Peachtree Hoops: 2011 NBA Playoffs: Bulls 86 - Hawks 73 : Game 2 Instant Reaction

[Hawksquawk]

Quick Thought: I'm dizzy from the roller coaster...and from folks who haven't ever watched this team scrambling to make some kind of definitive statement on them. Foolish mortals.

Summary: 

About those habits....Let me see if I can name them all:

• Josh Smith taking jump shots at any point in the shot clock.
• Al Horford being too bashful offensively.
• Hawks making a mockery of their own transition game offensively, commonly blowing even the simplest of run-outs.
• All Hawks dribbling way too much and then getting stripped.
• Larry Drew penalizing the wrong player by sitting him.
• Jamal Crawford getting obliterated by Derrick Rose.
• Josh Smith not getting serious about getting position on the defensive glass.
• Josh Smith wanting a foul call and not even giving himself a chance to get that position on the defensive glass.

 

I know I missed some, but the biggest one that bothered me was the benching of Jeff Teague in the first quarter, leaving Crawford to deal with Rose, which was a terrible mismatch, and then having to watch, even when Teague came back in the game, Crawford continue to check Rose, with the same results. 

Also, Larry Drew's "shot selection, shot selection, shot selection" being his big critique after the first and second quarter. I might have said, "transition offense, defensive rebounding, and motion in the offense." But hey, I have bronchitis and on a ton of drugs, maybe it was just shot selection.

Jeff Teague playing marvelously, again, and Joe Johnson shooting efficiently, along with Horford's defensive rebounding, were the high spots for the night.

Marvin Williams looking uncoordinated in every phase of the game, Josh Smith laying out all the negatives tonight, and Jamal Crawford missing the aggression he had in Game 1 (and a bunch of shots), and Al Horford's offense were at the heart of the low spots.

Certainly the Bulls played with more aggression and poise than in the first game, and the Hawks were clearly stymied by it, displaying far less motion after even the first few minutes of Game 2 offensively, allowing them to fall back into their comfortable, yet disadvantageous habits. This was a night that they could choose to play well or not, having Game 1 in their pocket, and we know how some players play when they don't feel like it's a "have to" night.

The Hawks can win ugly, but they can't win gruesome, and they were a few levels below gruesome tonight.

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