Atlanta Hawks at Celtics Game 4: Game thread
Boston–Josh Smith is testing his left knee pregame but said he will play tonight after no setbacks during this morning’s shootaround. He plans to wear a brace during the game. “When the adrenalin kicks in I probably won’t feel it,” he said. “I’ve just got to go out there and not even think about it. Play hard, play the way I’m capable of playing and not worry about re-injuring it.”
- Josh said if the Hawks were up 2-1 instead of down “I would probably be more cautious with the decision. But this is a must-win game for us tonight.”
- Larry Drew on Smith’s movement at shootaround: “Once he loosened up he looked pretty good.”
- Tracy McGrady (ankle) said he’s fine: “I feel great. I’m not worried about it.”
- Al Horford (pectoral) warmed up before the game and decided he feels good enough to be put on the active list. The Hawks say he’s a game-time decision.
- Drew said he would monitor Josh and T-Mac’s minutes: “I will certainly try to keep an eye on their minutes and we will use them accordingly depending on what the matchups are. If we get into a situation where we have to play one or two gys extra minutes, then so be it. We are in the fourth game of the playoffs and we want to put our best foot forward and play as well as we can and put ourselves in position to win.”
- Drew on playing without Josh: “Without him, we lose a big part of what we’ve been. He’s a guy that, now, down in the low block he commands double teams. He plays out of double teams really well, he’s an extremely good passer, he gives us stability defensively. We just miss his leadership out on the court.”
- Jeff Teague has been the most efficient shooter for the Hawks in this series, (non-Erick Dampier category) but he’s fourth in usage percentage. Teague’s 16.5 points per 36 minutes are second to Josh Smith (17.1).
- Drew wants Teague to be more aggressive offensively late in games even if his number isn’t called. Teague’s chances in the halfcourt still will have to come by playing off of Joe and Josh. Drew said Teague is the No. 2 option in those situations when Josh is not on the court; with Josh in the lineup tonight, Teague presumably slides back down to third in the pecking order.
- “When we get into that stretch run, particularly not having Josh, obviously we are gong to go through Joe a lot and I know they are going to keep a couple guys around him at all time with double teams and making sure he can’t get away,” Drew said. “But when Joe does give that basketball up, and that ball is swung out to Jeff, we need him to be in aggressive mode. You can’t be passive at that point because the shot clock is winding down and he is probably the only one on the floor that has that break-the-defense-down type speed. We just need him to be aggressive and be smart with his decisions.”
- Drew on Teague playing off Joe and Josh: “He’s growing. You can definitely see where he’s starting to understand how to play off those guys and how to get those guys involved. He’s not going to be perfect at it because he’s a scoring point guard. But he has gotten so much better in that area. The one thing is I want him to continue to be himself and stay aggressive and staying in that attack mode and just allow his natural instincts to come out.”
- Avery Bradley (shoulder) is a go for the Celtics.
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870 comments Add your comment
rob
May 6th, 2012
7:52 pm
Too often the teams best player shows up= Pierce, and ours doesnt = Johnson, Ball game
honest_abe
May 6th, 2012
7:52 pm
do these guys even want it?
Blast
May 6th, 2012
7:52 pm
Grave is getting deeper.
drmaryb.(*_*).
May 6th, 2012
7:52 pm
Josh’s knee is not quite right yet, no explosiveness there.
TMACfan
May 6th, 2012
7:52 pm
FIRE LARRY DREW
FIRE LARRY DREW
FIRE LARRY DREW
FIRE LARRY DREW
FIRE LARRY DREW
FIRE LARRY DREW
terrell
May 6th, 2012
7:52 pm
Blowout city.
Rev in Tampa
May 6th, 2012
7:52 pm
UGLY and getting UGLIER
Melvin
May 6th, 2012
7:52 pm
The Hawks don’t know what has hit them this game. They all look like a deer in headlights
drmaryb.(*_*).
May 6th, 2012
7:52 pm
Put Ivan in now.
High-sider
May 6th, 2012
7:53 pm
It seems like the return of Josh Smith and Al Horford disrupted team chemistry.
Big Lou
May 6th, 2012
7:53 pm
Good job, LD.
The game is now lost. You keep the starters on the bench, even when Boston puts theirs out. I’m done watching this. At least the Braves are winning. Thank God this series is almost over.
lewis
May 6th, 2012
7:53 pm
LD has no clue how to coach. Pargo does not deserve to be in the NBA – the only reason is because he’s Joe’s friend. Teague should be playing a minimum of 40 minutes a game.
Fan of T.S.
May 6th, 2012
7:53 pm
I could have lived with Al getting 2 or 3 minutes off the bench with the game not in the balance but not getting time this early when its important to get off to a good start, not with the game on the line.
That was a stupid decision and Al played stupidly as he always does in the play offs. Fire both Drew and Al Houdini
ntrigue
May 6th, 2012
7:53 pm
Drew looks lost! this is terrible they put there starters in and he leaves the 2nd unit in! Drew is terrible!
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
May 6th, 2012
7:53 pm
High-sider
May 6th, 2012
7:52 pm
Losing Game 2 really hurt the Hawks in this series.
LinkReport this comment
***
that’s all we had to do…WITH RONDO OUT
tank
May 6th, 2012
7:53 pm
im ready to go on with my life, Hawks are done today
jlewis
May 6th, 2012
7:53 pm
what is drew doing, JJ and teague resting and the second team with collins is on the floor, everyone talked about woody, LD is worse, this stuff makes no sense
honest_abe
May 6th, 2012
7:53 pm
it’s the playoffs and you have a lineupe of pargo, green, tmac, josh and twin? my god man. really?
cedrickc
May 6th, 2012
7:53 pm
Does LD not realize he has to move away from his normal rotation and leave the starters maybe a little longer. It does not help that Pierce is hot tonight!! Its starting to turn into the same old Hawks now. No HEART!!!!!!!
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
May 6th, 2012
7:54 pm
Everyone (LD) keeps saying it’s a long series…GTFOH.
drmaryb.(*_*).
May 6th, 2012
7:54 pm
Where is Joe? Is he even playing today, seriously, I haven’t seen him out there.
Kingd92
May 6th, 2012
7:54 pm
Pierce is stomping us
BIG DOG
May 6th, 2012
7:54 pm
LD Man this guy have no clue as a coach, mismatch all over the court.
BIG DOG IN TE HOUSE
terrell
May 6th, 2012
7:54 pm
Damn Joe, earn your fu…. $!
Bump
May 6th, 2012
7:54 pm
drmaryb.(*_*).,
Ivan should have been taking Al’s minutes. I would like to see Damp in as well,he has deserved it and he has outplayed Twin big time
FormerSeason TicketHolder
May 6th, 2012
7:54 pm
The only way to get rid of the low-intellect losers on this roster is a few more games like tonight.
honest_abe
May 6th, 2012
7:55 pm
Josh’s knee is not quite right yet, no explosiveness there. – drmaryb
he looked fine on that dunk.
now his head? he left that at home.
Tank
May 6th, 2012
7:55 pm
@ Big Lou, there wont be nothing but Celtics fans at THEIR home game at Phillips on Tuesday
High-sider
May 6th, 2012
7:55 pm
You [bloggers] need to be talking about firing Rick Sund; that’s who “f”-ed up.
welikebaseball2
May 6th, 2012
7:55 pm
To you idiots dumping on Al…he’s the least of our problems tonight. Put aside your bias, maybe you’ll notice that Joe’s giving us nothing, Josh (who shouldn’t be anyone’s number 2 scoring option) has got no lift therefore ineffective, & Drew (the bargain bin coach) is simply in above his head.
Clarification
May 6th, 2012
7:55 pm
This is all Horford’s fault. I mean just look at the +/- . Oops, my bad, the starters are even worse than Al.
jlewis
May 6th, 2012
7:55 pm
And as always, someone will find a way to blame JJ, this is pure bad coaching, and its like that at the end of games. Get collins out of the game man, he is a liability, put someone in they actually have to guard.
smh
May 6th, 2012
7:56 pm
Jason Collins is a waste of space why is he in the league are we so desperate that we had to sign him
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
May 6th, 2012
7:56 pm
Everyone here just assumed we’d win because Josh returned
terrell
May 6th, 2012
7:56 pm
Sit down LD, looking like a deacon. Its too late now.
Mr.E
May 6th, 2012
7:56 pm
On the brightside this increases the chance of LD getting fired and breaking up this sorry core…
honest_abe
May 6th, 2012
7:56 pm
over.
we’ll be lucky to keep this under 30
Najeh Davenpoop
May 6th, 2012
7:56 pm
Might as well rest Josh and Al the rest of the game.
Fan of T.S.
May 6th, 2012
7:56 pm
Thats also true High Sider. Al coming back to the team disrupted the chemistry and put us right back where we were when all the locker room fighting about Al wanting to play josh’s position.
That was a really really stupid move from Coach Drew and Al farted as he always does.
I dont know how you can compare Josh missing 1 game to Al missing 95% of the season.
Al should have only got time in mop up if that …
Kingd92
May 6th, 2012
7:56 pm
Where is Ivan
Rev in Tampa
May 6th, 2012
7:56 pm
24 point lead. And hawks can’t even hit a lay up
5150 UOAD
May 6th, 2012
7:57 pm
Hawks are DONE. as usual.
jlewis
May 6th, 2012
7:57 pm
how can joe give you anything on the bench….pay attention.
honest_abe
May 6th, 2012
7:57 pm
even though i want the hawks to win.. don’t want pierce injured.
smh
May 6th, 2012
7:57 pm
we playing like hummingbirds soft as Sh@@@t
Fan of T.S.
May 6th, 2012
7:57 pm
fck Al hes already cost us the series. We will be down 3 games to 1
im through with the hawks
drmaryb.(*_*).
May 6th, 2012
7:57 pm
Uh oh! Josh exploded for a dunk!
Pierce comes up limping. Come on Hawks, crawl back into this game,
Bump
May 6th, 2012
7:58 pm
On TNT the sideline reporter said that LD told the team that they’re getting outplayed.I wonder if anyone then told him that he was getting outcoached?
High-sider
May 6th, 2012
7:58 pm
Paul Pierce down with a knee injury – “Drama King”!!!!!! LOL
Bring out the wheelchair. Oh, wait a minute; he’ walking. LOL
smh
May 6th, 2012
7:58 pm
watching this game is like wathcing mosely get beat up last night sad