The Hawks’ road flops: ‘Unacceptable’ and ‘embarrassing’
Mike Woodson is partly to blame for this road ineptitude. But only partly. (AP photo)
Milwaukee – There’s a belief within the Hawks’ organization — not a pipe dream, but an actual belief — that this is one of the half-dozen teams capable of playing into June. On talent, it is. But even now, in this third playoff run, there’s something missing.
Over the past 25 months, the Hawks have played 10 road playoff games. They’ve lost nine. As egregious as Saturday’s performance was here, it was the closest of those nine defeats.
That’s correct. An 18-point loss was, by Hawks standards, a tight road game. The average margin of those nine losses is 25.6 points. Only by the loosest possible definition can such showings be called competing.
Granted, six of those losses — four in Boston in 2008, two in Cleveland last spring — came against the overall No. 1 seed. The Hawks were too raw to handle the champs-to-be Celtics on the parquet and too injured to match up with LeBron’s crew in the Q. But what was Saturday’s excuse?
The Hawks are demonstrably better than the Bucks, yet they let the home side be the aggressor. They invariably do. They were 19-22 away from Philips Arena this season; by way of contrast, the callow Oklahoma City Thunder was 23-18.
“We struggled on the road this season,” Joe Johnson said Saturday. “We’ve got to try to find a way to change that. It’s unacceptable to get blown out the way we did.”
The Hawks will win this series because they’re the better team and they have the homecourt edge, but they won’t have it much longer. And if you’re losing to the Bucks-minus-Bogut in Round 1, what happens when you play Orlando in Round 2? (Average margin of the Hawks’ two losses in the O-Dome this season — 20 points.)
Said Al Horford: “If we’re going to be one of the top teams and get where we think we’re going to go, we have to start handling our business on the road.”
Well, yes. But it isn’t as if the Hawks keep getting undone by last-second shots. They’re not close enough for the fourth quarter to matter. Even the one Hawks’ road playoff victory this century wasn’t a function of endgame precision: They beat Miami by 10 in Game 4 last year.
The easy excuse is to pin everything on Mike Woodson. It is, after all, a coach’s job to prepare his men. That said, those men have to follow through. There’s blame enough on both sides: Woodson has enough players to win, but all the strategy in the world counts for nothing if you’re down 17 after 12 minutes.
Asked why the Hawks settled for jump shots in Game 3, as opposed to scoring on the break, Johnson said: “We couldn’t get out in transition because we weren’t getting any stops. We were taking the ball out of the net.”
Loading ...We can quibble with Woodson’s switch-on-every-screen defensive scheme, but the same defense works in Philips. His players simply didn’t switch fast enough in Game 3. When Josh Smith was slow to close on Ersan Ilyasova, who sank the Bucks’ fifth trey of the first 11 1/2 minutes, the Hawks’ coach mouthed one word. The word cannot be reproduced in a family publication.
Said Woodson, speaking before his team’s practice at Marquette on Sunday: “I said worse than that in our film session this morning.”
Say what you will about Woodson, but he has a feel for what winning in postseason requires. He was an assistant when Detroit took the title in 2004, and the Pistons had to win Game 6 in New Jersey to survive Round 2. “The good teams, they figure it out,” he said. “We’ve been a growing team, but we’re not where I think we should be. Knowing you can go get one on the road — that’s the next major step.”
Perhaps it will come Monday in Game 4. It needs to come soon. There’s no excuse for losing this badly this often just because the crowd is against you. And for what transpired Saturday, Woodson had another one-word verdict, this one printable but no less damning.
The word: “Embarrassing.”
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120 comments Add your comment
Off topic
April 25th, 2010
10:11 pm
The braves should have showed bobby and the other offensive coaches the door last year. This team is a joke. Who wants to spend their money on that crap? Not me. I don’t even want to watch it on tv.
Muhammad Cali
April 25th, 2010
10:11 pm
The Hawks need to get rid of Josh Smith and Joe Johnson and get some superstar players that are hungry, passionate, and vocal leaders. Joe Johnson is too quite to have much impact in a locker room, and Josh Smith is too inconsistent and immature to be good for a locker room. I say the Hawks should build around Al Horford and bring in other guys who bring every night and play with passion. We need somone like Joakim Noah in the middle. The Hawks need toughness. Joe Johnson – Soft. Josh Smith- Immature. Marvin Williams- Soft and Inconsistent. Mike Bibby- flat footed and old. As you can see we need a different nucleus to win a championship. This group will not get it done. Oh yeah Mike Woodson- Lucky, yet clueless. The Hawks need to phase JOE JOHNSON, JOSH SMITH, MARVIN WILLIAMS, MIKE BIBBY, and MIKE WOODSON out the picture.
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April 25th, 2010
10:38 pm
[...] Mark Bradley on the Hawks Embarassing Loss [...]
CAVSFAN
April 25th, 2010
11:24 pm
Don’t worry ATL you will win this one out over the deer. We’re even rootin for you versus the Magic> we’d really love to play your joke of a weak minded lineup in in the ECF. Who on your team actually has a pair?
Whopepr Dawg
April 25th, 2010
11:38 pm
I said at the beginning of the playoffs that the Hawks had the sheer talent to go even to the finals, but they were too inconsistent. The great teams, and we don’t have one currently in the NBA, and even the very good teams, don’t get beaten like this. Very rarely if ever in season and never in the playoffs. Not like this. Not by close to 20 points. There is fault aplenty to go around between Woodson and the players, and their are still holes in the lineup, center and PG.
But the real issue is they don’t have a leader on the floor, the guy that drives the team. I don’t see it.
bg3003
April 25th, 2010
11:38 pm
that loss was just sad… i saw the first 3 from jennings and i was worried. saw the second then i knew we lost. saw the third, then i got mad and turned the tv. funny thing is, i wasnt that suprised. atlanta teams will continue to get disrespected if we keep playing this way. for example, during the draft, i did not hear one comment on the falcons picks by the reporters, and on nba commercials, how many times do you see atl on them? almost never.
HawksFan
April 25th, 2010
11:54 pm
We obviously played awfully, but I thought it was abundantly clear that our offensive sets were totally rendered useless.
Woody has admittedly done some really good things during his tenure here, but his biggest weakness is his X’s and O’s on the offensive end. Always has been and always will be.
He as a coach will be fully exposed for that the moment he faces a more complete defensive team. Woody will immediately go to iso plays for Crawford and Joe and when those don’t carry us, along with points off defense, then we’ll be done and back in the ATL waiting on next year.
Steve
April 26th, 2010
12:33 am
I personally think the Hawks tried to win without getting physical. Last year Miami beat us to death physically in the 1st round, and we had nothing left for the 2nd against Cleveland. NBA playoff basketball is all about enforcers and being brutal down low – most teams carry a couple of thugs who barely play during the season, just so they can rough it up during the playoffs.
The Hawks are a very good, young, athletic team – but our starting frontcourt is small, and not physical. Until we play tough up front – ZaZa, Collier etc., we may not go very far in the playoffs.
We may still be a year away from learning this – hope we keep JJ! Also, if Teague doesn’t develop next year, PG is going to be another issue, because Bibby is going down hill pretty quick.
moorman
April 26th, 2010
2:20 am
does it matter? once orlando gets thru with them, and joe johnson leaves next year, the hawks will be back to being scrubs anyway. 40 years in the atl. the hawks will NEVER win a nba championship.
Missisppi Dawg
April 26th, 2010
2:38 am
Coaching “is” part of the problem and even though we have several Big Play Players, we lack the Superstar that every champ Team needs ( D Wade, Lebron, Kobe, KG, etc). Having said all that, didn’t Mark B predict a Game 3 loss but a Series Win in 5? Its going exactly as scripted….
Ted M
April 26th, 2010
6:33 am
I see the Hawks going to the playoffs every year for the next 5, but never getting past the 2nd round and sometimes not getting to the 2nd.
Ted M
April 26th, 2010
6:35 am
The Falcons could win a superbowl in the next 5 yrs. I’m not sure they will but I think the could.
Ted M
April 26th, 2010
6:38 am
Holy Cow the Braves stink. Will have to wait next year to see what happens with the “new era” Braves. The long awaited “new era”.
jfreak13713
April 26th, 2010
8:32 am
The problem with the Hawks is LEADERSHIP. They have talent and Joe Johnson is a very good player but not a leader. Not a leader like Kobe or Lebron but who is right? Well it doesn’t take a superstar to be a vocal leader that the team respects and or “fears” Jordan’s teammates respected and feared him and I assume the same could be said for Kobe and Lebron. Johnson is our star player but he’s not this teams leader. The hawks have no real leader. They have a team full of good and even very good players but that’s not enough to win a championship. That requires good players being lead by great ones.
Hawks win series but lose 2nd round in 6.
Tuned Out
April 26th, 2010
8:46 am
The Hawks players must be held accountable for their lackluster effort on the road. We’ll give Woodson a bye on this one. Tonight’s game is another story. If the Hawks don’t come out with intensity and if coach Woodson hasn’t made some adjustments to counter the moves made by Skiles, then this one will be on Woody.
Gamer
April 26th, 2010
9:16 am
It’s to be expected for the Bucks to play hard on homecourt.
Hawks can still make strong statement with win in Milwaukee.
Inside, outside game. Lean on Joe Johnson on the road.
Play defense. Where is Marvin Williams basketball talents??
HAWKS MAKE BEDLAM!!! STRIKE FRIGHT INTO YOUR OPPONENT!!!
time for a change
April 26th, 2010
9:30 am
the last time anyone really cared if the Hawks win was back when Dominique Wilkens played, fans do however care about the Braves but once again the powers that be cannot make changes because they do not have the kahoonas (for example, firing COX for starters)
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April 26th, 2010
12:48 pm
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johnboy
April 27th, 2010
2:55 pm
Hawks need to improve on last season’s play off performance, since there is a pretty good chance that Joe J will be heading to the Celts next season
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April 27th, 2010
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