Al Horford and Larry Drew deserve a lot more heat for what happened last night

[TheNorthCydeRises]

I know the focus is on Josh Smith for what went on last night. And it's easy to focus on him for some of the plays he made. The fact is though that at least Josh TRIED to make something happen, whether it be positive or negative.Early on in that 3rd quarter, he did go to the hole hard on two occasions to get to the FT line. The problem with Josh is that he's just not a reliable FT shooter ( which also makes him an unreliable scoring option ). Josh misses 3 out of 4 FTs in that stretch, while the Celtics just continued to methodically chip away at the lead.My thing is this though . . . where was AL HORFORD? What did he do to even try to stop or slow down what happened last night? Answer = NOTHING.He passed up shots. He was late on a few defensive rotations. He didn't rebound. Basically, he deferred to Josh, Lou, and anybody else. He had absolutely NO IMPACT in that quarter. None. If he is one of the leaders on the Hawks, this cannot happen. Smith tries, but he cannot do it. Horford doesn't even try ( until Smith is out with an injury ).Now we get to Larry Drew. So let me get this straight, you basically call out the Hawks for being soft when Boston turned up the pressure. But what did YOU DO to combat what Boston was doing? Yeah, you called a timeout after Boston scored 4 straight points, to so-call get the team back in focus. But you didn't call another timeout the rest of the quarter, waiting instead for TV timeouts to "talk" to the team.And here were your lineups to combat what Boston did: ( subs are in CAPS )3rd quarter starters: Teague - Williams - Korver - Smith - Horford . . ( - 12 for the quarter )4:49 mark lineup: Teague - Williams - STEVENSON - Smith - Horford . . ( -4 )3:18 mark lineup: Teague - Williams - Stevenson - Smith - ZAZA ( -2 )1:54 mark lineup: Williams - Stevenson - Smith - TOLLIVER - Zaza ( -4 )1:02 mark lineup: Williams - Stevenson - Tolliver - HORFORD - Zaza ( -2 )So you didn't want the team to play SOFT, but you didn't even try to go to a semi-big lineup until the 1:54 mark? And when you DID do it, you bring in Anthony Tolliver? Not even going to ask why the team's toughest and scariest player was just chewing gum on the bench and not even getting a chance to impact the game at this time. And when you DID decide to put him in the game, he starts to make things happen, but the Hawks were in too much of a hole.Yeah Drew, the Hawks are SOFT. And they already have that label. Your starting center DEFINITELY played soft last night. But you expect SOFT players to play with toughness? It doesn't work that way man. Tough guys are tough guys for a reason. And they only know how to play one way.Stat of the night for you Larry.Out of 95 offensive play types charted by Synergy, do you know how many official post up plays the Hawks had?THREE3 out of 95 Larry. And two of those didn't come until midway through the 4th quarter.Meanwhile we had 29 out of 95 plays that were spot up jumpers ( 30.5% of the plays ). Our shooting % on those jumpers?20.8% . . ( 5 - 24 FG ) . . . with 20 of those shots being 3 pointers ( made 5 of them )We missed 7 of these types of shots in the 3rd quarter alone, and made just 1 - 11 in the 2nd half. Josh Smith had 5 of the misses via spot ups ( 4 actual jumpers and 1 driving layup . . 2 turnovers also ), and had the only make ( the 3 pointer that brought the Hawks within 6 in the 4th quarter )That is on YOU Larry.The Hawks are 28th in the league in FT attempts and 29th in FT makes.We are 26th in offensive rebounding and 27th in total rebounding.That is on YOU Larry.Why? Because you continue to keep the two guys on the bench who could help you in both areas.Zaza Pachulia and Ivan Johnson.They're easily the toughest guys on the team, and the best rebounding big men you have ( from a Rebound % standpoint ). You call your team SOFT, but leave the TOUGH GUYS on the bench? That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.Bottom line is this. If you're not going to reign in Josh Smith from taking a ton of outside shots and acting like he's an elite scorer, you may as well play him at SF for significant stretches, let him fire away, and play guys at PF who will REBOUND THE DANG BASKETBALL when he misses shots.Stop calling the team SOFT, if you put the softest lineups possible out on the floor. And tell your All-Star center to star to be a LEADER on this team, and take matters into his own hands.

Edited January 6, 2013 by northcyde

[Plainview1981]

Like I said in the offseason... You can't make a guy want to be the man. Al has some big nights of course, but he is not interested in being that guy on a nightly basis. I'm not sure that he even can. But I don't think he is interested in trying to be honest with you. On the other hand, Josh WANTS to be the man, but he just can't.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Like I said in the offseason... You can't make a guy want to be the man. Al has some big nights of course, but he is not interested in being that guy on a nightly basis. I'm not sure that he even can. But I don't think he is interested in trying to be honest with you. On the other hand, Josh WANTS to be the man, but he just can't.

I can't disagree with this at all.

[Peoriabird]

The OP is absolutely correct! You are not going to be able to out shoot or out score teams on a nightly basis. One of the hidden way to win is to rebound the ball!!! This is something that I've preached from day one. I get a lot of criticism for this stance especially from the YKH supporters but I still think that it would be our most effective line up if they played a lot together and developed some chemistry! Zaza and Ivan Johnson should play a combine 35-40 minutes per night which would improve our rebounding efficiency tremendously. But Drew does not value rebounding so he rather play YKH and Korver at small forward with a combination of Horford/Smith/Zaza in the front court. At some point I hope LD at least tries it and sticks with it instead it being a despiration move on his part to rescue his "shoot yourself out of games" plan.

[Watchman]

Yes, 10 rebounds in 43 minutes is so much better than 9 rebounds in 41 minutes. Better to avoid shooting if you know you're not on than to continue to hoist up clanker after clanker. Too bad Josh can't grasp that.

He passed up shots. He was late on a few defensive rotations. He didn't rebound. Basically, he deferred to Josh, Lou, and anybody else. He had absolutely NO IMPACT in that quarter. None. If he is one of the leaders on the Hawks, this cannot happen. Smith tries, but he cannot do it. Horford doesn't even try ( until Smith is out with an injury ).

[itsslomotionbaby]

like i posted earlier , i didnt know why drew wouldnt give ivan more minutes knowing josh wasnt 100%.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Yes, 10 rebounds in 43 minutes is so much better than 9 rebounds in 41 minutes. Better to avoid shooting if you know you're not on than to continue to hoist up clanker after clanker. Too bad Josh can't grasp that.

Watchman . . . Al did most of his "damage" in the 1st half of that game. In the 3rd quarter of that Celtics game, he was 0 - 1 FG . . with 1 rebound . . and 1 turnover . . 0 points . . and was ( -18 ) in the quarter.

He did nothing in that 3rd quarter. The decisive quarter.

Tonight, he was much better ( especially in the 2nd half ), but the Hawks still lost. Horford's effort tonight was 100x greater than what he brought against Boston.