Game thread: Morrow out vs. T’Wolves with back stiffness
Vivlamore reporting from Minneapolis.
The Hawks will definitely be without Anthony Morrow and likely without Devin Harris tonight against the Timberwolves although the injured guards accompanied the team on the two-game road trip.
Morrow, who has missed the past five games with a right hip strain, is now experiencing lower back stiffness. He did not practice Tuesday’s morning and coach Larry Drew ruled him out against the T’Wolves.
Harris, who has missed the past 10 games with a sore left foot, took part in Tuesday’s shootaround. However, Drew said he is inclined to hold Harris out in favor of Wednesday’s game at the Cavaliers.
“We don’t want it to flare up a little bit so we are being cautious,” said Drew, who added that the game in Cleveland was the original target date for Harris’ return.
* Drew will stay with the same starting lineup of Jeff Teague, Lou Williams, Kyle Korver, Josh Smith and Al Horford. Much of the reason for staying with the unit is the absence of Kevin Love for the T’Wolves. Love is out after breaking his right hand for the second time this season.
“I kind of like it against this team,” Drew said of the lineup. “It’s a situation of whether matchups are good. The matchups are OK. From their perimeter, which is I think a big strength for them, their guards can really score the basketball. With our matchups with Lou in the lineup, I think we are able to match up pretty good with them. On the other end, we are playing two point guards and it may force them to make some decisions with us.”
* Drew said the key to the game will be how the Hawks respond to the Love-less T’Wolves.
“Will we have a mental letdown coming into this game knowing that their other guys are really going to step their games up?” Drew said. “How will we respond with Love not playing? Will we be up for the challenge or will we come out and think this is one of those games where we can turn it on at any time? That’s going to be the biggest challenge.”
* From a technical standpoint, Drew is concerned with the T’Wolves guards, including Ricky Rubio who could return tonight.
“Their guards are a big part of what they do,” Drew said. “They run a lot of pick-and-rolls for (Luke) Ridnour; Rubio is back tonight; the kid (Alexey) Shved, I really like. And once that ball goes up on the glass can we keep (Nikola) Pekovic off that glass. He’s a big-time offensive rebounder. A lot of that is because you are put into certain actions based on what they do. We are going to have to do a good job on their guards.”
Drew also pointed to forwards Andrei Kirilenko and Dante Cunningham as players the Hawks will have to watch.
* In other news, it appears that former Hawks player Marvin Williams will miss Friday’s game, his first trip to Atlanta with the Jazz after being traded in the offseason.
Williams is expected to miss the next three Jazz games with right knee inflammation. According to a report, Williams will travel but not play.
- Chris Vivlamore
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476 comments Add your comment
MattP
January 8th, 2013
8:39 pm
WTF is Horford doing
keith
January 8th, 2013
8:39 pm
JohnJenkins from DOWNTOWN…….
Slimjr
January 8th, 2013
8:40 pm
layup City Wheres ALLSTAR AL????????????????????????????????????????????????????????/
Najeh Davenpoop
January 8th, 2013
8:40 pm
Reggie Evans has 23 rebounds in 26 minutes for the Nets tonight, and it isn’t even the 4th quarter yet.
keith
January 8th, 2013
8:41 pm
Al Horford’s “weak behind” needs to be on the Bench…He has NO ENERGY…He’s not attacking the Basket..
Slimjr
January 8th, 2013
8:41 pm
I see the escort service is fully operational tonight?
Have we seen this B4? Hmmmmmm
W.R.Terrell
January 8th, 2013
8:41 pm
This is almost comical at the moment.
paian
January 8th, 2013
8:41 pm
imo kevin love is sorta overrated and the minny fans complain about him a lot about how much he slacks off on defensive assignments so him being out of the game prob gives them the same chance to beat us
MattP
January 8th, 2013
8:41 pm
So is Ivan not going to see playing time until the 4th again even after how well he played in the minutes he got against the Celtics…
DS
January 8th, 2013
8:42 pm
This is looking like a blowout… Our guys looks completely uninterested in the game
Slimjr
January 8th, 2013
8:42 pm
This maybe over by halftime.. Our Bigs are being destroyed…
keith
January 8th, 2013
8:42 pm
WE NEED A REAL CENTER…NOT THESE FAKE A— PSUEDO WANNA BE BIGS!!!
TBhawkfan
January 8th, 2013
8:42 pm
bad
Rod from College Park
January 8th, 2013
8:42 pm
Am I seeing things wrong or is Minnesota guarding Al with Derrick Williams, and he still continues to pass the ball out of the post.
vava74
January 8th, 2013
8:43 pm
If we are serious about building a winner, JJ2 must START.
This guy has super elite shooting skill.
By the way, horrible body language, the wheels are officially off, LD has rsn out of luck IMO.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 8th, 2013
8:43 pm
“imo kevin love is sorta overrated and the minny fans complain about him a lot about how much he slacks off on defensive assignments so him being out of the game prob gives them the same chance to beat us”
Don’t know about overrated, but I do think Rubio matters more to their success than Love does with the way their roster is constructed.
Slimjr
January 8th, 2013
8:43 pm
Wheres AL?????????????
Buddy Grizzard
January 8th, 2013
8:44 pm
Josh Smith is tied for 20th in the NBA (all positions) in long 2-point attempts (16-23 ft) with 4.4 attempts per game. He’s shooting 27% from that range. He’s also shooting 38% on .7 3-point attempts per game and 53.6% on 4 ft attempts per game.
By comparison, Derrick Williams is shooting 41% on only 1.3 long 2-pointers per game, 72% on 2.7 ft attempts per game and 37% on 2 3-point attempts per game.
Slimjr
January 8th, 2013
8:44 pm
Derrick looks like great pick!
TBhawkfan
January 8th, 2013
8:44 pm
we can’t hit the side of a bulls big but
Big Ray
January 8th, 2013
8:44 pm
Trade Al Horford. No…really….
Melvin
January 8th, 2013
8:44 pm
Astro,
No way DF will take on bad contracts especially in a deal where he’s trading away his 26yr old 2 time All Star player..
keith
January 8th, 2013
8:45 pm
WE ARE GETTING BLOWN OUT BY SCRUBS…UNBELIEVABLE…STILL A STINCH FROM THE BOSTON MELTDOWN…
Blast
January 8th, 2013
8:45 pm
We gotta to see if Hawks can flip the switch. They been having this big leads and lose in the 2nd qrt. Let’s see if they can turn things around.
And with the Wolves playing like this and Hawks playing like that, it does not look good.
paian
January 8th, 2013
8:45 pm
Najeh think about this though, if love was so great why cant he carry the timberwolves to the playoffs like kg did if hes so great?
keith
January 8th, 2013
8:46 pm
NEXT GAME DERRICK WILLIAMS WILL MISS ALL THOSE SHOTS….
Slimjr
January 8th, 2013
8:46 pm
Derrick Williams is going for 30
TBhawkfan
January 8th, 2013
8:46 pm
struggling inside outside no rebounds
Slimjr
January 8th, 2013
8:46 pm
Blowout!!!!!!
Najeh Davenpoop
January 8th, 2013
8:46 pm
Hard to tell whether Derrick Williams is actually that good or if the Hawks are just that bad at guarding small forwards.
Big Ray
January 8th, 2013
8:47 pm
NAJEH – I want no parts of Mike Brown.
J.J.M.
January 8th, 2013
8:47 pm
Can al block shots better question is can he at least try
Blast
January 8th, 2013
8:47 pm
U gotta like what you see from Minny. Or is it just Hawks playing horribly?
keith
January 8th, 2013
8:47 pm
Excellent Defense Hawks…START JOHN JENKINS DREW….
Slimjr
January 8th, 2013
8:47 pm
59% shooting? Hawks D is pathetic!
TBhawkfan
January 8th, 2013
8:47 pm
keith you are right
DS
January 8th, 2013
8:48 pm
Why does LD ALWAYS sits the guy with the hot hand??
High-sider
January 8th, 2013
8:48 pm
keith
January 8th, 2013
8:37 pm
The Hawks will make DERRICK WILLIMAS look like BUCK WILLIAMS….
————————————————–
No, the Hawks players are making Derrick Williams look like Ryan Anderson – a noted “Stretch 4.”
keith
January 8th, 2013
8:48 pm
TRADE HORFORD TO UTAH….TONIGHT!!!
Slimjr
January 8th, 2013
8:48 pm
-11 in rebounds already..Yes the wheels have come off vava74…
Buddy Grizzard
January 8th, 2013
8:49 pm
Can you say coaching change?
Najeh Davenpoop
January 8th, 2013
8:49 pm
Seriously, if LD won’t play the big lineup in this game, he isn’t going to play it in any game. The GM has changed, but the mentality that rebounding is purely based on effort and not skill still persists. The Hawks have two physical rebounders on this team and neither one starts or gets consistent playing time.
Melvin
January 8th, 2013
8:49 pm
Jenkins was playing well. LD should have giving him extended mins. Especially since he had a hot hand…. Hopefully he wont lose his touch sitting on the bench…
TBhawkfan
January 8th, 2013
8:49 pm
will the gawks ever win again?
Peter
January 8th, 2013
8:49 pm
Hawks have 10 rebounds the Wolves 21 … Hawks have 5 assists the Wolves 15.
This team needs help up front and at the point !
Najeh Davenpoop
January 8th, 2013
8:50 pm
“Najeh think about this though, if love was so great why cant he carry the timberwolves to the playoffs like kg did if hes so great?”
I don’t disagree — he isn’t the MVP candidate his stats suggest he might be — but I don’t necessarily buy that they are as good without him as they are with him though.
W.R.Terrell
January 8th, 2013
8:50 pm
Just when JJ was feeling his stroke LD brings back JT and Josh for ZaZa. This is some really bad coaching.
Big Ray
January 8th, 2013
8:50 pm
I don’t think it’s fair to compare a LOT of folks to Kevin Garnett. Kevin Love is no exception.
First and foremost – KG is a supreme competitor and leader. All heart. Love has talent, has competitive fire. But not that ultra-complete game with big-time heart like KG.
That said, Love > Horford.
keith
January 8th, 2013
8:50 pm
High-sider
January 8th, 2013
8:48 pm
DITTO!!!
OUR BIGS HAVE NO PASSION….LIKE MELO LAST NIGHT…NEED TO BEAT SOMEBODY UP..
Najeh Davenpoop
January 8th, 2013
8:51 pm
In a bit of good news, ESPN has fired Rob Parker. Now he can insult ATL sports fans and talk about cornball brothers to the rest of the people in the unemployment line.