Atlanta Hawks at Bulls Game 5: On energy and effort
Chicago–If you are skeptical about how much those favored NBA cliches of “energy and effort” factor into winning then perhaps this series has changed your mind a bit. There have been scrums and scraps around the basket on what seems like every loose ball in this series, and I think there’s something to be said for energy and effort in these circumstances.
Defense and rebounding are undervalued as talents, and certainly it’s true that some players can try hard but just don’t have what it takes to be good in those areas. But maybe physically gifted guys can be better at defending and rebounding if they have the zest for it, especially within the team concept.
The Bulls are a good defensive team because they have good defensive players and a sound scheme but what good would any of that be without their single-minded devotion to getting stops and then securing the ball at all costs? Isn’t that energy?
Or is it like Doc Rivers likes to say, that energy is a talent, and so it’s really not helpful to think of it as something separate from “tangible” talent?
It’s pretty obvious the Hawks’ energy level has increased during the playoffs. That has correlated with the Hawks allowing just 101.9 points per 100 possessions in the playoffs, 2.7 points better than during the season, and that’s including the outliers of Game 5 vs. Orlando and Game 3 vs. Chicago.
“I’ve been pleased because I feel like the guys have really bought in to what we are trying to do,” Al said. “It’s never going to be perfect but you can make up for certain mistakes and certain things [with energy] and I feel like we’ve been doing that.”
Certainly sound game plans against Dwight and D-Rose have been major factors in Atlanta’s success. Some favorable matchups have helped, too.
But I’m thinking Atlanta’s energy also has been important–and that’s coming from someone who rolls his eyes when players and coaches (and media types) use that word to explain unexpected performances when there are more obvious reasons.
“We are an energy team,” L.D. said today. “There are times we just come out and we just don’t play that way for some reason. We have the athletes. It’s just a matter of coming out with energy, and I am totally expecting that tonight.”
That’s always the question with the Hawks. Can you expect that tonight? Any night? Jamal summed it up yesterday:
“We’ve shown we can play with anybody, and some nights we can play with nobody. That’s the most frustrating part for us.”
Which version of the Hawks shows up depends on more than just how hard they play. But in the end, when the Hawks and Bulls are fighting for every possession to gain control of this grinding series, maybe that’s will matter the most.
“I expect us to come out and the effort will be there,” Al said. “I feel like we have been played well in this building two games. One night we had a great shooting night; the other night we struggled. But I think our effort was good. That’s my biggest thing. We need to come out and just play hard.”
Notes, quotes and links
- L.D. said he’s likely to stick with the Twin lineup.
- Bogans (ankle) will play.
- Joe on the big moment: “It’s right there. It’s in our hands. We just have to focus in on winning another game in Chicago. It’s definitely possible. I am sure we can get it done.”
- L.D. on if he’s happy about shot selection: “That varies game to game.”
- L.D. on pressure: “They are one of the teams that was picked to come out of the East. A win here puts a tremendous amount of pressure on them to go back to Atlanta with us having a chance to close it out. I feel like the pressure is on them.”
- L.D. on Bynum’s BS takedown of Barea: “We don’t condone those type fouls where you are taking people out of the air and really trying to hurt somebody. That’s not the way the game should be played. The game should be played with hard fouls, though. You are talking about fouls that are not going to injure people or hurt people or put in jeopardy of their careers being on the line.”
- L.D. on matching up with Chicago: “Obviously Rose is the MVP of the league. What he accomplished this year is absolutely remarkable. Hats off to him. But looking at the rest of the roster–they have good players, solid players, good role players, guys that play really hard–and we like to feel we match up well against them. . . . Throughout this league there are certain teams you match up well with and some teams that give you problems, and we look at this as a team that we do match up well with, irregardless of what happened in the regular season. Looking at it man-for-man, we feel like we match up really well.”
- Damien on Smoove: “We go as No. 5 goes. Joe is our go-to guy, but we go as No. 5 goes. The better he plays, the better we play. He can do so many different things. I wish he would do it all the time. That wasn’t even a great game for him [in Game 4].”
- Jamal did a radio interview.
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
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945 comments Add your comment
Ole Hawks Fan
May 10th, 2011
10:43 pm
Annoucers saying Chicago Defense took over this game………………..Correction David Stern Goons took over this GAME!
bigdave
May 10th, 2011
10:43 pm
Hawks loss this game vs. Bulls winning it.. they have nothing offensively.
Melvin
May 10th, 2011
10:43 pm
Coaching loss this game. ZaZa should have played more and Jamal less.
tremaine
May 10th, 2011
10:43 pm
Hilton Armstrong is garbage. Butterfingers.
Sautee
May 10th, 2011
10:43 pm
Hawks played 5 on 8 tonight. Blatant.
SteveW
May 10th, 2011
10:44 pm
Wow, I’m beginning to think the NBA is rigged
Najeh Davenpoop
May 10th, 2011
10:44 pm
Congratulations Al, you are the owner of the softest double double in NBA history.
mykhalc
May 10th, 2011
10:45 pm
Damien>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Marvin
bigdave
May 10th, 2011
10:45 pm
Teague is a damn good player.
cp
May 10th, 2011
10:45 pm
thats a tough L
darrell starks
May 10th, 2011
10:45 pm
Horford is to dam soft.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!
SteveW
May 10th, 2011
10:45 pm
I say good game Jeff and ZaZa
Decent game Josh
Everybody else??
Refs stunk bad
Ole Hawks Fan
May 10th, 2011
10:45 pm
REFS came Out STRONG against The Hawks…………………..David Stern you are getting the match-up you WANT!
Najeh Davenpoop
May 10th, 2011
10:45 pm
The Bulls outplayed the Hawks for about 18 minutes of this game. The entire first quarter and the first 6 minutes of the 4th. The Hawks outplayed the Bulls the rest of the game. Unfortunately you have to play 48 minutes in the NBA, especially when you don’t have a superstar to bail you out.
Melvin
May 10th, 2011
10:46 pm
How you going to guarantee a win and not play in the 4th qtr, Carlos Boozer?
Rev in Tampa
May 10th, 2011
10:46 pm
Jamal better get his shot right for the next game.
truthspitter
May 10th, 2011
10:46 pm
They cheated us I am not giving them mutherphuckers any credit for this shi+
mykhalc
May 10th, 2011
10:47 pm
i’m at least glad they didn’t stink up the joint…
darrell starks
May 10th, 2011
10:47 pm
LD lost this game every time he go to small line up with HORFORD at CENTER the hawks are dominated in the paint.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!
Brad
May 10th, 2011
10:48 pm
lol here you go Najeh:
johnhollinger: I swear he shot 2% on them in regular season. But most were further RT @BretBaumgartner I thought you said Teague couldn’t make runners, no?
SteveW
May 10th, 2011
10:48 pm
LD is going to go down with Jamal I guess.
He proved that in the regular season Played Jamal instead of Jeff at back up PG
cp
May 10th, 2011
10:48 pm
exactly@Melvin. LD should have sat Jamal and brought Zaza back.
Brad
May 10th, 2011
10:48 pm
lol here you go Najeh:
johnhollinger: I swear he shot 2% on them in regular season. But most were further RT @BretBaumgartner I thought you said Teague couldn’t make runners, no?
SteveW
May 10th, 2011
10:48 pm
We lose the game, but a star is born – JT
Is 5 games vs. DRose a big enough sample for you guys – doubters?
Najeh Davenpoop
May 10th, 2011
10:48 pm
Hawks didn’t get outrebounded by that much. 2 offensive boards, 4 total in favor of the Bulls on the glass. But the rest of the Bulls were way too efficient scoring the ball in that 4th quarter. 62 points on 50% shooting for the non-Rose Bulls.
Hawks Fan In New Orleans
May 10th, 2011
10:49 pm
F the Refs in this game for letting Rose get away with a crucial and obvious foul that would have shifted the momentum our way.
tremaine
May 10th, 2011
10:49 pm
Al you have lost my support in these playoffs.
Melvin
May 10th, 2011
10:49 pm
I cant fault the effort by the Hawks tonight. The start of the 4th qtr is what loss this game for them.
SteveW
May 10th, 2011
10:49 pm
Noah was kind of invisible also
Refs, Boozer, Rose, Gibson probably won the game for them
bigdave
May 10th, 2011
10:49 pm
maybe w/ performances like the last 3 Jamal’s price tag is falling..
Paradise Lost
May 10th, 2011
10:49 pm
Sigh. They can tie it up again Thursday if they play like Sunday and Philips is rocking again. But that means we go back to CHI for 7…
Najeh Davenpoop
May 10th, 2011
10:50 pm
7 dimes, ZERO TURNOVERS for Teague.
Seriously where would this team be if he had played all year? I can’t imagine they would have won less than 50 games.
brigadierjerry
May 10th, 2011
10:50 pm
Getting owned by Taj Gibson looking like Karl Malone!!
If Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford not gonna have good games Hawks wont win.
I think this series will be going seven.
Hard to believe Hawks lost this game with the Bulls had a lineup of Taj Gibson Asik and Ronnie Brewer on the floor.
Horford had one of the quietest points I have seen. A finesse player.
Smith played well. Good defense. Where was zaza after the third quarter?
teague good game again not gonna get calls but did get foul the critical play
but what about the play where the hawks get the ball horford tries a stupid crosscourt pass gets picked up bulls score. Hawks were down six then went up to 8 with that steal
Jamal is so hot and cold. I have never been a fan of his even when he makes shots. He is an And 1 player great on the courts on the streets. Junk yard ball.
Refs were a factor but Hawks had chances and should of had a bigger lead to have a working margin
Sautee
May 10th, 2011
10:50 pm
If we get ANYTHING from Jamal tonight, we win.
Wabe
May 10th, 2011
10:51 pm
Al Horford…seriously…no comment.
I can’t even begin to name the boneheaded-ness and softness you displayed in that 4th quarter.
Our ‘All-Stars’ let us down tonight. And our “6th man” was nowhere to be found either.
SteveW
May 10th, 2011
10:51 pm
That may have been the closest 12 point game ever.
The better team lost
Even w/o Jamal, JJ, and Al really
darrell starks
May 10th, 2011
10:51 pm
How in the world did horford make the allstar twice ? horford have not showed up in 1 playoff game.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!
EmirS.
May 10th, 2011
10:51 pm
Just dont understand why you go away from what got you back into the game. Teage and ball movement. Why….why go with Iso…..
Set a pick for Teague and let him take it to the hole. He can get an open Joe or Jamal on the wing.
Sigh! So disappointing. We could be up 3-2 right now heading back to Atlanta.
Just pissed off.
bigdave
May 10th, 2011
10:51 pm
“Noah was kind of invisible also”
yea, cause Collins, and ZaZa made an effort to get a body on him.
Sautee
May 10th, 2011
10:52 pm
Najeh,
co-sign…sigh
Paradise Lost
May 10th, 2011
10:52 pm
A star is born is right. No matter what happens this post-season, I love Jeff Teague. So glad to be back in ATL. We will go see Hawks this fall if Jeff is starting. If not, we will be picketing Philips with FREE TEAGUE signs!
Najeh Davenpoop
May 10th, 2011
10:52 pm
Mirror image results for the Braves and Hawks tonight. Fall behind big early, storm back to nearly tie it late, end up not having enough to pull off the victory.
EmirS.
May 10th, 2011
10:52 pm
@SteveW
We lose the game, but a star is born – JT
Is 5 games vs. DRose a big enough sample for you guys – doubters
- – -
Yes it is. I’m on board.
Melvin
May 10th, 2011
10:53 pm
NBA boxscores has Josh with 0 blocks. Did they missed that possession when he had 3 blocks in a row?
SteveW
May 10th, 2011
10:53 pm
I hope we come in Thursday nite and kick’um hard, just because we can.
We can still win this series.
Chitown has shown me very little
mykhalc
May 10th, 2011
10:53 pm
Zaza shoulda been out there toward end of the game also…
MistaGamer
May 10th, 2011
10:53 pm
Damn,
I was hoping it wouldn’t happen tonight but I knew sooner or later putting the ball in Joe’s and Jamal’s hands too much would become diminishing returns. I know people like to talk about #5’s shot selection, but this guy Jamal thinks that the ball touching his hands is a license to go ham.
Why do we continue to take the ball out of our PG’s hands, and put it in the hands of two notorious over dribblers?
Joe has no quickness when creating his own shot and drains the shot clock and Jamal will force his own shot like he’s entitled.
Wabe
May 10th, 2011
10:54 pm
To keep things in perspective…
The Hawks are still in this series. The pressures on them to deliver at Phillips in Game 6. If they do that much, all of the pressure is on Chicago’s shoulders for game 7.
And truth be told, I wouldn’t think these Hawks would roll over for a game 7. The only thing that is stopping the Hawks from winning this series is the Hawks themselves. IE – Tonights start to the 4th. They get too dependant on our “hero gaurds” to make “hero shots” rather than keeping the offense flowing.
northcyde
May 10th, 2011
10:54 pm
Wabe
May 10th, 2011
10:41 pm
and northcyde,
do the hawks really have the best chance to win when the ball’s in johnson’s hands?
now Joe decides to go to the lane.
*******************
Wabe . . . you know we can’t win without JJ scoring the basketball. It’s just that he has to do something with the basketball. He played way to passive tonight for my taste. Should’ve came out in the 1st quarter just like he did in Game 4, but he played the team game.
Then he tried to do it all at the end, when his shot wasn’t necessarily falling.
You take those quick shots in the 1st half, to see if you can get going. That way, by the time the 2nd half comes, he may be red hot, like he was in Game 1.
Hawks played this game tonight like they wanted to keep it in the 80s. Then at the end, people were f’in up, not making shots, and not boxing out.
And with the way Jamal played, either Zaza or Marvin should’ve gotten his minutes in the 2nd half. Drew has to understand that Jamal is a streak shooter. So when he’s cold, he’s ICE COLD. And not “ice cold” in a good way either.
Too bad they blew this game at the end with bad shots and poor defense. Now it’s do or die on Thursday. Hold the fort, and see if you can pull off the upset on Sunday.
darrell starks
May 10th, 2011
10:54 pm
LD have stick with the big lineup from starte to end, AND KEEP HORFORD AT POWERFORD AT ALL TIME, he is 2 soft to play center.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!