Atlanta Hawks: Clippers 89, Hawks 76
Vivlamore reporting from Los Angeles.
Lob City turned into Turnover City for the Hawks.
Atlanta committed a season-high 22 turnovers, 10 in the fourth quarter, en route to an 89-76 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers Sunday at a sold old Staples Center. Many of those turnovers led to uncontested layups as the Clippers went on a 26-5 run between the third and fourth quarters. Devin Harris hit a 3-pointer late in the third to put the Hawks up by one point, 60-59. Then 10:24 later, the Hawks trailed by 20 points, 85-65.
Hawks coach Larry Drew said his team lost its composure.
“I thought our guys followed our game plan for two and a half quarters,” Drew said. “Midway into that third quarter, it’s like we totally forgot what had put us in the position we were in. As I told them, on the road we have to be consistent, we have to be on the mark with all of our coverages.
“We knew coming into this building we knew one of the things we needed to do was take away momentum plays. We did that for the most part, but late in that third quarter we totally abandoned what was good for us for two and half quarters.”
The Hawks had just seven points and nine turnovers in the first 8:39 of the fourth quarter.
“Fourth quarter was a disaster,” Zaza Pachulia said. “It was full of mistakes. It’s sad that you are playing so well for three quarters and one quarter you throw it all away in the ocean. This should be a good example for our team.”
The Hawks (2-3) lost their second straight game and the first on a four-game West Coast road trip. Josh Smith led the Hawks with 13 points, but they came on 6-of-14 shooting. He missed all four free-throw attempts. For the season, Smith is 26-for- 66 (.394) from the field and 2-for-14 (.143) from the free-throw line.
Al Horford and Lou Williams each added 11 points for the Hawks.
“Those guy played the passing lanes,” Smith said. “They are a gambling team. Give credit to them, the plays they gambled on they succeeded. That kind of gave them momentum in that fourth quarter which hurt us.”
The Clippers (5-2), winners of three straight, placed six players in double-figure scoring. Blake Griffin had 16 points followed by Chris Paul (15), Caron Butler (13), Eric Bledsoe (12), Jamal Crawford (11) and Matt Barnes (10).
Free throws were hardly an issue for just Smith against the Clippers. The Hawks combined to shoot 7-for-16 from the line. In fact, the Hawks had two more 3-pointers than free throws. On the season, the Hawks are shooting 54-for-81 (.667).
“We couldn’t make a free throw,” Drew said. “You have to make free throws on the road. That’s the bottom line. .. You have to step up, concentrate and knock it down.”
For the first time this season the Hawks’ bench failed to outscore their opponent’s bench. The Clippers’ reserves held a 35-32 advantage.
The Hawks did manage to hold the Clippers under 100 points, snapping their streak of six games to start the season over the century mark.
The Clippers got physical with the Hawks late in the game and it had an impact, according to Drew.
“We got sped up with the pressure and then we let the officiating bother us a little bit,” Drew said. “As I told them, we can’t play any road game with the mindset that during that game there are going to be calls that they might not like. That cannot affect their play. Tonight, we let some calls get us a little out of character. You can’t play like that on the road. You have to be solid. You have to be focused. We lost focus at the end of the third quarter.”
The Hawks road trip continues against Portland Monday night.
Notes
* Rookies John Jenkins and Mike Scott made their season debut. They entered the game with 3:21 remaining after the Clippers took a 20-point lead. Jenkins made 2-of-4 shots to finish with four points. Scott missed both his shots.
* Guard DeShawn Stevenson did not play. The veteran was held out because the Hawks play again Monday and the plan is not to play him in back-to-back games.
* The Hawks started their big lineup of Jeff Teague, Kyle Kover, Smith, Horford and Pachulia. It was the first time the team duplicated a starting lineup this season.
* Center Johan Petro was inactive for the fifth straight game.
* The sellout was the 55th straight for the Clippers. The Staples Center also hosted a Lakers game later in the evening.
LATEST NEWS
* Hawks start four-game road trip against Clippers
* Ferry ‘fully engaged’ with Drew
*Drew declines comment on Brown firing
* Lessons to be learned in technical fouls
* Smith to play against Pacers
* Williams is Hawks’ go-to guy in fourth quarter
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184 comments Add your comment
ntrigue
November 12th, 2012
9:35 am
Go get sloan or Brian Shaw
keith
November 12th, 2012
9:39 am
Kind of wish we had hired Mike D’Antonni as our coach. I believe he can not only guide the ship, but build it as well. Our coach needs to “benchmark”, moving forward. If he does not want to end up like Iron Mike Brown, he needs to settle on a rotation, and stick with it!
Smokey
November 12th, 2012
9:41 am
MattP
November 12th, 2012
12:17 am
The DNP-Back-to-Back is the same thing he did to tmac, and tmac got pissed about it. That tells you this Drew’s idea of saving the guys that can get hurt easily.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Yeah that stuff with tmac was wack, although everyone knows he has issues getting hurt.
What is the story with morrow? Can we get more info on his condition? If he is not hurt then I cant see how he can justify some resting theory, while playing Harris who is older and injury prone.
vava74
November 12th, 2012
9:45 am
The Stephenson back-to-back protection is supposed to allow him to play tonight,
LD at his finest: he saves Stephenson’s legs against the best of the two opponents of a back to back
This guy is f….g hilarious.
vava74
November 12th, 2012
9:47 am
keith,
If you really want to see Petro on the floor, please make sure that you have a paper bag or a bucket near you. You will need it to puke into it.
vava74
November 12th, 2012
9:48 am
Rod,
That was All-Star Al with his PF defense.
Al is faster than most centers BUT slower than most PF and people don’t want to see that.
Un-be-lie-va-ble.
kwooden1
November 12th, 2012
9:55 am
Rod didn’t see this game, but I will watch it later, but clearly Josh has had a poor start to the season. I think you have overstated Josh’s lack of knowledge of the game, his problem has always been his very inconsistent shooting. As a player he can’t get to elite level without being able to make 17-18 footers and to his credit he isn’t scared of taking them, he’s just unable to make them consistently. His inconsistent free-throw shooting is another example. I think though that Josh will turn his season around because right now he’s just trying to hard. (at least that’s what I saw in the Miami game) #1 thing Josh needs to do is not settle for open jumpshots and drive to the basket. I’ve seen that he gets himself in a much better rhythm when he drives right to left and makes some jump hooks.
Oveall though we should lose to Miami and the Clippers, they are better than us.
GO HAWKS!
ag
November 12th, 2012
10:03 am
Actually Keith, Petro is very bad!
MsDee
November 12th, 2012
10:16 am
Spartacus
November 11th, 2012
8:39 pm
I COULDNT HAVE SAID IT BETTER MYSELF!! U WERE RIGHT ON POINT!!!!!
Rod from College Park
November 12th, 2012
10:18 am
“In fairness to the Hawks, the Clippers are a very good and very deep team this year. A road loss to them isn’t embarrassing.
A very good team who’s leading scorer is who?
ag
November 12th, 2012
10:22 am
The overall problem is not that we lost to the Clipper ans the Heat – certainly nothing to be ashamed of. It is the way we lost. We clearly in both games, and even thoush the score does not show it, this was a very hard fought battle. A couple of turning points…
1. Korver is one of the first staters to close the game. He was checking Jamal Crawford.
2. After scoring two 3 pointers in the third, JT0 goes out for D Harris. The Hawks were down by 2 points. He was the last starter to return and the Hawks were down 12. (Similar to the Miama and Indiana game.)
3. Josh and Al made turnovers and did not run down the court to contest dunks. One, JT0 contested an easy layup by CP3, but earned an assist from Barnes.
4. The 4th quarter got out of hand within 4 minutes. On the floor were Tolliver, Korver, Harris, Ivan, Josh.
vava74
November 12th, 2012
10:50 am
I haven’t been online too much but people harping on Josh and making excuses for Horford are waaaaaay wrong.
Apart from the OKC game, where has Horford been during crunch time?
There is no doubt that Josh played poorly against MIA but in the 4th quarter, apart from the missed free throws – which is inexcusable – Josh posted the following (in 10 minutes):
2/3FG, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block
Horford (in 12 minutes)?
1/4FG, 2 rebounds, 1 assist
As for last night, everyone played like cr@p in the 4th, Horford included in the minutes he was on the floor.
MsDee
November 12th, 2012
10:51 am
Mike Bresnahan: Source: Mike D’Antoni will be the next coach of the Lakers. Not Phil Jackson. Twitter @Mike_Bresnahan
Rod from College Park
November 12th, 2012
10:58 am
Agree kwooden Josh is trying to do too much. I have always said Josh nor Al are not #1 options, because their offensive games are flawed. Josh is simply trying to do too much, and needs to get back to easy shots. The problem is that without Joe, there is nobody else on the floor to take the pressure off of him. Everyone else, Teague and Horford pass up too many open shots, and still defer to Josh for whatever reason. Joe in all of his flaws commanded attention which opened the floor up for other players. Jamal did that as well. Nobody on this roster does that except maybe Lou Williams when he is hot.
Rusty
November 12th, 2012
11:06 am
How could LarryDrew be around bAsketball almost all of his life & have such a poor feel for the game.it almost seems like he wants us to fail.Why is he just so stuborn that he consistently pulls JT out of the game,plays his favorites & is so stupid & unfair.His Princeton offense is a big joke.
Rusty
November 12th, 2012
11:09 am
Every time LD brings Lou in the game he also brings in Harris regardless of the circumstances.Josh play is on LD.
Slap Dog Hoops
November 12th, 2012
11:23 am
I had an inkling that the Hawks would fall to better teams such as the Clippers. The fact is that their two top players would be third or fourth option on other NBA teams.
MsDee
November 12th, 2012
11:56 am
Out of all but 5 games we have placed so far, we have had only 1 easy, smoove, flow of a game that we won against the W Conf Champs, OKC, and it was WON w/o Josh Smith!!
According to vava74, “Apart from the OKC game, where has Horford been during crunch time?” Great question, by the way, but lets flip that to say, “Apart from the other 4 games WITH Josh Smith, how was Horford during crunch time w/o Josh Smith?”
Danny Ferry SHOULD do 1 or 2 things. Since its still very early in the season, I say cut Drew since 9 times out of 10, he WONT be returning as the Hawks head coach next season anyways and allow a head coach with a decent to great resume (Jerry Sloan) come in to see what he could do with “Josh Smith and the new-crew Hawks” hoping that this new coach (Jerry Sloan) can control Josh to the point that he can indeed because an AllStar and lead this team pass the 2nd round in the playoffs. If the new coach (Jerry Sloan) cant control Josh, Danny THEN should definitely look to trade Josh b4 the trade deadline and maybe try and trade him to a sorry team to get their top lottery pick considering the fact that the team will STILL be sorry cause Josh would be added to an already sorry team making our chances for a lottery pick greater!! If the owner of the already sorry team wont take a chance on Josh and losing their opportunity for a lottery pick (smart choice by-the-way), I say, just make the trade that was suggested by Jae Evolution with “Josh and Morrow for W. Chandler, Faried and Mozgov/Koufos”.
I would take my chances with the Horford that played W/O Josh than the Horford that plays WITH Josh..ANYDAY!!
MsDee
November 12th, 2012
12:14 pm
In last night’s game, Horford may have had 1 or 2 nice productive moves in the post vs Josh’s 5 or 6 unproductive moves in the post cause he neither scored nor drew a foul on his plays. Now granted, against Indiana, those moves worked but when they arent, go to someone else’s who is working, COACH LARRY DREW!!
ag
November 12th, 2012
12:18 pm
Funny how this blog is split between Josh and Al. I tend to agree with most people, neither one of them are superstars. They both when they play their games can be very good players. Josh should be a 20/10 guy. Al should be a 18/10 guy. Anything less, there is a problem.
Al has one of the best jumpers in the game, and he is very athletic. He has very soft hands. I love his pick and roll game (even though we don’t see it) because he finishes very well. His main problem is he is not assertive enough.
Josh has the biggest heart on the team and actually has a tatoo of a Hawk over his heart or arm… He is still very athletic and has some really good post moves. He can be a terror on defense and can actually take over a game. Yet, he can shoot you out of a game, although his jumper is butter when it it on, the question is “when”. He certainly tries to hard on the offensive end and sometimes does not flow within the game. His problem is being to assertive.
Again, the Hawks problems, and I said it last year, coaching each player up. ALthough this is the NBA – neither one of these guys have “Kobe” power. ESPN will not blink twice if Josh is sitting on the bench for not following instructions.
My biggest concern is Josh is playing for a contract. They way he is playing now, a max deal is far out of reach.
Harpie
November 12th, 2012
12:22 pm
SCREW DREW!!!!!!
Rod from College Park
November 12th, 2012
12:27 pm
“I would take my chances with the Horford that played W/O Josh than the Horford that plays WITH Josh..ANYDAY!!”
That is why there will never be any women presidents or women gm’s. You would make your decision based on one game, as opposed to a whole year. Talk about emotion. LOL
MsDee
November 12th, 2012
12:53 pm
Yea Rod, whatever!! If u can only take that 1 statement I made vs the rest than..well…ummm,..shoot, I have no comment!!
MsDee
November 12th, 2012
12:54 pm
I still proved my point about Josh..I will STILL keep AL!!
vava74
November 12th, 2012
12:54 pm
MsDee,
I agree with your proposal of getting a real coach on board to determine what can be done out of BOTH Josh and Al.
I have no problem with that since i have been advocating Drew’s dismissal for loooooong and that would be the best way to determine what to do with this roster.
Like this, its like testing a car using a blind driver.
57 STATES
November 12th, 2012
12:59 pm
make me wonder what the million dollar Osh has been doing all summer.
sure hasn’t been practicing free throws or dribbling or learning leadership skills enough to make a difference.
KCG
November 12th, 2012
1:06 pm
There was a difference between the Horford no hustle play and Josh’s no hustle play. When Blake stole the pass coming to Al there was no way Al could have caught up with the most atletic man in the game with a running head start to contest the shot. On Josh’s turnover he was already in front of the trailing Clipper’s player and the guy with the ball had another Hawks player with him to contest the shot. Guys miss contested layups all the time so Josh could have been there to pick up the rebound. Blake Griffin was not going to miss a break away lay up with no one in front of him to contest it. Al’s no hustle was understandable in my opinion Josh’s not so much.
O'Brien
November 12th, 2012
1:22 pm
Josh and Al both have their issues, but as Hawks fans, we should not be choosing between them. The bigger issue to me is LD and his rotations.
Morrow was on fire early against Miami, and then LD does not play him in the 4thQ. In 5 games, Morrow has 3 DNPCD, and has played 29 minutes. Korver is struggling, and has played 136 minutes.
And LD can’t find more minutes for Ivan? Ivan has played 40 minutes thos season, Tolliver has played 83 minutes. Also, he plays Josh at SF, and Al at PF, which is not heir best position.
keith
November 12th, 2012
1:27 pm
Coach Drew has been a career assistant coach, suffice it to say that he has been a career assistant for a reason. He is the Dave Campo of the NBA?(Longtime Dallas Cowboy Assistant who flopped as a head coach.)
ag
November 12th, 2012
1:40 pm
As much as I don’t like LD, I cannot say he flopped. The alternative is on the bench with Bob Weiss. That is the flop! If we get another coach, go get Sloan. With Sloan, he will mold this team. Don’t remember Karl taking any 3’s. PF’s will be posted near the basket.
prison mike
November 12th, 2012
1:41 pm
Horford plays defense like a WNBA center. He consistently allows players easy access to the rim without contesting or fouling.
He’s getting abused by all the 4s we faced. He’s gotten by on guarding centers with little offensive game. Be careful what you wish for because Shareef was the best offensive 4 the Hawks have had in the past 20 years however his game was negated by the opposition.
Rod from College Park
November 12th, 2012
2:32 pm
“There was a difference between the Horford no hustle play and Josh’s no hustle play.”
No there was not. He got his pocket picked and literally stood there and did not even attempt to get back. Josh in that same situation would have run back and tried to block the dunk. I have seen that on numerous occasions.
MsDee
November 12th, 2012
2:46 pm
OB,
“Josh and Al both have their issues, but as Hawks fans, we should not be choosing between them.”
Yes we should be choosing between the 2 cause 1 of those guys makes decisions that causes the rest of the players on the court confused and out of place while the other one plays within his game and puts us in a better situation to win winnable games.
MsDee
November 12th, 2012
2:50 pm
Both the Heat AND Clippers games were very winnable games!! In my opinion, of course, we could have won both games without Josh’s play if the game would have been played the way we won it against OKC and only if we had played it the very same way..with Horford demanding the ball like he did and with Teague’s play in that game as well..NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!!
Mike is Back
November 12th, 2012
2:54 pm
I missed the clips game…but I recorded it…something tell me as a huge Josh fan…to just hit the dang delete button and move on.lol
Najeh, I was thinking the same thing about DHarris…dude has been average at best thus far…I guess after the Thunder game…LD thought dude was money.
The last time I seen Josh play…he was pressing really hard…sound like LD let play some SF…hmmmmmmm.lol
ANY, GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Truth
November 12th, 2012
2:56 pm
As I said some blogs ago, LD will get no sympathy from Hawksville if he continues his insanity approach of making bad coaching decisions that have apparently lead to a bridge nowhere.
Chemistry Issues
You would think after a summer league, camp, pre-season and 5 regular season games; LD would have a better idea about his players. What each player strengths and weaknesses are when they are match with different team mates. From these latest two loses, rule number #1:
Never start the 4tth quarter with Lou Williams as PG with Devin Harris as the SG.
Rule #2:
Never forget Rule #1
Since Lou has publicly said his preference was playing “off the ball” or SG (in his case), why is LD not listening or seeing the obvious? As a PG, Lou is TO prone as the Clippers and Miami exploited. In the 4th quarter those TO will kill any momentum as was the case in the last 2 games. Devin is at his best as a facilitating PG who is mostly a subpar and certainly not elite jump-shooter, so why is he a SG in the 4th quarter at a crucial time when the team needs to make a come-from-behind-run also the case in the last two games.
LD does not reward performance instead he rewards roles he cast on his players. Regardless of how well players like Morrow or Ivan or even Jenkins perform, LD will keep them in a “cast straight jacket”. Certainly, Morrow and Ivan should get more minutes while the poorer performers should get less. If he continues to have a tight rotation consisting of with players that aren’t gelling together, his losses will mount and Danny will have an easier case to fire him.
FACTS
November 12th, 2012
3:06 pm
Rod from College Park
November 12th, 2012
12:27 pm
“I would take my chances with the Horford that played W/O Josh than the Horford that plays WITH Josh..ANYDAY!!”
That is why there will never be any women presidents or women gm’s. You would make your decision based on one game, as opposed to a whole year. Talk about emotion. LOL
___________________________________________________________________________
Speaking of women being emotional, like riding the stones of Josh just because he’s a native Atlanta – College Park guy is any better. If he couldn’t dunk and wasn’t from College Park, you’d say he was trash.
FACTS
November 12th, 2012
3:09 pm
Yes, when Josh Smith screws up he always hustles back on defense. He NEVER turns to the ref first and cries before he decided to get back on defense. No, that never happens.
FOH
Baby
November 12th, 2012
3:11 pm
Does anyone feel like LD’s only game plan going into a game is to match people up on defense? Where is our offensive idenity?
Rod from College Park
November 12th, 2012
3:24 pm
FACTS,
If Josh never hustles as some people say and you obvouisly feel, then how does he have almost 1500 blocks for his career. One of the youngest and smallest guys to accomplish that. He obviosly did not get them guarding his man, because many here will say he is an average man to man defender, so where did all the blocks come from? Go to you tube and look at any of the Josh Smith highlight videos and I can with a lot of certainty promise you that a lot of his defensive highlights will be him blocking shots from behind or covering for team mates who play lazy soft defense.
FACTS
November 12th, 2012
3:28 pm
Josh Smith and Al Horford are not superstars!!!
For every play you guys claim Al is timid, there is another play where Josh tries to do too much and costs the team. So it cancels it other out.
The Hawks wont survive with both, but at least Al plays within his game instead of trying to be a superman, when in reality he’s more like one of Captain Planet’s planeteers (Josh Smith).
Grandad
November 12th, 2012
3:31 pm
The Hawks mailed it in.
I was gonna do the same but then I finally read the article.
My coaching instincts kicked in [LD pissed me off] one in the same.
I cannot imagine, being his asst, and having to sit beside him
while he would c o n t i n u o u s l y dumbfound the snot oughta me.
My 1st take on the Hawks and the turnovers are:
They Are Not Fundamentally Sound !
-note- with example:
For those who think I am not balanced in my critique;
Al;
simply did not meeet his pass once – defender shot the gap -
steal / turnover … easily remedied … practice / repition !
It has nothing to do with forgetting the game-plan
or losing composure. -quoth LD-
“We are what we repeatedly do” … -Aristotle-
So evidently that concept wasn`t invented yesterday.
_____________________________________________
And besides that – ” They mailed it in ” `G-Dad
_____________________________________________
Rusty
Trading Marv was still “all ” good.
Somethin` tells me were showcasing DHarris for a trade.
_____________________________________________
25 to go
Rusty
November 12th, 2012
3:34 pm
The hawks offense runs best with JT at pg,not with Harris or Williams at pg.it seems often that the offense is running tru Josh. LD’s Princeton offense looks very shoddy.
The Truth
November 12th, 2012
3:41 pm
“Hawks Josh Smith and Lou Williams sick. Status undetermined for tonight’s game vs. Blazers. #ATLHawks” – CViv
LOL, Sick because how they perform?
“Likely Hawks lineup vs, Blazers. Teague, Korver, Stevenson, Smith/Tolliver, Horford. #ATLHawks” – CViv
Same old Sh!t
Grandad
November 12th, 2012
3:41 pm
There is no dif in a No Hustle play.
I missed a portion of the game.
* [two mormons came to my door - no punchline]
Al`s No Hustle play was inexcusable.
* [I did not see Josh`s]
amidst all the others distributed equally between teammates [`ALL]
I never gave JJohnson a break for not hustling; [which he Never did]
nor will I for Al.
Josh neither gets a pass for going balls to the wall half the time,
while pouting, whining, and bitching the other half.
MsDee
November 12th, 2012
3:46 pm
If my “basketball prayers” are answered and we get Jerry Sloan, trust me, Josh would not be the 1st opt. It would be Horford cause Sloan will make Horford his Karl Malone. With Horford’s deadly jumper and productive post moves, it would be easy to create the pick and role for Teague and Horford from the Coach of Pick and Roles himself, Coach Jerry Sloan!! Oh Mr Ferry, could u make that call to Coach Sloan ASAP!!!!
Slimjr
November 12th, 2012
3:50 pm
Who’s going to guard the Allstar LaMarcus Aldridge tonight at the 4? Get you Popcorn ready!
OH THE HUMANITY….
Slimjr
November 12th, 2012
4:00 pm
We luv ya MsDee:
11pts on 10 shots…Hmmmmmmm
She said What???????????????
Al compares to Karl Malone, one of the Greatest Power Forwards to ever lace up his shoes with over 36,400 points scored in his career in the NBA?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE
Try another one, would ya? If any coach could turn Al into their version of Karl Malone he would not be coaching in the NBA cause he could probably turn water into wine! LMAO!!!!!!!
prison mike
November 12th, 2012
4:01 pm
Horf is going to get smoked by LA. Ain’t no way around it.
prison mike
November 12th, 2012
4:04 pm
Portland -3 points, locked that in. Get it before it balloons.