Atlanta Hawks: Sixers 99, Hawks 80 (updated)
Vivlamore reporting.
PHILADELPHIA — The Hawks are limping toward Christmas. And it’s a pronounced limp.
The Hawks lost for the third time in four games by dropping a 99-80 decision to the 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center Friday. In all three losses the Hawks have trailed by at least 17 points. The lone win in the stretch was an overtime victory over the three-win Wizards.
This loss has coach Larry Drew considering a change to his starting lineup.
“I’m very concerned,” Drew said. “I’m so concerned that I’ve got to think about the lineup now. That’s three out of four (losses) but I’m more concerned about our energy. That is what concerns me the most. I can take losing but if we don’t bring the energy, if we don’t bring the juice, that’s when I really have to look at things and I’m certainly going to do that. I may have to take a look at our lineup.”
It doesn’t get easier for the Hawks before some off time. The Hawks complete a stretch of four games in five days by hosting the Central Division leading Bulls Saturday. The Hawks then won’t play again until the day after Christmas. They’ll need to make good use of the downtime.
“I really didn’t see this type of performance coming,” Drew said. “I really thought our guys would play with a lot more energy and a more sense of urgency.”
The Hawks (15-9) have now lost six straight games to the Sixers, including all three meetings last season. Through 24 games this season, the Hawks are one loss worse than last season’s 16-8 mark at this point. The Hawks entered the game with the best road record in the Eastern Conference.
Josh Smith had 17 points, 13 coming in the first quarter, for the Hawks. Lou Williams, who played his first six seasons with the Sixers, scored 13 points. Al Horford finished with seven points on 2-of-10 shooting.
“I don’t know if it’s necessarily energy,” Horford said of the recent issues. “I think we need to stay true to what has been working for us and it’s moving the ball of offense, sharing the ball offensively and playing good team defense. I think that it was very obvious that we didn’t do that as we have in the past. We have to get back on track.”
Evan Turner led the Sixers with a game-high 21 points. Thaddeus Young finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
The Sixers (13-14), who snapped a five-game losing streak, opened up a 22-point late lead in the fourth quarter. A Mike Scott basket with 5:58 remaining was only the second field goal for the Hawks up until that point of the final period.
With the substantial lead, and sitting at 99 points, the Sixers dribbled out the final 23 seconds of the game much to the dismay of the crowd. The home fans booed for one more basket as they were entitled to a free Big Mac from McDonalds when the Sixers hit the century mark. That was the only disappointing thing about the night for the 18,061 in attendance.
The Hawks trailed by as many as 15 points in the third quarter as the Sixers took a 69-54 lead. Williams scored 10 straight points for the Hawks to close the quarter and they trailed by eight going into the final 12 minutes. However, the Sixers went on a 16-5 run to start the final quarter and it was time for the Hawks’ reserves to finish out the game.
“The second half we just didn’t have the energy,” Drew said. “We just did not bring it. For whatever reason and I’ve got to find out because we are not a very good team if we do not play with energy.”
The Sixers led by as many as nine points in both the first and second quarters. They took at 51-45 lead into halftime.
The Hawks used an 11-0 run to erase the near double-digit deficit in the second quarter. Zaza Pachulia and Ivan Johnson scored every point. Pachulia scored the first seven points. The Sixers used an 8-0 run near the end of the second to get a cushion, softened only when Pachulia hit a jumper at the buzzer.
“One of the things is we are trying to do a lot of isolations and things like that,” Horford said. “When we are most effective is when we are continually moving the ball, we are cutting to the basket and we are attacking. That’s when we are at our best. On defense, we just have to do a better job period.”
For the second straight game, Drew was denied his 100th career victory.
- Chris Vivlamore
LATEST NEWS
* Hawks have lost two of past three
* Williams ready for return to Philadelphia
* Morrow out, Stevenson questionable vs. Wizards
* A look at the Hawks at the season’s quarter mark
* Hawks look to put worst loss behind them
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199 comments Add your comment
kwooden1
December 21st, 2012
9:56 pm
The HAWKS are finally playing like I thought they would when I saw this roster at the being of the season. Al and Josh aren’t polished enough in the post to consistently score. They don’t have enough 6′5″ to 6′7″ defenders to guard all the SG and SF that good teams have. I think Al will play better, he usually does against Noah, Chicago is going to be another tough game. We’re a team that is too dependent on making 3’s and other teams shooting poorly.
GO HAWKS!!
Slimjr
December 21st, 2012
9:57 pm
THis is the problem: Philly has a front line that is bigger, stronger, and faster that the Hawks.. They are able to guard Josh and Al out on the perimeter. Since Josh and Al have extremely weak post games they are easily neutralized…
As usual, the Hawks rely on superior guard play to carry the squad. If their shots are not falling its
GAME, SET, AND MATCH! DING DING DING!
Slimjr
December 21st, 2012
9:59 pm
The Knicks have cut the lead to 8 with 2:06 left! Hmmm
Slimjr
December 21st, 2012
10:00 pm
delete that and add than^^^^^^
2 FOR JOHN DREW
December 21st, 2012
10:01 pm
The only good thing for me tonight ….. was seeing Mike Scott and John Jenkins. LD doesn’t seem to (for lack of a better word)… nourish his young ballplayers. I watch Doc Rivers …. he may not play his players much either ….But he has their attention …. they seem to want to play for him …. when they get the chance. Our young players look like they’re one turnover from being on punishment … Just Saying.
sjohnson1092@yahoo.com
December 21st, 2012
10:01 pm
wait a second….they beat the grizzlies, the clippers and okc…..what’s wrong ?
Anybody explain the difference?
Too bad the world didn’t end before the game………
High-sider
December 21st, 2012
10:02 pm
@Najeh Davenpoop
“Tell me why per-minute stats are “theoretical” and per-game stats are “real”. You still haven’t explained any justification for that arbitrary distinction. Or, keep whining that I am being condescending.” – Najeh Davenpoop @9:24pm, 12/21/2012
I said per-minute stats are actual/real because they are based on or are derived from a player’s actual/real per-game stats. Per-36 minutes stats are theoretical/projected/extrapolated stats when a player’s average minutes played per game stats are (significantly) less than 36.0+(mpg). Per-36 Minutes stats are real/actual when a player’s (actual) average minutes played per game stats are equal to or greater than 36.0+(mpg). Ta-da[h]!!!
High-sider
December 21st, 2012
10:05 pm
Peace out.
Man in Black
December 21st, 2012
10:07 pm
PLAY THE BIG LINEUP YOU MORON!!!!!!
Horford is already worn out from playing guys 30 pounds heavier and 2 inches taller every night – with Zaza at center Horford & Smith – they will control the pain and the boards from the opening tip – this small ball SUCKS!
DawgNole
December 21st, 2012
10:09 pm
High-sider
December 21st, 2012
9:48 pm
DawgNole, read my post @9:42pm, 12/21/2012. Now, quit trippin’ and quit hatin’.
______________________
No trippin’ and hatin’ at this end. Just wondering what your bragging about your course load has to do with the ATL Hawks. And if you want to “respond” to Najeh, you might want to address his 9:24 pm post instead of justifying your course load to me.
Now quit whinin’.
DawgNole
December 21st, 2012
10:11 pm
High-sider
December 21st, 2012
10:05 pm
Peace out.
___________________
Bout time.
Big Ray
December 21st, 2012
10:14 pm
1) I’ve never “seen” Najeh so pizzed before. Dude’s usually cool as a phuck.
2) This was always about a transition season. Ferry meant to have this team look the way it looks. Gathered enough shooters to guarantee some scoring at least. Made the roster so that the team could play a lot more up-tempo. Keep a few butts in the seats while he plots what to do next. That, and allow him to evaluate the players…who fits which roles and who doesn’t….who makes a good trade chip, etc.
3) Lackluster performance tonight….
4) We struggle against teams that have talented swingmen. I think most of us saw that coming, of course. “Swingman” not to be confused with “wing players.” We have “wing players”, practically no real starting swingmen, at least not starter quality…Korver is the closest thing…
5) Smoove’s scoring seems to be holding fairly steady….Horford’s is dipping.
6) I can’t decide if Teague is more consistent than I think or less consistent than he should be.
Oh and one more….
7) That darn Kirk Hinrich started for the Bulls and shot 6-8 from the field, 4-5 from the FT line, and put up 16 points, 9 boards, and 8 assists on the Knicks….in a win, no less. Heh…
jlewis
December 21st, 2012
10:17 pm
Come on now, lets be realistic, the record was mainly against scrubs. Decent teams will kill the Hawks, all you do is dont double Josh or Al and stay with the shooters, makes them ineffective. Oh, Lou can get his own shot, but everyone in the league should know he only shoots the ball well going to his left.
Big Ray
December 21st, 2012
10:17 pm
Is High Sider drivin’ a low rider? Tune in tomorrow….
Slimjr
December 21st, 2012
10:20 pm
Deng goes for 29 and 13? WTFreak?
Simba
December 21st, 2012
10:22 pm
Who the hell still uses per-game stats over per-minute stats?
Rusty
December 21st, 2012
10:23 pm
1-Jamal Crawford is a much better player than Lou, even tho both are poor defensive players. Neither one should ever play PG,everyone knows that except for the big dummy Larry Drew.
2 JJ2 should be playing ,what the hell does Stevenson,Harris or Morrow do for us,but LD will not develope him but will screw him up like he does every other rookie.
3 does LD really have any offensive system ,all i see isis every one taking stupid long jumpers,no passes for easy buckets,no real offense,all the big men standing 15 feet from the basket.
4 He will never let JT really develope,he forever pulls him out of the lineup even when he is playing well.lets Josh take over the offense,let’s Josh & Al stand on the outside leaving no one to rebound.i believe he pressuring JT to look for the other guys,I really don’t want you scoring. I would respect JT & Ivan more if they would punch his face in.
5 I believe(don’t really know) that the players have no respect for his ability to coach & know they can get away with anything if he likes them.he is losing control of the team.
6 he says we didnt bring the juice or the emery,what crap.
7 he has no control f Josh what so ever,Josh is like Joe Johnson ,over inflLated ego.i thought that Josh was a good team player in the past but I think he is loosing sense of what he is & LD will not put him in his place.
8 Ferry has to know that LD is over his head & this team will never thrive under his leadership. Anyone can see this team looks lost. I don’t care what our record is but I see other teams being much better coached.
BIG DOG
December 21st, 2012
10:23 pm
Isiah said defense travel, I HOPE LD IS WATCHING THIS.
LD small ball lineup is about to run out of luck very soon.
BIG DOG IN THE HOUSE
Slimjr
December 21st, 2012
10:24 pm
Chicago vs the Hawks?
Another Front line that’s very Mobile, can contest the perimeter shot and recover in the paint…
Oh the Humanity!
Slimjr
December 21st, 2012
10:26 pm
Sund should have resigned JC1…
I’ll take him over Lou every day and twice on Sunday..
Slimjr
December 21st, 2012
10:30 pm
Knicks cut the lead to 4 as the clock ran out! oh well
keith
December 21st, 2012
10:32 pm
Horford to Toronto for Petrus and Barganani……………………….I believe Toronto would make that deal.
Slimjr
December 21st, 2012
10:36 pm
Horford is going to get beat up by Noah!
Better start ZaZa on him
Bobby
December 21st, 2012
10:38 pm
Slimjr = keith
Simba
December 21st, 2012
10:41 pm
Just an observation: Jamal Crawford wouldn’t help us. We’d use him the same, incorrect way we use Lou; have him running a bunch of isos with the 2nd team that causes the whole offense to become completely stagnant.
In my opinion, if you have Lou out there, you either have to have the full offense with him (Josh, Al, Kyle) or you have to have another point (either Jeff or Devin) in the backcourt, as those two are going to be able to get the 2nd unit guys better involved. You can’t just have Lou out there playing point and having him jack up “YOLO!” jumpers.
Positive Thinker
December 21st, 2012
10:41 pm
Someone please stop Lou Williams from shooting at will…..passing to the open man would work so much better if only Lou would look to pass once in awhile! . Lou is no point guard ….its just shoot shoot shoot….it just isnt’ working. It seems like he’s afraid of someone else scoring more than he does!
Whatever happened to that unselfish play that worked?
Simba
December 21st, 2012
10:42 pm
Horford to Toronto for Petrus and Barganani……………………….I believe Toronto would make that deal.
Are we tanking? WhyTF would we do that?
Slimjr
December 21st, 2012
10:45 pm
keith=Bobby=TS=Admiral= 1000 other handles…
Harpie
December 21st, 2012
10:46 pm
This team could be good if thaey had a COACH! Larry Drew truly sucks.
E43
December 21st, 2012
11:07 pm
Jenkins went late in the draft because he lacks defense. he is 6ft 4. Monta Ellis is 6 ft 3 and can be a knucklehead at times. Jenkins will get his chance sooner rather than later. No way Ferry hands his job to someone else in the off season.
Section 303
December 21st, 2012
11:15 pm
Saw tonight’s game coming a mile away. This one was had loss written all over it.
Hawks will probably lose tomorrow, too. They are just not playing well. Their poor shooting is killing them. They missed a lot of open and makable shots tonight. Left too many points on the floor.
Let’s get tomorrow night’s loss out of the way and get this stretch of 4 games in 5 nights over with. How many more of these stretches are left?
vava74
December 21st, 2012
11:32 pm
As I said, the wheels on LD’s little go-kart are coming off once the opposition and the concentration of games cranked up.
The big line up was mostly working with Josh checking and posting the opposing SFs and… LD starts to go small ball more frequently??
Yep, that’s LD for you. Just lose another 5 in a row please and get us a real coach.
MattP
December 21st, 2012
11:35 pm
haha, things start to look bad so he decides to do a lineup change. I wonder if he will ever decide to change the offense or still with one starting unit and not change it every other game.
Sameba
December 21st, 2012
11:39 pm
LD does not have an ability to learn and analize? is he really goofy??
Then better for the Hawks future. As vava74 wrote, let him lose few other games and he is gone. And please let his assistant coach go with him as well…
Marcus
December 22nd, 2012
12:12 am
I was at this game w/ my son, surrounded by the Philly faithful. Disappointment abounded. Josh came to play in the 1Q, but everyone else seemed like their minds/game were back in ATL: Teague seemed skittish/hesitant/unsure, Al and his jumper were off all night, Stevenson seemed distracted. Korver was just overmatched.
Even when we made runs to get it close, it seemed like we were one or two lapses away from losing momentum (which we did).
We better get it together or perhaps this is the real ceiling for our team (as currently constituted). We didn’t have any other option to kick-start us once Josh went to the bench and the rest of the starters were noticeably off-kilter.
Rusty
December 22nd, 2012
12:15 am
LD will bring out the bad in the hawks. Time for a change.
Rusty
December 22nd, 2012
12:18 am
Didn’t we all know he was a lousy coach last year,he gave the celts a gift in the playoffs.
O'brien
December 22nd, 2012
12:28 am
Slim,
Bulls have Knicks number. 6-1 last 7 games against them. And Sixers have our number. No iggy, no Lou Williams, no Jody Meeks (last year’s team), and they still beat us up.
Hawks -8 in rebounding, and 9-25 from 3. There is your game right there. When 3’s are not falling, I don’t think we have a plan B.
big Ray,
Somebody needs to remind Teague that this is a contract year. He needs to be more consistent. And Al sounds like he knows exactly what’s wrong, but if he would play better, maybe the outcome would be different.
JaeEvolution
December 22nd, 2012
12:31 am
Thoughts on Cousins? Does him being a headcase on the losing Kings outweigh his sheer talent and ability?
I say this because apparently he was benched, actually not even benched was told to stay in the Kings locker room for the entire second half. The Kings also tried to pry Teague away from us a few years ago, would anyone deal for Cousins or are the red-flags too apparent.
O'brien
December 22nd, 2012
12:33 am
And what is LD talking about, changing the lineup. Hasn’t he used multiple different lineups this year? Therefore, he is already changing lineups (especially when he tries to match up with the opponents).
I wonder If there are other HC who say they will wait and see LD’s lineup before deciding on theirs?
And let’s remember in LD’s first year when he threatened for weeks to change the lineup. And when he finally did, his big change was to bring Marvin off the bench. Very innovative that LD is…SMH
bbfan
December 22nd, 2012
1:02 am
I’m just curious, who does the “experts on this blog” want to coach the hawks? The last two or three years that Woodson was here, it was the same thing…..fire Woody. I guess the Knicks are winning on pure talent alone.
I predicted early on the hawks would win around 30 games…..oops I might be off. And finally, if this is the transition year, what will they be transitioning to? The last transition led the hawks to years and years of not even making the playoff and you only need about .500 record to qualify.
Rod from College Park
December 22nd, 2012
1:05 am
“1) I’ve never “seen” Najeh so pizzed before. Dude’s usually cool as a phuck.”
Maybe he’s mad because he knows he is wrong. He’s usually on point.
Rod from College Park
December 22nd, 2012
1:07 am
Since Horford has had 3 subpar games in a row, is his basketball IQ still very high?
Rod from College Park
December 22nd, 2012
1:13 am
Hawks beat the good teams in the West because they shot the ball well, and those teams really did not scout the Hawks well. The good teams in the East, (CHI, BOS, NY, NJ) have seen us enough to know how to defend Josh and Horford. The Scouting report has been updated on the Hawks. Man up on Josh and Horford, and don’t leave the shooters. Let’s see if Leisure Suit Larry can adjust.
Sameba
December 22nd, 2012
2:01 am
Well, if Horford’s jumper is broken plus he cannot hit FT’s then his value drastically decreases…
Buddy Grizzard
December 22nd, 2012
2:10 am
SlimJr Thibs vs LD? Oh the Humanity!!!!
Buddy Grizzard
December 22nd, 2012
2:23 am
“Saw tonight’s game coming a mile away. This one was had loss written all over it. Hawks will probably lose tomorrow, too.”
HAHA section… Kirk Hinrich’s no. 1 fan checking in here. Will the overrated Hinrich work the Hawks tonight like he did the Knicks last night??
“would anyone deal for Cousins or are the red-flags too apparent.”
Jae, Sacramento would ask the world for Cousins because he is damn near the only asset they have. And the Hawks are the LAST organization on planet earth that would take a chance like that.
“who does the “experts on this blog” want to coach the hawks?”
Dwane Casey. In an alternate universe, Doc Rivers.
kontract
December 22nd, 2012
2:36 am
Buddy: Look in the mirror.
Sameba
December 22nd, 2012
2:44 am
Bulls do not have strong & athletic guards. Therefore, if, and only if, we start with a big lineup, we got a very god chance to win. With a smaller lineup, their SF Deng will simply destroy us…
Hawks Blog Legend Worldwide Clyde
December 22nd, 2012
3:13 am
Sameba
December 22nd, 2012
2:01 am
Well, if Horford’s jumper is broken plus he cannot hit FT’s then his value drastically decreases…
Decreases down to zero