Atlanta Hawks: Grizzlies 96, Hawks 77
Here is the new game story on the Hawks’ loss to the Grizzlies Thursday night with post-game quotes:
Larry Drew was afraid it would happen.
The Hawks coach issued a warning to his team. It didn’t help
Drew feared a letdown against the Grizzlies after his team’s recently completed 4-1 road trip had them tied for first in the Southeast Division and second in the Eastern Conference.
The letdown came in a big way Thursday night in a 96-77 loss to the Grizzlies at Philips Arena.
“When you come off a road trip like that the tendency is to have a letdown,” Drew said. “I was afraid today would happen. We weren’t sharp tonight. I’m not going to blame it on the road trip. Everybody else has to do it. They go off on long road trips and come back and play. We can’t use that as an excuse. The start of the first quarter that team just manhandled us. They played with physicality and we were a step slow in everything we did.”
The Hawks held a seven-point lead early in the first quarter. It was gone before the end of the opening period. By halftime, the Hawks trailed by 10, 53-43.
The culprit was turnovers. The Hawks committed eight in the first half which led to 14 points. The Grizzlies lead the NBA in steals at 10.48 per game, nearly matching that total in the opening 24 minutes. Rudy Gay became the Grizzlies’ all-time leader in steals with three steals in the first half as he surpassed Shane Battier (523).
The Hawks finished with 15 turnovers leading to 19 Grizzlies points.
“They are a team that is very active,” Drew said. “They are aggressive. They play good help defense and they gamble a lot. It’s nothing that we had not talked about. We didn’t do a good job of handling the pressure. We were very casual with the ball. We just weren’t sharp offensively. We got behind and then we started trying to do it ourselves. We fell even further behind.”
The Hawks (16-7) had a three-game win streak snapped and lost for only the second time at home this season. After winning their previous two games by 22 and 23 points respectively, they were on the losing end of a blowout.
Gay led the Grizzlies (12-10) with a game-high 21 points. Tony Allen (18), O.J. Mayo (18), Mike Conley (15) and Marc Gasol (11) all finished in double figures.
Smith finished with 11 points for the Hawks, which lost to the Grizzlies for the first time in five meetings. Joe Johnson added 10.
The Hawks have held opponents to an NBA-low 19.5 points per game in the first quarter this season. The Grizzlies surpassed that by taking a 21-19 lead. They went on an 18-7 run to end the second quarter and took the double-digit lead into intermission.
The Grizzlies scored the first four points of the second half, the last two on a steal and layup by Mike Conley that had the Hawks Zaza Pachulia and Josh Smith exchanging words during a timeout. The start was part of a 24-8 Grizzlies run, as the Hawks missed their first seven shots, to grow the lead to 26 points at 77-51.
“It was obvious,” Pachulia said. “They had a better effort than us, talking about offensive rebounds and steals. That was the story. We gave the momentum to them. Any team gets a steal and a layup, they get more energized and they get the momentum.”
It would get worse as the Grizzlies led by as many as 30 points.
“They came out and out-played us,” Willie Green said. “We know we are a better team than that. … Once they made a run, it just seemed like we couldn’t get off our heals.”
The Hawks lost center Jason Collins to a left elbow injury in the first quarter. Collins was injured diving for a loose ball when his arm was pinned by the Grizzlies’ Dante Cunningham. He went to the locker room and following an X-ray was diagnosed with a sprained elbow.
The Hawks had to play Grizzlies center Gasol with Pachulia, who picked up two early fouls, and Ivan Johnson. The Grizzlies finished with 58 points in the paint.
“We look at the game and let’s be real about what happened,” Drew said. “I could have talked about plays that hurt us or strategy that didn’t work. I just told them ‘Guys, we got out-toughed.’ That’s something I haven’t seen in a while, where a team comes out and from a physical standpoint plays with more physicality.”
The Hawks’ four-game homestand continues Saturday night against the 76ers.
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185 comments Add your comment
Rev in Tampa
February 3rd, 2012
10:53 am
BLOG-MONSTER!
Slimjr
February 3rd, 2012
10:55 am
The streak will continue,0-47 ECF visits……Unbelievable…………………..
Slimjr
February 3rd, 2012
10:58 am
Im 6′3″ and Gay aint makin that Dunk on me..I will hammer his azz! In my house too?
joey
February 3rd, 2012
11:01 am
come on guys… we lose one game.. nothing went right for us at all and we got our butt kicked…
even the best teams it happens too. we are a good team lacking one more piece to compete for championships(exspecially with horford out) we need to sign kenyon martin. he would give us another rim protector and more toughness. we dont need offense .. we need better defense
kwooden
February 3rd, 2012
11:04 am
northcyde I saw exactly what your where talking about. Add to the fact that LD tried to go zone, which really didn’t work because MEM was hitting their jumpers. I think LD’s problem with the team is they didn’t cut into the lead in the 3rd quarter, which I do understand. But my problem with LD is his substitution of Hinich and Ivan, for Josh and Jeff made things even worse. LD tried to get away without having a center on the floor and he failed, I would appreciate him admitting that. The 3rd quarter meltdown wasn’t his fault, but I do blame him for not running plays that get guys going to the basket. They should stop the weave and post-up Josh, then start the weave. It seems to me that either the message isn’t getting to the players or the coaches don’t understand. I will also say that losing Collins hurt because he could have made the post area a lot tougher for Memphis.
GO HAWKS!!
Slimjr
February 3rd, 2012
11:05 am
Like AllNBA plays Stellar defense? He and Marvin are essentially twins on the defensive end…..LOL
Rev in Tampa
February 3rd, 2012
11:09 am
“Im 6′3″ and Gay aint makin that Dunk on me..I will hammer his azz! In my house too?”
Slimjr, you might want to re-word this post. What’s that term you guys use from the urban dictionary?
lil Neek
February 3rd, 2012
11:10 am
ok then package Kirk with smoove and tell me what big you can get.
O'Brien
February 3rd, 2012
11:12 am
Last year, Philly came to town and beat the Hawks by 30+, so Hawks better be ready.
I think Josh and JJ will have to lead/play by example. Earlier in the season (in Philly), Iggy did a very good job on JJ, who was only 3-8 from the field, 4 assists, 4 rebs in 31 minutes. JJ did not even make it double figures, finishing with 8 points. 8!
And in that game, bad Josh showed up, and went 5-15 (including 3-12 on jumpers outside the paint). We need more from Josh and JJ on Saturday. I think everybody else will follow.
Blodus
February 3rd, 2012
11:13 am
Oh yea, the Hawks don’t need a center right?
Astro Joe
February 3rd, 2012
11:14 am
I try not to be one of those reactionary bloggers who jump between the Hawks as ECF contenders after a few good wins and Hawks as lottery-bound clowns after a few bad losses. Likewise, I have decided that questionning every LD decision is silly when the team’s overall record is very good (especially when considering Horford’s absence).
However, LD does annoy me to no end with his continued “smarter than the average bear” comments. If a player performs well, LD is good for claiming responsibility, e.g. “I told him that he needed to …”. But when the team takes a step backwards, he is good for denying any culpability. “I told them that there could be a letdown”. That ish could get really aggravating as a fan and likely more than aggravating if your an employee of that type of boss. I guess it is good to be clairvoyant but it is better to be the kind of leader that can re-direct the team from falling off the cliff.
Anyway, we all knew that February would be a tough month. so no need to act shocked when that comes to fruition.
O'Brien
February 3rd, 2012
11:15 am
Ray,
Hawks are not trading for Dalembert, because he will add ~$7 mil to next year’s payroll. I dont think the Hawks want to add any salary, so whichever big they sign will be either vet min, expiring contract, or both.
Also, Houston is looking for “big” help, and is not looking to trade Dalembert.
What’s funny to me is all these teams have their starting centers in tact, but as looking for help, whereas the Hawks lost their starting center, but seemed ok with ZaZa and Twin handling it.
kwooden
February 3rd, 2012
11:16 am
I will definitely watch how Jeff and Josh perform from this game out, because that will tell us something about how well LD knows his guys. I thought LD should have benched Joe also because the poor play came with Joe out there, but maybe LD is blaming Jeff and Josh for poor performance more than Joe and is banking on this to motivate them. He’s definitely right about needed them to really perform against Philly, because if Jeff doesn’t attack and play solid defense then we’re in real trouble. And Josh needs an All-Star level performance for us to even stay in the game. Joe, just needs to stay with Iggy and draw double teams.
Blodus
February 3rd, 2012
11:22 am
Hey Sund….go get Sheldon Williams back!!!! he can play center too!!! and you can get him for a min.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rev in Tampa
February 3rd, 2012
11:24 am
When it the trade deadline? Isn’t it within two or three weeks. I remember how exciting it was last year as the hours and minutes rolled by with new rumors flying around everywhere. But what a let-down.
With Collins going down, but not contributing anything prior to his injury and Pargo and Hinrich being redundant pieces of the roster we have some needs and chips to do something. Will we?
The Truth
February 3rd, 2012
11:36 am
“The culprit was turnovers. The Hawks committed eight in the first half which led to 14 points. The Grizzlies lead the NBA in steals at 10.48 per game, nearly matching that total in the opening 24 minutes. Rudy Gay became the Grizzlies’ all-time leader in steals with three steals in the first half as he surpassed Shane Battier (523)”
I was at the game and can bear witness that MC statement is “The Truth”. But the spin here seem to be more about how good the Grizzlies are with steals (leading to TO) instead of how bad the Hawks play against good defensive teams in general. Hawks blowout defeats to Philly and Indy with similar defensive styles are other examples to this emerging problem. The “real” culprit may be the Hawks predictable offense featuring the all too familiar core. The book around the league on “how to beat the Hawks” has been a best seller for years. So game planning against them by good defensive teams is easy and has been leading to easy wins lately. Coupled that with mental lapses from the Hawk players with poor execution, many spectators (including myself) saw this blowout coming after halftime.
1) JJ gets crowded and trap in corners, makes ill-advised plays and passes
2) Josh telegraphs passes before he releases the ball, TO prone
3) Josh continued infatuation with the 3-point line always baited to shoot
4) Josh continued infatuation with becoming a PG is a TO waiting to happen
5) Josh temper tantrum with refs, players and coach, easily discouraged
6) Marvin on-again off-again defense/offense, easily discouraged
7) Zaza overall physical limitations
Just a few examples of what’s commonly known about the Hawks.
However, Jeff Teague is the juggernaut player on the team that is the most unpredictable. When he is in attack mode and breaking down defenses, he becomes problematic against any team because he gives the Hawks unpublished looks. He is the Hawks bellwether player. So goes Jeff Teague, so goes the Hawks. Unfortunately, Jeff didn’t play that way last night. He was not aggressive, played timid and looked unsure of his intentions; appeared to just facilitate, nothing more.
That brought the Hawks back down to earth and made them a predictable team again. Tony Allen feasted and had a field day. It was like playing 6 against 5; he guarded an uninspired JJ while shadowing every Hawk passer. He got into the passing lane often and converted the TO’s into easy layups. With that, he broke the Hawks will and dominated the game with his defense, the blueprint to beating the Hawks.
Except to see Philly use a similar blueprint
The Truth
February 3rd, 2012
11:40 am
“Expect to see Philly use a similar blueprint”
Dawg
February 3rd, 2012
11:45 am
The Truth: Great post.
O'Brien
February 3rd, 2012
11:48 am
This is the Hawks first 11 shots in the 3rd quarter of the last Philly game.
10:56 – Josh misses 25-foot three point jumper
10:30 – Josh misses 16 foot jumper
10:02 – JJ misses 29 foot three point jumper
9:48 – Josh Smith dunks
9:13 – Josh misses 16 foot jumper.
8:52 – Joe Johnson makes 19-foot two point shot
7:41 – Joe Johnson misses 15-foot jumper
6:54 – Josh Smith misses 8-foot jumper
6:37 – Marvin Williams misses jumper
6:13 – Jeff Teague misses 25-foot three point jumper
5:43 – Josh Smith misses 21-foot jumper
LD did not take a timeout until 5:31. So he sat there and saw 11 bad shots before he takes a timeout? And he did not sub for Marvin and Twin (who were struggling) until the timeout was called.
Really? Terrible coaching in my opinion. And the first shot after the timeout? Jeff Teague misses 26-foot three point jumper.
In Last night’s 3rd quarter, the game got really out of hand when LD subbed for Josh and Teague. And kept them on the bench.
In these games against good teams, I have not been impressed by LD’s coaching. If the team is struggling, he seems powerless to do anything about it. He doesn’t have a strategic adjustment, and he doesn’t have a good feel for substitution, so his players will continue to fall off the cliff (and when it does happen, LD will continue to say they should have listened to him).
drmaryb.[*_*].
February 3rd, 2012
12:10 pm
A Loser’s Mentality!
“When you come off a road trip like that the tendency is to have a letdown,” Drew said. “I was afraid today would happen. We weren’t sharp tonight. I’m not going to blame it on the road trip. Everybody else has to do it. They go off on long road trips and come back and play. We can’t use that as an excuse. The start of the first quarter that team just manhandled us. They played with physicality and we were a step slow in everything we did.” -Larry Frew-
___________
Why not tell your team, ignore the statistics. We are going to IMPOSE our WILL on this team in OUR house, blacked out scoreboards and all.”
“If you want to beat a man, you attack his weakness, (in this case offense) – If, you want to annihilate a man, you attack his strength, (in this case defense).” -arthur unknown-
___________
The grizzlies did just that. They attacked Mr. Johnson with smothering defense from one player, Tony Allen, who is known to be a jump shooter. Tony scores 18 points from outside – inside. In that order. In turn we made some awfully lazy passes from everyone, repeatedly.
We did not have to lose to this struggling team – WE QUIT!
End of story, and until we fix this, we will continue to lose to better teams, that play on a string and know their roles.
Oh yeah! And, we need a big man.
drmaryb.[*_*].
February 3rd, 2012
12:15 pm
* Tony Allen, who is NOT known to be a jump shooter.
___________
One more thing … Our defense was horrible from top to bottom. No effort whatsoever, from anyone.
LT
February 3rd, 2012
12:16 pm
I agree with The Truth.
LT
February 3rd, 2012
12:19 pm
Agree with drmaryB
drmaryb.[*_*].
February 3rd, 2012
12:25 pm
Correction!
Twin and Vlad?, were in that scrum where Jason stuck is extended arm into the pile. So, A+ for Twin & Vlad for effort defense. Just sorry Twin got hurt, he should get an MRI today to assess if he tore a ligament or not. Sure hope not, he may be out a while? (1,2,3 weeks?) We won’t know until we hear what Grade [1234] sprain?
Now do we get a big? The Bambino is waiting.
Rusty
February 3rd, 2012
12:25 pm
Grandad. Don’t tell me that ld didn’t mail it in. He took jt out in the first quarter 5 min in. Jt was playing good ,playing great defense ,0 turnovers,some points & some assists,put KH in who does nothing,then benches the first team almost the whole second half,oh I forgot plays Josh at center.this man has an agenda against jt. I guess you are getting old,can’t see anymore or your mind isn’t all there. By the way I am 72.
doc
February 3rd, 2012
12:33 pm
many flaws last night as everyone was out of synch, everyone played awful.
STRETCH
February 3rd, 2012
12:37 pm
I still cant believe they drafted Marvin Williams before:
Deron Williams, Chris Paul, Andrew Bynum, Danny Granger, and David Lee??
And Sheldon Williams before:
Brandon Roy, Rudy Gay, J.J. Redick, Rajon Rondo???
DeMarr Johnson before:
Jamal Crawford, Hedo Turkoglu, Quentin Richardson, Jamaal Magloire, Michael Redd
But i think the worse was Jon “Contract” Koncak over:
Chris Mullin, Detlef Schrempf, Charles Oakley, Karl Malone, Joe Dumars, A.C. Green, Terry Porter, Michael Adams
Atlanta has not really had any BB savvy GM’s or management over the years.
One day they will get it right!
Rusty
February 3rd, 2012
12:39 pm
Ray we could not get Dalembert or kamem for KH. I am quite sure his days of starting for any team is over.
Section 303
February 3rd, 2012
12:40 pm
I think some of you are making more out of this game than should be made. The Hawks were tired. You could see that from that opening tip. It happens. They were a step slow all night, shots would not fall, and no one (except Ivan) hit the boards. Hawks were clearly a tired team. Anyone at the game could see that.
Take last night’s game and throw it in the trash. No sense worrying about it, talking about, or cyring about it. Means nothing. Hawks will play much better on Saturday night.
ryan
February 3rd, 2012
12:41 pm
Need to get K Mart but looks like the only thing standing in the way is China .
Section 303
February 3rd, 2012
12:42 pm
Slimjr, that’s your stance. The Hawks are not contenders based on last night? Come on….
Anyone who has watched the Hawks play knows that team was just gassed last night. Larry Drew even hinted that in the blog (though he will not let the players use that excuse, but…..you know what he means).
Talk to me about whether they’re a contender or not after Saturday night. The Hawks are going to play a lot better.
Geemack
February 3rd, 2012
12:46 pm
The Hawks lost last night had nothing to do with being out of sync
It has everything to with effort. If the Hawks were out of sync they would not have been up by 7 late in the 1st quarter.
Once the Memphis started to fight back, that’s when the punk in the Hawks started to show.
Just when I thought it was safe to start trusting the Hawks again.
Section 303
February 3rd, 2012
12:49 pm
I always thought I was a manic fan. I am prone to have severe ups and downs when following my teams (Hawks and Michigan State football/basketball). But, after reading some of the posts on here, I see I’m not alone.
Guys, there is no “blueprint” for Phily to take from the Memphis game last night. That Hawks team you saw, is not the real Hawks team. The guys were sucking wind after five minutes. The Hawks looked like they were running up hill from the start.
Chill out. God! If they look that bad the rest of the homestand, then worry. Right now, makes no sense. That game last night was a complete abberation.
By the way, games like last night are one of the downers of being an NBA season ticket holder. You pay for games like last night where your team is just gassed from the start and has nothing to offer.
drmaryb.[*_*].
February 3rd, 2012
12:50 pm
@Section, yeah, you’re right they looked very tired, esp. Josh and Joe. The 2ND UNIT should have played more with Teague at PG the whole way. He young and he good.
Ms. Jones
February 3rd, 2012
12:51 pm
Great posts “The Truth” and “drmaryb.[*_*]‘. MC will you inquire from LD why does he permit his players to continually shoot long jumpers and miss repeatedly without a timeout to address the issue? He appears dumbfounded on the sidelines. We need leadership on the floor. Somebody should put JS “in check” with his attitude toward referees, team members, coaches. It’s getting old now.
ClassicHawks
February 3rd, 2012
12:57 pm
Yall are the WACKEST Fans On Earth! We were on the road for 10 days for Gods Sake! Wait till the guys get there legs up under them! Was at Philips Last Night, and It just wasn’t our night! Memphis is a very good team. Cmon Yall, like the sky is falling. We are one loss behind Miami for the conference championship. Yall need to stop with the WACKNESS!!!!! Hate Atlanta Fans. Like Girls and too Fickle!
O'Brien
February 3rd, 2012
12:57 pm
303,
I agree that fans shouldn’t get too low after last night’s game. But you do realize the Hawks are 3-7 against teams above .500, right?
And 5 of those 7 losses have been by double digits, with the average margin of defeat being 12.5 pts. For a team what wants to get to the ECF, those are not good numbers.
Section 303
February 3rd, 2012
1:02 pm
Ms.Jones, I tend to agree with you. Josh acted like an idiot last night. He threw the lazy pass to Teague, at the top of three point line. The Memphis player (I forget who), takes the ball down for a dunk, Hawks call timeout. Josh is literally standing at halfcourt, by himself, flailing his arms and pouting. He looked like a 3rd grader in the middle of a tantrum.
Then, on the way back to the bench, he yells at Zaza, who, at the time of the turnover, was on the opposite block, setting a pick. What? Then, he yells at Larry Drew, when Drew in the other coaches were hudding up before talking to the players. Just stupid…
I’ll give the entire team a pass on being tired last night. They were. It happens. But, Josh has to stop this crap. His behavior is one of the reasons why I have such a hard time accepting him. And, it is not because he is “a great competitor” as some claim. It’s because he is a spoiled brat.
Everytime he has one of his outbursts, he proves Jay Bilas right.
Section 303
February 3rd, 2012
1:05 pm
O’Brien, I hear you. But, I know what I saw last night. They were tired. Again, if the rest of the homestand is as bad as the Memphis game, then we should all find traffic to throw ourselves in front of. I’m not there, yet. Not after last night.
I have no doubt the Hawks will play better on Saturday.
kwooden
February 3rd, 2012
1:15 pm
O’Brien, very nice sequence of events post. I will add the one score came off a Josh post-up if I remember correctly. The coaches need to post-up Josh on at least half of their possessions and the other half they can run the high post offensive. If Josh starts in the post, I guarantee he won’t shoot a 20 footer, and he will be in rebound position if someone else shoots from the outside.
kwooden
February 3rd, 2012
1:18 pm
Looks like we’re going to lose out on Kenyon, he’s taking the Clippers offer. That shouldn’t surprise anyone, the Clippers looked like a better fit for him.
drebaby
February 3rd, 2012
1:20 pm
I don’t know why most teams don’t use the same blueprint vs the hawks.Crowd and trap JJ,take him out of the game and force him to pass the ball to teammates who are not making themselves available.The offense becomes stagnant,while his teammates are ball watching.LD was out coached by far.Lionel Hollins made a great move when he subbed in Cunningham for Speights.LD tried to counter that by taking Smoove and Teague out the game early in the 3rd and it backfired.Tony Allen s d was superb but i did not expect for him to play that well on the offensive end.The Grizzles out played the Hawks plain and simple,in every category.We need front court help bad,i would settle for K-MART,or even Benson at this point.
Hollywould
February 3rd, 2012
1:21 pm
I agree on Smith/ he should know by now that berating refs and everyone else is a loser mentality/ of course some of you want Rasheed Wallace/ guess you can’t get enuf. Philly is going to run the Hawks out of the gym. Bank on it.
Section 303
February 3rd, 2012
1:27 pm
Hollywould, if it were possible, I would be willing to bet you that the Hawks win on Saturday.
jay
February 3rd, 2012
1:28 pm
You guys can blame whoever you want for last night, but the fact of the matter is we don’t have the talent on the front court to compete with the good teams. Rick Sund is the one to blame for thinking Collins is ok to be a back up. Either that or the owners are to blame for forcing him to be OK with Collins as the back up center. The sad thing is I keep seeing young big men that aren’t making a lot of money, but have size and skill being traded to teams we play, yet we made no attempt to get these guys. One was the Speath(sp) kid on the Griz team. Another is on the Bobcats squad(tall white dude, forget his name). Screw Kenyon Martin. He’d help our club, but you’re in a bidding war for a guy on the downside of his career.
Ray
February 3rd, 2012
1:30 pm
Okay let me make myself clear Kirk is not the only person being traded here it would be a package deal, but I’m just saying we can do better than just getting someone like Kaman.
I got to agree with other people this isn’t the end of the world without All-NBA Al the hawks are 9-3 and honestly factor in the season itself being so shortened. It takes a toll on most of these guys especially the older one’s that have been here longer than say 6 years.
ryan
February 3rd, 2012
1:30 pm
So much for getting K Mart he will sign with Clippers the ASG is going the be the problem i think Dwight Howard will end up out in LA also Atlanta sports is a joke no one wants to sign here .
mountain_jim
February 3rd, 2012
1:30 pm
FIRE SUND! (I wish the owners could be fired..)
drebaby
February 3rd, 2012
1:30 pm
I don’t think so Hollywould,i think the Hawks will bounce back and Josh and Jeff will have a big impact on tomorrows game.Bank on it.
Hollywould
February 3rd, 2012
1:31 pm
Section 303/ loser comes back sat nite on the blog and claims victory. By the way, why do you give the Hawks a pass last nite on being tired? Memphis in the last 10 days played 6 games.