Atlanta Hawks: Nuggets 118, Hawks 117 (OT)
Denver–There were series of gaffes, miscalculations and questionable strategy by the Hawks and an incredible 3-pointer from Danilo Gallinari, and yet the Hawks still had a chance to win with a play that was executed perfectly . . . right up until the point where Zaza Pachulia’s layup attempt bounced harmlessly off the rim.
- “Just missed it,” Zaza said. “It was a great opportunity for me.”
- He can get in line with Joe Johnson’s turnovers and forced iso Js, Jannero Pargo’s fumble, Kirk Hinrich’s missed free throws and shot-clock violation, Vladimir Radmanovic’s 0-for-4 on 3s. . . . and don’t forget those 11 dunks and layups the Hawks allowed in the first half.
- Larry Drew said the final play was designed to free Zaza near the basket: “The execution was perfect. We executed. That was probably the best play we executed all night. ‘Z’ just missed a point-blank layup. But I told the guys it didn’t come down to that. That game was lost in the first half when we didn’t make a stand defensively and they basically had their way with us.”
- Joe took the heat off Zaza and Kirk and put it on himself: “We don’t put this game on Zaza missing a layup or Kirk not making a free throw. I look at the stat sheet and I had five turnovers and probably three of those were at crucial times.”
- Kirk: “It’s tough. I had a chance to win it. I made the hard one, the first one, and I missed the second. I’m very disappointed.”
- Zaza: “We had so many opportunities, you know. I don’t think we were lucky today. Of course it’s not an excuse. I have to finish that. But if you think about it, the turnover we had over there off Pargo’s leg, Gallinari’s three, Kirk’s free throw and my layup. That’s four big things. We just weren’t lucky today. Again, that’s not an excuse and personally, me, I have to finish when I have that kind of opportunity. I take that blame on my shoulders.”
- On the 3, Gallinari wasn’t even squared up when he received the pass. Joe and Josh Smith were all over him when he let it go. “I don’t know how he made it,” Joe said. “It was definitely a tough shot. He caught it kind of fading. But before that we couldn’t get big stops. They were either scoring or we were fouling.”
- Drew: “He hit a tough shot. You couldn’t have defended it any better than that.”
- Kirk: From my vantage point, I was boxing out under the basket. When he let it go, I thought, ‘There’s no way he will make that.’ And then the ball fell through the net into my hands.”
- Another beastly line for Josh: 33 points on 23 shots, 13 rebounds, seven assists, two blocks and just one turnover. His tendency to try to set ballhandlers up for blocks when they drove contributed to some of those 11 dunks and layups but the perimeter D was atrocious.
- Josh put the Hawks ahead with a sweet spin move after Drew went away from Iso-Joe. The Hawks missed him once he fouled out 2:46 into OT because he was setting up Joe and Kirk for open Js.
- Joe put the Hawks ahead 117-1112 with a crafty move, keeping his dribble alive to thwart a double team and making a fadeaway J. But he missed on a forced iso J that led to two free throws for Nene and got bailed out on a forced drive when, after a long review, the refs decided the replay was inconclusive and the Hawks kept the ball.
- Drew: “When we lost Josh, and then I couldn’t bring Marvin [Williams] back because he took the bang on the hip, I was going to ride Joe. I just tried to put him in a position where he could operate and we just surrounded him with shooters.”
- The last play wasn’t Iso-Joe, though. “Going down the stretch we had opportunities that we just kind of let slip away,” Drew said.
- Both Joe (34 points on 26 shots, 6/10 3FG) and Kirk (22 points on eight shots, 3/4 3FG, 5/6 FT) had great games that were marred by bad moments.
- Marvin once again was aggressive early coming off the bench. It’s a role that seems to suit him.
- Marvin came back in the game briefly late in the fourth quarter after he suffered the hip injury. It was his pass that Pargo bobbled off his knee. “He couldn’t move,” Drew said of Marvin. “I only used him at the end there just to be a passer on the out of bounds. I wanted to put him back in down the stretch and overtime but he couldn’t go. I had to use what I had.”
- The Hawks said both Marvin and Willie Green (back, hamstring) will miss the game tomorrow at the Clippers. Tracy McGrady is expected to play after being held out on the first night of a back-to-back, to the Hawks will have 10 healthy bodies available.
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
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362 comments Add your comment
Barry
March 14th, 2012
5:57 pm
Typical Redneck, trying to divide the races. Sir, please stop the hate.
Dept. Of Unintended Irony
March 14th, 2012
6:02 pm
“Finally, my Woody is back.?”
Been a little flaccid there, LarryT?
Larry T
March 14th, 2012
6:07 pm
There were Quotations there.
Larry T
March 14th, 2012
6:09 pm
I dont know if we can pull that out tonight with out Marvin… that may be a little tough. Marvin is not as easy to replace as Al.
Dept. Of Unintended Irony
March 14th, 2012
6:10 pm
You are correct Larry T, it was Samuel who had been a little flaccid. Pardon me.
Ray
March 14th, 2012
6:18 pm
So we really going to bring in a race card or make this a racist convo. Seriously I thought you guys were bigger than this cause that mostly happens on ESPN and Facebook or Twitter C’mon Man!
@ Both Grandad and High-sider
That issue in of itself is a double edged sword at the end of the day both NCAA and College Athlete’s screw themselves over. When all that recruiting is going on at face value the coaches will say they care about how a recruit handles himself and what not, but the reality is it’s not true.
The ugly reality is most of these college athlete’s mostly black some might be other races probably wouldn’t get into these institutions. Talking about your UGA, Duke, GA Tech, Florida, Ohio St. etc etc.
What’s even worse is the reason why this had to happen “Winning” as mad as I get at Nick Saban for his over signing I know why it happens because everyone wants to win.
TMACfan
March 14th, 2012
6:29 pm
WE NEED TO MAKE A MOVE NOW!
http://www.csnne.com/blog/celtics-talk/post/Source-Kaman-interested-in-joining-Celti?blockID=669798&feedID=10424
Buddy Grizzard
March 14th, 2012
6:40 pm
“Buddy Grizzard thats fine, Id look for you when they do, but like the Josh haters you’ll be doing your Crickets…crickets…crickets… thingy at the moment……” – LarryT
Not to worry Larry… you can always hit me up here:
http://www.hoopinionblog.com/
High-sider
March 14th, 2012
6:49 pm
Grandad,
“The Jews can tell Africans a few things about slavery.
The young black men who enjoy Div I atletics [sic];
many times at the expense of real student athletes;
alot of times abuse the privilege by:
* running afoul of the law
* ignoring NCAA bylaws
* failing to obtain a degree
* failing to attend class nor work toward a degree
* using the system you condemn
* note – they get an opportunity for a $1 to $2 hundred K education
* note – they do not have to pay back student loans [like many of us]
* note – they receive many many benefits normal students [don`t get]
* noteriety; internship for pros; travel & life skills; dietician; training; etc.
* Something tells me that real slave would love these types of platations [sic]!” – Grandad
Grandad, “normal” students don’t generate tens to hundreds of millions of dollars for these supposedly not-for-profit institutions [colleges and universities] but the college-student athletes of big revenue-generating sports do. I’m sure that these major big-time collegiate athletic programs generate far more revenue than what they spend on athletic scholarships and other student-athlete expenses. A lot of these collegiate athletic programs have the right to take away a student-athlete’s athletic scholarship for reasons other than substandard academic performance. Do you really feel these [black] male athletes were recruited with the thought in my mind to at least partially help these young men realize some academic achievement especially if they performed at substandard level while in high school? How many head and assistant coaches have “looked the other way” when these young men as you say “ran afoul of the law”? How many of these young men were tempted with money and women by boosters, wealthy alumni, and rich fan[atic]s of these major collegiate athletic programs while coaches acted as if they were oblivious to the matter? How many of these young men were advised to take college courses and pursue college degrees with little to no job market value such as the proverbial “underwater basket weaving” courses and the therapeutic recreation degrees so as to not [to] interfere with their athletic commitments and demands? How many “normal” students break their bodies down to generate millions of dollars for their colleges/universities and their coaches’ salaries? There were a lot of black slaves in the old [American] south that lived a lot better than free poor whites but those slaves worked like hell to live better – in many cases “sun up to sun down.” Many farmers have animals that are well fed while there are many people in America and around the world who suffer from malnutrition and famine. How many college coaches have cheated or broken the rules in order to get these athletes admitted into college when these athletes had not met the qualifications/prerequisites? What types of examples are these college coaches giving these athletes when they see their coaches violating NCAA rules and regulations? Please, re-think about your observations, Grandad.
Buddy Grizzard
March 14th, 2012
6:57 pm
Dept. strikes again… lol
Burt
March 14th, 2012
7:16 pm
According to ESPN, the Hornets are willing to take a second round pick in a trade for Chris Kaman. Sund should make it happen, (doubt he will, but he should), because of our need for front court depth at the moment. Plus Kaman’s contract is expiring so we could stay under the cap by letting him walk in July. Even more convincing is that I don’t think I can remember a player that Sund drafted with a second round pick that wasn’t either cut in camp or buried deep on the bench.
TMACfan
March 14th, 2012
7:20 pm
Awe man, this is one late @ss game
Sautee
March 14th, 2012
7:22 pm
High-sider,
While I DO think Collegiate Athletics is a sewer, Brandon Jennings showed that there ARE other choices. If there are other choices than college, then how “slave-like” is it? Aren’t these young men and women lining up several deep to go to college? And, as the commercial tells us, most of them have careers in something other than sports.
My point is, it’s very easy to paint the system with a broad brush, but not every institution of higher ed is the same, nor are MOST profiting from their athletes at the level you describe.
Buddy Grizzard
March 14th, 2012
7:22 pm
Mike Bianchi: #LeBron had The Decision; Dwight has #TheIndecision about 5 minutes ago
Read more: http://hoopshype.com/twitter/media.html#ixzz1p8WiBdxE
LMAO
TMACfan
March 14th, 2012
7:23 pm
“The talk was talk. Nothing but rumors. All rumors,” Smith said. “Unless you heard it coming from my mouth, you knew it was a rumor. I was always going to be a part of this program.”
Smith is averaging 22.3 points and 9.3 boards over his last four road meetings with the Clippers.
-NBA.com
ntrigue
March 14th, 2012
7:32 pm
We definitly should get Kaman if all they want is a 2nd round pick that’s a steal especially with recent draft history!
Larry T
March 14th, 2012
7:38 pm
Looks like MC or the AJC or somebody is up in new york planting lies again….
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-knicks-anthony
Larry T
March 14th, 2012
7:40 pm
Kaman is not much of an up grade over Al, if he is. They are both lazy. I thought we’d agreed not to take on any more project cases?
Lets just hold out deal with whatever, trade Al by the summer and address the Center position at that point.
Larry T
March 14th, 2012
7:46 pm
Well Looks like Atlanta would not extendz my Woody, so he Popped up in New York.
Larry T
March 14th, 2012
7:49 pm
Im wondering if New York is a Major Market team, consequently this is really an acknowledgement of woodson’s abilities.
Is that Job an improvement, or a higher profile than ATL? I see that Josh is keeping the Hawks in the limelight lately, but I think Woody just got promoted….
High-sider
March 14th, 2012
8:01 pm
I just heard of a 3-team trade involving the Blazers’, T-wolves, and the Lakers. Just found out Jamal is a late game scratch for the Blazers
Portland gets Steve Blake.
Minnesota gets Jamal Crawford.
Los Angeles [LAL] gets Michael Beasley.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 14th, 2012
8:07 pm
I don’t know how many South Park fans post here, but Dwight is starting to remind me of the kindergarten girl in the Trapper Keeper episode who can’t decide who to vote for in the class president election. Dude reminds me of a 5 year old. Make a damn decision and move on.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 14th, 2012
8:08 pm
T-S, if the Hawks trade Al and Teague to the Knicks for Woody, what will you post about?
High-sider
March 14th, 2012
8:10 pm
^3-team trade is supposedly in the works and has yet to be finalized. [POR, MINN, LAL]
High-sider
March 14th, 2012
8:12 pm
Fire Sarge aka Nate McMillan!
Sautee
March 14th, 2012
8:16 pm
“Im wondering if New York is a Major Market team, consequently this is really an acknowledgement of woodson’s abilities”.
The acknowledgement of his abilities will IF he is re-hired on a permanent basis, IMHO.
If they were so sure he was the one they could have fired D’Antoni in the fall. They did not.
drmaryb.[*_*].
March 14th, 2012
8:17 pm
I just got off from work, what happened? Is Mr. Woodson the new HC of The Knicks? My cohorts saw that coming a mile away … I didn’t see it though.
Congrats to my man Mike Woodson! Here comes The Switch on D! LOL … I know Bibby is smiling. Bromance there.
High-sider
March 14th, 2012
8:19 pm
Sautee,
In response to your post @7:22pm, the college athletes are being exploited in that the revenue the athletes generate far exceeds the value of the athletic scholarships and other benefits they receive. I am speaking of those college athletes in high revenue generating sports such as college football and college basketball.
I know it’s early but it looks like Mike Woodson will get his first win as a NY Knick head coach tonight.
James
March 14th, 2012
8:22 pm
“I don’t know how many South Park fans post here, but Dwight is starting to remind me of the kindergarten girl in the Trapper Keeper episode who can’t decide who to vote for in the class president election. Dude reminds me of a 5 year old. Make a damn decision and move on.”
Personally, I think he has already made his decision and has known what he wants to do for a while now. He just doesn’t want to say it publicly for fear of rubbing some people the wrong way. He doesn’t want to hurt his image. The irony is that this indecisive front that he’s putting up is hurting his public image more than just coming out and saying what he wants to do.
Maybe I’m wrong about him already knowing, but it sure seems that way to me.
Sautee
March 14th, 2012
8:26 pm
“I am speaking of those college athletes in high revenue generating sports such as college football and college basketball.”
Thanks for using a finer brush. I’m in favor of a stipend for ANY scholarship holder, regardless of the sport. If they are going to use their time and energy for the team, and therefore not have time for a part time job, at least reward them something. If that were done, I could more easily stomach some of the excesses of the bigger sports.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 14th, 2012
8:26 pm
Leaving aside the racial and financial angles, the idea that the NCAA does college athletes some great service by giving them scholarships is a bunch of BS. Giving a scholarship to some kid like Derrick Rose who can barely crack 500 on the SAT is just a waste of money. You might as well buy a vegan a steak dinner. If the NCAA really cares about educating its athletes, it should stop allowing colleges to lower admission standards for them. Compensating someone with something they can’t use is no compensation at all.
northcyde
March 14th, 2012
8:41 pm
Hawks aren’t going into the Luxury Tax to get Kaman.
O'Brien
March 14th, 2012
8:42 pm
From espn.com;
In a Wednesday night conference call with Orlando Magic officials before the team’s game in San Antonio, Dwight Howard told the Magic that he is not prepared to surrender the option to become a free agent at season’s end, according to sources with knowledge of the discussion..
No surprise, Dwight is wavering again.
ntrigue
March 14th, 2012
8:42 pm
Hawks trade Horford, Hinrich, 2013 1st round pick, and 2014 1st round pick for Dwight Howard. I would come on Sund get dwight and josh back on the same team again!
Hawks Blog Legend Worldwide Clyde
March 14th, 2012
8:44 pm
Mike Bibby is going to be the starter for the Knicks in 2 weeks.
terrell
March 14th, 2012
8:46 pm
Congrats Woody. Bibby and Baron time now Jeremy. lol. Btw, Knicks ballin tonight vs Portland.
Slimjr
March 14th, 2012
8:51 pm
Miss Georgia 2012: Jasmin Wilkins aka Nique’s Niece! Nice!
http://www.voy.com/163355/2/
Slimjr
March 14th, 2012
8:52 pm
Knicks are destroying Portland 55-29! wow….
terrell
March 14th, 2012
8:53 pm
Dantoni will NEVER coach in the NBA again. Man just doesnt care about defense. Cant outscore everybody. lol
northcyde
March 14th, 2012
8:53 pm
By the way…….Knicks up by 27 over the Jamal Crawford-less Portland Trailblazers.
Both Melo and Amare have 15 points. Lin only has 3 shots, but 6 assists.
terrell
March 14th, 2012
8:55 pm
nate gonna be the next one out the door.
northcyde
March 14th, 2012
8:55 pm
That’s a halftime score. 55 – 29.
They’re up 26, not 27.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 14th, 2012
8:56 pm
Woody is the Herman Edwards of the NBA.
terrell
March 14th, 2012
8:57 pm
Lin better not take too many shots. His azz will get pulled. lol
Luke Cage
March 14th, 2012
8:59 pm
Woody will introduce ISO-MELO
terrell
March 14th, 2012
9:00 pm
Is that Gerald’s daughter Slim?
Luke Cage
March 14th, 2012
9:00 pm
Just wondering, what makes Horford “Lazy”??
terrell
March 14th, 2012
9:02 pm
Wouldnt it be something if he knicks went on a roll and made it to the Finals. They’ve got the talent to do it. Perfect opportunity for Woody to fool the GM into thinking he’s a good coach. lol
terrell
March 14th, 2012
9:04 pm
Wonder how much Woody paid Dantoni to resign? lol
James
March 14th, 2012
9:08 pm
Portland is not doing very well these days, which is a mystery considering all of the talent that they have. Either the pieces just don’t fit, the coaching doesn’t fit, or the players just aren’t buying in. At any rate, Portland has a lot of trade chips that many teams would want, I’d be surprised if they didn’t make some sort of move by the trade deadline.
The Knicks have a lot of talent, but Portland shouldn’t be getting dominated by any team the way they are being dominated tonight.