UPDATE: Anthony Morrow was cleared to play and will dress out tonight.
Vivlamore reporting.
Here is your report from the Hawks prior to tonight’s game against the Thunder.
* Guard Devin Harris will not play against the Thunder tonight due to the sore left foot he suffered in Tuesday’s win against the Wizards. He received treatment on the injury but was ruled out. His status for Friday’s game at the 76ers in uncertain.
* Guard Anthony Morrow, who has missed the past two games with back soreness, is a game-time decision. Morrow told me he thought he could play but needed to get his back stretched before a final determination is made.
* DeShawn Stevenson, who coach Larry Drew hoped not to play Monday in the first of the back-to-back games, will play and is in the starting lineup. He will be joined by Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver, Josh Smith and Al Horford. Stevenson played 13 minutes after Harris left injured in the second quarter.
* Drew said he would likely go to his bench more tonight, being fearful he played some players too many minutes in the overtime win over the Wizards.
One of those players could be rookie guard John Jenkins. I asked Drew if he considered using Jenkins against the Wizards with the team short-handed. This is how Drew answered:
“When I received word that Devin was not coming back I spoke about it with my coaches at halftime and (Jenkins) was certainly in the mix at halftime,” Drew said. “My first decision going into the game was to not play DeShawn. But the game being what it was I felt I could squeeze 10-15 minutes out of him and be OK, which I was. I was thinking about John Jenkins very seriously. With no Devin tonight there is a chance he may get some minutes tonight.
“It being a game that I felt was a very important game for us to win. Not saying had I put him in there the outcome would have been different but I elected to go with experience at that point. John was definitely one of the guys we were talking about putting in with the matchups but as the game went on I thought it to be more important to go with experience at that point.”
* The Hawks have won two straight against the Thunder, including a victory at Oklahoma City early this season. Drew said his team gets up to play the Thunder.
“I think with our team we have played well against really, really good team,” Drew said. “I consider this Oklahoma City team a really, really good team. … We get pretty pumped up to play against them for some reason. We take the challenge. Certainly when you play against a team like Oklahoma City, it’s a challenge. With this team having won 11 in a row, we have something to shoot for. In our games against them I think our guys have done a good job at accepting the challenge on both ends of the floor.”
- Chris Vivlamore
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397 comments Add your comment
Smokey
December 19th, 2012
8:36 pm
thanks more of that now
Slimjr
December 19th, 2012
8:36 pm
That was ugly
Luke Cage
December 19th, 2012
8:37 pm
Guys need to move more, keep Westbrook out of getting any shot he wants, more importantly our bench needs to step it up big time
SuckerFree
December 19th, 2012
8:39 pm
Most of yall are so negative all the time. Cheer up.
keith
December 19th, 2012
8:39 pm
We have no one to protect the rim from the onslaught by Durant and Westbrook…Help…Center needed!!!! Is Tree Rollins available??? Shawn Bradley??? David Robinson??? Somebody PLEASE..
keith
December 19th, 2012
8:41 pm
Drew needs to Employ a 2-1-2 Zone against these guys and hope that they start missing… This is going to be worse than Golden State…
keith
December 19th, 2012
8:42 pm
swimsuit competition just getting started……
EmirS.
December 19th, 2012
8:44 pm
‘Nique nailed it on the head…for once actually. No one is moving on offense. To many guys are standing around. And defense is a mess. I cant tell if its a man to man or a zone or anything. Is it possibly just me?
We need to come out on a run after halftime. Otherwise I don’t see us having a chance of winning this game. I think we can still make this into a nail biter.
keith
December 19th, 2012
8:46 pm
Our only hope is that Westbrook goes “ice cold”
Blast
December 19th, 2012
8:47 pm
If Hawks don’t win the 3rd qrt, then they gonna lose this game. Period.
Najeh Davenpoop
December 19th, 2012
8:50 pm
OKC 25 rebounds (6 offensive), Hawks 15 rebounds (4 offensive). Ibaka 8 rebounds, Josh + Al + Zaza 8 rebounds combined.
Not that rebounding is the only thing the Hawks haven’t done well, but it seems like rebounding almost directly correlates with how well the Hawks play.
keith
December 19th, 2012
8:53 pm
Nice drive by Teague…..
Najeh Davenpoop
December 19th, 2012
8:53 pm
OKC missing easy shots and turning it over. Hawks have an opening; they need to take advantage.
keith
December 19th, 2012
8:54 pm
NICE MOVE JOSH SMITH…
Luke Cage
December 19th, 2012
8:55 pm
Al got Hacked!
Slimjr
December 19th, 2012
8:55 pm
“swimsuit competition just getting started……”
Wish they allowed thongs in the competition.Ratings would certainly rise among other things..hahaha
Najeh Davenpoop
December 19th, 2012
8:55 pm
Wow, Al got T’d up! Has that ever happened before?
keith
December 19th, 2012
8:55 pm
Good to see Al getting emotional…….
Hawks_4_Life
December 19th, 2012
8:55 pm
Like I said F U refs
Luke Cage
December 19th, 2012
8:56 pm
This is like playin the heat with the refs
keith
December 19th, 2012
8:57 pm
Perkins is just too strong for Al…..
DawgNole
December 19th, 2012
8:58 pm
Perkins shoved Al, who whacked him upside the head in retaliation. Lucky he didn’t get called.
Luke Cage
December 19th, 2012
8:58 pm
Thunder also showing us why the are defending WC Champs
SuckerFree
December 19th, 2012
8:58 pm
long night when Thabo’s draining threes
keith
December 19th, 2012
8:58 pm
Bad transition defense….We need divine intervention tonight boys……
High-sider
December 19th, 2012
8:59 pm
Let’s just give Thabo five seconds to shoot a 3. [sarcasm + smh]
Najeh Davenpoop
December 19th, 2012
8:59 pm
In hindsight I’m not sure the big lineup with Zaza starting wouldn’t have been better in this game, especially in light of Harris being out. Instead we have Durant guarded by players a half a foot shorter than him.
keith
December 19th, 2012
9:00 pm
Stevenson—Ivan—and Lou–are 0 for 9 combined!!!!!!!
DawgNole
December 19th, 2012
9:01 pm
Rathbun whining again. There was no whistle because there was no foul, toady.
keith
December 19th, 2012
9:01 pm
Al needs to add more bulk… Get into the weight room….
Slimjr
December 19th, 2012
9:02 pm
Top Ten!
Miss Australia, Miss Russia! Brazil! Miss France! Venezuela! Day Yum!
Miss USA! Miss Hungray! Im hungry! Miss S. Africa! Miss Mexico! and last but not least is Miss Philippines!
Yawzah!
Rod from College Park
December 19th, 2012
9:02 pm
Dude told Al to get that weak sh%# out of here. SMH
High-sider
December 19th, 2012
9:02 pm
One OKC player said on the blocked shot, “Get that sh-t outta here.”
Slimjr
December 19th, 2012
9:02 pm
Bulk is not Al’s problem..
Najeh Davenpoop
December 19th, 2012
9:04 pm
Nique is right about exploiting that Al-Perkins matchup, but they need to run plays to get him open for those mid range shots. They haven’t had any sense of purpose offensively this entire game.
SuckerFree
December 19th, 2012
9:04 pm
get it to single digits by the quarter and we’re fine.
Slimjr
December 19th, 2012
9:05 pm
He’s flat footed
SuckerFree
December 19th, 2012
9:05 pm
post shots rimming out all game
nobody
December 19th, 2012
9:05 pm
I wonder what Josh’s trade value is. I like Josh, but he has had years to become a vital leader and he still hasnt gotten this team anywhere of importance.
Najeh Davenpoop
December 19th, 2012
9:06 pm
And it continues… OKC is giving the Hawks chances but the Hawks are just winging it offensively. No sense of purpose. Just random jumpers, random passes, random drives inside with no idea of what they want to do.
Slimjr
December 19th, 2012
9:06 pm
He shot that jumper flat footed and barely caught rim
High-sider
December 19th, 2012
9:06 pm
Hawks can’t get a bucket.
Jae Evolution
December 19th, 2012
9:06 pm
Of course we go ice cold, when they are missing.
MattP
December 19th, 2012
9:06 pm
Nothing new with this offense. It is like Drew lets them do whatever they want, reason for all the 3s and long 2s.
keith
December 19th, 2012
9:07 pm
Can we bring Nique out of retirement? He can not do much worse than Josh and Al….Smdh
Slimjr
December 19th, 2012
9:08 pm
The tank maybe empty now.Running on Fumes perhaps?..These back-to-backs with an over- time built in are just brutal to say the least….
keith
December 19th, 2012
9:08 pm
I know Danny Ferry can’t be happy with our veteran “Leadership.”
SuckerFree
December 19th, 2012
9:09 pm
Hawks got Tollivered right there
Wabe
December 19th, 2012
9:09 pm
this game sucks
put jenkins back in
MattP
December 19th, 2012
9:10 pm
Tolliver in means Drew gives up.