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Official Game Thread: Hawks - Pistons

lethalweapon3

By lethalweapon3
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lethalweapon3 Grand Master

lethalweapon3

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After a strong showing against the Chicago Bulls over the weekend, the Atlanta Hawks can resume making hay against the dregs of the Eastern Conference. Tonight they’ll get the Detroit Pistons in their house, a team they’ll play again next week, before a quick road trip to Cleveland to avenge a November loss to the Cavs.

On the path to their last Eastern Conference Finals appearance, Detroit last came out victorious at the Highlight Factory in February 2008, against a Hawks bench that featured Tyronn Lue, Acie Law, Mario West, and Lorenzen Wright.

Things are looking up just a smidgen in Motown. The Pistons (9-21) have back-to-back wins under their belt after a home-and-home with the lowly Wizards. Fans are particularly antsy to get lottery pick Andre Drummond into the starting lineup alongside Greg Monroe. They’ve been out singing his praises like a choir in a Chrysler commercial.

The 19-year-old has been given a limited share of minutes (18.5 per game) in deference to Monroe, Jason Maxiell and Charlie Villanueva, but he’s certainly making the most of his time on the court. Drummond is in the top 10 of the NBA for total rebounding rate, leading all rookies in field goal percentage (55.9 FG%) and winning over fans with showtime blocks (6th in block percentage) and dunks (11th in the NBA for total dunks, tied with Al Horford).

He’s just ahead of Josh Smith for 8th in NBA defensive rating (97.4 opponent points per 100 possessions). Second only to Anderson Varejao in offensive rebounding percentage, Drummond crashes the glass for more offensive rebounds (2.8 per game) than Monroe (2.6 per game in 32.5 minutes) despite playing just over half as often. Coach Lawrence Frank insists that the 270-pounder is still a developing project, and a lack of trust for reserve rookie Vyacheslav Kravtsov makes it hard to risk foul trouble for his two talented bigs. But if close losses pile up, Frank may be imperiled by his reluctance to move Drummond into the starting lineup. Monroe and Drummond have shared the floor for just 39 minutes this season.

Monroe is in the upper echelon with Varejao, Joakim Noah and Horford for the best passing centers in the East. His 3.3 assists per game ranks 4th among NBA centers, just ahead of Horford (3.2). Unlike Horford, though, he’s just as likely to turn over the ball, as his 3.0 turnovers per game are the second-highest among centers (Horford’s at 1.8 per game). Monroe is vastly more likely to pass out of the low post, so the Hawks need to be ready to pick off the outlet passes.

On the other end, Monroe is second-highest among centers in steals, leading all Detroit players with 1.4 per game. Monroe is often M.I.A. from the rim area while going for steals, and Piston opponents respond by attacking the glass with alacrity (2nd-highest percentage of at-rim shots taken in games). The Hawks, perhaps magically, are still neck-and-neck with the Heat for the league’s highest field goal percentage at the rim.

Detroit’s top two scorers have to do a better job of connecting with each other on offense. Other than Kobe and Dwight, Brandon Knight and Monroe are the only pair of NBA starters ranking in the top ten for per-minute turnovers. Knight also must become a more effective shooter inside the perimeter. He’s shooting 42.2% from three-point range, but just 39.2% on two-pointers, including 47% on layups and 26% on jumpers from 3-to-9 feet.

Tayshaun Prince was hobbling over the weekend with an ankle he twisted against the Wizards on Saturday, but is confident he’ll play. He’s crucial to the Pistons lineup in matching up against Smith, guarding perimeter shooters, setting up Knight and Monroe, and connecting on some outside jumpers.

Jason Maxiell is a full-time starter for the first time in his career, largely to mixed results. A career-high 8.3 PPG and 6.2 RPG is balanced out with a career-low 46.0 FG%. The 12 points he contributed in Detroit’s last win matches his combined point total from his previous four games. J-Max often steps up big against Atlanta, as his 9.5 PPG is his highest scoring average against any NBA team.

Also eager to impress tonight will be Charlie Villanueva, who shoots 51.8 FG% versus Atlanta, second-highest against any NBA club. He was planning to spend the summer with Horford on the Dominican Republic basketball team, but was embarrassingly jettisoned by John Calipari for being poorly conditioned. Motivated by the snub, Charlie V is slowly regaining Frank’s confidence after being shelved for much of the second-half of 2011-12, and posted a season-high 19 points and 7 boards in Detroit’s last game versus the Wizards.

After spending a year in Spain, deferred-rookie Kyle Singler has unseated Rodney Stuckey from the starting shooting guard spot. Any shooting guard that struggles with his outside shot (28.0 3FG%, 25.9 2FG% from 10 feet out) won’t last long as a starter, so Stuckey gets the bench nod. Singler shoots marginally better (37.3 3FG%, 28.2 2FG% from 3 feet out), and at 6’8”, the prevailing view is he will finish better at the rim and cause more trouble for opposing offenses. He’ll need to find ways to become more disruptive outside of hacking, as he ranks 7th in the NBA for total personal fouls.

Stuckey still gets his points, but primarily from getting to the rim and drawing fouls. His 4.0 free throw attempts per game is way down from last season but still second-highest on the team, and he hits them at an 83% clip. Stuckey has become more effective with his passing as a reserve, spelling Brandon Knight and playing alongside Singler. His nearly 3.0 assist-to-turnover ratio is, by far, a career high. Guarding point guards more frequently, he blocks shots more (career-high 0.3 per game), but no longer generates turnovers from steals (career-low 0.4 per game). If Brandon Knight has trouble on defense with Jeff Teague and/or Lou Williams (both starting again tonight), look for Stuckey to come off the bench early.

Stuckey will have to work much harder to find his offense tonight, as Atlanta is now the most judicious team for personal fouls (17.2 per game, lowest in the league). They’ve been called for 20 fouls just once in their past 15 games, compared to four games with 20 or more whistles in their first ten. In their last two games (3 of the last 5), opponents had to settle for single-digit numbers of trips to the free throw line. Given key Hawks’ struggles with free throws, they are figuring out this is one area where they don’t need to dare foes to outdo them.

Go Hawks!

~lw3

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DJlaysitup Newbie

DJlaysitup

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Posted (edited)

The 19-year-old has been given a limited share of minutes (18.5 per game) in deference to Monroe, Jason Maxiell and Charlie Villanueva, but he’s certainly making the most of his time on the court. Drummond is in the top 10 of the NBA for total rebounding rate, leading all rookies in field goal percentage (55.9 FG%) and winning over fans with showtime blocks (6th in block percentage) and dunks (11th in the NBA for total dunks, tied with Al Horford).

He’s just ahead of Josh Smith for 8th in NBA defensive rating (97.4 opponent points per 100 possessions). Second only to Anderson Varejao in offensive rebounding percentage, Drummond crashes the glass for more offensive rebounds (2.8 per game) than Monroe (2.6 per game in 32.5 minutes) despite playing just over half as often. Coach Lawrence Frank insists that the 270-pounder is still a developing project, and a lack of trust for reserve rookie Vyacheslav Kravtsov makes it hard to risk foul trouble for his two talented bigs. But if close losses pile up, Frank may be imperiled by his reluctance to move Drummond into the starting lineup. Monroe and Drummond have shared the floor for just 39 minutes this season.

Monroe is in the upper echelon with Varejao, Joakim Noah and Horford for the best passing centers in the East. His 3.3 assists per game ranks 4th among NBA centers, just ahead of Horford (3.2). Unlike Horford, though, he’s just as likely to turn over the ball, as his 3.0 turnovers per game are the second-highest among centers (Horford’s at 1.8 per game). Monroe is vastly more likely to pass out of the low post, so the Hawks need to be ready to pick off the outlet passes.

On the other end, Monroe is second-highest among centers in steals, leading all Detroit players with 1.4 per game. Monroe is often M.I.A. from the rim area while going for steals, and Piston opponents respond by attacking the glass with alacrity (2nd-highest percentage of at-rim shots taken in games).

~lw3

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Excellent as usual lw3!!

So by what is quoted above it appears that their bigs are simply large people who throw the ball around with no particular skill at the game of Basketball.

I didn't see anything about scoring or post moves.

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Alex Contributor

Alex

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Headed to overtime against one of the worst teams in the league. We are lucky the the eastern conference is junk or we'd be missing the playoffs.

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MrMeltdown Newbie

MrMeltdown

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What happened? I dozed off to sleep with about 8 minutes left and woke up with 4 seconds left and we were down a point? Don't say Teague because Teague was not even in the game and Bynum was going off when I dozed off. Teague got took out the game for losing the ball at halfcourt.

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DJlaysitup Newbie

DJlaysitup

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These guys (Hawks) are starting to grow on me. They take big leads - then throw up 5 airballs in crunch time. Gotta love that Posted Image ..they do what they have to do (mostly) ...go inside occasionally...get a lead....then jack threes (or airballs). They are comical until a guy like Teague takes over against a really bad team.

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