Hawks Vs. Heat: Atlanta's Road Trip Continues In Miami

[Hawksquawk]

Atlanta Hawks 11-12 Season Game #39
	@
23-15		29-9
American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida
March 7, 2012, 7:30 PM
NBA TV, SportSouth, 680 The Fan and 93.7 FM, NBA Audio League Pass
Probable starters:
Jeff Teague	PG	Mario Chalmers
Kirk Hinrich	SG	Dwyane Wade
Marvin Williams	SF	LeBron James
Josh Smith	PF	Chris Bosh
Zaza Pachulia	C	Joel Anthony

Hawks Injury Report: Al Horford (pectoral) and Jason Collins (elbow) and Willie Green (back) are out. Joe Johnson (knee) is doubtful.

Heat Injury Report: Dwyane Wade (ankle) is questionable

More SB Nation Coverage: SB Nation Atlanta, SB Nation Tampa Bay, Peninsula Is Mightier

Preview:

The Atlanta Hawks' six-game road trip continues with a stop in South Beach for a matchup with the Miami Heat. The Hawks have suddenly won four of five games after what seemed like a month's worth of struggles. Even more impressive is the fact that the wins all came without Joe Johnson.

Josh Smith has stepped up in the absence of Johnson averaging 23.4 points and 12.4 rebounds in the last five games. Atlanta defeated Indiana 101-96 on Tuesday night to take the season series from the Pacers.

Miami has its own injury worries after Dwyane Wade sprained his ankle in Tuesday's blow out 108-78 win over the New Jersey Nets. Wade didn't return to the game in the second half but was confident post game that he would be back in the lineup on Wednesday.

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[Guest]

Saw that T-Mac is out as well for this game? Can anyone confirm?

[Admin]

Saw that T-Mac is out as well for this game? Can anyone confirm?

I know I read that he's having trouble with back to backs so I'm sure he's probably not going to play much, if any, tonight. But I haven't seen anything official.

[Guest]

MC tweeted Tmac is out tonight. Not sure if this was in reference to the game or in reference to Tmac heading out to the strip clubs.

[lethalweapon3]

There is one star player on the Miami HEAT who the Hawks have had no answer for. Slowing him down will be key to any chance for a victory. Of course, I’m talking about Chris Bosh. The velociraptor dropped 33 points, his second highest season-total, in that deflating overtime loss back in January with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade giggling like schoolboys in suits on the sideline. His season high in rebounds, 16, came against the Hawks in February, eclipsing his previous high, 14, from the January 5^th game. He needs to be boxed out and have a hand up in his face when he steps out for jumpers.

Bosh, returning to form after a family absence, is the straw that really stirs the drink in the halfcourt, whose efficiencies were charted by ESPN’s Tom Haberstroh here (http://proxy.espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/miamiheat/post/_/id/12816/meet-the-nbas-best-halfcourt-team). Oddly, Haberstroh refers to the Hawks as “a team that garners a considerable amount of praise in the halfcourt.” I’d love to see some links to this asserted “praise.” He noted that the HEAT went three-and-a-half quarters in carpet-bombing the Nets on Tuesday without a single fastbreak basket, unconventional for a team that even LD compared today to the “Showtime” Lakers.

Mario Chalmers’ sudden shooting prowess seems to have carried forward from late in the 2011 postseason to now, and he might need to get some consideration when Most Improved Player award time comes around. He’s now shooting over 45% from three-point range (nearly 50% overall), compared to around 32-37% from three (40-42% overall) in past seasons.

Opponents seem to waste possessions against Miami. Against a team stocked with Mike Miller, James Jones, Shane Battier, and Chalmers, HEAT foes shoot an inexplicable 6.5 more threes a game to try and keep up. Atlanta needs to find the outside shooters who can hit with reasonable reliability (Teague, Vlad, Pargo, Marvin), while other teammates should find all their offense inside the arc. Opponents should be striving to gain three the hard way against the Heat by going inside persistently, creating foul issues for their starters, and that’s where guys like Ivan Johnson, himself a top 10 NBA player in And-1 percentage with his shot attempts, and Josh Smith can create a little havoc.

Go Hawks!

~lw3

[Guest]

The key to controlling Bosh is for Josh to go at him in the post every time down the floor.

[Admin]

The key to controlling Bosh is for Josh to go at him in the post every time down the floor.

And get physical with Bosh! I know that Josh doesn't like to bang and Bosh is a similar finesse type of PF. I hope that Ivan gets some minutes to be physical with Bosh tonight.

[Guest]

And get physical with Bosh! I know that Josh doesn't like to bang and Bosh is a similar finesse type of PF. I hope that Ivan gets some minutes to be physical with Bosh tonight.

I agree Dolf. I hope LD doesn't get it into his head that IVAN doesn't have the length to guard Bosh, all we need is for IVAN to be physical with him and push him around. He folds like cheap suit when you play him physical.

[Admin]

I agree Dolf. I hope LD doesn't get it into his head that IVAN doesn't have the length to guard Bosh, all we need is for IVAN to be physical with him and push him around. He folds like cheap suit when you play him physical.

I don't think that LD will have a problem playing him. Keep in mind that Ivan had his coming out party against the Heat so that should at least show that LD won't be afraid to play him.

Hopefully we'll get some big quality minutes from Zaza and Damp tonight as well.

[Guest]

Are the Heat dressed to play basketball or roller derby?

[Admin]

Are the Heat dressed to play basketball or roller derby?

I think they look kinda cool ... what I don't think is cool is having to listen to that one douchebag announcer, can't remember his name Tony Fiorentino, but he's among my top 5 most hated announcers.

[Admin]

Are we tired or just being lazy tonight? I think we're just being lazy with the rebounding because we're not having any trouble running up and down the court on the break but damn they're just killing us on the glass and Miami aren't a big team so they can't use size as an excuse for this effort.

Ivan just gave Lebron a nice shot in the mouth there it looked like!

Gotta love that effort from Josh so far tonight, just wish he'd stay away from that 3pt line.

[Guest]

Good to see vlad letting it fly, we need a three point threat out there to keep josh down low. I hope that can work.

[Admin]

We definitely need to hit our 3's against the great teams like the Heat.

I wonder where Teague would fit in amongst the fastest players in the game with the ball end to end. I bet he'd be in the top 5 or so.

[AJtheGreat]

Man Josh is beasting once again in the post, and the other guys are stepping up and hitting their shots. Zaza has been really active on the boards too.

[Guest]

Teague is up there, real fast with the ball. Sadly, that does not translate on the defensive end. He gets blown by way too easily.

[Brotha2ThaNite]

Ivan Johnson is doing a good job on LBJ

[HalfHawk]

Josh making a pretty bold statement during the halftime interview, haha gotta love it.

[Brotha2ThaNite]

Do anyone think LD needs to take a T because the Hawks hasn't gone to the line in the first half?

[Admin]

Josh making a pretty bold statement during the halftime interview, haha gotta love it.

What did he say?

Do anyone think LD needs to take a T because the Hawks hasn't gone to the line in the first half?

Has LD ever taken that kind of T?