Atlanta Hawks: Lakers 86, Hawks 78
Los Angeles–The Hawks held the Lakers to 86 points on 84 shots, had 11 turnovers to L.A’s 13, shot 14 free throws (.16 rate) to the Lakers’ nine (.11 rate) and collected 17 of the Lakers’ 47 misses. They lost because they shot 34.4 percent while missing 12 of 20 shots at the rim and botching at least six transition chances; couldn’t stop Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol in the paint early, and saw the Lakers scored 15 points off those 11 turnovers.
- “I don’t know how many layups we missed,” Larry Drew said. “We missed a ton of point-blank shots. We turned the ball over at crucial times, too. Defensively I thought we were pretty much right there on the money but we just couldn’t buy a shot.”
- The Hawks scored just 10 points in the second quarter but it wasn’t just because they were settling for Js. Yes, they missed all seven 3-point attempts in the period but they also missed seven consecutive layup attempts. “We got to the rim,” Jeff Teague said. “That’s what we wanted to do. But we couldn’t finish.”
- No doubt the Lakers’ length had something to do with Atlanta missing so many at close range. The Hawks had seven shots blocked, including two of the layup attempts, and you could see them peeking for defenders when they drove to the basket. “We just have to have more focus when we are going to the rim,” Drew said. “You can’t be concerned about them blocking the shots or changing them.”
- I said the Hawks should shoot more 3s and of course they go out and miss 20 of 27 attempts, including 13 of 16 tries after the first quarter. Still, that’s an effective field-goal percentage of 38.3 compared to 38 percent on 2s (40 percent at the rim) and 64 percent on free throws. The Hawks couldn’t make anything.
- “It wasn’t a great shooting night,” Joe Johnson said. “But you can make up for that with effort and defense. I think our defense was pretty good tonight but we missed a lot of easy shots.”
- The Hawks trailed just 59-51 entering the fourth. The Lakers got some separation behind Steve Blake, Matt Barnes and Andrew Goudelock. Drew waited until the official timeout at 8:04 to put Johnson and Josh Smith back in with Atlanta down 69-57.
- “I was thinking about the back-to-back,” Drew said. “I wanted to go back with the starters and still make a push but I can’t drive them into the ground when we have a back-to-back. I thought the bench guys gave us some good minutes.”
- Vladimir Radmanovic’s 3 got the Hawks within 69-60 but Smith threw the ball away. After the Lakers scored on a second chance, Joe made a J but Blake shook free from Teague for a 3, Joe carried the ball for a turnover, and Gasol made a J. That was the last gasp for the Hawks.
- After Zaza Pachulia couldn’t keep Bynum from deep post position, Drew went to Erick Dampier. Except Drew said that’s not why he did it. “I was told [Zaza] had two fouls,” Drew said. “But they gave the foul to Joe. They said they changed it.”
- As it turned out, Dampier was pretty effective at making forcing Bynum to catch the ball away from the basket. Considering his lack of conditioning and mobility, he did well to play 16 minutes and get four rebounds. But his teammates should know that they can’t whip passes to those hands. “He did pretty good,” Josh said. “He played pretty good defense on Bynum. He missed a couple of chip tip ins. We was in a drought.”
- Zaza said he knew he only had one foul but it ended up working out for him, too. “I watched what [Dampier] did to [Bynun] and so in the second half I went out and did the same,” he said. Bynum overpowered Zaza a couple times but Zaza effectively pushed, cajoled and harassed him after halftime.
- In 15 second-half minutes, Josh was 1 for 7 with four rebounds and three assists. In the first half, he was 6 for 11 with five rebounds in 17 minutes. The problems were familiar: missed jumpers (3 of 9 outside of the paint) and untimely turnovers. There came a point where it looked as if he was no longer interested in venturing inside against the Lakers’ timber.
- Josh did a pretty good job bothering Gasol’s attempts around the basket. It’s no coincidence that the Lakers’ perimeter players started attacking the paint after he went to the bench in the third quarter.
- Joe never did assert himself as a scorer when the Hawks needed it. This wasn’t Milwaukee or Detroit. He did have five of the team’s 14 assists against two turnovers. “I got to where I wanted to get on the floor,” Joe said. “I missed a lot of easy shots for myself. I feel I could have made a lot more plays getting guys wide open shots.”
- Joe became the seventh player in Hawks franchise history to score at least 10,000 points. “It is what it is,” he said. “Maybe if we could have got a win it would feel a lot better. My main focus right now is for us to try to get the rest of these games on the road.”
- Zaza and Josh (nine rebounds each) got some help on the boards: Marvin Williams, Tracy McGrady and Vlad Rad had six each.
- Vlad Rad, back in his old building, made three 3-pointers for the first time since Jan. 9, which also is the last time he had as many as six attempts. T-Mac was driving to score, missing and looking for calls. Marvin missed a few good looks.
- With Dampier getting minutes at center and Vlad Rad at the four, Ivan Johnson got a DNP-CD.
- Teague’s 6-for-16 shooting included five misses at the rim and also a couple botched runners. He never got out of scoring mode and finished with two assists. The Hawks’ starting point guard wasn’t leading them on a night the offense was often aimless.
- Kobe Bryant scored 10 points on 18 shots with Joe plus help keeping him in check save for a burst in the third quarter.
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
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360 comments Add your comment
Rod from College Park
February 15th, 2012
8:22 pm
Grandad,
“I just really think Bynum – if he stays hlthy – is a load.
Yes I like him.”
I like him too Grandad, but he ain’t better than Dwight Howard.
pointguardslim
February 15th, 2012
8:25 pm
Kaman trying to do to much. Jennings brick fast break layup timeout. Wisconsin commercial…. yeah Im not watching that to find out if a guy can just walk around and do this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Wzi_IlEQBo
I pretty much know that starting 2 7 footers, one with range, with Josh is automatically better. Dont know what you mean by ball out.
pointguardslim
February 15th, 2012
8:26 pm
Drew says #Hawks F Tracy McGrady won’t play tonight because of 2nd night of back-to-back.
MattP
February 15th, 2012
8:29 pm
Are you kidding me.. Is there nothing wrong with him and that is Drew’s excuse for not playing him?
TMACfan
February 15th, 2012
8:34 pm
I really hope you’re joking about McGrady being out.
MattP
February 15th, 2012
8:37 pm
It is true, MC posted that on his twitter. Unless MC is trying to mess with us, lol.
Sautee
February 15th, 2012
8:38 pm
Mrs. Leuer,
Speaking of Montiejunas, I noticed that he was shooting a whopping.291% from 3. And that’s with over 3.5 attempts per game. Plus he’s at .578% for his FT.
http://basketball.realgm.com/player/Donatas_Motiejunas/International/2314/2012
Any way you look at it, those are Josh-like nimbers. He’s certainly got a leg up on scrub of the night, LOL.
And, by the way, do the Bucks have tweeners going inside, or not? I’m confused by your totally contradictory statements. First you said they had none, and that’s why Leuer wasn’t taking threes.
Then you said that Mbah Moute WAS a tweener, and if you watch the Bucks, you KNOW that you don’t want Mbah Moute outside shooting jumpers. So, which is it?
MattP
February 15th, 2012
8:38 pm
We can all thank Drew when McGrady leaves us this off season for another team.
Triangle Offense
February 15th, 2012
8:39 pm
Ra’mon
February 15th, 2012
5:50 pm
“Grandad, you were looking through Rose Colored glasses at Alex Ajinca for over 3-4 seasons. Actually, with the exception of Gasol, I don’t remember the last player you suggested the Hawks acquire, who’s been remarkably successful since you recommending them. And almost each of the players you’ve lobbied for, have been offensive players, with out defense being a strength of theirs. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, you were saying LD is doing a great job this season.”
Grandad couldn’t sneak past Ra’mon filters? Hahahahahahahah
Rusty
February 15th, 2012
8:40 pm
Grandad you want JT to do a heck of a lot. Tell me what value does KH really bring. He is a player who never was real good & probably never was as good as JT is now. LD is taking time away from JT .KH is on the downside of his career. As far as someone giving any credit to LD would mean that the person is not of right mind. LD is playing games with JT. LD should not be a coach,period.
Najeh Davenpoop
February 15th, 2012
8:42 pm
Orlando up 9 on Philly. If the Hawks lose today, they will probably dip to 3rd in the division, 5th in the conference. A win on the other hand maintains them in 4th and gets them within a game of 3rd in the conference.
Triangle Offense
February 15th, 2012
8:42 pm
Larry is useless…………..Not playing T-Mac.. This guy is already throwing in the towel hours before the game starts..Way to go Coach….
And believe coach Mike Smith sucked? Where does Larry rank?
Najeh Davenpoop
February 15th, 2012
8:43 pm
They really shouldn’t need T-Mac to beat the Suns, who are really not that good. Kind of pathetic that they lost to them at home a week ago.
E43
February 15th, 2012
8:43 pm
“e43 – dude you’re rambling a whole bunch of incoherent mess. bottom line cp3 and dwill are great players! top 5 in their position regardless of system. they haven’t won a championship because they’ve yet to be on a great team. as for acie law i was never a fan. just go back and read sekou’s blogs from yesteryear.”
Marvin, Chris, Bogut, and Deron all had potential to have been great players. There was no way of guaranteeing that. I still think that the hawks mistake came in 2004 by drafting both Childres and Josh Smith. I think they panicked and settled for Childres. Drafting both would have been fine if they didn’t have to force anyone to change their position. I don’t think they told Josh he would end up being a PF when they recruited him. They should have walked out with a SF and a PG/C in 2004.The starting lineup today could have been could’ve been either Jameer, Joe, Smith, Horford Biedrins. or Jameer, Joe Marvin,Al Biedrins . That could have altered what we did with the Teague, Law, and Hinrich draft picks. Now Smith will probably be unaffordable when his contract ends. It would have been nice to have some of those draft picks to kind of alleviate some of the issues with depth.
Rusty
February 15th, 2012
8:46 pm
LD is playing games with mcGrady. He wants more playing time &LD won’t give it to him,so he turns around & tells LD.,I can’t play because my back hurts. He says I can play games also.
W. R. Terrell
February 15th, 2012
8:46 pm
In a few minutes the HAWKS will play the Phoenix Suns. What can HAWKS fans expect? I’ll tell you all that is inevitable. Josh Smith will continue to be a ball hog by either trying to play point and not giving the ball to the guard which really screws the timing off on fast breaks, he will shoot or launch shots he really can’t make which throws off everyones timing. TMAC needs to start because Marvin is becoming more helpless by the game and Joes game is gonna get worse because he can’t carry them every night. LD won’t make the necessary changes and downhill is coming fast. Maybe that’s a good thing because this team needs to dump Josh, and Marvin.
Sautee
February 15th, 2012
8:47 pm
“We can all thank Drew when McGrady leaves us this off season for another team.”
Matt, how do you know it wasn’t T-Mac’s call? Let us know if you know that.
Najeh Davenpoop
February 15th, 2012
8:48 pm
Are we getting a game thread?
Slimjr
February 15th, 2012
8:49 pm
E43 I agree, think OSH is out of this place after next season…Fresh start somewhere else making a ton more money
lewis
February 15th, 2012
8:50 pm
yous guys
hawks are pretty decent considering we don’t have al
don’t know what you all expected
josh is a beast
Slimjr
February 15th, 2012
8:50 pm
Suns by at least 20 tonight! Ugly loss coming up again….
richbrave
February 15th, 2012
8:51 pm
Astro Joe
February 15th, 2012
1:50 pm
Wow, a team that hasn’t gotten out of the first round in the past 3-4 years lost at home to the Wizards. I wonder if they have started liquidating their players and are talking to Carlesimo about taking over the head coaching role?
Joe:
The BLAZERS lost their center LaMARCUS ALDRIDGE. Rolled his ankle pretty bad in the first two minutes of the game. That allow McGEE to dominate inside.
Slimjr
February 15th, 2012
8:51 pm
6 games above .500 with All NBA!!! And???????????? Crickets………………………………..
Sautee
February 15th, 2012
8:53 pm
“LD is playing games with mcGrady. He wants more playing time &LD won’t give it to him,so he turns around & tells LD.,I can’t play because my back hurts. He says I can play games also.”
Rusty, do you KNOW this to be true? If not, why would you denigrate T-Mac just to dig at LD?
richbrave
February 15th, 2012
8:53 pm
I’m betting GRIFFIN, PAUL and company will take care of business tonight in L.A. CLIPPERS cleaned the WIZZIE’s collectives in the tilt in D.C. the other week.
Slimjr
February 15th, 2012
8:53 pm
Mc is lacking energy..Need more energy Scottie! Aye Captain!
MattP
February 15th, 2012
8:55 pm
Sautee,
How do you know it is not Drew’s fault? Based on MC articles TMac has been wanting more minutes. Also, If TMac was hurting Drew would say that TMac isn’t play because of is back or whatever.
Where are your facts? The only thing we can go by is what we hear.
Slimjr
February 15th, 2012
8:55 pm
Suns have (3) seven Footers. We got one Stiff….Way to go Gearon Jr…………..
TMACfan
February 15th, 2012
8:55 pm
#FREEMARCINGORTAT
Slimjr
February 15th, 2012
8:56 pm
Game Thread starts in 4 minutes! With or without MC!
Rusty
February 15th, 2012
8:57 pm
Iso Joe is an offense killer dribbling the ball for ever & then taking bad shots or passing the ball to Josh on the perimeter with 3 seconds on the cloak,not really even robin.
Slimjr
February 15th, 2012
8:58 pm
Marvin and OSh shooting air balls is a killer also? Ya thinks?
Sautee
February 15th, 2012
8:58 pm
MattP,
I’m not the one making unfounded accusations, remember?
Rusty
February 15th, 2012
8:59 pm
Sautee it’s happened before, do you really think McGrady is happy with the way LD uses him,get real.
Najeh Davenpoop
February 15th, 2012
8:59 pm
I predicted 8-5 for this month and 5-3 up to this point. So far they are 3-5 — the two games they lost that I thought they would win were the Philly game and the Phoenix game. If they are going to prove me right they have to win out the rest of the month, starting tonight.
I’ll stand by my prediction. Hawks bounce back and win by 4 tonight.
Slimjr
February 15th, 2012
9:00 pm
Watch some old game from 88(Jan 16) Hawks vs. The Bulls at the Omni..
Nique in his prime! Could post up outside the box and use glass! Wow! Forgot he had that move!
Rusty
February 15th, 2012
9:00 pm
Slimjr for sure,LD has no control of this team.
richbrave
February 15th, 2012
9:01 pm
doc:
Really surprised to see the current swoon. Like the last couple years, they started off well, then fell on hard times. Thought DREW might be a difference-maker, but the pattern seems to be repeating itself. Sigh! Come on HAWKS soar! Give me one good team to root for please.
Slimjr
February 15th, 2012
9:02 pm
Rusty, LD was wasn’t a good pick! LOL!
pointguardslim
February 15th, 2012
9:03 pm
And, by the way, do the Bucks have tweeners going inside, or not? I’m confused by your totally contradictory statements. First you said they had none, and that’s why Leuer wasn’t taking threes.
Then you said that Mbah Moute WAS a tweener, and if you watch the Bucks, you KNOW that you don’t want Mbah Moute outside shooting jumpers. So, which is it?
Mbah a Moute isn’t seen as a post up power 3 like Josh Smith. lol
Is it so hard to believe that Josh Smith and Joe johnson create matchup problems in the post?
Mbah a MOute compared them to Lebron and Carmelo. What a waste of talent. Josh and Joe would be the best wing combo outside of Lebron and Wade. And Hawks fans dont even realize it.
They tell Josh to go rebound & be the trailer and Marvin to run. Instead of getting a guy like Leuer to rebound,trail and telling Josh to run.
Slimjr
February 15th, 2012
9:03 pm
GAME THREAD STARTS NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go Hawks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MattP
February 15th, 2012
9:04 pm
Sautee,
unfounded accusations… So you are saying what MC reports is not true? lmao, you most be one of the very few Drew lovers on here.
Hawk Billed
February 15th, 2012
9:05 pm
Is Chris Kaman a Hawk yet ?
northcyde
February 15th, 2012
9:06 pm
Can Leuer even make a Kiss Can appearance tonight? 11 Bucks have played in the 1st half. Even former Volume Tobias Harris.
Oh well. Marvin, you’re on the clock. Let’s get it.
Astro Joe
February 15th, 2012
9:06 pm
richbrave, Hawks lost their All-Star center for the vast majority of the regular season… yet this blog goes ballistic when the Hawks lose to the Heat. If the Wizards beat us at home, it would ignite a digital riot.
For those paranoid bloggers, LD will likely sub Teague and Marvin somewhere between 3:00 and 4:00 minutes left in the 1st quarter, regardless of the game situation. Don’t take it personally, the head coach seems to believe that the guy needs to rest during actual game time and not just in between quarters.
I would have liked to see TMac and Marvin play toether tonight with Marvin responsible for chasing Frye on the perimeter. Let’s hope Josh doesn’t lose him like he did in Atlanta.
I truly don’t like the idea of Joe in the 3-contest… here’s hoping that he stops using games to practice his 3-balll. Although according to some, game time is the only way to develop your skills.
Go Hawks!
richbrave
February 15th, 2012
9:06 pm
NAJAH:
The 76′ers are improving JRUE HOLIDAY has improved the club, and BRAND is beginning to mesh with INKY.
Don’t I see you once in a while over on O’Brien’s blog with the BRAVES? Come more often. This might be a coming out year for them after that train-wreck of a September they had last season.
northcyde
February 15th, 2012
9:07 pm
Former UT Vol
drmaryb.[*_*].
February 15th, 2012
9:07 pm
Where the hella is my game thread? I come home from working hard all day and this B ain’t got my supper on the damned table. Call 911! and tell ‘em my food ain’t right! LOL
Hawk Billed
February 15th, 2012
9:07 pm
What is a Leuer ?
Najeh Davenpoop
February 15th, 2012
9:10 pm
New blog up.