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
Runner-
December 31st, 2011
8:54 pm
lmao he scraped pachulia’s hand
doc
December 31st, 2011
8:54 pm
lol @ zaza, bailed out.
Grandmaster JeJe
December 31st, 2011
8:54 pm
FINISH THE 3 on 1
northcyde
December 31st, 2011
8:54 pm
LOL . . . don;t ever give it to Zaza right there. lucky call
bigdave
December 31st, 2011
8:55 pm
bad shot..
KevinM
December 31st, 2011
8:55 pm
we have a chance here if we can make a good decision.
Runner-
December 31st, 2011
8:55 pm
wtf Vlad, that’s your only job
jmoore
December 31st, 2011
8:55 pm
CAN WE TRADE FOR FOR THE MAGIC COACH ALSO..
Big Ray
December 31st, 2011
8:55 pm
Continuing to get handled on the boards…that is part of the problem.
But good defense is starting to help a 4th quarter rally….along with some good play from T-Mac.
doc
December 31st, 2011
8:55 pm
just off the mark? i see better attempts fans at the game fillers.
bigdave
December 31st, 2011
8:56 pm
lets go.. just 10.. lets go..
Runner-
December 31st, 2011
8:56 pm
take the shot Vlad!!!!
bigdave
December 31st, 2011
8:56 pm
its gonna take 20 Joe..
Big Ray
December 31st, 2011
8:56 pm
Could Joe have another nice 4th quarter? We sure could use it.
Joe
December 31st, 2011
8:56 pm
What the hell is L.D. doing. Why is Radmanovic still in the game?
Trade Watch
December 31st, 2011
8:56 pm
What game is he watching,”WE OWN HOUSTON AT ALMOST EVERY POSITION BUT CANT DO JACKSHT”
Martin is killing us.
northcyde
December 31st, 2011
8:56 pm
Definitely had our chances . . . but Martin won’t miss forever
bigdave
December 31st, 2011
8:57 pm
lets go!!!
doc
December 31st, 2011
8:57 pm
down to six after all this?
Big Ray
December 31st, 2011
8:57 pm
Wow….T-Mac with the slash (can he teach Josh to do that?) and Teague with a bullet pass to him…
Runner-
December 31st, 2011
8:57 pm
we have ourselves a game…
KevinM
December 31st, 2011
8:57 pm
leave T-Mac in there….mving without the ball.
Melvin
December 31st, 2011
8:57 pm
I say let this group finish the game….
northcyde
December 31st, 2011
8:57 pm
Good pass Teague.
Amazing that we’re still in this game.
Grandmaster JeJe
December 31st, 2011
8:57 pm
Rockets MVP is Josh Smith
doc
December 31st, 2011
8:58 pm
can someone stop martin, or do we hope he stops himself?
Slimjr
December 31st, 2011
8:58 pm
LEAVE JOSH AND ALL NBA ON THE BENCH..THEY CANT HELP US TONIGHT.LEFT THEIR GAMES IN THE SUIT CASE BACK AT THE HOTEL TONIGHT!
Black Power
December 31st, 2011
8:58 pm
As bad as the Hawks have looked tonight, they’re still only down by six points [79-73].
bigdave
December 31st, 2011
8:58 pm
why we didnt try to murder this team in the paint, i dont know..
especially when big Sam not in..
Blast
December 31st, 2011
8:58 pm
Only down six! To win, Hawks need great defence and conversion. The offense has been gruesome tonight, the defence not that much better.
Sautee
December 31st, 2011
8:59 pm
Rad with the good pick to free T-Mac.
keep hanging around Hawks.
Astro Joe
December 31st, 2011
8:59 pm
Someone needed to get Joe in the post. He would have schooled Martin and forced McHale to make a decision. Instead, Martin has been mostly allowed to play his game and not feel beatdown by Joe. I don’t know if Joe should have demanded the ball in the post during a TO, LD should have made the call or the PG. In a perfect world, any of the 3 would have recognized how to defend Martin by making him play post defense.
bigdave
December 31st, 2011
8:59 pm
congrats ZaZa..
Melvin
December 31st, 2011
8:59 pm
LD is scared to bench Josh and AL
Slimjr
December 31st, 2011
8:59 pm
BRING ALL NBA AND JOSH BACK IN, HAWKS LOSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hmmmm
December 31st, 2011
8:59 pm
Blast,
You should be the coach.
Trade Watch
December 31st, 2011
8:59 pm
This was suppose to be a dominating performance by ALL NBA 2xALLSTAR AL HORFORD. INSTEAD HE IS BEING SHUT DOWN.
Al should have 20-25 pts and 20-25 rbs against this extremely light defense. Where the hell is Al?
Slimjr
December 31st, 2011
8:59 pm
TOLD YA!!!!! THEY LOSE NOW,
MattP
December 31st, 2011
8:59 pm
Thank you Josh!
bigdave
December 31st, 2011
9:00 pm
Al’s d has been A1..
Josh has to secure that board.
Big Ray
December 31st, 2011
9:00 pm
Nice D by Horford. Josh with the butterfingers.
Big Ray
December 31st, 2011
9:00 pm
That killed the rally. Hawks 3-1 …just go ahead and bank it.
Grandmaster JeJe
December 31st, 2011
9:00 pm
SEASON OVER
SSDD
FIRE GEARON
Hmmmm
December 31st, 2011
9:01 pm
JOSH TURNOVER ALERT LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Slimjr
December 31st, 2011
9:01 pm
GAME OVER
doc
December 31st, 2011
9:01 pm
is martin dealing on jj or what?
Astro Joe
December 31st, 2011
9:01 pm
Wow, has Joe ever received a tech?
Grandmaster JeJe
December 31st, 2011
9:01 pm
AMNESTY JOSH
Black Power
December 31st, 2011
9:01 pm
Just like that, the Rockets go on a quick 5-0 push the lead to 11 and now 12 with the techical free throw.
Runner-
December 31st, 2011
9:01 pm
jj with his first career technical?