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
dundunaa
December 27th, 2011
10:17 pm
Well hate on haters! Im out of here!
BoneKollector
December 27th, 2011
10:18 pm
Astro Joe obviously didn’t watch the game
Maybe
December 27th, 2011
10:23 pm
LOL @MC “Zaza Pachulia dunks on former Hawks draft bust Shelden Williams for and-1″
RA
December 27th, 2011
10:25 pm
I think Astro Joe is trying to be realistic, and he’s right. This team won’t sink 12 three’s a game, but they don’t have to. If Larry Drew can get this team to genuinely buy in to the type of defense that they played tonight from bell to bell, they can win, maybe win big. Whether that happens or not remains to be seen.
Grandmaster JeJe
December 27th, 2011
10:25 pm
Wow it took Marvin 6 years to realize he is big enough to attack the glass.
SMH
Grandmaster JeJe
December 27th, 2011
10:27 pm
Won by 36.
BUT WE STILL NEED JAMAL! WE NEED JORDAN!!!
GTFOH
AMNESTY GEARON
Big Lou
December 27th, 2011
10:28 pm
That’s the best defense I’ve seen from the Hawks in awhile, especially from the bench. Guess the team doesn’t have to deal with the zero defense Jamal Crawford brought off the bench anymore. Good start, Hawks.
JSS
December 27th, 2011
10:29 pm
Come on Larry Drew, the “Foreign Facials” were playing fine tonight! Don’t short-bench this team this season… And hats to Marvin, I’ve been one of his biggest detractors but he set the tone tonight! Excellent job!!!
Ray
December 27th, 2011
10:31 pm
Okay I watched the game and I was impressed, but reality stepped in and I realized it’s only one game got 65 more to go.
Positives I seen Teague, T-mac, Vlad, and Marvin, maybe even Pargo.
Then I also noticed Nets really missed Brook Lopez like a lot if he’s in the game we still might win, but not by 36 maybe 15 at best. Still as others have said you must take the W’s for what they are worth and this season their worth a lot more.
Grandmaster JeJe
December 27th, 2011
10:33 pm
T-Mac still has swagger but can’t finish
Ken Strickland
December 27th, 2011
10:37 pm
For those still struggling to figure out where our OFF will come from now that Jamal is gone, let me tell you. It will come from our BENCH, rather than just one player, who was an inconsistent, high volume shooting, streaky DEF liability. We no longer have to rely on our OFF, over playing our starters and under playing our bench, to hold our own with top Eastern Conference teams like the Heat, Magic, Bulls etc. Is there anyone out there, who’s not a Knick fanatic, that thinks the Knicks can match our depth and DEF intensity, even with TChandler?
FRESHFROMATL-Thanks for the recognition. There will aways be SELF SERVING MORONS who will resent anyone with more insight, intelligence, and basketball knowledge than they could possibly have. And their usual response when they realize you’ve been right about everything all along it to say SHUT UP. It ’s a perfect example of STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES! Everyone on tonights bench can give us more production, with the exception of Jamal of course, than any of the virtual bench warmers that were on last yrs bench, like DWilkins, EThomas, JPowell, HArmstrong.
SteveW
December 27th, 2011
10:41 pm
AJ – As a Coach, I appreciate your quest for perfection in pointing out Jeff and Jannero’s TO’s.
But as a fan can I say Jeff Teague having 4 fewer turnovers than 2 Time All NBA Second Teamer, 2 Time All Star, the man who had his jersey retired after only playing 15 Games for the Turkish team Besitkas, DeRon Williams was Tremendous!!!
Melvin
December 27th, 2011
10:46 pm
SteveW,
Another thing I appreciate about Teague was his defense on Deron. He really made him work for his shots. Deron had to use a lot picks to get his shots off and he still shot 3-11.
SteveW
December 27th, 2011
10:46 pm
Teague also had 3 assists to DeRon’s 1
Teague shot 5-7 from the field
DeRon shot 3-11
I ain’t going to complain about Jeff’s performance at all.
LD was an idiot for not playing him last season – face it – We’ll probably just have to agree to disagree to on that one, because I know you were defending LD on that one last season.
And Jeff does so much that’s not even in the boxscore, liking being quick enough to defend his position, it’s not even funny.
superiorblogman
December 27th, 2011
10:59 pm
The PG’s played well, especially Teague. If you watched that whole game you would be sure he did not have a bad TO. Those 2 TO’s were not because he was lost or making bad plays. TO’s just happen. I am not a optimist but some of you clowns just annoy me trying to act so analytical and find things to complain about when you really make yourself look like a fool. If you watched the game you know 1 TO was the full court pass he tried to throw to Josh that was just a little high and one of them was when he simply lost the ball going to the hole. Fine game from the Hawks, all of them played well. Al, Josh, Joe, will get there numbers when it means something and we play teams and games where they are needed.
BigTimeTECHFan
December 27th, 2011
10:59 pm
nice game
played as a team, don’t think I saw an iso all game
Vlad Rod is a very nice player, more then just a spot up shotter, moves pretty good.
not to impressed by backup guards, but may be because they are newest players on the team
Liked the initial rotation, TMac in for Marvin 1st
New guy from D league has a little Rodmen in him, but more offense, just what the hawks needed
doc
December 27th, 2011
10:59 pm
aj, was thinking that myself earlier today. i wondered if that was one more thing a coach would have to take into consideration and we wouldnt see big comebacks but more white flags early in games. guess it also depends on who the opponent is for each night; if you are down say 15 to the wiz or nets and you have the heat to play on fresh legs the next night you might push for the win that night real hard, even if it meant a blow out the next.
was wondering if there was a vegas line on marvin getting the first three and first rebound for us tonight? nice job marvin and you stayed on your feet on that sorry drive into the lane early.
three games in first ten with the nets helps to balance four with the heat and bulls.
brigadierjerry
December 27th, 2011
11:01 pm
say what you want about boston but they are a mentally tough team. They have been playing zone against Miami and if it wasnt for Norris cole they probably lose this game. Zone seems the way to go against Miami
doc
December 27th, 2011
11:03 pm
rev, no that was heart felt me and only me.
are you still buzzing on your high from earlier in the day?
Katie
December 27th, 2011
11:08 pm
“Ken Strickland
December 27th, 2011
10:37 pm
For those still struggling to figure out where our OFF will come from now that Jamal is gone, let me tell you. It will come from our BENCH, rather than just one player, who was an inconsistent, high volume shooting, streaky DEF liability. We no longer have to rely on our OFF, over playing our starters and under playing our bench, to hold our own with top Eastern Conference teams like the Heat, Magic, Bulls etc. Is there anyone out there, who’s not a Knick fanatic, that thinks the Knicks can match our depth and DEF intensity, even with TChandler?”
Co-sign x ∞
I’m going to say the same thing I have said since the end of last year, and that is we do not need Jamal Crawford.
Let me clarify… LAST YEAR’S Hawks needed Jamal Crawofd. The majority of the rest of our bench was a horrible mixture of players that couldn’t/wouldn’t mesh together properly. Other than ZaZa, Jamal was pretty much our only guy off the bench that could put up points. When he was on, damn was he on… But when Jamal was off his stats were always in the negative because of his sorry excuse for what he calls defense.
With Jamal’s salary from last year we were able to sign 2-3 guys on our bench that will all produce on either side of the court at any time. Not to mention his constant Iso plays and ball hogging were in part to blame for the late development of Teague. (Not only his fault, Woodson and Drew are part to blame as well) And if you remember correctly, Marvin had improved every year he was in the league until The Hawks signed Crawford. A lot of minutes and plays that ran through him all of a sudden went to Jamal. I expect to see big things from Williams this year now that he’s gone.
TL;DR – We’re better off without Jamal Crawford.
Rdm
December 27th, 2011
11:14 pm
Get tired of people always picking solid starters and acting like they are “the problem”
brigadierjerry
December 27th, 2011
11:15 pm
Good win for Hawks this year more than ever will be a season of endurance and to have as much depth as you can will be the biggest asset. Ken, Najeh, and any other Hawk fans I do not know what you guys think but my litmus tests for the Hawks will be when they play Chicago and Miami.
Thoughts?
Grandmatser JeJe
December 27th, 2011
11:16 pm
Told you all:
We should’ve won by 20-25, easy.
Deepest bench in ages
Must start 3-0. These teams suck
Ryan
December 27th, 2011
11:16 pm
Team looked really good. If I had to nit-pick, I’d say Willie Green didn’t impress me much and Pargo didn’t do much on offense but thats being picky. Bench is deeper and looking better than I have seen in quite some time. It’s only gonna get better once Kirk gets back. T-mac, Kirk, and Vlad running the 2nd unit? Yeah, I’ll take that. In this shorter season, the Hawks still being fairly young and being as deep as they are is really going to do alot for the Hawks. We should do pretty well this year. Glad to see my man JT0 do work out there. His shot is looking pretty good!
Grandmatser JeJe
December 27th, 2011
11:17 pm
When Hinrich returns, our bench will be so deep that IDK if T-Mac will be good enough to play consistent minutes.
Grandmatser JeJe
December 27th, 2011
11:18 pm
I also said Radmanovic is the sleeper signing of the year.
MARVIN AND ZAZA: KEEP ATTACKING
Dream
December 27th, 2011
11:19 pm
Nice game but this is to be expected from the Hawks since we’re talking about Nets anyway. Same thing for tomorrow’s game.
The 2nd unit was a bit of a surprising though (Compared to last year’s). Zaza played hard even though he loses the ball after 2 seconds haha. doubt any teams can have an answer for a guy not scared to kiss the floor every game. Rad’s passing was good. McGrady played aggressive, I expect more from him though specially the finishing part since he’s healthy now and he’s playing with good team compared to last year’s chump pistons lol. Pargo’s okay, nothing special about him.
SteveW
December 27th, 2011
11:25 pm
This is the first Pargo has played in live game action in a couple of years isn’t it? He’s not CJ Watson, or George Hill, but he’ ok until we get Hinrich back.
Grandmatser JeJe
December 27th, 2011
11:26 pm
We need to be EXTREMELY careful to keep T-Mac healthy. 20 minutes is not a small amount. He still has swagger but his finishing is a bit off. He still had 12 points at least.
Grandmatser JeJe
December 27th, 2011
11:39 pm
Why has it taken Marvin 6 years to figure out he is 6″9, has long arms, and should be getting 7-8 rebounds a game?
#Pathetic
jake
December 27th, 2011
11:46 pm
I said this give tmac sometime before making judgements. I think he hasnt even got anywhere near ready to go yet. Iexpect better things come by 30 games into the season once he learns his role better
ntrigue
December 27th, 2011
11:46 pm
Hawks will be better due to deeper bench. I said it all along ….we didn’t get a superstar so everyone starts to doubt this team but this team is built as a team that can score from position thats on the floor. The biggest differnce between last yr and this year is team defense if we keep this up we should at least be in the East Finals! Go Hawks! Where are the haters that been saying our pickups were terrible I guess you all will come out soon as we lose one game. FYI we will lose a gm this year every team does lol but when we lose that when all the Josh smith bashers come out of hibernation! I love it just wish we had more die hard fans like me born and raised in Atlanta!!!!
ntrigue
December 27th, 2011
11:54 pm
December 27th, 2011
11:46 pm
Hawks will be better due to deeper bench. I said it all along ….we didn’t get a superstar so everyone starts to doubt this team but this team is built as a team that can score from position thats on the floor. The biggest differnce between last yr and this year is team defense if we keep this up we should at least be in the East Finals! Go Hawks! Where are the haters that been saying our pickups were terrible I guess you all will come out soon as we lose one game. FYI we will lose a gm this year every team does lol but when we lose that when all the Josh smith bashers come out of hibernation! I love it just wish we had more die hard fans like me born and raised in Atlanta!!!!
Michael Cunningham
December 27th, 2011
11:54 pm
new blog is posted. shutting down this thread.