Atlanta Hawks: Heat 95, Hawks 89 (updated)
Vivlamore reporting.
How do the Hawks measure up against the Heat?
Very well it turns out.
The Hawks went toe-to-toe with the defending NBA champions in a back-and-forth, thoroughly entertaining contest Friday night at Philips Arena. In the end, LeBron James hit a jumper with 13.7 seconds remaining as the Heat won 95-89 over the Hawks.
Al Horford missed a contested shot alley-oop dunk attempt, after a timeout, and a jumper down the stretch for the Hawks. Ray Allen hit a pair of free throws to seal the win.
The Heat played without a key piece of their Big Three as Dywane Wade missed the game due to a cold.
“We don’t want any moral victories,” said Anthony Morrow, who came off the bench with 17 points. “We know what we need to get better at. We know the things we did well tonight. We will continue to work on the things we need to work on and execute down the stretch.”
The Heat opened the fourth quarter on a 10-2 run to take a nine-point lead, 82-73. The Hawks staged another comeback, something that is becoming a trademark early in the season. They went on a 14-3 run to regain the lead that was punctuated by two straight 3-pointers from Jeff Teague. The second, with 4:02 remaining, tied the game at 85-85 and sent the home crowd into a frenzy. After a defensive stop, Horford drove past Chris Bosh for a layup and gave the Hawks’ first lead since late in the third quarter.
Kyle Korver could have extended the lead. He missed a fast-break layup and after getting his rebound appeared to be pushed out of bounds. However, the Heat were awarded the ball.
“They called out of bounds on me,” Korver said. “I missed the layup first of all. I shouldn’t have been in that situation. I’ve got to finish that. There was a scramble. I was off balance. I thought I got pushed in the back but they felt otherwise.”
Allen put the Heat up by two, 91-89, on a short jump with 1:21 remaining. They took the lead into the final minute when Josh Smith missed two free throws with 1:05 left.
“Not an excuse,” Smith said about expending energy having to guard James for much of the game. “I have to be better offensively for this ball club. As a leader I have to be more efficient. I have to be better at the free-throw line. I apologized to all my teammates because that was just a poor effort offensively by me. I mean it is a tough task to give energy on both ends of the court but I have to be more efficient. And I will be more efficient.”
Smith finished with 13 points but was 6-for-19 from the field and 1-for-5 from the free-throw line. He added eight rebounds. Teague led the Hawks (2-2) with 20 points. Korver (11) and Horford (10) were the other double-digit scorers.
Bosh finished with a game-high 24 points for the Heat (5-1), who have won four straight and four overall against the Hawks. James added 19 points and 10 rebounds.
“It was a very hard-fought game,” Drew said. “It really was. I thought my guys came out and really competed at a very high level. We played good in spurts, and again we showed some resilience, particularly when we got down by nine points in the fourth quarter. …
“But this game is about making plays down the stretch and we didn’t come up with enough plays down the stretch. They did, and they came up with the win.”
The Heat took a one-point lead, 72-71, into the decisive final quarter. They outscored the Hawks 18-2 in points in the paint – an important stat for both teams coming into the game.
The Hawks took a 46-42 lead into intermission thanks to Morrow. He scored the first seven points of the second quarter for the Hawks. Morrow had 12 points, including two 3-pointers, in the first half off the bench.
Smith had nine first-half points before leaving with a few seconds remaining before halftime after taking a charge from James. He said he suffered a bruised knee and expected to be sore Saturday when the Hawks leave on a four-game west coast road trip.
“We fought back against a great Miami team,” Smith said. We’re going to be good. We’re going to be going to be good and I’m going to be better.”
- Chris Vivlamore
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210 comments Add your comment
Ken Norman
November 10th, 2012
4:39 am
Danny Ferry should talk to Memphis about acquiring Rudy Gay for Josh Smith, because Pau Gasol
salary is too high. For Pau the Hawks would have to give up another player to match salaries, and not to mention Pau is past his prime.
Fort Valley Wildcat
November 10th, 2012
7:01 am
Josh Smith will be gone before or at the deadline. NO QUESTION.
ag
November 10th, 2012
7:25 am
I know Josh said he wants to go to a basketball city, and he must have felt horrible hearing the “Let’s Go Heat” Chants. The way you shut them out is hit the damn free throws and BEAT THE HEAT. The only way this team is going to get respect is win.
I question why Morrow did not play in the 4th quarter. He could have checked Ray Allen.
I also wonder why Lou did not play the 4th quarter also.
ag
November 10th, 2012
7:45 am
I actually though Horford played Bosh pretty well. Bosh hit some tough shots. Take away those 10 FT’s, their stats are almost identical.
2. Without Wade playing, there was no need to start Stevenson. Stevenson should not have been in the game in the 4th – especially with a hot Anthony Morrow.
3. If Josh does not evolve his game, he will not get the big money extension or big money as a free agent. He took way to many jumpers. I don’t mind when he is hot, but when he is not- he should not shoot them. Play inside out. If he will not, we have seen what the team will do without him.
4. Horford has to take more shots. The only reason he does not take more shots is he refuses to shoot. When he gets the ball at the top of the elbow… SHOOT THE DAMN BALL!!! Don’t look for the guys who will take a three.
5. If the Hawks are going to be successful outside, they have to establish themselves inside. Ivan needs 15-20 minutes every night. We do not need Tolliver at PF taking 3’s.
6. Morrow has a career average of 12ppg. He is averaging 11 ppg. Korver has a career average of 9 ppg. He is averaging 7 ppg. WHY IS KORVER STILL STARTING?
7. Early foul trouble is still haunting JT0, but why did he only play 27 minutes. I do like Harris better than Pargo, but last night he had the team worst -10.
ag
November 10th, 2012
8:31 am
Finishing up on my morning rant (Good thing I don’t get busy until about 8am)
1. Al Jefferson is averaging 11.8 ppg 10.2 rbs. and is shooting 40%. The Jazz are 1-4 over there last 5 and are 2-5 overall. Is Ty Corbin in trouble?
2. Horford is younger. If he would commit to taking 15 shots (this would really help the team because it takes 5 misses from Josh), he would average 18 ppg 10 rbs.
3. It Ain’t A Bad Pick.. well there is someone in Utah with under the blog name, It Wasn’t a Bad Trade. This person will point out that Marvin Williams needs to shoot more and Mo Williams is hurting him. The blogger will point out that when Marvin scorers ind double figures, the Jazz win. To date Marvin is averaging 9.3 ppg with 3.7 rbs – slightly worse than last year. The disturbing fact is Williams ppg
peaked 6 years ago.
4. Joe Johnson is averaging 13.8 ppg and 2.8 rbs and 2.8 ast. Although he was so happy about his new point guard, this is is worst average in 10 years.
5. Oddly enough, three Hawks started opening night for the Nets in 2011-12, Morrow, Petro and Damon James (okay he is not a Hawk, but a lot of us wish he was).
6. Other odd facts, Willie Green starts for the Clippers, Jamal Crawford is averaging 21 ppg for the Clippers,
prison mike
November 10th, 2012
8:34 am
You are blind if you think Al played Bosh well. You might of also thought he did well on David West. If he wants to move to the 4 he can’t take plays off like he’s guarding Zaza in practice.
Josh needs to refocus and he’ll get back on track. The refs were pro Heat all night it showed.
Devndev
November 10th, 2012
8:39 am
I was at the game and it was sad to see the heat having more support in our home court, except when Teague hit those two 3s. When Josh went to the line for freethrows at the end- the heat fans made so much noice, I was sure Josh would feel wierd and miss those…
Another thing I noticed was both teams were trying to slow the pace of the game, hardly any fast break points- not sure if that was a good stratergy for teague.
Ignition
November 10th, 2012
8:43 am
Teague was attempting to carry the team to victory before Ladry took the ball out his hands what was that about??
doc
November 10th, 2012
8:48 am
i love slimj sounding off about 4 wins in 4 games for the start of a basketball season in the space of two weeks. on the flip side after two and a half months of nfl football he has still been trashing the falcons going undefeated. before he comes back with it doesnt mean anything because the falcons havent won a post season game with either its qb or hc; i would like for him to pause and look thought the same lens and tell us how many nba series have the knicks won in the post season since the falcons were last in a super bowl or this decade?
come on slimj say something relevant or significant or do we just need to scroll? heh heh
geez man love for woody is a true malady.
nice observation there gdad. especially for those detractors who only focus on others words of a similar vein.
that comment alone will come back to haunt josh. lbj has to be smiling because he now knows he has defeated josh and only needs to bring more energy on both sides of the ball the next time as i imagine he was not yet going at tournament speed.
look out josh. you have just armed the enemy to know exactly what they have to do to penetrate your thin armour. i mean josh, doesnt lbj play on both sides of the ball equally hard?
Just Joe
November 10th, 2012
8:58 am
Josh will be fine. He just needs a good coach, and a good PG. Teague could become the PG, but LD will never be the coach.
Teague needs to learn how to take control at the end of games. Ferrell kept calling for it, and Teague kept passing it off on the perimeter, twice to Josh (high-low Josh to Horford on the failed oop, and then Josh’s wild dribble drive where Horford missed the jumper). At some point someone needs to recognize that Josh doesn’t need to be handling the ball out around the 3 pt line.
We’re getting what we need though. Evaluation and growth of Teague, Josh, and Al. Hopefully there are lessons being learned every game.
keith
November 10th, 2012
9:02 am
paian
November 9th, 2012
11:45 pm
keith why do you hate on teague so much? it seems to me hes the best player on this team if anything
Jeff teague was great tonight. Can he be this guy on the road? Check his stats on the road. Solid players can play anywhere, even in hostile environments.
BIG DOG
November 10th, 2012
9:05 am
LD continue to match up with other teams instead of him being a man with integrity that have some dam balls, JUST DAM
BIG DOG IN THE HOUSE
ag
November 10th, 2012
9:06 am
Dude, Horford have two blocks. He contested every shot. It is not that I am blind, I watched the game. Look at the box score. Bosh was 7-13., so again take away the FT’s and Bosh scored 14 pts.
ntrigue
November 10th, 2012
9:15 am
No way Morrow should’ve sat the whole 4th qtr he had the hot hand i would be giving him all of korvers mins bad coaching and officiating lost this GM
BIG DOG
November 10th, 2012
9:17 am
The Hawks beat Pacer the other night and dominate the boards, then he go back with this same dam small lineup and Hawks lose, JUST DAM
Josh should have started at SF staying in the paint and scoring at will against Battier, LD continue try mismatch lineup every night instead of staying with big lineup, how can you develop any continuity switching your starting five every game, SMH WHAT A DAM COACH
BIG DOG IN THE HOUSE
ntrigue
November 10th, 2012
9:18 am
And Teague should’ve been on earlier for either Lou or Devin they were out of sync tonite Drew stayed with them too long in the 4th he always does that too Teague and others!
Just Joe
November 10th, 2012
9:26 am
With all the issues and the learning curve everyone is going through, this team just isn’t shooting well.
Lou – 33% from field, 21% from 3
Harris – 37% and 25%
Tolliver – 26% and 30%
Korver – 32% and 30%
Josh – 38% and 0%, with 20% shooting from the line
ag
November 10th, 2012
9:33 am
Joe Johnson $19. 5 million 13 ppg
Morrow, Petro, Stevenson and Williams 14.7 million 31 ppg. LOVE THE TRADE.
Another thing the trade does allow is these guys to stay hungry, so the best player (theoretically) gets the most time on the floor.
ag
November 10th, 2012
9:39 am
Teague 60% fg 60 3p%
Horford 58% and n/a
Pachulia 61% and n/a
Ivan 66% and 00%
Morrow 61% and 1.000%
Just Joe
November 10th, 2012
9:48 am
Hawks are 17th in the league in 3 pt % despite our surplus of “shooters”, but 4th in 3-pt attempts per game. That shot has to fall for this team to go anywhere.
ag
November 10th, 2012
10:00 am
JJ – that is a coaching issue. Benching Tolliver will reduce some of those shots. Coaching up Josh will also cut down on those shots – and raise our percentage. Lastly giving Morrow more burn will help.
NATIVE SON
November 10th, 2012
10:07 am
The NBA has Launched their 2012 – 2013 campaign to move the Miami Heat into the Finals.
Can’t we find an NBA Referee who was born in Atlanta
T.I. was better than Dominique
ag
November 10th, 2012
10:07 am
Okay, bored at work, but just another fact..
Anthony Tolliver at 3.3 ppg – shooting 26% is the worst on the team, but has played every game and has averaged 16.5 minutes. He is getting very close to the Marvin treatment. If he does not show improvement soon, he should be released.
HawkFan
November 10th, 2012
10:08 am
Lot of good points here but we need to be a little patient with all the new players and too many of them are similar. Josh will be alright and can’t fault his effort and desire to win. He is playing hurt as well. He shot the ball well last year and hopefully it will turn around. LD has to get a handle on how to use this roster but it is difficult when Harris/Lou are same player, Morrow/Korver are same player and none of them are shooting well. I think LD wanted to leave Morrow in but Lewis was scoring on him at will and he had to come out.
We played a good game, got some bad calls, missed too many shots and still almost beat the best team in NBA
ag
November 10th, 2012
10:10 am
Replace Smith for Ivan with the 5 with the highest % on the team and we have our starting 5.
I would really like to see what Jenkins will bring to the table. Lou is running a lot of backup PG, so if Harris is dealt, we still have two PG’s on the roster.
DS
November 10th, 2012
10:11 am
doc at 8:48 I don’t think LeBron needs reassurance to know that every single player in this league will have trouble defending him. I’m still very annoyed at every bandwagon heat fan and clearly all of them are locals… Freaking worthless people shouldn’t be allowed in Atlanta. I understand the ny or Chicago fans that moved from those cities, but I know those people yesterday were mostly from here.
DS
November 10th, 2012
10:13 am
I’m confident in Ferry that he’ll trade Harris by the deadline which is THE only reason he’s getting minutes at this point. Aminu? Singleton?
HawkFan
November 10th, 2012
10:19 am
All you Jenkins fans/relatives. He is at best another Morrow/Korver only inexperienced. He was drafted before the trade and would not have been our pick had we known we were going to have the other guys
ag
November 10th, 2012
10:24 am
The real loss in the FA market was Corey Brewer. He is having a real good season with Denver. If he is at best another Morrow/Korver – something I agree with, why is KK playing. Let the rookie play.
doc
November 10th, 2012
10:24 am
ds the point is by that comment lbj knows he is in josh’s head “simply” by playing hard. if josh is making excuses though denying it in the same breath then it is what it is. josh will figure it out; part of the figuring is making sure he can keep up and play hard.
NORRIS CHUCK
November 10th, 2012
10:30 am
Well its all starting to line up folks. Danny Ferry will rekindle his Cavs/Lebron/Mike Brown days within the next few weeks.
DS
November 10th, 2012
10:33 am
I agree with you doc. But I think LeBron gets in the head of most players… Kind of hard not to when you’re defending him…
keith
November 10th, 2012
10:41 am
We need a back-up Big moving forward. I can not believe that Fesenko is worse than Zsa Zsa or Petro.
tony
November 10th, 2012
10:47 am
The hawks lost the game because as usual JS took too many bad perimeter shoots and Lou Williams wasn’t aggressive enough offensively. JT is the man!
doc
November 10th, 2012
11:17 am
yeah ds, only he isnt in the heads of kobe’s, duncan’s, kg’s or other alpha’s of teams, which is where josh says he wants to be. my point. then can we say, josh soft head, al soft body? two softs?
it is a work in progress and i know this. really good competitive game. looking back, would have preferred different looks at the end of the game. though stevenson put one in late, i dont think he needed to be in the game at that point. would have said josh play hard defense on lbj where stevenson ended up it seemed, pick up scraps on offense and put in either morrow or kk in to shoot it. in my mind you had two offensive liabilities that like to shoot and mismatches against us on defense.
also, ray allen was the difference in the end. bosh and lbj got theirs to back up wades absence. allen hurt us with his 17. three guys with 73 of the 95 heat points. the heat way of course; just not expected without dwade until ray shows up.
Ken Strickland
November 10th, 2012
11:20 am
Unfortunately, all Hawk fans are now seeing why Horford is an Allstar and not Josh. Josh desperately wants to be an Allstar, he thinks he deserves to be an Allstar, or be treated like an Allstar, but he can’t seem to demonstrate the consistency, decipline, or the requirements that have been presented to him to become an Allstar.
I desperately what him to reach his goal, because the Hawks can’t move forward without him. I knew there would be a problem with him as soon as he hit his 1st 2 jumpers. He seems obsessed with following Horford’s path to Allstar success by trying to become an outside shooter rather than an inside force. Therefore, for the last 3yrs he’s been obsessed with working on and taking jumpshots despite what anyone has to say.
It seems the entire NBA, as well as everyone in the entire world who follows the NBA, knows why teams leave Josh wide open to take those illadvised jumpshots, except Josh of course. I’ve also noticed that unless he’s able to dunk, he has trouble finishing at the rim.
Let’s just hope this gm causes the light to finally come on and he finally realizes what he has to do to improve as an overall player and get the Allstar consideration he finally deserves. When he played SF in our last gm, he concentrated on becoming an inside force, and had an excellent gm. But at PF, he reverts back to his old jump shooting habits, which hurts both he and the team.
jhan
November 10th, 2012
11:26 am
All-Stars make their free throws at the end of the game. All-start don’t throw the ball away at crucial junctions of the game. This is why Josh is not an All-Star.
Slimjr
November 10th, 2012
11:43 am
He goes 0-4 in the 4th? Hmmmm
Romnesia[ one of His Fan Club members] equations [24-10=24],”he only scored 14 pts if you take away his FT’s.” WTFreak?
Baths Salts are illegal Sir…
He doc, thanks for the love…Hehehehe
22-6
Slimjr
November 10th, 2012
11:45 am
correction [24-10=14]. His math aint that bad…lol
Mike is Back
November 10th, 2012
11:47 am
They came up short…but they kept fighting.
I like Josh and at the 4…I don’t like Josh at 3…like what’s been stated numerous of TIME…dude just doesn’t have the discipline to play the 3 for long stretches…it is what it is.
GREAT EFFORT…GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
jgsbirds
November 10th, 2012
11:51 am
@old man peaboy
what a joke! you are an idiot! but at least you have the dolphins, the florida marlins and whatever hockey team down there to root for while your watching “your” world champs! i hate bandwagon fans and bandwagon officiating. a foul is a foul whether if kyle korver gets pushed out of bounds or lebron james gets pushed.
simply stating the foul total stats shows that you don’t know basketball! go back to watching your so called world champs and keep getting bored while watching them play the lowly hawks. as a TRUE fan i watch my teams no matter who they are playing. miami aint all that–the better team didn’t win last night but i’m sure that was because d-wade didn’t play.
hey good luck with the marlins, the hurricanes, the dolphins and the hurricanes as well–but you probably don’t root for the marlins. i bet you’ve ALWAYS been a yankees fan! USC too and in the NFL let me guess, this year you like the falcons! shut the freak up!
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
November 10th, 2012
11:56 am
LOL @ that “alleyoop” Smoove threw to Horford toward the end of the game.
That dude will never learn how to play the game.
Josh Smith is an athlete, not a basketball player.
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
November 10th, 2012
11:58 am
None of the free throws Josh Smith misses come close to going in. They are wide left or right, or even AIRBALLS.
Did this guy get FT instruction from Dwight Howard in the offseason? Because I know I heard from someone Smoove refused to drive to Suwanee to work on shooting with Mark Price several offseasons ago
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
November 10th, 2012
12:00 pm
If LD had [God Forbid] put in Anthony Morrow, by far our best offensive player last night, on Ray Allen, we would’ve definitely won this game.
LD has already lost us 2 games. We should be 4-0 right now if this fool had any idea how to RECOGNIZE WHO HAS THE HOT HAND ON THE TEAM.
Anthony Morrow looked like vintage Flip Murray for us. He didn’t have to guard LeBron if Ray was in
Slimjr
November 10th, 2012
12:02 pm
The more things change, the more they stay the same..If the Hawks guards do not step up in the 4th Quarters, the Hawks usually will lose…
Relying on these Bigs is like going to Vegas…Good luck….
Two things will happen to become an elite:
1-Danny will upgrade is coaching staff..
2-Danny will upgrades his Bigs..
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
November 10th, 2012
12:04 pm
Horford really needs to demand the ball more and to expand his offensive repertoire beyond this swivel pivot move
Morrow has done little wrong in his minutes. He is an average defender, but does have some steals so far this season.
Refs were garbage in that 4th quarter, including Joey Crawford who had 2 moronic calls on Ivan. Same guy who ejected Tim Duncan for smiling
jgsbirds
November 10th, 2012
12:05 pm
missed ft’s by josh smith….
we started high school basketball practice last week. i haven’t shot a ball in 6 months. walked to the line to shoot ten free throws–made 8! COME ON JOSH SMITH! if you miss the first one–ADJUST!!!
utc’s lady mocs made 10 out of 13 down the stretch last night in their win over the LADY VOLS! no disrespect to the ladies out there but for crying out loud–PRACTICE YOUR FREE THROWS JOSH! those two misses late in the fourth were the ballgame. you have to make one and neither had a chance to go in. if you can’t shoot them–don’t try to get fouled so much!
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
November 10th, 2012
12:06 pm
Does Josh Smith even practice free throws? how do you miss 4 free throws in a row in a game? That’s some Nick Anderson ish right there. Smh
Slimjr
November 10th, 2012
12:08 pm
5 on 8 just aint fair..But that former ref who got busted for abuse of power said this has been going on for a long time and so we see the results like last night..Hmmmmmm
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
November 10th, 2012
12:09 pm
*2 moronic calls on ZaZa