Atlanta Hawks: Hawks vs. Hornets exhibition game thread
Vivlamore reporting from Philips Arena.
An hour before Thursday’s exhibition game against the Hornets and coach Larry Drew said he had yet to make up his mind about the starting lineup.
“I’m not 100 percent sure yet, as far as my starting lineup,” Drew said. “I’m kind of teetering with a couple things. It could certainly change. I’m looking at different combination of guys on the floor. We are still in the evaluating process in this preseason. There are still some guys I am looking at very closely.”
I can tell you that the early lineup was Jeff Teague, Devin Harris, DeShawn Stevenson, Josh Smith and Al Horford. We’ll see what happens.
Drew would also not indicate if any of the 16 players currently on the roster would be held out. With a maximum of one roster spot still available, the coach said he is still evaluating and waiting for a player to step forward.
“I’m still not 100 percent sure if some of these guys are going to get playing time tonight,” Drew said. “I’m still wavering in that area as well. I want to start looking at some other things that me and the staff have talked about. Coming into this game against New Orleans and with only two more exhibition games left we really have to focus in on the task at hand as far as our club is concerned, particularly out personnel. I have a pretty clear picture of the core of guys who will be with us, but we are still looking a couple of other guys who we like a lot. We are going to use these remaining games and practices and, hopefully, one guy will emerge from the crowd.”
Smith (knee) and Horford (shoulder), held out of the last exhibition against the Pacers, will definitely play.
Finally, I asked Drew what specifically he wanted to accomplish in this game against the Hornets. Here is what he said: “Being about us, it starts with the defense. We have to come out and establish ourselves early defensively and bring a defensive presence. We’ve got to get stops defensively. We have to rebound the basketball. We are looking at our defense, seeing how many deflections we can get. [When] we come up with that basketball, then we have to race the lanes. We have to constantly put pressure on them on both ends of the floor. As I told our players yesterday, I want these last three games to be about us. If we focus in and do the things that we have to do, everything else takes care of itself. Everyone knows were are talking about running the basketball but we have to be smart with our shot selection. But we have to stay on the constant attack. The next three games were are going to harp on that with our players. Hopefully we can get that type of effort.”
- Chris Vivlamore
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103 comments Add your comment
Slimjr
October 18th, 2012
8:49 pm
Lir, agree! This dude is a stud!
Grandad said earlier in the year that AD maybe the next Bill Russell! Wow!
High-sider
October 18th, 2012
8:50 pm
@i_am_soulstar
i_am_soulstar
October 18th, 2012
8:06 pm
Man, that guy Lou really knows how to get to the free throw line.
————————————————————————————————–
JC1 was 10 of 11 from the FT line [in 26 minutes and 46 seconds of playing time] last night for the Clippers. Through four preseason games this year, Crawford is 22 of 23 [0.9565 or 95.65%] from the FT line.
http://www.nba.com/playerfile/jamal_crawford/game_by_game_stats.html
Just Joe
October 18th, 2012
8:58 pm
In 104 minutes this preseason, Jamal has been to the line 23 times. Lou has been 28 times in 100 minutes. Both guys doing a great job.
Slimjr
October 18th, 2012
9:00 pm
Boston looks much improved over last year! Scary looking team. So deep, they got Bigs, shooters, Rondo….Sheesh..
Just Joe
October 18th, 2012
9:01 pm
114 minutes for Jamal.
glw
October 18th, 2012
9:01 pm
correction on my previos post….harris, teague and lou played all of the minutes in the backcourt and Deshawn and Morrow split the 1st half minutes at SF. Now seems LD is trying his big lineup with Tolliver at SF. Seems Sf will be a revolving door all season, and LD will play according to matchups and who is hot.
High-sider
October 18th, 2012
9:02 pm
Judging from the boxscore, the Hawks [team] appears to be on “fire” in the 3rd quarter.
steven a smith
October 18th, 2012
9:02 pm
How is our starting Center performing Tonight???
Hawks Blog Legend Worldwide Clyde
October 18th, 2012
9:04 pm
Tolliver = scrub
Scott = scrub
Should have drafted Perry Jones
steven a smith
October 18th, 2012
9:04 pm
“Just Dumb”
Who cares about “former” Hawks players?
High-sider
October 18th, 2012
9:05 pm
The Hawks [team] is on a 15 to 1 run over the last 4:58 [four minutes and 58 seconds]? Now [a] 19-1 run?
Just Joe
October 18th, 2012
9:05 pm
Double-double for Al already.
steven a smith
October 18th, 2012
9:06 pm
Greg Oden at 6′11″ 260lbs, is worth a long hard look if he is making progress in terms of health! He could probably block more shots on his knees than Al can standing upright!!!
steven a smith
October 18th, 2012
9:08 pm
Al Horford has “Zero Blocks” thus far!!!
High-sider
October 18th, 2012
9:09 pm
Just Joe,
I hear ya [regarding those FT attempts].
Slimjr
October 18th, 2012
9:09 pm
Al is +26! Is that a typo? No…
paian
October 18th, 2012
9:10 pm
al horford need blocks? didnt know that
Jae Evolution
October 18th, 2012
9:11 pm
Until that and-one they had scored one point in the quarter so far…
northcyde
October 18th, 2012
9:12 pm
Hell of a 3rd quarter run. Too bad I can’t see the dang thing.
prison mike
October 18th, 2012
9:14 pm
Hawks putting that D on the pelicans. Only scored 3 points in 8 minutes in the 3rd. Into the reg. season, go with the best defensive 5 and let the offensive depth get em in the 2nd half.
northcyde
October 18th, 2012
9:14 pm
Meanwhile . . . JJ is struggling MIGHTILY vs the Celts up in Brooklyn. I guess he still think it’s the playoffs.
High-sider
October 18th, 2012
9:15 pm
The Hawks have outscored the Hornets 24 to 3 so far [in] this 3rd quarter?
northcyde
October 18th, 2012
9:15 pm
Come on guys. Don’t let them score the rest of the quarter. Hold them to 3 points.
prison mike
October 18th, 2012
9:16 pm
To set the defensive tone, the regular season regulars should be:
Teague
Steve
Tolliver or James
Regular 2
Astro Joe
October 18th, 2012
9:18 pm
northcyde, are you joining our fantasy league this year?
Just Joe
October 18th, 2012
9:18 pm
Stevenson not hitting his 3’s. I’m assuming he’s getting the Marvin Williams wide-open look. He has to knock those down to stay on the court.
northcyde
October 18th, 2012
9:23 pm
Astro . . when is your fantasy draft?
High-sider
October 18th, 2012
9:26 pm
Al Horford tallies a double-double [10pts and 11rebs] through three quarters and will still get hated [on] because he [Horford] has no blocked shots. [smh]
steven a smith
October 18th, 2012
9:26 pm
Coming off the Bench along side Lou Williams Al could be the 6th man of the year!!!
Najeh Davenpoop
October 18th, 2012
9:27 pm
The two Fox Sports channels are showing a Steve Spurrier documentary and a college football game between Houston and SMU. I can understand not showing a preseason NBA game if it is Sunday and everyone is watching the NFL, but not when one of the channels is not even showing a real game.
I am not watching this game and I have seen very little of this preseason, but with a roster as unbalanced as this one, I don’t think it is wise to force too many lesser players into the lineup just to match up size with other teams. In particular, I think the small backcourt of Teague/Lou or Teague/Harris is preferable to forcing Morrow or Jenkins into the lineup at SG just for size purposes.
Based on what little I have seen so far and what I have heard, I’d probably go Teague-Harris-James-Josh-Al, or maybe Teague-Harris-Josh-Al-Zaza depending on the matchup.
Najeh Davenpoop
October 18th, 2012
9:28 pm
Don’t mind Stevenson instead of James if Stevenson is actually useful, but just reading the box scores so far, it seems like James is doing more than Stevenson in the minutes he is given.
High-sider
October 18th, 2012
9:31 pm
I guess Chris Webber was right when he said, “It’s hard to score in this leauge [NBA].”
Big Ray
October 18th, 2012
9:31 pm
Robin Lopez must not be a real center, even at 7′0″ and 255 lbs.
Because Horford has a double double going into the 4th quarter and Lopez has 7 points and 4 boards.
Just sayin’…..
Astro Joe
October 18th, 2012
9:34 pm
Big Ray, trying sarcasm for the first time.
northcyde, a week from tonight at 9:30 EST. Like, exactly a week from tonight.
Big Ray
October 18th, 2012
9:34 pm
Don’t mind Stevenson instead of James if Stevenson is actually useful, but just reading the box scores so far, it seems like James is doing more than Stevenson in the minutes he is given.
Exacto….
I’d start James and use Stevenson as a guy who comes in and harasses the hell out of whatever 2 or 3 is torching us. Like when we gotta deal with Danny Granger or somebody like that.
Big Ray
October 18th, 2012
9:34 pm
AJ ,
You’ve taught my fledgling self well….LOL
prison mike
October 18th, 2012
9:35 pm
Zaza with another poor game. Petro is arguably having a better preseason. J. Anderson might as well book a flight overseas with Delta after the game.
Blast
October 18th, 2012
9:35 pm
The Brooklyn Nets can score, but they are so lacking in defence so far in this game.
Astro Joe
October 18th, 2012
9:36 pm
Hornets bench is like 5-50 from the field tonight. That makes it a little hard to win a game.
Big Ray
October 18th, 2012
9:38 pm
To set the defensive tone, the regular season regulars should be:
Teague
Steve
Tolliver or James
Regular 2
Might have issues scoring with that lineup…
Astro Joe
October 18th, 2012
9:38 pm
northcyde, if you have the same email that you used last season, check it… I sent out invites a few days ago. It may have landed in your spam folder.
Big Ray
October 18th, 2012
9:41 pm
Well, if we didn’t know before ( Astro Joe did ), then we know now…why the Spurs gave up on James Anderson.
Zaza will perform when it counts, I figure. He usually does and last season when nobody else could grasp the concept of rebounding, he was one guy that could. And he’s always “team first.” Even if he does get his shot blocked a lot.
Tolliver is not a premiere defender by any stretch of the imagination. If he was, he wouldn’t have struggled to find a team…
Nets are going to struggle at first. It will be up to Avery Johnson to help right the ship. Celtics may have less overall talent than the Nets, but they are still clearly a better TEAM than anybody not named the Heat or the Bulls.
Astro Joe
October 18th, 2012
9:43 pm
Tolliver says that he is “versatile”. Is that what grabbing 1 rebound in 15 minutes of court time means? Versatile? But he does have 4 fouls so I guess he is trying.
Big Ray
October 18th, 2012
9:43 pm
Lou and Morrow coming off the bench = more balanced bench than I’ve seen in a long time when it comes to offense. At least in the backcourt, anyway.
Can’t account for bench balance across the five positions…
Lou/Morrow tops any other two-guard bench lineups we’ve had. The only one that could have been better would have been Jamal/McGrady. But LD screwed that one up….
High-sider
October 18th, 2012
9:44 pm
The Nets [team] looks terrible.
The Hornets [team] is terrible.
Big Ray
October 18th, 2012
9:44 pm
Tolliver says that he is “versatile”. Is that what grabbing 1 rebound in 15 minutes of court time means? Versatile? But he does have 4 fouls so I guess he is trying.
….the master at work….
Big Ray
October 18th, 2012
9:44 pm
High-Sider ,
Right on both accounts, LOL
prison mike
October 18th, 2012
9:45 pm
BR, we are in trouble scoring anyways. There is no 20ppg caliber scorer on roster. It’s better to set the tone defensively first and let the 3 point shooters in from the 2nd quarter and on.
It’s better to start slowly and finish strong opposed to the opposite. I would put in our “all defensive team” to begin the first 6 or so minutes and then hit em with Korver, Morrow, Lou vs. their reserves.
Astro Joe
October 18th, 2012
9:46 pm
Joe with the flagrant foul on Paul Pierce. In a pre-season game. Wow.
Melvin
October 18th, 2012
9:46 pm
Joe with a Flagrant Foul on Pierce in preseason…LOL