Atlanta Hawks: Knicks 99, Hawks 82
Here is my updated game story from the Hawks lost to the Knicks Wednesday.
NEW YORK — How would the Hawks respond without Joe Johnson?
They stayed with the Knicks for 7 minutes, 16 seconds — and then they melted. The Knicks used a 16-0 run to end the first quarter and went on to a 99-82 victory over the Hawks on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.
Forget Lin-sanity. The Hawks are caught up in adversity.
With Johnson back in Atlanta nursing tendinitis in his left knee, he became the second All-Star the Hawks have been without this season. Al Horford is out with a torn pectoral muscle. While Johnson should not be out for an extended period of time, his loss compounded what has been a troublesome stint.
The Hawks (19-14) lost their third consecutive game on a just-completed 1-4 road trip. It was their eighth loss in the past 11 games. In those 11 games the Hawks have trailed by 30 points three times — including Wednesday — and by 20 points four other times.
“I want to see us respond to the fact that we have two All-Stars who won’t be here,” Hawks coach Larry Drew said before the game. “… I just personally feel that this is a true test to see what our team is made of, where we are at this point.”
After the Hawks took a 16-14 lead with 4:44 left in the first quarter, the Knicks went on the decisive run. They led 30-16 following the opening quarter. The Hawks turned the ball over eight times while making only seven field goals (7-for-20, 35 percent). With less than a minute to go in the first half, the Hawks trailed by 27 points. The Knicks’ lead was 30 points by early in the third quarter.
“We didn’t respond,” Drew said. “Particularly when they made a little push and pressured us a little bit we didn’t respond the way we should have. A game like tonight is one of those games you are going to have to bounce back from because we will have another game without Joe [Thursday] night. We have to play a little bit better each quarter, each guy has to give a little bit more.”
The Hawks went on a 19-2 run in the third quarter to close the gap to 13 points, 69-56. Jerry Stackhouse and Jeff Teague each made two 3-pointers in the run. But that has been the problem as of late. Such big runs don’t put the opposition away, they only make a blowout a little less ugly.
It was as close as the Hawks would get. The Knicks answered with a 17-2 run to take back control.
“We just got outplayed from the start,” Tracy McGrady said. “We just didn’t match their intensity. I think the first half we dug ourselves a deep hole. The second half we came out with a lot more intensity, a lot more energy but by that time it was too late.
Jeremy Lin, who has led the Knicks to wins in nine of their past 11 games and has become a city-wide sensation, scored a team-high 17 points with nine assists. He watched most of the fourth quarter from the bench. In the past 11 games (10 starts), Lin has averaged 23.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 9.2 assists, 2.8 steals and 5.5 turnovers.
“It’s tough to guard him,” Teague said. “They play a thousand pick and rolls. It’s always going to be tough coming off a pick and roll.”
The Knicks, who got points from nine players, also got double-figures scoring from Steve Novak (17), Landry Fields (16), Carmelo Anthony (15), and J.R. Smith (12).
Teague led the Hawks with a game-high 18 points. Willie Green scored 15 points and Josh Smith added 13 points.
“We were a little careless in the first half with the ball,” Smith said. “We had opportunities in the fast break and the half court to score the basketball but we turned the ball over too many times. It seemed like every time we did that, they capitalized on it.”
The Hawks host the Magic on Thursday night before beginning the All-Star break. It will be another game without Johnson.
“It’s definitely tough,” Smith said of missing the six-time All-Star and the team’s leading scorer. “You are taking away 18 points a game. The defense concentrates so hard on trying to stop him that it opens a lot of stuff with everybody else. We definitely missed him tonight.”
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290 comments Add your comment
cp
February 23rd, 2012
1:37 pm
The game was over the moment LD brought the second unit in. It was clear from the beginning that the second unit just didn’t have it going. LD should have called a timeout when the Knicks started going on their run and put the starters back in. LD for some reason did absolutely nothing. Didn’t call a timeout or anything and even let the second unit start the second quarter although they were struggling. Green was too small to defend Fields yet LD made no adjustment when it was clear it was a bad mismatch. They were getting killed on the boards and yet at one point LD had Josh at center. LD has to go. Blowing the team up and getting draft picks doesn’t solve the problem especially considering the draft history this franchise and GM has.
prison mike
February 23rd, 2012
1:40 pm
Jason Terry averaged 7.5 assists with the Hawks. Assist don’t mean squat unless you have command of the offense and the players. At the moment, Teague doesn’t make anyone better which is prerequisite for a pg.
doc
February 23rd, 2012
1:41 pm
yeah stretch we bantered about that some last year as the mavs closed in on it. says something to lack of balance and money needed to do it right though we have now spent money just not too smartly of recent history and certainly have not recently developed within, any significant draft pieces. really only small market is the spurs.
Grandad
February 23rd, 2012
1:42 pm
I’ll bet even ‘`Richard Simmons`’ -not Bill- ‘`Richard`’
has enough sense to realize K.Love
is playing basketball on a different plane,
than is ‘`No J the Chucker`’.
E43
February 23rd, 2012
1:46 pm
Najeh Davenpoop- There simply isn’t enough firepower to bring big names to the Atlanta sports network. 420,000(8% international) people just isn’t enough considering a city like New York has 8mil+. Atlanta just like Greenbay and Indiana just don’t have that firepower. Atlanta’s attendance will never be in the top 10 regardless of who plays for any of the teams or who owns any of the teams. College sports on the other hand is completely different. The Metro area has 5mil+ to fan to various college teams. That 5mil are stretched out and more likely wont make any trips to watch pro games unless its the playoffs. Atlanta can have good attendance. It’s just not worth it to make that drive so often. Its that stretching of fans that makes the pro teams lack support. Some of these teams will be embraced very quickly if they were under the right market.
Astro Joe
February 23rd, 2012
1:48 pm
Jason Terry. Traded because he tried to tell vets what to do and lead the team from the PG position. He’s not a pure Pg but he is a pure LEADER.
I’ve said it before and I will continue to say it. This is a strange season. IMO, Josh lost that weight anticipating that he would spend at least as much (if not more0 time at SF. How was he to know that Horford would suffer a significant injury that would lock him in at PF almost exclusively this season? Now, he is absent some of the mass to play against the bigger PFs. We’ve gotten smaller and softer this season than ever before. Some of it is dumb lucjk (Al’s injury coupled with Jenny Craig Smith’s diet) and some is just an evolution of the past few seasons.
Big Balls
February 23rd, 2012
1:48 pm
Larry Drew hasn’t a clue….
E43
February 23rd, 2012
1:49 pm
Najeh- I’m certain that the new stadium the Falcons want to build will likely hold less people so that they can pack all the noise into that space.
Fireld!
February 23rd, 2012
1:53 pm
Prison Mike, it’s hard to make anyone better without the ball in your hands. Josh won’t give it to him and Joe takes the ball as soon as he comes up. No matter who our point is this offese makes him give the ball up 80% of the time when he crosses half court. This offence reduces our pg to a spot up shooter and that’s why Bibby lasted so long. With that being said Teague is shooting over 45% from three.
MattP
February 23rd, 2012
1:54 pm
Teague doesn’t make any player better because LD’s offense does not make any play better. Look at the Suns/Nash they do alot, and I mean alot, of picks. When do the Hawks have pick and rolls? Oh ya I forgot, Zaza’s offensive fouls. Where is Josh on offense? Oh ya I forgot, on the 3pt. arc shooting 26% for 3s. How can any Point Guard run this offense?
MattP
February 23rd, 2012
1:54 pm
I also forgot about ISO Joe.
honest_abe
February 23rd, 2012
1:56 pm
http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2012/02/22/rajon-rondo-the-right-call-as-all-star-game-replacement-for-joe-johnson/?sct=nba_t11_a1
the josh debate rages on.
the point the stood out in that article is how josh is putting up the same number of long jumpers as ……….. dirk. wow.
Grandad
February 23rd, 2012
1:57 pm
Najeh
‘`That quote about Josh being hard to coach
essentially proves him right.
Coaches don’t pick All Star reserves
based on who is playing the best,
but rather who they would be able to coach more easily`’
You Read the whole article.
You missed the point.
-or-
You chose to ignore the point to promote your agenda.
-spin-
Read your own article / even though it’s about politics.
\ / ; ) (
Fireld!
February 23rd, 2012
2:00 pm
my bad, offense
Astro Joe
February 23rd, 2012
2:04 pm
abe, but Dirk doesn’t average 2.5 blocks and 4 assists during a bad game, now does he?
northcyde
February 23rd, 2012
2:05 pm
Ramon, Drew’s motion offense is part of the problem. Everybody doesn’t need to shoot the ball just because they’re open. Most coaches will design an offense to get their best scorers the ball in the right spots. Drew’s offense doesn’t do that at all.
As for Josh Smith, the issue with him is that we don’t necessarily need him to do more, we need him to play smarter. He simply doesn’t do that, no matter how talented he or others think he is. And good teams take full advantage of that. He’s the rapidly player that when he starts to lose his athleticism, he’ll decline rapidly.
His thought process reminds me a A LOT of Rasheed Wallace and Antoine Walker. Both of those guys could’ve been much better players than they turned out to be. Toine especially was a multi skilled player that would KILL his team with his decision making. He had extremely high and low games like Josh has. And his shot selection was even a little worse than Josh.
We’re a team void of good veteran talent that could show Josh how to play the right way, so Josh basically gets to do what he wants.
Take a 21 foot jumper after already missing 5 of them, no problem.
Not give the ball to Teague to lead the fast break, no problem.
Hang out by the 3 point line on offense to receive the pass, instead of cutting to the rim or crashing the offensive glass, no problem
Those are offensive possession killers. And since he now leads the team in usage, culpability of him on offense increases. And other coaches around the league see this. So if they can Eve
Effectively take JJ out on offense, Smith gets to make the critical plays on offense. Every missed shot or turnover by him is now magnified.
If he wants the ball in his hands, I have no problem with that. But with his limited offensive arsenal, he should be more of a playmaker and rebounder in the mold of a Kevin Garnett, than a scorer like a Lamarcus Aldridge.
honest_abe
February 23rd, 2012
2:07 pm
aj – heh…. don’t forget his “high” basketball iq.
hello mary jane…..
Fireld!
February 23rd, 2012
2:08 pm
MattP I thought I was alone. Anyone with the least bit of BBall acumen could see this offense is not made for the current construction of our team.
honest_abe
February 23rd, 2012
2:11 pm
northcyde: let me add one. with 2 seconds left on the shot clock. hawks inbounding the ball and josh rolls toward the inbound passer and heaves a 3. huh? you can’t possibly tell me that was the designed play.
prison mike
February 23rd, 2012
2:13 pm
Northcyde, stop spewing your pro Duck anti Josh posts. Whenever LD calls for a post play for Josh, more times than not he produces.
Why does LD have Josh out on the elbow and not Duck or Al.
Fireld, Teague can get to lane anytime he wants but can’t finish or find an open guy. He botches the break more times than not as well.
Tmac fan
February 23rd, 2012
2:13 pm
I HAVE KNOW IDEA TO WHY THE HAWKS DONT RUN PICK & ROLL/POP WITH TMAC & JOSH SMITH. THAT WOULD BE UNSTOPPABLE.
honest_abe
February 23rd, 2012
2:14 pm
having criticized josh every chance i get. he was far from the worst culprit last night. entire team looked like a train wreck. this team is starting to remind of the infamous team that won 13 games. except for the fact that they’re “supposed” to be older and wiser. heh
Fireld!
February 23rd, 2012
2:14 pm
Northcyde, great points!
prison mike
February 23rd, 2012
2:17 pm
JS has the highest PER on the team.
northcyde
February 23rd, 2012
2:21 pm
Lol @ using Atlanta’s actual city population, and not the metro population number of almost 5 million. The Hawks were a DOMINANT home team in the last 3 years under Woody. That was a damn good product to watch at Philips……until they didn’t retain Woody and replaced him with Drew.
The Hawks are much better on the road under Drew than they were under Woody, but a worse homs team. The Atlanta market needs a superstar to hop on the bandwagon. When that team was real good 2 years ago, it’s not like fans were flocking to watch the Hawks. People may just need to admit that ATL isn’t a passionate sports town, and leave it at that.
But our current situation isn’t about that, it’s about the makeup of the team and the people who make the decisions. Of course fans won’t come out to watch THIS brand of ball. So what will management do?
I guess the Hawks have to fall below .500 for the first time since 2008, in order for management to do something. It’s not like we have a box office draw on the team, so anybody on this team can be traded.
The Hawks opportunity to get Gasol from the Lakers may have passed, seeing how the Lakers are getting back on track.
No one on this team is untradeable.
NO ONE!
DS
February 23rd, 2012
2:23 pm
I’m officially jumping on the Josh & Kirk for Pau Gasol trade bandwagon.
Fireld!
February 23rd, 2012
2:24 pm
Prison Mike check these stats
Hawks FG percentage
Teague 47% from three 45% TO’s 1.9
Joe 42% 34% 1.5
Josh 45% 26% 2.5
My 4th grade math tells me to get the ball out of Josh’s hands if he is trying to make a play and pass Teague the ball it he wants the hawks too hit a three.
Najeh Davenpoop
February 23rd, 2012
2:28 pm
“People may just need to admit that ATL isn’t a passionate sports town, and leave it at that.”
If they had Lin, Melo, and Amare they’d be pretty passionate.
Michael Vick is the only star this city has had in the last 10 years. Not so coincidentally, the 2002-2006 Falcons were by far the most popular pro sports team in this city over the last 10 years in terms of attendance.
Najeh Davenpoop
February 23rd, 2012
2:29 pm
“You Read the whole article.
You missed the point.
-or-
You chose to ignore the point to promote your agenda.”
I didn’t read the article. I responded to the portion that Stretch quoted. Based on what I read I find it a little hard to see where I missed the point. Coaches were saying Josh isn’t an all star in part because he’s hard to coach. Coachability is not and has never been a valid criteria for any All Star game.
Najeh Davenpoop
February 23rd, 2012
2:31 pm
“That 5mil are stretched out and more likely wont make any trips to watch pro games unless its the playoffs.”
They will if the product is better.
All those people who make LeBron and Jeremy Lin a trending topic on Twitter in Atlanta during every Heat or Knicks game would fill up Philips Arena if those players were Hawks.
Najeh Davenpoop
February 23rd, 2012
2:37 pm
I just read that article, and I did not miss the point. Coaches don’t vote him in because he’s a) not coachable and b) doesn’t get the most out of his talent.
NEITHER OF THOSE THINGS HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH WHO IS IN THE ALL STAR GAME. THE ALL STAR GAME IS MEANT TO RECOGNIZE THE BEST PLAYERS. IF JOSH IS GETTING 50% OUT OF HIS TALENT AND HE’S BETTER THAN DENG GETTING 100% OUT OF HIS TALENT, THEN JOSH BELONGS. PERIOD.
Astro Joe
February 23rd, 2012
2:39 pm
I don’t think Atlanta has tremendous passion for any one sports team, but sports in general are a passion. 3 pro teams, plus 2 major colleges in driving distance. Throw in college bowl and kick-off games, the almost annual hosting of a round of the NCAA men’s basketball tourney, the Masters down the way and maybe another golf tournament here and there… and we’re talking about a city with a major sports event practically every weekend. But all of that love gets spread around with no one team getting the vast majority of devotion.
All that said, I do personally think that being in the bottom third in home attendance for a team that consistently produces the best (and sometimes only) postseason results is sad. And for that, I place blame at the feet of ownership who simply don’t spend the time nor money needed to market this team properly.
prison mike
February 23rd, 2012
2:42 pm
Fireld
Check out these stats.
February
Teague: 2.8 apg
Smith: 4.7 apg
Teague is also playing poor defense. Ranked 31st among pgs in rebounding, even below fake Isaiah Thomas who stands 5-8.
northcyde
February 23rd, 2012
2:48 pm
Lol prison. You know why I defend Marvin Williams? Not because he is balling ( although he was playing well until February came ). It’s because his play is nowhere near the reason why the Hawks are in the situation they’re in. Yet, the first thing out of fans mouths is something about Marvin.
Marvin is a ROLE PLAYER, not a main cog. But the coach is so hell bent on playing 10 – 11 guys, that he can’t even have his role maximized.
Coach should reduce this rotation to 8 or 9 guys. Marvin should be part of that group, whether he starts or comes off the bench. And he should be given enough opportunities to positively or negatively affect the game. That’s my whole purpose in defending him.
He played like crap last night. He deserves to be clowned for that performance. But watch how many still clown him even when he plays his role, but doesn’t have a star-like game.
And people will hate this, but the truth is the truth. Look at the game flow of last night’s game. When did the game start to get out of hand? As soon as Marvin and Teague went to the bench, and Drew tried.to play the 2nd unit as a group. It went downhill RAPIDLY.
And when Teague and Marvin came back in, the damage was done. Marvin didn’t have a shot attempt in the 2nd quarter. In the 3rd quarter, Marvin played horribly offensively, but ended up +10 in the quarter because he and the team played much better defense that quarter.
As soon as he goes out, replaced by Green ( which gave us a Teague – Green – Stackhouse lineup ) ……. BOOM, they outscore us by 7 to end the quarter and effectively kill any shot we had of getting back in the game.
Even when Marvin and Teague are struggling offensively, the Hawks may still be better off keeping one of them in the game, because their replacements are inept both offensively AND defensively.
But Drew isn’t a defensive coach. He’ll always look for an offensive fix, instead of grinding the game out with his best defensive unit or players.
STRETCH
February 23rd, 2012
2:53 pm
Najeh,
I seriously think the problem in Atlanta is that the people are tired of losing when the talent has been there. Look at the Braves from the 1991-2005. Those were some darn good teams! Yet they won only 1 championship with 3 of Hall of Fame pitchers.
Take the Hawks for example, if you really look at the lineup, the had the core but just refused to add the right pieces or couldnt becuase of money. But still, this current team has to be the best assemble group since Nique and Air Force back in the late 80’s yet they still stink. A lot of the blame goes to management and the remainder on coaching and getting these guys in position to win games.
Im sure you and everyone on this blog will agree that they often come down the court on offense and look like they never had a game plan or even a play called. Thats on coaching. Sund and ASG got TV’s just like the rest of us and i know the see whats goin on but do they change anything?
NO. They wont change anything cause they dont care as long as people go out and spend the money its all good.
prison mike
February 23rd, 2012
2:54 pm
As a matter of fact Teague’s per36 rebounding numbers are among the worst. If it wasn’t for a rookie Fredette and an inexplicably bad rebounding year for Devin Harris, Teague would be considered the worst rebounding pg in the league.
A small team like ours can’t really have that.
O'Brien
February 23rd, 2012
2:55 pm
AJ,
Not to mention fans going out of town on weekends to watch other ACC and SEC games (not just UGA and GT).
tree rollins
February 23rd, 2012
3:00 pm
I would say our Hawks were LINvisible against the Knicks last night – once again!!
honest_abe
February 23rd, 2012
3:01 pm
everyone on this team is scared of contact. they play p8ssy ball. that’s why they get outrebounded every night. that’s why their opponents almost always shoot more free throws. it’s why they shoot jumpers on a 2 on 1 fast break. bah! man the f up and play an inspirational game tonight. i’ve already chalked it up as a loss i just don’t want to see them get embarrassed. again.
STRETCH
February 23rd, 2012
3:01 pm
I do know that:
Jeff Teague – finally given the starting position but he still fails to meet the mark.
JJ – Is already on the decline with that Chipper Jones type contract.
Marvin – I would rather have anyone starting over him.
JS – He is not gonna listen to Drew, so somethings gotta give.
Al – Hope he heals well, but dont hurry.
LD – Probably one of the worse coaches in the league right now.
Sund – See above.
ASG – Also see above.
But i will continue to root for the team until they get eliminated then jump on a band wagon afterward.
Najeh Davenpoop
February 23rd, 2012
3:02 pm
“I seriously think the problem in Atlanta is that the people are tired of losing when the talent has been there. ”
This is very true too. We are tired of teams that are just good enough to make the playoffs and lose. ATL fans want championships.
Astro Joe
February 23rd, 2012
3:03 pm
OB, good point. I think I once heard that more Auburn alum live in metro Atlanta than any other city/town in the nation (including Alabama cities/towns).
E43
February 23rd, 2012
3:13 pm
Northclyde- The hawks played better under Woody at home including a 7 loss year at Philips. The attendance issues remained the same as they were never in the top 15 in any of Woody’s seasons. You use the City of Atlanta population and not the Metro population because Thats’s your immediate target group. It takes 30 minutes to drive from Newark, New Jersey to MSG. It takes 42 minutes to drive from Kennesaw to Philips arena. The metro area in New York and the metro area in Altanta are not the same thing. the tie breaker comes in how many people the core city holds. This is the same reason why there are no pro sports teams in Birmingham, Alabama. New York has more people in a smaller circle to fill their stadiums. You more likely than not will have to drive a long way coming from the Metro area compared to Chigago, New York, Dallas, etc.
The Falcons were supposed to win the superbowl. Everybody loves Arthur Blank, Mike Smith, Thomas Dimitroff, and Matt Ryan. Everything people wish for the hawks has been done with the Falcons. They were 15th in attendance after going 11-3. Are you willing to go out on a limb and say Blank hasnt done everything in his power to field a winning team with a good quarterback, general manager and coach?
prison mike
February 23rd, 2012
3:13 pm
Using hoop data, Teague actually ranks 76th out of 80 pgs listed for rebounds per game per 40. Harris and Baron Davis is below him and are normally good rebounders.
Sorry had to find a site with the most subjects available.
tree rollins
February 23rd, 2012
3:25 pm
Anybody here think the Hawks still have a chance of making the playoffs considering their performance of late???
E43
February 23rd, 2012
3:27 pm
Najeh- The Falcons had a league leading 9 pro bowlers not too long ago. The product couldn’t have gotten any better than what the Falcons just put out. Being in the top 8 is reasonable if they made it there.
O'Brien
February 23rd, 2012
3:29 pm
Ra’mon,
Stretch, in their Championship run season, KG had more than 9 games where he didn’t score 10 points..
In the ’07-’08 season (when Boston went on to win the championship), KG appeared in 71 games. Out of those 71 games, KG scored 9 points or less 4 times.
And in those 4 games, he only averaged 21 minutes per game (compared to his season average of 33 mpg). And in 26 post season games that year, KG never scored less than 13 pts in any of them.
Section 303
February 23rd, 2012
3:33 pm
I just sold out…..got $200 for my tickets to the Thunder game, March 3. Could not go to the game anyways, since I have a prior commitment. Hope that means the Hawks will play great that night and win in memorable fashion.
Also, hope I find a blindfold on my seat tonight. Game will be hard to watch. Getting blownout by my least favorite player (Howard) = not fun
O'Brien
February 23rd, 2012
3:43 pm
http://espn.go.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/261/year/2008/kevin-garnett/
Kevin Garnett’s game log from the Celtics last championship run.
O'Brien
February 23rd, 2012
3:46 pm
303,
These Hawks are very unpredictable. I think they will lose tonight, but it will not surprise me if its closer than you think.