Hawks ready for dangerous game against the Wizards
The Hawks are rested for what a few players said could be a dangerous game against Washington at Philips Arena tonight.
The Wizards are the NBA’s only winless team (0-9), which would make them easy enough to overlook. On top of that, the Hawks are facing games at a resurgent Charlotte (5-4), vs. the Clippers (8-2) and vs. Charlotte.
But Al Horford said the Hawks won’t overlook Washington.
“They are hungry for a win,” he said. “They are going to be ready.”
Coach Larry Drew said the Hawks will start Horford, Josh Smith, Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver and Devin Harris, the same starting five that defeated Orlando 81-72 on Monday in what was a ragged performance affected by some members of the team being struck by the flu and four games on the West Coast.
“I’m hoping we will be a lot better than we were on Monday night,” Drew said. “(I) didn’t see the sharpness or crispness with our execution.”
Drew gave the Hawks Tuesday off so that the players who have logged a lot of minutes could rest. Teague said it looked like the team got its legs back.
The Hawks will need to be sharp against the Wizards, led by guards Jordan Crawford and Bradley Beal. That duo is combining to average almost 24 points per game. Teague said the key to slowing them down is to consistently challenge them around the 3-point line. Washington is hitting 30.4 percent of its 3-point attempts and is averaging 86.9 points per game, compared to the Hawks’ 92.9 scoring average.
Though the Wizards are winless, five of those losses have come by seven points or less. They could be bolstered by the return of Nene.
“This Washington Wizards team is a team that’s very capable,” Drew said he told the team. “They’ve got some good players over there and some guys that have a lot of pride that have been in their ball games.”
– Doug Roberson, AJC (filling in for Chris Vivlamore)
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253 comments Add your comment
J.J.M.
November 21st, 2012
8:05 pm
Backup scrubs struggling
Najeh Davenpoop
November 21st, 2012
8:07 pm
Lou… is… not… a… point… guard.
bigdave
November 21st, 2012
8:09 pm
Courtsideshawty courtside tonight…
Grey and brown hoodie ..
2 FOR JOHN DREW
November 21st, 2012
8:09 pm
Ken S …. I still would love to see Keith Benson in a HAWKS uni ….. even before we got him, word was out on Petro (garbage) ….. I would have love to seen that 6′9 / 345 lb greek center we got from Clippers for Willie Green
Najeh Davenpoop
November 21st, 2012
8:09 pm
Lou’s inability to play PG is all the more reason Harris should be coming off the bench in favor of Morrow or Stevenson.
Damn, Al just took Nene’s cornbread.
2 FOR JOHN DREW
November 21st, 2012
8:13 pm
KK … hardly ever takes a bad shot
Buddy Grizzard
November 21st, 2012
8:14 pm
Martell Webster going off in this game. I wonder why we can’t guard small forwards?
northcyde
November 21st, 2012
8:14 pm
bigdave
November 21st, 2012
8:09 pm
Courtsideshawty courtside tonight…
Grey and brown hoodie ..
******************
I need to purchase courtside seats to an NBA game just one time.
SMH .. the Hawks never make anything easy. Looks like this will be a dogfight for a while. And it looks like Jordan Crawford came to play tonight.
Najeh Davenpoop
November 21st, 2012
8:17 pm
Bizarro Hawks tonight. Al 0/4 FTs, Josh 3/3 FTs.
J.J.M.
November 21st, 2012
8:17 pm
Josh shooting better free throws than horford now
northcyde
November 21st, 2012
8:17 pm
What a horrible shot by Lou . . come on dude.
Najeh Davenpoop
November 21st, 2012
8:17 pm
Lou has been absolutely horrible in this game. Please get him off the floor.
Smokey
November 21st, 2012
8:20 pm
i dont like harris and teague together when they make JT play off the ball.
northcyde
November 21st, 2012
8:21 pm
Korver’s long range game is so strange this year.
He shoots almost lights out ( over 70% ) from 3 point range in transition . . but is shooting below 33% on 3 point shots when he shoots a standstill 3. I guess he needs to be moving to make that shot now.
HawkFan
November 21st, 2012
8:22 pm
Come on guys making it look too hard.
Najeh Davenpoop
November 21st, 2012
8:24 pm
Korver with a nice defensive play to start a fast break.
J.J.M.
November 21st, 2012
8:25 pm
Korver missing some wide open shots
HawkFan
November 21st, 2012
8:26 pm
Smoove lighting it up
Buddy Grizzard
November 21st, 2012
8:27 pm
Josh is letting Seraphin do whatever he wants. He looks distracted.
J.J.M.
November 21st, 2012
8:28 pm
Lol mike scott forever chewing some gum
Blast
November 21st, 2012
8:28 pm
Let Jeff play the rest of the game. He is not scoring right now, but he is making stuff happen
Harris made a three early, and that was it.
Josh, post up more! No jumpers!
Buddy Grizzard
November 21st, 2012
8:29 pm
Nimbers!
Blast
November 21st, 2012
8:29 pm
There you go, Harris.
Blast
November 21st, 2012
8:34 pm
Lou Williams should have been taking those last second shots Harris was missing.
Buddy Grizzard
November 21st, 2012
8:35 pm
This game has loss written all over it.
Najeh Davenpoop
November 21st, 2012
8:36 pm
The ball moves and gets in the paint when Teague is at PG. It does not when Lou is at PG.
Melvin
November 21st, 2012
8:53 pm
Okafor and NeNe coming off the bench. That’s 26mil on the bench….whew..
Melvin
November 21st, 2012
8:56 pm
AL give the ball up on the break
High-sider
November 21st, 2012
8:56 pm
“Magic” Boss with the fast break turnover.
High-sider
November 21st, 2012
8:57 pm
“Osh” with the [missed] “ump” shot.
Najeh Davenpoop
November 21st, 2012
8:58 pm
Hawks are getting nothing in the half court and they are still keeping the Wizards at bay thanks to horrible shot selection. This is just a bad game all around. No idea why this team refuses to run pick and rolls.
Tampa Gator
November 21st, 2012
9:01 pm
Not a Hawks follower…..but are the Hawks the only NBA team that continually drafts players #1 and they continually sit on the bench because they should not have been drafted #1….or even drafted….in the first place.
Ken Strickland
November 21st, 2012
9:01 pm
NORTHCYDE-Did you go to the MAGIC CITY CLASSIC this yr, and if so which team do you support?
Rev in Tampa
November 21st, 2012
9:01 pm
Good to see Horford taking extra free throw practice at the half
Buddy Grizzard
November 21st, 2012
9:05 pm
LD playing the starters heavy minutes in this game because the bench was terrible and gave the lead back. It’s about time to see the end of 3rd/start of 4th nightly adventure.
Buddy Grizzard
November 21st, 2012
9:07 pm
Up 9, Lou Will in at point.
Smokey
November 21st, 2012
9:09 pm
@ Najeh
motion offense should be all day for this team, if LD cant work that out he is truly useless.
Blast
November 21st, 2012
9:09 pm
Don’t know about this lineup, man.
Buddy Grizzard
November 21st, 2012
9:09 pm
My bad… in at 2 guard.
Buddy Grizzard
November 21st, 2012
9:09 pm
Hawks have no small forward on roster, therefore nobody picks up WAS small forward Martell Webster.
Najeh Davenpoop
November 21st, 2012
9:09 pm
I see LD is keeping Harris on the floor with Lou after the disaster that was Lou at PG in the first half.
J.J.M.
November 21st, 2012
9:10 pm
Put this team away…
northcyde
November 21st, 2012
9:11 pm
@ Ken . . . Yeah I went to the Classic this year, but I go to the Classic for the game, the parties, and the women. I could care less who wins that game . . lol.
But I see ASU pretty much blasted them this year. That game was over by halftime.
northcyde
November 21st, 2012
9:12 pm
LOL . . 7 – 0 run with Teague out the game.
northcyde
November 21st, 2012
9:13 pm
Haha @ Ariza and the Wiz . . . come on Hawks. This team is horrible. Put them out of their misery.
Najeh Davenpoop
November 21st, 2012
9:14 pm
This is an awful game all around.
Buddy Grizzard
November 21st, 2012
9:14 pm
Ivan playing like sh1t in this game.
Najeh Davenpoop
November 21st, 2012
9:15 pm
Lou is -20 in 12 minutes.
Melvin
November 21st, 2012
9:15 pm
Nene and Okafor are causing the Hawks fits in the paint….
Sam
November 21st, 2012
9:16 pm
I bet you guys think Damien James would be dominating tonight. Loser can’t even sign anywhere as a FA, yet you want him STARTING!
Hawks should give Kyle Korver a 2 year deal. He hustles, plays pretty good D, and knocks down 3’s like nobody’s business.