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
Najeh Davenpoop
April 20th, 2012
9:19 pm
Could be worse, I guess. At least the Hawks are not struggling to beat Charlotte or getting blown out by Cleveland, like the Grizzlies and Knicks respectively.
Runner-
April 20th, 2012
9:19 pm
“At least LD is playing Pargo at PG, and not Kirk. If you’re going to bench your best PG, better to play your 2nd best PG instead of your 4th best PG.”
Really, you would put him ahead of T-Mac?
Rod from College Park
April 20th, 2012
9:19 pm
Home court or not, Boston in 4
smh
April 20th, 2012
9:19 pm
yea i watched us lose the lead in both games and lose
City Of Atlanta Still Recovering From William Tecumseh Sherman
April 20th, 2012
9:20 pm
everybody calling out doris burke
Najeh Davenpoop
April 20th, 2012
9:20 pm
“Josh is making plays on defense, but he has SEVEN of the Hawks 18 turnovers.”
True. Great defensive game, subpar offensive game. Doesn’t help that they haven’t ran very many post ups for him.
DawgNole
April 20th, 2012
9:21 pm
Big Lou
April 20th, 2012
9:16 pm
“man if were struggling with tier 2nd string imagine how bad we wil look against their starters”
Have you watched the last two games? What an idiotic statement.
______________________
So how do YOU think we’ll do against their starters in the playoffs, BL?
Big Lou
April 20th, 2012
9:21 pm
“A team that has gone a half-century w/o a championship is hardly in a postion to “not try” for a win. Then again, maybe that’s why they’ve gone a half-century w/o a championship.”
All NBA teams do this. You haven’t watch basketball enough if you think that makes a difference.
Luke Cage
April 20th, 2012
9:21 pm
Damn, again no 3 sec call
Najeh Davenpoop
April 20th, 2012
9:21 pm
“Really, you would put him ahead of T-Mac?”
I think T-Mac is better playing one of the wing positions, but you’re right, he’s probably better at PG than Kirk too. I’d rather see Teague, Pargo, T-Mac, and Joe in some order over Kirk at PG.
kevkat
April 20th, 2012
9:22 pm
I like Ivan but he is horrible on defense..horrible
DawgNole
April 20th, 2012
9:22 pm
Najeh Davenpoop
April 20th, 2012
9:19 pm
Could be worse, I guess. At least the Hawks are not struggling to beat Charlotte or getting blown out by Cleveland, like the Grizzlies and Knicks respectively.
____________________
No, they’re just struggling to beat the Celtics’ subs.
smh
April 20th, 2012
9:22 pm
pargo was wide open and joe shoots with 3 people on him
atlchris77
April 20th, 2012
9:23 pm
Hawks are in a public relations “no win sit uation”. If we win they say it is only against the second tier. If the lost they say usual hawks, even though we barely played our starterrs.
Luke Cage
April 20th, 2012
9:23 pm
Who’s to say that boston at full strength wouldn’t be down 15 at this point?? Last week we lose by a basket in OT to them, you never know, most of you guys have seen enough basketball to know this.
Big Lou
April 20th, 2012
9:23 pm
“So how do YOU think we’ll do against their starters in the playoffs, BL?”
Same as it was during the regular season. It will be an ugly, defensive duel that will be determined by the last shot.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 20th, 2012
9:24 pm
I guess all that Woodsanity evaporated as soon as Amare got healthy.
Justin
April 20th, 2012
9:25 pm
This game has not been typical for the Hawks. The turnovers had nothing to do with great Boston D, but they were careless. Usually the Hawks don’t turn the ball over like this. Why have they been so careless with the ball? They don’t have enough respect for the Celtics players on the court. That’s their fault, but it won’t be a problem in the playoffs.
This clunker is probably the best thing that could happen for the Hawks, provided they hang on for the win.
atlchris77
April 20th, 2012
9:25 pm
Kevkat, if you think ivan is horrible on defense, you dont watch hawk games.
smh
April 20th, 2012
9:25 pm
amare is a bum hes a team killer just look at the knicks record with and with out him
City Of Atlanta Still Recovering From William Tecumseh Sherman
April 20th, 2012
9:26 pm
now they want to talk about injuries
Justin
April 20th, 2012
9:26 pm
co-sign Big Lou. There’s no need to hit the panic button. We’ve already played the Celtics well at full strength. It will be a totally different kind of game than tonight in the playoffs.
Slimjr
April 20th, 2012
9:26 pm
Rod, you maybe right when you said Celts in 4! Yes..It maybe a quicky..
Knicks would probably beat em in 5 or 6!
Slimjr
April 20th, 2012
9:27 pm
Melo would avg 40 a game….
atlchris77
April 20th, 2012
9:27 pm
Rob you crazy!
DawgNole
April 20th, 2012
9:27 pm
Big Lou
April 20th, 2012
9:19 pm
Come on, man. I’ve watched enough games to know when they are. They have been half azzing it all night. That’s why they have so many turnovers.
________________________
The bottom line is that they struggled against a depleted Boston team that has even less to gain with a victory.
Blast
April 20th, 2012
9:27 pm
Close call. Night y’all.
City Of Atlanta Still Recovering From William Tecumseh Sherman
April 20th, 2012
9:27 pm
smh I really hate this lady
atlchris77
April 20th, 2012
9:28 pm
Way to go pargo.
Luke Cage
April 20th, 2012
9:28 pm
Bricks getting beat by cavs by double digits, but they get much media love and are supposedly a team nobody wants to play in the playoffs??
Najeh Davenpoop
April 20th, 2012
9:28 pm
I don’t congratulate myself very often, but…
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 t
Luke Cage
April 20th, 2012
9:29 pm
Love this blog still though, great entertainment for me while here at the job, love the “Sky is falling” mantra
Najeh Davenpoop
April 20th, 2012
9:30 pm
Haha… maybe I should continue not congratulating myself if I can’t copy/paste correctly.
Anyway, let the complaining begin.
On the bright side, based on tonight’s results, the Hawks may actually have a better chance of beating the Knicks on Sunday now that Amare is back.
Justin
April 20th, 2012
9:30 pm
DawgNole,
How do the Celtics have less to play for? Home court advantage is equally important to both teams. If you don’t believe that, check out the playoff records for teams playing on their home court.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 20th, 2012
9:30 pm
Doc Rivers with a big smile. He knows this loss doesn’t mean sh-t to them and keeping it this close gives his bench a big confidence boost going into the playoffs.
Big Lou
April 20th, 2012
9:30 pm
“I guess all that Woodsanity evaporated as soon as Amare got healthy.”
I told you that Amare was a cancer to that Knick’s team, but users like Slimjr don’t know basketball. He is -12 in the game. His defense is atrocious. You might want to jump off the bandwagon.
High-sider
April 20th, 2012
9:31 pm
I guess there was enough “Dr. Jekyll” in this “Mr. Hyde” team to pull off a victory over the Celtics.
Blast
April 20th, 2012
9:31 pm
Y’all remember though, those two losses by Hawks to Boston was only by 3 points or less. Hawks could have won them if they played smarter. So starters or not, this was a great win, especially if it gives us home court.
DawgNole
April 20th, 2012
9:31 pm
Big Lou
April 20th, 2012
9:21 pm
“A team that has gone a half-century w/o a championship is hardly in a postion to “not try” for a win. Then again, maybe that’s why they’ve gone a half-century w/o a championship.”
All NBA teams do this. You haven’t watch basketball enough if you think that makes a difference.
____________________
All NBA teams do WHAT? If I think WHAT makes a difference? A difference in WHAT?
O'brien
April 20th, 2012
9:32 pm
Najeh,
I had a feeling Knicks would struggle. Woody has historically been a better coach with less options (as in fewer players). With Amare and Melo both available, he has to figure out a way to get them to play well together. Plus no Lin, and Baron Davis is hurt too.
Big Lou,
Before the Knicks got Melo, Amare was carrying that team, averaging 20+ ppg.
Slimjr
April 20th, 2012
9:32 pm
U cant hlep yourself..Sad….Just sad…
Slimjr
April 20th, 2012
9:33 pm
*help^^^^
Big Lou
April 20th, 2012
9:33 pm
“The bottom line is that they struggled against a depleted Boston team that has even less to gain with a victory.”
Struggle would imply that they’re trying. Also, they could gain home court easier if they won.
Anyways, I’m done arguing a moot point. They won. They will demolish the Knicks on Sunday.
DawgNole
April 20th, 2012
9:33 pm
Najeh Davenpoop
April 20th, 2012
9:28 pm
I don’t congratulate myself very often, but…
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 t
__________________
Aw, yeah you do–especially when I’m on here moaning about you predicting a Hawks victory.
High-sider
April 20th, 2012
9:33 pm
[Atlanta] Hawks squeak by [Maine] Red Claws, 97-92.
Luke Cage
April 20th, 2012
9:34 pm
See you guys next week, prefer to log on this blog at work instead of at home, peace.
Slimjr
April 20th, 2012
9:34 pm
O’brien, know it all thinks he knows it all….Hehehehe
Justin
April 20th, 2012
9:34 pm
Yes, this was a clunker for the Hawks. But they won it, got it out of the way, and will probably have home court advantage in the playoffs. The sky is not falling everybody.
Jp
April 20th, 2012
9:35 pm
Headline should have read Hawks out tonight vs Celtics
Runner-
April 20th, 2012
9:35 pm
Good win considering another no show by Teague and some struggles offensively in the second half. Needed this one bad