Crazy, man: Why the uninspiring Hawks can win in Round 1
Jeff Teague was among the Hawks' JVs who scared the Heat. (AJC photo by Jason Getz)
This is the strangest Hawks’ team I’ve ever covered, and I’ve seen some doozies. It got the head coach it wanted — Larry Drew, who’d been Mike Woodson’s kinder, gentler assistant for six seasons — and has performed as if it wants him to become an ex-head coach very soon.
Example: On March 2 the Hawks surged from 19 points down to beat Chicago. Afterward they spouted the usual this-proves-we-can-beat-anybody platitudes. They lost their next four games.
Another: On April 1 the Hawks beat the Celtics, prompting Al Horford to suggest his team has started to “figure things out.” They’ve since lost five in a row, the latest coming Monday against the star-spangled Miami Heat in a game the Hawks didn’t try to win but almost did anyway.
Did I mention that this is an odd team?
The playoffs begin this weekend. Drew acts as if he doesn’t know what to do with his club, which isn’t surprising. Dr. Jack Ramsay crossed with Dr. Sigmund Freud wouldn’t know, either. The Hawks have suffered so many egregious losses — Saturday’s loss to 22-win Washington was the fourth of the season by 30-plus points — that you’d swear they can’t play a lick. But sometimes, for reasons unclear, they do.
This is essentially the same team that won 53 games last season. It’s 44-37 with one to go, and even near its end Drew has seemed unsure how to proceed. Speaking before Monday’s game, he said: “When we got in the situation of being locked in as the No. 5 seed, I had every intention of limiting guys’ minutes.”
On the other hand: “I don’t care who the opponent is — I want to see us come out with energy and focus after the way we’ve played the last two games.”
On yet another hand, regarding the riddle of how a resting team can then re-light its fire: “I don’t know if we are good enough to do that.”
Maybe Drew found what he sought in Monday’s fourth quarter. The Hawks’ B-team — no starter worked a fourth-quarter minute — surged from 12 points down and rattled Miami, which was obviously trying to win. (LeBron James played the entire second half.) With 3:28 left the game was tied. Was this VCU-Kansas or what?
Nope. James Jones converted a four-point play and then made a trey. The Hawks lost again. But can you begrudge such an effort from the likes of Josh Powell and Damien Wilkins? Which prompts another question: Why don’t all the Hawks play this hard all the time?
It’s clear that most of whatever message Drew has sought to impart as head coach hasn’t gotten through. He inherited a roster of gifted players, and under his stewardship this has become just another bunch of jump shooters. The Drew-designed cutback on isolations for Joe Johnson have seen the $120 million man go from being the NBA’s 11th-leading scorer last season to 26th-best now.
Worst of all, there has been no consistency of effort. The Hawks can still play when they’re of a mind, but their response to Drew — or, more precisely, the lack of same — is indicative of a team that has tuned out a long-time head coach, not someone who has worked only 81 games.
And yet … Drew has done one thing that gives this uninspiring and uninspired team a chance to play beyond Round 1. He has done what Woodson would not: Chosen to guard Orlando’s Dwight Howard one-on-one, the result being that the Magic’s gaggle of shooters remains covered. “We’ve kept ourselves out of so many rotations,” Drew said.
As luck would have it, the Hawks will play Orlando in Round 1, and this Magic team isn’t half as potent as it was. (Orlando dismissed the Hawks by an aggregate 101 points over four games in the 2010 playoffs; the Hawks won three times in four this season.) Jason Collins isn’t much of a player, but he doesn’t need to be. He just needs to pester Dwight Howard so the other four Hawks can keep guarding the other four Magic men.
This will likewise make no sense, but here it is: There’s not much about these Hawks I like, but I like their chances of beating Orlando.
By Mark Bradley
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226 comments Add your comment
AG
April 11th, 2011
9:06 pm
It is his fault he gets no respect. Look at the stats across the board and the Hawks are worse. Then the treatment of JCII and JT and I am sure many of the players feel Woody Lite is an idiot.
Mark Bradley
April 11th, 2011
9:13 pm
Now within five. Getting interesting
todd grantham
April 11th, 2011
9:14 pm
Hawks will fine a way. to lose.
O'Brien
April 11th, 2011
9:15 pm
Mark,
Our bench unit (including Jeff) is playing well
todd grantham
April 11th, 2011
9:15 pm
LaBron seems to draw phantom fouls.
todd grantham
April 11th, 2011
9:16 pm
Mark, would it be legal for a basketball player to get a Bud Lite tattoo?
Jesse
April 11th, 2011
9:17 pm
If the Hawks have stopped caring, why shouldn’t we?
AG
April 11th, 2011
9:18 pm
In the playoffs, Teague, Wilkins etc will not be rewarded for this fine effort… watch and see.
FIRE LD
START JT
Mark Bradley
April 11th, 2011
9:18 pm
Heat is flustered. Who are these guys, they’re wondering.
ThaDon06
April 11th, 2011
9:22 pm
Mark, why are Hawks so afraid to build a great team? Why is JJ the highest paid player in the NBA? He’d be a Scottie Pippen at best on any other team…This team has the same chemistry as last year’s…at least they didn’t give up…well, as much…last year…First round and out…
:awks Fan In New Orleans
April 11th, 2011
9:23 pm
Why cannot the starters scrap like this? Scrappy pestering defense. Opportunistic offense. Fun to watch!
Mark Bradley
April 11th, 2011
9:24 pm
Zaza scores. Big Z throws the ball and him and gets ejected. Tied at 88
:awks Fan In New Orleans
April 11th, 2011
9:26 pm
Big Z get outta here. Zaza handling him.
Mark Bradley
April 11th, 2011
9:26 pm
One of the odder games I’ve seen. But a lot of fun
tom
April 11th, 2011
9:28 pm
why can’t these hawks show this amount of energy and effort more consistently?
Mark Bradley
April 11th, 2011
9:34 pm
Hawks down eight, 47.1 seconds to go. Gave it a go, the subs did
M10
April 11th, 2011
9:40 pm
I think Ld is a little to soft to be the Hawks coach,this teams need someone who can tell them like it is, and maybe get a couple of techs here and then.
M10
April 11th, 2011
9:41 pm
And by the way I think Jameer Nelson is right this team will not get past the first round.
papason
April 11th, 2011
9:49 pm
The bench didnt pull it off but a heck of an effort…Starters need to take a note…Show heart,even if u win or lose…At least u played like u cared…
Where's Cliff Levingston when you need him?
April 11th, 2011
9:50 pm
The Hawks should just save everyone the time and effort and literally phone it in against Orlando. We don’t want to watch them barely go through the motions and have ESPN once again bash ATL fans for not showing up to the Human Disappointment Factory. Just give the series to Orlando so they can blow this team up as soon as possible.
Mark Bradley
April 11th, 2011
10:05 pm
Above post has been updated with game details, FYI
just a thought
April 11th, 2011
10:34 pm
Remember when the Bulls had all their youth in 2006-08 and made a run, only to eventually blow everything up. They kept Deng and Noah and basically started from scratch again by letting Ben Gordon and others go. Look at them now.. What the Hawks need to do is keep Horford and maybe one other guy .. AND BLOW THE DANG THING UP.. I vote to keep J-Smooth, but he’s the only asset we have worth anything. Joe Johnson and his contract won’t get squat on the open market. Oh and fire BOTH Drew and Sund.
James on Pharr Rd
April 11th, 2011
11:19 pm
Just a thought
Al is ot the guy to build this franchise on-he’s overrated. I say this with all due respect to his professionalism, but on Defense and Offense he does not have the talent and size to succeed as a no.1 or 2 go to guy on a team. In all honesty, AL overachieved as a part of s successful team, but he would otherwise not shine on a different one.
And with the Power Forwards in the East overwhelmingly better than him, I would think we are better of starting with Josh Smith who can potentially develop into Lamar Odom-not a franchise player, but equivocal part of a team that can bolster us forward. Professionalism can be developed with the right coach, and that’s why my vote goes to JS.
James on Pharr Rd
April 11th, 2011
11:21 pm
I should have mentioned that this is strictly from the perspective of starting from scratch with what we have. Josh>Al
Dwayne C
April 11th, 2011
11:27 pm
So how’s getting rid of Mike Woodson looking now? The Hawks won 53 games last year. This year they’ll win what? 44 or 45 games? They’re obviously regressing. Considering how the Hawks are floundering and the Thrashers are flounder again, for the tenth time in eleven seasons. The plight of these two teams, in large part facilitated by an ownership group of village idiots, makes me ill.
WHY THE HAWKS CAN WIN A PLAYOFF ROUND | Club DINO
April 11th, 2011
11:34 pm
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Nunna!!
April 11th, 2011
11:49 pm
1st,James..Horfords style of play is more in a run and gun attack but he does have a nice 13ft and in jumpshot..And,he is playing out of position and its of no fault of his own..Its his coaches..From woody to drew,he is a power forward who excels in a fast past running system..
2nd,James,it boggles my mind that we got away from the iso for most of the early part of of this year and yet,we lost more games..I was one who was tired of woody and his iso offense and now i see that he was protecting his players deficiency on offense..
I seen the excitement of the hawks post game crew on tv tonite about the play of the bench and how maybe we might see more of these guys in the playoffs..Ha Ha,it will never happen..Drew will keep the starters in no matter how sh—y they look and still will go with a 6-7 man rotation with Teague spilling kirk for maybe 3 minutes a half..
LD…
He just don’t get it!!
KevinM
April 11th, 2011
11:50 pm
Woody was a problem like Drew is currently a problem. Neither have e
MaxxHawk
April 12th, 2011
12:49 am
The Hawks can definitely win the 1st round this year because they actually do match up well against Orlando, as long as Big Twin is healthy. A worrisome issue is injuries. The aforementioned Twin, Al, Josh, and Joe are are all knicked up, so we will need our bench to step up. Hopefully the Playoffs will inspire these guys to play hard. Not playing hard for 4 quarters seems to have been the root of many blowouts this year. I know if I was LD, I’d have this team fired up. I mean Orlando blew the Hawks out historically last year. Jameer Nelson clearly thinks the Hawks are terrible. If they can’t get up to play this series, I don’t know what to tell you.
Mark Bradley`s Booster
April 12th, 2011
5:48 am
Mark: Why do most Hawk fans think Woodson was not the right coach? He started with nothing and won 53 games last year.
just wondering
April 12th, 2011
5:51 am
Jason Crawford…. wow did we make a mistake! The old ‘mortgaged our future for the present’ and there is no present.
59bulldawg
April 12th, 2011
7:44 am
Once again the Hawks are going nowhere. No heart, no pride, no effort. Like other talented Hawks teams of the past this team could be very good. But they peaked a year or two ago and have since stopped working hard. I’m not talking every player but there are definitely enough to retard the team’s continued progress. They are now on the down hill slide to mediocrity or worse.
Jim
April 12th, 2011
7:50 am
“One flew over the cuckoo’s nest”…The Magic will sweep the Hawks again, the Magic got better over the off season the Hawks got worse. Dude you are truly cuckoo!
ken
April 12th, 2011
9:12 am
The Hawks new starting point guard is giving them nothing. He is playing worst than Bibby in my opinion. Sund also made another huge mistake by including JCrawford in that trade as has already been proven. Management and coaching is really where the problems lie with this organization.
PMC
April 12th, 2011
9:16 am
I disagree about consistancy. Over thier history and especially the Joe Johnson years….. this team mails it in like no team in the history of basketball.
They quit with the best quitters in history.
Kelvin
April 12th, 2011
9:16 am
Mark, didn’t you also say you like the Bulldogs chances against Washington in the NCAA tournament or was that Jeff? Either way, the batting averages of predictions from the AJC sportswriters coming true are below average at best. There is a difference between regular season and playoffs and the Hawks, who barely got by an injured Milwaukee team in round one of the 2010 playoffs, I say will be exiting in round one of the playoffs this year.
PMC
April 12th, 2011
9:18 am
Sure glad we brought in Hinrich to improve that wretched defense………………. wow is that working out.
Nothing like picking up average players off terrible teams for the playoffs.
BALI ..
April 12th, 2011
9:25 am
hawks got what they wanted when they got woodson fired…now woodson s assistant is the head man..only play when they want to..who wants to see that…when players run the show time to blow team up and start over…seems like their are alot of college coaches that might be able to teach the hawks how to play basketball…know several high school coaches who could get more effort out of this bunch
Blue
April 12th, 2011
9:25 am
Orlando in 4
Joey
April 12th, 2011
9:31 am
Wow. Josh Powell got to play?
It’s funny, the 2 man off the bench for the Lakers last year rides the pine for the Hawks.
GaDawg
April 12th, 2011
9:51 am
Dwight,
Please come home.
All Set In The East | Basketball Online
April 12th, 2011
10:08 am
[...] in the conference semifinals and from locals who refuse to believe the Hawks’ hype. HT fave Mark Bradley of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution details all of the things he doesn’t like abo…, (something about not liking Larry Drew as Mike Woodson‘s replacement, the team tuning Drew [...]
truth
April 12th, 2011
10:51 am
its sad that the bench gives more effort than the starters last night.
joe johnson is a cancer to this team and state
bascogcjs
April 12th, 2011
11:16 am
How many times can the color analyst, Wilkins exclaim, “you’ve got to give credit to
the second team”. He must have said something similar to this over 20 times in
the fourth quarter. He never gives ANY insight.
Gator Man
April 12th, 2011
11:38 am
How stupid is Mark Bradley? this team is not even worth mentioning , Once again in Florida all the Marks would be in the unemployement line, Mark Bradley, Mark Richt”
NO WAY OUT
April 12th, 2011
12:04 pm
Hawks will go one series, and be done. When it comes to any pro sports team in Atlanta. When playoffs roll around.They will CHOKE.
frank
April 12th, 2011
12:06 pm
can but wont.. Joe Johnson is a loser and will never win anything except the Jon Koncak overpaid loser award.
Jimmy Jam
April 12th, 2011
12:43 pm
I stopped caring after they fired Woody and brought in a guy that had absolutely no experience. If you agree Woodson cannot take you to the next level, then you go and get a guy that has proven he can; not a rookie. So now I just resell my season tickets every game and make money off them clown. I am actually mad they finished 5th and not 6th, they get Orlando instead of Boston, less money in Orlando…Laughing all the way to the bank!
BobStevens
April 12th, 2011
12:53 pm
THE HAWKS SHOULD INTERVIEW AND HIRE FORMER JAZZ COACHING GREAT JERRY SLOAN. Jerry Sloan is a great teacher AND a great coach. Sloan is exactly what the hawks need. The Hawks need a hard-nosed coach who is no-nonsense and doesnt put up with the crap and the mistakes that the Hawks are delivering night in and night out. The Hawks continually getting out to slow starts where they are buried by halftime will probably end under the Sloan regime. Sloan right now is available because he currently does not have a coaching job. If the Hawks hire sloan as their head coach, I guarantee they will start a dynasty and will probably get a three-peat (three titles in a row) over their next 5-7 years. GUARANTEED.
larry luv
April 12th, 2011
1:02 pm
We got kirk for defensive reasons because biby couldnt stop anybody on defense.. but last night Bibby took Kirk to the basket like 3 times and finished KIRK cant stop BIBBY on a drive??? what good is he? i understand having trouble aginst the elite but bibby?