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Official Game Thread: Hawks - Trail Blazers

lethalweapon3

By lethalweapon3
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lethalweapon3 Grand Master

lethalweapon3

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Are you ready for another wild round of pinball-scoring basketball? Strap yourself in!

The Atlanta Hawks take their wobbly, hobbling expedition into Oregon, facing the Portland Trail Blazers (10:30 PM Eastern, ESPN, NO LOCAL TV, local folks tune into Steve Holman on 92.9 FM for audio) tonight. If you discovered that 140-point halves are to your liking after the nets burned with the fire of a thousand Suns’ baskets on Sunday, then you’re likely to be in for another treat from Budenholzer’s Bunch today. Indeed, when it comes to cumulative scoring, The Dream of the 300s is Alive in Portland!

The Phoenix Suns’ offensive efficiency (106.7 points per 100 possessions, 8th in NBA) was boosted greatly on Sunday, but it still pales in comparison to Portland’s (108.8 points per 100 possessions, 3rd in NBA). As a team, the Suns’ effective field-goal percentage (51.5 eFG%) likely leapfrogged that of the Trail Blazers (50.5 eFG%), thanks to the flame-roasted Hawks defense.

All-star second-year guard and SLAM Magazine cover boy Damien Lillard (21.2 PPG, 40.3 3FG%) is fending off a stomach bug, but it’s likely he’ll plop-and-fizz a few Alka Seltzers so he won’t miss a chance to pad his stats against Atlanta. With the shrewd offseason additions of reserves Mo Williams and Earl Watson, Lillard has been granted flexibility that he didn’t have in his rookie year: to shift to a de facto shooting-guard role whenever the occasion calls.

Lillard’s Blazer teammates know they had better collect their dimes from him early, before he shifts into Lillard the Killer mode later in the game. SLAM notes that Lillard’s personal trainer feeds him clips of Bruce Lee as motivation to dominate opponents through mind-control, so it’s no surprise to find Lillard out there numb-chucking in the clutch. He leads the NBA with 2.4 three-point attempts per game (38.1 3FG%) in the fourth quarters, averaging just 1.0 of his 5.6 assists per game in that stanza while scoring 6.0 PPG (6th most in NBA).

The Blazers (41-19) are just a few weeks away from posting a win tally that surpasses last season’s cumulative losses (33-49 last season), and Head Coach Terry Stotts’ club is pleased-as-punch. The thing that trips up this crew is interior defense, contributing to Portland giving up the fifth-most points per game in the league (103.0 opponent PPG; 104.7 opponent points per 100 possessions, 2nd most among playoff-seeded teams).

They play at a moderately high pace (98.04 estimated possessions per 48 minutes, 8th highest in NBA, a shade below Phoenix) that may be too fast and too furious for their bigs to keep up for 48 minutes. Only the trying-to-tank 76ers and the Jazz give up (marginally) more buckets in the paint than the Blazers (23.2 opponent field goals made per game, 3rd most in NBA).

Depth behind All-Star and All-NBA candidate LaMarcus Aldridge (career-highs of 23.7 PPG and 11.2 RPG; 18.5 PPG and 7.0 RPG in his last four appearances), and center Robin Lopez may be particularly thin tonight. Backup center Joel Freeland remains out with an MCL sprain, while second-year forward Thomas Robinson (team-leading 12.6 rebounds per-36) sprained his patellar tendon against the Lakers and is questionable to appear tonight. To his credit, Lopez's opponents shoot just 42.5 FG% at-the-rim according to SportVu stats, second only to Roy Hibbert among players defending at least at-rim five shots per game.

For a minute there, the Blazers thought they had this whole defense thing figured out. After keeping their prior five opponents below 100 points, all wins, their bugaboo tripped them up on Monday night, a disappointing home loss where they coughed up 107 points to the hapless L.A. Lakers. Portland is 17-0 when they hold opponents below 98 points, and 2-7 in non-overtime games when the other team scores more than 110 points.

Portland also is willing to rely on forcing bad shots, either mid-range or challenged in-the-paint using their length, and then collectively converging and crashing the glass like mad (33.7 defensive rebounds per game, 5th most in NBA). They create just 12.2 turnovers per game, including a mere 5.6 steals per game, and 11.1 per 100 possessions (all fewest in NBA). It’s a bit of a waste with athletic players like Nicolas Batum (career-high 6.7 RPG; 31 boards in the past two games) and Wesley Matthews, Jr. (career-high 16.0 PPG) available at the wing spots that they’re not creating more fastbreak points in transition (11.2 fastbreak PPG, 9th fewest in NBA).

Essentially, Portland does the same thing on offense as they do to their opponents: crash the boards with hair-on-fire ferocity (12.7 offensive rebounds per game, 3rd in NBA) whenever they don’t get the shot they want during their own possessions.

The shots they do want mostly belong to Aldridge, who will pick-and-pop you to death from the elbows if you leave him open. It's like "Apple Pie a la Moda Center" for LMA, who takes 1.5 more shots per game from 15-19 feet out (7.3 attempts) than any other NBA player during home games.

In exchange for the Blazers leaving their defensive middle as wide open as Crater Lake (46.3 opponent points-in-the-paint and 87.7 opponent FGA per game, 3rd most in NBA, 3rd most in NBA), their opponents get few opportunities to loft shots from the perimeter (17.6 opponent 3FGA, fewest in NBA). Portland winds up taking a net 7.4 more treys per game than their foes. They’ll need to jack up a ton of triples, though, to outpace Atlanta (25.1 3FGAs per game, 2nd most in NBA). Batum and Matthews will tag-team to try and end The Threak, but that should leave gaps open in the middle for drive-bys from Jeff Teague (27.3 PPG) and other Hawks hanging out around the arc.

Ultimately, Stotts’ crew is satisfied with the notion that the best defense is a darn-good offense. If you squint real hard at the Blazers, you might catch a glimpse of what the A$G thought they were getting when they issued the doomed-from-the-start “Playoff Guarantee” back in 2002. Peripheral All-Star forwards? Volume-shooting lead guard? Occasionally woeful defensive intensity, reliant on a single shot-blocker? Check, check, check. Their biggest offseason free agent signing in 2002, current Hawks assistant Darvin Ham put in plenty of garbage-time minutes coming off the bench for Stotts, who relieved Lon Kruger just 28 games into the season.

With most attention directed toward the Academy Awards, the Hawks (26-32) were a rightful nominee for Best Performance by a Basketball Team in a Supporting Role on Sunday, putting up 120 points in Phoenix only to give up a season-high 129 at the other end. That included a whopping 79 Suns points in the first-half.

Hawk forwards were easily stretched thin on defense against the Suns, having to help out with rebounding under the basket while simultaneously chasing in vain after wide-open shooters on the perimeter, all the while running themselves ragged through screens at the other end. Not one Hawk player achieved more than 6 rebounds on the night, largely because there were precious few missed shots coming their way from Phoenix (15-for-24 on threes, 55.0 FG% and 86.7 FT%).

Korver (18 points, 6-for-7 on threes vs. Phoenix), DeMarre Carroll, and Mike Scott (20 points, 8-for-18 shooting on Sunday) should get some relief upfront tonight, even without Paul Millsap (still out with a knee contusion). Pero Antić should finally be available for this contest, while newcomer Mike Muscala now has one high-paced NBA game under his belt.

Their defensive rebounding contributions will be a salve against Portland, the NBA’s top team for second-chance points (17.0 second-chance PPG). They’ll also need to avoid getting into foul trouble against the league’s most efficient foul-shooting team (82.3 FT%, best in NBA), each of the Blazers’ top six scorers shooting above 80 percent from the charity stripe.

Interestingly, in the fourth quarters it hasn’t been Teague that’s been the most reliable Hawk playmaking guard. Shelvin Mack’s 1.5 fourth-quarter APGs leads the team and has him ranked just ahead of such dignitaries as Ty Lawson, Mike Conley, and John Wall (1.4 APG each), in addition to Teague (1.3).

A starter for four straight games until Sunday (11 points, 0 assists in 17 minutes vs. the Suns, ending a 39-game assist streak), Mack has to avoid the siren songs of open jumpers and isolation plays that stagnated the Hawks in the second quarter against Phoenix, focusing instead on setting up Teague and his teammates for more effective shot opportunities. He and Teague will need a sound gameplan against Portland’s dual-point-guard matchups featuring Lillard.

Go Hawks!

~lw3

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Edited by lethalweapon3
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Alex Contributor

Alex

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There are so many players on the Hawks who couldn't play on more than a couple teams. Heck half the roster shouldn't be in the NBASent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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lethalweapon3 Grand Master

lethalweapon3

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Awesome rundown as usual lw3!

You have inspired me...as soon as the laundry is done I'm running to the Krogers for some Corndogs and staying up late for some Hawks Basketball.

Go Hawks!!

My bad!

Cool CompetitankTM, though! :-)

~lw3

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Hawkeyes007 Newbie

Hawkeyes007

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I know that we have some injuries and that the Trail Blazers are a good team, but watching this game was like watching a college team play a high school team. I'm a loyal Hawk's fan and I will watch every single minute of every single game left this season, but our season has been over since Feb the 4th and have gone on a 1 win 12 loss streak. Watching the collapse get worse each game, its obvious we're not a good enough of a team to make the playoffs and if we somehow got lots of help and made the 7th or 8th seed, we'd get blown out of the stadium by either the Heat or the Pacers. Anyone got some good news for next year? Because I need to hear some.

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Sothron Grand Master

Sothron

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Kinda sad that it seems like and rotoworld is suggesting the coaching staff intentionally left Korver on the bench the entire fourth just to intentionally stop the streak. We fans need such small things in a second half from hell like this.

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hazer Mentor

hazer

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New starting lineup:

Schredder

Teague

DMC

Sap

Antić

KK, Scott, and Moose off the bench quick and often. Come on Bud, make it happen and let's go a perfect 0'fer!

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capstone21 Experienced

capstone21

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I have a feeling Korver is glad the streak is over. I respect that it's earned in true game style and not just trying to hit a three for hitting a three. He did have five attempts. Congrats Kyle on having probably an unbreakable record.Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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