Atlanta Hawks: Timberwolves 108, Hawks 103 (updated)
Vivlamore reporting.
MINNEAPOLIS — The Hawks picked up right where they left off – and that’s not a good thing.
After a dreadful second half of a loss to the Celtics Saturday prompted a team meeting, the Hawks started slow in a 108-103 defeat to the Timberwolves Tuesday at the Target Center. In their first game after the meeting, the Hawks never led.
Hawks coach Larry Drew labeled his team’s start “soft.”
“We waited way too late to start playing,” Drew said. “The first half we were soft. Soft. We did not guard very well. I thought physically they did just about anything that they wanted to. We played with no urgency in that first half. I told the guys at halftime, it’s not a sometimes thing. You can’t come out and play sometimes. You’ve got to come out and start the game highly energized. We can’t play normal. We can’t be a team that just sits back and allows other teams to do what they want to do. We have to be the aggressor.”
Drew added that he would hold his players accountable.
“There are some guys in there that are going to be held accountable,” Drew said. “As we move forward, if this thing doesn’t change there are going to have to be some changes. That’s plain and simple. I’m not going to watch our guys come out and start every game and not be energized to play. That’s totally unacceptable.”
When asked who specifically needs to be held accountable for the poor starts, Drew responded: “Everybody. Everybody. I played quite a few people in that first half. Everybody has to be held accountable.”
The Hawks (20-13) have lost a season-long three straight and four of five. They are losing their grip on third place in the Eastern Conference. They are now tied with the Pacers and just a half-game ahead of the Bulls.
The Hawks nearly erased a 17-point deficit. They pulled within one point in the fourth quarter, 104-103, with 36.6 remaining. However, Dante Cunningham scored with 15.9 seconds left and the Hawks then committed a turnover to halt the comeback.
The Timberwolves (16-5) snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Hawks despite playing without Kevin Love.
“It’s probably fair to say,” Hawks center Al Horford said of Drew’s “soft” comment. “I don’t think that we are a soft team but it’s fair to say. I think we came out uninterested. Us, the guys who are playing, I’ll take blame for that. We have a game tomorrow so we have to show we are better tomorrow.”
“I don’t roll with that,” was Josh Smith’s response.
Smith led the Hawks with 21 points. He also finished with 13 rebounds to move into seventh place on the Hawks’ all-time rebound list with 5,027. He surpassed Cliff Hagan (5,019). Lou Williams added 21 points and Horford had 19 points and 11 rebounds. The Hawks lost for the first time this season with both Smith and Horford had a double-double.
Nikola Pekovic led the Timberwolves with 25 points and 18 rebounds.
The Timberwolves led by as many as 17 points in the first half and took a 58-42 lead into halftime.
The Hawks made only one of their first six shots and never led. They finished with just six first-half assists. Williams paced the Hawks with 12 points in the opening 24 minutes.
“I don’t think we came out with the energy,” Williams said. “We decided to wait until the second half to start playing and it bit us in the butt. I think the first half is when we should have responded when they were playing very well. I thought that would have been a perfect opportunity for us to get ourselves going and get geared up and meet the challenge. We waited too late to do that.”
The Hawks started the third quarter with an 18-8 run to cut their deficit to six points, 66-60. However, the Timberwolves answered with a 13-3 run that was punctuated by Alexey Shved steal and an and-one dunk.
Jeff Teague was called for the foul, one of five on the night to go with just five points.
“They called it,” Teague said of his foul troubles. “That’s the way the whistle blew tonight. It was tough out there tonight.”
The Hawks play again Wednesday at the Cavaliers as the attempt to halt a season-long losing streak.
“(Drew) challenged us at halftime and we responded,” Horford said. “It starts with me. I have to do better, whatever that means, if I have to play harder, whatever it takes. We are going through a little rut right now but we have to stick together.”
- Chris Vivlamore
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* Williams to remain in starting lineup
* Behind the scenes photo gallery
* Drew named Eastern Conference Coach of the Month
* Drew looking for more minutes for Jenkins
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259 comments Add your comment
W.R.Terrell
January 8th, 2013
10:51 pm
LD used the word accountable, this guy makes me laugh. He will probably start the “Smoove” who really needs to come off the bench, he may give ZaZa the nod tomorrow because LD is under pressure to be saying what he did in the press conference. The only way to get the message across is to bench the “Smoove”, hell he can bench Al also until he learns to give the ball up to the guard. Hopefully we see Ivan and a lil more of Mike Scott, what’s the worse that can happen, we lose? Hell, we doing that anyway.
Slimjr
January 8th, 2013
10:51 pm
“Word is Melo and his wife are getting divorced.”
Were they not living together for like 8 years before marriage? Usually won’t work out..That’s too bad..
Or maybe she’s tired of sharing?
Slimjr
January 8th, 2013
10:52 pm
Looks like Danny and Larry need to have a meeting?
Najeh Davenpoop
January 8th, 2013
10:53 pm
Stevenson played 5 minutes tonight, does that mean he sits out tomorrow night?
Jeff Teague's Nose
January 8th, 2013
10:53 pm
Horrible Game.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 8th, 2013
10:54 pm
“Worse thank Jenkins and Scott?”
Yes, although it’s surely possible that Jenkins and Scott will look equally pathetic with more non-garbage time minutes.
Nate ArchiBALL
January 8th, 2013
10:56 pm
Jeff is playing his way out of the lineup.
vava74
January 8th, 2013
10:59 pm
Another loss on LD.
The rest is landscape. Relevant but not the most important.
The same 12 guys play two different halves. Why? Line ups.
In this case, WTF was LD thinking by not using Zaza on Pekovic? %#$¥£ idiot. You had to play the big line up against these guys you fool!
LD said to C-Viv that he liked how the small line up matched up with Minny’s… It seems that he only had eyes for the PG and SG slots since we had a negative miss match at the SF and C slots.
That alone produced 47 points for Minny with Pek and AK47.
As for that last play:
Josh passed the ball as you usually see a pass into the post: top right for the right handed man in the post.
He could also have made a bounce pass, but Horford could have made sure that he would seal his man properly, which he didn’t.
It’s also arguable that there was a foul.
kuhndog
January 8th, 2013
10:59 pm
now we are getting beat by teams that well lets us know we had a easy schedule early, at least we took care of business now we have to pay the piper. We better make some moves quick it is slipping away. KK can not play D, josh made a bad pass late real bad.
ag
January 8th, 2013
11:02 pm
At 6′8″, Ivan gives us a much bigger lineup! Really could have used him against Boston. Really not understanding why Drew plays Mike Scott.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 8th, 2013
11:02 pm
In his last 6 games, Teague is shooting 23/67 (34.3%), 6/21 from 3 (28.6%), with 9.3 ppg, 6 apg, 3 TO/game, and 6 free throw attempts TOTAL. The only thing he’s doing as well as usual is racking up steals.
ag
January 8th, 2013
11:07 pm
Buddy, I think JJ has played good defense so far. He certainly made several good defensive plays tonight. Again, he should have been in the game late when we needed a three to tie the game.
jo
January 8th, 2013
11:11 pm
Hawks stink,no coach, no leader, no point guard, no defence and only sporadic offense.
Rod from College Park
January 8th, 2013
11:23 pm
As for that last play:
“Josh passed the ball as you usually see a pass into the post: top right for the right handed man in the post.
He could also have made a bounce pass, but Horford could have made sure that he would seal his man properly, which he didn’t.”
You should never let your man get around you once you post him. Basketball 101.
2 FOR JOHN DREW
January 8th, 2013
11:28 pm
Lately ….. We seem to always get behind 15 or something !!! …. It’s hard fighting your way back into the game …. expelling all that energy …. catch up til you’re only a couple of buckets down …. then a couple of turnovers or non-stops and your back down double figures again …. So much for that ‘lil team meeting …. huh !!!!!! …….. I’ve got a headache.
northcyde
January 8th, 2013
11:32 pm
C-Viv . . . you MUST find out why Ivan Johnson can’t get any meaningful playing time these days. Heck, tell Bradley or Shultz to do that story, since you’re the beat writer and can’t necessarily “rock the boat” like that. It has to be a reason why this guy can’t get into the regular rotation and get 15 – 20 minutes a night.
And it was the big lineup that got us back within striking distance. The big lineup WORKS.
Smh @ Drew.
anthony
January 8th, 2013
11:33 pm
I say it starts with Josh. He seems lazy out there playing and he makes stupid mistakes, takes bad shots and doesnt hustle. He looks like a rookie at times. He pads the stat sheets but he doesnt play smart. Jeff Teague plays lazy also. AND we need some muscle inside. We are too small. No rebounders.
JustSayinB
January 8th, 2013
11:36 pm
Danny Ferry: It’s time to gut this spectacle of a team. I started watching in the first quarter and throughout until halftime and this Hawks team makes me want to puke. I hope Danny gets rid of LD, Teague, Josh, Al Horford-and start completely over and get some good draft picks or trades in the summer of 2013. This team is going nowhere fast and is on a downward spiral. When you observe no defense-guys going in uncontested and no hands up to try to deflect a shot-then you know the team has given up. The coach is a master of hiding his facial expressions; I guess cause he’s been in the Navy or whatever-he is not fun to watch. LD never contest a call, never stands up for his own guys, never gets a tech foul-just a flat dull-headed coach; his assistants show more emotion than he does. Al Horford has NO inside game-no back to the basket presence, and is as soft as a baby’s bottom in the paint. Smith is Smith-trade him now-maybe we can get something for him. Teague is good, but lazy-and is a bust for this team. Get rid of those 3 players and the coach. Avery is out of work-fire LD just like Brooklyn fired Avery. Yea-Hawks, just keep on losing and see how fast LD exits the Phillips.
A Hawk in Minnesota
January 8th, 2013
11:52 pm
I was at this game tonight……the crowd was VERY VERY quiet most of the game until the very end when the Hawks got within one. I must say, we need to start playing like these powerhouse college teams do against lesser teams and just blow teams like this away from the jump and never let off the gas. The Hawks are young and talented and can run all night long if they want to………this was the SLOWEST game I have seen them play all season and this bothers me. You guys better wake the hell up tomorrow night in Cleveland or expect some changes after the All-Star break my friends!
….just sayin.
westurd
January 8th, 2013
11:54 pm
This team looks defeated with Smoove on the court. He has sealed his fate with what the team has done with off the court compared to on the court. He is great and star, but I think he sucks the life out of the team…….he still makes me want to pull my hair out!!
The last ten seconds of tonights game was horrific for Smoove……can’t even care enough to throw a good in bounds pass and then slowly dribbling up the court before heaving up backboard braker!!
This kind of careless and selfish play hurts the team……we all know it. With Smooves good, there is plenty of head scratching bad. I think DF has seen all he needs.
Melvin
January 9th, 2013
12:02 am
Doc,
This quote and link below is just for you. Like I said, PJ3 will have a tough time getting into the rotation in OKC.
“It’s hard, the tough thing about this team is it’s tough to get minutes,” Thunder head coach Scott Brooks said. “There are no scholarships here, you have to earn every minute and the guy in front of you, there might be two guys in front of you who are really good and they’re really young. It’s tough to break in and get minutes from Russell [Westbrook], Kevin [Durant], Serge [Ibaka] and Thabo [Sefolosha], but they have to keep waiting for their opportunity. In this league, if you don’t prepare yourself for that opportunity, when you get it, you’re not going to have success and you are probably not going to get another opportunity. But our guys always work and we believe in developing our players, developing them everyday regardless of if you’re in the rotation or not.”
Read more at http://www.hoopsworld.com/can-thunder-rookies-lamb-and-jones-play/#XcFc0RrJZWbxzpWW.99
Buddy Grizzard
January 9th, 2013
12:06 am
Pekovic is one of the few players in the league who is arguably as strong as Ivan.
Melvin
January 9th, 2013
12:17 am
I like Horford post game comments. Holding himself accountable..
Who Me?
January 9th, 2013
12:25 am
how does THIS team lose to that lineup?
*yawn*, the Hawks suck.
prison mike
January 9th, 2013
12:28 am
I don’t care what the numbers say about Korver and his defense. It’s all a coincidence in my eyes. He’s a plainly bad defender.
Josh could have made a better pass but it wasn’t a bad one. Players don’t know how to hold off their man in the post and for the split second they do, the entry passer always hesitates to make a decent pass. Which is another reoccurring problem. This is a coach Drew issue. He wants to run an offense built for a young Rip Hamilton/Reggie Miller. Korver seems to be that de facto player…
Najeh Davenpoop
January 9th, 2013
12:38 am
““We waited way too late to start playing,” Drew said. “The first half we were soft. Soft. We did not guard very well. I thought physically they did just about anything that they wanted to”
They physically did whatever they wanted because THEIR TWO BEST STARTERS HAD MAJOR SIZE ADVANTAGES. If you started the big lineup, things probably would have been significantly different. Effort is a big part of physicality but it is not the whole thing. Al is never going to be able to out-physical someone who outweighs him by 60 pounds.
Hawks Blog Legend Worldwide Clyde
January 9th, 2013
1:31 am
No Ivan = Another Loss
2 FOR JOHN DREW
January 9th, 2013
1:33 am
We need a LEADER on this team ….. Be it the coach or player ….. a bonafide leader ….. who when things get rocky, can bring everyone back to task ( focus ) …. DF can’t be on the floor ….. LD’s too cool ( calm & collected ) ….. Osh too iffy on too many levels ….. Horford has leadership qualities, but w/ Josh there ? ….. Teague, no chance still trying to find his way ….. Lou, has qualities but not w/ Josh there ….. A journeyman like Matt Barnes could come in and be the leader of this group ….. WOW!!!
2 FOR JOHN DREW
January 9th, 2013
1:40 am
OH YEAH,NO IVAN ……. IT’S ALMOST CRIMINAL , NOW !!!
Sameba
January 9th, 2013
1:49 am
Did not watch the whole game, cannot stand LD’s (aka Lame Duck) so called coaching. Cannot see even basic logic in his actions (including his weird substitution patterns). He is giving to the opposition the major advantage from the beginning of the games and it takes ages for him to try to adjust (in his own, illogical ways). I always thought he was a week coach, but now he seems so worried about his own job that he lost his remaining brains. He is the REAL CANCER for this team. I was always saying – bring a real coach, and ONLY after that evealuate your players…
2 FOR JOHN DREW
January 9th, 2013
2:03 am
But this could all be working itself out …..b/c DF is waiting in the wings
Rusty
January 9th, 2013
2:04 am
I been saying all year that the team has won inspite of LD.tell me if any of our keY players have improved under LD, our offense consists of one one jump shooting,no cohesion and our defense looks even worst. I have said before this team will regress under LD.
vava74
January 9th, 2013
4:17 am
Eventhough he had a fairly poor game statistically, Pachulia was +9 during the last 14 minutes and 19 second of the game which he played consecutively.
Until that moment, Zaza had played 9 minutes with a line up of mostly reserves.
Zaza is effective when paired with the other starters since he is offensively challenged and can’t contribute so much when he is out there with mostly reserves.
Pekovic, who had been murdering us throughout the game, had 4 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist in the last 8 minutes of the 4th quarter with Zaza checking him.
JJ2 had a really bad ± stat during his first stint, in spite of his excellent shooting, but all the minutes were without Al and Josh simultaneously on the floor.
He did get burned on D a few times but he also held position on several others.
Most of the plays in which he got burned were pick and rolls which NONE of our guys defended well yesterday.
Responsibility lies firmly with Lame Duck Larry.
http://www.popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/gameflow.cgi?date=20130108&game=ATLMIN
Our most consistent run, that almost gave us the win, was with Zaza on the floor with Al and Josh.
It’s not rocket science and honestly, I don’t think it is grammar 101. It was childishly obvious that LD’s line ups were completely wrong to battle a front line with Cunningham/Williams, Kirilenko, Pekovic.
Josh would have slowed Kirilenko on D and could have posted him on Offense.
Al would have controlled easily Cunningham on D and abused him on Offense.
Zaza would have controlled Pekovic and certainly not enabled him to reach his career high in rebounds (a staple of these Hawks, having your opponents breaking personal bests on rebounding).
O'brien
January 9th, 2013
4:55 am
Rod,
If the roles were reversed, and it was Al who made the pass to Josh trying to post up Cunningham, but the ball got stolen…I wonder if you would blame Josh like you’re blaming Horford.
And according to Nique, “the pass wasn’t crisp enough”.
So unlike you. I won’t blame one person (Al), Because i think its A combination of both. al big Ray in and out with some heavy hits.
G’dad,
I don’t remember who said it some time ago (AJ maybe), but Teague may be suited for the role of scoring PG off the bench. That way, he doesn’t have to be a leader (the starting PG will be), and should be able to run the second unit, while getting his shots off (going up against bench players). He doesn’t seem to have the personality needed to effectively lead/run a team of veteran starters.
He is still young though, so there is time to turn him around.didn’t do a good enough job sealing off his man, but Josh should have a made a better pass.
O'brien
January 9th, 2013
4:59 am
Wow. iPhone somehow got other posts saved. My post should read…
Rod,
If the roles were reversed, and it was Al who made the pass to Josh trying to post up Cunningham, but the ball got stolen…I wonder if you would blame Josh like you’re blaming Horford.
And according to Nique, “the pass wasn’t crisp enough”.
So unlike you. I won’t blame one person (Al), Because i think its A combination of both. al should have sealed his man off , but Josh should have a made a better pass.
O'brien
January 9th, 2013
5:06 am
Teague sounded like a 10 year old whose lunch money got stolen SMH. Man up dude. Perhaps you forgot that this is a contract year.
EmirS.
January 9th, 2013
5:37 am
Oh well….
Grandmaster JeJe
January 9th, 2013
6:12 am
“There are some guys in there that are going to be held accountable,” Drew said. “As we move forward, if this thing doesn’t change there are going to have to be some changes. That’s plain and simple.”
He says that, then he sees everyone will be accountable. Thought it’d be individual players
Harris and Morrow, we need you back. Harris especially
Grandmaster JeJe
January 9th, 2013
6:13 am
Is there a trick to posting here on an iPhone? Such a !^%#ing pain in the 4$$
Grandmaster JeJe
January 9th, 2013
6:16 am
Can you even bench Teague? If u do, Jenkins or Stevenson start I assume
What a mess
Mookie Blaylock
January 9th, 2013
6:29 am
No confidence in Teague with how wimpish he sounded in that interview. If Devin could stay healthy, start him.
Section 303
January 9th, 2013
7:41 am
Looks like we have the same team as last season after all. I thought all the “we didn’t have energy” quotes were behind us. They aren’t. This is the same team that lost to Boston in the 1st round last year.
Why is Korver playing ahead of Tolliver? This is really starting to bother me. Korver is shooting poorly and when he is not hitting shots he is basically worthless. I spent Saturday night watching him fail to guard Paul Pierce and miss shots. Spent last night watching him fail to guard anyone and miss shots. Not a Korver fan at all. He is basically a rec league player. If the jumper is falling, he can play. If the jumper is not falling, he is of no use. Korver is pretty much of no use. Tolliver is far from great, but at least he can guard people. He has something to offer other than poor shooting.
JROLL1
January 9th, 2013
7:45 am
DID JEFF TEAGUE PLAY? So much for team meeting Larry. As long as Josh continues to lead the break…instead of giving the ball to a guard and run the floor. It will be more of the same!!! Turnover waiting to happen!
Please Answer This
January 9th, 2013
7:45 am
On the Melo/KG situation….
A person cannot (by law) initiate a physical response in retalliation to a verbal assualt. Regardless of what may have been said. Jusy sayin’.
Joe
January 9th, 2013
7:58 am
Here we go. The exposure begins. Good. Maybe now they’ll get rid of josh. After the Celtic game, it pissed me off that I wasted my money to watch these fools. Even Al’s begining to look lost.
O'Brien
January 9th, 2013
8:04 am
Last year, Charles Barkley ripped the Hawks for being soft. This year, despite having a bunch of new players, we are still soft. And I don’t think we can put it all on Al and Jeff.
I think the biggest reason is because of LD. He is soft, and his rotations/lineups are terrible.
JROLL1
January 9th, 2013
8:13 am
Anthony, you hit the nail on the head! Josh as NEVER played smart!!!!!
darrell starks
January 9th, 2013
8:15 am
LD said the Hawks played soft, SMH
Here is why they played soft LD
TEAGUE 6′2 VS LUKE 6′2
LOU 6′1 VS SHVED 6′6
KORVER 6′7 VS KIRILENKO 6′9
JOSH 6′9 VS DONTA 6′8
HORFORD 6′10 VS PEKOVIC 6′11
YOUR UNDERSIZE COACH LD
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!
darrell starks
January 9th, 2013
8:18 am
Every night this team get beat on the boards and in the paint why ?
O my bad you can’t argue with a coach with a winning records until wheel fall off.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!
hot.trod.87
January 9th, 2013
8:24 am
Can’t keep “matching up” to teams you’re better than and expect your players not to play down to them. Larry Drew and his staff has terrible scouting reports. You don’t play small against rebounding teams. We also need to know that we really haven’t had a point guard for quite some time. With Teague melting and Devin being out a lot, we really don’t have anyone to control the offense. Lou can’t do that and try to score, BUT he is. SO who else is point guarding, Al and Josh. They’ve been turned into point forwards having more assists than Teague. They need to be the recipients of assists. The ONLY consistent player is Lou Williams. The good news is that we have a lot of expiring contract, some picks, trade exception, & amnesty. No player on the squad is safe BUT Lou Williams. He’s been the only Hawks player playing from beginning to end.