Atlanta Hawks at Rockets: Game thread
- The Hawks are using their normal starting lineup. All players except Kirk Hinrich (shoulder) are available.
- There could be a Twin sighting tonight. “The first three games we didn’t play Jason Collins, who was a big part of what we did last season,” Larry Drew said. “I want to preserve him but at the same time I want to make sure I keep him in basketball shape. I take it game by game. It’s pretty much given who will be the first 10 players.”
- The Rockets will see the Hawks’ fourth game in five nights and raise them the last leg of a back-to-back-to-back. The Rockets also had their flight diverted from Hobby airport to Bush International because of dense fog that was still lingering when my flight landed at Bush this morning. The Hawks’ charter was the last flight to make it into Hobby last night.
- Both teams figure to be tired but Houston should be downright exhausted. Drew said the Hawks plan to attack: “That’s our whole objective. When you play against a team that has played a back-to-back and has done a lot of traveling, we definitely want to go into this game with an attack mentality. At the same time, on the road, we have to control the tempo. We attack when we can attack. Sometimes a relentless attack is not always the answer.”
- Josh Smith on Atlanta’s perimeter D: “It definitely helps when you are able to have perimeter defenders who take pride in sitting down on their man and not letting him get past them easy. It definitely takes a lot of pressure off me and Al [Horford] from having to contest a lot of shots and it keeps us out of foul trouble.”
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
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655 comments Add your comment
bigdave
December 31st, 2011
9:02 pm
whats up w/ Joe hand?
Hmmmm
December 31st, 2011
9:02 pm
BUT JOSH HAS SO MUCH POTENTIAL
Melvin
December 31st, 2011
9:02 pm
Joe should have jump into Martin chest on that pump fake. He let the ref off the hook.
doc
December 31st, 2011
9:02 pm
well it was a legit no call and it amazes me how we get shafted over and over. teague is constantly getting called for the phantom foul.
Runner-
December 31st, 2011
9:02 pm
T MAC!!!!!! boom, keep feeding him!!
Big Ray
December 31st, 2011
9:02 pm
Nice move by Al.
doc
December 31st, 2011
9:02 pm
jj just get pizzed and take ver the game.
Trade Watch
December 31st, 2011
9:03 pm
Al is now -20 on the over and under. Hes getting dominated by no-names. LD is scared to bench Al. This trade cant happen soon enough. Al just cost us another game.
Runner-
December 31st, 2011
9:03 pm
Horford, T MAC, lets get it!!!!
Big Ray
December 31st, 2011
9:03 pm
Scola just no-looked Josh.
Embarrrrrrasssing.
Astro Joe
December 31st, 2011
9:03 pm
TMac may play 24 minutes tonight.
Grandmaster JeJe
December 31st, 2011
9:03 pm
START TMAC. BENCH JOSH
Melvin
December 31st, 2011
9:03 pm
Hawks not getting the call on their drives
Big Ray
December 31st, 2011
9:04 pm
Al fails to close out on Scola. Like I said, we’re done.
Grandmaster JeJe
December 31st, 2011
9:04 pm
Why can we not beat Texas teams?
Hmmmm
December 31st, 2011
9:04 pm
LOLJOSHLOLOSHLOLJOSH
Slimjr
December 31st, 2011
9:04 pm
OVER
Grandmaster JeJe
December 31st, 2011
9:04 pm
GOOD JOB AL
Trade Watch
December 31st, 2011
9:04 pm
Al has a total of 6 boards. where the hell is he?
TMACfan
December 31st, 2011
9:04 pm
Tmac 13 points in 33 seconds, PLEASE DO IT AGAIN!!!
Slimjr
December 31st, 2011
9:05 pm
SOON AS ALL NBA AND JOSH CAME BACK IN THE LEAD MORE THAN DOUBLED….
TROTTINGHOME
December 31st, 2011
9:05 pm
Good Night atl…u sux again
bigdave
December 31st, 2011
9:06 pm
gonna need a 3 ball somewhere..
Dream
December 31st, 2011
9:06 pm
The only guy playing for us is Tmac. The rest.. just resting..
Trade Watch
December 31st, 2011
9:06 pm
good job for what? Al was suppose to score 22-26 pts and board 20-25 rocks. instead he has 6 boards. what the hell is that for the center of your team? FIRE THIS SORRY CENTER AND GET A REAL CENTER HERE
Do it know.
Hmmmm
December 31st, 2011
9:07 pm
JUMPSHOT JOSH I THOUGHT U WUZ SHOTBLOCKERRRRRRR
kwooden
December 31st, 2011
9:07 pm
Jeff has got to learn to draw and dish like Lowry has been doing all game.
Slimjr
December 31st, 2011
9:07 pm
WE GOT STIFF’S ON OUR FRONT LINE?
Blast
December 31st, 2011
9:07 pm
Every time th Hawks make a run, the Rockets get back into it. That is because Hawks make dumb plays at the offensive and defensive ends to let the Rockets get back into it. Josh hurt his team in this game.
Grandmaster JeJe
December 31st, 2011
9:08 pm
We own this team at every single matchup.
How can we not ever beatthis team? They won’t even make the Playoffs
SSDD
season over
Trade Watch
December 31st, 2011
9:08 pm
Big Al blew that game. This sucks. Im tried of watch Al cost us games.
Hmmmm
December 31st, 2011
9:08 pm
THANKS A LOT JOSH. MORE JUMPERS, MORE TURNOVERS! YAY!
Astro Joe
December 31st, 2011
9:08 pm
Sometimes being crafty and skilled like Scola is better than being…
Never mind.
Grandmaster JeJe
December 31st, 2011
9:08 pm
Dont trade for Dwight because that means Smoove would prob still be a Hawk
northcyde
December 31st, 2011
9:09 pm
Kyle Nash . . . smh
Slimjr
December 31st, 2011
9:09 pm
MEMO TO GEARON YOU TEAM NEEDS MAJOR HELP ON THE FRONT LINE!
AS USUAL THESE WESTERN CONFERENCE TEAMS HAVE EXPOSE THESE PRETENDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111
Runner-
December 31st, 2011
9:09 pm
Awful defensive game by the Hawks today, even worse offensively, had no rhythm on offense whatsoever. The offensive game starts at the point and JT and Pargo were bad tonight, I’m just worried this might carry onto Monday, where we can make an early season point that we are a team to be reckoned with.
bigdave
December 31st, 2011
9:09 pm
i hope Jeff didnt let Josh get to him.. smh. play your game Jeff..
Rod from College Park
December 31st, 2011
9:09 pm
This Kevin Martin is water!!!!!
Black Power
December 31st, 2011
9:09 pm
Rockets’ best players came up big; Hawks’ best players came up small.
Sautee
December 31st, 2011
9:09 pm
Marvin found his invisibility cloak again. Maybe he should play some PF when T-Mac is in.
Joe
December 31st, 2011
9:09 pm
Well, it’s not like this loss wasn’t expected. Josh had one of his poorer showings. Teague had his worst game of the season. Drew did a bad job managing who was in and out of the game. The bench (outside of T-Mac) was subpar, and even Joe wasn’t as good as usual. Very poor collective performance tonight.
Slimjr
December 31st, 2011
9:10 pm
I AM AFRAID THE STREAK WILL CONTINUE? 45 YEARS NO ECF VISIT! WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Hmmmm
December 31st, 2011
9:10 pm
MAYBE JOSH SHOULD LOSE 50 MORE POUNDS HMMMM?
SMOOVE FOR THREEEEEEEEEE
Neki
December 31st, 2011
9:10 pm
Come on guys, you going to have a game like this each year, they didn’t play well, they got a game on Monday and if it still the same then you start “We need Dwight” chants
Black Power
December 31st, 2011
9:10 pm
Two wins over the Nets and one win over the Wizards means you can beat wack teams.
Big Ray
December 31st, 2011
9:10 pm
Watching this game wasn’t a whole lot of fun.
I don’t understand why LD banishes Marvin. What did he do wrong? I’d have kept him in over Josh Smith, I can tell ya that.
This whole nonsense of seeing who we can bash the most – Al or Josh – retarded. Neither did great tonight, but I know what the stat column says….
Trade Watch
December 31st, 2011
9:11 pm
Time to ship Al of to Disney land where he can dream on.
Sautee
December 31st, 2011
9:11 pm
We need a miracle return by Hinrich. Either that or cut Pargo and sign another vet guard from the scrap heap.
Slimjr
December 31st, 2011
9:11 pm
HAWKS ARE A 10TH SEED IN THE WEST