Peachtree Hoops: Instant Reaction: Hawks 108, Kings 102

[Hawksquawk]

More photos » Rich Pedroncelli - AP

Don't stand so close to me.

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Quick Thought: The Sacramento Kings don't really challenge teams much offensively with ball movement. And they don't challenge teams defensively, really. In a related story, the Hawks beat the Kings tonight.

Summary:

The Hawks moved the ball, rebounded the Kings shots when they missed, and challenged every shot (when the starters were in at least), and held a comfortable lead throughout the second half.

The Kings hold the ball more offensively than the Hawks did at their iso-worst, and left many, many Hawks "shotmakers" open on the other end and the Hawks made them pay, running up a 20 point lead with five minutes left in the game.

Sitll, it wouldn't be a Hawks game without some drama, eh? The game well in hand, the Hawks played the bench and Josh Smith for the majority of the fourth quarter until the Kings got some momentum thanks to shoddy ball handling, turnovers, and poor defense. With three minutes left in the game, the starters came back but the ball movement did not, with isolation sets and an amazingly bad Jamal Crawford turnover while he was standing still cut the lead to (5) with a little less than a minute left. The Hawks held on, but not a proud stretch, to be sure.

The Stars:

Joe Johnson: 12-18, 29 points, 5 rebounds.

Jamal Crawford: 10-17, 31 points, 7 assists

Shotmakers. Tonight, for sure.

Also:

Mike Bibby had 10 rebounds for the fifth time in his career (all-time high is 11), and the first time since he played for the Kings against the Cavs in January, 2005.

Jeff Teague can thank Crawford for a (0) minute, -2 performance tonight. As soon as Teague got in the game, Crawford had the ball taken from him while apparently waiting for a limo, and Tyreke Evans laid the ball in, Drew put the starters back in with Jamal. Sorry, Jeff.

Al Horford missed open jump shots, layups, and probably his favorite TV shows, too. 4-14 and the Hawks really, really tried to get him the ball, but Al rushed some shots and just plain missed others. I think we can call this a mini-slump for Al.

Josh Smith posted up Francisco Garcia early on and dunked. The Hawks decided that was too efficient and never went back to it again.

Zaza Pachulia got the ball twice in the open lane and dunked without seeking contact, a rebound, or the free throw line. I'm pretty sure I'm ready to be swallowed up by the earth overnight.

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