Atlanta Hawks: Rockets 109, Hawks 102 (updated)
Vivlamore reporting from Philips Arena.
Welcome to the Hawks’ new style of basketball.
Oh yes, this is going to be interesting.
The Hawks couldn’t contain James Harden. They were killed on the boards. They trailed by as many as 16 points.
Yet, they barely lost.
Harden finished with a game-high 45 points, including seven straight when the Rockets erased a two-point Hawks’ fourth-quarter lead, en route to a 109-102 victory Friday night at Philips Arena. There is still much work to do for the Hawks and a revamped roster.
“We have some things that we really have to focus in and work on,” coach Larry Drew said. “There were area in this game where we weren’t very good, very polished, particularly on the boards. We didn’t do a good job on the boards.” And it wasn’t just our big guys. It was our perimeters not being in position to chase down long rebounds.”
After losing the late lead thanks to Harden, who finished with 18 fourth-quarter points, the Hawks had a chance to tie the game late. Trailing by three points, 97-94, DeShawn Stevenson and Jeff Teague passed on potential game-tying 3-pointers. Teague instead passed to Josh Smith, who missed from long range. Chandler Parsons hit a 3-pointer off the miss as the Rockets went up by six and sealed the win from the free-throw line.
“I saw Harden running at me and it was just a basketball play to make an extra pass,” Teague said. “I’ve got all the confidence in the world in Josh. I see him work every day on shooting drills after practice. I’ve got all the faith in him. If I didn’t have faith in him, what kind of teammate would I be? I saw him wide open and thought he could knock it down. He happened to miss it but it’s part of the game.”
Since being acquired by the Rockets earlier this week, days ahead of their season opener, Harden’s has scored 82 points in two victories. Jeremy Lin added 21 points and Marcus Morris added 17 in the win Friday.
The Rockets (2-0) held a 58-36 rebounding advantage. They pulled down 23 offensive rebounds and many led to points in the paint. Center Omer Asik had 19, including seven in the first six minutes of the game.
“Giving up 17 offensive rebounds in the first half and 23 for the game, you are not going to give yourself a good chance to win. You have to be able to get in there and gang rebound. … We have to find a body, box them out and limit them to one opportunity.”
Lou Williams led the Hawks (0-1) with 22 points. Smith added 18 points and 10 rebounds. The Hawks also got double-digit scoring from Al Horford (14), Teague (14), Zaza Pachulia (13) and Stevenson (12).
The Hawks made their late run by going to a bigger lineup with Pachulia at center, Horford at power forward and Smith a small forward. Drew also elected to go with the hot hand as Williams played all of the fourth quarter when he had 13 points.
“We have to play how we played at the end of the third and into the fourth quarter,” Williams said. “We have to play like that for four quarters. We have to put four quarters of good basketball together in order for us to be successful.”
The Hawks had trouble with their offensive and defensive assignments. They often conferred with Drew during the course of the game to clear up where they were supposed to be on specific sets.
“It’s still a process,” Smith said. “We are still getting acclimated to the new guys coming in with our defensive principles and getting a feel for where they have to be. It’s still a work in progress.”
The Rockets led by as many as 16 points in the third quarter, 68-52, but the Hawks worked to close the gap. They entered the final quarter trailing by seven points, 81-74. With 7:10 remaining the lead was gone. Smith converted in close for an 88-87 lead capping a 14-6 quarter-opening run. Williams and Smith each had six points in the stretch.
The Rockets took a 53-44 halftime lead. Their lead was 14 points, 49-35, with 1:50 remaining in the second quarter when Harden drained a 3-pointer and was fouled by Stevenson. The Hawks closed the gap to nine points by ending the half on a 9-4 run, punctuated by Stevenson’s 3-pointer at the buzzer.
The Rockets held a decisive rebounding advantage – 20-8 after the first quarter and 34-20 at the half.
“We made a run and they handled it,” Horford said. “They took it and got their composure back so you have to give them credit. I don’t think we played well enough to win the game tonight.”
The Hawks travel to Oklahoma City to take on the defending Western Conference champion Thunder Sunday.
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310 comments Add your comment
Rusty
November 2nd, 2012
11:45 pm
LD found only 27 minutes for JT, is this how you give confidence to a young player who you need to be a valuable player to the team, he left him on the bench till the 3 minute mark in the fourth quarter.
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
November 2nd, 2012
11:46 pm
Jury is out on DeShawn’s defense. He looked incredibly slow out there.
If you have Z Al and Josh at the 5 4 3 then Josh is more prone to take jumpshots. You cannot have him on the perimeter.
Ferry, fix this roster. We need a SF ASAP. Get rid of Tolliver. Where is Morrow?
Rusty
November 2nd, 2012
11:48 pm
I think that the only person I hate in this world is LARRY DREW & I don’t even know the man.
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
November 2nd, 2012
11:51 pm
We need to trade Devin Harris ASAP for a small forward. I don’t see why we need so many small guards. Lou Williams can play – we all know that. Devin Harris is expendable; he isn’t going to teach Teague anything. Teague will always be timid under LD.
Trade Devin Harris ['s expiring contract] immediately for a Small Forward.
Immediately.
I’m done for the night…Love
waltbellamy
November 2nd, 2012
11:57 pm
“Smoove and Teague were great.”
———–
Neither performance equates to my understanding of great. Particularly at crunch time. My take – same old same old.
Did Drew forget who was on his bench?
November 2nd, 2012
11:59 pm
I thought our rotations were HORRIBLE tonight. Stevenson and Tolliver saw the court for FAR too long. I know Stevenson has a rep for defense, but everyone let’s be real…the only way the Hawks are winning this year is by outscoring everyone. So bring in the speed merchants, Teague and Harris. What was the point of getting Anthony Morrow’s 3-point shooting if we’re just gonna leave it on the bench? It’s also obvious we can’t play Korver 30 minutes a game.
Ultimately, this team is too unbalanced and tonight it was obvious. If the ROCKETS are killing us on the boards, then this season could be ug-ly. Our best lineup was two small point guards (Teague and Williams, who is a massive ball hog), and three power forwards in Smoove, Horford, and Zaza (ESPN is listing him as a pf now, and he basically is anyways, he can’t get off the ground).
Smoove’s debut as our go-to man was poor. He obviously doesn’t care about the jumpers. And did you hear the crowd get loud when he was jacking him up? Some things never change. You guys still want to max this guy? Trade him for something or lose him for nothing, or overpay him and regret it when he hits 30 and his athleticism declines.
Shoulda traded for Harden. Speaking of the max, he’s proving all the doubters that he is worth the max.
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
November 3rd, 2012
12:10 am
Enter your comments here
Yeti
November 3rd, 2012
12:11 am
Please do us a favor and do not act like we should give darn until after all football is done. Including the draft.
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
November 3rd, 2012
12:13 am
One last thing: we better go HARD after CP3 and Dwight this offseason. I don’t know if Teague is a franchise PG. Horford is soft.
Why CP3 would go to an ATL after so man yrs in a similar New Orleans, IDK, but we need to pursue both and lock up Smoove…. What a mess. We gave up our star SG and traded our only SF for an expiring PG we don’t need.
Ferry needs to get this right.
Hawks Blog Legend Worldwide Clyde
November 3rd, 2012
12:15 am
I just thought about it and I might need to chill with the FIRE LD stuff this year. I don’t know if we would want Bob Weiss to take over midway into the season.
LD still hasn’t learned his lesson about not playing Big Ivan.
mc404
November 3rd, 2012
12:15 am
LD frustrated the crap outta me tonight. like always. time for an upgrade at the coach spot. PLEASE!
but cant hate on harden he deserves it.
mc404
November 3rd, 2012
12:17 am
i hear you RUSTY!
Melvin
November 3rd, 2012
12:17 am
Career highs for Harden and Marcus Morris tonight. I think this undersized Hawks team is going to struggle on defense this season. Hopefully Ferry can make a in season trade to get more size in here…
Hawks Blog Legend Worldwide Clyde
November 3rd, 2012
12:17 am
Asik had 19 rebounds but Horford only had 5.
Woodson
November 3rd, 2012
12:18 am
Enter your comments here
Hawks Blog Legend Worldwide Clyde
November 3rd, 2012
12:20 am
Big Ivan proved himself time and time again last season but in the season opener he does not see the court. All this favoritism needs to stop.
Ken Strickland
November 3rd, 2012
12:20 am
If the Hawks can only go as far as Josh takes them, then we won’t go very far. He’s still stuck of stupid when it comes to shot selection and launching those long 2pt shots. Drew also did a piss poor job of coaching. We’re getting killed on the boards, especially the OFF boards, and this fool gives Ivan Johnson a DNP CD.
If he won’t play Ivan when we desperately needed his rebounding ability, I can see why he cut DJames, because he definitely wasn’t going to play him. His post gm comments about not giving ourselves a chance to win by giving up so many rebounds, especially OFF rebounds, is a damned joke.
Instead of playing our best rebounders off the bench(Scott/Ivan) not named Zaza, he over burdened Josh and Al by playing rebounding challenged players like Stevenson, Tolliver and Korver. Korver did nothing to help the team on either end of the court, and would have played more than 14mins if not for foul trouble.
Drew is obsessed with OFF and jumpshooters. I loved the way Teague became aggressive and took over on the OFF end. That wouldn’t have happened if JJ was still on the team.
brigadierjerry
November 3rd, 2012
12:21 am
i couldnt watch the game but ld is a maddening coach. he is the type of coach that will follow a script but cannot adapt. how did that move cutting james ld and keeping tolliver?
i get the impression ld has never seen petro and tolliver play before. ld talks about defnse but plays offense. never a fan of his.
say what u want about woody and woody had problems not playing rookies and iso game and can get a team to a certain point but he at least demaded defense and rebounding. he woud’ve kept james and benson.
i think one thing that goes unnoticed i think the hawks need and i think the reason woodsn went this route for the knicks this season getting felton and kidd
the hawks really need a floor general to define roles and positions especially for horford and smith. teaque i like but he doesnt command respect from smith and horford. he doesnt. a cp3, rondo,billups, even a kyrie irving type of point guard would do wonders for this team and a new coach and a defensive small forward.
Hawks Blog Legend Worldwide Clyde
November 3rd, 2012
12:22 am
Hopefully Ferry can make a in season trade to get more size in here…
We had a chance to get more size through the draft but we chose a small guard and a small forward.
Hawks Blog Legend Worldwide Clyde
November 3rd, 2012
12:28 am
Its time to give up on Horford. We need a hard nosed center not a pretty boy Dominican.
Little Fawkers
November 3rd, 2012
12:31 am
The place was empty tonight. It is official… no one in Atlanta cares about the Hawks.
sameba
November 3rd, 2012
12:32 am
Hawks looked disorganized most of the time. Which means very little was done by coaching staff in the offseason. Team chemistry is almost nonexistent. The late comeback was achieved due to a very hard individual effort of certain players. It will be difficult to play that way all season long. Hawks URGENTLY need the REAL COACH!!
waltbellamy
November 3rd, 2012
12:34 am
Hawks Blog Legend Worldwide Clyde
November 3rd, 2012
12:15 am
I just thought about it and I might need to chill with the FIRE LD stuff this year. I don’t know if we would want Bob Weiss to take over midway into the season.
*******************
That explains the frigid shiver up my spine. Be careful what you wish for. I assume DF Is smarter than that.
Hawks Blog Legend Worldwide Clyde
November 3rd, 2012
12:35 am
Looking at the highlights and Harden was driving to the basket with no one to meet him at the rim. Same ole Horford. Same ole Zaza.
Rusty
November 3rd, 2012
12:37 am
We are going nowhere with LARRY as our coach.
waltbellamy
November 3rd, 2012
12:37 am
sameba
November 3rd, 2012
12:32 am
Hawks looked disorganized most of the time. Which means very little was done by coaching staff in the offseason. Team chemistry is almost nonexistent.
******************
But the squad loves going to the movies / club together.
sameba
November 3rd, 2012
12:43 am
Unfortunately, Horford continues to play the same way he played for his national team… I do not know, may be I am wrong, but at the end of game I saw him smiling, like everything was going on as expected…
HawkEye
November 3rd, 2012
12:46 am
There is nothing that could possibly justify Anthony Tolliver getting all of those mins (esp. at PF) when Ivan Johnson, a player who could have given you rebs and possibly twice as many points, gets none. But let LD tell it was all about matchups.
This roster may not be great, but LD makes it ten times worst.
northcyde
November 3rd, 2012
12:54 am
Hey . . . but this was an EXCITING game though . . right?
In a “transition” year, that’s all that counts. That we be “exciting”.
Maybe they won’t play like this all the time, but they definitely looked like “Golden State East” tonight. I was watching most of this game on my phone, and it was just painful to watch the defense and the lack of rebounding.
I’m shocked that we lost this game. I really am.
Harden goes for 45 and Lin was 3 assists away from a triple-double? If they can do that, WTF is Lebron and Wade going to do to this team?
And Larry Drew . . . boy I tell ya. He’s like the Anti-Woody. And that’s not nearly as good of a thing as people thought it would be.
If this defense and rebounding doesn’t get any better than this, we could legitimately be looking at an 0 – 6 start.
But at least we scored over 100 tonight
(( rolling eyes ))
Dwayne C
November 3rd, 2012
1:11 am
The Atlanta Hawks are going to lose 50 games this season, count on it, New GM Danny Ferry has his work cut out for him.
soullrenaissance
November 3rd, 2012
1:15 am
FIRE TOLLIVER and LD. Stevenson is scrub and should not see the court. Korver should not start. Mid-Range Shawty is at it again.
Damion James
November 3rd, 2012
1:21 am
Hey Atlanta did you miss me?
Nate ArchiBALL
November 3rd, 2012
1:22 am
“Be careful what you wish for. I assume DF Is smarter than that.”
Just in case you forgot….DF the GM, put this team together……………
The Truth
November 3rd, 2012
1:40 am
LD worst fears have been manifested. Picking the wrong guy (Tolliver), giving him max minutes just to prove he made the right choice, but to the contrary, demonstrating how much he sucks.
Sad to say, LD has made his bed, now he must lay in it. If this mess he has created its fix after 20 games, he will lose the respect of the players especially temperamental Josh. No amount of his politics like creating a scapegoat player will replace his bad judgment. I thought his Pape Sy selection was a fluke but his pattern for badly sizing-up talent is in his DNA.
The cry for his firing will become a self fulfilling prophecy.
FreshFromATL
November 3rd, 2012
1:49 am
CAN SOMEONE PLEASE FIND OUT WHY IVAN DIDN’T PLAY TONIGHT? DAMMIT, FIRE LARRY DREW NOW!!!!!!!!
Grandad
November 3rd, 2012
1:54 am
Notes:
* when our Hawks make entry passes into the post,
they quit moving – just stand.
This allows the defense to essentially become a zone.
* Bad habits from yrs past have carried over.
* LD is only a care-taker, he cannot impose his will.
* A lot of guys seem to be “shooting” for their next contract.
“DHarris” in particular looked as if he was playing for himself.
* Harden is better than Joe ever was.
* Korver is not as bad a defender as advertised;
he plays defense with his brain due to being quickness impaired.
* If Josh had Harden`s B-ball IQ; then Josh would be the player he thinks he is.
* LD spaces the floor with Josh … fools gold !
* I`m certain people will try and lay this on Al !
* Zaza needs to start !
* Lou is our pg
* Time to trade Teaguer while trade value is High.
* We should go get Aldrich from Houston – they are not going to re-sign.
____________________________________________
29 and counting !
Grandad
November 3rd, 2012
2:01 am
Starting line-up:
Lou, JJenkins, Josh, Al, Zaza
rotation:
Teaguer, Harris, DeSteve, KKorv, Ivan + [Morrow]
trade:
Teaguer or Harris for another Big ! … One who can REBOUND !!!!!
Why not ?
the hawks is the word
November 3rd, 2012
2:22 am
Can somebody tell me WHAT THE HELL WAS WRONG WITH IVAN, since LD didn’t play him at all in this game when clearly we were getting out-hustled on rebounds
the hawks is the word
November 3rd, 2012
2:26 am
oh and somebody tell tolliver that it’s bad enough that josh like to shoot the 3, when we need a frickin garnett or hibbert equivalent to fight in the paint and not another finesse player
Kareem ah-Wheat
November 3rd, 2012
2:31 am
Good. Now they can settle back down 3000 people a night.
vava74
November 3rd, 2012
3:42 am
Called it and nailed it:
Asik with >18 rebounds – Hawks lose.
Harden was obviously good but that would have been irrelevant if we had rebounded.
No Ivan? Hah! LD at his very best.
Lottery here we go.
vava74
November 3rd, 2012
3:47 am
LD’s starting line up is a freaking joke and it was really not necessary to wait for a single game to know it.
Add to it LD’s rotations and we are looking at the worst start in several years.
Just for the distracted: JJ – very good perimeter defender – always had trouble with Harden.
What did you expect it would happen with a bunch of tiny defenceless guys on the floor?
At least Marvin was back to his usual self, giving us some comfort.
Grandad
November 3rd, 2012
4:01 am
vava
For all the rhetoric from LD about defense;
now the catch phrase is:
“were getting acclimated to our defensive principles”.
Defensive Principles 101:
# 1. Stay between your guy and the basket !
Rebounding Principle:
# 1. Box Out !
“Defense is 90% effort and the other half is [want] to”
The above quote is from G-dad or Yogi // I forget ?
vava74
November 3rd, 2012
4:35 am
Oh, and stop fooling yourselves.
Horford’s interview was indeed JUICY.
He played just like he interviewed.
When someone comes public with that type of cr@p he will end up playing like that as well.
And that is exactly what you got tonight:
Al facing a 7 footer who had already punked him during the ATL-CHI series = Al mailing it from an effort point of view.
The only question that remains is:
Al is a conniving b!tch who is sabotaging LD on purpose to force him to play Zaza and move him to PF;
or
Al is not doing it on purpose and his disappearing act is simply because he is SOFT.
There are no other options.
That interview MATTERED.
tony
November 3rd, 2012
6:10 am
I hope Danny Ferry is thinking Bill Laimbeer, Cody Zeller(2013 draft) and Andrew Wiggins(2013 draft). This will be the best investment ever for this franchise. Just keep losing baby!
tony
November 3rd, 2012
6:14 am
Andrew Wiggins(2014 draft)
vava74
November 3rd, 2012
6:20 am
4th quarter yesterday
Al Horford
Stint 4 8:47 -4
FG 0-1
PF 1
Reb 2
TO 1
Josh Smith
Stint 4 12:00 0
FG 4-6 3FG 0-1
PF 1
Reb 3
ag
November 3rd, 2012
6:45 am
test
ag
November 3rd, 2012
6:55 am
First, this game was lost in the preseason. Anthony Tolliver ended the preseason going 0-8 in Detroit, but he makes the team at the expense of James. James was clearly the Hawks best option at SF, as he was second on the team in rebounding in limited minutes. Tolliver rewards his new team by going 0-3 at 2 rebounds in 16 minutes. At the rate Harden has playing, I think James would have played much better defense.
The Hawks got absolutely abused on the boards. The Rocket 7’0” was grabbing every rebound in site. I am not sure, but was Petro in a suit? If not, it would not have been a bad thing if he would have been. The 7’0” I would have liked to see is somewhere watching the his NBA pass. He only scored 10 points in one exhibition game. I guess Keith Benson really looked bad in practice.
Then our great coach gives Kyle Korver his first opening day start since 2005-06. He rewards LD with 0 points, 5 fouls in 15 minutes. Over the last 7 seasons, he has only started 10 games. WTF?
Lastly, the guy you flew to California to see was also the guy who came to camp in the best condition. The guy who you said will play a big role. Despite getting abused on the boards. Ivan Johnson gets a DNP.
We all said the team will be good – but it really depends on our coach. I have always commended LD for making changes. I sire hope he makes these adjustments quickly.
Just Joe
November 3rd, 2012
6:57 am
Teague is still learning and I have no problem with his game right now. He had too many turnovers early, but that’s going to happen at times. He’s still playing like the 4th or 5th option (trying to play under control, passing up open jumpers (yes, I know his jumper still needs work), not being verbal enough, etc…).
He deserves the whole season as the primary ball handler. Defensive effort needs to be more consistent. Keep working on the jumper. And work on finishing at the rim. I still believe that he can get to the rim whenever he wants. Teague took 10 shots last night. 8 at the rim, and 2 jumpers. He needs to be getting off 15+ shots each night.
This season is about evaluation and trade value. I see a 18 & 8 year for Jeff Teague. 14 & 7 in game 1 (only 27 minutes).