Jump to content

  • Current Donation Goals

    • Monthly Donations
      Raised $390 of $700 target

Official Game Thread: Hawks - Celtics

lethalweapon3

By lethalweapon3
in Homecourt

 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Moderators
lethalweapon3 Grand Master

lethalweapon3

Posted
  • Moderators
Posted

Is it possible for a team to run an opponent out of the building? Okay, well, how about two buildings?

The Atlanta Hawks have a chance tonight to run the Boston Celtics out of Philips Arena and, if Coach Doc Rivers is to be believed, out of TD Garden as well.

"I gotta either find the right combination or the right guys, or we're going to get some guys out of here," a clearly nonplussed Doc Rivers declared to the media after his team suffered their third straight loss on Sunday, this time to lottery contender Detroit. “That's the bottom line. This group right now, they're not playing right. It's in them to play right. But right now they haven't been either because I'm not getting to them, or they're not getting to each other.”

Since then, they’ve lost to another cellar dweller in Cleveland. Then last night they fumbled away the game late at the Garden against cereal-killing Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks, after clawing out a multiple scoring funks. Now, as the trading deadline draws nearer, individual Celtics players will try to avoid having to take an alternate flight out of Hartsfield-Jackson.

Gang Green will be vying to avoid their sixth-straight defeat, the worst losing streak in Beantown since losing seven straight back in April 2007. That team actually featured a player named “Allan Ray,” just a couple months before “Ray Allen” came to town.

The Celts were the 89-81 victors in their last meeting with the Hawks on January 5, one night after beating Indiana and surging amidst a six-game winning streak before their wheels started falling off again. In their last six road games on the second night of a back-to-back, they’ve lost to every team except Atlanta.

The Hawks were sitting pretty in that last game as well, before the wheels fell off for them after halftime. By double-teaming ballhandlers, Boston strangled the Hawks into a 33-9 third quarter, wiping out a 19-point lead. Atlanta won’t have Lou Williams (21 points in the first half, 7 in the second) to kickstart the offense this time. It will help the Hawks if Devin Harris (a gametime decision) and Jannero Pargo can work in tandem to pick up the scoring slack.

How will leading scorer Paul "Azarenka" Pierce perform, one day after getting passed over for the All-Star Game for the first time since a (legitimate) foot injury kept him out in 2007? A healthy Pierce has not missed an All-Star selection since 2001. Hounded by J.R. Smith in the final quarter of the close loss to the Knicks on Thursday, Paul Pierce (22 points, but just three in the second half) had the ball he was handling knocked off his body out of bounds twice in the closing minutes.

You have to feel a little bit for Rajon Rondo, who had his fourth triple-double of the season last night. Beyond averaging a double-double with points (career-high 13.7 PPG) and assists, Rondo has improved his shooting efficiency over the previous season and adds a career-high 5.5 RPG, highest among all NBA point guards. Yet the Celtic offense has been pretty vanilla, because they’re living-and-dying not by the three-pointer (20% of all FGAs, 4th lowest in NBA) but by long-two-point shots (28% of all FGAs, 4th highest in NBA). Last night, as SB Nation’s Celtics Blog noted, they shot a season-low 31.7% (7-for-32) from beyond 15 feet from the hoop.

Kevin Garnett and Rondo know they’re proficient at that range (team 44.7 FG% from 16-to-23 feet, 72.5% assisted, both highest in NBA), but the bigs like Garnett and Brandon Bass are making the offense predictable with their long-range positioning and shot selection. Rondo needs players willing to find their way to the rack and finish when Rondo delivers the ball. Jeff Green, we’re looking at you.

Further grinding things to a halt, forwards Green, Brandon Bass, Jared Sullinger, and Chris Wilcox (back after over a month out with a sprained thumb) are inactive in the passing element of the offense. Guards Jason Terry, Courtney Lee, Leandro Barbosa, and Avery Bradley (a combined 5.7 APG between the four of them) aren’t that much more pass-happy than the reserve forwards. Terry, in particular, has the lowest per-game (2.3), per-minute and per-possession assist rates of his career. Deferring to the Celtics’ Big 3 to create so much of the offense for others erodes the team’s effectiveness, especially when one of the premier players has to sit for rest or foul trouble.

Taken together, Boston has reached triple digits in scoring just four times in their past 20 games, compared to ten times in their previous 22.

Sullinger will get plenty of minutes tonight – that is, if he can keep his hands to himself. Averaging 3.5 personal fouls per game, he has fouled out of seven of his past 17 games, and has been whistled for at least four fouls in 15 of his last 20 games. Reliable free throw shooters like Jeff Teague should go after Sullinger in the paint when the Celtics get in the bonus, especially since Rondo has been struggling defensively with dribble penetration.

Sullinger has been crucial in getting the Celtics second-chance opportunities (2.2 offensive RPG). Being subpar in the offensive rebounding department (28th in NBA) is nothing new, as no Celtic has averaged more than two per game since the days of Kendrick Perkins and Leon Powe. But those were also the days of Ray Allen, when good perimeter shooting meant the opportunities to crash the boards were few. With Terry (35.2 3FG%, a nine-year low), Lee (34.2%, down from 40.1% last year), Bradley (30.6%, down from 40.7%, despite taking 2.5 more shots per game) and Green (32.5%) all shooting wayward shots from long distance, they’ll need as much help extending possessions as Sullinger can provide.

Terry is desperate to get his deadeye shot back. Over his career, he has shot 47.1 FG% against his former team, the Hawks, the highest against any Eastern Conference opponent. However, he is averaging just 16 minutes in his past three games, shooting a cumulative 4-for-14. He’s been replaced in the starting lineup by Avery Bradley for defensive purposes. At his last trip to The Highlight Factory, Terry shot 2-for-8 and 0-for-4 from deep. A couple consecutive missed shots, and Rivers is likely to ground JET with another short hook.

Ivan Johnson’s tremendous performance against the Bobcats hasn’t gone unnoticed by Garnett, who lives, at this stage of his career, for the sole purpose of finding ways to get under opponents’ skin. He and the Hawk forwards (Al Horford and Zaza Pachulia will be gametime decisions) must remain composed and not fall for Boston’s reindeer games.

Josh Smith (six turnovers on January 5; seven turnovers despite a monstrous game against Charlotte on Wednesday) must make wise decisions with the ball against the team that ranks third in the league for steals and fifth (just ahead of the Hawks) in opponent turnovers per game. A sloppy game works in Boston’s favor. But three of the Hawks’ highest assist totals this season (topped only by the double-overtime in Detroit last month) have occurred in the last five games, and all three games were wins.

Go Hawks!

~lw3

View the full article

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Replies 42
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Popular Posts

Wretch
Wretch

I hate Boston. I really just LOATHE that team. Despise it. KG is a punk and Pierce is a wuss. I hated that team when the Lakers played them in the 80's. I hated them each year they put us out of

AHawks89
AHawks89

Ah, nevermind I see it now. "Celtics blow big lead" Lol at they're making excuses saying, "Jump ball really? Rondo got fouled" then proceeds to say, "Looks like Josh Smith took 14 steps," when in re

benhillboy
benhillboy

Pargo fresh off the couch, saving our bacon. Love his grit.I never understood people watching TV shows and sitcoms during primetime. What drama is better than the NBA?

DJlaysitup Newbie

DJlaysitup

Posted
Posted

Great Game thread as usual !!

I'm really glad to see that LD seems to be moving away from not playing Ivan against teams with "length".

Sure he might get shot over occasionally - but his energy and physicality will more than overcome that over the course of the game.

In the words of a famous General "get there (to the battle) first with the most". I think LD has been holding back and has either figured out (or been told) that playing Ivan gives us nimbers.

GO HAWKS !!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ruckus Newbie

Ruckus

Posted
Posted (edited)

When we look bad, we look really really bad. We get discouraged way too easily. When someone slaps you, bitchslap their ass right back.

How Josh Smith didn't make the All-Star team, I'LL NEVER KNOW!! TRULY A DEVASTATION!!

I sense a hint of sarcasm here. Lol Edited by HawkFan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...