Atlanta Weather

| Traffic

Search
Atlanta Hawks

Atlanta Hawks at Nets: Game thread

7:15 pm January 9, 2012, by Michael Cunningham

Newark, N.J.–Marvin Williams (ankle) is not on the trip. Vladimir Radmanovic will replace him at small forward. Brook Lopez (foot), Damion James (foot) and Mehmet Okur (back) are out for the Nets. DeShawn Stevenson (knee) was a late scratch.

  • Drew said he didn’t consider replacing Williams in the lineup with Tracy McGrady. Instead, the choice was between starting Vlad Rad or using the “big” lineup with Jason Collins at center.
  • Drew on how Vlad Rad fits with the starters: “I think he plays really well with them. I’ve been looking to play him more with the starters’ group. It’s certainly a comfortable fit for him. He seems to just play better when he’s in the lineup with the starters because he does what he does. He’s a 3-point shooter, he stretches the defense. They really do a good job getting him the ball. He’s made the adjustment.”
  • According to basketballvalue.com, Vlad Rad has played 14 minutes alongside Jeff Teague, Joe Johnson, Josh Smith and Al Horford. His offensive numbers with that group are through the roof after the big shooting night on Saturday.
  • Drew on Vlad Rad’s defense at the 3: “He’s got size, he’s got speed and he’s got quickness. Tonight’s matchup [now vs. MarShon Brooks], it’s just a matter of him not losing shooters on the perimeter. He’s a guy who likes to help defensively. He really focuses on playing help defense, sometimes to a fault.”
  • Drew on the rotation behind Smith at power forward: “We will play Ivan [Johnson] at some four, move and play Al at more four and go big with Zaza [Pachulia] or Twin. We will see how the game goes.”
  • The Hawks are missing some production and efficiency without Marvin. Some of his team ranks, according to Basketball Reference: tied for first in points per 36 minutes, third in rebounds per 36, fourth in steals per 36 among the regulars, lowest turnover rate among the regulars, and fourth in true-shooting percentage among the regulars.
  • Johnson has ditched the brace for his right thumb. “I don’t like wearing it,” he said. “It’s a little uncomfortable. It’s been feeling pretty good lately.” He said it feels better after days off or if he can make it through a game without getting it whacked.
  • The Hawks still haven’t had a full practice since the season started. They didn’t practice or walk through yesterday. They had a shootaround today. “We got after it a little bit and broke a little sweat,” Horford said.
  • “We welcomed that day off,” Drew said. “It seemed like we were playing about every day. That was a very challenging part of our schedule. We certainly welcomed that day off. I am just curious to see how our guys respond after that stretch and after that big win.”
  • “For us, the key is to be able to come out with good energy and just make sure we play our game,” Horford said. “It’s going to be tough but every team in the league is going through it.”
  • Zaza said Vlad Rad did not eat Georgian food today like he did before his big game Saturday. “I can’t afford to feed him every day. Maybe it will carry over.”
  • Thanks to the blog people who wished me well with my illness. I’m at about 75 percent now. Sorry about the troll problem lately. I do what I can to control it.
  • During a NyQuil coma last night, I dreamed that Josh came up to me on the sideline during a game and yelled at me to Google Jannero Pargo. When I couldn’t get my computer to work, Josh cussed me out: “How [bleeping] hard is it to Google Pargo?!” Then the fans started yelling at me because the game was being held up while I tried to Google Pargo.

Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat

  • Print

369 comments Add your comment

Grandmaster JeJe

January 9th, 2012
10:47 pm

I’m interested to see how we do Wednesday @Indiana.

It’s our first game of the season against a non-scrub team (CHA, NJN, WAS) or elite team (MIA/CHI). We are going to need to hit the glass hard, meaning Joe will need more than 3 rebounds.

Smith.Leuer.Bogut

January 9th, 2012
10:48 pm

LD might be smart. “Drew said he didn’t consider replacing Williams in the lineup with Tracy McGrady.” Am I the only one who finds this to be brilliant?

Bench the injured 6′8 forward and go with the bigger 6′10 forward that can shoot over defense. Or go real big with Twin.

Way to go big and not try to add redundancy jumpshooting in T-Mac. With his lack of athleticism we would have been undersized EVEN MORE in a game that came down to rebounding. Good win.

kwooden

January 9th, 2012
10:50 pm

I like this win a lot because NJ was really playing well in the 4th and we still executed down the stretch and Joe hit his free throws. I really thought we would miss Marvin this game, because he matches up better than Vlad and he’s been hitting 3s at about the same rate as Vlad. Also I thought we would miss Marvin’s rebounding, which we clearly did. Good win though, because I think the HAWKS need to get use to grinding out games and getting everyone’s best shot. If we want to be talked about with the Bulls and Miami we have to expect to get treated like them.

Great game from Jeff also!

GO HAWKS!!

Slimjr

January 9th, 2012
10:51 pm

Sixers are smokin! 5 straight! 6-2…Solid..

Doug Collins is a great coach!

Smith.Leuer.Bogut

January 9th, 2012
10:53 pm

“Really could have used Marvin tonight.”

Vlad had 14 & 6 tonight. Most here would consider that a career night for Marvin or that he has improved exponentially from a performance like that.

Thank you Vlad
———-

Absolutely wrong, we’d be complaining about how we lost. How we need a center etc.

Smith-Vlad-Horford + Pachulia is a better frontcourt on both ends. Put Marvin as a bench wing with T-Mac and let them post up players and defend with toughness.

In a game where you need to put the ball through a 10 foot hoop…Starting Marvin at forward needlessly hurts us on both ends.

Grandmaster JeJe

January 9th, 2012
10:56 pm

I’m really starting to like this Smith.Leuer.Bogut guy’s posts. Except for the ones that claim we need Bogut or Leuer.

I was extremely happy T-Mac didn’t play much tonight.

Let’s let him get big minutes vs Indy. We should destroy Charlotte Thursday and Saturday will be tricky vs. Minny but we always beat them.

So let T-Mac play good minutes Wednesday (30 max), rest him Thursday, and let’s unload everything on Saturday vs. Minny.

Grandmaster JeJe

January 9th, 2012
11:01 pm

I wonder if having T-Mac/ZaZa/Radmanovic all out there at the same time is effective.

T-Mac and Z work the P&R well and ZaZa/Radman are homies.

Slimjr

January 9th, 2012
11:04 pm

Time to start a streak. How bout 5 straight starting tonight?

Next week maybe sitting at 11-3, That will look ELITE?

Dept. Of Unintended Irony

January 9th, 2012
11:05 pm

“T-Mac and Z work the P&R well and ZaZa/Radman are homies.”

Yeah, homies. From the same continent. ROFLMAO

Smith.Leuer.Bogut

January 9th, 2012
11:05 pm

Jeje, I try my best.

Guys, What would the bench look like with Marvin as a big wing on it?

Pargo-Marvin-McGrady-Ivan-Pachulia
or
McGrady-Green-Marvin-Ivan-Pachulia

Again take your time Marvin.

But how many bench players could Match up with Marvin’s size or experience? Bringing him off the bench might be just what he needs. And he could be a 6th man. Get to the line hit a few threes. Rest our starters.

LD do what it takes to beat Indiana and Philly. Keep Philips Arena rocking!

Smith.Leuer.Bogut

January 9th, 2012
11:10 pm

To me T-Mac plus Marvin need to and would be able to post up and draw doubles if both are on the wings.

But then Ivan would be moved up in the lineup. Right now I’d like Benson back as a tall PF who can stick elbow jumpers like a bench version of Bosh or Horford.

Ivan needs to find a way to contribute though. And it looks like scoring won’t be his forte.

Grandmaster JeJe

January 9th, 2012
11:16 pm

Slimjr,

Ughhh. Could be 13-1……

real talk

January 9th, 2012
11:21 pm

Smith leuer bogut 10:48- no, not a brilliant idea. Think about it, would u rather have a more balance game with a good on ball defense and 50% shooting from the field, or would u go all out offense with a guy who can give u nuthing else on offense but three’s. With Mcgrady, you get scoring, ast, decent rebounding, and decent defense. With Vlad, u get 3s, no ast, average rebounding or less, poor defense. U have to understand that you can live or die by shooting that 3 ball. And shown you already this season that he can have a good game shooting and the next game kill the team shooting the ball. Yes Ima Mac fan but I like giving facts. Mcgrady has more to offer on the besides not being 6′10 and shooting over defenses. Wasn’t there more than enough shooting in the 3 games the Hawks loss? Yes C’mon man………

Common Sense

January 9th, 2012
11:28 pm

Tracy is too old and injury prone to start.

Grandmaster JeJe

January 9th, 2012
11:37 pm

Twin sucks and should not be used except for 3 games this year. Need ZaZa to stay healthy

Hawks Blog Legend Worldwide Clyde

January 9th, 2012
11:39 pm

Another Bama Championship

Win will the Hawks win one?

W. R. Terrell

January 9th, 2012
11:45 pm

I doubt if Dwight Howard wants to play for Atlanta. Remember he played with Josh at Oak Hill and that could possibly be the problem. Seems to me if you can go an play with your pardner then you would so it’s no pardner mindset there. Josh was hitting his 15 footers tonight, that’s scary as hell, he’ll be launching like a madman now. The HAWKS are 7 – 3 and Josh is doing his thing and maybe, jus maybe, he’s learning something about comraderie and team play. The jury is still out but for now and the last 3 games he has come thru but it’s still a scary thought about those jump shots. Jeff did his thang and doing it well, Al is learning more each game, Joe looks like he may be trying to make his move a tad quicker, it was nice to see them keep New Jersey at bay. They could be learning how to win lets hope so. Good game Hawks!!!!

Melvin

January 9th, 2012
11:46 pm

“Slimjr
January 9th, 2012
10:51 pm

Sixers are smokin! 5 straight! 6-2…Solid..

Doug Collins is a great coach!”

Slimjr,

Are you the person given us 76ers updates every night…

Michael Cunningham

January 9th, 2012
11:47 pm

new blog posted. shutting down this thread.

« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Show All