So I was at the Hawks game on Sunday...

[joannes3000]

And it was painful to watch us literally melt down going into the 4th quarter. Just before the 3rd quarter started I told my wife that we'd be lucky to go into the 4th with a 10 point lead since we have a tendency to forget to play the 2nd half. Sure enough, we limped into the 4th quarter with a 10 point lead and I started having an uneasy feeling in my stomach.

Right around the time Law got extended minutes at the point, you could see the team slowing down and I could see the game getting out of hand. We looked completely bored out there, settling into what I guess you could call our halfcourt offense, which consisted of poor spacing around the perimeter, missed passes that could've lead to easy backdoor buckets, and generally uninspired basketball. It wasn't until the Blazers had gotten a full head of steam, and by that time it was too late, did we put our starting 5 back in.

I'll give the Blazers a lot of credit, because they played the way we should be able to play. Even out of their halfcourt sets, there was a lot of movement and it seemed like somebody was always popping open on the perimeter for an uncontested 3. Which brings up another trend I saw during the game - our lack of defensive pressure.

It was disheartening watching Roy get to the basket at will. We definitely helped make his claim to be an all-star, because we looked helpless trying to defend him. And not only was our on-the-ball defense bad, but we didn't seem to care much to provide some help defense when the inevitable happened - Roy crosses over his defender, drives to the bucket, and lays in an easy deuce. Over and over and over and over and over again. Name the player and Roy abused him.

Lastly, I don't know how clear it was on TV, but the foul call that sent Roy to the freethrow line for the eventual game-winner was a complete joke. Everybody in our section heard me screaming about the phantom call, and nobody could say anything in response. EVERYBODY knew it was a blown call. Roy schooled his defender like he had been doing the entire quarter, but when he pulled up for the shot, there was NO contact whatsoever. Even the replay showed as much.

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Things to do:

Get another ball-handler capable of keeping the tempo going when AJ isn't on the court.

Find a way to stop the dribble penetration that Roy exploited all night long.

[macdaddy]

You are right about our offense in the second half. I don't know if it was Law or that they went to a zone but all we did was pass it around the three point line.

Definitely a frustrating loss but the Hawks did play well.

They just didn't have a clue in the second half. If JJ hits the game winner though I think there's not as much focus on the collapse of course.

Unrelated note. How does that take down of Marvin only get a flagrant 1 and Horford's accidental hit on TJ gets a 2. I can't imagine how the one on marvin doesn't warrant ejection. Plus wasn't that Jones? Didn't he go on to hit like 20 3s? Maybe I'm confused.