Zaza and Richardson to miss Game 4: Advantage, Hawks
"'My head's harder than yours! Want me to prove it again?'" (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
Losing Zaza Pachulia hurts the Hawks. Losing Jason Richardson hurts the Magic more. It’s pretty simple why.
Zaza is a sub splitting minutes at center, where the Hawks have other choices: Jason Collins is the starter in this lineup, and Al Horford has had some success at the position, having twice made the All-Star team. Richardson is a starter and was, at least during the regular season, the second-leading scorer on a team starving for options beyond Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson
Howard has averaged 33.3 points in this series, up nearly 10 over his regular-season yield. Of Orlando’s 92 baskets, he has 33. Nelson has 19. That means 56.5 percent of the Magic’s offense is coming from two players. That’s why the Hawks lead 2-1. The rest of the Magic men have been, in a word, lousy.
The trades the Magic made in December were bold in the sense general manager Otis Smith acknowledged his team as constituted couldn’t win an NBA title, but being bold isn’t always being smart. The Magic were clearly better with Rashard Lewis and Vince Carter and Mickael Pietrus and Marcin Gortat than with Richardson and Hedo Turkoglu and Gilbert Arenas. Better offensively, better defensively, better every which way.
Turkoglu has been the biggest dud. He was great as a point forward in Orlando’s run to the 2009 NBA finals, but after a stint in Toronto he’s half the player he was then. He has made 25 percent of his shots in this series, and his 3-point try over Al Horford with 30 seconds remaining Friday was, as coach Stan Van Gundy conceded more than once, a “horrible shot.”
Without Richardson, Turkoglu will need to shoot more. And somebody — J.J. Redick or Gilbert Arenas — will need to start. If it’s Redick, he’ll have to guard Joe Johnson, which is a howling mismatch. If it’s Arenas … well, Van Gundy rates him so highly he was deployed for six minutes in Game 2 and not at all in Game 3.
Howard worked 45 minutes and three seconds of Game 3. He sat only at the start of the second quarter, over which time the Magic were outscored 8-3. (The Hawks would win 88-84. Pretty big three minutes, those were.) Said Van Gundy: “He can’t even get a drink of water.”
Van Gundy also said: “We know who our guys [meaning scorers] are — Dwight, Jameer, Turk, J-Rich.” Only two of those have held up their end against the Hawks, and now one of the other two has been suspended for Game 4. Advantage, Hawks.
By Mark Bradley
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86 comments Add your comment
Joe
April 23rd, 2011
10:48 pm
Wrong! We need Zaza against Howard. Richardson’s been a bum in this series, so there’s no difference in losing him.
jgsbrids
April 23rd, 2011
11:08 pm
i think it hurts the hawks a lot more. zaza is a hustler–goes hard for offensive rebounds and nags the heck out of howard and others as well…the hawks will have to scramble to offset the loss of pachulia…someone (smoove?) has got to go to the offensive glass. we can’t afford to shoot jump shots all over the place with nobody underneath.
Dirk Norwinski
April 24th, 2011
2:58 am
I don’t know, I think J-Rich hurts the Magic more than Zaza hurts us…J-Rich’s ball pressure on JJ has been a big difference in our offense after game one…
STRETCH
April 24th, 2011
7:15 am
How about “Dirty Dwight” he clearly took a shot at Zaza’s grill but only got a tech. The NBA is a joke!
The Game Has Changed
April 24th, 2011
7:41 am
No matter how you look at it. Orlando needs this game more we do. If they lose they go down 1-3 and have to win 3 straight. We lose the series is tied 2-2. Not the end of the world. According to all the Hawk Haters we were suppose to be swept. So I guess we playing with house money
Priest Lauderdale
April 24th, 2011
8:45 am
I disagree Mark……Zaza was clearly under Elbow-Slingers skin. That’s why he was slinging elbows. This is Pimp Stern’s way of evening the scales so the more “market-able” team stays in the series. Then they’ll go back to Orlando and the Magic will shoot 80 free-throws to our 10 and the series will effectively be over becaus the Hawks ill give up.
WCJ
April 24th, 2011
9:22 am
The magic have bite off more than they can chew. They(the magic)believed this would be easy, like last year, the magic were wrong. Zaza is taking it to Dwight, and Dwight does not like it. You know the Hawks have the attention of the Magic when Magic players are complainting the
Hawks are playing dirty. What a different a year makes.
HG
April 24th, 2011
9:23 am
You write this and watch the person who takes his place have a crazy good game.
Ted Mp
April 24th, 2011
9:27 am
um…Mark your logic escapes me. The Magic are losing a player who is playing poorly while the Hawks are losing a player who is playing well. Ah, that’s advantage Magic.
Ted M
April 24th, 2011
9:29 am
how’d that “p” get in there.
Collins is a starter in name only as he only plays 15-18 minutes.
Ted M
April 24th, 2011
9:36 am
How come Zaza doesn’t play this good all year long?
sam'l
April 24th, 2011
9:47 am
“Wrong! We need Zaza against Howard. Richardson’s been a bum in this series, so there’s no difference in losing him.”
I agree. Mark’s off on this one…..Collins isn’t supposed to play too long against Dwight and tends to pile up on fouls. Advantage….big advantage…to Orlando in a critical game……Yes,Pachulia has fight, but also very very stupid to get suspended……
Another piece of work….Josh Smith….still cranking up 20-footers and at one time throwing the ball to NO ONE near the end of the game……I was thinking, put this guy on the train to somewhere else. Now, I know what Smith is thinking…..It’s something like, they can’t pull me from the next game cause Pachulia is gone. Therefore, I can take as many threes as I want…..
Throughtout the game, I felt there was intense mental pressure going against the Hawks, so I waa really surprised to see them win. But as everyone says at least on the air……the Hawks are a talented bunch…..like top teams……but something has been holding them back………
Let the world be the judge if the Hawks face Chicago….I would like to see that. …
WCJ
April 24th, 2011
9:55 am
Zaza has gotten into Dwight’s head. Dwight can’t believe that Zaza is this physical. Zaza wil be missed tonight, however the magic will have more problems than the hawks tonight. Jason Richardson was a “threat” to score, and someone had to guard him. Without him , the hawks can force the magic to give Dwight Howard 30 or 40 touches tonight. Dwight don’t have enought scorers around him to make a different. The Hawks will win tonight and Dwight may have 50, he is weapon the magic really have.
sam'l
April 24th, 2011
10:06 am
yeah, yeah…series ain’t over…..tough fight against a lackluster team with no soul…….Orlando really has a bad personality…starting with VanGundy…….Spoelstra can conjure up evil spirits with his energy but Van Gundy should be exorcised daily……Howard is a despicable liar and thug. Howard goes on the air and pretends he didn’t smash Pachulia in the face. kept mumbling about the technical was wrong….Howard smiles on the court as if he is in fantasyland and can’t understand in his wildest dreams why he got a technical…….dude is a liar….we all saw it you jerk. Pull ALL his endorsements….no one likes Dwight Howard, except the same idiots who thought Shaquille ONeal was great for the game because of his POWER and SIZE…. Is it too late to secede from the rest of the fans?
There is clearly something wrong with Redick as a human being, Gilbert Arenas speaks for himself and in general, this is just an ugly team with no soul and the “fans” will be ready to rip them apart if they lose to a team like the Hawks.
So, while the Hawk are in the hole without stupid Pachulia and while they still go catatonic for long stretches in the game…..what if they do beat Orlando?
Can they use Teague against Rose? in a special cameo like Collins against Howard?
Don’t bet on it….Teague looks very out of place against Orlando……and cost us a few points there that we needed..
JASon
April 24th, 2011
10:22 am
Congratulations to the national sports media magnates for maintaining a level of integrity in reporting the hawks spectacular win friday…lord knows if it was any other city’s team, they would have been wetting themselves. Certain websites that begin with a y ought to be ashamed of themselves. So sick of the homogeneity! Mark, this has nothing to do with you, I just needed to vent.
Grant
April 24th, 2011
10:38 am
Imagine if we didn’t have marvin and josh and had dwight.
Br
April 24th, 2011
10:39 am
Gotta win tonight or they lose the series.
Judge R
April 24th, 2011
10:51 am
Losing ZaZa is a huge advantage for the Magic. Collins is a joke and Horford will rack up fouls trying to stop Dwight’s 33 points a game. What a special moment it was when the Hawks boooed their team off the floor in Game 4 last year, the sweep that is!
Dwayne C
April 24th, 2011
11:02 am
The Atlanta Hawks will find a way to lose this series. They’ve regressed from last year, winning nine fewer games and in a season where they suffered a handful of startlingly atrocious defeats on their home court. The Hawks have some good players: Al Horford, Jamal Crawford, Josh Smith and Joe Johnson. Kirk Hinrich might be a keeper as well. When the Hawks are defeated by the Orlando Magic in this series, and they will be, an overhaul of this team may be in order. Head coach Larry Drew, he of a milquetoast demeanor and personality, should be served his walking papers. If Drew is retained and no major changes are made to the Atlanta hawks then I’d expect this team to play .500 next season and barely make the playoffs as a #7 or #8 seed and be a non playoff team entirely in two years.
yodaddy
April 24th, 2011
11:24 am
Yeah I’m in the boat that Zaza is more valuable to us than JRich is to the Magic.
The one thing we have lacked is size and Zaza is a 7 Footer that we couldn’t afford to lose for an entire game.
The Magic have plenty of SF’s and SG’s to mix and match. All we have is Jason Collins, Etan Thomas (formidable I’d say)…Hilton Armstrong who is a joke….and that other guy they signed from the D-League like two weeks ago.
Expect the Hawks to play a lot of small ball with Horford at center and Marvin at the 3 but they shouldn’t. When Collins gets in foul trouble (hopefully not in the 1st quarter) Etan Thomas should come in. After Etan then it should be Armstrong. Horford at Center only in DIRE situations when there is no other option.
I Don’t know if the Hawks are disciplined enough for this but they must NOT foul Dwight in the first quarter…for any reason because we cannot afford to have Josh Powell and Hilton Armstrong in the game for more than 2 minutes.
Van Gundy is the flop
April 24th, 2011
12:01 pm
Stan Van Gundy says he is frustrated by the Hawks ” flopping ”
in an attempt to draw fouls.
Van Gundy’s real frustration is the Hawks are outplaying his poorly coached team.
Shiraz
April 24th, 2011
12:30 pm
men u cant compare georgia to north carolina georgia is way more redneck than nc…..
That Dude Devin
April 24th, 2011
12:49 pm
Etan Thomas will play a great game for his grandma today. He has arms about as big as Dwight. Dwight is tired and Etan will be fresh, so watch out D12. And Joe Johnson needs to earn that max contract and exploit his match up tonight. Go Hawk!
The Game Has Changed
April 24th, 2011
12:55 pm
@Dwayne C- Well my man you can continue to look for us to fall on our face but it wont happen. Drew has them playing well. I didnt expect the Hawks to win as many games as they did last year but I did expect them to get the 4 or 5 seed. Now you are saying we wont be as good next year as we were this year. Only time will tell. But everybody thought the Bucks, Rockets, Bobcats, and the Nets would be better than the Hawks. Sorry if that didnt turn out according to predictions. I respect your opinion but the fact at hand is Van Gundy is getting out coached and the Magic are getting out played. Go Hawks
bigeasy830
April 24th, 2011
1:51 pm
Hawks, ” just win baby, win”, I don’t care how you do it just win. The Hawks match up very well with the top 4 teams in the east. The Hawks have trouble against big teams. Besides Howard the Magic don’t have much else in the post. So if we win this series, I see us also doing well against the Bulls, Al plays very well against his old Florida teammate and J Smoove matches up well against Boozer. So again, “Just win baby win”.
bigstack19
April 24th, 2011
2:21 pm
I have come to the conclusion that Dwight Howard could murder a Hawks player (look out Jason Collins) and the NBA would let him get away with it. He should have received a suspension for whipping around with his elbow but the NBA couldn’t suspend Howard because he is a star and the rules don’t apply to stars especially in the playoffs. Besides, does anyone really think the NBA wants Atlanta to win this series?
auburn fan
April 24th, 2011
2:27 pm
Are the Hawks announcers just homers or are we getting terrible calls against D. Howard?
I see him just abusing the Hawks on both ends of the floor and not getting too many calls. I know he is a star but this stuff just is too obvious. They finally called a T on him for trying to take Z’s head off.
auburn fan
April 24th, 2011
2:29 pm
Has anyone told Josh Smith that he can drive and dunk? What makes him want to shoot jumpers? He could foul out D. Howard all by himself.
Ball Hog
April 24th, 2011
3:19 pm
Is anyone looking forward to playing teams like the Celtics,Heat,or Bulls if Hawks get by Magic ?
Ball Hog
April 24th, 2011
3:31 pm
Fact is the Bulls,Celtics,& Heat each have 3 stars to rely on to win games. The Hawks still have one (JJ) just like the Magic (Howard) have. I foresee a sweep in te later rounds if they eek by the Magic.
JOSH SMITH FOR 3!!!
April 24th, 2011
4:05 pm
Hawks win in 5, and Howard goes to the Lakers early.
Then Orlando goes the way of Cleveland. Sad, really.
Marie
April 24th, 2011
4:23 pm
Mark I know the Hawks are the hometown team and yeah it’s a good idea to cheer for them and all. But I can’t. I think they will stretch this series to a game 7 and will possibly win the whole thing. But I don’t want them to. Why? Because I enjoy good, competitive basketball more than seeing the hometown team go to round 2. For the past 2 years the Hawks have gotten to round 2 and have done nothing but been a complete embarrassment. As a matter of fact throughout the entire history of the Atlanta Hawks they have NEVER been able to go past round 2. And there best showing in round 2 was the game 7 in Boston in which Nique and Bird had their epic battle (one of the best playoff games in the history of the NBA); other than that the Hawks have been nothing but a big disappointment.
So the Hawks facing the Chicago Bulls would be nothing but child’s play for Rose, Noah, Boozer and Company; and would be swept in 4 as they have the past 2 years. I honestly believe the Magic would put up a better fight and actually go out there to compete.
Ben
April 24th, 2011
5:16 pm
I thought this team quit on their head coach 2 months ago?
Jack
April 24th, 2011
6:26 pm
Yet another example of Bradley not knowin g what he is talking about. However I would love to eat my words with a Hawks win
Hoops
April 24th, 2011
7:04 pm
I can see the Hawks really going after it tonight. Collins and Thomas will be on fire with the challenge that Zaza left them with. Hawks in 6.
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April 25th, 2011
12:00 am
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