from Paulding county because she could see the white sheets without ever seeing them if you know what I mean. Whatever saltine county you live in is only for your selfish hateful needs. People like you had better stay in those little racist cracks like Dallas, Cummings, Rome, etc. because some young black males would love to take your manhood and defile your daughters because they know what type of people you are deep down. Your just as much a coward for hiding in places like Paulding and Forysth trying to make blacks feel uncomfortable as blacks are for making you feel uncomfortable on Fulton Indy or Martin Luther King. So, if you think about it you have no point. Just get back to basketball dudes.
drmaryb (*_-)
May 6th, 2011
10:42 pm
Lakers getting their knob polished. Boy did they fall off fast, see Boston.
Give Dallas some credit, but the Lakers have been arrogant all year long.
That’s a long tumble down the ladder from the Championship Title.
How ironic that the Celtics tumble at the same time.
I guess there really is a changing opf the guards and teams are just tired of losing to these guys.
Jamal’s demeanor at the presser is very non-chalant. I don’t sense any anger from losing, so I’m not mad either. I guess when you don’t commit to your players, they just don’t commit to you either.
No love loss there – I guess. This teams personality foes not warrant our level of blog passion. I’ve really moved on emotionally after game 2.
I’m just old and tired now.
We’ve all been going so hard at this all Summer, since before FA when the 8 feces throwing Orangutans did nothing but file law suits down at The Justice Center of Fulton, County.
They certainly didn’t go get Al and Josh any help in the paint and I guess those two are repaying the favor by cashing their checks and checking out on the perimeter in kind.
Looks like they filed their own law suits on the basketball court.
Payback is a Biatch.
brigadierjerry
May 6th, 2011
10:44 pm
Another no-show effort. Gotta say, did not see that coming. Amazing. This series is over. It’s done.
Better be there on Sunday, guys. With the long lockout on its way, probably the last we see of the Hawks for quite a long time. And, I pray, the last we see of Josh Smith in a Hawks uniform ever
Section 303 you may be right although bulls might have the mentality they wanted to just get one so who knows but i think the series is over even if the Hawks win on Sunday
tiger woo
May 6th, 2011
10:46 pm
The Bulls didn’t win 62 games by accident – the Hawks need to shoot “lights out” in game 4 (like they did in game 1) to have any chance.
Where is the effort
May 6th, 2011
10:48 pm
I didn’t know this was a fox news/msnbc blog. Is there anyone on our roster right now that is willing to come out of a timeout fired up and get some momentum back. So far, I haven’t seen it out of anyone of our starters or anyone on the bench. The toughest part about watching this team is the tendency to not participate in the natural ebb and flow of an NBA game (i.e. one team goes up and then the other team makes a run, etc.) Once we are down by 8-9 points, its pretty much game over, whether that’s the beginning of the 3rd or with 1:30 left to play.
brigadierjerry
May 6th, 2011
10:48 pm
Jamal’s demeanor at the presser is very non-chalant. I don’t sense any anger from losing, so I’m not mad either. I guess when you don’t commit to your players, they just don’t commit to you either.
drmaryb i think Jamal comments earlier today he was on ESPN saying if that was the Bulls best shot he liked the Hawks chances after the first 2 games. Probably bulletin board material for the Bulls
Carlos
May 6th, 2011
10:51 pm
Sorry. Al and Josh arent getting it done. If they cant clean up the glass, Try giving Hilton and Collins more minutes. Maybe they will at least do something big men should do.
The Hawks have been so fixated on the freakin CORE they didnt even see what everyone else saw wasting away on the bench, the talent that is Jeff Teague.
It’s been 3 games, and nothing. Freak the CORE. Get Al and Josh out of there is they want to play soft.
Bulls at Atlanta Hawks Game 3: Real home advantage again … | | The Hawks StoreThe Hawks Store
May 6th, 2011
10:57 pm
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drmaryb (*_-)
May 6th, 2011
11:00 pm
The troll jacked my I’d.
I’m logging off, too much foolishness now.
____________
Congrats T.S. – you win! LOL!
brigadierjerry
May 6th, 2011
11:02 pm
Carlos
May 6th, 2011
10:51 pm
Sorry. Al and Josh arent getting it done. If they cant clean up the glass, Try giving Hilton and Collins more minutes. Maybe they will at least do something big men should do.
The Hawks have been so fixated on the freakin CORE they didnt even see what everyone else saw wasting away on the bench, the talent that is Jeff Teague.
It’s been 3 games, and nothing. Freak the CORE. Get Al and Josh out of there is they want to play soft.
Carlos, If you want to do that are you willing to win 30 games the next couple of years?If you are then I cant argue with you if you feel that way
Carlos
May 6th, 2011
11:05 pm
@brigadierjerry
who said anything about usinfg those guys long term? I mean in this series. If Al and Horford cant keep them off the glass, then maybe somebody else can.
We are the same team who didnt give Teague a shot now look at him!!!!
Tyriq
May 6th, 2011
11:07 pm
drmaryb, I heard you got a phat ass. Post pics for proof.
northcyde
May 6th, 2011
11:20 pm
GRADES
Teague . . A-
Smith . . B-
Marvin . . D+
Horford . . D+
Crawford . . D+
Johnson . . D
Disappointed in JJ tonight. He didn’t have a bad 1st half, but he was flat out invisible in the 2nd. Didn’t even try to impact the game offensively. When you’re a team’s “go-to guy”, it’s unacceptable to have only 12 FGA and 2 FTA, when your team desperately needs offense. I don’t care if he would’ve gone 5 – 18 FG, he has to get up some shots to at least give us a chance.
And you can’t let the opposing star just take over your own building, and you not try to match what he is doing.
JJ has to score in order for us to have a shot in the playoffs. Taking only 12 shots is unacceptable. Gotta be much more aggressive than that.
vava74
May 6th, 2011
11:23 pm
From Previous Blog:
“Rod from College Park
May 6th, 2011
3:31 pm
Vava74,
Which team do you think would win best 2 out of 3:
Guys who take “bad shots” Guys who play the “right way”
Jamal Crawford Mike Conley
Jason Terry Kirk Hinrich
JR Smith vs. Marvin Williams
Josh Smith Kevin Love
Zach Randolph Al Horford”
Are you f+cking kidding? Your guys would not even agree in which order they would be leaving the locker room.
Also, I assume you are talking about the OLD Z-Bo, not this years’s Z-BO.
I don’t particularly like Love’s game – his defense is atrocious, so again, you pick and choose.
Nonetheless, I think the “good guys” would win 2-0 easily if both were given equal opportunity to train together.
Raw talent only has an advantage if the opposition does not play organized due to lack of training.
Slimjr
May 6th, 2011
11:23 pm
A very bitter loss indeed!!
Jae Evolution
May 6th, 2011
11:24 pm
Phil Jackson absolutely has been ROASTING Pau Gasol all game long, he looks like he is about to cry. Somebody on this team should do that to both Josh and Al.
Al has disappointed me so much this series, Josh I don’t even have to elaborate on that one.
vava74
May 6th, 2011
11:25 pm
We won the ORL series with our hustlers Zaza and Collins doing what should have been, at least in part, Al’s job.
LD is not using either – Collins may be understandable – but not using Zaza nor Wilkins against a maximum hustle team is due LD’s lack of understanding where the series is going south.
Marvin with 1 rebound does not cut it.
Al playing soft and getting out hustled doesn’t cut it.
Josh not crashing the offensive board does not cut it. He should be doing what Griffin does.
To shake things up, I would go back to our big formation but starting Zaza.
And I would instruct Teague to attack the rim the same number of times that Rose does. Make them try to focus on his drives.
Teague can have a Rose type game. Maybe not a 44 point game but certainly a 30 point game with 8/10 fts.
This would take the pressure off JJ. And would also push Rose back deeper into his back court.
Josh would crash the boards with Zaza ALL THE TIME.
Al would be the designated “get back to protect transition big”.
Slimjr
May 6th, 2011
11:29 pm
I have officially deleted Allstar from Al’s name..
He is playing more like fat Albert right now.. Disappointment does not begin to describe his play in this series…..
His feet are stuck in concrete blocks…..brutal to watch……………brutal……
vava74
May 6th, 2011
11:33 pm
And as I pointed out before the series started:
Rose had 44, OK, that was tuff.
But if we had limited CHI 3 pointers by Korver, Deng and Bogans, to let us say, only 2, instead of 6, we would be talking about MINUS 12 points on a 17 point deficit (obviously we would have had to rebound the rock).
We got just ONE 3 pointer. They got TEN. That’s a plus 27 points differential.
vava74
May 6th, 2011
11:34 pm
spell check “tough”
Buddy Grizzard
May 6th, 2011
11:36 pm
Buddy Grizzard
May 6th, 2011
4:54 pm
“It’s pretty much up to All-Star Al to show up for this one tonight. Whoever wins tonight will win the series. They didn’t win Game 2 on superior talent, they won it on hustle. It’s all about pride and how bad the Hawks want it now. Jeff Teague is hungry to prove himself. ASA, Josh, JC1 and JJ all have or have had long term deals for $10m plus per season. Do they want to win or are they just going through the motions to collect a check?
ag
May 6th, 2011
11:44 pm
LD has to insert hustle players in the game. We just got out hustled. ZaZa has had two very bad games. No energy, nothing. We should have made the adjustment and let Wilkins check Rose. Anyway, I liked Josh energy. He gets a double double now people are mad he didn’t get more OR.
O'Brien
May 6th, 2011
11:45 pm
Northcyde,
What’s LD’s rating?
superiorblogman
May 6th, 2011
11:51 pm
Kirk Hinrich and Al Horford to Washington
For
Javal McGee and Rashard Lewis
Get Her Done Sund or whoever the new GM will be. Call me I will turn this trainwreck around.
PG Teague
SG Jamal
SF Joe
PF Josh
C Javale McGee
Slim
May 6th, 2011
11:56 pm
PG Teague
SG Joe post up
SF Josh post up run with Horford and Teague
PF Al Horford rebound and pick and pop, Rambis
C Pachulia/Collins
1) let Rose get his but plant Collins in the lane with Horf and Josh providing help.
2) extra bigs keep Noah and Gibson off the board
3) We get to run and Josh gets to abuse Deng
4) size to crash boards
Hawks should be in the ECF
Najeh Davenpoop
May 6th, 2011
11:56 pm
I didn’t get a chance to respond to this during the game because my battery died out, but…
“This is bull. You don’t need superstars to win in the playoffs. You need great team basketball. It’s all about the team. Ask the Lakers why their team filled with superstars lost to a hard-working Pistons team with no bona-fide superstar in the 2004 finals. Media-deemed superstars sell a lot of tickets, but they don’t necessarily win you the title. ”
You are making the same mistake Rick Sund makes, by citing the one single exception to the rule. The 2004 Pistons are the ONLY team that won in the playoffs without a superstar.
It’s easy to sit here as fans of a team that has largely been devoid of superstars throughout its history and resent the media for riding the jocks of superstars. But the fact is that those players have largely earned it. There’s a reason LeBron and Wade and Rose and Kobe get the press they do whereas nobody on the Hawks gets one tenth of that press. It’s because they are transcendental players. They are players who can and do regularly take over games and singlehandedly win games for their teams.
Of course you need team basketball to win. But a team without a superstar can play fantastic team basketball and they will still almost certainly fall short. See this year’s Sixers for example. A team with a superstar (or better yet superstars) can play merely good team basketball and dominate everyone else. See every Lakers championship team for example.
Across sports, superstars erase mistakes. Having a superstar allows your team to make mistakes here and there when it comes to execution, because that superstar has the kind of talent to make plays regardless of the execution. When you don’t have a superstar, you have to be perfect as a team all the time. And getting five good players to execute all the time is a lot harder than getting one or two great players to be great while everyone else plays their role.
Najeh Davenpoop
May 6th, 2011
11:57 pm
^^Or this year’s Nuggets for that matter, for another team with plenty of good players who played great team ball but still couldn’t overcome a team with two superstars.
Najeh Davenpoop
May 7th, 2011
12:01 am
“If anyone but Teague gives up 30+ to the MVP, ya’ll would be asking for their heads (let alone 40+)!
(I don’t mean to say this as an indictment of Teague’s defense. Rather it is only pointed out as an indictment of you haters (of some players)/lovers (of other players). Let your bias show, let it show.)”
I can’t speak for others, but I’d be more inclined to criticize Teague’s defense if Rose hadn’t been hitting contested shots as well. It didn’t seem to matter tonight what kind of shot Rose took or how good the D was — if he let it go, it was going in. With that said, Teague is usually pretty good at pressuring the ball, and I thought he could have done that in the 1st quarter — even if he risked fouling — to get Rose out of his rhythm.
Najeh Davenpoop
May 7th, 2011
12:10 am
For the record, if Jeezy is technically not from Atlanta, Kanye technically is from Atlanta. It is what it is. You can control who you rep but you can’t control where you are born.
Ole Hawks Fan
May 7th, 2011
2:44 am
We are who we thought WE ARE!
Slim
May 7th, 2011
3:28 pm
Hawks are a more balanced team when they play 3 rebounders instead of the undersized everyone shoots lineup. Josh, Horford, Collins/Pachulia rebound then post up or give to Joe Johnson.
If Deng switches off of Josh let Josh go to work off alley oops offensive rebounds etc.
You need rebounds to win! A missed shot and offensive rebound is just as good as an assist.
City of Futility
May 8th, 2011
8:14 pm
Destroy the transplants. Birth your kids here and raise them as Hawks, Falcons and Braves fans.
The only way we’re going to win anything is to establish ourselves as a good fan base. Atlanta is KNOWN as a city of transplants where away fans outcheer the home ones. We need more loyal Atlantans who treat the Hawks like the Celtics and the Falcons like the Packers. Those teams fans still come even when the team loses. If we can become a strong fan base then amazing players and genius managers/owners will see our city as a big payday of money and glory! As we are, we are stepping stone teams at best.