The Hawks lose on a night when losing seemed impossible
Mike Woodson and Jason Kidd after the bizarre bumping. (AP photo by Gregory Smith)
I kept asking the question, and nobody really had an answer. How do you lose this game? How do you lose on a night when you led by 13 points with 5 1/2 minutes left? How do you lose on the night you had played some of your best basketball in two months if not 20 years?
Said Al Horford: “We were at home. All the factors were lined up. I don’t think we’re the kind of team that blows a lead, even though we blew one at Golden State [on Sunday].”
They blew this 13-point lead even worse than they blew that 18-point lead. They blew this one as bad as a good team ever blows a game. They blew this because Dallas coach Rick Carlisle waited until the end to throw up a zone defense, and the Hawks’ coach waited until the final two minutes of regulation to get called for a personal foul.
OK, so technically it was a technical foul, but it involved a collision with a player. Mike Woodson bumped Jason Kidd while the Dallas guard was dribbling down the left sideline with the Hawks leading by two points. Kidd stuck out his elbow to draw contact, but there was no question Woodson was in the wrong.
Said Mike Bibby, who had answered two of Kidd’s three fourth-quarter treys with 3-pointers of his own: “[Woodson] was on the court.”
Said Woodson: “[Kidd] made a heck of a play. I’m not going to get into a [spitting] match with him … He did what he had to do, and it didn’t favor our team. I’ve got to take the hit for it.”
Instructive choice of words: Take the hit.
Horford again: “It was tough. Jason Kidd really changed things for them.”
Kidd is 36, a half-dozen years past his prime, but he willed his team to this victory in a way reminiscent of a young Earvin Johnson. Kidd’s line: 19 points, 17 assists, 16 rebounds. He shrugged off a wretched third quarter — he took eight shots, missing seven — and over the final five minutes of regulation had nine points, three assists and four rebounds.
And where were the Hawks? Missing their shots, missing their composure, missing in action. Over the game’s final 10 1/2 minutes (counting overtime) they scored 13 points. The Mavs dusted off their zone — Jamal Crawford: “They saved it for the end; that was smart on their part” — and the Hawks could do nothing against it.
Horford: “They couldn’t guard us one-on-one.”
But that’s the point. The Mavs overrode their weakness. As Woodson noted, the Hawks “controlled the game until the six- or seven-minute mark.” Then they threw it away.
Let’s not sugarcoat it. This was a bad, bad loss. Aired on ESPN, it offered the Hawks a chance to prove their bona fides against one of the best teams from the West, and they played really well up until the point where they fell flat.
“We’ve been blowing some leads,” Woodson said, and the inability for a basketball team to close out a game is as crushing as a baseball club that hands the ball to its closer and watches him blow the save.
“We’re a team that can handle adversity,” Crawford said. “We’ll bounce back.”
As bold as those words were, they rang hollow this night. A really good team doesn’t lose games like this, and that’s what the Hawks aspire to become and, for tantalizing stretches, seem to be. But how do you lose on a night when a technical foul against your coach for brushing the opposing point guard is the difference between winning in regulation and walking off with various manifestations of egg — scrambled, poached, everything except sunny-side-up — on your face.
Said Josh Smith: “You can’t lose a game like that.”
No, you can’t. But they did.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
222 comments Add your comment
hirsutedawg
February 26th, 2010
11:04 pm
FIRE MIKE WOODSON
Mark Bradley
February 26th, 2010
11:05 pm
That’s the way more and more teams are countering Iso-Joe — with the zone. Can’t back a man down if the man isn’t guarding you one-on-one.
dstdeelite
February 26th, 2010
11:05 pm
Stop crying…..Mavs took just as many 3’s and were bricking them all before Kidd caught fire. Save it.
todd grantham
February 26th, 2010
11:06 pm
Mark, Athens?
Mark Bradley
February 26th, 2010
11:07 pm
Hawks lost on a night when they made only seven turnovers in 53 minutes. How do you manage that?
Astro Joe
February 26th, 2010
11:07 pm
Only an “awful” loss if they don’t win the next two games. Again, the Hawks have shown thus far thee ability to brush off debacles. Heaven forbid that they believe that the NBA season is a marathon and don’t hide in a cave after every “awful loss”. We’d much rather see them have react in a way that allows columns to be written that says “I was there when the spiral began” as opposed to “dealing with adversity is a trait that should help them come the postseason”.
Hawks and Celtics have “awful losses” in consecutive nights. Let’s see who has the better response over the next 48-72 hours.
hirsutedawg
February 26th, 2010
11:08 pm
Woody has taken us as far as we’ll go. Golden State was bad enough, this was worse. Is there some law that says you can’t attack a zone by any means other than hoisting up bricks?
Astro Joe
February 26th, 2010
11:10 pm
Hawks have shown resiliency so far this season. If they believe that this is a marathon and refuse to hide in a cave, would that be a bad thing? Seems to me that fighting back after these types of debacles (as they did in the Jazz game) is a trait that will serve them well during the postseason.
Let’s see who survives their most recent debacle best… Celtics or Hawks.
Mark Bradley
February 26th, 2010
11:10 pm
It’s also a home loss. Hawks now have seven of those. They had 10 last season.
Stop Crying '10
February 26th, 2010
11:13 pm
Dont get mad cuz ur team isnt clutch and has no heart. what happened was that a couple of hall of famers stepped up when it mattered most.
David in Seattle
February 26th, 2010
11:17 pm
Hey, folks, what you saw tonight was a very experienced team schooling an up-and-coming team. I’m a Mavs from the beginning, and not all that familiar with the Hawks, but they’ve definitely been on the uptick. It just takes time.
Everybody always talks about how old the Mavs are, but if you look at most NBA champions, they’re old. It takes more than talent, which the Hawks have a lot of.
My only observation about the Hawks is you don’t really have a superstar. You’ve got a lot of excellent star-quality guys, but no superstar. No Dirk, or Kobe, or LeBron. If you can figure out a way to put someone like a D-Wade on your team, look out.
But, you’ve got to have that one guy that you can always go to when the heat is on and he’ll deliver. The Mavs have Dirk, but most important – they have the smartest point guard in the game. That makes a huge difference.
BigTimeTECHFan
February 26th, 2010
11:18 pm
Just a shame to see such a good team wasted by a sorry coach.
Section 303
February 26th, 2010
11:18 pm
Would have been worth the suspension for Woodson to knock Kidd out.
Another tough loss…I’m starting to get concerned about the inability to score down the stretch. February is like the Dog Days of August in baseball. It is the blah time of year. Hawks have to snap out of this.
Crawford? Anyone seen this guy lately? He is M.I.A. Starting to see why he has never been in the playoffs.
Mafia
February 26th, 2010
11:21 pm
Enter your comments here
chadwick
February 26th, 2010
11:21 pm
straight up blatant move on jason kidd..completly changed the momentum of the game and the refs made the wrong call..big shocker..the integrity of the game to me was shattered even more so than gilbert arenas using guns signs..david stern should step in on this one..hawks played lazy in the end, seven game series with that team and we know who the better team is just based on match ups..mavs cant play a matchup zone and expect to win against good teams in a seven game series and thats what it comes down to in the end..well that is if you know the game..caron butler is a big addition for them but they still have mathcup issues..kidd lost all my respect tonight..if i was the commish id accept a protest by the hawks, no different than a coach being on the court with no contact by a player than kidd blantantly running after woodson..i was personally at the game behind the basket in sec 120 and could tell what he was trying to do
Mafia
February 26th, 2010
11:23 pm
Wait is heart sticking your arm out to draw contact and getting a tech called on the coach? Cuz yeah in that case, they do.
dstdeelite
February 26th, 2010
11:23 pm
Stop Crying 10…Who was clutch on the Mavs team when they mustered up 75 points at home against the Hawks in December? Who’s mad? It is what it is….a loss. Nothing more nothing less.
Swole
February 26th, 2010
11:24 pm
Awful loss and Woodson is not a good coach; but he was NOT on the floor when Kidd made contact.
But hey, Kidd wouldn’t be great if you don’t give him the call, right?
Mafia
February 26th, 2010
11:24 pm
303 I think we’ll see Crawford again sooner or later. If it weren’t for him who knows what our record would be.
Hawks go up (Jazz win), Hawks go down (blown lead losses)
February 26th, 2010
11:25 pm
“Would have been worth the suspension for Woodson to knock Kidd out.”
agree, I’d like to see what an assistant at the helm could do with this team. Anything to get Woody away
Anthony
February 26th, 2010
11:27 pm
I’m adding quotes and stuff to this post for print purposes, but I’ll be back with you soon. Players are stunned, you should know. Woodson is stunned.”
They might be stunned…. But it will not stop them from repeating this process time and time again.
Mafia
February 26th, 2010
11:28 pm
You really gotta hand it to Carlisle though. I mean I know Woody gets outcoached pretty often, but man, pulling out the zone at the end was what won them the game.
hawks fan
February 26th, 2010
11:28 pm
woodson blew it for the hawks with that technical but the hawks had it even when we went into overtime the hawks were tired and didnt even score till about 1 second left they shoulda had this one and why do they let josh smith shoot is beyond me his postion is to dunk and block if they wanna make it far something gotta give cause this shoulda been our game they always letting teams come back and that is not what we need were now 36-21 come on hawks smh..
BoroHawk
February 26th, 2010
11:29 pm
Rick Carlisle should give Kidd the gameball and then suspend him for a game.
Freddy
February 26th, 2010
11:30 pm
Hawks are losing it. Wheels are coming off. Panic has set in.
Hawk Str8Talk
February 26th, 2010
11:34 pm
I really can’t tell you how angry I am about losing this game. On a day when I blogged about the possibility of making Teague and Evans starters and Bibby and Williams bench players to shake up the team and the players who aren’t playing well – they go and for a few quarters make me feel dumb. Then, we turned into Loyola Marymount behind the arc (not the good LMU) and next thing you know – I’m screaming for a TO for oh about 5 straight posessions only to see us lose and see my coach damn near fighting with a guy who at 36 has one of the most prodigious triple double lines I’ve seen in a while…I mean did this really happen.
OldTimer
February 26th, 2010
11:34 pm
The Hawks just don’t cut the mustard. Time to move on.
todd grantham
February 26th, 2010
11:38 pm
Mark, no kudos?
quickwitt
February 26th, 2010
11:39 pm
How could they lose? C’mon Mark. A team with some good players and a middling coach, that’s how. Unfortunately for the fans, ownership can’t afford anyone better to coach so it is what it is. Probably a first round win and a second round loss. As good as it gets with the Hawks. At least they’ll make the playoffs unlike the hockey team which is granted fewer resources than the hoops team and thus doomed to absolute failure.
Dark Knight
February 26th, 2010
11:39 pm
I though that things could not get worse after the GS loss…I was so wrong. I was at this game and can’t believe what I saw. First it was Dirk…then Jason Terry and finally Jason Kidd. At no point was the defense able to slow down any of them. Woody, I’m calling you out on your failure to call the time out in the 4th to slow down the Mavs momentum. It’s obvious you wore out the starters (and Jamal Crawford) because they couldn’t throw it in the ocean come OT. In OT the offensive execution was just that…offensive. At this point, I expect more from my team and I certainly expect more from my coach. I expect to beat the teams we are supposed to beat. And I certainly don’t expect to lose double digit leads in the 4th quarter. Woody, if you can’t get it done, just say so. I’ll take the day off and come pack your things for you.
Tron5000
February 26th, 2010
11:40 pm
I just got home from work and have to be back in the morning. Wasn’t even gonna turn on the TV. Saw the Hawks up by 10 at work and figured it was sealed. Now I read this, have to sit around and watch SportsCenter so I can actually see the nonsense that occurred, and screw up my sleep for tomorrow.
Thanks, Hawks. Been on ESPN twice in the last week, and managed to look a fool both times with both games firmly in hand. Fool me once, shame on me…
You want us to believe in this team? Give is a reason. 7 games against the Celtics in Year 1 + 4-game sweep by the Cavs in Year 2 + 4th quarter meltdowns in Year 3 = I ain’t got a whole lotta optimism. And I’m no young buck when it comes to this team. Not a bandwagon-jumper. I had a Hawks Starter jacket in 1993.
JRR
February 26th, 2010
11:42 pm
You idiots who think that Woodson wasn’t on the court should read his post game comments. He, himself has said that he was on the court! During play, a player can go anywhere on the court that he wants and Jason Kidd doesn’t have to explain to anybody why he wanted to go to that partiicular spot! It doesn’t even matter if Kidd initiated the contact because the coach isn’t supposed to be there! PS – I’m not sure why Carlisle should suspend Kidd. Odd post, makes no sense.
Mark, quit freaking out
February 26th, 2010
11:43 pm
Do you remember the Hawks of the last 10 yrs? . .of Ira Newble . .of Chris Crawford . .of Cal Bowdler . . of Roshown McLeod . . i could go on, but I’d like to forget. The Hawks are relevant now . .the Hawks are growing up as a team . .and on the way to becoming a great team you learn to win games like this . . and here’s the kicker . . . .you learn by losing some of them and learning from your mistakes. Maybe if it was late March going into the playoffs . .or if we show we can’t beat the Magic or the Cavs at home here later in March & April . .then lets start freaking out a little bit. But for now, just f*%^ing enjoy this. Enjoy the Hawks in some relevant,fun games. Enjoy watching them mature . .or just b%$## & moan, its your prerogative.
Tron5000
February 26th, 2010
11:43 pm
Matter of fact, I believe that Starter jacket is still hanging in a closet in Mama’s house next to the ol’ HS letter jacket. Probably a lot of dust on those 2 articles of clothing.
OldTimer
February 26th, 2010
11:45 pm
I never had a Hawks Starter Jacket, didn’t have the ego for it. The last time I think I saw a Starter Jacket was on DOB, of course it was a Braves jacket. As for the Hawks, this isn’t a team Furman Bisher would be fond of.
Paul Hewitt
February 26th, 2010
11:45 pm
Well said.
suicidalhawk
February 26th, 2010
11:46 pm
Kidd’s move was bush league at best!!!! as soon as he got possesion of the ball he ran over to woodson. im all about being fair, woody is an idiot for letting that happen but, lets call a spade a spade and say that Jason Kidd was acting like a child, if the rule is as states I would like all of the hawks to constantly be looking for contact on opposing coaches every game…. or give all NBA coaches an immediate technical when the touch the floor…………. thoughts MB??
Anthony
February 26th, 2010
11:47 pm
The Hawks don’t have the talent or the balls to be a great team because they’re losers.
Tron5000
February 26th, 2010
11:47 pm
YOU quit freaking out, we’re OK. We know what this team is: Not Good Enough. Good enough to get into the playoffs, not good enough to get to the Conference Finals and certainly not good enough to advance beyond that. They will win a lot of games, but tonight and the Golden State game show what this team really is. Good, but not good enough.
And I used to park Roshown McCloud’s car at his attorney’s office. Dude used to tip us with a homemade pizza from down the block. He sucked in the NBA, but that extra cheese was off the hook.
Mafia
February 26th, 2010
11:55 pm
losers…with a record above .500?
Anthony
February 27th, 2010
12:02 am
losers…with a record above .500?’
What have the Hawks ever done of importance since being in Atlanta? How many playoff series have they won the last 15-20 years? How many finals have they been too? Last year they barely got by crappy Miami in 7 games and that was one of the worst playoff series in the last 10 years.
Yeah, they’re great alright.
hawkfan
February 27th, 2010
12:04 am
I follow both basketball and soccer on a regular basis. Interestingly, both the Hawks and the Argentina national soccer team have a lot in common. Argentina’s soccer team is loaded with talent, perhaps even the best in the world. Unfortunately, their head coach, Diego Maradona, is stubborn, incompetent, and an awful tactician. As a result, the team is underachieving, unorganized, and unmotivated.
The Hawks are also loaded with talent and could easily be as good as any team in the NBA. But just like Diego Maradona, Mike Woodson is stubborn, incompetent, and an awful tactician.
His team is also mismanaged, underutilized, and underperforming.
These comparisons reflect how in any sport, and perhaps in life in general, a team is only as good as its leader, of course.
Section 303
February 27th, 2010
12:05 am
Mafia, I hope you are right. Guess Crawford did have 18 tonight, but no where to be found at the end of the game. To be fair, so was everyone else.
Just a crap loss, though. These are the defeats that may come back to haunt them when they are getting ready to go on the road for Game 1 of the 2nd round.
Just Saying
February 27th, 2010
12:09 am
How do we lose this game? One word….. WOODSON.
Does anyone really think this team is going to do anything in the post season with him running the show? Just saying.
O'Brien
February 27th, 2010
12:10 am
Mark,
Players and coaches have to share the blame for this. And the Kidd-Woody incident should not have been much of a contributor to this loss. And to think, the Mavs also played without Caron Butler.
So the Hawks blow an 18 point 4th quarter lead to a team that dressed 8 players and is ranked near the bottom of the league in defense. And 3 games later, they blow a 13 point 4th quarter lead with 5 1/2 minutes left.
Also, can you ask Woody why Horford played 50 minutes, when it was obvious he was struggling (he went 4-16), and only had 8 rebounds. Jason Kidd had 16 by himself.
And besides Crawford, all other bench players combined for 25 minutes. Maybe our starters got tired down the stretch.
One possible problem for the Hawks is the more often you lose these kind of games, is the easier it gets to lose these type of games. Or maybe they will learn from it. I know the season is a marathon, as AJ puts it, but pretty soon the Hawks will be coming down the stretch.
I hope Woody and the players will be better prepared next time they face a zone.
Section 303
February 27th, 2010
12:10 am
Anthony, why don’t you just go be one of the d-bags with a Kobe or LeBron jersey, then? That way you can demand excellence all the time. Have fun.
Hawks are fine. People need to stop with the extreme reactions. Agree this loss sucks, though. Should not have happened.
Kevin
February 27th, 2010
12:11 am
Hey Mark,
What’s more embarrassing? The Woody-Kidd Incident or Kidd’s 16 rebounds?
Section 303
February 27th, 2010
12:11 am
Mafia, hope you are right. Though, to be fair, Crawford did have 18 pts tonight. He was just no where to be found late. Been a pattern for him lately.
dstdeelite
February 27th, 2010
12:13 am
and yet those losers make more money than you’ll probably ever see in your lifetime….Sign me up
Anthony
February 27th, 2010
12:18 am
and yet those losers make more money than you’ll probably ever see in your lifetime….Sign me up”
Only because of the stupidity of the general public. These hoodrats don’t deserve squat.