Official Game Thread: Hawks - Nets

[lethalweapon3]

Shhh! Let the brutha dream. Can’t you see, he’s counting $heep?

First, let’s get one matter out of the way. If you’re the Atlanta Hawks and you really want a 2015 lottery pick, you are going to have to trade up for one.

That’s not to say tonight’s hosts, the Brooklyn Nets (7:30 PM Eastern, SportSouth, YES Network), have been world-beaters, at least not up until this week. The Nyets (8-9) crawled into December with a losing record and zero victories over teams with a winning record. Even after two crucial wins on back-to-back nights this week, Brooklyn sits in the precarious 8^th-seed position in the Eastern Conference, two games ahead of Indiana with 65 games left to play. Conceivably, one false move, and a fortuitous ping pong ball bounce or two, could have Danny Ferry donning his Viola Davis wig and instructing a summertime class on How To Get Away With Mudiay.

Now, here’s the wet blanket. I’m going to ask you to take a quick, sobering gander at seeds 9 through 14 in the East. Go ahead, look at it. It’s fugly, ain’t it? Sure, it’s only December, we haven’t even had our first Gridlockalypse yet. True, we’re not even a quarter of the way into the season. Yet who, pray tell, is going to catch fire over the next four months and nip at the heels of the Nets, or anybody else? Whatever’s left of the Pacers? The nice-try Magic? The fire-sale Celtics? Melo and the Meloettes? The buzzkill Hornets? Smoove? None of those teams have that pull-it-together mojo that the Nets caught once January rolled around last season, and none are a blockbuster trade away from significantly enhancing their playoff prospects.

The line of postseason demarcation is set in the East, and Brooklyn’s now on the good side of it -- calling it now -- to stay. That doesn’t mean, though, the Hawks can’t help make things a little interesting.

While Netswatch is on life support, Netswap is still very much on. Atlanta can still do its part to keep the Nets on edge all season long, including winning two matchups during the final two weeks of the season. At the risk of getting ahead of ourselves, the Hawks (11-6, winners of six of their last seven) might even get a chance at homecourt advantage against these guys in a playoff series. And no matter how that might turn out, the Hawks would win in May, once they get a chance to climb the draft ladder and swap rungs with Billy King. Every win over Brooklyn helps not only improve the likelihood a pick swap occurs for Atlanta, but also expands the distance between these teams when the time comes to trade places.

“I’m off this s***!!” No, Joe Johnson wasn’t celebrating giving up purple drank when he typed what is, still, the last message on his Twitter page a few weeks ago. The man known coincidentally as Iso-Joe was frustrated at what he perceived as “selfish” play on the part of his teammates… and this was back when Brooklyn was 4-2. Along the way to dropping seven of their next nine games, Nets players and their new coach, the acerbic Lionel Hollins, were cranking out more shots-fired than in the final season of The Sopranos, offering brutally honest assessments of one another both inside and outside the locker room.

Brook Lopez? No one cares about your obligatory 20 points-a-game. Toughen up! Go get us a defensive rebound, guard your man, and try passing the ball every once in awhile -- you might like it. Andrei Kirilenko? Thanks for being a good soldier and all, but we’ve got no role for you on this roster. Go spend time with your model wife or something. Bojan Bogdanovic? Shooting it from Flatbush won’t improve your chances of making a shot, rook. Calling you a stretch four is, indeed, a stretch. Put the ball on the floor and play in-the-paint. Hey, Joe! Nice game, but you have a nice salary, too. Can you try being a little more consistent? Team USA you say, Mason Plumlee? That’s real nice. Meet Team Jamaica, because Jerome Jordan’s outplaying you and taking your minutes away.

In the aftermath of Joe’s outbursts, Kevin Garnett noted that NBA players don’t last long “just whispering or being a nice guy or the guy the ladies like. You’ve got to be an ***hole,” advice the Honey Nut Cheerios-munching power forward has clearly taken to heart. But that ethos applies to Hollins, too, and all the pressure and heat the new coach is applying may be starting to make diamonds out of players that were quite satisfied with being coal.

KG has been carrying most of the defensive rebounding weight Hollins has demanded out of Lopez all season, but took himself out of Wednesday’s game, the second night of a back-to-back against Tim Duncan and the Spurs. Who was going to step up against the defending champs? The surprising answer came from not just one, but two big men. Lopez’ season-high 13 defensive rebounds equaled his tally from the prior three games, plus he helped slow Duncan into a 5-for-18 shooting night (the sullen superstar’s 17-rebound production notwithstanding). Lopez got help from third-year forward Mirza Teletovic. The Man for Mostar played like a Monstar on Wednesday, matching B-Lo’s 15 rebounds and ringing up 26 points, including 5-for-7 shooting from three-point range.

They needed all of that production plus a steady passing performance from Deron Williams (17 points, 9 assists, 2 TOs) to outduel the Spurs in overtime. Throughout the game, fans of the Nets (45.5% assisted 2FGs, 4^th-lowest in NBA) were downright shocked to witness their team matching the Spurs with a functional motion offense featuring players notoriously accustomed to pounding the basketball through the herringbone floor. It’s a sign that Hollins’ messages are beginning to sink in. D-Will has fully embraced Hollins’ edicts and is enjoying a bit of a rebound (17.9 PPG, 6.5 APG, 40.0 3FG%, 89.2 FT%) after a disappointing 2013-14 season (14.3 PPG, 6.1 APG, 36.6 3FG%, 80.1 FT%).

Even with Garnett back on the floor, there is absolutely no reason for Brooklyn to make adjustments from Wednesday’s victory over San Antonio (64.6% assisted field goals, 3^rd in NBA) for a Hawks team (66.3% assisted field goals, 1^st in NBA) that professes to think of itself as Spurs-Lite. Of course, consistency is not exactly Brooklyn’s forte. A Nets win tonight will mark the first time the club has won three in a row this season.

DeMarre Carroll will have his hands full defending Joe, who's eager to have a good night against any winning team, much less his old one. In the last two games versus the Spurs and the last game against the Bulls, all in the past two weeks, Johnson shot a combined 10-for-39 (2-for-11 3FGs), managed a combined two free throws, and averaged 7.7 PPG and 2.7 APG. Joe Cool heated up against the Sixers and Knicks, averaging 21.5 PPG and 5.0 APG while shooting 15-for-26 (4-for-8 3FGs).

The Nets have struggled to establish a deep rotation, as reserve guards Jarrett Jack and Alan Anderson have struggled on both ends of the floor, while Plumlee (13.1 minutes/game, down from 18.2 his rookie season; 42.5 FG%, 43.9 FT%) and Kirilenko have yet to earn the trust of Hollins. The backups (Jack, Anderson, Plumlee, and Jordan) contributed just 14 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, one steal and no blocks during the 95-93 win over San Antonio, and Nets reserves put up just 16 of Brooklyn’s 98 points the night before at New York.

Depth is an area the Hawks can exploit, by wearing down Brooklyn’s starters with a high pace and getting one or more of their starters in foul/turnover trouble. Dennis Schröder (61.7 2FG%) has established a career-high in points scored (15 versus Boston, 16 at Miami) two nights in a row. Atlanta’s reserves have put up at least 35 points in each of the past three games.

The Hawks want to press the action throughout and earn trips to the free throw line, where they’ve shot above 80 percent in each of their last four games. Brooklyn is 1-7 when their opponents gained 22 or more free throw attempts.

With Paul Millsap likely occupied by Garnett for much of the game (Wear a cup, Paul. And titanium forearm sleeves, too), Al Horford will want to get in on the action by getting in the post on Lopez and drawing foul shots. Horford’s peripheral offensive approach to this point has produced just 0.9 FT attempts per game, well below the 2.4 shots from his last All-Star season in 2011. He has been more accurate in his trips, shooting a career-high 80.0 FT% despite the low volume. Once a fairly poor free-throw shooting team, Atlanta’s 79.6 team FT% has them currently ranked 4^th in the NBA. And they’re 8-1 on the season when their free throw-to-field goal attempt ratio exceeds 22.5%.

When their opponents are shooting threes from the corners, Brooklyn’s defense has been stout on the left side (22.0 left-corner opponent 3FG%, lowest in NBA) but sagging on the right (48.0 right-corner opponent 3FG%, 5^th-highest in NBA). Kyle Korver (66.7 3FG% on right-corner threes) and the struggling Carroll (4-for-17 FGs in the last two games, but 41.7 right-corner 3FG% on the season) could utilize screens from the bigs to make the right corner the rough equivalent of a layup line, with an added effect of finding bigs and cutters inside the paint, once the action draws the Nets’ bigs out.

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

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[Guest]

As always - Great read.

Go Hawks!!

[Admin]

Well now I'm depressed about the Nets pick. Thanks. :kickcan:

[Dnice]

 

 

 

No sleep til Brooklyn?

[Dnice]

Old school..

 

[GameTime]

As always - Great read.

Go Hawks!!

 

http://www.tankathon.com/

 

We beat Brooklyn tonight they go 8-10 and we inch closer to a top ten pick. Gotta believe!

[AHF]

Well now I'm depressed about the Nets pick. Thanks.

 

Best way to help ourselves?  Beat the Nets every time this season!

[DJlaysitup]

Great stuff as usual! Loved "wear a cup Paul".

GO HAWKS !!!!!!!!!

Wear em Out :-)

[MrMeltdown]

Intriguing game. If the bench plays well we have a great shot.

[Guest]

Great stuff lw3... I need some purp drank in my cup too lol..

This counts as two in my book :-)

Get away with Mudiay...classic

LETS GI HAWKS!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH(I don't care that I'm at happy hour in California about to watch the hawks game, that shout was needed...don't you look at me hooker waiting at bar for offer, or mr. Chubby guy I gained self confidence cuz I lost 7.3 pounds but I'm still chubby lets see if the same girls notice)

HAWKS!!!!! (Ok 2 yells at a bar could get me tossed here)...

[Dnice]

Damn carroll is an awful finisher on the break.

[benhillboy]

You can hear some "oohs" and "aahs" from the crowd, same as in Madison. NY fans would be sitting two to a seat if they had this squad. Them boys looking real crispy.

[Dnice]

Good first half d again last 3 of 4 games or so.

[diamond_dave]

Got Darn Hawks look elite tonight.

Those two back to back steels by Teague were awesome. You could just hear the groans from the crowd. If Pero had as much coordination as a drunk pharret , it would have been three great plays after that slick pass from JT

Edited December 6, 2014 by diamond_dave

[JTB]

Damn carroll is an awful finisher on the break.

Damn carroll stroking the hell out of that 3 ball!

[JTB]

I'm so proud of these damn Hawks so far!!!

-They look great as a team

- teague is looking elite more and more!

-Defense is getting a lot better especially these last 5 or 6 games! -Sap is dropping buckets in the paint for us...who said we didn't have a post scorer?

-dennis is leading the bench and scott is playing great with him

-Pero is an excellent positional post defender

-bud is coaching his ass off!

I'm super hyped for our Atlanta Hawks! Bout damn time but they have to keep this up!

[TheTruth]

This team sure is fun this year. All of this with a subpar Horford and an overall small team. Wow.

 

I'd like to see us do this against good teams, too, but we are straight taking the Nets' lunch money tonight.

[diamond_dave]

Teague photobombed the hell out of Sap at the end of the game. Sap had a hard time holding it together. Funny as all get out.....

[Peoriabird]

Pero with 0 rebounds in 17 minutes...Muscala had 3 in 8 minutes

[Gray Mule]

We have now met the big three, but one at a time.  Three different teams.

Boston, we saw the PG who is still considered elite.  We met with Paul Pierce

recently and now we see Garnett.

 

The three big, bad three, now on three different teams and how many times did

our Hawks lose?

 

Also, former Hawk JJ had the pleasure tonight of facing his old team tonight.

 

Aah.  This feels so good!!

 

GO ATL HAWKS!!