Atlanta Hawks vs. Clippers: Game thread
Josh Smith didn’t want to talk much about tonight’s matchup with Blake Griffin.
He didn’t want to dwell on the Highlight Factory vs. Lob City.
“I’m not worried about the matchup,” Smith said following Tuesday morning’s shoot-around in preparation for the Clippers. “My main concern is winning the basketball game.”
Both teams have plenty to play for. The Hawks’ magic number to clinch home-court advantage is two. They can clinch tonight with a victory and a Celtics loss to the Heat. The Hawks must finish with a better record than the Celtics (by virtue of Boston holding the tie-breaker and winning the Atlantic Division). So they must either win both remaining games or win one and have the Celtics lose one to host the Eastern Conference matchup.
“We do have an opportunity to get home-court advantage,” Marvin Williams said. “It will be huge for us and I think everybody understands that.”
The Clippers are a half-game behind the Lakers for the Pacific Division lead and the third seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
The Hawks’ offense has been effective the past several games. They have shot over 50 percent in their last two games against the Knicks (54.4) and Celtics (51.4) and were very near the mark in wins over the Pistons (49.4) and Raptors (48.8).
However, it’s the defensive effort that is of concern for Hawks coach Larry Drew.
“I like the fact that offensively the numbers have been good,” Drew said Tuesday morning. “My concern will always be with defense. I don’t think I could ever be satisfied defensively. There are times when we’ve show major improvements in areas and times where we fall back into a lapse of defending. Going down the stretch, it’s about trying to get as fine-tuned as we can going into the playoffs and when you go into the playoffs make sure you dot every I and cross every T, particularly from a defensive standpoint. That’s going to be your staple in any playoff series, how well you can defend. We are going to have to go into these last two ball games, playing against two teams who are playoff bound, it’s a great opportunity to finish this thing on a positive note against two good teams. I’m always stressing and emphasizing defense. I’m a big defense guy. I want our defense to be ahead of our offense. As of lately, we’ve done a good job offensively but we have to get that consistency defensively.”
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467 comments Add your comment
Blast
April 24th, 2012
8:19 pm
Keep Ivan in the game when starters return. Put him on Blake.
Or let the bench play as long as they keep producing. Bench seems to have more zip than the starting unit.
DawgNole
April 24th, 2012
8:20 pm
CP yet again!
Thanks, Knight.
drmaryb.[*_*].
April 24th, 2012
8:20 pm
Paul Pierce is playing, KG has a hip flexor injury.
Miami playing without the big three.
Fingers crossed for a Miami win.
bigdave
April 24th, 2012
8:21 pm
Play fast
phil
April 24th, 2012
8:21 pm
Griffin is frightened.
He won’t return.
DawgNole
April 24th, 2012
8:21 pm
Better late than never, Marvy.
Big Lou
April 24th, 2012
8:22 pm
F!ck these refs!
Quack!
Miami vs Boston scrubs…
Who wins?
drmaryb.[*_*].
April 24th, 2012
8:22 pm
Marvin is Ballin’
Pargo is Ballin’
Ivan is Ballin’
Let’s Go Hawks!
TMACfan
April 24th, 2012
8:22 pm
TMAC keeps feeding the hot hand. This is something LD refuses to do.
Hawks Blog Legend Worldwide Clyde
April 24th, 2012
8:22 pm
FIRE LD
phil
April 24th, 2012
8:22 pm
The starting unit is embarassing….
Won’t try, disconnected, lazy…..
These guys are maddening.
phil
April 24th, 2012
8:24 pm
Wide open….
Pathetic.
drmaryb.[*_*].
April 24th, 2012
8:24 pm
Don’t let the starters get ice cold though.
DawgNole
April 24th, 2012
8:24 pm
Big Lou
April 24th, 2012
8:22 pm
F!ck these refs!
Quack!
Miami vs Boston scrubs…
Who wins?
_____________________
Miami SCRUBS vs Boston scrubs.
That probably means Boston, although they’re down 7 early.
phil
April 24th, 2012
8:25 pm
Ditto…
Pathetic.
TMACfan
April 24th, 2012
8:25 pm
Leave him (Blake) on the perimeter.
phil
April 24th, 2012
8:26 pm
More pathetic play…
I give up.
DawgNole
April 24th, 2012
8:26 pm
Griffin’s back.
Guess that’s the end of it.
Hawks Blog Legend Worldwide Clyde
April 24th, 2012
8:26 pm
BIG IVAN FOR PRESIDENT
City Of Atlanta Still Recovering From William Tecumseh Sherman
April 24th, 2012
8:26 pm
jumper after jumper
TMACfan
April 24th, 2012
8:27 pm
CELTICS HAVE NOT SCORED AND ITS 6 MINUTES IN THE GAME!!
Big Lou
April 24th, 2012
8:27 pm
Lol
Debo ran over CP3.
phil
April 24th, 2012
8:27 pm
Fire someone!
Big Lou
April 24th, 2012
8:28 pm
“Griffin’s back.
Guess that’s the end of it.”
I refuse to believe that he’ll keep hitting that jumper.
phil
April 24th, 2012
8:28 pm
Wait til celtics play us….
They’ll score and score plenty then.
drmaryb.[*_*].
April 24th, 2012
8:29 pm
Hawks really need this home court victory. I just don’t sense the urgency from the starters though. Are they looking ahead to the play offs too soon?
phil
April 24th, 2012
8:29 pm
Put Collins in….
DawgNole
April 24th, 2012
8:30 pm
Still the big zero for the Celts. Need all the help we can get.
phil
April 24th, 2012
8:30 pm
Idiot Josh is so weak…
City Of Atlanta Still Recovering From William Tecumseh Sherman
April 24th, 2012
8:31 pm
Will it really be home court being that so many cletic fans will be here?
DawgNole
April 24th, 2012
8:31 pm
ig Lou
April 24th, 2012
8:28 pm
“Griffin’s back.
Guess that’s the end of it.”
I refuse to believe that he’ll keep hitting that jumper.
___________________
You’re probably right. Of course, then he’ll just start slammin’ on us.
phil
April 24th, 2012
8:33 pm
drmaryb.[*_*].
April 24th, 2012
8:29 pm
Hawks really need this home court victory. I just don’t sense the urgency from the starters though. Are they looking ahead to the play offs too soon?
*********
hardly. We haven’t gotten past round 2 in 42 years….
Nothing changing this year. No urgency as there’s no reason for any.
Punanny Jones
April 24th, 2012
8:33 pm
BGriffin with 22 at the half? Damn Where the All super stud Al Horford?
phil
April 24th, 2012
8:34 pm
What are cletic fans?
DawgNole
April 24th, 2012
8:34 pm
City Of Atlanta Still Recovering From William Tecumseh Sherman
April 24th, 2012
8:31 pm
Will it really be home court being that so many cletic fans will be here?
___________________
No, not really.
bigdave
April 24th, 2012
8:34 pm
“Scoring so many points I can’t keep track”
Nique please… he just has what, 20 at the half…
drmaryb.[*_*].
April 24th, 2012
8:35 pm
Win the half!
Let’s Go Hawks!
Blast
April 24th, 2012
8:35 pm
Guess Ivan has to get some rest. Not for long, I hope. And he should start the second.
DawgNole
April 24th, 2012
8:35 pm
phil
April 24th, 2012
8:33 pm
drmaryb.[*_*].
April 24th, 2012
8:29 pm
Hawks really need this home court victory. I just don’t sense the urgency from the starters though. Are they looking ahead to the play offs too soon?
*********
hardly. We haven’t gotten past round 2 in 42 years….
Nothing changing this year. No urgency as there’s no reason for any.
______________________
Make that 44 years.
phil
April 24th, 2012
8:36 pm
Joe wildly shooting….
And making, thankfully.
Big Lou
April 24th, 2012
8:36 pm
Lol
Collins is sooooo slow
Luke Cage
April 24th, 2012
8:37 pm
The Blog of Gloom & Doom.
phil
April 24th, 2012
8:37 pm
Conference finals in 1970….
Of course it may have only been round 2 back then….
Pathetic regardless….it really is sad.
drmaryb.[*_*].
April 24th, 2012
8:37 pm
Feed Joe! He Hot! Get him the last shot in every game and, “live Free – Die Hard”.
phil
April 24th, 2012
8:38 pm
Gloom and doom is thanks to the team.
Not our fault they never get it done.
TMACfan
April 24th, 2012
8:39 pm
Joe is pissed from Blake falling on him
phil
April 24th, 2012
8:39 pm
He hot?
DawgNole
April 24th, 2012
8:40 pm
Luke Cage
April 24th, 2012
8:37 pm
The Blog of Gloom & Doom.
_____________________
That’s what the absence of championships (or even Round 2 victories) will do for you.
Katie
April 24th, 2012
8:41 pm
Oh my god phil, please, shut up if you are going to be so freaking negative. If you don’t like how they’re playing get on the court and do better yourself.
I wanted to cuss about 5 times in that sentence.
DawgNole
April 24th, 2012
8:41 pm
phil
April 24th, 2012
8:37 pm
Conference finals in 1970….
Of course it may have only been round 2 back then….
Pathetic regardless….it really is sad.
_______________________
They have not won a second-round series since beginning play in ATL in 1968.