Atlanta Hawks: Warriors 115, Hawks 93 (updated)
Vivlamore reporting.
This time it was the Hawks on the wrong end of a blowout.
And it was an ugly one.
The Warriors dominated the Hawks for the final three quarters of a 115-93 victory Saturday night at Philips Arena. The loss came two days after the Hawks beat up the Bobcats. The Warriors are clearly not the Bobcats.
“When they punched us in the mouth we did not respond,” Hawks coach Larry Drew said. “That was very disappointing. That was very disheartening.
“The most important thing with our ball club is we have to bring energy every night. If we don’t bring the energy then we are really just a below average team. If we bring the energy than I think we can compete with anybody.”
The Hawks (14-7) shot just 36.9 percent from the floor (31-for-84). They trailed by as many as 27 points as the game got out of hand in the third quarter. It was only the third loss in the past 14 games for the Hawks. The Warriors shot 49.5 percent (49-for-99), held the rebounding edge (54-45) and had more assists (32-21).
“They played the right way,” swingman DeShawn Stevenson said. “They got off to a great start. They rebounded. They did things that we didn’t do. You can’t play a team like that and expect to win. They are too talented.”
The Warriors (16-8) concluded a 6-1 East coast road trip. They placed five scorers in double-figures. David Lee led the way with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Carl Landry (19), Harrison Barnes (19), Stephen Curry (18) and Jarrett Jack (13) also doubled up. Lee has a career-long of seven straight games with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds.
The Hawks were led by Al Horford with 17 points and nine rebounds. Lou Williams had 16 points and Ivan Johnson added 15 points and nine rebounds. Josh Smith had a tough night as he finished with three points on 1-of-12 shooting.
“They were coming down,” Smith said. “They were digging a lot, sinking their guy in so I wouldn’t get to the middle. You are going to have games like that. … If you are a basketball player, you know you are going to have games where you aren’t going to make shots. Tonight was my game. I’ve been playing well offensively for a long time and it was bound to happen.”
The Hawks fell a game behind the Heat for first place in the Southeast Division and second place in the Eastern Conference. The Heat defeated the Wizards Saturday.
The Warriors used a 16-5 run to start the second quarter to break open a tie game. They entered halftime with a 62-49 lead, the 13-point lead being the biggest of the first half. The Warriors had five double-digit scorers in the first half led by Curry with 13 points.
The Hawks shot just 36 percent (9-for-25) in the second quarter. Horford had 14 points.
“The energy and the effort is something that has to be there,” Horford said. “It hasn’t happened to the group all year. This is the first time I’ve seen it. It’s frustrating for me. We are at home. It was a great chance to get another win. We have to learn from this. …
“I would like to say there will be nights like this but I think it has to do that it was self-inflicted tonight. We took a lot of bad shots and that affected the way we defended and the way we played as a team. … It was the type of shots. There were a lot of bad shots. It’s something we are going to address as a team.”
Drew was assessed a technical foul at the end of the half for protesting a perceived foul as Jeff Teague drove for a layup in the closing seconds. Drew said his team let the officiating bother them.
“I felt we started blaming the officials,” Drew said. “Every call that happened we were disputing it. There is no place for that. When we were on a little bit of a roll these last few ball games we just played. We played through the officiating. You are not going to change the call so why do it? You blame the officials and don’t get back on defense it puts us at a disadvantage. We can’t play like that. We can’t have that type of performance, particularly when it’s not going well for us.”
The Hawks next play at Washington Tuesday. They host Oklahoma City on Wednesday. It will be the fifth back-to-back games this season. The Hawks are 3-1 in the openers and 4-0 in the final contest.
Notes
* Guard Anthony Morrow missed the game due to back soreness. Morrow first began experiencing pain last week against Memphis and the team has been managing the issue since. Morrow missed significant time due to a stress fracture in his back during his junior season at Georgia Tech in 2006.
* Former Braves third baseman Chipper Jones was in attendance.
- Chris Vivlamore
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102 comments Add your comment
Slimjr
December 15th, 2012
10:56 pm
F.T.P.B.
“Mama, there goes that man” by Mark Jackson
“Tonight’s game will be another litmus test in terms of how good we are. Mark Jackson interviewed for the Hawks coaching vacancy after Woody. Mark may allready be the early leader for Coach of the Year. Golden State matches up solid against us. The key will be our bench tonight.” -keith-
Hey doc,
guess the dynamic duo failed the litmus test at home tonight? Day Yum
Sameba
December 15th, 2012
10:56 pm
Big Ray:
As I was stating here several times, I believe one should start building your team with a PG. I consider PG the most important part of the team (see e.g. LAL struggling w/o PG). When Teague was playing well (in some games), how it was easy to play for the rest of guys and how smooth was the game. So, ideally, I would like to get a comparable or better (but not less) PG for Horford. However, if one can sign PC3 or same caliber PG, then I would like to upgrade any position (except PF of course). Then again, it is difficult to get a very good SF in free agency. Therefore, I would try hard to get the one through Horford’s trade…
Big Ray
December 15th, 2012
10:57 pm
O’brien,
That is certainly a possibility. Granger is talented. But he also disappears in some big games.
And in light of that idea – I’m with you. Get the Guard.
Man in Black
December 15th, 2012
10:58 pm
PLAY THE BIG LINEUP YOU MORON!!!!!!!
Drew lets every team dictate to him what lineup to play – play Zaza at center and Horford at PF and Smith at SF – control the boards from the opening tip and MAKE THEM PLAY TO US.
Big Ray
December 15th, 2012
10:59 pm
Sameba – agreed….I think suitable SFs are easier to come by…by far.
Sameba
December 15th, 2012
10:59 pm
Big Ray:
And yes, I completely agree with your assesment of Horford.
Big Ray
December 15th, 2012
11:00 pm
High-Sider,
Who meee? LOL
Kyrie Irving represents what this organization never seems to be able to find and/or develop – an exemplary PG. So many chances we’ve wasted.
Huh?
December 15th, 2012
11:01 pm
I mean, WTF was Teague doinng tonight??? This is the type of game where he should be licking his chops Curry is NOT better than him overall but he’s gotten the better of him this season. Isn’t he trying to get a new contract?
His last good game was against the Clippers! I mean dam just flipping weak azz floaters up towards the hoop and half-azzed layps that miss & you don’t even draw contact 4 the foul???
JT really hasn’t been clutch since the Chigago playoff series, Lets just be honest about that. THATS the Jeff I want to see. The Jeff Vs. Rose from the Chigago series’. Not THIS guy. I figured by the time Derrick Rose got healthy, Teague would have developed into the beast he’s supposed to be. NOT.
While I understand he has a lot of mouths to feed on offense and he’s been managing the game well, His personal offensive game has floundered as of late, & this is coming from a Teague supporter.
When the team is struggling (Smoove 1-10 in the first half) Teague should recognize and take over. He tried to feed the kids (Korver, Stevenson, Al, Josh) but APPARENTLY they weren’t hungry tonight! THATZ when u just gotta take over. Where the hell is Van excel with all that “Inner-dog” pep talk crap!?
Huh?
December 15th, 2012
11:06 pm
Chase Budinger is the only good, young Small Forward that will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. Not sure what his price range would be but I like him.
Big Ray
December 15th, 2012
11:06 pm
Catch y’all later.
Will be watching to see if the Falcons can prove themselves not to be frauds tomorrow.
That, or if we can finally put that last nail in Mike Smith’s coffin…
In Search of chickenstanly
December 15th, 2012
11:08 pm
Rod from cp:
dude if I could find this chickenstanly poster who was banned from hawksquawk a few year back you would go like pacquio.
O'Brien
December 15th, 2012
11:12 pm
The other option is to hope we get Dwight, and pair him up with our shooters (similar to what Orlando did). And if Dwight is coming here, then we have to move Horford, because I doubt if Dwight comes if Josh (one of his best friends)isn’t here.
plus a front line of D12 and Josh would be very good defensively (although their FT shooting would suck). Plus Josh is one of the better 3 pt shooters on this team % wise
Huh?
December 15th, 2012
11:16 pm
D12, Horford, and Smith would be the best front line in the league. We’d be unstoppable.
Huh?
December 15th, 2012
11:18 pm
Josh on the right block, D12 on the left block, and Horford at the FT line….
Huh?
December 15th, 2012
11:25 pm
Cleveland looks committed to rebuilding. Brandon Knight seems to be doing well and is entrenched in Detroit. But John Wall….Even if he gets healthy, I don’t see that situation working out.
I’d Give them Teague, Harris, & Lou
Sameba
December 15th, 2012
11:34 pm
O’Brien:
…plus a front line of D12 and Josh would be very good defensively (although their FT shooting would suck)…
———————————————————————————————
Well, I guess Howard shoots about 50% FT’s? But Horford is not any better…
Rev in Tampa
December 15th, 2012
11:35 pm
“Kyrie Irving – 41pts, 5rebs and 5asts [40, 5 and 5]”
With a broken jaw…
Rusty
December 15th, 2012
11:52 pm
Josh has to get it in his head that he is not a good shooter but is a good scorer.He has to play in the flow of the offense,has to stop forcing his shots.
Najeh Davenpoop
December 15th, 2012
11:58 pm
I was at this game, unfortunately. Never thought I would see Petro leading a fast break. I hope I never have to see that again.
Burn the tape and move on.
Slimjr
December 16th, 2012
12:00 am
Irving is more gifted than all of the Hawks guards put together…
Rusty
December 16th, 2012
12:04 am
LD is not a good coach ,anyone can see that the GS offense is really great,you can see the difference. LD has to realize he shouldn’t be playing Lou & Harris together,it never works,Harris is a big dissapointment,no longer has it.LD really has no feel for basketball,I think a lot of bloggers give him way to much credit,he really is a second rate head coach,I never seen a coach throw in the towel so quickly,this game went down the tubes as soon as he played Harris @ Williams in the last 4 minutes of the first quarter & the first five minutes of the second.He needs to play Ivan with Al & Josh but he never will.
Slimjr
December 16th, 2012
12:06 am
Falcons going for 12-2! A must Win on multiple levels..
Do not be fooled, this is a playoff type game..The Giants are fighting for their playoff lives..
Ryan is toast if his line succumbs to that fantastic four up front for the G-Men!
Less Turner may help..He’s lost 3 steps..
Smith and Ryan have to prove they can hang, instead of being left hanging…
Najeh Davenpoop
December 16th, 2012
12:06 am
“First week of the season all these Josh haters were in full force, last couple of weeks CRICKETS. Tonight, THERE BAACK. LOL”
Haha. You beat me to it.
He did have an AWFUL game, but so did everyone other than Al and Ivan, and even Al was really only effective on the offensive end.
Sameba
December 16th, 2012
12:08 am
Slimjr:
Irving is more gifted than all of the Hawks guards put together…
———————————————————————————————-
Rusty
December 16th, 2012
12:24 am
LD in 42 min DH & LW have one assist,in 25 min JT has eight assists don’t this tell you any thing?
Rusty
December 16th, 2012
12:25 am
Energy my azz LD.
Sameba
December 16th, 2012
12:38 am
In my opinion, we should have started with a big lineup tonight. Josh should have played against Barnes, not KK. And then, they got two bigs and we had to match well against them. When Zaza was on the floor he played well against Lee in limited minutes – Lee even got a personal faul on defense.
darrell starks
December 16th, 2012
12:38 am
Bad loss for Hawks just one of them night.
The worst game on defense so far this year.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
darrell starks
December 16th, 2012
12:42 am
Sameba, I totally agree with you, LD must stop trying miss match every night and stick with the big lineup for defense.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sameba
December 16th, 2012
12:44 am
It appears Mr. L. Drew never learns…
Sameba
December 16th, 2012
12:47 am
He just blatantly allowed Barnes to light up AGAIN!
joe
December 16th, 2012
12:50 am
Its been 9 years since Josh Smith came into the league, and he still doesn’t realize that he can’t shoot the basketball. Hi shot is really pathetic, He needs to play around the basket and use his athleticism. Hell I would give him every jump shot he wanted cause he will miss a ton of them or brick em. Please Josh, stop shooting the rock and go to the rim instead.
joe
December 16th, 2012
12:51 am
*his shot not hi shot
darrell starks
December 16th, 2012
12:51 am
STARTERS EVERY GAME
STARTERS TEAGUE, KORVER, JOSH, HORFORD, ZAZA
BENCH HARRIS, LOU, STEVENSON, IVAN, PETRO
RESERVE MORROW, JENKINS, SCOTT
Petro is 7′0 just play him.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!
darrell starks
December 16th, 2012
12:57 am
Joe, Yes if Josh get the ball in the post and stay in the paint specially at SF he will AVG 20POINTS A NIGHT.
Coach LD and Josh have no clue at all, Josh should no this by now after 8years in the NBA.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Grandad
December 16th, 2012
1:01 am
I just arrived;
unable to see the game tonite.
I looked at the box-score and noticed Zaza only played 3 min.
Was he inj ?
darrell starks
December 16th, 2012
1:09 am
Grandad , No Coach LD is clue less, Zaza not play and guest what Hawks have the worst game on defense all year.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!
Grandad
December 16th, 2012
1:11 am
darrell
Thanks
Rev in Tampa
December 16th, 2012
1:12 am
Grandad,
Zaza received his nightly moving screen foul and was immediately pulled never to return. Ivan had a monster night. I guess he got Zaza’s minutes.
I wish I was unable to see the game tonite.
Grandad
December 16th, 2012
1:18 am
Thanks Rev
The officials pick on Zaza, r e; moving screens, etc.
He never gets a call [his way] & he takes a beating.
_____________________________________________
Rusty
December 16th, 2012
1:19 am
This team or next years team how ever it changes will not win anything with LD at the helm.
Grandad
December 16th, 2012
1:23 am
G`nite folks;
early eve for me.
This school shooting has me so depressed,
I feel the need to spend Xtra time in prayer.
One thought from my perspective:
There were angels waiting to pick up each child
and take them straightway to heaven.
God Bless those parents.
Rev in Tampa
December 16th, 2012
1:24 am
Speaking of taking a beating. Teague was fouled to end the half but got no call and LD got a Tech. LD had to be held back by one of the assistants. I’ve never seen him like that. He had a look in his eye that suggested that he would have hit the ref. That was the most interesting moment of the game.
I was wondering whether it was LD’s theatrics to fire up the team or whether it was real. He had to be in a bad mood after the way the Hawks played in the 2nd quarter.
Bob Few
December 16th, 2012
1:25 am
Tonight was the worst Hawks game that I have ever attended. What started out as a decent game turned into a cluster**** for the Hawks. No defense and could’nt throw it in the ocean on offense.
Grandad
December 16th, 2012
1:25 am
God bless those heroic teachers also.
Henry
December 16th, 2012
5:32 am
Wow, lot of stupid comments here about Josh, he was the player of the week last week and he has a bad game and everyone is ready to throw him in the waste basket. What fools! No wonder the Atlanta fans are famous for being dumb fans, I used to travel all the way from Richmond VA to see Josh play, he is the only one that lives up to the highlight factory moniker. Now that i live her i will go with my kids more often to see him play. One bad game is not going to change my mind
wordsmithtom
December 16th, 2012
5:39 am
Real men do cry.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/kevin-garnett-kevin-mchale-reunite-share-long-needed-130522147–nba.html
vava74
December 16th, 2012
6:15 am
Didn’t watch the game, neither the highlights, …
BUT, it’s just ONE FREAKING GAME. And this is applicable to both the Hawks and the Josh.
ONE BAD GAME.
vava74
December 16th, 2012
6:30 am
Rod,
We have a saying in Portugal:
“Presunção e água-benta, each one takes them as much as they want”
That’s babble for you right there
Do you want a semantics’ translation?
Presumption is unilateral.
Just Joe
December 16th, 2012
7:05 am
The backcourt tandem of Lou and Devin didn’t appear to work too well last night. They matched up at the 4 minute mark in the 1st quarter. Hawks scored one FG the rest of the quarter. They also played just over 2 minutes in to the 2nd quarter with again, one made FG.
The whole 2nd quarter is when LD threw me off though. He plays all the way until the 6 minute mark with two guards plus Korver in the lineup??? This forced Korver to guard Barnes, and we all saw the results of that.
Just not sure why we didn’t play “big” more (3 of Smith, Horford, Pachulia, and Ivan on the floor together). The best I can track the stats, we won the overall matchups when we did (-1 in 1st qtr, +3 in the 2nd qtr). Very small # of minutes played that way though (7-8 minutes total).