Live from Philips: The Hawks try to beat one of the NBA’s elite
From those halcyon days when the Hawks could handle a good team. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
If ever we needed a reminder that it’s not how you start but how you finish, the Hawks and the Celtics provided it. The Hawks finished third in the NBA East and were 4-0 against the Celtics, who wound up with the East’s No. 4 seed, in the 2009-2010 regular season.
Emphasis on “regular season.”
The Hawks got swept in Round 2 of the playoffs by an aggregate 101 points and were so mortified they dumped their coach and promoted his longtime assistant, which presumably made sense to somebody. The Celtics beat Cleveland in Round 2 and Orlando in Round 3 and reached the NBA finals. And now the Hawks, who were seen seven months ago as a rising power, seem in retreat, while Boston is doing as royalty always does — biding its time until the playoffs.
Seven months ago you’d much rather have been the Hawks than the Celtics, who were regarded as too old and too cranky. Now it’s hard to know what to make of the Hawks, who in the course of 13 games under new coach Larry Drew have managed to muddy the waters even more.
The Celtics arrived at Philips Arena to play the Hawks on Monday, and before the game a Boston writer asked Drew a question containing the E-word. And Drew flat-out admitted that his Hawks don’t deserve to be considered among the NBA’s elite.
“It’s a very difficult challenge,” Drew said. “In order to get to the next step, there has to be more of a sense of urgency with every team we play, not just in certain games.”
Then: “Good teams don’t take possessions off.”
Then: “We’re hoping to get to that level.”
Then: “I don’t know if you can teach it [elitism]. I think you just harp on it.”
Then: “If we were at that [elite] level, there were certainly a couple of ballgames we’d have won. We’d have toughed it out.”
Then: “You can see when the better teams reach a certain point in a game, they tighten it up. I don’t think we’re there yet.”
We pause to ask: Wasn’t the whole point of replacing Mike Woodson with his assistant of six seasons the feeling among ownership that the Hawks were only the right coach away from elite status? (Drew himself conceded Monday: “I think we have the personnel to get to that level.”) If so, why have these Hawks started worse under the kinder, gentler and presumably more innovative Drew than they did a year ago under Woodson?
The Hawks entered Monday’s game 8-5, having lost five of seven after a 6-0 start achieved against an array of opponents listed in Who’s Not Who. Of the Hawks’ eight victories, none had been over a team that holds a winning record. Worse, four of the Hawks’ five losses had come at home.
A year ago the Hawks were 11-2 after 13 games, and those 13 included road stops against the Lakers and the Celtics. Last season’s Hawks lost their first home game on Thanksgiving, their fourth on New Year’s Day. This time a year ago the Hawks appeared much closer to elite than they do today, which makes no sense when you consider that these Hawks are essentially those Hawks plus Jordan Crawford, Josh Powell and Etan Thomas. And Larry Drew.
In sum, the Hawks entered Monday’s game in dire need of a victory over somebody who can actually play. The schedule won’t always be so soft. Of the Hawks’ first six road games, only two had come against a team that made the playoffs last season, and one of those two was against Cleveland, which lost a free agent of some consequence over the summer. And Drew isn’t exactly working under a vote of the utmost confidence: He’s the NBA’s lowest-paid head coach and he’s working on a two-year contract.
Said Drew, speaking of his team’s uphill climb: “We’ll keep working at it. We’ll keep trying to get there.”
Good idea. Better hurry, though.
And with that, the floor is again open for questions, comments and reader submissions as to why Mike Woodson wasn’t so bad after all. I’ll be here all game, and I can already impart one snippet of information: Rajon Rondo, who destroys Mike Bibby, isn’t going to play. That’s the good news. The bad news: Rondo’s backup is Nate Robinson, who does likewise to Bibby. Pick thy point-guard poison.
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301 comments Add your comment
Dan
November 22nd, 2010
8:46 pm
Marvin Williams has no business being a Hawk!!!!
Chips
November 22nd, 2010
8:47 pm
Mark you were here pumping the hawks a few weeks ago after their 5 or 6 win start and i said it was against crap opponents. This team is a joke and tonight shows that. But they sure strung your kool aid drinking self and several others along for a couple of weeks.
Nique's Revenge
November 22nd, 2010
8:47 pm
jon koncak doin anything? would be an improvement
Haha
November 22nd, 2010
8:47 pm
I told you several weeks ago this team was a joke. Keep paying Joe and the other losers. Morons
Mark Bradley
November 22nd, 2010
8:48 pm
Hawks down 85-56 after three quarters. But they’re a fourth-quarter team
Haha
November 22nd, 2010
8:49 pm
And they haven’t even played the heat yet. This is a .500 team by seasons end.
And you idiots, including you MB, drinking the kool aid after the first two weeks. Look at the opponents idiot!
Mark Bradley
November 22nd, 2010
8:49 pm
I wasn’t pumping the Hawks, Chips. Feel free to go back and look.
HawksHeckler
November 22nd, 2010
8:50 pm
Za Ha took down Baby. For what?? I like Crawford, but I cant get down with the number 55. Hawks may set a record tonight for fewest points. Josh is smelling his lip, some @#@#%$$ is about to pop off!!
TROTTINGHOME
November 22nd, 2010
8:50 pm
i THOUGHT it would be February before the free fall began… I was wrong …it already has.
Dan
November 22nd, 2010
8:52 pm
Mark, Do you sense any kind of pride on this team?
39-13
November 22nd, 2010
8:52 pm
That looks like a uga tech final and not one period of basketball. LOL
ant banks
November 22nd, 2010
8:52 pm
jordan crawford is a stud. 6 pts in 8minutes? keep playin’ him. hawks have come back to earth.
fools paid for this?
November 22nd, 2010
8:53 pm
Jokin Joe, Smooth and Starvin Marvin were sitting on the bench side by side. $180 million worth of crap on the bench. How in the hell could someone pay these guys that kind of money, with no championships, no appearance in the finals, no appearance in the divisional finals. And what fools would pay money to watch this?
Hard to believe these guys will make over $200K for showing up tonight. What a messed up society.
Texas Hawk
November 22nd, 2010
8:54 pm
WOW!! This is sicknening!!
Chillin on Paradise Island
November 22nd, 2010
8:54 pm
I cant believe i wasted 10 bucks on a ticket to a Hawks game this year. I could have watched a movie instead.
Mark Bradley
November 22nd, 2010
8:55 pm
Tell me where I drank the Kool-aid. I was high on the Hawks last season, yes. But not this. Go back and check.
Nique's Revenge
November 22nd, 2010
8:55 pm
Hawks’ guide to the cham-peen-ship
1. get an all-star head coach (drew aint it)
2. get a superstar player (joke johnson aint one)
3. get a center. any decent center.
4. officially, publicly, sincerely apologize to Dominique for throwing him in the dumpster (clippers) back in ‘94, in the middle of our best season ever, when we had a legit shot for the championship
5. Blank buys the franchise
not necessarily in that order
all these things will help create a buzz in the city and make teams actually scared to play us, rather than ho hum time to pushover the hawks, a B-team. think about it. kobe want to play here? NO. lebron? NO. any superstar? NO. last superstar was Nique, who was slapped in the face. 16 years of crap, now can someone move us along to be a true contender?
Mark Bradley
November 22nd, 2010
8:55 pm
Hawks have slashed it to 27 points.
Texas Hawk
November 22nd, 2010
8:57 pm
How the hell can we be playing so bad at home?? These are the goals we shoot on every day but these scrubbs shooting BAD!!!
Dan
November 22nd, 2010
8:57 pm
Jordan Crawford is no stud, just look at how he plays, very hesitant, no real dribbling ability. Anyone can score in garbage time!!!!
Real Talk
November 22nd, 2010
8:57 pm
I have been saying all along that this team, with the exception of AL Horford, is a joke, they play with NO HEART, PRIDE, or PASSION but you have people like BIG RAY who are fooled by them beating up on SCRUBS and barely winning against them. I blame ASSG once again for making DUMB decisions during the off seasons which led to the massacre you guys are watching unfold tonight.
fools paid for this?
November 22nd, 2010
8:59 pm
Jokin Joe, Smooth and Starvin Marvin were sitting on the bench side by side. $180 million worth of crap on the bench. How in the hell could someone pay these guys that kind of money, with no championships, no appearance in the finals, no appearance in the divisional finals. And what fools would pay money to watch this?
Hard to believe these guys will make over $200K for showing up tonight. What a messed up society. What is funny is these players would play for $400-500K per year. What else are they going to do, be medical doctors? If they win their division, then give them another $250K. Win the conference, another $500k. Win the title another $1million.
HawksHeckler
November 22nd, 2010
9:00 pm
Thats an Ugly azz suit Rondo has own. Za Ha can help him, he is a model right??
Willy
November 22nd, 2010
9:01 pm
Has the city of Atlanta ever had a good basketball coach? (GT included).
Tired of watching BAD Hawk TEAMS!!!!!
November 22nd, 2010
9:01 pm
I feel bad for Horford!! He just signed an to stay in ATL and get punished every game for the next 4 years!!! HAHAHAHAHA
JM
November 22nd, 2010
9:02 pm
I don’t know what the hell is wrong with this team. Glad its still football season! BOOO Hawks!
Dan
November 22nd, 2010
9:02 pm
I love Nique, but he is a lousy commentator
Nique's Revenge
November 22nd, 2010
9:03 pm
oh yeah 6. finally get rid of that ugly azz hawk logo, go back to the hawk in the circle and update it, something. mid-90s were awful for the hawks. lost Nique, got a horrible new logo, and bob rath-in-his-buns started calling the games. whyyyyy.
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November 22nd, 2010
9:04 pm
[...] Live from Philips: The Hawks try to beat somebody who's actually … [...]
Nique's Revenge
November 22nd, 2010
9:05 pm
Willy, yes, Cremens
Mark Bradley
November 22nd, 2010
9:05 pm
Boston has scored six points in the fourth quarter, which has 5:51 left. The lead has been trimmed by two points.
Dan
November 22nd, 2010
9:05 pm
Mark, how do you improve this team?
Nique's Revenge
November 22nd, 2010
9:05 pm
*Cremins
HawksHeckler
November 22nd, 2010
9:05 pm
Woody grew into a decent coach. Just stubborn as a Mule. He had the ballzz to stand up to Josh and keep a tight leash on these young rich folk. He got effort out of the SEVEN guys he played.
Said what?
November 22nd, 2010
9:05 pm
Dan
November 22nd, 2010
9:02 pm
I love Nique, but he is a lousy commentator
Have too laugh when Nique starts talking about playing defense….
Mark Bradley
November 22nd, 2010
9:06 pm
How do I improve this team?
More iso-Joe, maybe? More switching on defense?
todd grantham
November 22nd, 2010
9:06 pm
Mark, your salary should be based on blog hits. it would be in the millions, i’m sure
Dan
November 22nd, 2010
9:08 pm
Josh Smith, way to come out and play after the vote of confidence by the team.
Real Talk
November 22nd, 2010
9:09 pm
I have been saying all along that this Joke of a team with the exception of Al Horford has NO HEART, PRIDE, nor any PASSION about themselves. But you can’t put all of the blame on the players especially when the ASSG posses the same qualities.
Nite Owl
November 22nd, 2010
9:09 pm
Hi Mark. Long-time reader, very infrequent commenter. I appreciate your work very much.
I just stopped by to say that my unlimited optimism has finally found its limit. I have been a homer of all sports Atlanta (and the State of Georgia, for that matter) since I was eight years old, but I am done with this horrible collection of gutless idiots. I am beyond disgusted. My first “uh-oh” moment was the Bucks game, but I figured that was an anomaly.
I will be a sucker no longer. Unfortunately, the Hawks were the last bit of the NBA I could stand, so now I’ve written off an entire league.
So I’m off to follow the Falcons and the Thrashers (now that Dudley is in charge of personnel), two teams who have heart, guts, and brains. I’ll look forward to spring training with the Braves, March Madness, and the Stanley Cup playoffs.
But I will not waste another minute on the Hawks. Adios, muchachos.
Mark Bradley
November 22nd, 2010
9:09 pm
I’m thinking the Celtics are going to hold off the Hawks.
Mark Bradley
November 22nd, 2010
9:09 pm
Salary? I’m supposed to have one of those?
IlliniDawg
November 22nd, 2010
9:14 pm
@Nite Owl:
Don’t understand your logic. Why give up on one crappy team with no quality leadership, overpaid talent, and no history of success (Hawks) to follow another crappy team with a lame front office, a deficit of talent, and an even bleaker history (Thrashers)?
Nique's Revenge
November 22nd, 2010
9:14 pm
yep. let’s not be duped any longer. Hawks are not elite, not even close, almost 2 DECADES without a superstar, tired, ugly philips arena in tired downtown, BOO. just watch the games vs. Lakers, Heat, etc. so you can cheer some superstars.
Al
November 22nd, 2010
9:17 pm
Why do people say Atlanta is a basketball town? Nobody really cares about the Hawks. Even tonight against an “elite” team they sold only 14,000 seats. Pretty pathetic. I am sure almost half are Boston fans.
matt
November 22nd, 2010
9:19 pm
Enter your comments here
HawksHeckler
November 22nd, 2010
9:19 pm
Huggy Bear was wearing a Celtic uniform tonight. I mean straight PIMP Slappeddd. POWWWWWW!
Mark Bradley
November 22nd, 2010
9:19 pm
Final score: Celts 99, Hawks 76.
matt
November 22nd, 2010
9:21 pm
Man, oh man does this team suck. Is it too late to bring back Woody?? Just a gutless performance tonight.
Tired of watching BAD Hawk TEAMS!!!!!
November 22nd, 2010
9:22 pm
Good Job Hawks!!! Way to lay down in the middle of the road so that big Boston truck could slide all over you to an easy win!!!!