Trail Blazers at Atlanta Hawks: Game thread
- Larry Drew is using the “big” lineup with Jason Collins at center. Marcus Camby plans to suit up for the Blazers but Nate McMillan said he’s an emergency option. Hawks nemesis Kurt Thomas will start at center. “It’s a good matchup with Kurt Thomas who plays a physical game, Twin who plays a physical game,” Drew said.
- Tracy McGrady (back) said he’s good to go.
- Jamal Crawford on how things ended with the Hawks: “I feel like they had over a year to make something happen. I was part of their core and I was the only one that wasn’t under contract past last year. Teammates, coaches, the city, the fans—it’s all good. No hard feelings. But kind of deep down inside last year I knew it was the end of the line for me. I had a feeling.”
- Crawford on his slow start with the Blazers: “I’m still figuring things out a little bit. It’s similar to when I first came here. Eventually I got it and the same thing will happen here. It’s hard when you go to a different team, a different system,. Everything is already in place. It will come.”
- Drew on Crawford: “I will remember always having that guy when we needed instant offense off the bench. He was a guy, once he got in the game, you knew there was a guy who could put numbers up in a hurry. When you go back and look at teams that have had success they have kind of had guys like that. Back in my day, I remember a guy like Vinnie Johnson. Once he got in the game, you knew it was going up, you knew he could get in a groove, get in a rhythm and turn bad starts into good starts.”
- Drew on not having that kind of guy on the bench now: “When Tracy gets in the game, yeah, we run plays for Tracy. But we try to do things now that involve every player and just let them get what they can out of it. With Willie [Green], who can score the ball, he’s not a guy we run plays to, he just gets his in the offense. Vladimir [Radmanovic] is the same way. The way our team is structured now these guys kind of gets theirs with what we do, where with Jamal everyone knew we were running plays for him.”
- Crawford said he might “rope-a-dope” the Hawks and not look to light them up as L.D. has suggested. Drew is on the lookout: “That’s normal for any player that comes back to face his former team to be motivated to come back and play well. We don’t treat it any different than normal. We have a game plan and we have to go out and execute it. Jamal is a scorer and he can go out and score in bunches. Just like against any other scorer, you have to make sure you are prepared to defend him and have a backup plan.”
- Drew on Josh Smith’s free-throw slump: “Just keep practicing. He’s going to get fouled a lot. He’s just got to get focused on the free-throw line. With him, a lot of his free throws are long. From time to time I shout out to him, ’soft,’ so he can take a little bit off of it. It’s just something he’s got to spend more and more time with because he’s going to get to the free-throw line a lot and he’s got to step up there and knock them down.”
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
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738 comments Add your comment
Admiral Ackbar
January 18th, 2012
9:11 pm
X factor, I got confused from all my light speed traveling. ITS A TRAP!!!!!
Slimjr
January 18th, 2012
9:11 pm
Good half considering Josh’s jumpshot never show up to Phillips tonight? So far…
X factor
January 18th, 2012
9:12 pm
Basti LOL damn sautee
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2012
9:12 pm
Admiral Ackbar, are you related to Shelden Williams?
Rob
January 18th, 2012
9:14 pm
Dion Glover….
Rob
January 18th, 2012
9:14 pm
Priest Lauderdale….
X factor
January 18th, 2012
9:15 pm
Espn trying to give the ATL some props. This is a very deep team and they play together….at least of late.
northcyde
January 18th, 2012
9:15 pm
Philly is a legit team folks. That team was dead in the water, but completely locked down the Nuggets. Now they’re in position to win the game. This will be a big time test on Friday Night.
Smith.Leuer.Bogut
January 18th, 2012
9:15 pm
Chris Mullin said Joe Johnson is LeBron-lite. And he is. Nice size, nice handle, post up, passing awareness.
This team was built around “Iso-Joe” because coaches/players double team him.
People are idiots for wanting to trade him.
BoneKollector
January 18th, 2012
9:17 pm
jon barry is sooooooooooo annoying
X factor
January 18th, 2012
9:17 pm
Northcyde they said today would be a big test.
Smith.Leuer.Bogut
January 18th, 2012
9:17 pm
Well maybe not idiots but panic artists.
Sautee
January 18th, 2012
9:17 pm
Bench is 10-12. That’ll make up for ANY one player missing.
northcyde
January 18th, 2012
9:18 pm
Dre Miller scores for Denver . . then Jrue Holiday gets it right back. Sixers up 1. Denver will get the last shot, if they choose to hold it.
6 players in double figures for the Sixers. They look a lot like us.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2012
9:18 pm
“they said today would be a big test.”
This game isn’t over. The test hasn’t been passed yet.
Admiral Ackbar
January 18th, 2012
9:19 pm
I am from Mon Calamari, I think Shelden Williams might have some ancestors from that system too. We are not related, but we look alike. ITS A TRAP!!!!
northcyde
January 18th, 2012
9:19 pm
Wow at Dre Miller. This time scoring on Iggy.
Damn . . I wanted him so bad in ATL 3 years ago, when he was a free agent. Denver basically plays with he and Lawson in the same backcourt.
Big Test
January 18th, 2012
9:21 pm
This team is legit without Horford. And all the stereotypes that Hawks have suffered and had inferred on them about Horford’s IQ were wrong.
Selfish, lazy, Stupid .
We should make a move for another center.
Big Test
January 18th, 2012
9:21 pm
It’s more of a test for management
bigdave
January 18th, 2012
9:22 pm
1. Portland Trail Blazers: Contenders or pretenders?
Henry Abbott, TrueHoop: Contenders, barely. The bad news is that Nate McMillan is playing people long minutes in a dense season. The other bad news is that he has a history of being predictable, which is especially costly in the playoffs. However, this season the style is all different, with higher energy and less predictability. This is also now a veteran team. If healthy, the Blazers could make a run.
Jovan Buha, ClipperBlog: Contenders. Make no mistake, this team can win the West. By ditching his traditional coaching style (slow-paced, half-court basketball), Nate McMillan has finally put the Blazers in position to play to their full potential. They’re deep, long and athletic. Oh yeah, LaMarcus Aldridge is pretty good, too.
Zach Harper, Daily Dime Live: Pretenders. It’s not that I think the Blazers are bad or not one of the better teams in the West, it’s just that I don’t see this being a championship-capable team quite yet.
LaMarcus Aldridge has been fantastic and Gerald Wallace is a great weapon next to him on both ends. I just wonder where the consistent threat from the perimeter is going to come from. If they can address that need or someone on their roster (Matthews, Crawford, Batum?) can become an elite scorer at the end of games, I’m on board.
Bret LaGree, Hoopinion: Contenders. Behind the Thunder, the Western Conference is wide open. If Portland converts the benefit of the doubt regarding its tough early schedule into wins as the schedule eases, the Blazers will contend for the second seed.
Rob Mahoney, The Two Man Game: Contenders. The Blazers are hovering around the impressive distinction of having both a top-10 offense and a top-10 defense, a special level of balance that typically results in playoff success. Portland is certainly an imperfect team, but it has an opportunity to capitalize on a Western Conference in flux by way of its speed, efficiency and versatility.
2. Atlanta Hawks: Contenders or pretenders?
Abbott: Pretenders, until Al Horford is healthy again. In the playoffs, they have an opportunity to overwhelm teams with long athletes such as Josh Smith, Marvin Williams and Horford. But of those guys, Horford is the one who plays the best team defense and scores most efficiently. They need him in order to beat a great team like the Heat or the Bulls.
Buha: Pretenders. Don’t be fooled by their impressive start — even with Al Horford, the Hawks are stuck in mediocrity. But playing without him for possibly the rest of the season? Atlanta will be lucky to win two playoff games. Making the playoffs, of course, is contingent on the Hawks not blowing the team up (and trading Josh Smith) before the March deadline.
Harper: Pretenders. I’m on the record of urging people to never trust the Hawks, and until they get new ownership, a new system and a new attitude, I stand by that stance. Losing Al Horford cements that notion further in my mind. We all know they have the talent to make things interesting in the playoffs, but that doesn’t mean much of anything. They have to want to change the basketball culture there before we can take them seriously.
LaGree: Pretenders. The Hawks will definitely make the playoffs, but the absence of Al Horford for likely the rest of the season and the day-to-day uncertainty of Tracy McGrady’s ability to contribute seriously reduces their margin for error in the unforgiving context of a seven-game series.
Mahoney: Pretenders, and that was true even before Horford’s unfortunate injury. With Horford, Atlanta is a sub-elite team with a chance to muddle the playoff picture but little opportunity for actual contention. Without him, they’ll likely live and die by Joe Johnson’s itchy trigger finger.
I don’t have much faith in the Hawks’ ability to maintain their success on either end of the court; the regression is coming, and Horford’s absence will hit the Hawks particularly hard on the defensive end.
terrell
January 18th, 2012
9:23 pm
No Al, no problem. Hawks look just as good(or bad at times) without him. They beat the teams they usually beat(struggled a little), and they played an excellent 1ST HALF against a good team.(they always do). Same ole, same ole. lol. Btw, if the Hawks keep winning without Al, Sund might start thinking trade bait.
Slimjr
January 18th, 2012
9:23 pm
She should step out!!!!! lol
Slimjr
January 18th, 2012
9:23 pm
Nothing mechanical tonight?
terrell
January 18th, 2012
9:24 pm
Jamal in the lockerroom.
“Dont worry guys, we’re only down 9. This team doesnt know how to close out games. We’ve just got to play for 4 qtrs. Trust me, I know.”
X factor
January 18th, 2012
9:25 pm
I had the same thoughts today about Al, In his defense Al has All the right physical attributes, but where Al comes up short is his desire. He doesnt have the fire. No heart to take his game up… or the team up. Maybe this injury and the long struggle to get back to playing shape and game conditioning will motivate Al to do better.
I just shake my head at Al. He could and should be a stopper in the paint.
Blast
January 18th, 2012
9:25 pm
This is crazy. Spurs/Magic tied with 36 seconds to go, Denver, Philly tied with 4 seconds to go….
Hawks needs these two east teams to lose tonight.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2012
9:26 pm
I wonder what the answers to that contenders/pretenders survey would be if Portland was in the East and Atlanta was in the West. I doubt that anyone picks Portland as a contender with Miami and Chicago in the conference.
This is the first time I’m watching Portland this year, and to me they are a lot like the Hawks in terms of the kinds of things they try to do on offense. Their go-to guy can probably score against good defenses better than our go-to guy, since Aldridge gets to the line better than Joe, but it seems to me that they would run in to a lot of the same problems in the playoffs that the Hawks have had.
Slimjr
January 18th, 2012
9:27 pm
The passing is much better.. The Shots are in sync! Nothing mechanical. The flow is not disruptive….
Teague is starting to play like Kevin Johnson!
FIRE LARRY AND SUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Busters!
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2012
9:27 pm
Nique basically calling Batum soft for leaving the game with a scratched eye.
Sautee
January 18th, 2012
9:27 pm
T-S, I agree for the most part about Al’s desire. He had it his first two seasons, but I still say that he hasn’t been the same since Griffin took him out.
bigdave
January 18th, 2012
9:27 pm
hell nawl..
they sent Batum to grady..
X factor
January 18th, 2012
9:27 pm
Al wont be back this year, and may never be the same 12 pts 8 rebound guy you all know and love.
northcyde
January 18th, 2012
9:28 pm
Bigdave.
The sad thing about that Portland vs ATL ( contenders / pretenders discussion ), are the comments from Bret LeGree.
I don’t know what username he uses on this blog, or on Hawksquawk, but the sad thing is that he so believes in advanced stats, that it blinds him from what this team truly is at times. He’s the same guy that once believed that Horford should be the #1 option in the offense.
He, of all people, should recognize that this team is far superior than last year’s team. Even without Horford, we look to have the right type of mix of people here to compensate for his loss. We’ll see how the season plays out, but we may all be apologizing to Sund at the end of the year.
It’s the DEFENSE that makes us a Contender. The defense has been excellent all year for the most part.
BoneKollector
January 18th, 2012
9:28 pm
lol @ collins
X factor
January 18th, 2012
9:28 pm
That why im so hard on Al Sautee.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2012
9:28 pm
LOL @ Twin
Luke Cage
January 18th, 2012
9:28 pm
Cmon Twin lol
northcyde
January 18th, 2012
9:28 pm
SMH Collins
O'Brien
January 18th, 2012
9:29 pm
We cant afford a 3rd quarter lull.
J.J.M.
January 18th, 2012
9:29 pm
smh
Melvin
January 18th, 2012
9:29 pm
Collins is sorry
terrell
January 18th, 2012
9:29 pm
LMAO @ Collins.
Big Test
January 18th, 2012
9:29 pm
You guys seeing where Smith is catching the ball? ALdridge pushed him to 3
drmaryb.[*_*].
January 18th, 2012
9:29 pm
Twin outa’ be ashamed of himself
Najeh Davenpoop
January 18th, 2012
9:30 pm
That was a late call.
May be time for an early timeout LD.
Luke Cage
January 18th, 2012
9:30 pm
The Lull is in effect sadly
J.J.M.
January 18th, 2012
9:30 pm
hawks showing no energy..teague needs to drive the ball
O'Brien
January 18th, 2012
9:30 pm
Hawks need another big so we dont have to rely on Twin depending on matchups.
11 minutes, 0 points, 1 reb.
Melvin
January 18th, 2012
9:30 pm
That was a Terrible call for Felton
X factor
January 18th, 2012
9:30 pm
I hope teague dont start that turnover teague chit. like he just did.