ESPN’s Hollinger: Larry Drew blew Game 2 for the Hawks
The Hawks have rattled the Magic. But they missed a chance in Game 2. (AP photo)
The Hawks had a chance to come home leading 2-0. They failed. According to John Hollinger, the ESPN Insider, they failed because Larry Drew failed.
To recap: Al Horford was called for two fouls in the game’s first 131 seconds. This prompted Drew to sit him for the rest of the first half. This is not a new Drew policy, nor is it peculiar to him. Other coaches have the same two-and-you’re-out rule. But there are times for rules to be bent, and a night when you’re seeking to take a 2-0 lead would seem to be such a time.
But no. With Horford playing not at all in the second quarter, the Hawks went from 10 points ahead to six behind. They would never again lead. An opportunity had gone a-wasting.
Writes Hollinger (link requires registration):
I’ve ripped coaches for extreme conservatism with foul trouble before, but what Larry Drew did Tuesday night in Orlando takes the cake. It may very well cost the Hawks the series …
There is no way to sugarcoat it: This is the most indefensible coaching decision I’ve seen this season. Horford played the entire second half and finished the game with — you guessed it — two fouls. This didn’t come as a surprise to anyone who watched the Hawks this season. Horford has one of the lowest foul rates in the league at his position — just 2.85 fouls per 40 minutes — so even if he had stayed in the game with the two fouls he was at virtually no risk of fouling out.
Overall, when a real center was on the court the Hawks won Game 2 by 10 points. Unfortunately, Drew’s personnel choices sabotaged them so badly in the second quarter that they missed a golden opportunity to grab this series by the throat.
This coaching choice must be categorized as utterly Hawk-like. Drew has found the method for beating Orlando, something predecessor Mike Woodson could not. (It hasn’t hurt that the Magic diluted its own strength via two December trades.) Drew’s way — make Dwight Howard score 40 points — worked in Game 1 and might have worked in Game 2, but his benching of Horford for those two fouls undid it.
To remove Horford after two-plus minutes was prudent. You can’t have him getting a third foul in the first quarter. But when the Magic began reducing the deficit in the second quarter, Horford needed to return. If he incurs No. 3 before halftime … well, you still get six. And it isn’t as if he has to bang against Howard: The Hawks are willing to put Hilton Armstrong on the court for that chore.
That said: The Hawks are still in position to win this series, which comes as a surprise to most but not necessarily to this correspondent. The Hawks are better than the Magic. But here’s the tricky part: They’ll need to win two games at home this weekend, and they lost 17 times at Philips Arena this season. Among teams that finished above .500, only the 42-40 Knicks lost more at home.
So I guess what I’m saying is: Even when they’re sitting pretty, these remain the Hawks. Even as we hope for the best, we have reason to expect something less.
By Mark Bradley
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134 comments Add your comment
TS
April 21st, 2011
7:17 pm
What do you expect from the father of Larry Drew II?
LakeDawg
April 21st, 2011
7:30 pm
No where else to say it, but the Braves suck right now.
BIGG E MAC TOWN
April 21st, 2011
7:37 pm
ZAZA AND MARVIN IS THASH THAT NEED TO BE DUMP OFF I LOVE THE HAWK BUT THESE GUYS HAS GOT TO GOOOOOO
tremaine
April 21st, 2011
7:46 pm
Thats what I like about the playoffs. Your team gets national attention and the media is not afraid to call out the coach. This isn’t the first time Larry Drew has cost this team a victory or made a bonehead decision that has made people wonder if he knows what he is doing. Thank you John Hollinger for doing something that AJC should have been doing all year.
BIGG E MAC TOWN
April 21st, 2011
7:53 pm
I DONT UNDERSTAND HOW CAN YOU PAY A GUY 64MILLION DOLLAR AND YOU CANT GET 10 POINT A NIGHT FROM THIS GUY MARVIN DEAD WEIGHT JUST PLAIN OLD DEAD WEIGHT PLEASE FIND J.J SOME HELP AND BRING JOSH OFF THE BENCH HE CRY MORE THAT MY 2YEAR OLD.
K-Dogg
April 21st, 2011
8:20 pm
Man what else is new!!!!!!!!!!!
LakeDawg
April 21st, 2011
8:22 pm
I reserve judgement on Drew. Hard to tell what kind of coach he is when the players refuse to be coached. If the Hawks give him real input on the roster, you might see a higher level of respect for Drew from the players. I would start by jettising Marvin and Josh. I don’t care if the Hawks get anything for them or not. Addition by subtraction.
Harpie
April 21st, 2011
8:54 pm
Larry Drew is a first class IDIOT, and anyone who’s been paying attention should be able to see that!
no mo
April 21st, 2011
10:37 pm
drew can’t coach a lick—he’s only got the job because he coaches cheap—the owners don’t want to pay a big time coach $6-$10 million per year so they hire the incompetent larry drew. No wonder the franchise sucks so much.
Dr. Warren
April 22nd, 2011
12:44 am
It made no logical sense. Plain and simple. Almost seems like Drew just forgot Al was still sitting there.
tom
April 22nd, 2011
4:34 am
this is what happens when you hire a NO NAME coach. Who is Drew? Anyone ever here of him or success anywhere else. I doubt it. Hawks Management is to blame for hiring this loser.
Double Zero Eight
April 22nd, 2011
6:49 am
Most of us bloggers did not need ESPN to tell us
what we already knew.
Double Zero Eight
April 22nd, 2011
6:52 am
Drew has no clue!
BlahBlahBlah
April 22nd, 2011
7:16 am
We need to win both home games. If it goes back to Orlando 2-2 the Hawks are toast.
Blow Flies R Swarming
April 22nd, 2011
8:31 am
Bottomline is LD sat his best player to allow a 10 point 2nd qtr. lead to turn into a 6 point deficit at the half. Dumb coaching period.
Blow Flies R Swarming
April 22nd, 2011
8:34 am
All Atlanta sports teams are just good enough to make the playoffs. They are never good enough to win championships. Well, since 1996 anyway…Just look back at Hawks,Falcons,and Braves history as exact proof.
joe white
April 22nd, 2011
8:43 am
Drew made some mistakes but holding al out was not, joe game didnt step up and marvin didnt either, and we still lost by 6 pts. Drew did what he could but we missed a few shots we hit in game one had they went down we up 2-0. Tonight we having a white out i cant wait to get there early and we will take this game tonight by a 10 pt margin.
Employee24
April 22nd, 2011
9:02 am
I am the BIGGEST dead weight on the Hawks. I was drafted second overall in the draft ahead of future hall-of-famers Deron Williams and Chris Paul. I am the worst NBA player to ever play in the association. My first name is Marvin, but my brother Deron was drafted after me and turned out to be probably the best point guard the game has ever seen. I am the most pathetic starter the Hawks have ever had. If you havent guessed my name yet I am the guy who doesnt NOTHING for the Hawks but gets a pay check in spite of it.
vicsta
April 22nd, 2011
9:08 am
No one would be talking about this is the Refs had done their job. Maybe, we will get some home cookin too for these home games! Howard shuffles more than a card dealer when he gets the ball in the paint – lets see if they call it.
Ray
April 22nd, 2011
9:27 am
My question is: Why do we have to get this type of critical analysis from an ESPN writer? Kudos to you, Mark, for seeing this and raising it, but where is the AJC Hawks beat writer when it comes to making this type of astute observation? Mark, you and Jeff are sometime pretty good about being critical of bad coaching, poor play and inept front office moves, but it sure would be nice to see more of that from the beat writer.
LukeMerriman
April 22nd, 2011
9:53 am
Larry Drew sat Al Horford because he knows his destiny is certain. Larry Drew is sitting exactly where Mike Woodsen was sitting last season. Woodsen knew that if the Hawks get CLOBBERED against the Magic, Woodsens fate would be sealed. Now history is about to repeat itself, I’m not talking about the Hawks losing to the Magic, I’m talking about the head coach getting fired. Larry Drew’s fate is sealed in that he will get fired if the Hawks lose to the Magic. But Drew should get fired in his inability to develop Teague. It is apparent that Teague has unbelievable skills in Teague’s recent breakout game where Teague scored 22 points. I realized that night that Teague could be scoring 20 points every night if Teague were the starting point guard and was given enough minutes to score the basketball. Even with Hinrich starting, Teague should still get plenty of points if he runs the Hawks offense at a fast pace (maybe 15 seconds into the 24 second shot clock) instead of the Hawks currently letting the shot clock wind down to a few seconds left and forcing up a shot or firing up a ill-advised brick. I know talent dictates a lot of this but the players are executing the coaches instructions. Teague is a lightning quick, gifted point guard who needs mentoring and coaching to develop into one of the leagues best (the calibre of Chris Paul, Rajon Rondo or Deron Williams). Teague has the speed and talent to be the leagues best point guard even better than Derrick Rose.
no justice
April 22nd, 2011
10:04 am
Ray, Is the ESPN analyst obsevation “astute” because he happens to agree with you and your pack of dogs.
KakNiqueTree
April 22nd, 2011
10:31 am
I hate these articles, people who probably don’t know the first thing about coaching second-guessing…
Kelvin
April 22nd, 2011
10:59 am
I totally agree with Hollinger, you don’t sit your best player for the entire second with your team is losing momentum. Larry Drew did not have a good night coaching. That game was there for the taking, but the Hawks under performed and so did the coach.
MitchC
April 22nd, 2011
2:00 pm
Mark, to be fair, I’ve only seen parts of the Hawks-Magic series. (I was too busy watching the Braves play like clowns in LA for most of the past four days) but.. as that’s not the subject of this blog.. let me get to what is..
Realistically.. we all know that it is tough to win on the road.. even for the elite teams. The Hawks went into and took Game 1. “Beatable” or not, we had to expect the Magic to likely take Game 2, giving us the 1-1 split that would have been realistic, and taking us home with a chance to win our remaining three home games, and take this series.
Granted, I’m not a complete buff on NBA history.. but.. the last time I remember watching a series where the road team swooped in, and took two games from the higher seed at home.. was the 1999 Hawks-Knicks Eastern Semis, where the Knicks came into the old Omni, swiped two games from the Hawks, and then proceeded to finish them off in a four game sweep. (Oh, I almost forgot, as it’s a different sport, but the Yankees did the same thing to the Braves later that year in the World Series, resulting in the second four game sweep of the year).
The Hawks are fine. They are where most realistic people expected them to be, probably, 1-1, with two games this weekend at home. They can still win this series, perhaps by sweeping two at home this weekend, and winning the remaining game in Atlanta next week.. or.. they can go the other route, and even if they drop one this weekend, can try to steal another one at Orlando.. and win the home game next week.
I’m not concerned.. yet. The Hawks just have to play well this weekend. Granted.. we know they can be very Jekyll Hyde, but.. I’m optimistic that they can still win this series. A series tied 1-1, just coming off two games on the road, is hardly reason for negativity.
Sir Slamalot
April 22nd, 2011
2:19 pm
They should have shot Mike Woodson (anywhere) the day he drafted Marvin Williams over Chris Paul & Deron Williams…
Sir Slamalot
April 22nd, 2011
2:20 pm
I wouldn’t take 15 Marvin Williams for one Deron Williams…
Sir Slamalot
April 22nd, 2011
2:22 pm
Just think, if D.Williams was distributing the ball to Crawford,JJ,Al,& Smoove what the offense would look like ? Hawks would be a lock for the finals. But they got ole Marvin instead…
SirLancelot
April 22nd, 2011
3:05 pm
I couldnt begin to imagine how great the hawks would be if they had Deron Williams distributing the ball to Jamal, JJ, Al and Smoove, that would be something special to watch. First of all, Smoove would finally develop into an all-star, Al would become as good as Wilt Chamberlain, JJ would becaome as lethal as Kobe Bryant (Joe almost already is as good as Kobe) and Jamal Crawford would become as lethal as Bernard King was for the Knicks. W-O-W. The Hawks would be a lock for the finals and would sweep any opponent in four games had they drafted D-WILL ahead of Marvin (the human trash compactor).
joey1
April 22nd, 2011
4:38 pm
3
Nique's Revenge
April 22nd, 2011
7:04 pm
“(Joe almost already is as good as Kobe)”
Are you high?
THE HAWK
April 22nd, 2011
7:13 pm
Another sports writer who thinks he’s a coach. There isn’t coach in the playoffs who would not have sat down their best player early in the second quarter (Horford) with two personal fouls attached to his stat line. Larry Drew did the right thing.. suppose Drew had left Horford in and he picked up his third foul… what would the sports writer coach then said
Jay Dubu
April 22nd, 2011
8:29 pm
What is Williams doing?
DoninAcworth
April 23rd, 2011
12:41 pm
I just love looking through the blog and learning so much from all’ya’all! Coach learned a lesson
and he probably will be learning a few more before its over.