Updated: Pachulia out versus Celtics
Vivlamore reporting from Philips Arena.
FOR A GAME THREAD TONIGHT, JEFF SCHULTZ WILL BE BLOGGING LIVE.
The Hawks will definitely be without center Zaza Pachulia for tonight’s key Eastern Conference matchup against the Celtics. Pachulia, who will miss his fourth straight game with a sprained left foot, did not take part in the morning shoot-around and coach Larry Drew ruled him out.
Drew said he had no further update on just how long Pachulia will be out. He did not practice Thursday but worked with trainers on the side.
Drew said he did not know whether Erick Dampier, who was unavailable Wednesday against the Pistons with a calf injury, would play. He called the back-up center a game-time decision. Dampier did take part in today’s shoot-around.
The Celtics, who held their shoot-around at Georgia Tech, did not travel with Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen and Mickael Pietrus. Coach Doc Rivers confirmed that he will rest Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, meaning the Celtics will be without three starters and two key reserves.
While he said both teams want to win tonight’s matchup, Drew said neither wants to show too much as they will very likely meet in the first round of the playoffs.
“With us and not knowing who they are going to have here tonight as far as guys who are going to play or not going to play, we have to keep that in mind,” Drew said. “We certainly have to keep that in mind because the last thing we want to do is to tip our hand totally. We want to go out and play well. We want to keep doing what we do. But at the same time if this is a team we are going to see in the first round we have to be mindful of that and not tip our hand too much.”
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439 comments Add your comment
Runner-
April 20th, 2012
2:49 pm
Didn’t sign Feshenko due to his health problems, and now Dampier is injured while Feshenko is playing solid. Had to be the money…
Grandad
April 20th, 2012
2:49 pm
* Although, I think when workouts start – he is going to fall even further.
* Although
* I left out although !
Najeh Davenpoop
April 20th, 2012
2:52 pm
“If I were to give an NBA comparison, Fab Melo would be more along the lines of a Theo Ratliff . . while Festus Ezeli would be closer to Nazr Mohammed. Take your pick.”
LMAO
While you’re at it, are there any rookies in the draft who compare to Obinna Ekezie or Mamadou N’Diaye?
Section 303
April 20th, 2012
2:54 pm
I don’t care if Boston is worried about having home court or not. I know that I care. And, the Hawks care, too, I think. So, Hawks have to take advantage of this and rail those guys tonight.
Can’t help to worry about tonight, though. I remember the Heat game earlier in the year (the one where Barkley made his dipsh#t comments). No Wade, no LeBron and Hawks still lose. Also, remember playing the Celtics late in the ‘08 season. Hawks tie the game heading into the fourth quarter, Boston takes out their starters, Hawks lose to the Boston 2nd string in the 4th.
I think the other team’s stars not playing does not lock the Hawks into win. Sometimes it is such a downer that the guys just do not perform well. Can’t be the case tonight. Got to have this one.
By the way, I fully expect the Hawks to drop a game at home and then win one on the road in this upcoming series with the Celtics. So, that makes home court important.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 20th, 2012
2:57 pm
“Because the entire league has seen, or is going to see, that some of these guys can play. Someone will offer Ivan more than a vet minimum contract. Somebody might even offer him the full MLE. So what do you do then Sund, if that happens? Do you just let Ivan go, and roll the dice on some other “old guy”?
What about Pargo . . seeing that we’re going to lose Hinrich. Hell, do you bring Hinrich back? What about Willie Green? What about McGrady, if he proves to be a valuable commodity during the playoffs?”
Out of all the free agents the Hawks have, the two I would bring back first are Ivan and T-Mac. Everyone else is expendable and replaceable. That includes Pargo (who I like), Green, Kirk, Vlad, Stackhouse, Collins, and Dampier.
Going into next year, you have Teague, Joe, Josh, Al, Zaza under contract, with Marvin, T-Mac, Ivan, and two rookies coming off the bench. Could be better, but that is solid.
“The fact is that while Rick Sund brought in 4 decent free agents that he could sign on the cheap, can he keep doing this on a yearly basis? At some point, the development of young talent has to take place. You just can’t keep trading away draft picks, just because you like the experience that the “old guys” bring to the table.”
Co-sign.
The Truth
April 20th, 2012
2:59 pm
“In a perfect world, that is what you want their responsibilities to be. But just like how some PGs are scoring PGs, and not facilitating PGs, not all centers are defend the paint, block shots and rebound type centers. For example, Bargnani is the starting center for the Raptors. I don’t think his main responsibility is defending the paint, blocking shots and rebound.” – OB
Lol, Maybe that perfectly explain why the Raptors are going fishing in a few weeks
doc
April 20th, 2012
3:02 pm
doc play head games? really?
remember how he made a bog deal of the last o t win being the worst of the year? aimed right at a point right between the ears.
garnett does so as well.
pierce the prince of it.
need to establish something tonight hopefully. if doc sits everyone, we need to take advantage of their nonchalance.
Admiral Snackbar
April 20th, 2012
3:04 pm
SteveW. good for the Hawks if they do get the home court. lets retire the beaneaters once and for all!
Just Joe
April 20th, 2012
3:04 pm
You better bet that the ASG cares who gets home court advantage in the playoffs. I’m sure LD has heard it already. We need the chee$e.
O'brien
April 20th, 2012
3:05 pm
Due to the mental makeup of the team, Hawks need a win tonight. If we lose to the Boston reserves, JJ will come out with his “players don’t know their roles”, or some other excuse. And we don’t need the Hawks to be making excuses this late in the season.
Looking ahead to next year, could a starting 5 of Teague-JJ-Josh-Horford-Zaza work?
Truth,
That could be
Just Joe
April 20th, 2012
3:06 pm
ASG wants it to go to game 7 too.
doc
April 20th, 2012
3:07 pm
sorry to burst the bubble, tmac who can only play every other game is not worth the expense along with his head. he hasnt learned to be the type of player that stack is at this stage of the career and may never as his ego is probably too great to handle that role. he is reminiscent of a i in that regard.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 20th, 2012
3:10 pm
“Just rechecked standings. Best we can do is tie Indiana…not sure who has tiebreaker. ”
Hawks have the tiebreaker over Indiana, but Indiana’s magic number to clinch the 3 seed is 1. In other words, it’s not going to happen.
At this point, realistically, the Hawks will either play the Celtics with home court or without home court.
I’d rather have home court. I realize these aren’t Woody’s Hawks — which is a good thing — but the Hawks are still a .667 team at home and a .500 team on the road. The odds still favor them at home more than on the road.
drmaryb.(*_*).
April 20th, 2012
3:10 pm
Imma’ have to side with my Grand-Daddy on Fab Melo. My Grand-Daddy ois rarely wrong and has watched over a 1000 hours of college film. During March Madness, he watched games for almost 12 hours straight one weekend.
So yeah, if GDaddy says pass … I say we should pass.
LOL!
Najeh Davenpoop
April 20th, 2012
3:11 pm
Regarding tonight’s game, I predict that the Hawks squeak out a 4 point win, Avery Bradley gets a triple double, and we all complain on this blog after the game because the Hawks didn’t blow them out.
larry brown the guru
April 20th, 2012
3:12 pm
If you think Tmac is re-signing here after the LD fiasco then you are delusional.
larry brown the guru
April 20th, 2012
3:14 pm
doc, you’re an idiot. Tmac has more then accepted being a role player. he was fine with it in Detroite and for the most part here as well. LD is the moron who has clashed with other players. LD has a history
drmaryb.(*_*).
April 20th, 2012
3:15 pm
OB
“Looking ahead to next year, could a starting 5 of Teague-JJ-Josh-Horford-Zaza work?”
____________
I posted this line up a month ago pre-dawn one morning and, zaza said that line up was too small. I called it the twin towers.
Go figure.
Astro Joe
April 20th, 2012
3:17 pm
And we want TMac back because of those great 4 games he played out of 60????
larry brown the guru
April 20th, 2012
3:17 pm
I would re-sign Ivan, Green and Pargo. get rid of Valad, Dampier, Stack, and the rest of the excess baggage.
Astro Joe
April 20th, 2012
3:18 pm
Sund should trade Zaza this summer. His value is at an all-time high and his contract is around $5M and expires in 15 months. Again, trade high, don’t wait until a player’s value is at an all-time low.
MANNY the one
April 20th, 2012
3:19 pm
It wont be an issue since he aint coming back.
MANNY the one
April 20th, 2012
3:22 pm
Considering the core is not good enough to be a contender, then everyone outside of Josh should be up for grabs. Noone will touch JJ’s contract, but teague, Zaza, Horford all have value.
Astro Joe
April 20th, 2012
3:23 pm
I also think that if we got the 60 Minutes team to investigate the rumor about Marvin wanting to be traded, we’d find TMac’s fingerprints all over that one.
MANNY the one
April 20th, 2012
3:27 pm
Send Smith and teague to Houston for Lowry, Kevin Martin and Scola.
Lowry
Martin
JJ
Scola
Horford
Pargo
Green
Marvin
Ivan
Zaza
Josh wants out so you get a borderline allstar PG in Lowry, an elite scoring and highly effecient SG in Martin and one of the best scoring PF’s in the league in Scola
northcyde
April 20th, 2012
3:27 pm
LOL SteveW.
Teague isn’t having an entire team trying to stop him. JJ is the reason why Teague is shooting so well, because it keeps Teague in one on one situations, or wide open for jumpshots.
That’s like saying that Teague is close to Derrick Rose, because Teague shoots .471 while Rose shoots .436
You’re talking about 2 different players who have totally different focuses on offense.
The problem with Teague is that he does NOT have an inner dog in him. He’s simply not wired like that.
MANNY the one
April 20th, 2012
3:28 pm
Yeah tmacs at fault for global warming to.
Astro Joe
April 20th, 2012
3:30 pm
If TMac won’t come back, maybe we can sign Iverson, Marbury or Stevie Franchise.
Grandad
April 20th, 2012
3:31 pm
KevinM
No I was not suggesting Sund will force a Big man on us.
But before I go on;
Sund and Pendergraph are worthless as talent evaluators.
*[in my opinion]
Sund may pick Evan Fornier from france or
Furkan Aldemir from Turkey for all I know.
My post from the last blog waqs simply to compare & contrast
several post players who I think are and will be better than Melo.
When we pich @ # 20 or thereabouts
here are eight names our Hawks should be scouting strongly:
In no particular order:
* Andrew Nicholson
* Tony Wroten Jr.
* Kevin Murphy
* Henry Sims
* Kyle 0`Quinn
* Tomas Satoranski
* Scott Machado
____________________________________________
This is w/o having gone through the combine.
Some of these fellows may be available in the 2nd round.
There is another group I like as 2nd rounders for our pick there.
The above group is diverse:
example – I have kevin Murphy ranked ahead of John Jenkins.
*[that was a tough call]
Some on the above list:
I`m not certain about yet – exp. Tony Wroten
*[great talent / no right hand] – but barely 19 yrs old.
____________________________________________
Old men with nothing to do – watch alot of film.
MANNY the one
April 20th, 2012
3:32 pm
Are you a Hawks fan or just a bitter ex rockets fan here to bash tmac?
pointguardslim
April 20th, 2012
3:33 pm
“If I were to give an NBA comparison, Fab Melo would be more along the lines of a Theo Ratliff . . while Festus Ezeli would be closer to Nazr Mohammed. Take your pick.”
LMAO
While you’re at it, are there any rookies in the draft who compare to Obinna Ekezie or Mamadou N’Diaye?
******************
Huh? Prime Ratliff was a great finisher and shotblocker, Prime Nazr Mohammed started for Popovich and won a ring…
Give me Ratliff (Fab Melo).
In the context of potential superstars? No he’s not much. But in context of this team. I’ll take what he brings.
Fab Melo – lose a couple lbs. For his athleticism. Would start over JASON EFFIN COLLINS.
Alex Young – think he’ll shine and contribute to the 2nd unit right away in the NBA; Kobe type measurements and really like his length height and crossover
Renardo Sidney – says he’s losing weight; I don’t need a lecture-rebuttal on perils of immature black youth; has talent wingspan IQ and frame, does he utterly lack commitment; we’ll see; TBD
Chase Stanbeck – like his size and off ball ability. looks like Kevin Martin but bigger.
pointguardslim
April 20th, 2012
3:35 pm
Oops also forgot Henry Sims. intriguing IQ on both sides, high post passing and low post looks solid.
Rufus1
April 20th, 2012
3:36 pm
The lie that became a truth…..hordford is soft
If you say something long enough, ppl start accept it as truth…classic political trick.
some players have to play more physical just to get playing time…..ivan/zaza. What would be their worth if they weren’t physical?
No, he isn’t as physical as his rookie year, but he doesn’t have to be because he does other things very well…..zaza and Ivan’s primary skill is being physical.
I don’t see you josh fans complaining about the reduction in blocks or the constant defensive lapses, because he is scoring more….
A little perspective
Grandad
April 20th, 2012
3:37 pm
* Andrew Nicholson – C / F; St Bonnie
* Tony Wroten Jr. – combo guard; U of Washington
* Kevin Murphy – [2] guard; Tn Tech
* Henry Sims – C; Georgrtown
* Kyle 0`Quinn – C / F; Norfolk St
* Tomas Satoranski – International
* Scott Machado – pg; Iona
Grandad
April 20th, 2012
3:47 pm
pg-slim
Renardo Sydney
I`m friends with his college coach.
He`s not a bad kid.
I think maybe they got rid of the bad egg.
But you were kidding about the IQ … right.
Dawg
April 20th, 2012
3:55 pm
I hope Rick Sund does not draft a big like Fab Melo. We could not develop a sentence much less a player. We have Collins who can play 10 minutes and get 1 rebound as well as anyone.
I have no confidence that Rick and Larry will do anything of use during the season. If we had not sold our extra round pick, perhaps we could have packaged the 2nd rounders in order to move up in the 2nd a few picks where some like Fab could be selected and developed.
I hope that the cash was used to help build a toward a championship. NOT.
cdog
April 20th, 2012
4:07 pm
jason collins future is now.he can’t afford to sit back and do nothing when he gets playing time.maybe za za pachulia can view films of himself and learn how to be aggressive while he is out. a 6′11 man plays defense with his arms down to his side, doesn’t contest shots from 6′1 guards, and gets pushed around by everyone excepts kevin garnett. kirk hinrich and larry drew must be buddies because he truly can’t play or help the hawks but he’s still in the game during crunch time. collins acts scared and don’t care also. hope we get a gm who wants to win championships next year and before the draft. rick sund other wise, will trade away all of the picks for two hundred dollrs.
JaeEvolution
April 20th, 2012
4:10 pm
Will Bulls be able to re-sign Asik? Would we have enough to maybe bring him over here?
As far as draft day, I think Tony Wroten a supreme slasher with underrated playmaking ability is a solid choice, he has red flags but so does everyone.
Fab Melo is another solid pick as a 7 footer with a defensive mindset which is what we need. Could easily develop into another Tyson Chandler over the years, and could come in next year and put up Chandler rookie numbers easy.
2nd rounders who are intriguing – Darius Miller, Kim English, Will Barton, Henry Sims, Quincy Acy
Not going to list them all, but those guys are all hardworkers with winning mindsets and they could all contribute to this team.
Chris Vivlamore
April 20th, 2012
4:48 pm
I will check with Boston coach Doc Rivers pre-game but according to the Boston Globe Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett “probably” will not play tonight. That makes Celtics like starting lineup: Avery Bradley, Keyon Dooling, Sasha Pavlovic, Brandon Bass and Greg Stiemsma.
Chris Vivlamore
April 20th, 2012
4:49 pm
For a game thread tonight, Jeff Schultz is live blogging!
prison mike
April 20th, 2012
4:59 pm
I don’t understand how this game “tips your hand”. Everyone knows what type of plays the Hawks run. This is not the same as football.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 20th, 2012
5:08 pm
No C-Viv, we need our own game thread. Sending us to Schultz is not good enough.
WHEN ARE THEY MOVING ?????
April 20th, 2012
5:10 pm
WHO CARES ABOUT THIS SPORT ????
WASTE OF TIME !!!
MOVE PLEASE SEATTLE IS WAITING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DawgNole
April 20th, 2012
5:34 pm
Section 303
April 20th, 2012
2:54 pm
Can’t help to worry about tonight, though. I remember the Heat game earlier in the year (the one where Barkley made his dipsh#t comments). No Wade, no LeBron and Hawks still lose. Also, remember playing the Celtics late in the ‘08 season. Hawks tie the game heading into the fourth quarter, Boston takes out their starters, Hawks lose to the Boston 2nd string in the 4th.
_________________________
Yeah, that’s the kind of stuff that weighs heavily on this team in games like tonight’s.
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
April 20th, 2012
5:37 pm
CAN SOMEONE AT AJC PLZ UPDATE THE AJC HAWKS PAGE SO THE MOST RECENT BLOG IS AT THE TOP OF THE FREAKING PAGE
DawgNole
April 20th, 2012
5:41 pm
Najeh Davenpoop
April 20th, 2012
3:10 pm
I’d rather have home court. I realize these aren’t Woody’s Hawks — which is a good thing — but the Hawks are still a .667 team at home and a .500 team on the road. The odds still favor them at home more than on the road.
_______________________
The Hawks’ “homecourt advantage” isn’t like that of other teams because of the empty seats and preponderance of opponents’ followers at Phillips. But strictly from a numbers standpoint, you’re correct; we sorely need that edge–however small it may be. Little if any chance to survive Round 1 w/o it.
doc
April 20th, 2012
5:42 pm
najeh, guess this is our thread tonight. i dont think c-viv quite understands what the gig is here and though maybe a bit dysfunctional “occasionally” how this blog relates, eh?
there will be the occasional bloggers to carry on with jeff. shame he doesnt come over here occasionally and slum a bit on his off nights.
heading down shortly to give my live support to the home team. i cant stand green. well gold or the heat and knick colors either. somehow bulls colors dont bother me as much.
DawgNole
April 20th, 2012
5:44 pm
Najeh Davenpoop
April 20th, 2012
3:11 pm
Regarding tonight’s game, I predict that the Hawks squeak out a 4 point win, Avery Bradley gets a triple double, and we all complain on this blog after the game because the Hawks didn’t blow them out.
__________________
There you go again, predicting victory for the Hawks. What are you–some kind of optimist?
doc
April 20th, 2012
5:44 pm
dawgnole only a series against the pacers would give us the home court advantage. btw, can i just call you DN for short? heh heh
DawgNole
April 20th, 2012
5:46 pm
Astro Joe
April 20th, 2012
3:17 pm
And we want TMac back because of those great 4 games he played out of 60????
___________________
That would have some validity except that he didn’t play close to 60 games–thanks to LD’s incompetence/childishness.