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lethalweapon3

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Blog Entries posted by lethalweapon3

  1. lethalweapon3
    “You trying to get the pass?”



    A Stay of Execution. That’s not what’s happening in the literal sense with these Atlanta Hawks, at least not yet. They’re hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight in the Eastern Conference Finals at the Highlight Factory (8:30 PM Eastern, TNT, 92.9 FM in ATL) for what hopefully is not the final time this season.

    Things were looking dire late in Game 1, Atlanta down by double-digits in the final five minutes when their Playoff MVP, and LeBron Impeder, DeMarre Carroll went down with what looked to be, for him and his team, a catastrophic knee injury. While former editions of the Hawks would have crumbled like a CGI building near the San Andreas Fault, this group pulled together and played inspired ball in Carroll’s absence, right up to the final minute of play. Now, Hawks fans need to see execution from their top-seeded team on both ends of the floor all night, execution that was non-existent for way too many stretches of Game 1.

    Execution wasn’t evident in Game 1 when Cleveland took advantage of the Hawks’ lack of persistent motion on offense. The Cavs neutralized Atlanta’s pass-starved offense by shielding Jeff Teague (10-for-18 2FGs) and Dennis Schröder’s teammates and daring the static duo to try scoring on drives down the lane, or at least take ill-advised perimeter heaves (1-for-9 combined 3FGs) early in the shot clock. Execution was obviously flawed on defense, whenever Woodyball reared its head and the point guards found themselves switched onto James in isolation around the elbow.

    Execution to get Kyle Korver (2-for-4 3FGs) simmering from long-range never materialized, leaving the door open for Cleveland’s J.R. Smith to go circa 2009 Nuggets-era on Atlanta, burying the Hawks with eight go-for-yours threes on 12 attempts. While Smith’s teammates shot just 2-for-14 on threes, Korver’s associates (2-for-19 3FGs) were of little help, either.

    Execution wasn’t obvious around the rim, as Tristan Thompson and Timofey Mozgov had few problems getting offensive rebounds around the Hawks’ frontline, and Atlanta failed to make them pay at the other end (9 fastbreak points). Korver had to lead the way for the team in defensive boards (7) while Carroll was occupied on James.

    Execution was crucial at the charity stripe, but the Hawks missed six freebies and were unable to capitalize on the Cavaliers’ seven misses. Execution was needed, but never transpired, when LeBron sat with two quick fouls and the Hawks up seven in the first quarter, the Hawks making just one field goal in the final three minutes while Cavs coach (and today’s birthday boy) David Blatt preserved James. The Cavs thoroughly controlled the tempo as the Hawks took a postseason-low 77 shot attempts and gathered playoff-lows of 37 player rebounds and 19 assists.

    Execution evaporated on the game-clinching play, when the Hawks needed another stop for a chance to get themselves back within a bucket of the lead. Paul Millsap was locked into James way too far out from the rim, and when James came thundering off the pick, rolling right down Peachtree and a little ways down Whitehall for the game-defining slam, the Hawks on the floor were left looking at one another: “I thought you had him!”

    The good news is Carroll’s knee injury turned out not to be as serious as it first looked. With a knee brace strapped on, DMC’s status for Game 2 is similar to that of Cavs guard Kyrie Irving, whose balky knee issues have the Cavs turning to Matthew Dellavedova (0-for-6 FGs, 3 assists) and Iman Shumpert (1-for-7 FGs, 2 assists) when LeBron is unable to put matters in his own hands.

    12 player turnovers by the Cavs (just six Atlanta steals) and 30 defensive rebounds by the Hawks is insufficient to get Atlanta’s transition game up-and-running. Game 2 must feature significant pressure on Cleveland’s ballhandlers, and more deflections of predictable passes to James and Smith. Communication and box-outs are vital for Al Horford, Pero Antić and the Hawks’ frontcourt, as they can’t get caught watching the flight of the ball with Thompson and Mozgov lurking about.

    Whether or not Carroll gets green-lighted for Game 2, Millsap will have to make better decisions with his positioning while guarding James in the halfcourt, and must communicate better with Horford whenever his man is coming off screens. Mike Budenholzer effectively deployed Kent Bazemore late in the game and insists on giving LeBron “different looks,” but those looks cannot include his point guards getting backed down toward the paint off James’ frequent iso-dribble. Bazemore’s length and athleticism gives him a better chance of being disruptive, and he’s likely to get the start in place of DMC.

    Korver must get better touches, and those can come by way of his backcourt mates’ drives, Horford’s and Antić’s dribble-handoffs, and hockey assists. Even if Kyle has to get a few spot-ups and contested shots up, this is no time to leave his missiles in the silos.

    Taking an 0-2 series deficit into title-starved Cleveland would feel like a literal Stay of Execution for Atlanta. It’s time for the Hawks to show they can do a little executing of their own, too.

    Let’s Go Hawks!

    ~lw3
  2. lethalweapon3
    As De La Soul would put it… Stakes is high! But will the Atlanta Hawks be left looking like the Pharcyde, with the Indiana Pacers passin’ them by?

    My dear, they may not know us, but we know them very well. All season long, we’ve seen Our Fine Feathered Friends play loose and often without focus at the starts of the first and/or second halves of games, fully expecting they’ll find a way to just turn it on by crunch time, then tightening up and flaming out completely when the BR-30 doesn’t come on. More often than not this season, that strategy worked, especially against the Bobcats and Magic and Wizards of the world.

    Now, though, they’re one “whoops-oh-well” away from the end of the season and a very probable breaking up of the band. How will Our Fine Feathered Friends perform? Tonight, at Philips Arena, will Atlanta fans get to see the Hawks -- or pressure-cooked turkeys?

    After two previous flops in Atlanta, the Pacers figured a way to adjust to the Hawks’ super-sized lineup by subbing in Ian Mahinmi and Jeff Pendergraph earlier in Game 5. With Josh Smith sitting and in early foul trouble, the Pacers directed the offense to whichever of David West (series-high 24 points, six consecutive FGs in the second quarter) or Roy Hibbert (series-high 18 points) was in. Hibbert’s 14 free throw attempts surpassed the combined total (13) of the prior four playoff contests. Smith’s absence from the floor also allowed free reign for Paul George (21 points, series-best 7-for-8 FGs).

    After holding firm in that first quarter, the Hawks slid further behind with defensive lapses and blown short-range shots… and then allowed the bottom to completely fall out in the third quarter. Pointless technical fouls, fouling a 30-foot shooter at the end of the shot clock, and more of the same unfocused play contributed to the biggest laugher in the series.

    The winning spreads have gone from 17, to 15, to 21, to 11, and now to 23. The saddest part of Game 5 is the Hawks wasted away their best performance at the free throw line, shooting 30-for-37 after missing 13, 12, and 9 freebies in their previous three games. With their backs to the wall and the season, unlike Smith’s toes, on the line, will the Hawks come through from the stripe when the whistles blow their way?

    Frank Vogel figured a way in Game 5 to adjust to Hawks head alchemist Larry Drew. With his back to the wall and the season, and maybe his next NBA head coaching contract on the line, will LD find the proper substitution patterns to neutralize what Indiana throws out there? He may just be fine-tuning his poker game for the summer, because The Man of 1,000 Starting Lineups insists he hasn’t had to make adjustments at all. Via AJC:

    “It’s like it’s been all these other games, just preparation going into the game, knowing exactly what you want to do from a defensive standpoint. We haven’t approached any of our games any differently. At this point we won’t either. We will stick with the same game plan, go out and play our best and give it our best shot.”

    The NBA’s tenth-best field goal shooter in the regular season, Al Horford, shot just 11-for-28 in his last two playoff games. With his back to the wall and the season on the line, will he make the crucial shots and plays that prove he deserves to be a marquee player going forward in Atlanta?

    Smoove, Devin Harris, Kyle Korver, Johan Petro, and Anthony Tolliver may be rocking the candy-cane-and-blue Hawks jerseys in Atlanta for the final time tonight. Jeff Teague and Ivan Johnson may have to do some summertime contract shopping as well, while DeShawn Stevenson and Dahntay Jones could conceivably be donning NBA jerseys for the last time.

    With their backs to the wall and the season, and perhaps the terms of their next NBA contracts, on the line, will Larry Drew’s season-long mantra about a “sense of urgency” kick in and show up on the floor with these guys? Will interior players keep the Pacers out of the lane, leaving George and Indy's perimeter players (just 7-for-19 on threes in Game 5) settling for contested (and un-fouled) long distance shots? Will they win fights for loose balls and defensive rebounds? Will they “respond” and put the homecourt pressure back on the Pacers? Will they show this "composure" thing that LD keeps harping on in front of refs and fans, or will the Pacers fly home sipping a fine whine made from Hawk tears?

    Teague comes across more like a mallrat from Indio, California than a cat straight outta Indianapolis, pretty much assuring fans, “easy, my sheezies. Pressure what? Pressure who?”

    “There is no pressure. No one even expected us to be in a Game 6. We are going to go out and have fun. We know we can beat this team. We’ve proven. We are going to go out and play with a lot of passion and energy and try to get a win.”

    Hopefully, The Passion of the Hawks has a good ending tonight.

    Let’s Go Hawks!

    ~lw3
  3. lethalweapon3

    Hawks - Cavs

    By lethalweapon3,

    Who ARE these masked men?

    Why, they’re the Cleveland Cavaliers, a team that strolled into Philips Arena last month against an unsuspecting Atlanta Hawks team and, after laying low for a half, ran off with a split-second victory like a thief in the night.

    This time, they’ve got their alpha dog back. And this time, the Hawks will be in their house.

    Just like Detroit a couple days ago, Cleveland (7-23) has a more positive outlook after beating the Wizards for their second win in a row (first “streak” of the year).

    Tristan Thompson is still donning his protective mask. The second-year pro has contributed a double-double in each of his last four games, missing five consecutive by just a single rebound (12.4 PPG, 12.0 RPG, 52.3 FG% in his last five). His season high of 15 rebounds against came against the Hawks on November 30. Thompson’s bump in production comes right on time, with could-be All-Star Anderson Varejao (14.1 PPG, league-leading 14.4 RPG, 3.4 APG, 1.5 SPG) still out and nursing a bruised knee.

    Beta-dog Varejao is not planning to play this entire weekend. The Cavs will need to mask his absence not only with strong rebounding performances (29th in the NBA in defensive rebounds per game, even with Andy V) from frontcourt reserves, but also some participation in the passing game and occasional defensive stops. Against Washington on Wednesday, Cleveland was out-boarded 51-38, yet they did manage to generate (or, at least, be present for) 20 turnovers, a high for the month even though they’re from the Wizards.

    They only went nine-deep in that game, giving Luke Walton his second straight 20+ minute appearance (his only two this season, so far). Walton surprised with a team-leading 3 steals against D.C. With a healed cheekbone, Tyler Zeller shed his facemask along the way to a career-high 20 points in his first NBA start against Boston last week (“All Praise Due to Jason Collins”). But Zeller seems to have trouble striking a balance of efficient scoring (32.4 FG% his last 3 games) and consistent rebounding (8.0 RPG in his last three games, 2.5 RPG in the two games prior). Samardo Samuels can’t help (or harm) as he’s just been assigned to their D-League affiliate in Canton. Facing back-to-back games like the Hawks, look for a surprise participant from Coach Byron Scott’s sizable doghouse to emerge. Kevin Jones? Jon Leuer? Omri Casspi? Against any of these guys, this may turn out to be a good game for Atlanta to give Mike Scott some shine.

    Kyrie Irving is rocking a mask now. Originally going with the Jet Li look, a black mask to shield a broken bone in his jaw, he’s now going with the Rip Hamilton-style clear mask. Either way, it’s been hard for opponents to keep Kyrie from going Zorro on them. Irving has averaged 23.0 PPG and 5.4 APG while shooting 40.4% on threes and 46.1% overall since his return from a broken finger. He hung an L on the Lakers with 28 and 11, and his 41 points nearly toppled the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. After the Hawks’ struggles containing Will the Thrill Bynum on Wednesday, what defensive designs will Larry Drew draw up for Uncle Drew?

    Jeremy Pargo wasn’t wearing a mask, but he sure played like The Mask in his last game against the Hawks, just one among a disconcerting conga line of opposing small guards to declare aloud,
    “Somebody stop me!” He burned Jeff Teague and the Hawks’ backcourt for 22 points, largely on an array of blow-by layups and step-back jumpers in the final stanza as the Cavs made their late charge. He’s taken a definite backseat with Irving back (five appearances and eight combined points in Cleveland’s last nine games), but it’s intriguing how much we’ll see of Jannero’s little bro this time around, perhaps alongside Irving as the situation warrants.

    Dion Waiters has been hot-and-cold offensively in five games since returning from an ankle sprain. Moreso than the return of Irving, Waiters’ trips to the line and three point shooting largely represent the difference between his last five games (2.0 FTAs/game, 0.4 3PTM/game, 11.8 PPG) and the prior five games before his injury (4.6 FTAs, 1.8 3PTM, 18.6 PPG). While Byron Scott values Waiters’ athleticism, it’s been a challenge for him to mask Waiters’ defensive lapses and inefficient shooting (38.2 FG% in the last 5 games, 36.7% on the season).

    Alonzo Gee continues to start but has been going through the motions with few standout games of late. He may struggle to hold off C.J. Miles for a starting wing spot, although his defense remains his calling card. Miles has cooled lately, but emerged with a couple explosive performances after Kyrie returned to action. He had 28 points each in back-to-back nights against the Lakers and Pacers, then followed that with 17 points in back-to-backs with the Bucks and Knicks before returning to Earth (9.0 PPG in his last five). C.J. does seem to be regaining his confidence (and Byron Scott’s) after a miserable November.

    Former Hawk Donald Sloan was cut loose to make room for Shaun Livingston, who was himself released for the second time in two months, this time by the Wizards. It’s hoped that he will add flexibility among the backcourt reserves, particularly allowing Daniel Gibson to shift onto point guards defensively.

    Despite mediocre shooting from deep (16th in 3FG%), expect the Cavs to come out swords blazing. When they manage to make ten or more three-pointers, their record is 6-3, and 1-20 otherwise. Expect Hawk guards to play close to the vest, but the wings and power forwards need to step out and help redirect their path to the rim when the Cavs’ guards drive. Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia need to stay home on defense and limit the cheapies from their opponents at center.

    Cav opponents shoot the league’s highest percentage at-the-rim (around 69%), an area where the Hawks excel. Particularly with Varejao out-of-action, this is not a day for Hawk forwards to sharpen their long-range sniping. But if they do (hint: they will), they can take solace in knowing Cleveland gives up long-twos at a league-high 41%. Cleveland’s intent is to guide teams into the muddled middle where guys like Gee, Irving, and Gibson can be at their disruptive best. A league-leading 58% of those at-rim shots from Cav foes are assisted, so this could be a nice day for lobs to the bigs and backdoor cuts from the wings.

    They may not be players, but they hack a lot. Cleveland ranks 2nd in racking up personal fouls, 5th in opponent free throw attempts (you’ll recall the Hawks are the NBA’s stingiest in these categories). Hopefully a significant number of trips to the line for Atlanta will be of the And-1 variety (top five in And-1s, as a percentage of field goal attempts) and not just Best-of-Two (28th in FT%).

    Go Hawks!

    ~lw3
  4. lethalweapon3
    WIN… and THEY Go Home!


    The outcome of today’s Game 7 (5:30 PM Eastern, SportSouth, TNT), a game that was not supposed to happen, will not provide easy answers for either the Atlanta Hawks or the Indiana Pacers. But it sure will help clarify a lot of questions.

    The Pride of Pike High School, Jeffrey Demarco Teague was still at Wake Forest when the Indianapolis Star acclaimed “The Magnificent Seven”, a Rushmore of top Indianapolis-area high school talents bound for greatness in the NBA. Greg Oden, Eric Gordon, even Josh McRoberts and Rodney Carney were adorned with honorary membership. There was no effort from the Indy Star to modify the name to “The Great Eight” once Teague entered the league in 2009.

    Today, Teague has an opportunity to secure his place in Naptown lore with his first NBA playoff series victory as a starter, beating not just any #1-seed, but the team he grew up watching on TV and reading about in the local rag.

    Of the #8-seeds to pull off a first-round upset, the 1999 Knicks were the only team to win twice on the opponent’s floor, back then in a five-game series. Can Teague (94.1 FT%, tops in the East; 34.3 assist percentage) restart the Hawks’ offensive ball movement that was the hallmark of their regular season?

    Can he force defensive stops against George Jesse Hill, Jr., the Pride of IUPUI and Broad Ripple High and gold-plated “Magnificent Seven” member? Can he guide the Hawks to an unprecedented third road playoff victory, and the fourth in a month over the Pacers, the team with the league’s best home regular season record (35-6), in Indiana’s own building?

    Emanual David Ginobili was on the floor starting in Games 5 through 7 of the 2013 NBA Finals, replacing Tiago Splitter and nearly doubling his minutes from an already ineffective first four games in the series with the Miami HEAT. After a solid Game 5 helping San Antonio gain a 3-2 lead, Manu was entrusted to close out Games 6 and 7. He responded by toying with the basketball for over 60 minutes, well beyond his expiration date, like a rhythmic gymnast tripping on acid. “Dirty pictures” were about the only plausible explanation remaining after the third member of the Spurs’ Big Three tossed his umpteenth turnover into the second row, Tony Parker unable to commandeer the ball, Matt Bonner watching hopelessly from the bench when the Spurs desperately needed a three-pointer in the clutch.

    LeBron James eventually would win Finals MVP, but viewers across North America wondered aloud if an LVP award was being molded for the Argentine. One particular game previewer in Atlanta was left to wonder: was Ginobili’s mystifying minutes allocation the design of Gregg Charles Popovich, or that of his trusted assistant, Mike Budenholzer?

    One could argue Teague’s inexplicable rest periods in the second halves affected the eventual outcomes of Games 2 and 6 in the Hawks-Pacers series, both games falling in Indiana’s favor. With this series now riding in the balance, will Budenholzer leave this game in the hands of his most effective point guard? Or will he continue to reserve crucial minutes for Shelvin Bernard Mack, just one year Teague’s junior, as some kind of valuable learning experience?

    “It’s On Me!” Paul Millsap was just a pup in 2007, as Tracy Lamar McGrady, Jr., issued a declaration about the consequences of his favored Rockets conceivably losing another first round series, this time to Millsap’s Utah Jazz. Millsap only played seven minutes in Game 7 but experienced the joy of winning his first playoff series, as All-Star Jazzmen Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams toppled T-Mac and Yao Ming in Houston.

    Will Millsap’s Game 7 experience positively influence the quality of his play in tonight’s final matchup with the higher-seeded Pacers? Can he put tonight’s outcome “on him” and dominate his matchups with David Moorer West, and/or Ian Mahinmi, while avoiding foul trouble?

    DeMarre LaEdrick Carroll has well exceeded the defensive output the Hawks got from DeShawn Stevenson in last year’s series with the Pacers. Can the self-proclaimed Junk Yard Dog make an indelible name for himself in the league by slowing Paul George’s roll, or will he be tamed under the weight of his first Game 7?

    After a rough start to the series for the league’s top three-point shooter, Kyle Elliot Korver has his accuracy back up above 40 percent from downtown, while averaging a career-high 12.5 PPG and 5.7 APG. But in last year’s elimination game, Korver shot 0-for-7 on threes against Indiana. Will that guy show up, or the guy who buried the Pacers with five threes to sew up Game 5? Can a committee of Carroll, Teague, Millsap, Lou Williams and Mike Scott make Indiana pay for overpursuing Korver?

    Five points, three rebounds, two blocks. Not much was needed of Elton Tyron Brand just two years ago, as the starting center for the #8-seed Philadelphia 76ers. The bloom was off the Rose for the top-seeded Chicago Bulls after their superstar guard went down in Game 1, and their starting center in Game 3, of the series with the Sixers. Tom Thibodeau hardly had the presence of mind to play Korver in the deciding Game 6 to help his team’s cause. All Doug Collins required of Brand were 35 minutes to fend off something called Omer Asik, setting the stage for a semi-heroic Game 6 victory in the City of Brotherly Shove.

    Two seasons later, Brand is deferring his minutes (7.5 minutes in Game 4, 6 minutes in Game 6, no fouls, both losses) to something called Pero Antić. Can the esteemed 35-year-old provide the defensive energy and offensive boost in the post that has been lacking for Atlanta throughout most of this series? Will Budenholzer grant his veteran center, in possibly his final trip to the playoffs, the opportunity to do so?

    As president of the Pacers, Larry Joe Bird determined in 2007 that Rick Carlisle lacked the coaching mettle to lead an NBA team to the Promised Land, and brought in a new crew featuring Frank Paul Vogel as a lead assistant. Four years later, while Carlisle was leading a different NBA team toward the Promised Land, Vogel was settling in as the new top dog on the sidelines, turning the Pacers’ fortunes around in mid-season to reach the playoffs while angling for the head coach job full-time.

    Now, in 2014, today’s Game 7 could serve as a referendum on Vogel’s fitness to continue on as Bird’s coach of choice. No matter how successful anyone aside from Popovich has been, losing a series to a #8-seed puts them essentially into Avery Johnson-status going forward.

    Budenholzer has been singing throughout this series like Mic Murphy, adhering both teams to play within his system, even when it’s not bearing fruit (25.7 3FG% in Game 6). He’s compelling Vogel to be the coach constantly making adjustments even though Indiana has the superior talent.

    Vogel was able to rely in 2013 on a then-sane Roy Denzil Hibbert, who truly came alive against Miami’s donut-holed defense by averaging 22 points and 10 rebounds in the conference finals. Vogel was roundly criticized for yanking Hibbert late in Game 1 of that series, and kept him in for Game 7, only to watch helplessly as Hibbert and Paul George absorbed their fifth fouls before the third quarter ended. Eleven months later, Indiana’s All-Star center has gone from averaging 22 and 10 versus Miami, to totaling 24 and 19 over the course of six games against Atlanta, even with little discernible competition from the Hawks at the 5-spot.

    Aside from the ones in Hibbert's head, this game is for all the marbles. Knowing this could be his last stand before a side-eyed Pacer fanbase, and a possible stretch-provision casualty if things continue spiraling downward, will Hibbert finally emerge in Game 7 to be at least average? Or will Vogel finally acknowledge Hibbert is a lost cause for 2014, paving the way for Mahinmi to officially take charge?

    Lance Stephenson, Jr. would have you believe he was Born Ready for this moment. His playoff scoring and overall shooting are highs for his four-year career. But his shot selection for most of the series could nicely be described as erratic. Headed toward a free agent payday with somebody this summer, how will Stephenson perform with the season on the line? Which team’s cause will he help more?

    George was about a hokey-pokey step away from imperiling his availability for Game 7. Last season ended in Game 7 of the conference finals in Miami, hounded into 2-for-9 shooting and, perhaps trying to overcompensate, fouling his way out of the contest with under eight minutes to go.

    The newly-24-year-old swingman gets a $10 million raise next season as part of his super-max contract extension. Accordingly, can he demonstrate to his fans that his ceiling remains higher than that of a Pippenesque character, needing an Alpha-dog to lead him to a title? A convincing, redemptive victory today won’t prove that, but it will go a long way to clarifying how super this star truly is.

    Burning questions won’t necessarily get doused with definitive answers today. But the outcome will result in even more intrigue, both for the Washington Wizards’ next opponent, and for the team looking toward an eventful offseason. We’re all about to find out which team is which.

    Go Hawks!

    ~lw3
  5. lethalweapon3
    Following another listless effort against the Indiana Pacers in Game 2, as Coach Larry Drew scoured through his bag of alchemy tricks desperate for a strategy that would make his Atlanta Hawks look like worthy postseason contenders, Josh Smith’s NBA BIG ad probably gave him all the ideas he needed.
    “BIG PASSION,” beckons Drew’s understated forward from the TV screen. It turns out Smoove was on to something. Now, tonight at Philips Arena, playing big and with passion before a raucous and favorable crowd can give the Hawks the postseason edge they’ll need to even up their series at two apiece.

    Playing BIG at the forward and center positions worked to the Hawks’ decided advantage in Game 3. Paul George (16 points on 4-for-11 shooting, 7-for-8 free throws) and David West (18 points) got their obligatory buckets. But Josh Smith, and Ivan Johnson off the bench, made that task significantly tougher. Johan Petro also made sure Roy Hibbert got off to yet another wretched start.

    More importantly, the Hawks did a better job rotating off the double-team of George and disrupting passes when he and Hibbert tried to give up the ball. That resulted in horrendous shooting nights for the Pacers’ perimeter players (27% shooting, including 4-for-25 on threes) and beaucoup turnovers (22, compared to a mere 10 assists) that created many of the transition baskets Highlight Factory fans have learned to love.

    Playing with PASSION sparked the type of leadership and aggressiveness Hawk fans are coming to expect from its most stable player. Al Horford literally suggested he needed David West’s attempt at a bulldog slam (and his teammate Jeff Teague’s bold mimicry of a steel chair shot in response) to propel him to his 26-point and 16-rebound domination of the Pacer defense. A few good cheap Pacer fouls will have Horford fully out of Bruce Banner mode once again, and Roy Hibbert viewing from the sideline.

    Horford (55.8 FG%) and Smith (52.6 FG%) are 4th and 6th in shooting percentage so far in these Eastern Conference playoffs, and that’s with Chicago’s Nate Robinson in unconscious mode. The Twin-Mid Rises must be fed the basketball persistently (often, by one another) and exploit their success until Indiana’s frontline proves they can adjust. Smith had a team-leading six assists despite being hampered by foul trouble in Game 3, and will be motivated by the desire to make every possible “Final Game at Philips Arena as a Hawk” a winning one.

    It’s hard to tell whether paternal hopeful Petro will be primed to start once again. His absence would make it incumbent on Johnson to bring his heart and hustle into the fray from the jump, especially to make David West work hard on both ends of the floor. West will undoubtedly try to get under Ivan’s skin, at least until he finds it just might be reptilian. Ivan must not fall for the reindeer games from either West of Tyler Flop Bro. He and Horford (9 combined offensive rebounds) kept the Hawks at par on rebounding until Game 3 was out of reach for the Pacers.

    The Pacers would do well to consider going bigger as well, specifically when Hibbert has to sit. Hansbrough was pretty much along for the ride when trying to stick with Horford in Game 3. Coach Frank Vogel has inexplicably held Ian Mahinmi in the doghouse (16.5 MPG this season, 8.5 total minutes this series), and tonight would be as good a time as any to deploy him, if for nothing more than to sop up fouls his critical players are currently absorbing.

    As bad as Atlanta has been shooting the ball (Devin Harris 2-for-11 in Game 3; Jeff Teague 4-for-15; starters 0-for-8 on threes), that’s to be expected given Indiana’s defensive approach. Atlanta’s 30.4% shooting on three-pointers in this series is just slightly below the league average (31.6%) and a shade below Indiana’s opponents during the regular season (a league-low 32.7%).

    But the Hawks’ perimeter shooters paled in comparison to the ineptitude of Indy’s George Hill, Lance Stephenson, D.J. Augustin, Jeff Pendergraph, Orlando Johnson, and Ben Hansbrough (2-for-30 combined) in Game 3. Indiana will need a couple of those guys to get open and thaw out tonight, as Kyle Korver (2-for-3 on threes) and Anthony Tolliver (2-for-4 on threes) did in brief spells for the Hawks in Game 3.

    Indiana will also try to get the game back into their comfortable halfcourt crawl by fouling perpetually. The Hawks have to punish that strategy, when blessed with the kindness of a ref’s whistle, by taking their time and sinking their free throws. The Hawks are leaving 9.33 points per game on the table off of missed free throws, and sooner or later those can make the difference in the outcome of a playoff game. Play with passion, but with focus, too.

    Let’s Go Hawks!

    ~lw3
  6. lethalweapon3
    [center][url="http://www.basketsession.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/tyronn-lue-david-blatt-lebron-james-nba-new-york-knicks-cleveland-cavaliers-850x560.jpg"][img]http://www.basketsession.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/tyronn-lue-david-blatt-lebron-james-nba-new-york-knicks-cleveland-cavaliers-850x560.jpg[/img][/url][/center]
    [center][b][i][color=#FF0000]“Look at me... Look at me... I’m the coach now.”[/color][/i][/b][/center]


    [color=#FF0000]If anyone, Tyronn Lue certainly recognizes the feeling anytime he’s getting stepped over. After doing his part as a lead guard to help the Atlanta Hawks crawl out from the bottom of the NBA barrel, during his fourth season with the Hawks, playoff-contending Atlanta decided to go in a different direction – specifically, sending T-Lue plus flotsam in a different direction at mid-season.[/color]

    [color=#FF0000]The 2008 trade to acquire a more accomplished Mike Bibby touched off the start of eight consecutive playoff appearances for the Atlanta Hawks, leaving the discarded Lue behind as a faint memory from an eight-season playoff drought. Playoff run #8, the most successful of the bunch, could conclude tonight for Atlanta at Quicken Loans Arena, the site for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals (8:30 PM Eastern, TNT, 92.9 FM in ATL). And Tyronn Lue will have much more than a frontcourt seat.[/color]

    [color=#FF0000]While Bibby has been spending his post-career time getting booted out of high school games, Lue worked his way up the NBA coaching ranks, and is now the lead assistant for David Blatt’s Cleveland Cavaliers. A future head coaching prospect, T-Lue’s hoping the next “step” will be the NBA Finals, Cleveland’s first since 2007. And there is no better way for Lue to savor that accomplishment than to witness a sweep of the Hawks tonight.[/color]

    [color=#FF0000]Just a couple seats away from T-Lue will be Larry Drew. As head coach, LD took the Hawks on three postseason voyages, and began the arduous departure from iso-heavy, low-BBIQ hoops that circumscribed the earlier part of Atlanta’s modern playoff era. However, with the Hawks mired in the middle, Drew rarely received credit for the effort to incorporate more motion, fullcourt running and passing into the Hawks’ gameplans.[/color]

    [color=#FF0000]Accolades didn’t generally come to Atlanta until after Drew’s contract expired, the coach subject to an amicable, albeit somewhat involuntary, parting of ways as Hawks GM Danny Ferry cleared the way for his Spurs bud, Mike Budenholzer. Coach Bud would take the table LD set and created a cornucopia worthy of an NBA Coach of the Year Award. Drew would come to find his ouster from Atlanta was only the second-biggest screwjob of his coaching career.[/color]

    [color=#FF0000]Larry would find himself a victim of The Buddy System once again last summer, unable to finish the job he started in last-place Milwaukee as its new owners bucked him to clear a pathway for Brooklyn’s Jason Kidd. Drew has certainly landed on his feet, though, and now sits one win away from the NBA Finals. It’s a life of runs, and as far as LD’s concerned, you can bet there’s a sense of urgency to run off his former employer tonight.[/color]

    [color=#FF0000]Having successfully derailed the best-laid plans of Kyle Korver and Al Horford in the last two contests, the Cavs’ whipping boy-turned-hero Matthew Dellavedova has 18,500 screaming reasons not to want to experience Game 5 in Atlanta. He’ll bulldoze whoever he has to in order to steamroll any notion of a Hawks revival tonight.[/color]

    [color=#FF0000]His NBA home city awash in acute societal strife, LeBron James was willing to do what it took to turn the attention away from matters of justice and give Cleveland something worth cheering about. And that he did on Sunday… barely. James had a career-defining performance in Game 3. Yet once he got the ball rolling after a 0-for-10 shooting start, his Cavs needed every last drop of greatness he could muster just to eke past a Hawks team suddenly missing both Korver and Horford, in overtime.[/color]

    [color=#FF0000]James understands that this Atlanta team, while down 3-0, is not one to be trifled with. He’ll do all he can as a scorer, a rebounder, a passer, and a defender, to make sure the conference title celebration begins tonight, and not two, four, or six days from now. The Cavs have been missing another star in Kyrie Irving for the past two games as well and, at the risk of looking ahead, the more time they get to recuperate and strategize for a tough Western Conference opponent, the better.[/color]

    [color=#FF0000]All of the aforementioned members of the Cavs have good reason to secure the series-clinching victory, specifically tonight. Just because it’s what Cleveland wants, though, doesn’t mean Atlanta is obligated to hand it to them. [/color]

    [color=#FF0000]Never mind that it might hurt too much to do it, but DeMarre Carroll surely isn’t willing to take a knee. Everyone had lapses during the 114-111 OT loss on Sunday, and DMC (4-for-12 FGs in Game 3) is eager to make amends for the occasional missed floater and layup that could have made the difference in steering the series mojo back in Atlanta’s favor.[/color]

    [color=#FF0000]JYD’s on-floor defensive leadership will be vital as the Hawks seek not only to render LeBron’s NBA 2K15 cheat-code performance negligible once again, but to close out on perimeter shooters. He, Kent Bazemore and the Hawks’ big men must also box out the cherry-picking Cavalier big men and eliminate the prospect of tip-outs from missed Cav field goal attempts. Perhaps James’ most consequential boxscore stat in Game 3 were eight offensive rebounds, giving his team a decisive edge in second-chance points that Carroll and the Hawks must work together to wipe out.[/color]

    [color=#FF0000]Like Carroll, Paul Millsap is about to get some very nice financial offers this summer. And, like Carroll, he doesn’t care one whit about that. Both forwards feel what they have to offer is integral to the continued rise of the Hawks, whether it’s as a starter or in a handsomely-paid bench role down the line.[/color]

    [color=#FF0000]The two-time All-Star power forward can whet the appetites of GMs everywhere all the more with a strong finish to this year’s playoff run, one that would allow people to forget that he’s shot a paltry 42.7 2FG% over the course of the last two postseasons. Aside from the need for better defensive rebounding and finishing in the clutch, Millsap’s ability, along with Jeff Teague’s (combined 20-for-20 FTs in Game 3) to draw trips to the free throw line and shoot them accurately will continue to be important in Game 4.[/color]

    [color=#FF0000]Whether passing, defending, driving, or shooting, Teague (30 points, 7 assists, zero TOs in Game 3) has to make winning plays, unlike the heave at the close of regulation in Game 3 that took the Cavs off the hook. Shelvin Mack (3-for-7 3FGs) bedeviled the Cavs with the occasional three-point shot in Game 3, helping his teammates make up for the loss of Korver on offense. But Mack’s defensive shortcomings set the floor for the play of Dennis Schröder (3.5 minutes of Game 3 action) tonight.[/color]

    [color=#FF0000]The Hawks will need point guards that remain active, assertive, and productive all over the floor. Atlanta cannot look up at the end of the night to find itself out-assisted by a Kyrie-less Cavs team for the fourth-straight game and expect to win the contest as well.[/color]

    [color=#FF0000]Mike Scott’s rebounding off the bench was laudable, if not much else. For Scott to have a critical role in Game 4, he must defend well and be ready to make good things happen whenever the ball comes his way. If he’s listless for any stretches, he’ll return to the pine in favor of Mike Muscala. With backs to the wall, the bench players (Pero Antić included) will get a short hook after any lapses, so long as the starters stay out of foul trouble.[/color]

    [color=#FF0000]Having cast aside the four-decades-plus Hawks Hex, the new “Hawks Have Never” mantra involves never having won a game in the Eastern Conference Finals. With Horford back and his head screwed back on straight following a solid 7-for-10 shooting start to Game 3, the Hawks have every reason to believe they can push this series back to Atlanta for Game 5, delaying Cleveland’s gratification at least a tad bit longer.[/color]

    [color=#FF0000]Let’s Go Hawks![/color]

    [color=#FF0000]~lw3[/color]
  7. lethalweapon3
    This is it! This is it!
    This is life, the one you get.
    So go and have a ball!

    That’s all the Indianapolis-related TV theme songs I got for ya.

    Our Fine Feathered Friends got off the schneid(er) with two big wins in Atlanta, re-asserting their homecourt dominance against the Indiana Pacers. To get a chance at closing out the series in Atlanta, they have to keep the momentum going with their first win in Bankers Life Fieldhouse since March 2012. The Hawks have snatched at least one win on this floor in every season since 2008-09.

    The Hawks stuffed Johan Petro into Jason Collins’ former postseason role starting in Game 3, and he’s paid off by frustrating the heck out of Roy Hibbert at the outset of the last two games. Petro’s eight rebounds and four points in Game 4 were boosted further with three assists. The move shifted Angry Bird Al Horford to an underwhelming David West, and assigned Josh Smith to do-everything player Paul George.

    By do-everything, I mean it. George has been leading his Pacers in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and defensive rating. But when he’s not passing and not getting to the line, his overall effect on the game is minimized. In the two Atlanta games his combined free throw attempts (16) and assists (3) were below his tallies in Game 1 alone (18 free throw attempts and 12 assists). Throw in foul trouble (4.5 PF/G last 2 games) and spotty shooting (10-for-27 on field goals) and his impact on the outcome is all the more limited. Through 4 games, the NBA Most improved Player winner has only improved his shooting percentages marginally (39.3 FG%, 27.8 3FG%) over his 2012 postseason (38.9 FG%, 26.8 3FG%). By George, I think he needs help!

    But from whom? The inability to shift George to shooting guard when needed is where Danny Granger has been missed. Look for a boost in playing time for their top gunner in 6’8” Gerald Green (team-leading 2.25 3FG per game) and either Sam Young or rookie Orlando Johnson in hopes George will get less time getting faceguarded by Ivan Johnson and Josh Smith and more time zipping around Kyle Korver and Devin Harris for easier buckets. Lance Stephenson (7.8 PPG; 9 rebounds and 8 assists in Game 4) will try to create more offense off the dribble.

    With his jump-hooks and shotblocking, Hibbert has to make his presence felt in the game right out of the gate. The Pacers’ frontline has watched helplessly as the Hawks’ Al Horford (26 points in Game 3) and Josh Smith racked up postseason highs in back-to-back contests, often with Hibbert either isolated on Petro or watching from the sidelines. Horford’s mid-range shooting continues to confound opponents, and Indiana will need a forward to swing over to defend that shot so Hibbert can stay true to the defensive post. Rookie Miles Plumlee may make an appearance tonight if Hibbert has to take an early seat again.

    We still haven’t seen the best of Ivan Johnson (2 points, 5 rebounds in Game 4) on the floor in this series. Composure, as always, will be key, as the Hawks don’t need to be unnecessarily thin when Hibbert, George, Ian Mahinmi and Tyler Hansbrough are crashing the offensive boards. Will Mike Scott get an early nod if Ivan struggles again?

    Quick, how many shots has Josh Smith blocked in this series? Pencils down. Did you guess one? And who cares? So far, Horford and Petro has made Smoove’s stout help defense in the post a literal luxury. Besides his defensive effect on Indiana forwards, the strong stretches he exhibited in Game 4 has pushed his playoff scoring up to 18.5 PPG on 50.0 FG%, both career highs . His per-possession assist rate (26.3 per 100) is also a career-high. As for shot selection and free throw shooting -- insert broken record here.

    Quick, who leads the entire NBA Playoffs in 3-point field goal percentage? Pencils down. Did you guess Anthony Tolliver? Just 8 shots, but hitting 75% of them puts him in the same company as the Spurs’ Red Rocket, Matt Bonner, for dead-eye accuracy. Can he keep it up over short stretches in Indy? He’ll be open, no one’s looking to cover him. Right now, he’ll make for a fine Plan B (ahead of DeShawn Stevenson) in case Korver’s shot goes cold again.

    Free throws. What more needs to be said? This is just the type of game where the Hawks don’t want to be looking back at the box score wondering what could have been “if only.” Indy native Teague’s free throw shooting (12-for-15 in the Atlanta games; 19-for-23 in the series) has saved the Hawks’ bacon this far, but Hackahawk remains in effect until someone else proves they can reliably knock those shots down.

    Jeff Teague continues to overtake his matchup with George Hill. When he drives and cannot find an open man, he needs to rely more on his Teaguedrop floaters rather than running into Hibbert hoping for a call. Indiana sorely needs Hill (5-for-23 FG, 0-for-9 3FG last two games) and D.J. Augustin to come alive offensively to take the pressure off of Paul George.

    Staying at least even on the rebounding, sinking free throws in the clutch, resisting opportunities to succumb to the refs and the Indiana fans, and forcing the Pacers into high-paced basketball whenever possible will make it easier on Atlanta to turn Game 6 into a possible series clincher and a Friday Night Madhouse.

    So while you’re here, enjoy the view
    Keep on doing what you do
    Hold on tight, we’ll muddle through
    One Day at a Time! One Day at a Time!

    Let's Go Hawks!

    ~lw3
  8. lethalweapon3
    “If this doesn’t scare Teague out of the paint, nothing will!”



    Any True Believers still left around here?

    There won’t be terribly many snooping around Quicken Loans Arena for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals tonight (8:30 PM Eastern, TNT, 92.9 FM in ATL), not after the Atlanta Hawks disintegrated at home by allowing LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers to dictate the pace and style of play over the course of two games. There will be even fewer TBs now, considering a Krucial Komponent of Hawks basketball is now out of Kommission for the playoffs.

    The Hawks are left not only to wrangle with the Seth Rollins of the league, but also his J&J Security associates. Thanks to Matthew Dellavedova’s Australian Rules Basketball play, Kyle Korver’s severely sprained ankle will sideline him for the remainder of the postseason, and with that, fading hopes for a first-ever trip to the NBA Finals have been shelved. Al Horford had to be helped off the floor in Game 2, and the valiant DeMarre Carroll’s mobility was clearly hampered by the knee injury he sustained in Game 1.

    No matter how disappointing his postseason performances have been, Korver (35.5 playoff 3FG%) had been arguably the best strategic decoy since Terrell Owens’ tenure with the Cowboys. His threat of the home run ball opened up doubles and triples all over the floor for Atlanta along the quest to the team’s first-ever ECF. But the Hawks have not recouped the benefits of all the attention draped onto Korver.

    While Kyle was merely 4-for-10 on threes in two games against the Cavs, his teammates have managed to shoot just 6-for-39 against Cleveland and 31.5 3FG% for the entire playoffs. By comparison, the cavalier J.R. Smith’s teammates are 13-for-41 from downtown, still bad but twice as good as Atlanta. Korver’s defensive activity in the postseason (4.9 defensive RPG, 1.4 SPG, 1.1 BPG) got easily overlooked as well, and it will be up to Kent Bazemore to fill the void on that end of the floor.

    Atlanta was psychologically crumbling well before the physical shortfalls kicked in, though, and that is largely due to the superior coaching strategies coming from Cleveland’s sideline. The Hawks have been attacking Cleveland’s defense as if it’s still being directed by Mike Brown. But first-year NBA coach David Blatt became a legend at overseas power Maccabi Tel Aviv by designing defenses that compelled opponents to settle for the shots they didn’t want. The Hawks begrudgingly took 17 two-pointers outside the paint in Game 2, connecting on just 3 of them.

    Grant Blatt a player-coach in LeBron James (30.5 PPG, 8.5 APG) who’s using high pick-and-rolls and dribble penetration to get any shots his team wants, and it becomes too much for even healthy teams to overcome. Having a superstar is nice, but it’s infinitely better when said star can make tough shots, take care of the ball, defend, and keep teammates actively involved throughout the game. Thus far in this series, LeBron is checking off all the boxes.

    While LeBron is aptly attacking the Hawks like wounded animals and pulling apart their defense like BBQ pork, Jeff Teague (5.0 APG, 40.0 FG%) and Paul Millsap (26.3 FG% this series, 8.5 PPG, 1.5 offensive RPG) have thus far failed to take every strategic advantage they can get from the absences of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, respectively.

    Tristan Thompson has contained Millsap to this point in the series, but he and Timofey Mozgov, while better athletic options than Nene and Gortat, cannot withstand 35-plus minutes of assertive pace-pushing from Sap and Horford (0-for-3 FGs outside the paint in Game 2). Atlanta’s frontcourt All-Star duo must establish a dominant full-court role to shake the Cavs’ defense out of their comfort zones.

    There is little pressure on Blatt to utilize Irving until the Cavs are in a position to clinch. In any case, it’s incumbent on Teague, Dennis Schröder, and Shelvin Mack to penetrate and find their frontcourt mates in positions to catch and score swiftly, via shots or drives. The point guards are at their best when they put their floor mates in the ideal position to succeed.

    Carroll will be in better condition to stick with James for longer stretches, allowing Mike Budenholzer to use Baze more as a roving perimeter pest, cooling off shooters like Smith and Iman Shumpert before they find a hot hand. He’ll need to hit some shots as well to keep Cleveland’s defense (Shumpert, in particular) from doubling down on the Hawks’ top threats.

    Somewhere in Northeast Ohio, the order has gone out for wine-and-gold confetti, enough to fill up an arena floor in time for Tuesday. Despite being mired in a two-game hole, the Hawks have two opportunities to make Dan Gilbert's confetti purchase a sunk cost. Atlanta can force LeBron and his merry henchmen to try clinching a trip to the NBA Finals somewhere away from the Q. Perhaps the Hawks could even give the Cavs two chances to advance... back Down South.

    Let’s Go Hawks!

    ~lw3
  9. lethalweapon3
    “The 'Ship be sinking!”


    Larry will be on it, for sure. Paul, Lance, Frank, and Roy, too. But how about Mike Epps? Or Babyface?
    “Jared” from Subway, or “Schneider” from “One Day at a Time”? Which one of Jim Irsay, Andrew Luck, Robert Mathis, T.Y. Hilton, or Trent Richardson? Which one among them carries the bass? And who gets to hold the bottle of milk?

    These were not the type of dilemmas the contracted crew for TNT’s “Gone Fishin’” series were supposed to be pondering so soon. This week’s Photoshop issues were supposed to revolve around burning questions like: Porsha, Kenya, or Mama Joyce? Lil Scrappy, or Waka Flocka? Which one of Jeff Teague, Mike Budenholzer, Kyle Korver, or Paul Millsap holds the trout? Should Al Horford be encased from neck-to-waist in bubble wrap? Do you put them all on a Ferry boat? And who gets to don the Cobb Braves jersey?

    The Atlanta Hawks have altered the immediate plans of America’s Photoshoppers. They might modify the longer-term designs of their opponent, the Indiana Pacers, with a victory in Game 6 tonight before a red-clad, sold-out, rabble-rousing crowd at Philips Arena (7:00 PM Eastern, SportSouth, FoxSports Indiana, NBATV). Indiana has had their backs to the wall, by a 3-2 deficit, on ten other occasions in NBA playoff history, and lost all ten Game 6s. After two losses to a #8-seed in their house, the Pacers’ season-long, obsessive quest to leverage homecourt advantage against Miami may now be drowning in a sea of a whole other team’s red.

    The Hawks have proven that Paul George isn’t All-World enough to beat a losing-record entrant in the NBA Playoffs by himself. His Game 5 tallies made him the first NBA player since 2000 (Gary Payton) to record 25 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 steals in a playoff game. He’s also the first such player to do all that and lose. Tied for the league lead this postseason in both threes made and defensive rebounds while second in total steals, George could also finish tonight as the only NBA playoff participant other than Dirk Nowitzki to average 20-and-10 while shooting above 50% on threes.

    Yet, as the chosen face of the Beasts of the East, and the anointed star of this season’s junk food ads, it’s George and not his wilting teammates that bears the brunt of his fans’ ire, each and every time the Pacers’ deficit swells to double-digits. Roy Hibbert would share some of that too, but The Big Chill can’t even stay on the floor long enough for Pacer fans to shout “Boo!” Depending on the outcome of Game 6, George may or may not find reason to celebrate his 24th birthday when the clock strikes midnight.

    None of this is Jeff Teague’s problem. Strategically limited by Budenholzer in floor time (33.4 minutes per game, down from the past two postseasons), for better or worse, Teague has maintained an exemplary level of facilitation when he’s on the floor. His postseason assist percentage of 38.5 per 100 possessions ranks second only to his Demon Deacon alum and insurance pitchman Chris Paul (38.7 per-100). That’s despite Teague being covered for much of the game by a defensive maven in George. To lead Atlanta to his first playoff series victory as a full-time starter, Teague will need a stout defensive gameplan to neutralize George Hill (16 points, 6-for-12 FGs) and/or C.J. Watson (15 points, 6-for-10 FGs), both of whom were sidelined in Pacer practice yesterday to rest nagging hip pointers.

    The Hawks’ point god also ranks second among NBA starters in playoff free throw percentage (92.0 FT%). Teague guides a roster that has built a significant advantage from the charity stripe (22.0 FT made per game, 82.1 team FT%) over their Pacer opponents (14.4 FTM/game, 69.9 team FT%) without having to pack themselves in the paint. In this series, Atlanta has prevailed in all three games were Teague gets five or more free throw attempts (19-11 in the regular season, including both wins over Indiana). On offense, threes 'n frees have helped the Hawks control the series, even though the top-seeded Pacers have more total field goals.

    Assuming Hibbert will be psychologically M.I.A. once more, Pacers coach Frank Vogel has to commit David West and Luis Scola to banging away in the offensive post and not camping out along the perimeter. It can help draw more Hawks into foul trouble. Lance Stephenson often has a size advantage when the Hawks go small in the backcourt, but he doesn’t exploit it, preferring to hang out in the corner (5.2 3FGA/game, 30.8 3FG%) when he’s not helping to rebound.

    Thirty-year-old second-year forward Chris Copeland has opened Pacer fans’ eyes twice in the past two seasons. In the 2013 playoffs, he shot 55% on threes for the Knicks in their second-round series with the Knicks. In Game 5 against the Hawks, he was dusted off in the second half, in a last-ditch attempt by Vogel to get the final score respectable. While his shooting wasn’t stellar (2-for-7 FGs, both threes), he helped Indiana space the floor out with a legitimate perimeter threat (aside from George and Watson) and chipped in admirably on the defensive end (three blocks and a steal). The catalyst for the Pacers as they whittled a 30-point deficit back down to single digits, look for Copeland to be much more than a white-flag option in Game 6.

    Go ahead and bottle that stretch of Hawks magnificence called the second quarter of Game 5. There’s no reason to expect anything tonight matching that 41-19 rout that made Atlanta just the second playoff road team in the NBA’s shot clock era to drop 40-plus points in a single quarter while holding their opponents below 20. The Hawks may not get another performance quite as mind-numbing as what they got from The Mikerowave, Mike Scott (17 points… all in that quarter!). But if they can get another bench performer like Lou Williams to warm up the nets, they can put this series on ice.

    George expressed amazement at Millsap’s ability to draw fouls (18 points in Game 5, 8-for-12 FTs), relative to his paper-tiger contemporary in David West (16 points in Game 5 on 6-for-13 FGs, but just 4-for-8 FTs). But unnoticed by George and many others were Shelvin Mack’s ten stealth free throw attempts on his way to the first 20-point tally of his playoff career. Mack’s dimes to Scott (three of Shelvin’s five assists, just one turnover) established Atlanta’s first-half advantage while his aggressiveness and accuracy at the free throw line in the second half kept the Pacers satisfyingly at bay.

    If Atlanta can get another strong offensive finishing performance out of DeMarre Carroll (15 points on 6-for-9 shooting in Game 5; 53.3 playoff 3FG%, 4th in NBA) , complementing his defensive hustle, and get anything substantive out of starting center Pero Antić besides being a foul sponge, they will take a ton of pressure off of Millsap, Korver, and Teague to carry the day.

    In a metropolis loaded with carpetbaggers and bandwagon jumpers, many Atlanta athletes of years’ past have been preoccupied with who shows up to the game, how many show up, who is rooting for who, who is booing who, who the TV crews are talking up. There’s often enough self-imposed distractions to give their opposing visitors a decided edge on the floor/diamond/ice/field/pitch.

    This season’s Humble ‘n Hungry Hawks are not clamoring for anyone’s attention, and that adds to their newfound attractiveness, locally and beyond. They know their limitations, but those obstacles don’t include an inability to out-pace the Pacers, the NBA East’s #1-seed, in either team’s building. These Hawks aren’t out for international accolades or local respect, just a win, preferably tonight. They understand the respect stuff, like the Photoshopping, takes care of itself.

    Go Hawks!

    ~lw3
  10. lethalweapon3
    “Why, I’d be honored to take a picture with one of my finest doormen!”


    The Atlanta Hawks took two out of three games in their series with the Indiana Pacers (8:00 PM Eastern, SportSouth, NBATV). After having the Pacers on the ropes with minutes to go in Game 4, Atlanta now has to take two out of three games again. With a third road victory this month at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, the Hawks can earn a chance to close out a momentous playoffs upset in front of their home fans.

    Paul Millsap (21.8 PPG, postseason-high 29 points in Game 4) has matched Indiana star Paul George point-for-point in this series. Being the team’s primary rebounder, he must be more judicious in his commission of personal fouls. His fourth foul, early in the third quarter with Atlanta up by nine, was a significant turning point in Game 4. Millsap amassed three total fouls in Atlanta’s two victories, and nine in their two defeats.

    The Hawks (Millsap, and Mike Scott in particular) will have to continue putting pressure on David West to make stops on defense. He’s been whistled for just one personal foul in his last two games after settling for short stints due to foul trouble in Indiana. West shot 7-for-13 in both games in Atlanta, including the dagger three-pointer (just his fifth all season) in the closing minutes of the game. He also contributed three steals and two blocks in Game 4.

    Also critical to the Hawks’ fate is the aggressiveness of Jeff Teague. In the Atlanta games, with George switching onto him more steadily, Teague became more of a passer, but was less effective as a finisher (12-for-35 combined shooting in Games 3 and 4). He’ll need to be more assertive in getting touches on halfcourt sets, initating the ball movement and resetting the offense when plays break down. He can get by George and make good things happen, but when he kicks the ball out his teammates must convert on their shots so Indiana will spread out some more.

    Teague must also bounce back with a stronger defensive effort against George Hill (team-leading 58.3 2FG% this series), who bounced back from a 1-for-11 night in Game 3 to shoot 5-for-8 for the third time in this series, including his first two three-pointers of the playoffs and a layup in the final minute of Game 4. Continuing through the playoffs, this season the Hawks are 31-3 when Teague posted a plus-minus differential of +6 or higher, and 1-28 when his plus-minus was -5 or worse.

    Teague and the Hawks’ small guards ought to create better looks for DeMarre Carroll (10-for-15 shooting in Atlanta’s two wins, 3-for-11 in their two losses), who ought to be collecting hazard pay trying to keep George (40.5 2FG% this series, down from 45.6% regular season) in check for most of the game.

    While Roy Hibbert has been the center of attention in this series, the Hawks are getting little value out of Pero Antić as a starter. Now shooting 3-for-17 from beyond the perimeter and 3-for-10 within, he’s added just two assists and one block while averaging over 25 minutes per game. Negligible activity from the center spot hurts the Hawks more than it does the Pacers, who are now free to double-team Millsap and Teague or give extra help chasing Korver. The Pacers were able to climb back at the end without needing a single fourth-quarter contribution from Hibbert.

    Meanwhile, Elton Brand is getting even less floor time (15.3 MPG) than he did during the regular season (19.4 MPG). While his patented shot from the elbows hasn’t fallen so far (2-for-10 FGs), he continues to be a sound shotblocker and a rebounder on both ends. It is certainly time to ramp up his contribution, relative to Antić’s, if the Hawks desire to close this series out quickly.

    Indiana’s ability to tighten up the interior defense has resulted in a precipitous decline in Atlanta’s effectiveness inside the perimeter (47.8 2FG% in Game 1, 42.0% in Game 2, 41.0% Game 3, 35.8% in Game 4). With no centers to draw the Pacers attention, Indiana sat back and swatted 11 shots in Game 4, one more than the prior three games combined. The Hawks’ top four reserves (Lou Williams, Scott, Brand, and Mack) have been particularly anemic (32.6 FG% in this series).

    On the other end, Atlanta gambled vigorously on defense in Game 4 (series-high 8 steals, including 4 thefts by Williams) but could not create sufficient defensive pressure (series-low 10 Indiana turnovers). With Indy shooting just 14-of-43 from three-point range in the last two games, Atlanta can afford to keep their post players around the paint, increasing the likelihood of unforced errors from clock-hogging Indiana like charges and offensive three-second violations.

    Go Hawks!

    ~lw3
  11. lethalweapon3

    Hawks - Pelicans

    By lethalweapon3,

    This battle is for the birds!

    Down in the Big Easy, victories don’t come either big or easy for the Atlanta Hawks or their ornithological opponents, the New Orleans Pelicans (8:00 PM Eastern, SportSouth, Fox Sports New Orleans).

    Tom Benson’s other team has taken flak for their creepy choice of a mascot. I’ve got a suggestion that’s even creepier but almost as apropos: Elijah Price, from the movie Unbreakable. This team’s key players seem to be persistently at risk of tearing or breaking or straining something, far more than most NBA teams. If Head Coach Monty Williams had hair to tear out, he would. He has to be thinking there’s a polar-opposite team somewhere that’s in picture-perfect health.

    The Pelicans made a 2013 draft-day ploy to swap their lottery pick (and this year’s first-rounder, top-5 protected) to attain 2013 All-Star point guard Jrue Holiday. They got 34 modest games out of Holiday, before a stress-fractured tibia sidelined him for the remainder of the season.

    Highly salaried guard Eric Gordon (career-low 15.8 PPG) was playing at the start of the year while suffering through a knee ailment, and later a sore hip. Right before the Pellies’ season opener, their leading scorer Ryan Anderson suffered a chipped toe in practice. Anderson was slowly returned into the starting rotation, only to collide with a Celtic in January and get carried off the parquet floor with a probable season-ending herniated disc.

    Starting center Jason Smith returned from a season-ending shoulder injury last year, then bruised his knee in December, then went under the knife for season-ending cartilage removal.

    Tyreke Evans (team-leading 27.4 % usage) missed all of the preseason with an ankle sprain, re-aggravated it over the past couple months, and now has a rib contusion to help him forget all about that ankle. He had to take himself out of New Orleans’ 102-95 loss to the Spurs on Monday, and his status remains questionable for tonight.

    Finally, there’s Anthony Davis, shut down last April to heal an MCL sprain. After starting this season, Davis rushed back ahead of schedule in December a week after sustaining a non-displaced fracture in his left hand while dunking. Now, he plays through pain from a finger he dislocated on the same hand in January.

    Keeping this flawed jigsaw puzzle together would be much easier for Monty Williams in an Eastern Conference loaded with teams tripping over each other in a race to the bottom. Unfortunately, he has to stay afloat not only in the tougher conference, but the toughest top-to-bottom division in the conference. The Pelicans have a gaudy 12-5 record against the East (6th best in NBA) but a paltry 8-22 in the West. All four of their division mates (Spurs, Rockets, Mavericks, Grizzlies) could make the playoffs.

    So who’s left? Well, even 90% of Davis (3.4 BPG, 1st in NBA; up to 20.4 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 1.5 SPG) is still pretty doggone good. He’ll be showcased in a couple weeks during All-Star Weekend, and wouldn’t mind a call to play in the big game that Sunday as an injury replacement.

    And then there’s also our old friend Anthony Morrow, shooting a NBA-leading 46.5% on threes, just ahead of Atlanta’s Kyle Korver (46.3 3FG%). Ammo ranks 4th among active players in career three-point accuracy (42.7%), again just ahead of Korver (42.3%). With Anderson out of the picture, Monty Williams is leaning on Morrow (20 points against the Spurs on Monday), Gordon, Brian Roberts and Darius Miller to help the Pelicans keep up in games when they’re getting blitzed around the perimeter. The Pelicans are 3-13 when they allow more than 8 three-pointers by their opponents.

    There are signs that the P'cans are finally listening to Monty and turning the corner with their beignet-soft team defense. After giving up 100 or more points in 27 of their first 38 games (15-23), they’ve won five of their past nine while holding teams to double-digits in six of them. The undermanned Spurs needed a 38-point final quarter to reach 102 points and upend the Pelicans at New Orleans Arena on Monday.

    To bolster the interior D so Davis won’t feel pressed to do everything, they brought along French pastry Alexis Ajinca to start at center. The former Bobcat hasn’t been in the league since 2011, but with his seven-foot-plus height, he and various and sundry other stiffs (rookie Jeff Withey, Greg Steimsma) allow the 220-pound Davis to slide over and bedevil power forwards like Atlanta’s All-Star Paul Millsap (2-for-11 shooting last night vs. Indiana, 0-for-4 on threes). Davis and Ajinca will try to approximate the vice work David West and Roy Hibbert put on Millsap yesterday, while Davis will seek to get Millsap in foul trouble on the opposite end.

    Ajinca will tip off against Gustavo Ayón, who made his mark in this arena as a rookie free agent signing for Monty Williams in the 2011-12 season. Ayón was more of a facilitator last night against Indiana, and needs to crash the boards effectively tonight. He managed zero rebounds in over 18 minutes last night despite his starting role. He is the only true weak link on the active roster when it comes to free throw shooting (33.3 FT%).

    Jeff Teague (3.2 TOs/G, 5th most among NBA PGs) may be reaching a new comfort level as a ballhandler in Mike Budenholzer’s system, and right on time. He has turned the ball over no more than twice in the last four games, while ringing up at least seven assists in each of his last three.

    To keep starter-quality minutes (29.7 MPG since January, down from 34.4 in December; 24.5 minutes last night), Teague must demonstrate improved mastery of the offense. Shelvin Mack and Dennis Schröder (10 minutes last night, including a critical juncture in the fourth quarter) are showing positive signs of developing and gaining Budenholzer’s confidence. Despite the Hawks’ last two losses against the Spurs and Pacers, they’re still 11-5 when Teague keeps the turnovers to two or fewer.

    Go Hawks!

    ~lw3
  12. lethalweapon3

    Hawks - Knicks

    By lethalweapon3,

    It’s Time for Woody Bowl IV!

    On the heels of an epic rollercoaster win, Larry Drew and the Atlanta Hawks will face off this evening with Drew’s longtime teammate and the man he assisted on the floor and the sideline for many years.

    Former Hawks coach Mike Woodson’s New York Knickerbockers took two of three contests against Atlanta last season, and strolls into Madison Square Garden with his charges (26-15) sitting in second place in the Eastern Conference, but treading water lately.

    Drummed out of Philadelphia in last night’s game versus the 76ers, featuring a 29-point deficit in the third quarter, the Knicks have dropped ten of their last 18 games. That’s the same record as the Hawks, who are just two games behind the Knicks in the East and getting their groove back with three
    straight victories.

    Woodson is crafting the Knicks in his desired image, controlling tempo by keeping turnovers low (10.9 team TOs/G, fewest in NBA), playing a slow pace (90.7 possessions per 48 minutes, 24th in NBA), limiting second chances for foes (9.9 opponent offensive RPG, fewest in NBA), and
    players calling their own number in isolation (54% of shots assisted, last in the league). A team with Jason Kidd on the roster that ranks 28th in assists (19.6 per game) is unfathomable at first, until you peruse the rest of the club.

    The Cereal Killer, Carmelo Anthony (career-high 29.0 PPG) is out to have a big day in his spouse’s (Redan High School’s LaLa Vasquez’s) former hometown. Despite playing the bulk of his
    floor time at power forward, he is spreading the floor by taking three-pointers (6.2 attempts per game) and plunking them down (40.2 3FG%, a career 32.2% before this season) like never before. He’s already taken and made more threes through 34 appearances than in 55 games last year. Melo’s assists are down from prior seasons (career-low 2.6 per game), but again, that is by Woodson’s not-giving-a-crap offensive design.

    Josh "Mad Max" Smith must not be cowed into trying to keep up with Anthony’s newfound long-range shot (or that of undrafted rookie Chris Copeland, who likes to step out as well). Instead, Smoove must strive to get threes for the Hawks the old-fashioned way, and by finding open shooters.

    Out since Christmas with a fracture of the pinky on his shooting hand, Raymond Felton is back to boost the Knick offense. New York scored in triple digits in 21 of their first 27 games, but has failed to reach
    100 points in eight of their last 15 games, including their last three.

    A few weeks before Christmas, Felton suffered a bone bruise on his non-shooting hand but played through it, dropping 27 points each on the HEAT in Miami and the Bulls in Chicago. Last night in Philly, he took the fewest shots (2-for-8, for 8 points) of his season, and managed just three assists while he and Jason Kidd simply hung on defensively against newly minted All-Star Jrue Holiday (career-high 35 points).

    Don’t expect Felton to be terribly active with his healing hands by gambling on defense. He will instead try to keep Jeff Teague, Devin Harris and Jannero Pargo in front of him. Mike Woodson is diminishing Kidd’s minutes to rest his sore back, and may lean more on 35-year old rookie Pablo Prigioni, himself limited in practice with a toe bruise, to create defensive pressure. Starting small forward Iman Shumpert, top-flight reserve J.R. Smith, and Ronnie Brewer are all needed to help with defense on the perimeter. Shump is just getting back into playing condition after returning from an ACL injury,
    and if he’s calling for a pick, he means he needs it for his Kid-esque hair. The Hawks must consistently deploy penetrating lead guards to keep New York’s point guard platoon busy.

    On offense, Felton will be targeting another first-time All-Star, Tyson Cleotis Chandler, who posted the third-highest field goal percentage ever (67.9 FG%) in 2011-12, and seems well on his way to at least matching that (67.5 FG% this season, career-high 11.9 PPG) with Felton back. Chandler was
    shooting 74.1 FG%, which would’ve passed Wilt Chamberlain’s single-season record until Felton got hurt. He then shot a “mere” 63.1 FG% as the Knicks went 6-7 in Felton’s absence. The Hawks need to use their wing players to disrupt the Felton-Chandler pipeline, taking pressure off of their bigs to make stops.

    This game will feature two of the league’s five most accurate three-point bombers over the courses of their careers, and if we’re lucky, three of them. Kyle Korver made his bid to take over Andrew Toney’s
    title as the new Boston Strangler, going off with eight triples on Friday in the Hawks’ wild comeback win. Kyle’s true shooting percentage (65.2%) is now up to third in the NBA behind Chandler and Kevin Durant.

    By nailing 24 of his last 36 treys, not only has Korver wrested away the top spot in NBA three-point shooting percentage (47.1%), he’s also rocketed past Matt Bonner for 5th in career 3FG% (41.8%) among active NBA players. He’s got his work cut out for him to catch the guy in 4th place – Anthony Morrow (42.5%), who remains questionable with hip/back issues. Just for fun: John Jenkins’ current “career” 3FG% (41.3%) would rank 7th among active players if he qualified.

    With Marcus Camby and human basketball truth detector Rasheed Wallace out with injuries, the Knicks are turning to Amar’e Stoudemire to back up Chandler at center. In limited minutes, STAT is using his athletic advantages against rigid centers to get his offensive production (20.0 points per 36 minutes, 50.6 FG%) back to the quality of the pre-Melo period of his 2010-11 season.

    J.R. Smith has been downright heroic at times this year, but the feeling of being passed over for a starting role may be gnawing on him. He’s mired in a shooting slump (28.7 FG% and 18.2 3FG% over his last eight games), and Knicks fans can only hope he has hit bottom after going 0-for-8 last night.
    J.R. has to attack the rim more to keep defenses honest. Can the Hawks be his slumpbuster? His 46.3% career shooting against Atlanta is highest all but one other opponent, but he only shoots 53.8 FT% (lowest versus NBA opponents) when the Hawks send him to the line.

    Say farewell to 50 percent free throw shooting for Al Horford. Just over two months after a 1-for-10 performance imperiled a victory against the Wizards, Horford came through with 10-for-11 shooting in the crucial comeback against the Celtics, rocketing his free throw percentage above the 60 percent threshold (61.5 FT%). His return to reasonable accuracy (79.8 and 78.9 FT% in his last two full seasons) has come right on time. He’s taken 18 shots from the charity stripe in his past two games, compared to a cumulative total of 14 shots over his prior 13 appearances.

    Horford’s 52 points over his past two games has moved his scoring average to a career-high 15.9 PPG, while six straight double-digit rebounding games has upped his rebounding average to just a shade under his career high (9.9 RPG).

    Horford’s career averages of 16.6 PPG and 11.6 RPG against the Knicks are higher than against any other Eastern Conference team. But after a 51-minute high-wire act against the Celtics, just two days after resting a sore hamstring and calf, it will be interesting to see how much rest he’ll need against Chandler and company. Zaza Pachulia is himself limited due to his Achilles, so expect judicious use of Johan Petro and Mike Scott to support Ivan Johnson, who will need to challenge the Knicks bigs under the hoop (11 points but just one rebound in 18 minutes against the Celtics).

    Go Hawks!

    ~lw3
  13. lethalweapon3

    Hawks - Nets

    By lethalweapon3,

    He’s baaaaaaaack!

    The week-long stretch of Hawkward Reunions continues tonight with J-J-J-J-J-J-Joe Johnson coming back to The Highlight Factory (oh, yeah, you too, Jerry Stackhouse) with the Brooklyn Nets. The six-time All-Star’s return to the Philips Arena floor will likely be met with applause from Atlanta Hawks fans, at least those that remember the not-so-good ole days before he got here. But will his grand return be a triumphant one? This will be a double-dip for the Hawks and Nets, as both teams will fly up to Prospect Heights for another clash on Friday.

    Atlanta traded off one “team leader” in July and will go into tonight’s contest without another, as the staff suspended Josh Smith one game for being a baaaaaad boyyyyyy in practice Tuesday. This should result in ample floor time for Anthony Tolliver, Ivan Johnson, and Mike Scott to help Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia match up against the Nets’ stout frontline. Horford will need a big game, playing as a legitimate big and going at Brook Lopez and Andray Blatche, if the Hawks intend to compete tonight.

    The burden of added leadership responsibilities is apparently weighing heavily on Smith, who seems to misunderstand that role as trying to be “Joe with Blocks and Steals.” Now shooting almost four three-pointers per night this month (2.3 3FGAs per game for the season, a career high) without averaging even one make, his field goal percentage in January (42.9 FG%) is approaching his free throw percentage (43.3 FT%), a feat which, for most players, would be a good thing. Smith’s season-long true shooting percentage of 47.4% is easily the lowest of his career, while his per-game rebounding (6.2 RPG, down from 7.5, which ranked 6th in the NBA last season) is his lowest in four seasons. He’s still getting the pretty blocked shots on help defense, but it’s at the cost of rebounds he and his teammates are readily conceding to the opposition.

    After the Epic Fail that was the 97-58 goring at the hoofs of the Chicago Bulls, the Hawks find themselves momentarily amid surging teams in the East. The Boston Celtics, one game below them, have won six straight, while the Nets have caught fire with seven straight victories.

    While Smoove and the Hawks continue their downward spiral, Joe is making his predictable pre-All-Star Game run with January numbers (20.1 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 3.7 APG, 1.1 TO/G, 47.6 FG%; 47.8 3FG%) up across the board from December (17.4 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 3.1 APG, 2.1 TO/G, 43.1 FG%, 34.7 3FG%). DeShawn Stevenson’s status is still unknown after having his knee examined yesterday, but he’ll be eager to be an impediment against Joe and his former squad.

    Reigning Eastern Conference Coach of the Month Larry Drew will be game-planning to stop the bleeding against a team that canned the previous award winner before going on a 9-1 tear. Finger-hickeyed P.J. Carlesimo’s troops are coming off a 113-106 win at Barclays Center last night against the improving Toronto Raptors. The Raps’ 106 points were the most that the Nets have given up in regulation since the 108-93 loss in Milwaukee on December 26 that dropped the Nets to a mediocre 14-14 and proved to be Avery Johnson’s swan song.

    It won’t surprise you much to know that a team featuring Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez on offense moves at the slowest pace in the NBA (87.9 possessions per 48 minutes). The offense, however, has picked up considerably in the points column. Brooklyn’s reached triple-digits in six wins during this ten-game stretch under Carlesimo, a mark achieved just seven times in the prior 28 games under the Little General. With the surge, Brooklyn now ranks third in the East in both scoring and scoring defense.

    Deron Williams is growing more comfortable as a floor leader for this team (just 2.0 TO/G in his last ten games; 3.0 in his prior 27). His turnover rate is by far the lowest of his career as an everyday starter. Unfortunately, so is his assist rate, as Johnson iso-dribbles in the clutch and Lopez backs opponents under the basket. Yet you get the sense that he and his teammates have figured out there’s enough quality depth where no one player has to go out and try to do everything. Joe, Deron, Brook (each with 20+ points last night), Gerald Wallace and Kris Humphries recognize they can get paid handsomely without having to play Headliner Heroball for 40+ minutes anymore.

    Wallace has lived up to his nickname. Crash kicked off the season by spraining his ankle, and has been out for the last two games with bruised ribs after a characteristically rough spill early in a game against Phoenix. Wallace will be needed on the floor if the Hawks elect to go big at small forward (less urgent now, with Smith out for the Hawks). He’ll be a game-time decision. Fellow journeyman Keith Bogans has been spelling Crash as of late, to muted effect.

    Reggie Evans has supplanted TMZ favorite Humphries in the starting lineup and has failed to disappoint, leading the NBA in total rebounding percentage (24.8 per 100 possessions) and defensive rebounding percentage (37.1 per 100), while remaining a notorious thorn-in-the-side. The array of bigs at Brooklyn’s disposal is making life miserable in the paint for opponents. Beyond team scoring leader Lopez, there’s the resuscitated Andray Blatche (double-digit points in 6 of his last 7 games), Humphries, and even rookie free agent Mirza Teletovic (double-digit points in two of his last three games) coming off the bench. We’ll get an Ivan-Reggie tête-à-tête if we’re lucky. If we’re luckier, we may get a brief Battle of Georgia between Pachulia and a fellow Tbilisian, the lightly-used rookie Tornike Shengelia.

    Free MarShon Brooks! The Tucker High product started 47 games in his rookie season for lowly New Jersey, averaging almost 30 minutes a game, but is getting little burn behind Joe, Bogans, and Wallace. Despite shooting better inside the perimeter (54.2 FG% on two-pointers) than last season (46.3 2FG% in 2011-12), the sophomore still is not trusted enough defensively to get much more than 12 minutes per night.

    Former Hawks pre-season standout Damion James has picked up a ten-day contract with the Nets. His addition replaced a more prominent ex-Hawk, Josh Childress, who was waived a couple weeks before.

    Similar to Utah, the Net guards are generally not catching anybody on defense. No one in the backcourt aside from the lightly used rookie Tyshawn Taylor has a defensive rating below 105 (including Joe’s 111 points per 100 possessions. Hawk guards will need to be ready to catch-and-shoot, as the Nets may be slow to react. Usually, it’s Smith (4.4 APG) kicking the ball out from the block to get the ball movement started around the arc, so we’ll see if Jeff Teague takes more initiative and whether the replacement forwards pick up some of the slack in Smoove’s absence. Kyle Lowry did the scoring damage against Brooklyn in last night’s game with 21 points in just 15 limited minutes. We’ll see if Lou Williams or Devin Harris can play that Microwave role tonight.

    Go Hawks!

    ~lw3
  14. lethalweapon3

    Hawks - Rockets

    By lethalweapon3,

    Fourth place in your conference? That’s all? C’mon, Dwight! You could’ve done that back home!

    After plugging the dam for two conference foes’ leaking seasons at the Highlight Factory, our Atlanta Hawks fly west to meet up with America’s Favorite Center, Dwight Howard, and the Houston Rockets (8:00 PM Eastern, SportSouth, CSN Houston), the league’s top scoring team at 108.7 points per game.

    After spurning his hometown team and a few other suitors this summer, Howard hasn’t disappointed for the Rockets (10-5), ranking second in the NBA for rebounds (13.2 RPG) and fourth in blocks (2.3 BPG) while averaging a modest 17.7 points in deference to James Harden (24.2 PPG, 6th in NBA). With The Bearded One sidelined with a sore foot, Howard’s remained deferential in the past two games, leaving the offense to the likes of Aaron Brooks (26 points versus Minnesota) and the pair of Chandler Parsons and Omri Casspi (33 combined points against Memphis).

    If Harden remains on the bench for an extra game, look for Dwight to take a little more charge on the offensive end. The size advantage with Al Horford, who can’t afford early foul trouble, is self-evident, while Gustavo Ayón and Pero Antić aren’t striking any more fear into hearts as Nikola Pekovic, or even Kosta Koufos.

    Dwight’s penchant for temperamental behavior when things aren’t going his way has already reared its head. Much like the Hawks, the Rockets blew a comfortable second-half lead to Dirk, Monta and the division-rival Mavericks last week, despite Howard’s 33 points in a losing effort, and as the end was near Howard lobbed the ball after the whistle into the stands, costing him 25 stacks after a fine from the league office.

    Houston cannot afford foul trouble by Howard, who has yet to foul out this year. Greg Smith remains sidelined with a knee sprain, and Head Coach Kevin McHale would be left to rely on two bigs whose skills he’d very much like to merge into one player. Omer Asik (4.2 PPG, career-low 48.6 FG%) remains imposing defensively, but still has hands of stone, and is already looking for a way out of H-Town, now that he’s been benched after failing to work out at power forward after 82 games last season starting for the Rox at the 5. Donatas Motiejunas has very good offensive moves, but gets clumsy on the other end of the floor.

    With the Rockets’ offensive scheme built around the contact-savvy Harden, and Hack-a-Howard (54.1 FT%) defenses deployed against them, Houston takes six more trips to the free throw line (35.1 FT attempts per game) than any other NBA team. Although the Rockets are only hitting free throws at around a 70% clip, the Hawks (18.3 personal fouls per game, 3rd lowest in NBA) are too thin talent-wise to have players in foul trouble tonight. Much of the jailbreak Atlanta experienced last night came after DeMarre Carroll had to sit with foul trouble from D’ing up Arron Afflalo.

    Terrence Jones has put up with overlooking commentary regarding the Rockets’ need for a true power forward, and has been rewarded with the starting spot for taking it all in stride and performing well at the position. In his last seven games as a starter in place of Asik, the second-year forward has averaged 14.4 PPG, 8.1 RPG, and 1.7 BPG while also proving capable of stepping outside for deep shots (46.7 3FG%). He’s struggling on defense and with free throw shooting since starting, but he’s done as well alongside Howard as anyone could have expected from either Asik or Josh Smith. Paul Millsap can help out the Hawks offensively, by attacking the rim early and drawing help from Howard away from Al and the driving Jeff Teague.

    Teague’s Hawks are down to 1-5 when he scores 15 points or less. Up against Jeremy Lin (two 30+ scoring outings already this year, career-high 16.3 PPG), Patrick Beverley, and/or Brooks, any of whom can go off at any time, Atlanta’s point guard corps is slimmed even further with Shelvin Mack’s sprained ankle keeping him out of action. Teague must carry the Hawks offense, using screens to open up paths to the hoop, but must be judicious when drawing contact in the lane. Houston does turn over the ball a bunch (18.1 TOs per game, most in NBA), so Atlanta must execute a goof-free transition game to stay competitive throughout.

    Teague’s ability to produce offense will be strained further without Kyle Korver and Lou Williams available. Korver’s dealing with bruised ribs and Williams is resting on his back-to-back game restriction, so it will be up to Cartier Martin, John Jenkins, and Carroll to spread the floor. The Hawks’ wings struggled last night keeping Afflalo and Orlando’s swingmen in check, and that task gets tougher against Dwight’s BFF (sorry, Smoove) Parsons (career highs of 16.7 PPG, 52.5 FG%, and 3.8 APG) and a rejuvenated, Hanukkah-celebrating Casspi (career-high 38.6 3FG%). Horford’s Dominican Republic teammate Frenchy Garcia continues to shoot poorly (career-low 37.0 FG%), but may get some floor time tonight for defensive purposes if the Rockets can build up a comfortable lead.

    Go Hawks!

    ~lw3
  15. lethalweapon3

    Hawks - Raptors

    By lethalweapon3,

    (EDIT: Will Jose Calderon and Ed Davis play tonight? We're about to find out.)

    “Who will buy?”

    The trading deadline within sight, the Toronto Raptors’ GM Bryan Colangelo has been getting his “Oliver!” on lately. North of the border, the team that’s 16-29 and 1-7 in a brutal Atlantic Division is looking to shake things up. And if other teams have offers, much like Jordan Farmar, the Raptors are all ears.

    You’d have to head to the DeKalb Farmer’s Market to find more international options than the Raptors are peddling. What do you have a taste for? Italian (Andrea Bargnani)? Spanish (Jose Calderon)? French (Mickael Pietrus)? Perhaps a little fusion action, with some Lithuanian (Linas Kleiza or Jonas Valanciunas) thrown in?

    "What? You want more?" You want the team’s leading scorer (career-highs of 17.3 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 2.2 APG) in DeMar DeRozan, eh? Sure, but would you mind taking one of our offseason mistakes (Landry Fields) with you? Or, how about taking either one of our redundant power forwards (Ed Davis or Amir Johnson)?

    The Raptors are individually aware that they are not merely playing to compete, but they are being showcased.

    We always complain about the referees not giving the Hawks the foul calls they deserve. Well, we will know something is up if that observation continues tonight. The Raptors have the highest opponent free throw rate (33.5 free throw attempts per 100 field goal attempts) and serve up a league-leading 22.8 personal fouls per game. Their opponents need to take advantage of the plentiful trips to the line. Toronto is 2-16 when opponents sink more than 20 freebies, 14-13 otherwise. Atlanta is conversely stingy -- 29th in personal fouls (18.2 per game) and in opponent free throw rate (23.7 attempts per 100 possessions). Without Zaza Pachulia available, we’ll need bangers like Ivan Johnson and solid free throw shooters like Anthony Tolliver to contribute.

    Offense has not been much of a problem for the Raptors, 4th in the Eastern Conference in points per game (97.9 PPG) and offensive efficiency (106.5 points per 100 possessions). Coach Dwane Casey’s bunch plays at a low pace (25th in NBA), but their fouls give them ample opportunity to stop the clock and climb back in the game with extra possessions, matching foes’ ones-and-twos with their two-and-threes.

    Also helping the Dinos’ cause is the 2nd lowest turnover rate in the league (12.31 TOs per 100 possessions, second only to the Hawks’ last opponent, the Knicks). Calderon and Lowry are among the top 15 point guards (minimum 25+ minutes per game) for low turnover rates, while John Lucas III, Kleiza, DeRozan, rookie Terrence Ross, and the emerging Alan Anderson all rank in the NBA’s Top 50.

    The only exception on the roster for turnover rate was lightly used Aaron Gray, currently 3rd highest in the league (30.7 per 100 possessions). Gray took a vampire bite from Glen Davis during an altercation in Orlando last Thursday and went batty four days later in the Raptors’ loss to Golden State. He got 31 minutes and scored 22 points (a career-high, surpassing the 19 he scored way back in April 2008) on 9-of-12 shooting, adding 10 rebounds (and just one turnover). As the Raps await Bargnani’s comeback from an torn elbow ligament and Valanciunas’ return from a broken finger, look for Casey to activate Gray for another 20+ minutes.

    What’s bringing them down is defense. They give up 100 points per game, but more significantly, they’re 1-22 when opponents drop 100 points or more on them, 15-7 otherwise. Jeff Teague (25.0 PPG and 6.5 APG in his last two games) should get ample opportunities to continue driving to the basket with Calderon at his heels; against Lowry (who comes off the bench), not so much. Fields was suffering with flu-like symptoms over the weekend, but will be needed to temper the hot-shooting Hawks, who shot 60% on field goals in Sunday’s loss to the Knicks.

    The team’s top offseason acquisition, Lowry returned from a torn triceps muscle about a month ago and hasn’t gotten his starting gig back. He’s struggled for the most part with his shot as a reserve (11-for-35 in his last five games). At the season’s outset, Lowry could not have imagined the Raptors looking to keep Calderon and shop him instead, but Calderon has the advantage of a $10.6 million expiring contract. Or, as Yahoo’s Adreian Wojnarowski revealed recently, it may just be Calderon getting showcased while Lowry recovers from the triceps injury and back spasms. Something’s gotta give.

    Toronto is subpar in defensive rebounding (29.0 per game, 28th in NBA; 21st in defensive rebounding percentage), so crashing the boards is in order. The Hawks are 10-3 when they snare 12 or more offensive rebounds.

    Go Hawks!

    ~lw3
  16. lethalweapon3

    Hawks - Sixers

    By lethalweapon3,

    The undulating competition level for the Atlanta Hawks continues tonight as a suddenly well-rested club is in Philadelphia, woofing down cheesesteaks and ready to take on the 76ers (7:30 PM Eastern, SportSouth, CSN Philly).

    The Gods of Gridlock intervened right on time for a Hawks team that just finished another string of three games in four nights, the final contest a spirited yet crushing defeat at the hands of Kevin Durant and the Refs Oklahoma City Thunder, the top team in the league. The winter weather and subsequent snafu that snarled Atlanta for days kept the Detroit Pistons in Motown on Wednesday. The cancelled game effectively gave the Hawks a couple days off before kicking off their next back-to-back affair, as the Timberwolves and Hawks will arrive back at Philips Arena for a game tomorrow evening, Traffic willing.

    The Sixers (15-31) rolled into the new year on a nice Road Warrior-style four-game winning streak. They hope not to roll out of January like a lamb. They’ve dropped seven of their last eight games at Wells Fargo Center, most of those deficits by double-digits. But after Evan Turner’s buzzer-beater slapped an ugly bow on the worst month of basketball in the Boston Celtics’ history, it’s Philly (the players, not so much the fans) that is hoping to go on just the third winning streak of their up-and-mostly-down season.

    Who He Play For? Charles Barkley would scratch his glossy dome with fervor if presented with the names and/or faces of Hollis Thompson, Elliot Williams, Dewayne Dedmon (there’s an obvious joke awaiting everytime he gets called for traveling), Lorenzo Brown, Arnett Moultrie and/or Brandon Davies. What would otherwise make for a stout lineup for the Delaware 87ers is filling out the end of the bench for Head Coach Brett Brown’s squad and (with exception to Moultrie, who is awaiting his season debut after an offseason ankle injury) getting around 10-15 minutes of NBA floor burn per night.

    Most of their deployment is intended by Brown to help reduce the wear-and-tear on the true healthy talents remaining on the Sixers’ roster. Players like Turner (career-high 18.5 PPG), Thaddeus Young (career-high 17.3 PPG), and Spencer Hawes (career-highs 14.0 PPG, 1.7 3FG/game, 42.0 3FG%, 8.7 RPG) are all balling at a breakneck pace (league-leading 99.6 possessions per 48 minutes). They are wearing their precious hearts out on the floor, not really to help the team win much, but rather to enhance their own trade-bait-ability as the deadline looms closer.

    The motor that keeps Brown’s offense sputtering along is super-rookie Michael Carter-Williams, the dazzling 6-foot-6 point guard who leads all rookies in points, assists, and even rebounds (17.2 PPG. 6.7 APG, 5.6 RPG).

    Lacking any assistance from shelved rookie teammate Nerlens Noel, MCW (40.1 FG%, 69.9 FT%) has to spin an awful lot of straw, given the shallow depth and experience of the talent surrounding him. Carter-Williams’ overall offense is thus emblematic of a team that ranks second in the league in shots (88.5 field goal attempts per game) but has the second-worst efficiency (100.0 points per 100 possessions), shooting just 44.0 percent (23rd in NBA; 31.7 3FG%, 29th in NBA) while committing a league-high 16.9 turnovers per game.

    If Jeff Teague (a gametime decision for tonight after resting an ankle sprain) can go, he’ll need to find a way to offset MCW’s offensive production. Teague looked every bit the All-Star that Kenny Smith imagines he is during the Hawks’ 113-103 victory over the Sixers in Atlanta on November 15. While MCW was sidelined due to injury, Jeff got to the free throw line in a jiffy (12-for-13 FTs), and led the way with 33 points (career-high for a regulation game) and 10 assists.

    If Teague sits again, his duties will fall to Shelvin Mack (15 points, 7 assists and 1 turnover vs. OKC), who was dumped by the Sixers around this time last season after a pair of 10-days, and probably fellow rookie Dennis Schröder, who had a surprisingly strong offensive game (10 points in 13 minutes, 4-for-6 shooting) off the bench versus OKC. Generating points off of turnovers will be crucial for Atlanta, as will keeping MCW from getting shots in the paint (48.1 FG% inside, 31.0 FG% outside).

    Philadelphia’s chances of pulling off a victory often depend on the ability of up-and-comers Tony Wroten and (former Hawks preseason favorite) James Anderson to go for career nights. Wroten ranks 9th in the league for usage (28.1 plays per 100 possessions), the second-highest rate among non-All-Stars. So when he comes off the bench, he isn’t looking to pass. Altogether, don’t be surprised to see a couple Sixer performances that light up the boxscores in a losing effort.

    The losses pile up because players like Turner and Hawes (not a Tom Hanks movie) rarely demonstrate any capacity to make stops on defense. The Sixers give up a whopping 109.5 points per contest. Carter-Williams (2.4 SPG) and Young (2.1 SPG) rank third and fourth in the league in thefts per game, but they often have to leave their man to bail out their defensively flawed teammates, and the Sixers’ defensive rotations are poor. Atlanta’s ball movement (25.4 team APG, 1st in NBA) should be all the more confounding for opponents in the City of Brotherly Shove than it was in OKC.

    He’s been back home for two seasons now, but Philadelphia is still LouWillVille. Lou Williams admits he’s still giddy about the town where he cut his teeth as a fresh-faced phenom out of high school. The feeling is mutual for the man who grew to embrace his sixth-man role, helped the Sixers reach four playoff seasons over a stretch of five transitional years, and once talked his way out of a carjacking there. Williams is eager to make up for his disappointing performance during his return to Philly last season (4-for-12 shooting and 4 turnovers, amid a bad 99-80 Hawks loss in December 2012).

    Back when the Sixers took a magical carpet ride to within a game of the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals, Williams was their leading scorer in the regular season, and their top offensive rebounder was Elton Brand. You can be sure Brand recalls that his eight-figure salary was amnesthetized (and Williams’ free agency exception rights renounced) the following summer so the Sixers could clear the way for the coming of their savior, Andrew Bynum. Brand should have a good mental scouting report on his former teammate Hawes, who will use his perimeter shot to draw bigs out of the paint.

    Hawes doesn’t stay at home terribly often himself, so when he does, Paul-Star Millsap, DeMarre Carroll and the Hawks’ driving guards should not hesitate take turns converging toward the rim. Opponents take a league-high 10.4 shots at the rim with Hawes in the vicinity, shooting 51.5 FG%. Young (3.2 SPG in his last 10 games) will have his work cut out for him accounting for Millsap while providing help elsewhere on the floor.

    A former Sixers second-rounder, just like Williams, got his big break in the 215. Kyle Korver holds the team’s all-time record for three-pointers in a season, and ranks second in Sixer annals for three-point and free throw shooting percentages. He nailed three of his five three-point tries during the Hawks’ November win, and should find himself far more open along the perimeter than he did when he was sandwiched by Kevin Durant and Thabo Sefolosha on Monday.

    Go Hawks!

    ~lw3
  17. lethalweapon3

    Hawks - Sixers

    By lethalweapon3,

    Are we all still here, Mayans? Good!

    Here’s your $64,000 question: What’s wild and woolly, hard to make sense of, and a troubling sign of uncertain days ahead?

    What’s that? Andrew Bynum’s hair, you say? No, I’m so sorry. I was going for the Philadelphia 76ers season!

    That’s especially true lately. The Sixers have been trying to hold it all together with would-be-superbig Bynum’s health status increasingly uncertain. Philadelphia went Bowling for Bynum this summer, taking what was then seen as a low-scale, high-profile risk for a young, potential Grade A superstar who was preparing for a non-invasive procedure on his gimpy knee in time for the start of an exciting season.

    Fans were apparently sold on the prospect: the team’s attendance is Top 10 for the first time since the Iverson era. Today, they are increasingly convinced that the Sixers, still pilloried for the returns from trades of Charles Barkley, Moses Malone, and Brad Daugherty, just tossed another gutter ball. A report on Bynum’s status is due today. But unlike the off-season, when season tickets were heavily pushed, no promises of a timeline for his return to the court are expected.

    With a sprained right foot shelving their leading scorer and playmaker, Jrue Holiday, for the past five games, the crack in Philly’s bell continues to widen. They’ve dropped all five games without Jrue, making their record 2-9 in December after an encouraging 10-6 start.

    Evan Turner has been able to help produce some offense in Holiday’s hiatus, averaging 17.8 PPG and 5.2 APG in the first five games of this month. And thank goodness for that, as there’s no one aside from Turner with more than 1.5 assists per game on the roster. But now Turner is potentially sidelined, too, with a sprained ankle leaving him a gametime decision. You’d have to imagine at least one of Holiday and Turner will make an appearance on the Wells Fargo Center floor tonight. Without their two leading scorers and assist-makers, they’re left with The Youngs (Thaddeus and Nick) and the restless.

    The only other traditional lead guard is former Hawk Royal Ivey, and he’s not getting much attention as he’s struggling with a strained groin. Coach Doug Collins was trying instead to shoehorn preseason star Maalik Wayns, an aggressive driving guard who had nine assists and no turnovers at Dallas on December 18, into the starting role. He was pulled after just 14 minutes against Houston (2 points, 1-for-5 shooting, no assists) on Wednesday. If Collins doesn’t trust his small guards, he’ll lean instead on his wings. The Youngs, plus Turner, Jason Richardson, Dorrell Wright and ex-Hawk Damien Wilkins, combined for 19 assists and just six turnovers against the Rockets.

    The Sixers play at a low pace (90.3 possessions per 48 minutes, 24th in NBA), but they get the fifth-most shots (84.0 field goal attempts per game). Taking care of the ball (11.9 turnovers per 100 possessions, 2nd lowest in NBA) allows them to maximize their opportunity for a shot, even if it isn’t a terribly good one.

    The passes in this offense are mostly for long-range two-pointers. The 76ers take the third most long-two shots (23.8 FGA per game from 16-to-23 feet) in the league. Almost everyone is in on the act, including forward-centers Spencer Hawes and Lavoy Allen, each taking as many shots taken from here as they have within 10 feet of the rim. Including starter-by-default Kwame Brown, the bigs themselves are not strong passers, either, and it’s tough to get them to participate fully in any pick-and-roll schemes.

    The injured pair of Holiday and Turner represents Philly’s their most reliable defensive options as well. The wings will swipe and dive for steals, but beyond that, they’re having a tough time stopping people. They gave up a whopping 125 points to Houston, the third straight game a Sixer opponent went for triple digits. The Rockets managed 36 free throw attempts. Philly’s opponents have had at least 20 free throw shots eight times through ten games this month, after just six occasions in the first 16 games of November.

    To match the versatility of Josh Smith, they’ll need a big game from Thaddeus Young (whose Twitter handle is ‘yungsmoove21’). His rebounding and shot blocks are up marginally, but while he fills up most of the stat sheet nightly, the longest-tenured Sixer really isn’t doing much to emerge from a leadership standpoint. We’re not one to criticize, but Thad’s free throw shooting is around 59%, down from 77% last year.

    Without being able to generate many turnovers from Philly, Atlanta will have to deploy a steady rotation at the 2 and 3 spots, ready to defend all those Sixer spot-up jumpers from 15 feet and beyond. Jeff Teague and Kyle Korver will have to provide the defensive energy necessary to keep Sixer guards out the lane. In the frontcourt, the Hawks need to limit Philly’s second-chances, and attack the paint persistently to thin out their options.

    Go Hawks!

    ~lw3
  18. lethalweapon3

    Hawks - Warriors

    By lethalweapon3,

    “Does FIRST PLACE make my butt look big? Be honest...”



    A capacity crowd will be on hand tonight at the Highlight Factory for the NBA’s two conference leaders, the Golden State Warriors and the Atlanta Hawks (7:30 PM, SportSouth Thank Goodness, CSN Bay Area). These two teams will be not only schooling each other, but a lot of people, in the stands and watching from home, that are only now coming around to figure out what all the fuss is about.

    Tonight’s game is a clinic for generations of people who grew up thinking height, speed, and hops are the quintessentially integral measures needed to create championship-quality basketball. Their religions built upon NBA 2K, Come Fly With Me videos, and fantasy hoops, or faded memories of Jurassic-era battles among behemoths beneath the hoop, they can’t quite wrap their heads around what the Hawks (41-9), the Warriors (39-8), or even the Bucks have been up to lately.

    To the critics, what classic-tweener Draymond Green is doing defensively Does Not Compute. Names like Jeff Teague in discussions of All-Star Games and DeMarre Carroll for Players of the Month Does Not Compute. Al Horford (21 points and 13 rebounds vs. Washington on Wednesday) routinely dominating frontcourt matchups without having to average much more than seven rebounds per game Does Not Compute. Andrew Bogut’s presence gives skeptics some solace, but whenever he goes down or leaves a game with foul trouble, the Warriors continuing to thrive without him Does Not Compute.

    “They’re jump-shooting teams,” they’ll suggest dismissively of Golden State (NBA-high 111.4 PPG) and Atlanta (103.4 PPG, second in the East), “and that stuff looks cute in February, but won’t fly once the playoffs get here.” The deniers are blinded by the considerable exploits of The Splash Brothers (Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, natch) and Kyle Korver.

    Korver is the NBA’s reigning catch-and-shoot king (9.2 catch-and-shoot PPG and 52.7 FG%) with Thompson (7.7 catch-and-shoot PPG, 43.8 FG%) not far behind. With three of the league’s top four three-point shot-makers sharing the floor tonight, it’s easy to neglect Harrison Barnes (43.8 3FG%, 6th in NBA), or Carroll’s career-high 40.0% shooting beyond the arc. Long-range accuracy is great (GSW’s 38.9 3FG% and ATL’s 38.8 3FG% top the league), but neither team is dependent purely on that element of their game to excel.

    What naysayers have yet to discover is the new “in” measurement isn’t height, or end-to-end speed, or vertical leap, or girth. It’s all about wingspan, all about length. It’s the ability to disrupt opponents’ flow and produce defensive stops without constantly having to leave one’s feet, to win 50/50 balls, to get barely-open shots off with relative ease, to advance the ball by swinging and tossing it over and around one’s opponents, to create offense without the ball excessively touching the floor.

    With apologies to ZZ Top, these two teams have length, and they know how to use it. They’re stretching not merely the floor, but people’s imaginations of what’s possible when one seeks to build an NBA championship contender.

    The Hawks and Warriors rank one-and-two in assist percentage (at least 19.7% of possessions end in an assist) and are both top-five for assist-turnover ratio (1.83). Golden State and Atlanta each lead the league with 59.6% of TWO-pointers being assisted.

    The first pair of teammates to drop 50 points in games during the same season since 1994-95 (Philly’s Dana Barros and Willie Burton, of course), Curry (23.6 PPG, 8th in NBA; 51 points vs. Dallas on Wednesday; NBA-high 4.2 pull-up 3FG attempts per game) and Thompson (22.4 PPG, 10th in NBA; 52 vs. Sacramento two weeks ago) can certainly get hot. But while both are just fine spotting up when needed, the MVP-contending Curry’s 40.4 3FG% is a career-low.

    While both teams get 28 percent of their points from three-point shots, the Warriors are 3rd in the league in points-in-the-paint, while the Hawks get 2.1 more PPG in the paint than their opponents. G-State’s 19.5 PPG off of turnovers lead the league; Atlanta’s 18.0 PPG has them only behind the Bucks in the East. Each rely on exactly 17.5% (7th in NBA) of their offense to come in transition from turnovers. Anyone watching just to witness a sneak-preview of next week’s Three-Point Shootout is going to be somewhat disappointed. These are good jump-shooting teams, but by the time opponents figure out that’s not all they are, it’s usually too late.

    Whenever you need to turn the crowd in your favor, it may not be the best idea to trot out Rick Barry. It’s March 2012, and the Warriors are five years removed from the magical “WE BELIEVE” playoff run, the franchise’s only postseason appearance in 18 years. They have just traded their franchise face, Monta Ellis, to Milwaukee for what seemed to be a bag of brittle bones. That was one day after losing Curry for the season, the point guard’s tender ankles raising concerns about his longevity.

    Warrior fans were an understandably ornery bunch. Fed up, they were letting new owner Joe Lacob have it, right in the middle of Chris Mullin’s retirement ceremony. Mullin couldn’t calm the crowd, so Barry, who could just as well be at WWE RAW, grabbed the mic: “Come on, people!... Show a little bit of class!” Barry then demanded the audience give Lacob the “respect he deserves.” So much for that.

    Nary could an oracle be found at Oracle Arena on that pivotal winter day. What no one could fathom at the time was that the aforementioned bag of bones, Bogut, would become the skeleton key that transformed Golden State to a defensive-focused team, one not seen since Wilt ruled the roost in San Francisco a half-century ago. It began to turn around under the auspices of the street-preaching Mark Jackson, and it continued under new coach Steve Kerr -- more specifically, with the guidance of Ron Adams, the sage assistant who accompanied Kerr.

    Bogut’s addition allowed several things to transpire. It allowed Jackson to proselytize defense as the key to playing above-.500 ball, rather than hoping the Warriors could simply out-snipe teams on a nightly basis. It encouraged Andre Iguodala (2013-14 All-Defensive first-teamer) to pass up a longer-term free-agent deal and hop over from Denver in 2013, the Warriors using cap space created by finally dumping the static Andris Biedrins. The new focus on physicality turned third-year forward Green (1.8 SPG, 1.4 BPG, #1 in defensive win shares), a nice utility player, into an indispensible starter.

    Having missed the end of last season with a fractured rib, Bogut still misses time on occasion (14 games so far) due to a bothersome knee. But when he’s available the Aussie is holding opponents down under 41.9 FG% around the rim (4th among NBA bigs), his 93.5 defensive rating comfortably the best mark in the NBA. His interior presence is allowing Iguodala and Green to clamp down on forwards outside the paint. It’s also allowing Curry (2.1 SPG, 2nd in NBA), Thompson (0.9 BPG, 2nd among NBA guards), Shaun Livingston and Justin Holiday to gamble around the perimeter.

    Adams’ switching schemes would make Mike Woodson proud, but the Warriors have the length and talent where opponents cannot create advantages merely from pick-and-rolls.

    When Bogut has to sit, the relatively shorter Marreese Speights and David Lee do just fine at the pivot. With lengthy options at the power forward position, Bogut can step out to defend mid-range shooters, like Atlanta’s Al Horford, knowing he doesn’t have to scramble back into the paint to recover. Green can similarly come out to frustrate three-point shooters. For players not previously well-regarded for their defensive prowess (Curry, Lee, Thompson in particular), the defensive will has become infectious. Much like Teague (1.7 SPG, just behind Millsap for 4th in the East), Curry has become savvy at picking opposing guards’ pockets and forcing turnovers. It should also be noted that Steph hasn’t missed an NBA game since his injury in 2012.

    Golden State has not produced a defensive rating (97.3 opponent points per 100 possessions) this good since the introduction of the three-point line. Opponents shoot a league-low 42.1 FG%, including just 32.3% from three-point range (3rd-lowest in NBA).

    There is one more person from 2012 that was instrumental to putting Warrior fans in a far more golden state. Kent Bazemore arrived in Oakland during that summer out of Old Dominion as an undrafted free agent. In-between D-League assignments and the 2013 Summer League championship, his energizer attitude on and off the court caught on fast with Curry and his Warrior teammates, and especially with long-miserable Warrior fans: “Bazemoring” became the Tebowing move of the day. Bazemore is the guy who helped Curry DunkCam his coach (I’m sorry, Coach Jackson), the rookie whose car was gleefully filled to the sunroof with popcorn. He helped lighten up a once-moody sideline, and his departure for the Lakers last February was a downer all-around.

    One year later, Bazemore (47.9 FG% and 40.0 3FG% in the past month) suits up with the Hawks, his well-concocted sideline antics making the highlight reels once again. He’ll be needed on the floor, however, to help secure rebounds and loose balls, hitting timely threes, and helping the Hawks win the turnover battle against the team that put him on the map. In the absence of Thabo Sefolosha, Bazemore’s wing defense (in collaboration with Korver and Carroll) and transition offense could make him an X-Factor tonight. He and the Hawks guards will need help against Curry (8.1 APG, 5th in NBA) so that they’re not exploited in isolation.

    Needless to say, Horford and Paul Millsap will have their work cut out for them, not only by working to get around the Warriors’ assertive post players. As they draw their opponents outside the paint, they’ll need to make timely and accurate passes and handoffs to cutting guards and wings. As the Warriors’ defense collapses, Al and Paul’s teammates must look to score quickly and be smart about drawing contact, while their teammates, in turn, must get open when lanes close and kickouts are needed.

    Those lanes will close much more quickly than Teague (7.5 APG, 6th in NBA) and Dennis Schröder, both excellent drivers, are used to. Schröder has produced double-digit scoring in six of his last seven games, shooting 45.6 FG% and 85.7 FT%. He has also done a better job handling the ball recently (4.5 APG, 1.2 TOs per game in his last 11). If ball control or tempo becomes an issue, Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer may turn to Shelvin Mack (team-high 3.0 assist-turnover ratio), who is probable to return after missing nine games with a strained calf.

    Precise, and not rushed, offensive execution will help Atlanta keep up with Golden State’s dizzying pace (101.3 possessions per-48, 1st in NBA by a mile). Against the top-12 NBA teams for pace, the Hawks are 12-1, the sole loss coming at the hands of Kobe’s Lakers back in November.

    If there is one person who will do anything to stop Korver’s quest for 50/50/90, it’s Steve Kerr. The 5-time NBA champion has the sole 50+ FG%/50+ 3FG%/90+ FT% season in NBA history, but his 1995-96 season (50.6 FG%, 51.5 3FG%, 92.9 FT%) comes with an asterisk, because the reserve on that 72-10 Bulls team did not shoot enough free throws to qualify. You can best believe he’s tired of hearing that.

    Kerr will throw every defender capable of chasing Korver (1-for-6 3FGs vs. Washington) through multiple screens. He’ll also want to do his part to try and stick an asterisk on Korver’s 92.0 FT% (2nd in NBA, ahead of Curry’s 90.9%) by keeping him from drawing trips to the line. But the Warriors’ withholding of physical play on Kyle might work to his, and the Hawks’, advantage. Atlanta is 30-6 when Korver (51.7 FG%, 53.2 3FG%) gets two or fewer free throw attempts in a game, 10-3 when he takes more than two shots.

    High cross-court and down-court passes, generally effective against the Wizards on Wednesday, could turn into up-for-grab balls that work against Atlanta tonight versus the far more active and athletic Warrior D. Perimeter shooters will have to remain dynamic throughout possessions, understanding that both the catch-part and shoot-part of the Hawks’ signature offense will be heavily contested.

    As much as the Hawks get panned for their lack of defensive rebounding (74.5 D-Reb%, 17th in NBA), Bogut and the Warriors come out even worse (73.3 D-Reb%, 24th in NBA). A platoon of Elton Brand and Pero Antić will be useful in creating second-chance opportunities for Atlanta to score. Hawk forwards Millsap, Carroll, and Mike Scott will need to get back on transition defense to temper the league’s top fastbreak offense in Golden State (21.4 fastbreak PPG).

    Like the Hawks (NBA-low 18.0 personal fouls per game), the Warriors don’t foul much (19.8 per game). But when they do, they’re usually of the shooting variety, allowing opponents to take 24.8 free throw attempts per game (5th in NBA). Atlanta (77.0 team FT%, 9th in NBA) cannot afford to be unfocused at the charity stripe. They’ve shot below their current season percentage in eight of the last ten games, leaving nine points on the table against Washington on Wednesday.

    Tonight will be the first time two NBA teams enter into a game this late into the season with single-digit losses in six years. Seeking their 12th consecutive home win and 1st place overall in the NBA standings, the Hawks intend to have both teams exiting the game that same way.

    Let’s Go Hawks!

    ~lw3
  19. lethalweapon3
    Gentlemen, start your engines!

    We started from the middle… now we’re here! Postseason time brings our Atlanta Hawks into Naptown for a first-round tilt with the Indiana Pacers.

    It’s a show-and-prove time for many of our Hawk players seeking a nice payday this summer. But it’s also the same deal for their coaches, who know their team plays at their peak when they play more like a unselfish team than a bunch of individuals trying to be heroes. The Hawks’ ability to turn up the pace and design plays that will rack up the assists against one of the NBA’s top-notch defenses will determine how successful they will be in this series.

    The Central Division champions are also crawling a bit into the playoffs, dropping five of their final six regular season contests after a successful 4-0 West Coast swing that all but clinched their first division title since 2004. They’ve got the league’s most stifling NBA shooting defense, 1st in the league in opponent FG% (42.0%) and 3-point FG% (32.7%). They went from giving up less than 90 points per game from December through March to over 101.9 PPG (47.9 opponent FG%; 37.4 3FG%) through seven games in April, not all of them intentional tank jobs. Pacer fans fully expect Frank Vogel’s squad to turn up the defensive effort once again the way they have virtually all season.

    They sure had no problem while shorthanded (without David West, George Hill, and Lance Stephenson) in their last matchup with the Hawks, running the Hawks out of the gym with a 22-point lead through three quarters. But then Larry Drew’s reserves came in and turned the tables, whittling the lead down to four before Gerald Green could put the game away. The experience built confidence for Drew in his younger bench players John Jenkins, Mike Scott, and Shelvin Mack, who will get ample time to produce in this series.

    Atlanta’s 23.5 assists per game were the most given up by Indiana to an Eastern Conference team. But the 16.3 turnovers the Pacers drew from the Hawks were also the highest against any East team. The Pacers will not only need stops, but they have to turn those turnovers into easy points.

    Offensively, the Pacers are one of the league’s worst team shooters (43.6 FG%, 26th in NBA; 34.7 3FG%, 22nd in NBA; 74.6 FT%, 19th in NBA). But they get plenty of second-chance points, thanks to 12.9 offensive rebounds per game (3rd in NBA). The Hawks have to work as a team to box out and isolate the big boarders (Hibbert, Tyler Hansbrough, West, Ian Mahinmi, George) to keep Indy to one-and-done basketball.

    Thankfully for us, we have Josh Smith in our corner. Last season’s first-round series against the Celtics, Smoove averaged a monstrous 13.6 rebounds per game. Plus, he posted the second-highest postseason defensive rebounding percentage (36.6%) last postseason and the fourth highest in NBA postseason history. No one can expect that domination on the glass this time around, given how the Celtics ceded offensive rebounds to get back on defense. But he and Al Horford will have enough to start transition attacks that can force the Pacers to play defense on their heels.


    When forced into halfcourt sets, there’s no mystery that “Pick-and-Pop starring Al Horford” will be the order of the day. Rather than draw Hibbert out of the paint, Indiana will try to rotate a defender over, leaving someone open either cutting to the basket or along the perimeter. Horford can throw off the defense with passes from his mid-range spot, and Smoove (or Ivan Johnson) would make for an excellent target in those scenarios.

    Indy native Jeff Teague must play heady basketball against fellow Indy native George Hill, who is playing through a mild groin injury but is playing easily the best defense of his career. The Hawks can put their best foot forward with a spry Devin Harris attacking the basket. Having two days off before games 2 and 3 works in Harris’ favor. Atlanta was 15-2 when Harris played 30 or more minutes on the floor this season.

    Dahntay Jones was lightly used by the Pacers in the playoffs the last two seasons, but he’ll be deployed early and often to make scoring tough on Paul George (41.9 FG% this season) and the Pacer wings.

    Watching the game on TNT can be stomach-churning, especially for a grind-out game when shots aren't falling, so thankfully our familiar friends Bob Rathbun and Dominique Wilkins will be on SportSouth calling the action.

    LET’S GO HAWKS!

    ~lw3
  20. lethalweapon3
    "This kid helped me beat Lance Stephenson for the Locker Room title belt. Thanks for that steel chair!"


    WE… BELIEVE? Don’t be surprised to see fan rally towels declaring “WE’RE NOT SO SURE!” when the Atlanta Hawks return to the Highlight Factory for Game 3 of their series with those Fightin’ Pacers (7:00 PM Eastern, SportSouth, NBATV).

    While guarded optimism reigns supreme in the stands, on the floor, the #8-seed Hawks arrive clutching home-court advantage, and knowing they were just 24 basketball minutes away on Tuesday from engendering a complete Indiana Implosion.

    A 2-0 deficit would have been an eight-count for the Pacers, just days after Lance Stephenson and Evan Turner were caught dropping knobs on the eve of the playoffs, their teammates not completely certain that it would help their own cause to intervene. No big deal, they insist now. Of course, they’re right, now that they actually pulled together to win a game. But if they don’t come away with at least one road win in the next two games, Michael Buffer may be joining them on the flight home.

    Paul Millsap and DeMarre Carroll have each uttered the phrase “Humble and Hungry” (“Hongry,” if we’re being phonetically consistent) to describe the contrasted attitude of their team in this series. After one half of hoops in Game 2, our Humble ‘n Hongry Hawks came out with a lead and looking quite satiated, while the top-seeded Pacers were more than happy to be the ones doing some humbling, finally turning the blows they reserved for each other onto their playoff opponents.

    Head Coach Mike Budenholzer’s approach to this series is yet another contrast to his counterpart Frank Vogel, who’s pulling strings behind the curtain. While Vogel’s making adjustments all over the place, Coach Bud is steady-as-she-goes, insisting the postseason is all about his players “improving” and “getting better” at executing his system as they go along.

    The Hawks’ starters coughed up the lead early in the second half of Game 2, but rather than seeing birthday boy Shelvin Mack’s misguided and overwhelmed play as a cause for substitution, Budenholzer chalked up the reserve guard’s extended stay to a necessary and valuable learning opportunity. By the time Mack and Lou Williams returned to the bench in the final quarter (for Jeff Teague and Carroll, respectively), a three-point deficit ballooned to 22, while Paul George (27 points, including the routine quarter-ending dagger, 10 rebounds) and his fellow Pacer starters rejoined Luis Scola (13 first-half points off the bench) in experiencing regained confidence.

    The Pacers learned to stop worrying and love Atlanta’s three-point bombs. Atlanta followed-up a mediocre performance from the perimeter in Game 1 (11-for-30) with a similar effort in Game 2 (10-for-29, including 11 consecutive missed threes). Blanketed at turns by George and Stephenson, Kyle Korver has yet to go off in this series (3-for-11 on 3FGs), while Pero Antić (1-for-5 on 3FGs; 3 rebounds in 25 minutes of Game 2) is looking more like an empty threat. Until Atlanta heats up from outside, Indy can converge on anyone driving into the paint, including Teague (14 points, 5-for-11 on 2FGs, just 2 FT attempts after 10 in Game 1).

    With Atlanta insistent on remaining spread out across the offensive floor, but not hitting shots, Indiana knows they can force tougher shots from Millsap and driving guards with defensive help in the paint, cut down on the hacking (18 personal fouls in Game 2, 11 fewer than Game 1), and reassert themselves on the glass (30-21 defensive rebounding advantage; 32-33 in Game 1). The Pacers pulled away 101-85 in Game 2 despite taking 11 fewer shots from the field.

    In Game 3, we’ll get to see whether the Hawks have “improved” with ball movement against the Pacer defense, as Atlanta’s season-low 13 assists in Game 1 was matched in Game 2. Dennis Schröder showed enough confidence with his shot in garbage-time of Game 2 that he may get more of the tutelage time previously set aside for Mack.

    Antić, the starting center with zero defensive boards in Game 2, has to “get better” at mixing it up on the interior and flustering David West and Roy Hibbert. If he doesn’t, expect more of Elton Brand showing Antić how it’s done (team-leading 7 rebounds in 18 minutes, 3 offensive boards). Korver and Carroll can do a better job in navigating across the paint to get better looks at the rim, while Teague (4 assists, 3 turnovers in Game 2) can make better use of the pick-and-pop game when he’s driving into the teeth of the Pacer defense.

    If they do most of those things, and do a better job closing out on shooters defensively, the Hawks can return all of the pressure onto Indiana, ramping up the likelihood they’ll resort once again to internal pugilism before the series ends.

    Go Hawks!

    ~lw3
  21. lethalweapon3

    Hawks - Knicks

    By lethalweapon3,

    Do NOT adjust your HDTV sets!

    The Atlanta Hawks and New York Knickerbockers should be wearing sane pairings of unis today at Madison Square Garden (7:30 PM Eastern, SportSouth, MSG Network). Countless Knicks fans have had to report themselves out for a couple weeks with eye strains, not just because of the garish red-and-orange combo on the floor, but because the Knicks’ shooting woes has become far too hard on the eyes.

    Atlanta returns to the scene of the crime where they ran New York off the floor of the World’s Most Famous Hype Center last month, a 110-90 drubbing. While Al Horford was salvaging an overtime victory here against the Wizards last night, the Knicks were up in Boston shooting just 40% from the field and 5-for-21 from three-point range against their division-leading Celtics.

    At least half of the 6-16 Knicks club is playing with one eye on the basket and the other over their shoulders, anxiously anticipating the big Apollo stage hook from their owner. “Mr. Stone Cold Lock,” James Dolan is in search of a 2014 draft pick and willing to hold a fire sale to get one. To improve themselves in the next four Junes, all New York currently has to avail themselves of is a 2015 and 2017 first-rounder. So somebody has to go, soon. With free agent acquisitions becoming available for the trading blocks tomorrow, tonight could conceivably be the home finale for players wearing the New York jerseys.

    Head Coach Mike Woodson’s gotten votes of confidence from players and management alike, but you know how that goes. Woody’s degree-of-difficulty may go up even further now that he will have to win games without starting point guard Raymond Felton, who’s now out at least two weeks with a hamstring strain. The way Ray had been playing, though (especially on defense) things may actually ease up for Woody, particularly if fan favorite Pablo Prigioni and the oft-struggling Iman Shumpert can get it going.

    In Beantown last night, Prigioni and Shumpert started and combined to shoot 2-for-14 for 8 points. But Pablo passed like a Picasso, with 8 assists and no turnovers as New York climbed out of a 17-point hole and into a fourth quarter lead before things fell completely apart. Shumpert’s defense helped slow reigning Player of the Week Jordan Crawford (0-for-8) and his backcourt mate Avery Bradley (5-for-12) into poor shooting stretches.

    The Curious Case of J.R. Smith continued last night, as the 34.2% shooter tried his hand at passing instead, which might have been a great strategy had his head coach and teammates known about it in advance. He took one field goal, a badly missed three-pointer, in 26 minutes, and tallied just 3 assists (tied for his season-high, lol), probably because teammates had no idea the ball was coming their way. Throw in Beno Udrih and Tim Hardaway, Jr., and Knicks guards combined for a 3-for-20 evening. Unless Carmelo Anthony plans to go for 70 by himself, that has to change if New York intends to win.

    Anthony will probably have to play at the PF spot all night long, minimizing his ability to create mismatches at small forward. Amar’e Stoudemire had a season-high 18 points on 7-for-9 shooting and had averaged 15-and-5 on 72.1 FG%, with 1.2 blocks in his past 5 games. But Woodson is trying to rest him on the second night of back-to-back games. Kenyon Martin (4-for-5 on Friday night; 7.0 RPG, 2.0 BPG, and 3.0 SPG in his last two games) has accorded himself well of late, too. But he strained his six-minute abs in yesterday’s contest and is not likely to contribute tonight, either. And of course, Tyson Chandler won’t be available for awhile. That means Woody will have to rely on Anthony at the four alongside center Andrea Bargnani, with maybe an extra heaping of minutes allocated to Cole Aldrich. Despite a career-high 9.4 RPG, Melo will be relied upon for defense and rebounding tonight much more than Woody would probably like.

    Against the Knicks’ thinned frontline, this will be a good game to help double-double machine Paul Millsap get his shooting efficiency back up and force Anthony to play the full court. He’s shot just 11-for-35 in his past two games, but continues to contribute across the board with five double-doubles in his last six games, missing a sixth double-double by just a single rebound. Paul has also turned the ball over just five times in his last five games while averaging 4.2 APG. Metta World Peace may be pushed into the power forward spot for help, potentially freeing up swingmen bombers Kyle Korver and Cartier Martin.

    Last time at MSG, Jeff Teague left the passing duties to Shelvin Mack (12 assists, one turnover) and led eight Hawks in double-figure scoring with 16 points. He’ll be hounded by Prigioni and Shump to minimize drives, but when they and Smith slack off to help on the interior, he may be open for some spot-up jumpers that could similarly boost his shooting efficiency (25.9 3FG%; 40.5 FG%). Jeff hasn’t gotten into double-digit assist land in the last nine games but has still offered up a steady diet of dimes (at least five in each of the last nine) while letting Mack and Lou Williams get into the act.

    Go Hawks!

    ~lw3
  22. lethalweapon3

    Hawks - Suns

    By lethalweapon3,

    The Suns would probably be rising in the East. Alas, Arizona is in the Wild, Wild West. So tonight at the US Airways Center, we get the Atlanta Hawks and the Phoenix Suns (8:00 PM Eastern, SportSouth, FoxSports Arizona), two teams whove tumbled down to the same precarious 8th seed in vastly different ways.

    From the outset, no one had high hopes for this Suns team. They were mired in a ruthlessly competitive Western Conference. They were being led by a rookie head coach in Jeff Hornacek, following just three seasons as an assistant with the Utah Jazz.

    They were absent any accomplished and healthy frontcourt players after dispatching five of its top seven rebounders in exchange for upstarts and draft picks. Their lottery-pick center was not ready for prime time action and could not develop during the summer due to ankle surgeries.

    And they were handing the keys to its future to a perennial backup guard who never exceeded 8.5 PPG in his first three seasons. Never mind the muted expectations for the shuffling Hawks to approach championship contention in 2014: even a low-lottery pick seemed pie-in-the-sky for the Suns.

    Last seasons leading scorer, Goran Dragic was supposed to be trade bait once Eric Bledsoe was brought on board to be the Suns go-to franchise player. Instead, Hornacek insisted on an aggressive pace pushed by a double-barreled point guard attack. Bledsoe became an 18.0 PPG scorer, and even after he went down with a meniscus tear in December, Dragic resumed the full-time alpha-dog role and became a borderline All-Star, upping his usage and scoring efficiency to average 22.8 PPG since January 1.

    Dragic is now among five NBA players (Lebron James, Stephen Curry, John Wall, and Kevin Durant) ranked in the top 20 for per-game points, assists, and steals. One of four NBA players shooting above 50% from the floor and 40% from three-point range (minimum 1.0 three-point attempts per game), Dragic dropped a career-high 40 on the Pelicans to break Phoenixs three-game losing string on Friday night. His big night against New Orleans topped the previous career mark (35 points) he set five days before.

    30-year-old Channing Frye was supposed to ease himself back into Phoenixs rotation after returning from last years season-ending heart defect. Instead, he has started every game, his long-range shot (2.2 3FGs per game, 2nd most among NBA bigs) too useful to leave on the bench. Second-year center Miles Plumlee seemed like a throw-in after totaling 13 points and 22 rebounds in 14 garbage-time appearances for the Pacers in 2012-13. Instead, hes started every game as well, still averaging 8.7 RPG and 1.4 BPG despite a swoon over his past 30 games.

    Throw in energized power-twin reserves Markieff and Marcus Morris, highlight-reel-maker Gerald Green (career-high 14.8 PPG, 9th in NBA for three-point attempts), and gritty wing player P.J. Tucker (second on the team with 6.5 RPG and 1.2 SPG), and the Suns came into this season ready to burn one unsuspecting team after another.

    Even without Bledsoe, Phoenix (34-24) made it at high as 5th in the Western Conference (29-18 as of February 1). But while treading water in the East might raise a team up into the 4th spot, doing the same out West slides teams like the Suns potentially out of the playoffs. Phoenixs record in the East would have them sitting 2 games above 3rd-seeded Toronto. Instead, they have 9th-seeded Memphis just one game behind them out West. To keep the good Cinderella vibes going, they cant afford slip-ups at home to teams like the Hawks (26-31), losers of ten of their last eleven, including their last six road games.

    Yet the Suns are vulnerable. This game pairs up the team with the most assists per game in the league (Atlantas 25.2 APG) with the team making the fewest (Phoenixs 19.1), the latter value inclusive of the absent Bledsoes 5.8 APG. Aside from Dragic and Jeff Teagues former Demon Deacon teammate, Ish Smith (2.6 APG), no Sun averages two or more assists per game.

    The Suns will have to step up their aggressiveness on defense to disrupt Atlantas ball movement, and then score on the fastbreak. The Hawks have given up 20.3 PPG off turnovers in February (4th most in NBA).

    With the starting frontcourt seemingly on the decline defensively, the Suns opponents are attacking inside more (46.4 opponent FG% in February; 46.5 opponent points in the paint in February, second-most in the NBA). Patrolling the paint, Plumlee has to rely on help from a pair of understandably distracted Ukrainian backups in Alex Len and Slava Kravtsov, the latter questionable anyway with an ankle sprain.

    Without the Hawks player most suited to piling up points in the paint, Paul Millsap, Atlanta will hope to find Mike Scott and a returning Pero Antić (hopefully, alleviating Elton Brand) at the rim. The Hawks point guards should find a steady stream of swingmen cutting to the hoop.

    Both teams rely heavily on the three-point shot to open things up on the interior, the Suns 25.2 three-point attempts per game exceeded only by the Rockets, and the Hawks 24.9 per game the most in the East (4th in NBA).

    Fortunately for the Suns, they have played soundly effective perimeter defense, opponents shooting just 33.0 3FG% (2nd lowest in NBA) and tied with the foes of Atlantas next challenger, Portland, for the fewest three-point makes (6.3 3FGs per game). Phoenixs chance of winning tonight will hinge on their ability to hold Kyle Korver (NBA true shooting percentage leader, 65.9 TS%) and DeMarre Carroll in check.

    Go Hawks!

    ~lw3
  23. lethalweapon3

    Hawks - Cavaliers

    By lethalweapon3,

    Watch out, Hawks! You’re in Uncle Drew’s House now!

    After another defeat in the clutch on the road, this time in Miami at the hands of LeGrinch, the Atlanta Hawks fly north to duel with the Cleveland Cavaliers (7:00 PM Eastern, SportSouth, FoxSports Ohio). Atlanta has just a 4-9 road record, but six of those losses have been within a five-point deficit.

    You can bet Kyrie Irving has had this game circled on his calendar for a couple weeks now. Were it not for Kyle Korver’s record-breaking Threak during a 108-99 Hawks rout on December 6, most of the postgame discussion would have centered on Kyrie Irving finishing a basketball game scoreless (0-for-9 FGs, 0-for-3 FTs) probably for the first time since Pre-K. Irving has struggled mightily at times on the road (18.9 PPG/4.7 APG, 39.2 FG%/29.0 3FG%/73.8 FT%) but is a different breed of All-Star at Quicken Loans Arena (24.2 PPG/7.4 APG, 43.9 FG%/37.1 3FG%/90.5 FT%).

    Even with Irving playing better offensively in his comfier confines, it’s been a couple weeks since Cavs fans left their arena wholly satisfied. Last week, Irving (25 points, 10 assists) was upstaged by the clutch heroics of Portland’s Damian Lillard (36 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds). Then Cleveland needed his watered-down version of a Flu Game (39 points, 6 assists) to offset a suddenly emergent Brandon Knight (17 points, 14 rebounds, 8 assists) and fend off the last-place Bucks.

    This past week, after Irving (14 points, 5 assists) made new Bulls acquisition D.J. Augustin (18 points, 10 assists) look halfway decent while getting blown out in Chicago, his Cavs returned home and got blitzed on Monday night against Brandon Jennings (21 points, 13 assists) and the Pistons. Needless to say, he needs a big night relative to Jeff Teague (17.5 PPG, 10.3 APG) to give Cleveland (10-17) a chance to win. Failing to elevate teammates' play as a point guard while shooting just 41.5 FG% himself, Irving is seeing local fan sentiment shift from, "Kyrie, don't leave!" to "Kyrie, don't heave!"

    In hindsight, it’s hard to look at this Cleveland roster and imagine how someone would expect any straw-spinner to turn it into a golden playoff contender. They’ve got seven players on the roster with less than two years of NBA experience, including three guys bouncing back and forth from the D-League, and first-overall 2013 pick Anthony Bennett who continues to play like he should be joining them. None of their top three scorers have been in the league more than three NBA seasons. They’re reliant on two bigs returning from major injuries that kept them out of most/all of last year.

    During the second-half of Atlanta’s last victory over the Cavs, the only leak the Hawk defense couldn’t really plug was guard Dion Waiters, the second-year guard oft-maligned by his coaching staff who scored a season-high 30 points. Faced with the utter futility of Cleveland’s starting backcourt (Irving, C.J. Miles, and Alonzo Gee a combined three points, shooting 1-for-19 from the floor), Head Coach Mike Brown realized somebody had to drive to the basket and make open shots, and Waiters was ready to serve. He combined with Andrew Bynum (20 points, 13 rebounds) to shoot 22-for-34, while their teammates finished 16-for-60.

    Unfortunately for the Cavs, Waiters has been reportedly suffering from wrist tendonitis and has missed out on the last three games. He’s a gametime decision for tonight, but hasn’t practiced on the floor with the team and his ability to score as effectively as he has recently (20.7 PPG in his last three games) is questionable. Brown may go full-Aussie, pairing Irving with rookie Matthew Dellavedova when the Hawks go to a small backcourt, as they did briefly in Miami when Lou Williams, Teague, and Shelvin Mack all shared the floor. But one of the Down Under Duo will have to embrace the passing role.

    Bynum served up a bagel of his own against Detroit on Monday (0 points, 0-for-11 shooting) and is looking to bounce back in a big way. Brown noted the challenge he is facing rotating Bynum, Tristan Thompson, Anderson Varejao, Tyler Zeller and Earl Clark for the 96 combined minutes contained in the two frontcourt spots. Hawks mainstays Paul Millsap (25-and-10 against the HEAT) and Al Horford (three straight games of 20+ points) will face a lot of different looks from the Cavs defense.

    The one thing Cleveland does well as a team is rebound the ball on their offensive end (12.0 ORebs per game, 8th in NBA), so yeoman’s work from Elton Brand will be crucial to the outcome. Brand played just eight-and-a-half minutes against rebounding-challenged Miami, and the Hawks are 10-3 when he logs at least ten minutes of floortime, 1-6 otherwise.

    Go Hawks!

    ~lw3
  24. lethalweapon3

    Hawks - Thunder

    By lethalweapon3,

    “Gee whiz… what will we do when we have to play the Thunder?”

    That was the prevailing sentiment among most Atlanta Hawks fans for two days before November 4, after our Fine Feathered Friends had laid an egg in their home opener against what was expected to be an overmatched Houston Rockets squad. If Marcus Morris can light us up, what, pray tell, will Kevin Durant do to us?

    By evening’s end, Hawks fans got their answer, in the form of a resounding 104-95 victory in Loud City.
    But the question arises once again, as the Hawks return to Philips Arena less than 24 hours after another lackluster overtime victory versus the 3-19 Washington Wizards. “Gosh, if Jordan Crawford can have his way with us, for Pete’s sake, what will Russell Westbrook do to us?”

    The Hawks pulled off the November Surprise in OKC while Josh Smith was sidelined with a sprained ankle, with Anthony Tolliver starting at power forward opposite Serge Ibaka. They also endured 22 first-half points from new acquisition Kevin Martin, coming off the bench to spell defensive stalwart Thabo Sefolosha. But Martin’s output was neutralized in the second half by Lou Williams, who shot just 1-for-6 from 3-point range in the game but still managed 14 points in the final quarter.
    Essentially, Atlanta got a more balanced effort from its bench than the Thunder, who only had seven scoring contributors while all ten Hawks got in the scoring column. Durant, Westbrook, Martin and Ibaka may do a lot to us, but it still may not matter, if the Hawks play their cards right.

    It helped to have Westbrook in Whoopsbrook form, making one critical blunder and questionable shot after another at crucial junctures of the game. KD was also perhaps a bit too passive -- as passive as one can be when dropping 22 points, 12 rebounds, and 8 assists, anyway -- as he was kicking the tires on the new wrinkles in Coach Scott Brooks’ offense.

    Those wrinkles seem to be pretty well ironed out now, with the Thunder running off 11 straight games and 14 of their last 15, topping off a five-game homestand last Monday with a strong win against their archrival Spurs. San Antonio was missing both Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard and could not withstand the surge from Ibaka, who drummed the Spurs with a career-high 25 points and season-high 17 boards.

    How can your team rank dead-last in the NBA in field goal attempts per game (77.0, 30th in NBA), yet boast the league’s top record and the most points scored (105.8 per game)? If you’re OKC, rank second overall in three-point shooting (41.1%) and tops in free throw shooting (84.2%) and And-1 percentage (3.25%), and you’re well on your way.

    I guess if there’s a way to critique a 20-4 team, they may be eating up too much of the clock setting up plays (91.9 points per possession, 15th in NBA) for some fairly obvious options. That sets them up for plenty of turnovers (15.05% turnover rate, worst in NBA), which should work right into the Hawks plans (16.8 turnovers per 48 minutes, 2nd in NBA).

    Rebounding may not be as much of a challenge for Atlanta as it might seem. There are no Thunder players among the top 50 in the NBA for defensive rebounding rate (Durant’s team-leading 21.1 per 100 possessions ranks 57th; Ibaka’s 18.9 ranks 83rd), although Durant is top-ten in defensive rebounds per game. OKC’s interior defense basically consists of Ibaka skying for blocks (2nd in the NBA at 3.1 per game), while Durant vies for the rebound.

    Oklahoma City also has no players in the top 30 for offensive rebounding rate, which doesn’t seem as much of a surprise, since there aren’t many misses on their end when they get a shot off. As perhaps another sign of being too deferential at times, the long-limbed Durant himself has just 2 offensive boards in his last 8 games.

    This Just In: Ibaka has a reliable mid-range jumper now! He’s hitting an uncanny 66% from 10-to-15 feet, and 51% from 16 feet out to the 3-point line (41% from both distances last season). You truly have to play him honest outside the paint now. You actually want him settling for short-range jumpers (43% from 3-to-9 feet). Ibaka’s still not a threat to pass it once he gets the ball, though. He’s tallied just 8 assists in his 24 games.

    Westbrook’s shot has been failing him as of late (33.9 FG% in his last 4 games), but he’s steadied his playmaking, averaging 9.0 assists and just2.0 turnovers in his last five games. Both Westbrook (8.8) and Durant (4.2) are experiencing career highs in assists per game. Jeff Teague has not done the best job of consistently creating pressure on opposing point guards, and needs to be a 40-minute presence tonight to create the transition baskets the Hawks will need to get an edge. Westbrook, of course, lives off dunks and lay-ins (3.3 FGM/game, tops among NBA point guards), so minimizing his ability to penetrate is key.

    Al Horford’s in line for a bounce-back game after shooting a season-low 2-for-11 (18.2 FG%) against the Wizards, repeatedly blocked at the rim. He shot 11-for-19 (57.1 FG%) for 23 points and 12 rebounds, including a season-high 6 offensive boards.

    When Smith has to rotate to help around the rim with Durant and Westbrook, Horford and the Hawks’ centers need to slide over and keep Ibaka from getting easy passes and follow-shots. If anything, you’ll want Kendrick Perkins and Hasheem Thabeet getting the ball instead (both in NBA Top 20 for turnover rate).

    In close contests, Hack-a-Hawk will remain in effect until Atlanta proves they can focus and convert from the charity stripe. They have now left at least 10 points from free throws on the table in each of their last three games, and have missed more free throws than their opponents in each of their last four games. To the Hawks’ fortune, in only two of their seven losses (at GSW, vs. CLE) have the number of missed free throws exceeded the final point margin, although two overtimes against Washington might have been avoided had Atlanta not missed 9 and 11 free throw attempts in each game.

    Go Hawks!

    ~lw3
  25. lethalweapon3

    Hawks - Lakers

    By lethalweapon3,

    Paging Dahntay Jones! Kobe Bryant is calling you out, good sir!

    After his L.A. Lakers scuttled the Bobcats in Charlotte on Saturday night, securing his first victory in four games this season, the Black Mamba insisted he wouldn’t be slithering around the ATL this weekend in search of the guy who sprained his ankle last March. “Unfortunately, Dahntay Jones isn’t there anymore,” he told his Time Warner Cable Sports affiliate (actually, Jones IS in town... he just ain’t playing for the Hawks). “I’ll just have to wait for him to get back in the NBA.” Touché, Kobe, touché!

    Tay might indeed be in attendance for tonight’s contest with the Atlanta Hawks at Philips Arena (7:30 PM Eastern, SportSouth, Time Warner Cable SportsNet), but only if he buys a ticket. So Kobe (13.5 PPG, 7.0 APG, 43.9 FG%) will have to settle for a full evening of DeMarre Carroll checking him instead. Bryant will strive to get his Lakers back to the .500 mark against a 12-12 Hawks team hoping to eke back above .500 one more time.

    At 11-12, the Lakers are making do without their injured point guard corps of Steve Nash (back/hamstring strains), Steve Blake (elbow ligament tear), and Jordan Farmar (hamstring tear), so Kobe returns to NBA action in full ballhandler mode. Look for Carroll to hound Kobe up the court to disrupt the Laker offense and force turnovers (Bryant has 6.3 TO/G in his four games so far), and close out near the end of the shot clock when the Lakers need a bailout shot from their star.

    As it pertains to his turnovers, Bryant has someone available to absorb the blame. “Imma get into his Spaniard behind when I get into the locker room,” he says of Laker center Pau Gasol. Origins of posteriors aside, Kobe insists Gasol is not establishing proper post position: “He’s getting me turnovers because he can’t catch the damn ball,” he said with a smile.

    In his own defense, Gasol insists Head Coach Mike D’Antoni doesn’t want him playing on the low block, and that demand has contributed to the poorest shooting in his career (41.8 FG%, well below last year’s career-low of 46.6%). Pau can help his cause by crashing the offensive boards more (career-low 1.6 O-Rebs per game) against a Hawks team that gave up 18 and 15 such rebounds in its last two games. Gasol and Chris Kaman could use a little help down low as well. The Lakers give up a league-leading 19.6 baskets per game in the (not-so-) restricted area.

    Without Kobe, and with Pau’s continued struggles, the Lakers pretty much relied on 3-pointers to keep themselves in games. They lead the NBA with 10.0 treys per game on 39.1 3FG% (4th in NBA) and are the only team reliant on 30 percent of their points coming from three-point territory. Leading culprits include guard Jodie Meeks (44.1 3FG%) and a cavalry of swingmen, including Nick Young (34.8 3FG%), Shawne Williams (33.3 3FG%), and Wesley Johnson (43.0 3FG%) each taking at least three shots per game.

    Atlanta is bringing their forwards out to help along the perimeter, and while it’s hurt their rebounding (-3.9 per-game rebounding margin in December; -2.4 in October/November) it has helped tighten up the three-point scorching of late (28.7 Opponent 3FG% in December; 38.3% in October/November).

    Los Angeles not having any true point guards available, in theory, should be a boon for the struggling Jeff Teague (11.8 PPG and 6.3 APG in December, down from 16.9 PPG and 8.1 APG; 35.4 FG% in his last eleven games) It’s hard to go by that premise, when he failed to assert himself on either end of the floor while the Knicks were playing without starting PG Raymond Felton.

    Teague went 2-for-6 with four of Atlanta’s season-high 27 turnovers in New York on Saturday, and a lack of directed movement by teammates to get open routinely left Paul Millsap (9 TOs) and Al Horford (3 TOs) out to dry.This is not another night where Jeff should be deferring to Lou Williams (27 points, largely in garbage time) and Shelvin Mack to lead the offense. Dennis Schröder is back from Cali but won't see floor time in this game unless it's a laugher in either direction.

    Teague and the Hawks’ backcourt have demonstrated little defensive resistance, and the Hawks have a 1-10 record when their opponents get 24 or more assists in a game, that sole win being the overtime Friday Night squeaker versus Washington that somehow became fodder for Tony Romo jokes. The Hawks (65.0%) and Lakers (63.3%) are respectively first and second in the NBA for the percentage of field goals assisted, so Teague’s activity on both ends is crucial to tonight’s outcome.

    Without defensive pressure from the Hawks, Mike Woodson’s Knicks were able to control the pace of the Saturday night contest, generally getting the shots they wanted and keeping Atlanta’s points-off-turnovers (16) to a minimum. The Hawks “held” New York to a season-low 32 total rebounds, yet only out-boarded them by two. New York’s 11 turnovers were the fewest for a Hawks opponent since the paltry three turnovers the Knicks ceded to Atlanta in their 95-88 victory at Philips last month.

    No matter how much Kobe tries to entertain the crowd, the Hawks gain an edge in tonight’s game if they commit to pressing ballhandlers into bad passes and undesirable shots, rebound well as a team, and score in transition with Laker guards playing on their heels.

    Go Hawks!

    ~lw3
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