Atlanta Hawks at Heat: Game thread
Miami–All Hawks except Kirk Hinrich (shoulder) are good to go. Donald Sloan is inactive.
- Hinrich is to see his doctor tomorrow but Larry Drew still isn’t sure when he will return. “Hopefully we will get him back soon,” Drew said.
- Mike Miller (hernia), Eddy Curry (hip) and Mickell Gladness (foot) are out for the Heat.
- Josh Smith has some swelling in his right knee. He had an ice pack on it at shootaround. Reminded of the spectacular dunk he had during Atlanta’s 93-89 victory here last season, Smith said: “I have to try to re-live it.”
- Marvin Williams said he suffered nose bleeds while sleeping in two of the past three nights. “I thought my nose was running, so I wipe and there is blood everywhere,” he said. “It used to happen me to when I was a kid but it’s been a long time.”
- Drew on Williams: “He’s playing much better basketball than last year. He’s looking for his shot more. I’ve given him more freedom to be a little bit more creative with his shot. When he’s on the floor making shots he’s a big weapon for us. Chances are teams are going to double team us a lot with Joe [Johnson] so it’s important we spread [with] the shooting.”
- Drew on splitting minutes between Williams and Tracy McGrady, who finished the game at Houston: “I’ve been just kind of going with feel. It seems like T-Mac is starting to get his legs under him a little bit. I thought he played really well in the Houston game. At the same time I have to be mindful of the minutes he gets. I don’t want to wear him down.”
- Drew said the Hawks should draw confidence from winning at Miami last season but cautioned: “We are looking at a different [Heat] team. From the games I’ve seen they look like they are a team on a mission. You can’t get into a run-and-shoot game with this team. They run with force. They run in waves.”
- Al Horford on winning here last season: “It’s a new season. If we can take anything from it, we have done it here before. But obviously we have to validate it this season.”
- This is the fifth game in seven days for the Hawks. “Physically, I think we are OK,” Drew said. A little mental fatigue may start to settle in a little bit. Something we talked about before we started is it’s something you have got to push through. All teams are going through it. We cannot and will not use that as an excuse. We will play the hand that has been dealt to us. It can take a toll on you if you allow it to. It’s imperative that they take care of themselves.”
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
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969 comments Add your comment
Mark
January 2nd, 2012
8:42 pm
I thought JOSH worked on his JUMPSHOT, that’s a JOKE! Wow, what an IMPROVEMENT!
Ignition
January 2nd, 2012
8:42 pm
I dony need to see Willie Green shot…
Josh jumper is broken play hard above the rim and hey to the basket Josh ..
Teague keep being aggressive !!!!
cp
January 2nd, 2012
8:43 pm
I’m glad they got back in it. I thought they were going to just give up. Josh has to attack the basket and stop settling for jumpers. Good to see Joe get his 3 point shot back. He was terrible last season from behind the arc. Marvin has some terrible hands. Hopefully he steps it up in the second half. Joe, Teague, and Al have pretty much been the offense tonight. Other guys have to step up for the Hawks to get this win.
O'Brien
January 2nd, 2012
8:43 pm
FTPB,
AJ,
Hawks keep it close throughout tonight’s game and lose in a nail-biter. Teague & Smith have big games. And you can quote me on that..
Teague is having a big game, and Hawks keeping it close. As for Josh having a big game…1-6 from the field, and 2 turnovers.
He does have 3 rebs, 2 assists, and 1 steal, but I am assuming you had bigger numbers in mind
Ron
January 2nd, 2012
8:43 pm
Josh is 1-6 right now. Has anyone been keeping track of how many of those attempts were jump shots?
I’m not trying to put Josh down, he’s done some other good things, I’d just really like his jump shooting trend to come to an end. A jump shot for him once in a while is okay when he’s in rhythm, but I feel like he’s gone over board so far this season with thinking hes a wing scorer.
On a positive note, I like Josh’s instinct to look for the open man. He made a perfect pass on that lob to Al earlier. Also, while Josh does turn the ball over sometimes with risky passes, I really like that he’s often looking for his teammates. Sometimes Josh seems like he’s angry with his teammates and just wants to shoot the ball by himself, but when he’s focused, he’s pretty unselfish, and I’ve got to commend him for that. With Jeff and Joe doing most of the ball-handling, we need all the playmaking we can get from everyone.
Runner-
January 2nd, 2012
8:44 pm
“lets get one thing straight. The Hawks aren’t “letting” the Heat do anything. That’s what the Heat do. They get out and get easy points and they do it on every team in the league. Lebron James MVP, D. Wade Finals MVP, Bosh All Star. They will get in the crevaces (sp?) split the defense and get dunks and layups. Deal with it.”
Exactly yodaddy, you can compare them to Drew Brees. No way in hell you’re going to stop him, but the key to beating him is to contain him. Same goes for the Heat, they are going to score points, and sometimes easily. You can’t back down and you especially can’t let them have too many 2nd chance points.
Runner-
January 2nd, 2012
8:44 pm
@Ron, 4 were jumpshots
#Occupy the Paint
January 2nd, 2012
8:45 pm
Hanging in on the glass. The Heat can be outworked on the inside.
jlewis
January 2nd, 2012
8:46 pm
Josh is good for highlight dunks, but if know one shows up, are they seen? lol. For all the blocked shots Josh gets, he gives up more points by playing poor on ball defense, and no hustle and poor positioning underneath. Josh has the lowest b-ball IQ in the league, when he becomes an unrestricted free agent, i’m curious how much and how long his offer(s) will be.
Astro Joe
January 2nd, 2012
8:46 pm
OB, Josh has time to redeem himself and for all of his loyalists to ignore his past transgressions as if they never happened.
Big Ray
January 2nd, 2012
8:47 pm
1) MUST come out ready to play in the third quarter. Fail to do this, Miami will go on a run, and the Hawks will have to work like the devil to get close…only to fall in the end, due to DWade hitting big shots and/or Lebron getting lots of phony calls (and trips to the foul line). It’s scripted, we’ve seen this before. So has Miami, and they haven’t forgotten. Can Larry remember how this works and actually get his guys to listen?
2) Hawks are down only 3 despite letting Miami shoot 54% from the field, and only getting to the charity stripe for two attempts.
3) Vlad, Zaza, and T-Mac helped us not get destroyed on the boards until two of our starters on the front line decided to get in on the act. Up until that point, only Joe Johnson seemed concerned with rebounding. Clown the Euros and if you want, but they’ve been saving our butts in some areas.
4) I’ll give it a few more games before declaring Marvin has rediscovered his invisibility cloak. He’s not going to score well in every matchup. Lebron’s not about to let him go off, and neither will Deng in Chicago. But…Marvin can hold his own on defense when motivated to do so, and has the size/length to bother (not stop) guys like Lebron. He can also hold his own on the boards. The Hawks need him to do that, even if they don’t need him to take and make all sorts of shots. If he does this, we haven’t lost the “new” Marvin. If he doesn’t, then a healthy back didn’t have as much to do with his production and play the last couple of years as has been claimed.
superiorblogman
January 2nd, 2012
8:47 pm
Trade Josh Smith sooner than later. Bench is showing its true colors also.
Mark
January 2nd, 2012
8:47 pm
Why can’t Josh just FOCUS on BLOCKS and REBOUNDS, he would be a GREAT PLAYER, but his BASKETBALL IQ is SO LOW that if he can’t hit a shot he becomes PATHETIC! Maybe he should focus on becoming a STUDENT OF THE GAME.
i_am_soulstar
January 2nd, 2012
8:49 pm
Dear Rick Sund,
Thank heavens Rick Sund didn’t trade Teague to the Kings for Jason Thompson last season.
Dept. Of Unintended Irony
January 2nd, 2012
8:49 pm
“Josh is good for highlight dunks, but if know one shows up, are they seen?”
An existential blogger? I like it!
yodaddybrother
January 2nd, 2012
8:49 pm
Zaza Pachulia is a starter
TMACfan
January 2nd, 2012
8:50 pm
I don’t care who scores and who misses, just BEAT MIAMI!!!
Astro Joe
January 2nd, 2012
8:51 pm
Or claim that every long shot attempt came because his teammates passed him the ball with a nano second left on the clock or because his coach allows him to play on the perimeter or his offensive issues should be ignored because of his tremendous shotblocking or… Come on, you know you’re out there, what are the reasons again?
Ron
January 2nd, 2012
8:51 pm
One note on Teague. This is not meant to be an insult, but I think it’s pretty clear that Teague is at his best when he’s being aggressive looking to score. He can make some nice dishes sometimes, but for the most part, he is most effective finishing plays on his own. If Drew and Teague’s teammates continue to try and mold him into something he is not (a pure point guard), I think Teague will be effective. You have to let your players play to their strengths if you want to get the most out of them.
It would be great to have true point guard on the team, but those are tough to find, and that is becoming a thing of the past. Teague is still the best option for point guard on this roster by far, and I have no problem with him being on the court at the point while he is being aggressive.
For the team to be successful though, we are going to need other players to make adjustments. Josh and Al need to crash the offensive boards more and we need Al to continue to work on his post game. He looks like he’s improving, but we need more. We also need Marvin to be ready to catch and shoot the ball at any time. He probably won’t get the ball much, but he needs to be ready.
We also need Josh to do little things like flash to the paint each time he sees his man help off of him. He may not get the ball in those scenarios, but he needs to at least make the effort to get into the paint when he’s open. Little things like that will help out quite a bit.
bigdave
January 2nd, 2012
8:51 pm
i think you sub Marvin out with halfway through the 3rd and bring let he and TMac lead the offensive charge during the first few mins of the 4th..
going to have to find some offense with that group.. especially with Cole proving he can put the ball in the basket..
Big Ray
January 2nd, 2012
8:51 pm
Big Ray, it took you more than a minute, but you are clearly seeing the light (as I read between the lines).
It usually doesn’t take me too long to see some things clearly. Now getting me to admit it might take a while, depending on the subject, LOL. But you knew that was a failing of mine already! LOL
Harry Hawk
January 2nd, 2012
8:52 pm
Jeff Teague is a poor man’s Jason Terry. I hope we build around him and hire Lon Kruger.
Boondox
January 2nd, 2012
8:52 pm
man its love and hate with josh lets hope he worries more about defending than scoring in the 2nd half
Ron
January 2nd, 2012
8:52 pm
Correction on my last post:
If Drew and Teague’s teammates continue to try and mold him into something he is not (a pure point guard), I think Teague will be *less* effective.
Blast
January 2nd, 2012
8:52 pm
I know Josh has made some bone head plays in this game, and is not the smartest man on earth, but don’t you guys just, for a minute, get tired of bashing him?
And do you think he cares what the fu#k you all think?
Tremaine
January 2nd, 2012
8:53 pm
Let’s go Marvin!
Big Ray
January 2nd, 2012
8:53 pm
ROFL @ Department of Unintended Irony…..
Dude….that was over the top…BRILLIANT!
Najeh Davenpoop
January 2nd, 2012
8:54 pm
Stay aggressive Teague.
i_am_soulstar
January 2nd, 2012
8:54 pm
Hopefully Josh wakes up in the 3rd. I would hope the coaching staff would thump his head in the locker room, but who knows with these guys.
Big Ray
January 2nd, 2012
8:54 pm
Good drive, I think Teague was looking for his shot to be challenged. Al with the recovery.
Black Power
January 2nd, 2012
8:54 pm
I don’t think Josh is very tradeable (sp.?); I don’t think a lot of teams would want him.
northcyde
January 2nd, 2012
8:54 pm
Give Teague the assist with the drive and miss. Way to follow his shot Al.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 2nd, 2012
8:54 pm
Always nice when the ball goes out of bounds and the refs call a jump ball. One of the rare moments when they admit they don’t know what the f-ck just happened.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 2nd, 2012
8:55 pm
First bad play Teague made tonight.
O'Brien
January 2nd, 2012
8:56 pm
Josh with the failed crossover…SMH
yodaddybrother
January 2nd, 2012
8:56 pm
man wtf Josh Smith
Mark
January 2nd, 2012
8:56 pm
Now Josh can DRIBBLE….LOL
Big Ray
January 2nd, 2012
8:56 pm
Blast ,
Depends on what you see as bashing.
Yeah, I get tired of criticizing him for the same ol’ BS that he keeps doing.
I get tired of criticizing Al for not working hard on the glass for the majority of the first half.
I get tired of criticizing Marvin for disappearing in games and doing NOTHING.
I get tired of criticizing of all sorts of things. But they keep happening. Only choices are to shut up and say nothing, say something, or quit watching.
northcyde
January 2nd, 2012
8:56 pm
(( sigh ))
Najeh Davenpoop
January 2nd, 2012
8:56 pm
Damn, I was off on the trivia question by about 33 years.
Black Power
January 2nd, 2012
8:57 pm
Heat announcer says, ” Josh Smith tries a crossover and now he’s all crossed up.” SMDGMFH
Big Ray
January 2nd, 2012
8:57 pm
Ouch. Gotta finish, Jeff. Don’t stop driving, though.
Neki
January 2nd, 2012
8:57 pm
Can we trade Smith to the Magic right now?
northcyde
January 2nd, 2012
8:57 pm
Miami announcers raving about Teague
O'Brien
January 2nd, 2012
8:57 pm
Najeh,
You said Leon Smith, not Bill Willoughby?
yodaddybrother
January 2nd, 2012
8:57 pm
Josh Smith WTF bruh?
Big Ray
January 2nd, 2012
8:58 pm
MY GOD, JOSH…bailed out by an out of bounds call.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 2nd, 2012
8:58 pm
Nice shot Marvin!
Tremaine
January 2nd, 2012
8:58 pm
MW!
Najeh Davenpoop
January 2nd, 2012
8:58 pm
“You said Leon Smith, not Bill Willoughby?”
Yeah I know, Leon Smith was drafted like 33 years after Willoughby.