The new/old Hawks stay unbeaten and Joe thanks the fans
Joe Johnson, famous dunker. (AJC photo by Hyosub Shin)
Speaking before his team’s home opener, the NBA’s reigning sixth man of the year said: “We’ve got a whole new scheme, a whole new everything.”
Jamal Crawford was right, but also wrong. The Hawks have a new head coach, even though Larry Drew has been on staff the past six seasons. They have a new offense, even though it wound up looking like the old offense in the fourth quarter Saturday night. They have the same core personnel, even if it is being differently deployed.
As much as we might want to call these the Same Old Hawks, they’re not quite. (Not that being the Same Old Hawks was all that terrible. They did win 53 games and claim the No. 3 seed in the NBA East last season.) But they’re not the Brand New Hawks, either.
I know. It’s kind of confusing. The Hawks won Friday in Philadelphia with Joe Johnson taking fewer shots than Al Horford or Josh Smith and working the fourth-fewest minutes among starters. They won here Saturday with Johnson playing 43 minutes and 28 seconds — a regulation game is 48 minutes — and taking eight of the team’s 20 fourth-quarter shots and scoring five of its nine fourth-quarter baskets.
Said Drew: “Joe — obviously he’s our guy.”
Which sounded odd, given that Drew’s case for being promoted to head coach was essentially, “I’m not like Mike.” (Meaning Mike Woodson, who requested two weeks ago in a high-decibel phone conversation that his name no longer be invoked in this correspondent’s discussion of the Hawks. That request has been inspected and rejected.)
Woodson’s Way was to give the ball to Johnson — Iso-Joe, as it became known — and get out of his way. The Drew Method involves more ball movement and less reliance on one man. And yet, come the season’s third game, here was Joe Johnson doing pretty much the Joe Johnson thing.
Drew’s explanation: “[The Washington Wizards] ran a lot of zone. We went to some of our zone offense.”
Whatever the cause, this was the effect: Drew is 3-0 as a head coach and the Hawks, who needed a good start to win back some of the good will lost by the egregious playoff exit against Orlando, emerged from the season’s first week unblemished. Even if this game seemed a throwback … whatever works, right?
Said Smith, who scored 10 points and took eight rebounds despite misplacing his signature headband during the second half: “We got the job done tonight. We definitely had to grind it out.”
About the headband: Where’d it go? “It got missing. I was looking for another one. My face got too sweaty. I feel naked without it.”
About the game’s biggest basket, a set play called by Drew inside the final two minutes that ended with Smith feeding Horford for a one-handed lob dunk: “It was the perfect play. [Mike] Bibby is the best screener on the team — ask anybody — and he got Horford’s man.”
If it wasn’t always pretty — it was, to be fair, the Hawks’ third game in four nights — it yielded the needed result. The Hawks won 99-95 and have as yet been afforded no reason to doubt themselves. And that’s good. And so, in its way, was this:
After scoring 25 points and making the shots that counted, Johnson offered his thanks to those in attendance. (The game was announced as a sellout. In truth, it was rather less.) You’ll recall that the same Johnson said after Game 3 against Orlando that he cared not a whit what the fans thought. But here were his words Saturday: “It’s great to see everyone come out and show us support.”
So that part really was new. Maybe these aren’t the Same Old Hawks after all.
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74 comments Add your comment
Najeh Davenpoop
October 31st, 2010
6:45 am
And by the way, on an annual basis, several players — including the much less deserving Rashard Lewis in his own division — get paid more than Joe.
Does Jedi Falcon have a life?
October 31st, 2010
7:48 am
Does this guy have a life or does he just like to read his own posts? Also… I “am” a TRUE FAN who forgives Joe Johnson. All he did was TELL THE TRUTH. My city is too “fair weather / non-supportive” at times. Granted he didn’t SHOW UP in the playoffs…. he told the truth.
moorman
October 31st, 2010
7:54 am
40 something years, and the hawks havent even won their on conference………… THATS what people are REALLY pissed about. NOBODY cares about being COMPETITIVE. we still havent gotten over the wilkins teams not getting over the hump, but hawks ownership want us to get behind a philosophy of being competitive, but NOT going for it all??? regardless of if carmelo or bosh wouldve helped the hawks, at LEAST they wouldve been trying. what i see from THESE hawks is josh smith continuing to derail any offensive flow with his jumpshots. REALLY, take his blocks out of his game and smooth is hot garbage to me. for every block or steal he gets, he gives it right back with a either a bad pass or his bad jump shot. at least dennis rodman knew NOT to shoot. finally, iso joe. it WILL creep back as one of the main plays the hawks use to close out games. IT ALREADY HAS………..
The new/old Hawks stay unbeaten, and Joe thanks the fans | Mark …
October 31st, 2010
8:37 am
[...] reading here: The new/old Hawks stay unbeaten, and Joe thanks the fans | Mark … marketing var infolink_pid = 142287; var infolink_wsid = 0; This entry was posted in 11 Oct. [...]
Me
October 31st, 2010
8:54 am
Bradley you are a frickin NEGATIVE writer, your words are so empty to me and many others im sure BRING BACK SEKOU
Big G
October 31st, 2010
9:04 am
Yeah you better write a hawks column after your pathetic ga pump masterpiece fell apart. You stink at your job.
willie
October 31st, 2010
9:05 am
We’ll find out in a week or so how good we are with the Phoenix, Orlando, Milwaukee stretch. Until then, we are beating the teams we are supposed to beat, which is all you can ask. And as for Joe….he is a top 20 player in the league and we are lucky to have him. And I don’t blame him at all for the frustrated comment about the crappy crowd support. I go to about 10 games a year and the crowds are terrible. Watch a Thunder home game and you we’ll see how a crowd should act.
bubba dog
October 31st, 2010
9:29 am
I am happy the Hawks are 3-0. Last year it wasn’t really until late in the season before we new how lopsided the games between Orlando and the Hawks would be. Now we know and maybe we can find a way to play with them, even if we lose most games. The hawks biggest problem last year was how they fell apart in the playoffs. Truth is they played worse in the playoffs than they did during the regular season. Case in point, is how we dominated Boston throughout the season. The difference was Boston stepped up for the playoffs, Hawks folded. Not sure why, but LD may be able to fix that. If he does this team is not so far away.
bubba dog
October 31st, 2010
9:33 am
Also, if we beat 90% of the teams we should (weak team) and split the tough games that is a great record and good playoff team. So beating teams on the road you are supposed to beat is a good sign and start.
boiler up
October 31st, 2010
10:32 am
I’m not afraid to say the Hawks could be the best team in the East. Injury free and attitudes don’t get in the way. With our depth and scoring and we play consistent defense. This could be a season we’ll never forget. Don’t see the Heat as a major threat. I believe there is too many ego’s and pressure for this team to handle. Go Hawks..
P Rose
October 31st, 2010
11:27 am
It doesn’t matter. The Hawks will not win their conference and they will not compete in the finals. Not gonna happen. Not in our lifetime.
TROTTINGHOME
October 31st, 2010
11:41 am
this offense will be a wreck by february
Chris
October 31st, 2010
11:44 am
I don’t understand the negativity that Hawks “fans” have with Joe Johnson. He is a great basketball player. He can do everything on the court. Dribble, shoot, pass, defend, rebound. He never complains. He is not loud, and doesn’t look for any attention. Just because some other players are on espn, and always in the news does not make them better than Joe. He is a hard worker, and leads by example. Melo is asking out of Denver. I am so glad we have Joe on our team and not some of these other so called superstars. We are 3-0, Al has gone 20-10 in the last two games on back to back nights, and we need some other center just because they might be taller than Al? Come on people, let’s cheer this team on and see how far they can go. If that is the second round, great. Championship, great. I will be a hawks fan either way.
ant banks
October 31st, 2010
11:57 am
the hawks are a good team, NOT GREAT, but good. we have 4 arguable all-stars on our team, horford, jj, smoove (should have been one last yr), and j. crawford was 6th man of yr and arguably could have been an all-star.
there are not a lot of teams with 4 all-stars on the team. i like hawks chances.
adelfersy
October 31st, 2010
11:58 am
“that his name no longer be invoked in this correspondent’s discussion of the Hawks. That request has been inspected and rejected.”
HAHA. Defineitely your best line ever Bradley.
The Truth
October 31st, 2010
1:03 pm
Mark
Your subtle jabs at the Hawks new coach (Larry Drew) have not gone unnoticed. Are you still protesting that your alumnus Dwane Casey did not get the Hawks head coaching job?
http://blogs.ajc.com/mark-bradley-blog/2010/05/26/another-writer-makes-the-case-for-the-hawks-to-hire-casey/
Your bias is showing. You really need to stop that whining, be professional and move on. Perhaps there will be better opportunities to make genuine critical observation of the Hawks performance during the season. But to prematurely casting them as “same old” with your interposition and nullification rhetoric is not fooling anyone. Instead of spinning the early victories earned by the new coach and team, you seem to be launching a self-interest undercover malicious champagne. Rest assured however, I will call you out each time you try.
tbhawksfan
October 31st, 2010
4:59 pm
MB: I love that your ping off Woodson. Good call on rejecting his proposal. Thanks for sharing.
Pretty good and acurate blog, you must p off a lot of people based on some of the comments towards you.
Wake up people, its the same old Hawks.
October 31st, 2010
6:05 pm
Its the same team, but with a few different bench warmers. I dont think that changing around a few bench warmers is suddenly gonna make the Hawks win a game in the second round. NONE of the problems with this team were addressed this off season. All we got was Woody’s sidekick. Other than that no other problems were solved. Al is still undersized, Marvin is still a HUGE bust (like Darko Milicic), Josh Smith is still taking J’s. Somebody needs to tell Josh Smith that he isnt Lebron James and he doesnt belong anywhere out of the painted area.
We are gonna get our arses handed to us when we play orlando. I will pray that we lose by under 30 points.
G=Money
November 1st, 2010
11:57 am
Who cares what Joe Johnson has to say? Oh he hurt my feelings as a fan. Whine, whine, whine-bellyache. We pay his salary, blah, blah, blah. The only talking I care about from any of these guys is letting the actions of their respective talents speak. If I feel offended or hurt by something said, I need to no longer support this team, any sponsors, or news outlets that attempt to perpetually keep these types of comments in the fans minds.
niremetal
November 1st, 2010
6:20 pm
The WAY in which Joe got his touches couldn’t possibly make a difference, right Bradley? Naaaaahhhh…
Go back to baseball and football. Leave basketball for the people who actually can do analysis that goes beyond what you can glean by looking at a box score.
OldTimer
November 1st, 2010
8:53 pm
It’s early but it looks like the Hawks biggest problem last year was Woodson. Too much emphasis on the suit. It’ll do you in.
Barry
November 2nd, 2010
10:43 am
Hey Y’all:
Great move in signing Horford. He is our Maurice Lucas. He is our “ENFORCER”. However, the Hawks have better sign and lock up Jamaal Crawford too. He does a heck of a lot for this “MOTION OFFENSE” and his defense os solid. He is the “MOTION in this offense next to Bibby. Teaugue, in my opinion, still acts like he is learning and playing cautios. Jamaal plays confident, smooth and natural on both sides of the ball. He knows what he is doing out there. We can not loose a guard like this. He is great for the other rookie guard , Crawford. We have to keep him. He is great for the Hawks in this “MOTION OFFENCE.”
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!! Sign Jamaal Crawford.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a SECRET from a HAWK FAN. TELL EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
………………….”SHOCK THE WORLD!!!………………….
John Vallelly was underated
November 2nd, 2010
10:12 pm
Funny how a wordsmith can give you the old headfake with his verbiage and make you think one way when the truth lies in another direction. Take the fourth paragraph, for instance: In order to enhance his column’s point, MB says Joe played the ‘fourth fewest minutes among starters’. Another way to say this would have been that Joe played the second MOST minutes among starters. They are both accurate. Glad the Hawks are off to a good start and hope it continues.
Here endeth the lesson
Buddy Grizzard
November 3rd, 2010
1:16 pm
LOL Mike Woodson u mad? Every game LD coaches demonstrates why you are not NBA calbre.