Atlanta Hawks at Pacers: Game thread
Indianapolis–Larry Drew ruled out Al Horford returning before the end of the regular season: “What I’ve been told he’s definitely out for the regular season and there is a possibility [of return] for the playoffs.” Al has said he should know more about his timetable when he returns to see his doctor next week.
- Joe Johnson (knee) and Willie Green (back) are out. Tracy McGrady (knee) and Jerry Stackhouse (ill) are active. Jeff Foster (back) is out for the Pacers.
- Joe plans to play at some point during the trip. Drew: “Right now we don’t know [when]. We are just going off how he feels. He has his good days, he has some bad days. It was his decision and our decision to allow that thing to heal to at least get to the point where he can play with a little bit more consistency [and] where the knee feels good. Since we shut him down it feels better. Right now the focus is to get him stronger.”
- McGrady said he has to manage his surgically-repaired left knee: “It doesn’t do very well on the back-to-backs. I didn’t have my balance and planted it wrong [vs. the Thunder]. It was already sore before the game.” Drew: “I don’t think he’s 100 percent but he feels like he can go. We will see how he looks.”
- Stackhouse ended up traveling with the team Monday. “It was some kind of food poisoning or something,” he said. ” Yesterday was not a good day.”
- I’ve covered a lot of games in this building, both with the Heat and Hawks, and I can tell you what’s likely going to happen: The Pacers are going to beat up on the Hawks and there are not going to be many whistles. That’s just how it is.
- Drew: “This team, they play very physical at home. The last time we were here at this building, they physically took us out of what we wanted to do. Our last meeting at our place we kind of turned the tides. Anytime you play against an Indiana team, because they are so big and athletic, you have to match the physicality. That certainly will be the case tonight.”
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
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566 comments Add your comment
Sautee
March 6th, 2012
9:34 pm
Road wins are like GOLD!
drmaryb.[*_*].
March 6th, 2012
9:34 pm
Sautee?
Rev?
_______
Yawl know what time it is! Hawks win the tie breaker – HUGE WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Luke Cage
March 6th, 2012
9:34 pm
Bobcats beat the Orlando Tragic, that may trigger the D12 trade.
High-sider
March 6th, 2012
9:35 pm
Did Josh score in the 4th quarter? I don’t think so.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 6th, 2012
9:35 pm
Huge win. Josh first half MVP, Zaza second half MVP. This gives them a much better chance of at least breaking even on this road trip, since 2 of the 5 remaining teams on the trip suck.
They gain ground on both Indiana and Orlando. Tied with Orlando in the loss column and Indiana in the win column.
Rod from College Park
March 6th, 2012
9:35 pm
Huge Win.!!!!!!!!
SteveW
March 6th, 2012
9:35 pm
Wow – how’d we do that?
Called It!!! Just had to say it again – check the blogs from earlier
But I’ve also called a 10-14 point loss for tomorrow – I hope I’m wrong
DawgNole
March 6th, 2012
9:35 pm
LD looks like he stays on the sauce–or maybe the Oxycodone.
bigdave
March 6th, 2012
9:36 pm
but he has stunk as a closer tonite – he’s got some more improving to do in that area”
mainly b/c Drew would rather utilize his passing/play making ability from the perimeter vs letting him play from the painted area where he’s more effective; Tmac and the C position occupied the post up area.
Melvin
March 6th, 2012
9:36 pm
Bobcats beat the Magic…LOL
G
March 6th, 2012
9:36 pm
Guess you were wrong dumbass
Rod from College Park
March 6th, 2012
9:37 pm
TMac and Pargo won that game is the 4th quarter for us.
DawgNole
March 6th, 2012
9:37 pm
Hey Najeh, doesn’t it feel better to pick ‘em to lose and get a win instead? That’s two in a row for you. You goin’ for three tomorrow?
Najeh Davenpoop
March 6th, 2012
9:37 pm
“would anyone be interested in a joe johnson and marvin williams for a rashard lewis and jan vesely trade?”
Interesting idea. I might do it if Washington threw in their first round pick this year, but there’s no way they go for that.
I’d probably ask for Chris Singleton over Vesely, too, since the Hawks would need a SF.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 6th, 2012
9:38 pm
“Hey Najeh, doesn’t it feel better to pick ‘em to lose and get a win instead? That’s two in a row for you. You goin’ for three tomorrow?”
Haha, damn right.
SteveW
March 6th, 2012
9:38 pm
I like this team…even w/o JJ and Al. Need Willie out there – Only 6 points for the Hawks in the last 5:20, and 4 of those were FT’s in the last 30 seconds.
Trade JJ and Al for Dwight and Hedo, and see what happens.
Hawkfan
March 6th, 2012
9:39 pm
Huge win. I am going out on a limb and predicting 3-3 road trip. Lot of heroes but Josh, Z, Pargo, TMac were the big stars. Ivan with big run in 1st half. Watching the interview with Pargo. Seems like a great guy and he can really shoot
Najeh Davenpoop
March 6th, 2012
9:40 pm
Never mind, I just noticed that Lewis’ contract doesn’t expire this year. That trade is much less attractive knowing that it doesn’t get the Hawks cap space this summer.
terrell
March 6th, 2012
9:40 pm
Take your time joe. Who’s team is this?
Sautee
March 6th, 2012
9:40 pm
That was a big win, in that it gives us the tie-breaker if we tie with the Pacers record. And right now there’s only a half game between us, so that could matter later.
Hummon
March 6th, 2012
9:42 pm
Well done! Now I have not hearing about on the radio tomorrow morning to look forward to. Had they lost, well, wall to wall Hawk bashing. They win, nothing.
Just Joe
March 6th, 2012
9:43 pm
Rashard Lewis has $10M of his contract for next year guaranteed. You take that trade if you can get it.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 6th, 2012
9:44 pm
Lots of rest for Miami’s Big 3 tonight with their blowout win.
Will
March 6th, 2012
9:44 pm
I question Drew’s ability to motivate his star players, but he sure seems to know how to use his bench players.
TMACfan
March 6th, 2012
9:46 pm
MC TWEETED THAT DWAYNE WADE HAS A RIGHT STRAINED ANKLE
GO HAWKS
SteveW
March 6th, 2012
9:46 pm
DWade twists ankle – may not play tomorrow nite – Same ankle he sat out 6 games with earlier this season.
Hawks by far the hardest schedule in the League over the past 15 games – and we’ve held our own – even with JJ and Al out.
Hollingers Schedule stats only go out 10 games, but we’ve been on top for hardest schedule for quite a while now – and with Miami away, not going down anytime soon.
Good Job Hawks!!!!!!
Melvin
March 6th, 2012
9:47 pm
4th quarter and it’s crunch time, the Hawks have Marvin and Kirk is on the bench. How many millions is that wasting away? Oh, with Joe and AL being hurt. That’s damn near 50 million sitting on the bench and not able to contribute….
Mike
March 6th, 2012
9:48 pm
Good game by the Hawks,
I think that we need to make a trade soon. But I got a good feeling that Duck or JJ hopeful get trade to the Magic.
SteveW
March 6th, 2012
9:49 pm
Deepest Hawks team since John Battle, Spud, Antoine Carr and Cliff Levingston that I can remember.
Our back bench guys like Stack, Ivan, Damp, Pargo – they’re all contributing
Hawkfan
March 6th, 2012
9:50 pm
Quit with trades. I like the way these guys have come together and pulled out a couple of big wins but postseason this team needs Al’s rebounding and JJ’s scoring to have any chance against Bulls or Heat. This team could be dangerous with Teague, TMac, green/Pargo added to the “core”. Don’t trust LD to do much for us but Josh can provide th leadership to bring it all together.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 6th, 2012
9:50 pm
Going to SteveW’s point, the Hawks are 7-9 since February 1, and 12 of those 16 games were against current playoff teams.
The Hawks are only 2-2 in the 4 games against non-playoff teams, since they lost to Phoenix and Golden State, so they are 5-7 against the playoff teams in that stretch. Not great, could be worse, but could be a whole lot better if they had taken care of business against the bad teams. The Golden State loss in particular stings since it was completely avoidable and would have the Hawks at 8-8 in that stretch if they had won.
Walt Frazier
March 6th, 2012
9:50 pm
The Hawks are doin a Jamie Foxx; u-n-p-r-e-d-i-c-t-a-b-l-e…Pleeze don’t put all your Easter eggs in this one basket. Good effort. Hawks-you get one credit for extra play-now go put that coin in pacman and continue.
High-sider
March 6th, 2012
9:53 pm
Hawks own the tie-breaker against the Magic, right? The Magic are the 3rd seed in the Eastern Conference right now.
Section 212
March 6th, 2012
9:54 pm
Kobe!
High-sider
March 6th, 2012
9:54 pm
Kobe just hit a buzzer-beater to send the game into overtime. LAL vs DET
Najeh Davenpoop
March 6th, 2012
9:55 pm
The schedule gets easier, since out of the 16 remaining March games, only 7 are against current playoff teams. I predicted 9-10 for this month, but it isn’t asking too much for them to beat my prediction.
Luke Cage
March 6th, 2012
9:55 pm
The Masked Mamba Strikes again
Luke Cage
March 6th, 2012
9:56 pm
The Great Rondo just screwed the Celts.
Section 212
March 6th, 2012
9:56 pm
Great win for the Hawks to start this road trip.
Melvin
March 6th, 2012
9:57 pm
If Wade doesn’t play tomorrow, the Hawks may have a chance to play Teague/Pargo in the backcourt against the Heat.
Section 212
March 6th, 2012
9:58 pm
I haven’t followed the game thread tonight….Josh haters =
ntrigue
March 6th, 2012
9:58 pm
Can somebody explain why the hawks are behind the 76ers in the standing even though our record is better and Orlando is ranked above the 76ers?
Sautee
March 6th, 2012
9:59 pm
Najeh, to your point, the Hawks now have the third most wins in the East against + .500% teams with 9.
Yeah, they could even eclipse my 10-9 prediction. Of course, it IS the Hawks, meaning that they could lose the next 5 too. LOL. We’ll see.
yodaddybrother
March 6th, 2012
10:00 pm
“would anyone be interested in a joe johnson and marvin williams for a rashard lewis and jan vesely trade?
This is not 2K12…..two bums for an All star and a starter…. GTFOH. Yall post some of the dumbest most lopsided trades. Why would the Hawks want any bum off the bottom dweller Wizards other than John Wall???
Jan Vesely averages 3 PPG! LMAO
Rashard Lewis averages 8 ppg.
you guys are flat out silly
Section 212
March 6th, 2012
10:01 pm
Steve W – Yeah Hollingers rankings reveal just how much the league set the schedules up to favor the Heat. Heat have played one of the weakest and least stressful schedules.
Section 212
March 6th, 2012
10:04 pm
Perception ntrigue…with all of our injuries. Why are the Heat ranked higher than OKC and Spurs, eventhough they have played significantly harder schedules?
SteveW
March 6th, 2012
10:07 pm
Ntrigue – Philly is in 1st place – so it’s the 3 Division winners, then the best records after that – but yes, we’re currently 1.5 games better than Philly.
Philly is really struggling against better competition – Chicago gets some tough competition coming up also, as does the Pacers.
And the Knicks
Nice One
March 6th, 2012
10:08 pm
Najeh,
“This feels like one of those games where the Hawks fall behind in the late 1st/early 2nd quarter and spend the rest of the game trying to claw back into it, only to fall short in the end.
Pacers by 11. Kirk is giving up a half a foot to Paul George at SG. Not a good matchup for him.
Nique just said “nimbers” and “Hibbits” in the same sentence.”
Don’t want to take credit for these but when you get it right you do, huh?
ntrigue
March 6th, 2012
10:11 pm
Well why is Orlando #3 in the conf and Philly #4 and Atlanta #6 and our record is better than Philly too like Orlando?
Mike
March 6th, 2012
10:15 pm
@Hawkfan,
Yeah, then get to the playoff and get booted in the early round or the second round as usual. We got to get past the second round and get some space in the cap. i think this is the year you have to gamble this year.