Atlanta Hawks at Nets: Game thread
Finally, it’s time for real basketball. The Hawks are the last team in the Eastern Conference to play their first game.
Jeff Teague (ankle) is in the starting lineup with Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams, Josh Smith and Al Horford. Kirk Hinrich (shoulder) and Donald Sloan are inactive.
Brook Lopez (foot) and Jordan Williams (dehydration) are out for the Nets. New Jersey won 90-84 at Washington last night.
The Hawks (and me) got here late because of awful traffic and rain. (Note: never trust the Google maps LaGuardia to Newark route that takes you through the city. Wish I’d known this 2 1/2 hours ago).
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
684 comments Add your comment
Blast
December 27th, 2011
9:50 pm
Go Hawks!!!
Best 1st season game ever!!
On the Road too!!!!!!!
SteveW
December 27th, 2011
9:50 pm
We didn’t have many of these last season – This feels good!!!
dundunaa
December 27th, 2011
9:51 pm
I see we vote Al to the Hall of Fame. That was a tremendous performance tonight!
#Let'sGoHawks!
December 27th, 2011
9:51 pm
You hold a team under 60 points this season… LOOOK OUT!
Tremaine
December 27th, 2011
9:51 pm
MVP of the game Marvin Williams
Cosign. Good game Pookie.
vava74
December 27th, 2011
9:51 pm
Looooo-ved it!
SteveW
December 27th, 2011
9:52 pm
Of course we’re not this good, and when the Nets get Lopez back, and folks have played together awhile, their not near this bad.
But his still feels really, really, ok right now!
dundunaa
December 27th, 2011
9:52 pm
I say we Vote Al Horford to the Hall of Fame. That was a temendous performance tonight!
darrell starks
December 27th, 2011
9:52 pm
66 and 0 NAB TITLE BB.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!
Runner-
December 27th, 2011
9:52 pm
wow, did that feel good. time for a repeat tommorow!! buy your tickets if you haven’t already and come support this team!!
FreshmakerGT
December 27th, 2011
9:53 pm
Lol…by @JohnHollinger
I love that Jason Collins still hasn’t played. He’ll just work the four Orlando games and call it a season.
darrell starks
December 27th, 2011
9:53 pm
Sport center better look out this year.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!
BoneKollector
December 27th, 2011
9:53 pm
Boy if our Defense stays this good then watch out
kwooden
December 27th, 2011
9:53 pm
2nd Steve!!
MattP
December 27th, 2011
9:54 pm
I know it wasn’t a good team we played but it was on the road and we all know the Hawks are not good on the road. Well, I mean J.Johnson, Horford, and Smith are not good on the road.
Big Ray
December 27th, 2011
9:55 pm
Pleased with what I saw from the bench.
Loved how Marvin played. He looks better than he has…probably ever. Can’t recall that level of aggression from him before.
Teague looked good – confident.
Smith – still too many long jumpers, but looked good otherwise, except for foul trouble.
Joe – I’m not worried about him. First time I didn’t see him needing to carry the team, and he didn’t force too much, though his attack was still slow and methodical at times.
Horford – I suppose I shouldn’t worry about an all-star player, so I won’t. Wasn’t bowled over by his performance, nonetheless.
Radmanovich – Great game.
Zaza – he gave us what he always gives us – intensity and a never-say-die attitude on the glass. He and Marvin combined for twice the rebounds of Al/Josh. We needed it, and we’ll need it everytime our starters don’t get the job done.
Runner-
December 27th, 2011
9:56 pm
By the way, anyone know where Jerome Jurenovich is?
Astro Joe
December 27th, 2011
9:56 pm
Ray, easy. Appreciating the Hawks over a period of 2-3 years is different than getting giddy over beating a junior varsity team. Again, 2-0 (should beat a pathetic Wizards team tomorrow) is better than a lesser record and we can only play the teams on our schedule. But if anyone thinks this team will routinely hit 12 3s and score over 100 points when Joe & Josh combone for 16, then enjoy the europhoria..
dundunaa
December 27th, 2011
9:56 pm
Lets take a vote and silences the naysayers.
Al Horford
Hall of Fame?
I vote yes. That was a extraordinary performance. I cant understand where are all the Al haters on a memorable night like tonight.
Go hawks
Go AH15 !!
Katie
December 27th, 2011
9:56 pm
So many conflicting answers!!!
My choices are either:
a.) T_Mac held the ball to long after his shot looking for a foul,
b.) T-Mac flipped the ball away after not getting the foul,
c.) T-Mac watched the ball roll away after his shot instead of handing it to an official, or
d.) It wasn’t T-Mac at all, but instead ZaZa held the ball too long after T-Mac’s shot.
Decisions, decisions…
At least it’s multiple choice now,
Big Ray
December 27th, 2011
9:57 pm
Agreed – Nets are better with Lopez. Without him, we didn’t need to overwork Horford/Smith.
Like I said, take every “W” you can get.
Washington tomorrow…can’t wait to hear the screams of anguish if Jordan “every shot is a good one ” Crawford scores well against us…and the silence if he doesn’t.
darrell starks
December 27th, 2011
9:58 pm
It’s fun watching the Hawks when every one contributing, not depending on 1 guy all the time.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!
test
December 27th, 2011
9:59 pm
[[test]]
Big Ray
December 27th, 2011
9:59 pm
Astro,
Enjoying the Hawks over 2-3 years is made up of wins like this, or have we been beating the top teams all this time, and I just missed it?
As for euphoria and giddiness, some will have it, you can’t stop that part. Today it’s Mardi Gras, on the first bad loss, it’ll be serpical suicide.
None of the above applies to me, I know better after all this time.
Astro Joe
December 27th, 2011
9:59 pm
Oh and for the record, I was one of those who expressed optimism for this team a few weeks ago. But even I have to take this specific victory with a little perspective on the opponent.
Meanwhile, Deron Williams is texting Mark Cuban to see if he can acquire him before the summer.
Melvin
December 27th, 2011
10:00 pm
Glad that we play the Nets again this week…LOL
Big Ray
December 27th, 2011
10:00 pm
No way do we hit this many long jumpers every game, or even half of them in all likelihood. And not likely that we easily survive subpar nights from Josh, Joe, Al…
Thus my criticism of the starters…
Runner-
December 27th, 2011
10:01 pm
lol that building emptied fast!! Hawks taking care of business, lets come back for another big W in front of a sellout crowd tommorow! Our first real test will come against Miami next Monday, so until then, let’s keep cleaning these sorry teams up!!
Katie
December 27th, 2011
10:01 pm
“MattP
December 27th, 2011
9:54 pm
I know it wasn’t a good team we played but it was on the road and we all know the Hawks are not good on the road. Well, I mean J.Johnson, Horford, and Smith are not good on the road.”
On the contrary. The Hawks had one of the best road records in the league last year.
Astro Joe
December 27th, 2011
10:02 pm
Ray, no, we don’t get many wins like this. But honestly, we haven’t played many teams this bad, either.
Big Ray
December 27th, 2011
10:03 pm
Oh and for the record, I was one of those who expressed optimism for this team a few weeks ago. But even I have to take this specific victory with a little perspective on the opponent.
I knew you’d be quick to post that, LOL. I expect no less.
Runner-
December 27th, 2011
10:03 pm
Big Ray, with all of the new jump shooters, Rad, Green, Johnson, Pargo, Teague, Marvin, T-Mac etc, etc, and add our regulars in with that group, we should at least come close to making this many every game. It’s a different Hawks team than last season
vava74
December 27th, 2011
10:03 pm
Let’s not get overboard here but…
the bench looked better than ever before.
in past times we could build 20pt leads but could not count on being able to keep or increase it with the bench…
and starters would lose focus and the lead would be gone.
today we did not have that.
it was good to see.
dundunaa
December 27th, 2011
10:03 pm
Well, it doest matter. whether you guy agree and vote Al to the Hall or not.Hate on ! I got the game on DVR and I will probably send this to the hall when Al comes up on the ballot.
AH15 baby!
Big Ray
December 27th, 2011
10:04 pm
Astro,
I wonder how much of this we’ll see this season, honestly. I’ve watched some games and seen that some teams are looking very good – others look awful. A shortened season, some teams without training camp…all factors.
Also, damn good catch on Deron Williams. Nets don’t land Dwight (and I can’t see how they do without relinquishing Brook Lopez and about 5 first round picks), and Deron is GONE.
superiorblogman
December 27th, 2011
10:04 pm
Well damn what arse whooping.
Mike is Back
December 27th, 2011
10:05 pm
Great GAME BY THE HAWKS…the ANIMAL almost got a loose…U GOTTA LOVE IT.
Katie
December 27th, 2011
10:06 pm
Big Ray,
Which teams didn’t have a training camp at all this past month?
kwooden
December 27th, 2011
10:06 pm
Ray, the starters played fine, not great. The defense from the bench was great!! Also the rebounding was outstanding, especially against a team that usually causes us a lot of problems. Basketball is an interesting sport, where guys like Vlad, Zaza and Pargo get a few sessions together and move the ball around like they’ve played years with each other.
One less win we have to get!
GO HAWKS!!
Runner-
December 27th, 2011
10:06 pm
Anyway, bottom line is we played great defense. Hell, the Nets can’t be that bad that an average team would score about 30 points more than they did, are they? Hawks played solid D and were passing the ball around on offense, I loved the way Rad gave the extra pass instead of taking the shot several times. They played great and you can’t take that away because it was a less than stellar team. GO HAWKS!!!
Big Ray
December 27th, 2011
10:06 pm
Also a good point that this many veterans on the bench vs. a bunch of youngsters was a good decision. I was worried about Sy/Wannamaker, etc. I just still don’t see why we bothered to pay for Sy’s buyout in the first place, then not play him, then cut him and say it’s because he couldn’t learn a position he was never meant to play. WTF….
dundunaa
December 27th, 2011
10:08 pm
Does this mean that Al is now untouchable again?
Big Ray
December 27th, 2011
10:08 pm
Starters were okay…not bad, not great. They got a lead…the bench extended it. Nets don’t have much to look forward to. Other than Lopez and whoever else returning.
‘Night y’all. See ya tomorrow.
Astro Joe
December 27th, 2011
10:08 pm
The TNT guys are discussing something I thought about previously, will coaches “give up” on games a little earlier than usual because of the crazy schedule? Instead of asking your starters to mount a comeback when down by 15 with 8 minutes left, will they start bringing in subs due to a game the next night? My guess is that coaches will have to make that compromise more than a few times to save the legs of their starters. “Climbing uphill” is always hard on the legs.
Blast
December 27th, 2011
10:08 pm
Hawks will murder the Wizzards tomorrow.
We finally see how good Jordan Crawford can be.
lovethosedawgs68
December 27th, 2011
10:11 pm
Very impressed with the bench tonight! Vladimir and Pargo were so quick to the ball on offense and defense. If the bench can be this consistent during the season, The Hawks will surprise many an opponent.
Sautee
December 27th, 2011
10:11 pm
Poor T-S.
No one is taking the bait.
Just Joe
December 27th, 2011
10:13 pm
Didn’t like the 5 turnovers to 6 assists from the PG duo of Teague & Pargo.
dundunaa
December 27th, 2011
10:13 pm
Is it just me or is this another one of those blog sites where they hate up on Al ?
Astro Joe
December 27th, 2011
10:17 pm
Zaza and Vlad outproduce Horford, Smith & Marvin. WTF???