Atlanta Hawks at Pacers: Game thread
Indianapolis–At shootaround Tracy McGrady said he was feeling good. Not so much tonight: He’s a late scratch with back spasms. It wasn’t announced until after the locker room was closed to media types so don’t have details.
- Danny Granger (ill) and George Hill (back) are active for the Pacers after missing Monday’s 96-86 loss at Philly.
- Yes, Larry Drew showed the players clips of Charles Barkley’s criticisms of the Hawks during the loss to Miami. I’ve never liked reacting to what Barkley says because smack talking is his schtick and I don’t think it makes much of a difference. Plus, while the loss to the Heat was a bad one it wasn’t enough to draw a conclusion about this team. Don’t get me wrong: I love Barkley. He’s fun and entertaining. His act is good for fans and talk radio (and Web hits, apparently) but has no real bearing on basketball so I tend to just laugh it off.
- And, sure enough, word is Hawks players aren’t going around talking or thinking about sticking it to Barkley. Nevertheless, Drew thought it might do some good for players to hear Barkley’s barbs, so he replayed some of them before the Hawks played at Charlotte Friday. “I wanted them to know, wanted them to hear what the perception is. Most guys take it for what it’s worth and say that’s what he gets paid to say. Those that want to change the perception, they will step up.”
- However, L.D. extended the lesson beyond Sir Charles’ smack talk into areas I think are relevant: “With the officials, if you whine a lot then people will start to say you are a soft team. If you don’t play through adversity, then you will get the label of a soft team. I want guys to play through adversity, when things aren’t going good. I’ve always said it’s easy when things are going good.”
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
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540 comments Add your comment
ANDRE IGLUODALA
January 11th, 2012
7:48 pm
NO STOPPING JRUI HOLIDAY 7-7
Big Lou
January 11th, 2012
7:48 pm
Play Ivan LD! You have no choice now. Utilize that bench!
john doe
January 11th, 2012
7:49 pm
this game is perfect for zaza and ivan to do some work, honestly.
BoneKollector
January 11th, 2012
7:49 pm
She was about to say Go L.A. lol
bigdave
January 11th, 2012
7:50 pm
sir charles jr!
BoneKollector
January 11th, 2012
7:50 pm
Thank u Josh for driving it all the way to the cup
Spyro
January 11th, 2012
7:50 pm
Dang, Smoove… Keep doing that.
The Spook who sat by the door
January 11th, 2012
7:50 pm
Josh with the rebound and coast-to-coast, fast-break dunk.
john doe
January 11th, 2012
7:50 pm
pacers just want to ugly it up. ivan would put some fear in their hearts.
Hawks4Eva
January 11th, 2012
7:51 pm
No Marvin, No Horford and No T-Mac —
Talk about going to a gunfight with a dull knife!
ANDRE IGLUODALA
January 11th, 2012
7:51 pm
DOES ANY TEAM SHOOT FREE THROWS WERSE THAN 76ERS
BoneKollector
January 11th, 2012
7:51 pm
LD hates Ivan
terrell
January 11th, 2012
7:51 pm
Josh keeping us in it.
bigdave
January 11th, 2012
7:51 pm
yea Joe.. !
Najeh Davenpoop
January 11th, 2012
7:51 pm
That’s the 4th or 5th time the Hawks haven’t rotated to the guy on the baseline and given up an open jumper.
The Spook who sat by the door
January 11th, 2012
7:52 pm
nice 3 Joe.
northcyde
January 11th, 2012
7:52 pm
Put up the big number JJ
Trent
January 11th, 2012
7:52 pm
If Josh ever leaves the game now, our frontline is going to be terrible. Taking away Al is bad enough, but when you take out both Josh and Al, we probably have one of the worst front lines in the NBA. And, when you also consider that the only other starter who has been rebounding the ball reliably during this season (Marvin) is also out, we just look very subpar inside. If I were the Pacers, I’d be attacking the paint relentlessly, even if Josh is in. With him being the only one left to protect the rim, you know he’s going to end up picking up fouls and sitting soon.
BoneKollector
January 11th, 2012
7:52 pm
Put in Ivan!!
bigdave
January 11th, 2012
7:52 pm
this official group doesnt care for Josh..
Runner-
January 11th, 2012
7:52 pm
oh man smoove getting ready to fight someone
Najeh Davenpoop
January 11th, 2012
7:52 pm
That hurts.
northcyde
January 11th, 2012
7:52 pm
Put Ivan in the game Drew
BoneKollector
January 11th, 2012
7:52 pm
WTF is LD doin
john doe
January 11th, 2012
7:52 pm
tony brothers is the worst official in pro sports.
Big Lou
January 11th, 2012
7:53 pm
Zaza is crap. He double teams and leaves a man open every time.
Hawks4Eva
January 11th, 2012
7:53 pm
we’re about to get killed inside now…dang…
Who’s next up off the bench?
BoneKollector
January 11th, 2012
7:53 pm
Larry Drew is soooooooooo dumb
Dept. Of Unintended Irony
January 11th, 2012
7:53 pm
“DOES ANY TEAM SHOOT FREE THROWS WERSE THAN 76ERS”
Does any blogger spell worse worse than our 76ers troll?
MattP
January 11th, 2012
7:53 pm
Green in for Smith
WTF is up with LD’s rotation
bigdave
January 11th, 2012
7:53 pm
that 3 ball is back.
The Spook who sat by the door
January 11th, 2012
7:53 pm
Vlad-Rad’s body language is too lackadasical [sp.].
Runner-
January 11th, 2012
7:53 pm
iso joeeeeeee
Hawks4Eva
January 11th, 2012
7:53 pm
JJ stepping up like the million dollar super star?? Is that possible?
Trent
January 11th, 2012
7:53 pm
Joe might need to drop 30 tonight.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 11th, 2012
7:54 pm
Joe needs to keep hitting those, because with no Josh the Pacers have a wide open lane to the basket for the rest of the half.
Big Lou
January 11th, 2012
7:54 pm
WTF? You put in Green? LD is crazy.
northcyde
January 11th, 2012
7:54 pm
Oh yeah . . . he’s feeling it now.
Put up the big number tonight.
leedsatlantadeepdirtybench
January 11th, 2012
7:54 pm
LD ” i need to find playing time for Ivan Johnson.”
8 Player rotation and he still does not play him! What a chump
ANDRE IGLUODALA
January 11th, 2012
7:54 pm
GAME TIED 15-15
john doe
January 11th, 2012
7:54 pm
defensive rotations are a little sloppy but joe is heating up.
don’t let lance stevenson beat you, guys.
Trent
January 11th, 2012
7:55 pm
“Does any blogger spell worse worse than our 76ers troll?”
When you can’t spell your own name correctly (or the name of the person you are trying to impersonate), it says a lot.
bigdave
January 11th, 2012
7:55 pm
hopefully Jeff and Joe can carry us to the half..
MattP
January 11th, 2012
7:55 pm
Vlad….
0-2 and 1 rebound in 15 minutes. Why does Drew want him in there over Ivan?
FreshFromATL
January 11th, 2012
7:55 pm
So Larry is gonna ignore Ivan, huh?
ANDRE IGLUODALA
January 11th, 2012
7:55 pm
HATE SPIKE LEE
BoneKollector
January 11th, 2012
7:56 pm
zaza is garbage
john doe
January 11th, 2012
7:56 pm
ivan should just go stand next to drew lol
Hawks4Eva
January 11th, 2012
7:56 pm
Commentator just lied: “Joe Johnson has Lit up the Indiana Pacers like he has with most NBA foes”….
What the hell is he smokin?
bigdave
January 11th, 2012
7:56 pm
Ivan catches that rebound and finishes softly