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
Najeh Davenpoop
January 11th, 2012
7:56 pm
I swear to God if I see Zaza fumble a rebound out of bounds and point the Hawks’ direction again, instead of just catching it, I am going to go burn down Buckhead Bottle Bar.
The Spook who sat by the door
January 11th, 2012
7:57 pm
Zaza can’t jump, can rebound…he’s so frustrating.
drmaryb.[*_*].
January 11th, 2012
7:57 pm
Big 3, 2 … 1
Well, Josh has 3 fouls so, we’re down to the big 1. Super Joe, but no friends. This is any opportunity for someone else to step up.
Indy came out on fire, we withstood with a major injury and foul trouble. Teams get up for the Hawks regardless of media perceptions.
DSGB
January 11th, 2012
7:57 pm
Play Ivan, wtf is LD doing
Trent
January 11th, 2012
7:57 pm
I was just thinking, as bad as it is now, what happens when Zaza sits too? Who is going to play center? Collins really doesn’t sound like a good option, and Ivan is about half a foot shorter than Hibbert.
northcyde
January 11th, 2012
7:58 pm
Willie Green = Flip Murray
ANDRE IGLUODALA
January 11th, 2012
7:58 pm
BACK TO BACK 3 SEC VIOLATIONS DAM 22- 15 KNICKS
Najeh Davenpoop
January 11th, 2012
7:58 pm
ANOTHER open baseline jumper for the Pacers. Is it really that hard to keep track of the guy on the baseline?
Runner-
January 11th, 2012
7:58 pm
RADMANOVICCCCCCCCCCCC
terrell
January 11th, 2012
7:58 pm
Ivan gets minutes and balls out. What does LD do? Sit his azz right back on the end of the bench. Makes no sense whatsoever.
BoneKollector
January 11th, 2012
7:58 pm
zaza is useless
john doe
January 11th, 2012
7:58 pm
all of us on here should pool our resources to get jerry sloan.
ANDRE IGLUODALA
January 11th, 2012
7:59 pm
THEY SHOUKLD TRADE ME I SUCK
Big Lou
January 11th, 2012
7:59 pm
Zaza is so garbage.
BoneKollector
January 11th, 2012
7:59 pm
finally he didn’t mess up Teague’s pass
Najeh Davenpoop
January 11th, 2012
7:59 pm
FINALLY Zaza converts a Teague dime.
northcyde
January 11th, 2012
7:59 pm
omg . . zaza caught the pass
bigdave
January 11th, 2012
7:59 pm
shooting..
Najeh Davenpoop
January 11th, 2012
8:00 pm
Ivan might help, but really tonight would have been a good time to see what Keith Benson can do. Hawks could use someone to protect the rim tonight. Ivan isn’t that guy.
Big Lou
January 11th, 2012
8:00 pm
Ivan plays with intensity, and will probably play way better than Zaza. Height advantage or not..
Trent
January 11th, 2012
8:01 pm
“Well, Josh has 3 fouls so, we’re down to the big 1. Super Joe, but no friends. This is any opportunity for someone else to step up.”
I would think that this would be the type of situation where T-Mac could really step up and play a big role, but unfortunately, he’s out also. We don’t have many options left outside of Joe on the offensive end. Vlad and Willie Green need someone to create for them to be effective, and Teague doesn’t have big men to set up inside with Josh and Al out. I guess we need to hope that we can get Vlad and Green some open shots off of Joe and Jeff, and hope that Zaza is ready to get some garbage baskets from all of the bricks.
The Spook who sat by the door
January 11th, 2012
8:01 pm
Vlad-Rad can’t stop his man, can’t get a defensive board and you [bloggers] say Jamal is bad defender?
john doe
January 11th, 2012
8:02 pm
“Ivan catches that rebound and finishes softly”
nothing soft about ivan. the world’s most interesting goon.
Runner-
January 11th, 2012
8:02 pm
“Vlad-Rad can’t stop his man, can’t get a defensive board and you [bloggers] say Jamal is bad defender?”
Jamal is a bad defender, so what’s your point exactly
Trent
January 11th, 2012
8:02 pm
“Willie Green = Flip Murray”
Flip Murray seemed like a much better one vs. one player. He wasn’t very efficient, but he could definitely score in 1 vs. 1 fairly well.
northcyde
January 11th, 2012
8:03 pm
Trent
January 11th, 2012
7:57 pm
I was just thinking, as bad as it is now, what happens when Zaza sits too? Who is going to play center? Collins really doesn’t sound like a good option, and Ivan is about half a foot shorter than Hibbert.
****************
He’ll try to go with Twin first, but Ivan is stout enough to play center tonight. Hibbert is a softie, although he is improving. The height advantage isn’t all that big of an issue, seeing that Hibbert isn’t the greatest rebounder in the world anyway.
drmaryb.[*_*].
January 11th, 2012
8:03 pm
Oxymoron!
“Ivan catches that rebound and finishes softly” -bigdave-
________
Just laughing at bigdave, he said Ivan and softly in the same sentence. ROF
Trent
January 11th, 2012
8:03 pm
Collins…I don’t have a good feeling about this.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 11th, 2012
8:03 pm
This time the Hawks close out on the baseline jumper and force a 3 second violation.
Sautee
January 11th, 2012
8:03 pm
That’s odd, Spook, since my box score shows him with the second most rebounds on the hawks tonight.
ANDRE IGLUODALA
January 11th, 2012
8:03 pm
9-0 RUN 4 KNICKS 76ERS ARE TIRED
Najeh Davenpoop
January 11th, 2012
8:04 pm
Vlad isn’t a good man to man defender but he has good hands.
Captain Obvious
January 11th, 2012
8:04 pm
Najeh Davenpoop
January 11th, 2012
8:03 pm
Good one
Big Lou
January 11th, 2012
8:04 pm
You gotta give it to the Hawks. At least they’re staying in it.
BoneKollector
January 11th, 2012
8:04 pm
teague!!!!!!!!!!!
ANDRE IGLUODALA
January 11th, 2012
8:05 pm
13-0 RUN FOR KNICKS GETTING UGLY
The Spook who sat by the door
January 11th, 2012
8:05 pm
Even with injuries and foul trouble, the Hawks take a tenuous lead 50-49.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 11th, 2012
8:05 pm
“Captain Obvious
January 11th, 2012
8:04 pm”
Congratulations on regaining your captaincy.
Big Lou
January 11th, 2012
8:05 pm
West for flop of the year….
The Spook who sat by the door
January 11th, 2012
8:06 pm
Hawks are battling; I’ll give them that.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 11th, 2012
8:06 pm
Hawks go 2 for 1 and get a bad shot AGAIN. STOP THIS NONSENSE
ANDRE IGLUODALA
January 11th, 2012
8:06 pm
DAM END OF 1ST QUARTER 28-15 KNICKS, IT WAS 15 ALL, JUST BRUTAL
bigdave
January 11th, 2012
8:06 pm
“nothing soft about ivan. the world’s most interesting goon.”
this may be true, but he has a soft touch around the basket..
BoneKollector
January 11th, 2012
8:06 pm
Joe gotta be smarter
J.J.M.
January 11th, 2012
8:06 pm
GET RID OF JOE JOHNSON
john doe
January 11th, 2012
8:06 pm
vlad does a little bit of everything. he just occasionally looks lost like phil jackson said lol
Runner-
January 11th, 2012
8:07 pm
tough half considering everyone that’s injured, Smoove needs to come back with the same aggressiveness and we’ll be able to stay in this thing the 2nd half.
MattP
January 11th, 2012
8:07 pm
Big Lou,
Ya they are still in, not because of LD. JJ is having his first good game of the season, lets just hope he doesn’t died down after the Half.
The Spook who sat by the door
January 11th, 2012
8:07 pm
Hawks down 53-50 at half-time. This is still a game.
northcyde
January 11th, 2012
8:07 pm
He was going 2 for 1 there @ Bone. That’s why he shot it quick.