Atlanta Hawks: Rockets 95, Hawks 84
Houston–The Hawks say they expected the Rockets to come out firing even though they were playing their third game in as many nights and despite the travel headaches upon their return to Houston. “That always happens, when a team is wall and you find out what they are about,” Al Horford said. “This team came out right off the bat they jumped quick on us and were never really able to recover from the fist quarter.”
- So if the Hawks weren’t caught flat-footed, it means their first game against an opponent with a variety of talented offensive players and good execution showed their defense still has a ways to go. Or maybe it’s also that they don’t match up well with a team that can spread the floor, dribble penetrate, share the ball and make shots–and do all of that with speed.
- “They pushed the tempo on us and we didn’t seem to have any defensive energy,” Tracy McGrady said. “We let Kyle Lowry push the ball up and find shooters. [Luis] Scola was playing well. You’ve got Kevin Martin hitting threes from all over the place. Chase Budinger is there in the corner. I thought they would have tired legs, but they came in and played well. You’ve got to give them credit.”
- The Rockets immediately took it to the Hawks. Only foul trouble for Scola, Larry Drew’s zone defense and their inevitable weary legs late slowed them down. It certainly wasn’t Atlanta’s D.
- “They played their third game in three nights and came out and played at a higher level than we did,” Drew said. “I told the guys that is totally unacceptable.”
- In the first period Houston scored 22 points in the paint and recorded assists on eight of its 13-field goals. Atlanta offered little resistance at the basket and struggled to create anything but jump shots. By the time they did more of both the Rockets were on their way to the W.
- There was some of the same “they just made shots” refrain from the Hawks but the energy, rotations and close-outs looked lackluster to me. There has been a gradual deterioration in all those areas since the first game, and the Hawks ran up against an opponent good enough to exploit them.
- “We didn’t fly around and contest like we did the first couple games, particularly the first game,” Drew said. “We reverted back to short closeouts and not getting out there with a sense of urgency. With our theory as far as closeouts you have got to make them put the ball on the floor. We did not do that.”
- The contrast between Lowry and Jeff Teague was clear tonight. Both players are surrounded by offensive talent but only one of them got his teammates going. “I hope my young guy can take a look at that and see how you can impact the game and not score points,” Drew said. “Sometimes scoring can be overrrated. Good point guards still find a way to impact the game irregardless if they score.”
- Of course, it helps that Lowry’s teammates know their strengths and weaknesses and play to them. Luis Scola took it to Horford, who was cross-matched, with nifty moves around the basket and fired up Js within his range and only when open. Martin, who was off to a slow start this season, came off screens for clean looks or spotted up and waited Lowry’s kick-outs. Budinger spotted up for 3s or used his athleticism to clean up around the basket. Houston’s spacing and crispness were superb.
- Josh Smith had another erratic offensive night. There were missed Js, wayward drives to the basket, strong scores at the rim and eight-free throw attempts (but he only made four). For the second night in a row Josh and Al saw an opposing big dominate the boards–carer-high 15 rebounds for Jordan Hill, who ain’t exactly Kris Humphries.
- I thought Marvin Williams was solid again but he played just 21 minutes (McGrady’s strong night had something to do with that, too). He started 3 for 3 while his teammates were 0 for 5.
- Joe Johnson never consistently bullied Martin on the block the way you would expect. There’s no way he shouldn’t get to the free-throw line in that matchup. A night after Joe seemed to relish schooling MarShon Brooks he let K-Mart get the best of him.
- Jason Collins’ debut didn’t go well. This wasn’t the kind of game where he could be effective. Houston ratcheted up its assault on the rim during his time on the floor. Zaza Pachulia also found it difficult to do his thing with the furious pace. Vladimir Radmanovic (0 for 5) looked a bit out of sorts again.
- Interesting, though, that the plus-minus numbers show that the bench guys held their own while the starters got drilled.
- McGrady, back in Houston for just the second time since he left, helped lead Atlanta’s brief rally in the fourth quarter. The boos grew louder as he played better. “It is what it is,” he said. “I don’t give a [bleep] about that. I am used to it. It was [also] Toronto and then Orlando. Who cares.”
- McGrady’s rebounding adds a valuable dimension to the Hawks. He’s going to get some against opposing second units.
- The Hawks are at Miami on Monday and at Chicago on Tuesday. A three-game losing streak after the 3-0 start is a real possibility.
- “It’s a challenge for our team to see how we care going to compete,” T-Mac said. “Are we going to crawl back and be pouting about this loss? Or are we going to come out and compete against the Eastern Conference champs on Monday? If we want to go and be mentioned in the same breath as Miami or Chicago, we have got to go do something.”
- Happy New Year, blog people. Peace and prosperity to you and yours.
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
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284 comments Add your comment
Darrington Jones
January 2nd, 2012
8:42 am
“Perhaps and Maybe the starters are playing possum until, the games really matter. i.e. The Heat. Are the starters going to flip the switch tonight?”
The starters aren’t playing possum, they are just following the game plan, which a poor plan. Teague doesn’t know what to do anymore. L.D. just has a personal problem with him and, apparently, doesn’t respect his game. Teague thought he was playing well by being aggressive and getting to the hoop. L.D. didn’t feel comfortable with him trying to score the ball so much, so Teague came out in the last game being passive, and since his playmaking isn’t great, we got the worst out of Teague by taking away what he does best – penetrate inside and get to the hoop looking to score.
Meanwhile, Josh is still too immature to realize that his poor decisions continue to hurt the team. I doubt that is going to change, it’s been going on for quite some time, and L.D. is too biased to do anything about it. His favoritism and lack of accountability for Josh and Joe continues to hurt the team. Meanwhile, Marvin doesn’t know what to do either. I don’t blame him. Regardless of how well he plays, there’s no guarantee that he stay on the floor. The only guarantee is that he’ll be on the bench for a significant portion of the game, and there’s also a high probability that while Marvin is on the bench he’ll be watching Josh stay in the game after missing jumper after and jumper.
As for Al, he’ll just do what he’s asked to do. On the offensive end, he’ll pass the ball to whomever L.D. calls the play out for, and he’ll set screens. He’ll get great post positions thoughout the game, but unless the play is called for him, he probably won’t get the ball. When Al gets a play called for him, he’ll probably score, and then he’ll be ignored for a good while.
Don’t expect Teague to do much other than defer while he’s out there. He’ll be sent to the bench early, otherwise, and probably will be benched for Pargo or Green for most of the game, anyway. Joe will be the one running the offense if things get tight, and by running the offense, I mean isolating and kicking the ball out to a wide open Josh for more long jumpshots if he get’s doubled.
On the defensive, meanwhile, Josh and Al will alternate between who is going to box out while the other one fails to box out. Joe will get beaten off of the dribble by quicker guards, and Marvin will be short on his closeouts. If Al starts being aggressive and picks up 2 fouls anytime before the end of the first half, he’ll miss most of the game with L.D.’s perception of foul trouble. Also, if Josh’s jump shots aren’t falling or he isn’t getting the ball as much as he wants, expect him to start mailing it in on D, but he’ll stay in the game, regardless.
It’s basically the same old story game after game under L.D.. You’ll have a breakout performance here or there, when someone disobeys the play call and just plays aggressively in a positive fashion. It could be Josh or Al. It won’t be Marvin or Teague because they’ll be on the bench too soon to have a chance to do much.
We might win tonight or we might not, but regardless, the situation with the team will stay the same and problems will continue to be a nuisance.
Darrington Jones
January 2nd, 2012
8:43 am
There’s no switch to be flipped. There’s just a man to be to fired and some people who need to be moved.
vava74
January 2nd, 2012
9:06 am
drmaryb,
That was brief for me. I could have gone for hours, dissecting all the bad calls (which were pleeeeenty) and all the bad plays by each of the players that saw daylight…
I think people are going a bit overboard.
HOU beat the crap out of SA (won by 20) in their home opener and they have deceptive talent and had Adelman as a coach last year (which brings good habits) and apparently McHale instilled some good things as well.
Lowry almost got a triple double against Tony Parker and in less than 30 minutes so I don’t think it should be anywhere surprising that he would play good and to the least Teague kept him from scoring.
It was the other guys who did not stay with their guys. To start the game, how many times Al and Josh were caught looking down on their feet under the basket to start the match and HOU got easy back door plays?
And again, HOU had K-Martin and Budinger scorching hot from 3 point land. Change 3 shots that got in into misses and we would be in the game.
PERSPECTIVE
Teams lose matches and will not give good efforts every single night and other teams also have nights better than their own averages.
vava74
January 2nd, 2012
9:09 am
What is F@cking inexcusable is LD calling out Teague and undermining him like this.
LET THE KID PLAY LIKE HE ALWAYS PLAYED: WITH HOT MOJO FLOWING AND GOING TO THE RACK
DON’T TAKE HIS AGGRESSIVENESS
Ron
January 2nd, 2012
9:13 am
@vava74
“PERSPECTIVE
Teams lose matches and will not give good efforts every single night and other teams also have nights better than their own averages.”
This is true. I think most of the anger is targeted at something else though. People are angry with the trends that they continue to see with this team. Particularly, it seems to me that most people on here are angry with L.D. Every Hawks blog I read right now is criticizing L.D., and rightfully so. Obviously, the players for the Hawks didn’t play that well. Some nights, you can do everything right and still lose, but that’s not the complaint here that I see. On good nights when the team wins, sometimes the fact that the same negative trends exists is overshadowed by positive individual performances or other circumstances since the team won. Still, win or lose, there are deep problems that need to be addressed on this team, and, I have to agree with what most people here seem to be saying, most of those problems seem to be centered around coaching.
I can’t speak for everyone, but I’m trying to look at the big picture and not just individual games. I see the same flaws this year that I saw last year and I see no signs of those flaws being corrected by the Hawks yet.
Eric
January 2nd, 2012
9:20 am
This is slightly off-top, but…Chicago looked scary last night. They have been just flat-out dominant lately. I actually think they look tougher than the Heat right now, even though the Heat are undefeated. The Heat have had an easier schedule, but they still look good though. The Bulls are beating up on quality opponents, and they look incredibly polished for such an early point in the season. The Heat have more talent with their “Big 3″, but I think on-paper, the Bulls look better overall due to their great depth. The Bulls have it all right now – a great player, great defense, weapons all over the floor both on the bench and on the starting unit, and they have great coaching on top of all of that.
I’m more worried about tomorrow’s game against Chicago than I am about tonight’s vs. the Heat. I hope our guys bring their A-game, and I hope Larry Drew doesn’t continue to screw things up.
Grandmaster JeJe
January 2nd, 2012
9:31 am
LD is just not a good head coach. He is scared of Smoove and the only thing he has done well in his year and a half here is to tell Twin to get into shape.
Grandmaster JeJe
January 2nd, 2012
9:33 am
Horford said. “This team came out right off the bat they jumped quick on us and were never really able to recover from the fist quarter.”
How many f’ing times have we heard a Hawks player say this over the years?
vava74
January 2nd, 2012
9:35 am
Ron,
True, but if the same problems surface less times over the year, we should have less losses and a better record.
I don’t like LD one bit and I consider him the #1 responsible for virtually ALL that happens bad and very very very rarely I will give him any credit for anything good happening on the court.
He is a very poor HC and the team simply behaves like any assembly of players coached by an amateur would (ie. not coached).
But, nonetheless, it was a night where there were a cumulation of negative factors, including very very poor and homey refereeing.
How many times do you see JJ getting a TECH?
36 seconds before he got the TECH, we were down by 8 and JJ was called for an offensive foul when he shook off K-Martin who was clearly holding him in the paint, where JJ would certainly score posting K-Martin (its easy to image that we would be down by 6 then).
But instead, on the next play, Budinger scores from 3, pushing it to 11.
Then JJ got whacked on the play that got him the TECH, which was yet another crucial possession: put 2 points on the board (2 FT) and remove the 1 that the tech rendered HOU and we would be with 4 minutes to go under 10 points.
Instead, it was +12 again.
Grandmaster JeJe
January 2nd, 2012
9:37 am
Any fatigued team that does not suck will beat us because we OBVIOUSLY don’t show up s teams on the 2nd of a b2b
Smith.Leuer.Bogut aka Other Options?
January 2nd, 2012
9:51 am
Speaking of Marvin, here are some crazy numbers for him so far this year: He is shooting 50% from 3, has a PER of 28 (5th in the league), and has an ORtg and DRtg of 140 (!) and 94. The fact that he is doing this, but has a career low minutes/game so far is just crazy. Let the guy play!
=============
His PER was 35.5 just 1 game ago. Marvin plays more minutes it obviously goes down. It’s called an aberration.
Jona
January 2nd, 2012
9:52 am
With our $50 mil man Joe Johnson’s 13 points a game and Josh Smith’s awesome 20 foot brick jumpers this Hawks team is going all the way to the Finals baby !
But the big difference has to be our awesome sixth man Tracy McGrady who obviously gets fouled on every shot he misses. Just ask him……
Smith.Leuer.Bogut aka Other Options?
January 2nd, 2012
9:53 am
With Zaza and Horford going big, Luis Scola took it to Horford, who he was matched up against, with nifty moves around the basket and fired up Js within his range and only when open.
fixed MC. Lucky Houston plays out West.
drmaryb.[*_*].
January 2nd, 2012
9:58 am
Didn’t We?
Didn’t we lead the entire league in most games won on b2b’s last year? Or at least in the top two?
Smith.Leuer.Bogut aka Other Options?
January 2nd, 2012
10:04 am
Kevin Love doing work. Rubio thru Dirk;s legs, wow.,
Will
January 2nd, 2012
11:01 am
Yea, the coaching is a problem on this team, but their “core group”
is a problem as well, when your offense is not going, you have got
to bring the defense and apply pressure. All of the good nba teams
knows this. When this hawks team starts losing to another team
by 8-10 pts, they completely gives up, they will quit in a heartbeat.
When you look at this team, they are not tough or physically going to battle you
night in night out, they don’t play with any pride or urgence at all. But then they
want to be mention with the elites, miami, chicago, boston. In order for that to
happen you have to beat these teams, reg season and playoffs. This particular
group, do not have the guts, heart, or mindset to beat these teams.
Somebody mentioned when they loss to houston, that its only one loss,
if you seen that gm on tv, they the hawks got dominated by houston,
no defense whatsoever, and once they fall behind in a gm they will giveup
or quit immediately, every team in the nba knows this about the hawks,
even Chicago’s D.Rose in the playoffs last season made that comment about them.
If this current group of hawks, does not immediately start playing good tough defense
and giving more effort, I would be very surprised if they won 30 gms this season, forget about the elite teams, they are going to have a difficult time beating teams like the pacers, bucks, knicks toronto, and even the bobcats in the east. I didn’t even mention the west did I!!!!
Smith.Leuer.Bogut aka Other Options?
January 2nd, 2012
11:19 am
What is this Hawks team’s identity?
Lakers went to Kobe to shoot and even on a miss and Pau and Bynum and Odom would crash boards for easy layups.
Dallas had a bunch of shooters and Tyson crashing for boards.
Boston’s last title they had elite scoring with Allen, Pierce, Rondo, Garnett and then elite defense with those 4 and Perkins.
What the heck is our identity? I dont see the Paul Pierce, or Ray Allen, I don’t see Garnett. I dont see Pau or Bynum or Kobe.
I see if you want to be a normal team it comes down to Marvin at the SF or Josh at the SF. Marvin outside plus an inside players at PF or C. or Josh Smith inside plus outside players at PF or C.
And no, washed up vets like Vladimir Radmanovic are not the answer.
I see Shawn Marion jr. in Smith. Get him Leuer + Bogut or Anderson + Dwight. Keep JJ and Teague.
*oops looks like Anderson is averaging 20ppg.
If Horford cant get you a center + shooter. Dont trade him. Smith almost certainly cant get you a quality center. They are becoming rarer and rarer.
Astro Joe
January 2nd, 2012
12:34 pm
The only way to suggest that Al be used to acquire Cousins (as opposed to Josh) is either because you have no belief that winning basketball is played above the shoulders, you believe that Josh is an Iverson-like crowd producer (which obviously isn’t true) or you want the thrill of watching two guys known for offering drama to their coaches and teammates coexist (a la T.O. and Ocho Cinco). If Sund were compelled to trade for Cousins, I think the wisest move would be to surround him with stability and talented players who are teachable. You don’t enable him with guys who can’t follow directions from the head coach.
Rusty
January 2nd, 2012
12:34 pm
Darrington jones. You hit the nail on the nose, I couldn’t say it better.
Cedric
January 2nd, 2012
12:40 pm
The Hawks lost because their defensive intensity was not there. We will not win playing good teams if we do not play with a defensive mindset from the onset. I would like to see Horford play strong down low all the time like he did in the 2nd half. I think Coach Drew took Teague out of the game because he let Josh bring the ball up on the break and he did not demand the ball. Teague has got to set the tone for the team. Teague has to take the ball from Josh and not allow him to be the point forward he thinks that he is. Coach Drew has told Teague this, but Teague was not being assertive enough during the game.
Astro Joe
January 2nd, 2012
12:47 pm
OB, I could be wrong, but my guess is that rebounding is more important than shot-blocking when it comes to defense. One clearly changes possession while the other does not always result in a change of possession. Both happen due to a missed shot. Shot-blockers obviously also change shot attempts and intimidate shooters, and that value is hard to measure. Now with that said, Love is a more elite rebounder on the past 2 seasons than Josh is an elite shot-blocker. Let’s use two names with little emotion tied to them. I’d rather have Reggie Evans coming off the bench and grabbing his usual amount of rebounds than Birdman Anderson coming off the bench and blocking his usual amount of shots. Personally, I value the less entertaining rebound more than the highlight block.
Astro Joe
January 2nd, 2012
12:57 pm
It would be interesting to see some late 4th quarter sets that have Vlad instead of Josh on the floor. I know that Josh is a clutch offensive rebounder, but since the opposing PF often cheats and leaves Smith open on the perimeter, having Vlad out there would force the opposing team to either play one-on-one or leave an excellent spot-up shooter open. If Teague, Joe, TMac or Horford were left one-on-one, I would like our chances of at least getting free throws out of the possession.
Slimjr
January 2nd, 2012
1:06 pm
LD+ Core front line = failure
Miami by 25 at least…. Chicago by 35…
Gearon get D12 asap! Help!.. Josh for Derrick Williams….
Slimjr
January 2nd, 2012
1:07 pm
Jettison the warp core Scottie! Make it so…Aye Captain!
Slimjr
January 2nd, 2012
1:09 pm
Derrick Williams, Vlad, D12…Upgrade over
Marvin, Josh, All NBA….
J from the A
January 2nd, 2012
1:10 pm
I know Josh is frustrating to watch; he does seem to keep making the same poor decisions quite frequently, namely shooting long jumpers early in the shot clock.
But … is there any evidence to suggest that he is a difficult player to get along with? Or other than his taking of long jumpers, is there any evidence that he and the coaches have issues with each other? I am not talking about a bit of frustration here and there; I want to know if there is any evidence that Josh is in fact a “cancer” (or is nearing some sort of cancerous stage) that several people on the blog seem to keep claiming.
Most of what I hear from the coaching staff and other players is that Josh works hard, comes prepared, and gets along with others.
Just for one example: Remember last year when Drew was trying to install his new offense. He said that Josh not only knew his plays but Josh also knew the plays of every other position on the team, and in some case, he knew other people’s plays/roles in plays better than the person who was supposed to know it! That does not sound like an uncoachable cancer to me.
Yes, Josh is hard-headed about some things (i.e., shooting too many long jumpers), but being hard-headed about one set of actions does not make one a hard head in general. And I am just not aware of any evidence that Josh is “difficult” in general.
Slimjr
January 2nd, 2012
1:13 pm
Our front line has to have the talent to carry the team from time to time when guard play is off..
So far after 6 years, the answer is no this front line cannot get it done as presently constructed….
More Blowouts to come….Stay tuned…..
Astro Joe
January 2nd, 2012
1:26 pm
J from A, I don’t think that Josh is a cancer nor “coach killer”. But he was benched a few seasons ago by Woody after a supposed yelling match and he was benched last year by LD after repeated poor decisions (one has to assume that the benching was after more than 1 or 2 discussions about the topic). So while he seems to say and do the right things outside of game time, there seems to be something lost in translation after the jump-ball. Both MC and Sekou before him alluded to “chemistry issues” in the past few years with Josh and teammates. I don’t know who is at fault since I don’t know the issues. So, no, he is not pointing a gun at his teammates nor trying to choke the life from his head coach.
Slimjr
January 2nd, 2012
1:32 pm
Josh has an alter ego..He must be a HERO after the jumpball! It’s tiresome…
Astro Joe
January 2nd, 2012
1:34 pm
Melvin, maybe Flip-Flops will get some playing time while Cousins is in the doghouse. I hope he brings his sneakers to the gym.
Michael Cunningham
January 2nd, 2012
1:49 pm
new blog posted. shutting down this thread.
Black Power
January 2nd, 2012
2:16 pm
I know it’s a pipe dream but how about trading Josh Smith for Kenneth Faried [Nuggets' rookie] or Josh Smith for Kawhi Leonard [Spurs' rookie].
real talk
January 2nd, 2012
2:40 pm
You may know the business, but its evident you dont know basketball. Who would want to build around Al fu##ing hordford. You never see him play defense. He always complain about where he position on the court. This guy doesn’t make his teammates better. Whats stupid is that you would build your team around a guy who has no heart and cares more about playing 4 then helping his team win. What’s stupid is you don’t know “big brother Lil brother” Cousins will always act a fool because there are no proven vets that could mentor the big guy on the Kings roster. Its not the same with hawks fool. You got proven vets like Joe, stackouse, and McGrady who could lead this in a different direction. What’s stupid is that you pick no heart over talent.
real talk
January 2nd, 2012
2:45 pm
My last comment was for superior blogman