lethalweapon3

Side note: I live about two blocks from the recording studio where the late, coulda-been-great Bankroll Fresh met his untimely demise earlier this year. I was dead-tired while watching a West Coast Hawks game, fell asleep during the game and slept through all the bullets flying! Or, at least, that's my alibi! :-) ~lw3

Which random Piston moves into Thing 2's starting spot to beat us up tonight? We'll see! EDIT: Stanley Johnson, anyone? (I assume Tobias will start). ~lw3

“You Gettin’ Mad... I’m Gettin’ Rich!” “DESTROYED! BASKETBALL!” Things sure were revving up in the Motor City the last time the Detroit Pistons met the Atlanta Hawks on the neutral court known as Philips Arena, a December day not much different than today (8:00 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, Fox Sports Detroit). Why, it was only four weeks ago, when the league’s most-shy 3-point shooting team strolled into the Lamelight Factory and shattered their franchise record with 17 three-point makes (on 29 attempts). Sure, the Hawks were missing their Anchorman in Paul Millsap (hip). But the Pistons likewise enjoyed their biggest victory of the year margin-wise, 121-85, without their team’s leading scorer. Reggie Jackson (knee, thumb) had been out all season, but was ready to hop on the wave two nights later back home against Orlando. Surely, a surge to the upper room in the Eastern Conference was around the corner, right? Well, not exactly. They flopped against the Magic. The next game, though, they toppled their division-rival Bulls at The Palace. Happy days are here again, right? Well, not quite. A season-low 77 points in a loss at Charlotte (despite a familiar-sounding 26 & 20 performance by Andre Drummond) was quite a bummer. However, after that game came a resounding 117-90 victory in Minnesota (Drummond with 22 & 22). So, it’s Morning in Auburn Hills, right? Well, not really. The Pistons returned home and suffered an inexcusable 97-79 loss to the 76ers (and, no, Joel Embiid did not play). But, hey, after a couple days off, Detroit bounced back and prevailed in Dallas. Now, the ship is steering in the right direction, right? Well, hold your horses. Back-to-back defeats at Washington (allowing a season-high 122 points) and back home versus the Pacers meant it was time for the tried-and-true Players-Only Meeting! Leading scorer Tobias Harris felt relieved after the meeting, convened by backup big Aron Baynes after the 15-point loss to Indy. “It’s a dialogue about communication for everybody… it was good to just get everybody talking,” Harris told the delayed postgame media. Marcus Morris gave his best Bluto impression. “Are you going to play for the next man beside you, or are you going to play for yourself?”, he paraphrased for reporters. So, all for one, one for all, right? Well, not quite. See, Jackson (45.7 eFG%, lowest eFG% among top 35 NBA players in Usage%) kinda got the impression that the team’s frustrations were directed squarely toward him. After all, things were on the uptick before he returned – hey, did you not see how good we looked against Atlanta, without you??? So, a miffed Jackson decided to come into Chicago playing not so much Detroit Basketball, but something more like Deez Nuts Basketball, declining to take a shot, even when open, until nearly halftime. The result? A 113-82 drubbing. That’ll learn ‘em, R-Jax! “That wasn’t us,” said the always forthcoming Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy, “That was him.” Atlanta knows all about up-and-down, one-step-forward, two-steps-back basketball. I joked just yesterday, though, that the Hawks’ alternate logo ought to be a Black Box. Through all the ups and mostly downs, if you catch so much as a hint of off-court dissension on this team, from either coaches or players, your flight has officially landed inside a volcano. That’s never the situation in Detroit, certainly not when their head coach is anywhere within eight miles of a microphone. I present to you, via MLive and the Detroit Free Press, the many smooth stylings of “Stan Van Gundy: Master of Panic.” Reflecting after the loss to the Suxers, after returning from Minnesota: “We weren’t ready. To hell with the weather… You’re an NBA player. It’s your job to be ready to play. But I didn’t do my job in getting them ready to play.” After the loss to the Pacers: “We’ve definitely got to look at some things, lineup and rotation-wise. That unit (Jackson, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Morris, Harris, Drummond) is clearly not working… So, the question is, how long do you stick with it?... There’s no question we’re not as good as before (Jackson’s return)… Our offensive frustrations have taken a toll on our defense. It shouldn’t, and it’s not a legitimate excuse. But I’m just giving you the facts.” After the third-straight double-digit loss, in Chicago: “Team meeting, my [patootie]. Like I said before, that stuff means nothing; it’s what you do on the court. Talking is easy… It was a disgusting performance, by all of us. Me included. It was unprofessional. Embarrassing. Humiliating. Whatever you want to say, it was terrible… Looks to me like a lack of effort, a lack of heart… I guarantee you on Wednesday night, we’re not trottin’ that (starting) five out there again.” Riffing on players, like Drummond, concerned about fewer touches since Jackson’s return: “I told them today I don’t really care… you know what, my basic message today was, ‘Do your job’… Does the plumber get a motivational speech in the morning? No… He either does his job right or he doesn’t get paid… I don’t know in how many jobs, and I said this to them, does your employer pay you and then also take responsibility for your happiness? That ain’t the way it works.” All of that, and more, from The Notorious M.O.P. in just the past 18 days. If Coach Bud’s mealy-mouthed postgame commentaries bore you to tears, go catch some interviews in the Pistons’ locker room after a bad loss. Oh, and he’s not done. SVG is virtually down to using toes to find something he can point at people with, so he’s trying a different tack. “When a team is having the problems we’ve had this many times, it’s on me,” he told the media after a 25-point loss at home to the Bucks on Wednesday, “I’m not going to get in here and blister the players… I’m responsible. I got to figure out what needs to be done. Quite honestly, I’m embarrassed. I’m not getting it done. I’m NOT getting it done.” Detroit has one win in their past seven games, and that exception was gifted to them on Monday by Tyronn Lue, after the Cavs coach DNP-REST’d LeBron James. Close-shave losses to Golden State and Memphis served as encouragement, but the Milwaukee loss knocked them for yet another loop. Tonight, will they be able to once again sip from the Fountain of Relevance in Atlanta? While they indeed whooped the Hawks by 36 points back on December 2, Van Gundy surely noticed when the Hawks (16-16) got waxed on Toronto’s floor the very next night, by 44 points… and what happened in that same building less than two weeks later. After such high hopes to start the month, a loss in Atlanta tonight would plummet the Pistons (15-19) to 12th in the LeBronference, the very bottom of the East’s Crab Barrel. “We’re in jeopardy right now,” said You Know Who. With the curtains wide open, the Wizard of Osmosis is pulling on whatever levers he can find. Harris (16.3 PPG), the Pistons leading scorer, now comes off the bench, Stan Van turning to Tobias’ super-efficient sub Jon Leuer in the starting lineup. His play as a reserve (last 3 games: 23.3 PPG, 55.8 FG%, 52.9 3FG%, 8.3 RPG) has sparked the bench offensively, but Leuer’s effect on the starting-unit’s defensive intensity has yet to bear fruit. The Pistons’ three-point barrage back on December 2 essentially ended the Hawks’ ability to distract viewers with their then-top-ranked defensive efficiency. Their slippage has them at 7th place in D-Rating entering today’s action, although still 2nd in the East, ahead of Milwaukee and Detroit. Among the NBA’s top ten teams in D-Rating, only the Hawks and Pistons have a negative Net Rating, a tell-tale sign of offensive struggles. Behind Drummond, the Pistons, for their part, have also led the league with 84.5 D-Reb % in December (NBA-low 9.5 opponent second-chance PPG, only team allowing less than 10), so second-chances may be hard to come by for Atlanta, even for Dwight Howard (1 O-Reb in 25 minutes vs. DET on Dec. 2). This suggests that the first shots need to be good ones. For Hawks’ ballhandlers Dennis Schröder, Malcolm Delaney, Tim Hardaway, Jr. and (yes) Kent Bazemore, it means knowing when to attack the paint, like when they’re guarded by Jackson instead of KCP, and when to find passing lanes, rather than forcing the issue when Drummond and Baynes form walls and seal off penetration. Despite his considerable girth, Drummond (1.0 BPG) is decidedly not a shot-blocker, preferring to make stops by drawing charges and making steals when he’s not boxing out. He will be occupied with sealing off Howard and averting lob plays, so players on the opposite side of the floor from D8 need to be active, ready to receive the rock and finish plays from that side. Continuing to recover from a sore groin muscle sustained last week, Hardaway is a past-due target to get to the bucket, especially when KCP strays to help with Schröder. Hardaway was 0-for-7 shooting over just 13 minutes versus his prior team, the Knicks, on Wednesday. And in the UM alum’s last meeting with the Pistons, he was a few more wayward clanks (0-for-6 3FGs) from being disowned by his assistant-coach father. He and Bazemore (3-for-11 FGs vs. DET on Dec. 2) need to make more cuts to the hoop and be prepared to produce more assists for Schröder (11 assists, 1 TO vs. DET) via interior buckets. While Hawks foes like the Pistons have had a field day from the perimeter this month (NBA-high 40.5 opponent 3FG% in December; 11.6 opponent 3FGs per 100 possessions, 2nd-most in NBA), Atlanta continues its own slide in that area (8.3 3FGs per 100 and 31.6 3FG%, 3rd-worst in NBA). If your team relies on your 6-foot-8 power forward, shooting 31.0 3FG% and rocking a swollen eye, to take the most three-point attempts, you’re not making it easier on your team to win games. Instead of allowing Millsap to think he’s somehow spreading the floor, allow him to work on Harris and Leuer inside. The Hawks must feed the tandem of Howard and Millsap, and allow them to create better outside options for players paid to hit those shots, like Kyle Korver (3-for-5 3FGs, 1-for-5 2FGs in the OT win vs. NYK). Kyle’s last five triples have come by way of passes from either Howard, Millsap, or Mike Muscala. Facing a back-to-back, Coach Bud sat Thabo Sefolosha (season-low 16.6 minutes) in the second-half of the loss against Detroit, and Baze was given a rest in the final quarter. So Detroit’s decision to go buckwild from deep (11-for-20 3FGs) was no accident, especially after a first-quarter test (5-for-6 3FGs) revealed the water was fine. Both Kent and Thabo should be healthy enough to contribute major minutes tonight, making perimeter looks on the back end of the clock tougher for the Pistons. Detroit’s 32.9 3FG% since that game (27th in NBA) is not much better than Atlanta’s 32.1% (28th). Just as NBA opponents have figured out they should go ahead and let Atlanta fire away from outside, they’ve also learned not to bail out the poor-shooting Pistons with ticky-tack fouls. Detroit’s 18.0 personal fouls drawn (per 100 possessions) are the league’s lowest this month; their 19.8 FTAs per-100 in December are ahead of only Dallas’ 19.7. Plus, the lion’s share of those hacks are directed at Drummond, whose 44.2 FT% (41.1% this month) is actually a career-high. One half-full way of looking at the Hawks’ late-December stretch is that they have not lost consecutive games since December 5. They also haven’t won back-to-back contests since December 9, or consecutive home games since November 16. But these are low bars that they can clear tonight. Considering Bud’s hard-to-beat mentor (and the source of Van Gundy’s plumber philosophies) Gregg Popovich is swinging by on New Year’s Day, this is no time for the Hawks to resort to half-empty basketball. Let’s save all the drama tonight for the guys in the other locker room. Hit Dem Folks! Let’s Go Hawks! ~lw3 View full record

One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do... ~lw3

~致命武器3

Hope it's a short stay! ~lw3

also, related: http://www.myajc.com/sports/basketball/scott-ball-handling-development-included-trip-germany/P33eHByhCSnti83kMiJfwK/ ~lw3

GK was on ESPN Radio (w/ Stugotz and Jay Williams, accused of being a little soft-served and kid-gloved with him, but I didn't think they were that bad) moments ago. Kinda sorta 'apologized' for the Father Figure comment (moreso for the 'misinterpretation' once it was taken 'out of context' from the fuller statement in the book, and for the blowback 'reactions' to the 'misinterpretation' directed at the players). While those purchasing the book don't want to hear it, GK took pains to insist to the interviewers that his book is peddling opinions and perspectives, and not "facts". Upon reflection, he says he "probably should've studied a little more..." (before writing and publishing a book? Won't go over well.) ~lw3

History's greatest Captains, ranked, updated... (1) Sully (2) Morgan (3) Caveman (4) Kirk (5) Crunch (6) Jack Sparrow (7) Hook (8) Picard (9) Marvel (Shazam!) (10) America (11) Piano dude with the hat that played for Toni Tennille (12) von Trapp (13) Cook (14) EO (15) Rex (16) Spaulding (Animal Crackers version) (17) BAZEMORE (18) Spaulding (Rob Zombie version) (19) Ron (20) D's (D's What? D's Fish!) (21) Phillips (22) Video (23) Vyom (24) Planet (25) Underpants (26) Ahab (27) Teague (Edward, not Jeffrey Demarco) (28) Queeg (29) Getting Hit By a Car (all rights reserved) (30) Kangaroo ... (5 billion) Avranas (5 trillion) Schettino ~lw3

Dwight did figure out that starring for a low-expectation team in a one-paper town sometimes has its advantages... ~lw3

“Who? George Karl? Man, he’s Old Hat…” After a disappointing finish on Christmas Day versus the Celtics at Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks fly into A-Town to face the visiting Atlanta Hawks (7:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, MSG in NYC). No, that’s not a typo. The way they’ve performed over much of the past forty days, the Hawks are the “road team” in 30 NBA arenas, until further notice. Rue to Atlantans who have stayed True To Atlanta throughout this month-plus-long funk, their Hawks (15-16) coming back to Philips Arena with their tailfeathers between their legs after getting walloped once again. Their latest furball was coughed up in lowly Minnesota, falling behind the Wolves by 28 in the third quarter, 29 in the fourth, after their hosts had just returned on a cross-country red-eye from a loss in OKC the night before. Just five days prior to that game, those same Wolves sprinted out to a 12-2 start before the Hawks decided to take the Philips Arena floor. The “home” game before that, with a chance to take over the top spot in the Southeast Division, Atlanta watched Charlotte zip to a 16-point third-quarter lead. The “home” game before that one, the Hawks let one of the NBA’s worst offenses score 30+ points in three different quarters, watching Orlando go up 12 near the end of the half, then up 13 midway through the final quarter. The “home” game before that, down 15 at “home” in the third quarter versus OKC, while Russ Westbrook is resting. Before that, they go down in the 30s against Kyle Lowry in Toronto, then slipping down into the 40s once Fred VanVleet subs in. Before that, a “home” game against a Pistons team that’s today on the verge of implosion, yet Detroit’s up by 24 before the clock could reach halftime, up 33 at the end of the third, 36 by the end of the game. Losing by 15 in the Lakers’ house, by 27 in Utah, by 18 at home against New Orleans, down 20 in Milwaukee. Inexcusable double-digit deficits leading to inexplicable L’s, with some crawl-back W’s sprinkled into the mix every now and then. That is no way to live. What’s that? We’ve won five of our last nine? “Oh, good for you!” [/christianbalevoice] “True” as we may seem, Hawks fans won’t be coming downtown to offer up Citizen Kane applause for bad, lifeless, uncompetitive “pro” basketball. What’s “True”? We’re just fine with leaving the empty seats for the wannabe Jesse Itzlers of the world to fill tonight. Carmelo Anthony has no time to worry about his wife’s teen-era NBA squad. He’s got his own set of problems to deal with. His Zen Master boss is less concerned about tying the knot with Jeanie Buss than he is about reminding people that Melo holds the ball too long. His former coach is peddling a tell-all book at Christmastime, leaking snippets to entice the anti-Melo contingent to get in their pre-orders while they still can. Anthony called Phil Jackson’s critique “negativity,” and a “temporary black cloud”. Then along comes George Karl to rain on his parade even more. Karl cites Melo’s “low demand of himself on defense… no commitment to the hard, dirty work of stopping the other guy,” and comparing the Knicks star to a “blister” that offered a “sweet release” (ick.) once his trade demand went heeded by Denver. Karl also offered up a side heaping of shade when he pinned Carmelo’s shortcomings on a non-existent father; in his case, a father that died from cancer when Melo was 2 years old. Would ya like to hear more about Melo? Why, Karl will be very happy to tell you, for just $19.99, plus shipping and handling. Anthony understandably wants to steer the subject away from the self-satisfied Grumpy Old Men, and back toward his contributions toward a Knicks team that, at 16-14, is 5th in the duck soup called the Eastern Conference. Off the court, before the Christmas Day game, he and his foundation delivered a new car to the family of a teen struggling with a rare form of cancer. On the court, a give-and-go layup from Carmelo assisted by Joakim Noah helped New York tie the Celts with just 1:06 to play, a sign of the work coach Jeff Hornacek has been putting into the revamped Knicks offense. But then, with 40 seconds to go and Boston back in front by 3, Melo lapsed into the type of Melo-ball that must have had Phil running to reporters screaming, “See?”, while warming the cockles of wherever Karl’s heart resides. Melo, in the space of 20 seconds: a missed 3, but gets the ball back after a rebound by Noah; ball-stopping iso dribble in the far corner, fumbling the ball while trying to get a contested shot up on Avery Bradley, who strips and steals the ball away. Now, Anthony’s got much more than bitter coaching legends straying from his corner. Relying so heavily on isolation plays from him plus guard Derrick Rose, New York’s 41 made baskets featured just 11 assists. The Knicks’ comeback march from 13 points down with under 5 minutes to go in the game was made possible by 7-foot-3 Kristaps Porzingis, whose 3-pointer (assisted, ironically, by Melo) and And-1 basket in the space of 15 seconds whittled an 8-point deficit down to 2. The Porzstar also had 7 of his 12 rebounds in the final quarter, plus four blocks, a pair of threes and a pair of steals in the game. No player in NBA history has averaged more than two triples and two swats over the course of a season, but Porzingis (2.1 3FGs per game, on 40.3 3FG%; 1.9 BPG) is right on the cusp. Nobody wants to hear about Carmelo’s 29 points (on 33 shots; 9-for-24 FGs; 9-for-9 FTs) versus the Celtics. No one wants to hear about KP’s five turnovers against Boston, either. But everyone seems eager to talk about one of Anthony’s two turnovers, the one that mattered when the game’s outcome still hung in the balance. Melo was once paraded about as the toast of Gotham, but now, it’s Porzingis who’s the Big Apple of Knicks fans’ eyes. No more transitioning: fans want Kris P Kreme to be the top billing, right now. Once again tonight, Anthony will do all he can to steer the narrative away, from the growing urge to steer him away from Manhattan. The Hawks had no answers for him (31 points, 12-for-22 FGs) back on November 20, Atlanta shooting just 6-for-21 as a team from the perimeter while Melo casually sunk four of his eight attempts from deep. Kent Bazemore and Paul Millsap were at wit’s end. But perhaps Atlanta will have defensive help tonight in the form of Thabo Sefolosha (3 blocks, 3-for-4 3FGs @ MIN), who had missed the game at MSG and two games prior to it to rest a sprained knee. If he bothers to pass the ball, Anthony could find Courtney Lee waiting in the wing. Lee’s 46.7 3FG% ranks 2nd in the NBA, and it’s even better from the corners (54.3 3FG%). Rose, Porzingis, and Melo aren’t exactly creating looks for Lee, so Hornacek is encouraging him to take more shots when he receives the ball, even when contested, rather than waiting for someone to find him wide open for catch-and-shoot attempts. Lee has been dealing with a sore wrist and sat out of practice yesterday, but he is listed as probable to play tonight. Your ex-Hawk killer for the evening is Justin Holiday, now on his fifth team in four NBA seasons. J-Ho ranks second to Brandon Jennings with 6.7 PPG coming off the Knicks’ bench, while also shooting 38.2 3FG% and 85.3 FT%. If Thabo is occupied helping contain Carmelo, then Kent Bazemore and Taurean Prince are going to have a busy day trying to keep Knicks like Lee and Holiday cool from outside. Former Knick Tim Hardaway, Jr. will test his groin during warmups before it’s decided whether he’ll play. Your leading dime-dropper on the Knicks? It’s not Rose (4.4 APG), it’s Jennings, whose 5.4 APG are mostly delivered while coming off the bench. Jennings has been beneficial to New York so long as he’s not expected to do much more than distribute (37.2 FG%; career-low 30.8 3FG%) when he’s in the game. With Rose and Jennings being such poor on-ball defenders, today’s game is another test to see if Malcolm Delaney (1-for-4 FGs and 4 TOs @ NYK on Nov. 20; 1-for-6 FGs and 4 TOs @ MIN on Monday) has reached the floor. Dennis Schröder went 0-for-8 shooting the ball in MSG last month, and will again be counted upon to bounce back quickly after a subpar game in Minnesota. It will begin by pressuring Rose out of his comfort zones, and forcing turnovers, before Rose initiates his fantastical forays toward the hoop. 36.5 percent of Rose’s attempts are at the rim, the highest proportion since his rookie season in Chicago, and his 55.7 2FG% drops off precipitously as he settles for shots further out. Paul Millsap was shooting 2-for-13 in Minnesota, a game interrupted by an inadvertent third-quarter elbow that has his eye swollen even today. “I didn’t play any worse than before I got elbowed,” he told the AJC after the game. The All-Star forward insists his vision isn’t obscured by his swollen eye, and it won’t be further obscured tonight by the 7-foot-3 Knick defending him. Besides, Sap can probably do better than 2-for-13 with his eyes closed. Defensively, look for Millsap to switch out to defend Noah, who is more dangerous as a post passer and a pick setter than as a scoring threat, and for Dwight Howard (18 points, 18 rebounds, 3 blocks vs. NYK in November; 20&12, 9-for-9 FGs @ MIN on Monday) to use his size to keep Porzingis’ paint scoring down. On Monday night, Dwight could only watch as Karl-Anthony Towns matched Howard’s perfect shooting day with an 8-for-8 display of his own (incl. a Porzingian 3-for-3 3FGs), while also getting almost anything else he wanted (11 boards, 4 assists, 3 blocks, 1 TO). Howard will try to make amends tonight, but to help keep him anchored in the middle, Millsap will need to stay on Porzingis when the lanky Latvian hangs around the three-point line. It shouldn’t take injuries and ailments for Mike Budenholzer to recognize there are other players down on the bench at his disposal. Yet there sat Minnesotan Kris Humphries, who finally entered in the final quarter with Atlanta losing by 24, promptly dropping 12&5 on the T’Wolves. Even with Hardaway unavailable, Taurean Prince subs in for the first time during that quarter for Kyle Korver with Atlanta down 94-66, and together with Humphries the Hawks begin cutting the Wolves’ deficit in half, even while Towns and Zach LaVine were still in the game. Budenholzer is supposed to know his personnel well enough to pull the plug and switch things up, well before games like this get out of hand. He certainly can’t hide behind the team president for building him a 15-man roster on the cheap. Whether at “home” or abroad, double-digit deficits only seem to encourage Coach Bud to double-down on what hasn’t worked. The Hawks coach’s persistence in not adjusting game plans and personnel is eroding consumer confidence in not only his product, but his means of production. If (when) the Hawks on the floor revert to that head-buried-in-sand mode again tonight, we’ll see whether Coach Bud has learned anything from the fourth quarter in Minnesota. Sure, the Hawks need more time to recalibrate and gel and whatnot. But it doesn’t mean fans should expect to endure collective flops on the floor against mediocre competition, especially whenever Atlanta’s only guaranteed All-Star Weekend participant is on the 1s and 2s. Dig another double-digit-deep hole in front of a Knicks-friendly crowd tonight, and Hawks’ fans shouldn’t be surprised if Itzler fills in for Sir Foster (DNP-he’s in Paris for France’s All-Star Game) and plays some “Go NY, Go NY Go!”, just for old time’s sake. Let’s Go Hawks! ~lw3 View full record

Looks like SOMEBODY got everything they wanted! Still on the road, so nothing fancy for tonight’s contest between the Atlanta Hawks and the Minnesota Timberwolves (8:00 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, Fox Sports North in MSP). No Dwight (back), but Junior (groin) is probable, upgraded from earlier today. Atlanta (15-15) hopes to stretch their ref-aided road winning streak to five, and get a measure of payback in Minnesota (9-21). The Wolves dropped to 5-10 on the road with a 112-100 Christmas Night loss in OKC, but their record at the Target Center has been even more off-target (4-11). Hopefully, the Hawks play with more energy than they showed (also without Dwight) during their 92-84 loss at Philips Arena last Wednesday, especially in the opening half (Wolves 49-44) and the final quarter (Wolves 25-15). Kris Humphries could be key for the Hawks to avoid getting thoroughly outrebounded by Minnesota as they were last week (52-35) in Atlanta. Coach Tom Thibodeau only played eight Wolves last week, and expect a short roster again tonight, after 11 players saw action last night. Let’s Go Hawks! ~lw3 View full record

“Merry Christmas, ya filthy Manimal!” ((Stuck in Orlando holiday traffic, so couldn’t finish tonight’s preview. Just gonna pull a Hawks and mail it in early… lol! Cheers!)) It seems Mike Malone has finally gotten out of his own way. And for that, fans of tonight’s hosts of the Atlanta Hawks, the Denver Nuggets (9:00 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL), are reveling in the joys of the holiday season. It wasn’t easy getting here. "You guys got to understand, he’s not going to be the same player he was last year.” That was the Nuggets head coach last month, Malonesplaining to the pestering media why his 2016 All-Rookie 1st Team phenom (no, not Emmanuel Mudiay), Nikola Jokic, was watching his minutes erode, shuffled off to the bench in favor of tarnished team icon Kenneth Faried. This, after he shone so brightly at the end of last season. I mean, can’t “you guys” see, Jokic was overrated? “Gallo (Danilo Gallinari) was out, Wilson Chandler was out. Last two months of the season we played our young guys, we played them 35 minutes a night almost. We’re healthy, we have guys playing, so everybody stop expecting Nikola Jokic to be something he’s not. I think it’s unfair to him." The Nuggets made it all the way to December 12 without more than one single two-game win streak. Malone was so excited about the return of behemoth Jusuf Nurkic that he slid Jokic over to power forward, a position he hadn’t played since his days in Serbia, and was shocked – shocked! – to find out twin-brute frontcourts have gone the way of the Do-Do. So, naturally, the coach punishes Jokic further by relegating him to mop-up duty in favor of Faried, which turned out to be more of a “see why I don’t start you?” exhibition for the Manimal. So, maybe we’ll try… Darrell Arthur at the 4-spot? Nope. Finally, Malone comes to his senses, replacing Arthur and Nurkic with Wilson Chandler (the steadiest player on the roster all season) and Jokic. And the smaller-lineup Nuggs promptly won three straight, Jokic shooting 74.2% from the field and dishing out 6.3 APG while bringing 9.3 RPG and 16.7 PPG to the fray. The glimmer of hope shined, bright enough for even Malone to see, during Denver’s 20-point loss in lowly Dallas on December 12, when Jokic put up a season-high 27 points (10-for-12 FGs) with 11 boards and 4 assists. Now a starter, Jokic upped the ante when Dallas came to Denver one week later: 27 points (13-for-17 FGs), 15 rebounds, 9 assists, leading the way to a 10-point victory this past Monday. He and the Nuggets struggled one night later, when the host Clippers handed them a mirror. But nobody wants to hear, “Hey, you guys, it was just the Mavs!” from Malone anymore. Nurkic was fine and all, but the problem in Jokic’s case was he worked best as a high-post five who didn’t have to defend quicker and more experienced fours. Playing the Itches together turned Denver into the Itchy and Scratchy Show, comically screwing up spacing for every offensive player on the court. Forcing Chandler and Jokic to come off the bench came across to Nuggets fans as needlessly undermining the team’s most productive frontcourt players, and passing off Jokic’s rookie season as some garbage-time aberration wasn’t going to fly. ((blah-blah-blah Jokic really good, Harris and Mudiay working out, Faried's being shopped, Dwight and Timmy’s out, so play more Bembry and Hump, go get 'em Dennis, don’t let Jameer kill us, blah-blah-blah…)) Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Let’s Go Hawks! ~lw3 View full record

^I will also add: no more Local Boy Makes Good stories tonight... Jordan Hill! ~lw3

…and starring Danny McBride in, “TOM THIBODEAU: The Wonder Years!” No, the Suns are not terrorizing opponents. But lately, they have been tenderizing them, in advance of upcoming games versus the Atlanta Hawks. Phoenix was the warm-up act for Oklahoma City over the past weekend, ahead of Atlanta’s Monday night thriller. As the Hawks were hanging on for dear life in OKC, the Suns had Minnesota Timberwolves fans biting their nails with the Suns, just days before their team headed south to visit Atlanta (7:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, Fox Sports North in MSP). Will the Hawks offer themselves up as the entrée, following Minnesota’s appetizer? Or will Atlanta finally treat the fans who bothered to show up to a holiday feast? Despite winning four of their last six overall, the Hawks (14-14) continue giving increasingly skeptical fans at the Strobelight Factory less and less reason to desire a return visit. Despite the halftime entertainment on tap at the end of this month, since mid-November Atlanta has performed at home exactly the way you might expect of a battle rapper named “Juzt 1 Chain”… half-baked efforts versus semi-serious competition, leading to one lonely W among the last six games in their own building. It’s hard enough to get amped about heading downtown to see the Hawks during these wintry eves. It’s even harder when one considers the prospect that they might get shown up on their own floor by the likes of low-draw teams like New Orleans, Detroit, Orlando, and Charlotte. This is literally the Ish Smith Phase of the home schedule, yet the Hawks have been falling woefully short. Never mind 2 Chainz. Keep losing at home to teams like Minnesota in mid-week, and it’ll take 2Pac crawling out from his grave just to fill up Philips’ lower bowl. Atlanta’s not the only NBA team struggling to keep their own fans enlivened and engaged, though. The Wolves have the past two Rookies of the Year in Karl-Anthony Towns (22.3 PPG, 11.1 RPG; 28&15 vs. PHX) and Andrew Wiggins (22.0 PPG, 38.4 3FG%). They can boast of a highlight-reel-making dunkster who is just beginning to round out his offensive game in Zach LaVine (20.8 PPG, 38.1 3FG%, 86.2 FT%). They have a still fresh-faced point guard in Ricky Rubio (3.5 assist/turnover ratio) with an even fresher-faced backup, lotto rookie Kris Dunn, waiting in the wings. On top of all that, they’ve got a new head coach in Tom Thibodeau, who won at least 45 games during all five seasons in his last NBA stop. None of that brimming potential has translated into win streaks (a win tonight would give them two in a row for the first time this season), or turnstiles turning, for Minnesota. Sorry, Hawks fans, but it’s not looking too hot for that extra first-round draft pick in 2017, the one that cost us (“cost” may not be the proper word here) forward Adreian Payne. With the Wolves sitting at 8-19 (3.5 games behind division rival Portland; 1.5 games above the basement) and the Western Conference playoff picture calcifying by the day, it’s likely the lotto-protection on Minnesota’s first-rounder will simply carry over to 2018. As often suggested previously, if the Wolves (zero playoff games since 2004) aren’t handing over this pick by 2020, the NBA franchise with the worst home-percentage attendance (outside of cavernous Auburn Hills) may have to relocate to Fargo, or perhaps the Corn Palace. It’s not like Atlanta needs to help them relinquish the pick, though, with losses tonight and next Monday in Minneapolis. And it isn’t like they’re not trying earnestly to get it to us. In order, here are your top seven NBA teams in Net Rating efficiency during the FIRST halves of their games: Warriors, Clippers, Cavs, Raptors, Timberwolves, Rockets, Spurs… wait, the Timberwolves? One of these things is not like the other! Why are all the other teams ranging from 12-to-21 games above-.500, while Minnesota sticks out like a sore thumb, at 11 games below a break-even mark? Pulling that off literally requires the league’s worst SECOND half rating and, indeed, the Wolves have been achieving that (minus-13.4 2nd-half net rating). That includes a 112.1 D-Rating (worst in NBA, not counting OTs) in back halves of games. In Houston over the weekend, they were enjoying a nine-point lead in the last minute of regulation before D’Antoniball happened, the Wolves done in by James Harden’s 10 points in OT. Minnesota’s opponents are treated to 15.3 free throw shots per game (2nd-most in NBA, ahead of just the aforementioned Suns) in the third and fourth quarters, while shooting 38.7% on threes (2nd-highest in NBA, barely ahead of Dallas’ 38.8 opponent 3FG%). You’d be waning, too, if your ears had to endure the dulcet tones of Coach Thibs for 48 minutes per night, plus locker room banter, plus practice runs. [WARNING: Unwavering Sam Mitchell Apologist talking!] Thibodeau was brought on to immerse this youthful bunch in the Dark Arts of Pick-and-Roll NBA defense. The Wolves are impressionable, and it’s impossible for their coach to ever be tuned out (believe me, I’ve tried; the mute button is overrated). But his team, by design, is not yet instinctive. He hollers “BLUE!”, and they start looking around for Mr. Edwards. Thibodeau was a raving success at his prior locales, in Boston (as an assistant) and Chicago (as the head honcho). But young pupils like Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, and Kevin Garnett literally walked in the door with some defensive aptitude. Not so with these young pups; Gorgui Dieng and Cole Aldrich are the closest thing to experienced defensive savants Minnesota has to offer. A defensive mindset has to be hammered home, and Thibs brings the vocal sledgehammer to every opponent possession. On the floor, Minnesota’s not looking to Rubio, or KAT, or Dunn, to quarterback the defense. They’re receiving and interpreting instructions like a first-time IKEA furniture purchaser. The anticipation of what their coach is about to bark, and the reaction times needed for processing the directives, leaves them a step too slow against opposing pro offenses, especially when the game shifts to the final quarters. [/WARNING] Tonight’s game will be a test to see how much the Hawks have learned about their own resiliency, specifically when opponents go on runs in their house. Against visitors like the Pelicans (66 first-half points), Magic (72 first-half points) and Pistons (58 first-half points), Hawks players abandoned many of Coach Mike Budenholzer’s gameplans, resigned to tipping their caps while pumping up personal stats with iso-ball, in attempts to scurry behind boxscores after the games. The Wolves are going to sprint and leap and play their tender hearts out in the first half. Will we see a different response from Atlanta during, and after, Minnesota’s attempts to string buckets together? Dwight Howard (back) remains questionable for tonight’s contest, and his ability to contain Towns from putting up mouthpiece-spewing numbers would be beneficial to Atlanta’s cause. Only 21, Towns has deft footwork in and around the paint, reminding yours truly [WARNING: Exaggerated Equivalency Ahead!] of peak Al Jefferson. But unlike Big Al, this young Wolf is blessed with superior range and hops, and less of an affinity for Popeye’s. [/WARNING]. Towns will likely switch off with Dieng to defend whichever is the cooler Hawk among Howard and Paul Millsap (30 points, 11 boards at OKC on Monday), in hopes of averting foul trouble. Along with Dieng, the league’s third-best offensive rebounding team (NBA-high 16.0 second-chance PPG) is likely to crash the glass when Howard isn’t patrolling, and Towns will try his wares at three-point shooting (34.0 3FG%, 36.4% on the road) when Hawk defenders don’t properly account for him. Wiggins’ improving jumpshot (also 40.0 2FG% from 16 feet out) has added a second dimension to his contributions (scoring, and not much else) on the floor. The long-distance shooting comes at the expense of his ability to post up fellow wings, something Maple Jordan (then-career-best 33 points in his last visit to Atlanta, in November 2015) could exploit against Kent Bazemore or backup guard Kyle Korver. Wiggins is, however, likely to stray off his assignments when on defense, while LaVine often gets caught anticipating his next highlight-reel offensive play. Baze needs to exploit that by continuing to attack the paint and make plays, as he did in OKC (4-for-7 2FGs, 6 assists) on Monday. It’s a similar deal for Kyle (6 assists, including the game-winning dime to Paul Millsap; 2-for-4 3FGs vs. OKC), who continues to look for other open shooters even as he strains to find daylight along the three-point line. Dennis Schröder (31 points, 10-for-10 FTs, 8 assists vs. OKC) must execute plays quickly and force the pace of play at both ends, disallowing the Wolves from getting comfortable in halfcourt battles. He needs to be ready to attack just as Minnesota defenders adjust to the siren song of their head coach’s demands, but avoid the crafty hands of Rubio, whose team-high 1.5 SPG is currently a career-low. Turnovers are never so much a problem when you’re averaging 20.6 PPG and 7.7 APG with shooting splits of 53.8/50.0/88.2 in a calendar month, values Schröder has been producing in December. But the Hawks will want to ensure his turnovers (3.1 TOs/game this month, down from 3.3 in prior games) do not translate into easy offense for Minnesota at the other end. Forwards Thabo Sefolosha and Millsap have to run the floor to keep Wiggins, Towns and LaVine from making quick transition sprints to the other hoop. Atlanta’s beleaguered bench must step things up several notches, and there’s no better outfit to show improvements against than the underutilized Timberwolves (league-low 13.9 minutes per game by reserves). Especially when pitted against the likes of Shabazz Muhammad, Aldrich and Nemanja Bjelica, plus-performances by Tim Hardaway, Jr., Korver, and Mike Muscala are essential to take pressure off the Atlanta starters. Right now, Bob Rathbun could be a better option than Mike Manbun (last 5 games: 86 minutes, 1.6 D-Rebs per game) when it comes to securing boards. The 6-foot-11 Muscala has only two more defensive rebounds on the season than Dennis, and that stat needs to change, stat. Whether it’s Lou or Marvin Williams, Hawks fans have had enough of the ex-Hawk Makes Good tour routinely coming through Philips Arena. If anybody is talking about Adreian Payne’s evening by game’s end, it’s going to be just another long night at the Factory. Let’s Go Hawks! ~lw3 View full record

Deferential? Charitable? ~lw3

"Don't say we never do anything for you, Hawks fans!" ~refz

It was kinda like Bud talking 'bout how he'll keep an eye on Baze's minutes... ...then watching him on the floor for a team-high 40 minutes in his first game as a returning starter. ~lw3

I almost added that very suggestion, then deleted it at the last second. C'mon, Morey! You know you want to! ~lw3

I tried putting "not thabo" in the Tags, but unfortunately it just comes across as, "NOOOOOOOO! NOT THABO!" lol Sorry bout that! ~lw3

FWIW, one other reason as to why D8 wasn't getting many touches (or taking shots) versus the Hornets (re: C-Viv's second sentence)... (Reporting on the origin of his back trouble, post-Toronto and pre-Charlotte, didn't come until post-OKC game) Thankfully, he was good enough to fight for rebounds (23 of them, 13 in the second half), granting the Hawks a few extra chances while helping Millsap terminate Charlotte's possessions (besides, who else was gonna do that... Muskie?) I sense the team knew Dwight was toughing it out, and it doesn't seem as though the team (not just Dennis) were looking for him to do much more than cleaning up missed shots (his P&R defensive activity was especially suspect in the 4th). I'd have gotten Hump in there to chip in, since Moose is such a mess right now, but that's just me. ~lw3

~lw3

Gonna hafta start The Mole, I figure. ~lw3

Can The Beard play the 5? ~lw3