Atlanta Hawks: Thunder 100, Hawks 92 (updated)
Vivlamore reporting.
Kevin Durant would have nothing to do with a Hawks comeback.
The Thunder star scored a game-high 41 points, including 18 in the fourth quarter, as the Hawks failed to overcome a 17-point deficit in a 100-92 loss Wednesday at Philips Arena.
The Hawks nearly erased the big deficit and pulled to within four points, 73-69, early in the fourth quarter. Then Durant went to work. He scored 18 of the Thunders’ next 22 points, including a stretch of 13 straight.
The Hawks continued to fight but could never pull closer.
“He’s very, very talented,” Hawks swingman DeShawn Stevenson said of Durant. “Sometimes you can play good defense but even good defense is not good enough for a guy who is 7-foot tall with a jump shot like that, with a handle. Tonight he had a great night. It was his night.”
Russell Westbrook added 27 points for the Thunder (21-4), who improved on their NBA-best record with their 12th straight victory. Westbrook scored 21 first-half points as the Thunder built their biggest lead in the second quarter. Durant and Westbrook accounted for 68 percent of the offense. Durant added 13 rebounds and Westbrook had 11 assists to complete double-doubles.
The Hawks (15-8) were led by Jeff Teague with 19 points. Josh Smith added 17 points and 12 rebounds. Al Horford and Lou Williams scored 13 points apiece. It was only the fourth loss for the Hawks in the past 16 games.
The Thunder took full control of the game in the second quarter building their insurmountable lead. They took a 55-41 advantage into the intermission as the Hawks shot just 37 percent (9-for-24) and made just one of their first seven shots in the second quarter. Westbrook had 12 points in the second quarter alone.
“It seems as the game progressed we wore down,” coach Larry Drew said of the first half. “We weren’t as sharp executing our sets. That resulted in some bad shots. We had a lot of bad shots in that first half. That was the reason we got down. I told the guys at halftime, when you play against a good team, a team who defends the way they do, you have to trust in what you do. It’s not a time to fragment. I thought early we played too much one-on-one and it resulted in a lot of bad shots. They got out and ran and attacked us to the run.”
The Hawks cut their deficit to 10 points early in the third quarter. Horford drove to the basket for a dunk and appeared to be fouled. Durant got a basket and the other end and then added a free throw when Horford was called for a technical for protesting the non-whistle. The Thunder would get their lead back to 17 points before the Hawks closed the third quarter on a 14-2 run to go into the final quarter down just seven points, 73-66. Smith had a 3-pointer, Zaza Pachulia had a pair of put-backs, Williams slammed two points on an alley-oop pass from Smith and Anthony Tolliver hit three free-throws.
Tolliver scored the first three points of the fourth quarter but the Hawks could get no closer.
“The second quarter they created too much separation,” Horford said. “Against a good team like this, we can’t have lapses that big. I felt the second half we fought, we played hard and we just couldn’t crack them to tie the game or take the lead.”
The Hawks credited their second-half run on a better defensive effort and energy sparked by Horford.
“We were tougher than in the first two quarters. I think it started with Al, when he drove to the bucket and there was no call,” Pachulia said. “… He got very aggressive and it definitely affected me. He got mad and it affected me and when I got in the game I tried to do the same.”
The game got physical with players exchanging words and both sides protesting calls. The Hawks, who had won two straight against the defending Western Conference champions, said they weren’t about to back down.
“We put our pants on just like they do,” Smith said. “We are not going to back down from anybody, no matter what the records says, no matter what the media says about a team. This is why I love this group of individuals in this locker room. We are not scared of anybody. We are willing to take the challenge. Unfortunately we just fell short tonight.”
The contest was the second of five back-to-back games already this season for the Hawks. After a day off Thursday, they play another road-home back-to-back at the Sixers Friday and versus the Bulls Saturday. The Hawks are 8-2 in back-to-backs this season.
- Chris Vivlamore
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* Smith on Smith: Steve says ‘travesty’ Josh never All-Star
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83 comments Add your comment
Section 303
December 19th, 2012
11:24 pm
Also…Durant is great, no doubt. But, he got way too many open looks tonight. At least three instances where he was left standing all alone. He scored on all three. Not sure how that happens. He’s going to score. At least make him work!
Sameba
December 19th, 2012
11:28 pm
Section 303:
Josh and Al did not play that well tonight. When those two are off, makes things really hard.
————————————————————————————————————————————
And is this surprising? When you play them so heavily (like one plays some important playoff games) in most of the regular games, and do not utilize your bench properly, this is what we should expect going forward.
falCans
December 19th, 2012
11:43 pm
Josh should have been force fed the ball more…it was clear ibaka , perkins and sesfolosha were no match…..Al is starting to grow on me….constant display of heart and charachter. To bad he isnt worth the 12 mill he is getting….Moving forward KEEP Ivan Pachulia Horford Lou and Josh….Teague has to go….19 &9 tonight??? Quietest 19 & 9 ever. Decent player but its being reported hell be seeking between 9 – 11 million annualy….smh DEFINITLY NOT worth that
Sameba
December 19th, 2012
11:53 pm
GS small forward Barnes got 4 points today, and Kings are winning. Does this tell you something??
Rev in Tampa
December 20th, 2012
12:00 am
SlimJr,
You are right in connecting the seed of the woman to Jesus. The Book of Revelation, chapter 12, makes it clear that Jesus is intended.
With your wide and unique interests I thought you might have studied it at some point. I consider you the renaissance man of the blog.
Slimjr
December 20th, 2012
12:11 am
What a kind thing to say Rev.
Rev, the more I learn the more I realize I don’t know.
Thank you.
Rusty
December 20th, 2012
12:25 am
My opinion of LD will never change,no matter how this team might perform. The only thing i see happening with the offence is the ball being passed around with a shot being taken from 20 feet. Lou Williams is over rated now where as good as JC. The only one ever taking it to the hole is JT . Every time we would make a run LD would pull JT for Williams & & he is a pg like JC was.JT played well on the offensive & defensive end. LD only plays him 32 min.,I thought that with Harris out he would play more minutes or is he too old to play more. I’m so sick of watching Josh play stupid.Wii LD keep giving Ivan decent minutes,you never can depend on LD to make good decisions. I still don’t see LD ever beinga good enough of a coach to lead any team anywhere.
Grandad
December 20th, 2012
1:03 am
Has anyone noticed that a couple of guys are `hesitant’
to pass the ball to Korver ?
Lou was the 1st I noticed, then tonite Teaguer
flat out looked the other way as KKorv was wide open ?
I will continue to watch awhile before I adjudicate.
I notice because a shooter must catch the in rhythm and on time.
If delivered too late – it may as well have not been passed at all.
In years past, there were players who would not pass to Zaza.
Little things of this nature although picayune
are the tiny fractures that lead to offensive breakdowns.
Then ultimately worse.
I hope I`m wrong !
Sameba
December 20th, 2012
1:24 am
“The only thing i see happening with the offence is the ball being passed around with a shot being taken from 20 feet.”
———————————————————————————————-
Rusty, I also noticed this tendency lately. With this kind of the Hawks roster, when we do not have a legit C with great post moves, such offence is a recipe to loosing. I thought the Hawks should play a very uptempo game to take advantage of our undersized roster. Instead, the Hawks settle for a slow, often ISO-style offence. This type of a game can be played when one goes with a big lineup. But playing like this with a smaller lineup defeats the purpose of going small…
Grandad
December 20th, 2012
1:35 am
The Hawks have some players who can fill up the stat sheet;
but, alas, they do not have a player who can fill the scorebook.
Whether a player plays with his back to the basket or facing,
it matters not,
we need a player that can score.
sam'l
December 20th, 2012
1:39 am
actually a winnable game…….on the radio, it sounded like Josh was playing stuipid….but I didn’t watch it myself.
Why could we not stop Durant? Make free throws? That was the game……
Sameba
December 20th, 2012
1:42 am
“…we need a player that can score.”
—————————————————————————————-
Agreed. But this may not happen soon. As I see it, with the present roster, one should play most of the bench players, try to play our draft picks, especially Jenkins. But I suppose the Hawks try to achieve the best results they can in order to showcase some of the guys… In this case one can do nothing but be patient… Until the trade deadline…
Sameba
December 20th, 2012
1:54 am
sam’l:
actually a winnable game…….on the radio, it sounded like Josh was playing stuipid….but I didn’t watch it myself.
Why could we not stop Durant? Make free throws? That was the game……
——————————————————————————————————————
Actually, the whole team played stupid, starting with the HC. Can you imagine KD being guarded in turn by almost all of our SG’s ? Like carrying experiment which of our SG can guard him best. Now you may think I tell you a joke, but this is what happened today…
Grandad
December 20th, 2012
1:57 am
I really like this team … ten fold more so than the past few yrs,
[Iso-JoeJohnson era]
but, they may have hit their ceiling already.
They have flaws, but team chemistry seems to have carried them
early on.
LD says defense, but I`m not certain the defense is as stout
as LD thinks it`s capable of being nor is it anywhere close
to being a shutdown defense at this point.
Still – the Team Play has been fun to watch.
Sameba
December 20th, 2012
2:12 am
It would be much better if Smith checked KD. May be Josh would get tired and instead of scoring 17 pts would score only 10. But in that case it is very unlikely KD would go up to 41, he would rather be somewhere in 20-24 pts range. This would obviously result at least in a more competitive and fun game to watch…
Sameba
December 20th, 2012
2:21 am
Also, in 18 minutes, Zaza had 6 pts & 10 rebounds (5 offensive!). Was not that also not stupid not to play him more??
Sameba
December 20th, 2012
2:33 am
And compare this to the following:
Perkins – 2 pts, 7 rebs (1 offensive);
Ibaka – 4 pts, 14 rebs (4 offensive);
Perkins played 28 mins, while Ibaka 34 mins. And Zaza got only 18.5 mins. Does anyone see a logic here?
Sameba
December 20th, 2012
2:39 am
As Rusty is saying, the Hawks win IN SPITE of LD
BravesFan79
December 20th, 2012
5:15 am
Mookie: Clearly you dont watch Boxing or UFC. Both Holyfield and Benson Henderson come out to Christian music, in fact Benson came out to a souped up version of “Jesus loves the little children” before he beat one of my favorite fighters in Nate Diaz. So you claiming christian music cant hype someone up is laughable because theres some good artist out there who dont have to talk about pimping young girls and slinging powder in order to be successful.
BravesFan79
December 20th, 2012
5:22 am
Count me as a new Tolliver fan. Always nice to see someone who spends their money wisely instead of on strippers and rims, also nice to meet a quality black man after meeting so many worthless scumbags while working the streets of Atlanta. If everyone was like Tolliver, racism would not have a valid reason to exist!
High-sider
December 20th, 2012
5:56 am
To: BravesFan79 (and all bloggers)
“Count me as a new Tolliver fan. Always nice to see someone who spends their money wisely instead of on strippers and rims, also nice to meet a quality black man after meeting so many worthless scumbags while working the streets of Atlanta. If everyone was like Tolliver, racism would not have a valid reason to exist!” – BravesFan79 @5:22am, 12/20/2012
So, according to you [BravesFan79] (some or many) blacks give (white) racism “a valid reason to exist.”
Well, if every (white) person was like John Brown (May 09, 1800 – December 02, 1859), there (probably) would NOT be any (white) racism or (white) supremacy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown_(abolitionist)
Just Joe
December 20th, 2012
6:07 am
Hawks have played a fairly easy schedule. Not just the quality of opponents, but also the # of games and their locations. Hawks have played 23 games to date, only 10 on the road. Compare that to Indiana that’s played 26 games already, and 15 on the road (or Denver’s 18 road games out of 26, with 17 games coming against .500 or better teams).
I give credit to the Hawks for taking advantage of the schedule and posting a fine record of 15 & 8. However, I will not be surprised to see them continue to struggle for a while. As the schedule picks up and the quality of teams improves, LD’s motion offense will have a tendency to slow down and we could see a ton of long jumpshots. 37% FG% against GS. 38% last night. Could be a trend.
Just Joe
December 20th, 2012
6:15 am
Al Horford’s last 5 games. 11 pts & 8 rebounds on 42% shooting.
Teague’s last 5. 12 pts & 6 assists on 49% shooting.
Josh’s last 5. 14 pts & 9 rebounds on 42% shooting.
LD (or Ferry) will have to figure out the problem and fix it. This won’t get it done.
High-sider
December 20th, 2012
6:17 am
To: All bloggers especially BravesFan79
So, probably according to BravesFan79, “Iceberg Slim” [Robert Beck] (Aug. 04, 1918 – Apr. 28,1992) was a “notorious black pimp” in America and Dennis Hof (born Oct. 14, 1946) is an American entrepreneur and businessman. (sarcasm)
Double standard like a “big dog” – huh?
“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceberg_Slim” [Take off the quotation marks]
“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Hof” [Take off the quotation marks]
hawker
December 20th, 2012
7:38 am
the hawks are better than OKC–they were just tired and flat. Plus, ATL got hosed by the refs the whole game. ATL will pick it up big next game–book it.
drmaryb.(""_*).
December 20th, 2012
7:40 am
Nostradamus!
Like Sir Charles mantras:
1. Live by the three – Die by the three.
2. You can NOT win, without the ball.
This all started when Mr.Woodson exited stage – left.
_________________________________
1. Our bigs became small with jump shooting activities.
2. The PF’s became point guards on every fast break because, Princeton [see college ball] says the PG is unecessary.
3. Winning and Losing begins and ends with Coaching Philosophy.
Even with the slow footed Bibby? He controlled the game and, ran the offensive sets 100.
__________________
1. Get yourself a Big Man that knows how to patrol the paint on both ends and, glue his azz inside.
2. Go get your azz a damned coach in here, while you are at it.
3. Find a SF or develop one from the draft, move up for a better pick – do something.
________________
This city … this town … these fans? We deserve a winner! Ship these losers out of here.
O'Brien
December 20th, 2012
7:53 am
From Yahoo sports; Pistons are actively shopping Austin Daye.
He is making $3 mil this year. Tall and skinny (6′11″, 200 lbs). Can he play SF? Is he any good?
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
December 20th, 2012
8:07 am
This team is so average at home under Larry Drew.
FIRE LD
Admiral SnAckbar
December 20th, 2012
8:19 am
marvin did a good job guarding KD.
terrell
December 20th, 2012
8:25 am
15-8 with LD’s sorry butt as the coach, in a “transition” year? I’ll take it. Lets see……. We’ve got a better record than Deron and Avg Joe,(lol) a better record than Kobe and Dwight, we just hung in there with the BEST team in the league right now, we’ve been in nearly every game so far, and we’re only a couple of games behind the world champion Heat. No complaints here. Well except for LD’s stupid rotations. Some of you folks act like we’re supposed to go 82-0 this year, with 29 guards and a couple of forwards. lol.
Admiral SnAckbar
December 20th, 2012
8:31 am
Hawks would have won that game for sure if Marvin was still a Hawk.
Just Joe
December 20th, 2012
8:34 am
OB…I’d take a chance on Daye from the Pistons, but based on his production (or lack of production) over several years, to me, that deal would have to look like:
Morrow for Daye & a 2nd rd pick.
-or-
Petro & a 2nd rd pick for Daye.
$3M is a lot to pay for a guy that has trouble getting off the bench for the Pistons. His cap hold next summer will be roughly $7M as a restricted free agent.
Just Joe
December 20th, 2012
8:41 am
Daye is one of those “combo forwards” or “tweeners”. Same role as Tolliver. Appears to be a better shooter than Tolliver. Challenged by defense & rebounding, so he should fit right in.