Atlanta Hawks at Bucks: Game thread
Vivlamore reporting from Milwaukee.
Here is a quick look at tonight’s game against the Bucks with the Hawks coming off Sunday’s four overtime victory over the Jazz – their third game in three nights. Add tonight’s game at the Bucks and tomorrow’s home game against the Bulls and that’s five games in six nights. The Bucks are playing their fifth game in six nights.
The Hawks will be without forward Vladimir Radmanovic due to his back. Radmanovic missed four straight games with the back injury before playing 17 minutes against the Wizards on Saturday. He did not play (coach’s decision) in Sunday’s epic against the Jazz.
While Radmanovic is the only player out (besides Jannero Pargo recovery from an appendectomy) coach Larry Drew said several other players are hurting and weary.
“We will see how it goes,” Drew said of going deep into his bench. “I think the one thing I’ve been pretty adamant about, I’ve got to be very mindful of the minutes my starters are playing. I don’t want to pile a lot of minutes on those guys. We do have some guys who are a little banged up, nicked up. Having to play tomorrow night, I don’t want to pile the minutes. Hopefully, we can come out and play well and I can have a normal rotation. If that’s not the case, it’s not the case. But we will keep an eye on the minutes.”
Drew admitted he is not sure just how his team will respond to another game so soon.
“Don’t know,” Drew said. “We’ve come off three tough games. … I know we needed that day off yesterday in the worst way. We came in for shoot-around today and guys seem to have a little energy, which I was happy to see. As far as a performance, to be perfectly honest, I don’t know. I’m anxious to see how we respond after these last three ball games.”
Joe Johnson played 55:23 against the Jazz. Zaza Pachulia (54:10) and Jeff Teague (52:32) also broke the 50-minute mark.
Drew expects an even more up-tempo Bucks team with the trade-deadline addition of Monta Ellis from the Warriors. The Hawks got similar games from the Bucks in two previous meetings this season (both five-point Hawks wins). Ellis adds another scoring dimension.
“I’ve always been a big Monta Ellis fan,” Drew said. “He is, in a lot of ways, similar to Joe Johnson. He can really score once he gets it going. … As far as playing up-tempo that doesn’t change. They just have another guy to break the defense down and put points on the board.”
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490 comments Add your comment
phil
March 27th, 2012
8:54 pm
What a listless, pathetic, wretched defensive effort!
Najeh Davenpoop
March 27th, 2012
8:54 pm
Haha… nice “pass” Josh.
High-sider
March 27th, 2012
8:54 pm
Josh Smith blows layup. Blowing layups seem to be contagious for the Hawks.
phil
March 27th, 2012
8:55 pm
Nice Za Za flop!!
Najeh Davenpoop
March 27th, 2012
8:57 pm
If I’m not mistaken, UCLA at one point had Darren Collison, Russell Westbrook, Luc Richard Mbah A Moute, Kevin Love, and Arron Afflalo all on the same team. A little hard to believe they never won a NCAA title.
Free_Tracy_#1
March 27th, 2012
8:58 pm
Hawks have 13 TURNOVERS and its just the first half ?? Now I see why the Bucks are up by almost 20 pts…..I predict that LD will throw in the towel the first 5 minutes of the 3rd and start looking towards tomorrow’s matchup with the Bulls…We all know LD sucks at making in game adjustments…He’ll sit Tracy after 10 minutes and we won’t see him again til next week.
bigdave
March 27th, 2012
8:58 pm
nice Josh.. nice
Luke Cage
March 27th, 2012
8:58 pm
Thats what we want more of Josh
Najeh Davenpoop
March 27th, 2012
8:58 pm
Josh’s last three post ups have come against Mbah a Moute, and he has been much more successful getting to his spot.
DawgNole
March 27th, 2012
8:58 pm
Where ya been, phil? My partner in negativity.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 27th, 2012
8:59 pm
They may have to put Josh on Gooden and Zaza on Mbah a Moute, or go zone. Zaza clearly isn’t comfortable stepping out and guarding Gooden.
High-sider
March 27th, 2012
8:59 pm
Josh Smith has taken 17 shots thus far.
yodaddybrother
March 27th, 2012
8:59 pm
see we back in it before the half….does this team have a switch????
High-sider
March 27th, 2012
8:59 pm
make that 18 shots now.
Rev in Tampa
March 27th, 2012
9:00 pm
I think atl just weathered the bucks storm. About to come storming back
bigdave
March 27th, 2012
9:00 pm
aight Hawks, nice..
Najeh Davenpoop
March 27th, 2012
9:00 pm
Considering how bad the Hawks played, they should feel fortunate to only be down by 9.
yodaddybrother
March 27th, 2012
9:01 pm
@Najeh
They went to multiple final fours though
TMACfan
March 27th, 2012
9:01 pm
Way to cut the lead HAWKS!
Big Lou
March 27th, 2012
9:01 pm
Somebody tell LD that Zaza is not good against a C who can shoot outside. Ivan should be guarding him. Jesus, this coach is slow.
Also, LD whistling caused that TO, since Kirk was looking at that idiot.
High-sider
March 27th, 2012
9:01 pm
Josh Smith already has a double-double at halftime [17pts., 11rebs.].
Slimjr
March 27th, 2012
9:01 pm
“The Bucks are playing their fifth game in six nights.”
I don’t believe it, the way they are running up and down the floor! Impressive indeed…
Melvin
March 27th, 2012
9:02 pm
SMH, Josh started the game cold as a brick and end up with 17pts and 11rebs in the 1st half. You gotta take the good with the bad with this guy…
ntrigue
March 27th, 2012
9:02 pm
Too many gms we start off not going to Josh in the post consistently….We need to keep feeding him on the block so he can establish some type of rhythem that will free up shots for everyone when they start doubling!
Big Lou
March 27th, 2012
9:02 pm
“They may have to put Josh on Gooden and Zaza on Mbah a Moute, or go zone. Zaza clearly isn’t comfortable stepping out and guarding Gooden.”
Or put Ivan on Gooden and play Zaza when he’s on the bench.
Blast
March 27th, 2012
9:03 pm
Bucks are in trouble.
They had the chance to blow this game wide open, but didn’t. Hawks down 9, single digits. Josh starting to wake up, and Joe hasn’t even scratched the surface yet.
I like Hawks chances, so long as they stop turning the ball over.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 27th, 2012
9:03 pm
After starting 2/10, Josh closed the half 6 for his last 8. A lot of that came matched up on Mbah a Moute instead of Udoh.
T-Mac played pretty well. I hope he gets some 2nd half minutes.
Rev in Tampa
March 27th, 2012
9:03 pm
Opps. I forgot about the obligatory 3rd period let-down. Maybe the Hawks won’t come back after all.
Big Lou
March 27th, 2012
9:04 pm
“Too many gms we start off not going to Josh in the post consistently….We need to keep feeding him on the block so he can establish some type of rhythem that will free up shots for everyone when they start doubling!”
Josh missed three post plays in a row. They did go to the post in the beginning. His defender was just really good.
ntrigue
March 27th, 2012
9:04 pm
Let Josh or Ivan check Drew Gooden this not rocket science Coach Drew!
Slimjr
March 27th, 2012
9:04 pm
17 shots? Josh should have like close to 30….
Slimjr
March 27th, 2012
9:04 pm
points^^^
DawgNole
March 27th, 2012
9:05 pm
Najeh Davenpoop
March 27th, 2012
9:00 pm
Considering how bad the Hawks played, they should feel fortunate to only be down by 9.
_______________
Oh, quit being so optimistic. You’re ruining my act.
Mark
March 27th, 2012
9:06 pm
I don’t care if Josh is scoring more. He takes too many shots and why didn’t Stupid Larry rest him during the first half?
yodaddybrother
March 27th, 2012
9:06 pm
@ Big Lou if Drew Gooden puts up 25 then the Bucks deserve to win. We don’t always have to react to what the opponent is doing. We’d rather have that fool shooting jumpers than underneath the basket getting offensive rebounds and kicking it out to shooters.
Mark
March 27th, 2012
9:07 pm
Finally a TMAC sighting.
ntrigue
March 27th, 2012
9:11 pm
Jrue Holiday just screamed and 1 no tech called….crazy!
Big Lou
March 27th, 2012
9:13 pm
“We’d rather have that fool shooting jumpers than underneath the basket getting offensive rebounds and kicking it out to shooters.”
That’s a horrible strategy. He’s not Dwight Howard.
TMACfan
March 27th, 2012
9:14 pm
This is absolutely killing me. TMAC needs to be more aggressive and drive to the basket and score. Jump shots aren’t the way to go.
TMACfan
March 27th, 2012
9:15 pm
LD needs to give him point guard duties like last year for the Pistons, except on the bench.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 27th, 2012
9:15 pm
Seemed like Gooden did much better than 4/12 for 10 points.
The biggest difference in this game is turnovers. Bucks are +9 in turnover margin and took three more field goal attempts and one more free throw than the Hawks (would have been worse if the Hawks didn’t out-rebound them). Take care of the ball and they can get back in the game.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 27th, 2012
9:17 pm
Teague shooting 17% on 3s in March. Hopefully that one will get him going.
Luke Cage
March 27th, 2012
9:17 pm
Man did the Warriors get robbed in that trade
ntrigue
March 27th, 2012
9:18 pm
Put Joe on Monta take Kirk out!
Luke Cage
March 27th, 2012
9:19 pm
Zsa Zsa is power on rebounds but finesse on offense
TMACfan
March 27th, 2012
9:19 pm
Teague got broken down
Najeh Davenpoop
March 27th, 2012
9:20 pm
The strange thing is that this is the kind of matchup that Kirk should relish. Monta is his size. If he is physical with him he should give him problems, especially on those post ups. I feel like Kirk is being a little tentative because he doesn’t want Monta to burn him with his quickness.
Najeh Davenpoop
March 27th, 2012
9:21 pm
Teague playing well on offense this half. Nice dish to Zaza.
TMACfan
March 27th, 2012
9:21 pm
TAKE CARE OF THE BALL AND WE WIN
Blast
March 27th, 2012
9:22 pm
Contrary to what he said, Drew is riding his starters.
But what can a coach do, when he has a game on the line?
And the bench is not producing or is injured?