Peachtree Hoops: Atlanta Hawks 93, Charlotte Bobcats 92 or Joe Johnson takes your hate and raises you a game winner

[Hawksquawk]

More photos » Gregory Smith - AP

Dump in the pants.

Browse more photos »

boxscore

recap

After a sample size of two games, I have come to the conclusion that hitting game winners is better than allowing game winners. The Hawks won and it will gloss over many of the rough edges by Woodson, the refs, the guards, and Josh Smith missed assignments, and it should. Wins like this are great. They bring people back to the arena. They renew hope in our alpha dog. They are just fun. And since most of us are fans because it is fun, tonight was simply late season, seriously needed jump start for our fandom.

The Charlotte Bobcats try so hard they don't allow any rhyme or reason for the game. I could almost excuse the Hawks for lacking any identity for the entire game. I mean this game was not even guard dominated. It was just go fast and try and score and if you don't go fast the guy with the ball under ten seconds shoot shoot. All that said, I am thoroughly convinced Marvin Williams would be an all-star under this framework. Without any real offensive plays run (even the bad ones), he was able to just crash the boards at will. Spacing be damned. There was no spacing this game. Marvin roamed....and contributed. In the end, this was a game of offensive rebound points, transition buckets, and the Hawks winning exactly one more five on five offensive possession that involved exactly zero coaching.

Second unit

In a game of "what just happened," the Hawks second unit brought stability and sobriety. They simply hustled and willed their way to easy baskets. Any time a possession includes three offensive rebounds and ends with Zaza getting fouled on a drive, you know the team is playing down and dirty.

The Hawks were playing so individually for the first 18 minutes, the second unit reminded everyone this was a team basketball game. Maybe most importantly, it reminded Charlotte that, worst comes to worst, the Hawks had players that were willing to foul hard, make the extra pass, and play real, live defense. Tonight, the second unit played like the team Mike Woodson coaches in his dreams.

Victory Bullets

• If Joe Johnson could give the one third of his offensive load to the front court and use that extra energy to rebound the ball, the Hawks would be awesome.
• Josh Smith is the worst best, best worst teammate ever.
• Mo Evans is turning into Josh Childress. Even their shots look the same.
• The fact that the one illegal screen called was against Jamal Crawford is comical.
  
• Again, Al Horford shot 60% from the field. It is not that he will never have games where he will shoot 33% when he gets 20 shots like say Joe did tonight. It is just that I don't know if he can easily shoot 60% if he did.
• Last possession of regulations? Horrible. I am accepting applications for stronger words.
  
• I respect Woody for sitting a struggling Joe down toward the end of the third. Clearly, it paid off, or I can pretend it did.
  
• Jeff Teague looked rookie good on both ends of the floor.When the half court offense was as bad as it was tonight, why not put Teague in and run, run, run?

Go Hawks!

View the full article