Official Game Preview: Raptors at Hawks

[lethalweapon3]

“True to True North!”

 

Welcome back to the ATL, DeMarre Carroll! We miss you** so much!

**Okay, well, here's a qualifier. By “you,” I’m suggesting the Atlanta Hawks and its legions of fans genuinely miss the gritty defensive wizard who shot 49% on field goals while averaging 13-and-5, all for the low-low (and declining) price of $2.4 million “you”.

The gritty defensive wizard “you” that averages 13-and-5 in four extra minutes, and shoots 40% from the floor, while earning $13.5 million a year (and rising) for tonight’s visitors, the Toronto Raptors (8:00 PM Eastern, Fox Sports South)? Meh, not quite so much. But we’re awfully glad to see you’re alive and doing well!

The extent to which the 2015-16 Atlanta Hawks “miss” the 2014-15 DeMarre Carroll is a pointless exercise best suited for Thursday Night punditry killing the time in between cellphone, Viagra and Xbox ads.

Now, there’s no need for Masai Ujiri to start cussing us out for stating the obvious. Besides, what the heck else was the Raptors GM supposed to do? In the ensuing summer after his two-time Atlantic Division champions get bounced in the opening round by Paul Pierce – again – he’s going to sell his ravenous fanbase on who, as his big-ticket free agent addition? Luis Scola? Cory Joseph? Bismack Biyombo?

Who else could he go after that aspires to become Kyle Korver’s Brother from Another Mother while applying lockdown defense on three, if not four, opposing player positions? Nobody on his current roster was going to do those things. Certainly not leading-scorer and subpar-defender DeMar DeRozan (21.2 PPG; 22.2 3FG%).

Surely not Terrence Ross (33.8 FG%), who gets so much blame heaped upon him that fans have taken to calling him “AlbaTRoss”. Probably not Patrick Patterson (37.5 FG%). And clearly, not James Johnson, last summer’s Junk Yard Dawg-Lite, who has fallen so far out of coach Dwane Casey’s rotation that he spent his Thanksgiving Day tweeting how unthankful he is about his playing time.

Why go after DeMarre Carroll-Lite when DeMarre Carroll is still out there? As far as Ujiri knew at the time, Paul Millsap was on the verge of taking his talents to the Magic Kingdom. That would either free up Atlanta to re-sign what was supposed to be his big prize, the player Casey would later call a “perfect fit” for the Raptors’ defensively deficient core, or would compel the Hawks to eat into the money the Hawks planned to offer DMC to instead meet Millsap’s demand.

Bringing Casey with him down to Buckhead, the mission was clear: this was not going to be a negotiation. This was a beg. Don’t let Carroll even think about returning Detroit’s call, or Phoenix’s, or Atlanta’s. This had to be a done deal. They had to make the Birmingham native feel Toronto was going to feel just like home, that his addition would make the monumental difference between first-round exits and NBA Finals contenders.

By almost all accounts, Toronto fans are pleased as punch about the acquisition. So what if DMC’s shot accuracy is down? It’s not that much worse than the two stars on the team, Kyle Lowry (41.9 FG%) and DeRozan (42.1 FG%). He’s not there for offense, anyway. Neither is Biyombo (27.3 D-Reb%, 10^th in NBA), whose rim protection, together with Carroll’s addition and Lowry’s renewed attention to defensive detail (3.8 steals per 100 opponent possessions, 2^nd in NBA), has propelled Toronto back among the league’s top-ten defenses (99.5 opponent points per 100 possessions, 9^th-best in NBA) after dropping to 23^rd in D-Rating last season.

Just about every Eastern Conference team has gone through some measure of tribulation in this early stage of the season. Atlanta (12-8) has been inconsistent and disappointing lately, but lifted sprits with a big home win over Oklahoma City on Monday. Toronto (11-7) was rolling with consecutive wins over the Clippers, Cleveland and arch-nemesis Washington (the latter, a low-scoring affair, won on a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Cory Joseph, off a drive-and-dish by DeRozan) before falling flat at home to Phoenix on Sunday. They’ve had a couple days to collaborate with Carroll on how to gameplan for tonight’s game at the Highlight Factory.

Carroll had one of his better all-around games versus the Suns (20 points, 8-for-13 FGs, 7 rebounds and 2 steals). But Toronto struggled to shoo Eric Bledsoe (9-for-11 FTs) off the free throw line or stretch forwards Mirza Teletovic and Jon Leuer (combined 8-for-11 3FGs) off the perimeter.

While Carroll attends to long-range threat Kyle Korver (43.2 FG%), the guys who fill in Carroll’s spot (as best he can) for the Hawks, Kent Bazemore (41.2 FG%) and starter Thabo Sefolosha (40.7 3FG%), should find open shots from the corner. As Carroll shifts to help Scola with Millsap (career-high 18.6 PPG, 9.8 RPG, and 3.6 APG), the Hawks’ swingmen should have little trouble getting open against either of DeRozan or Ross.

Al Horford (21 points and 11 rebounds vs. OKC), your mission, should you choose to accept it, is again to attack the interior, as Toronto’s depth is shallow without starting center Jonas Valanciunas (fractured hand, out for five more weeks). Former Hawk developmental project Lucas Nogueira has 34 more minutes of NBA action than you do. Any effort by Horford and point guards Jeff Teague and Dennis Schröder to get Biyombo into foul trouble would be advantageous in the long run. Thanks largely to Carroll, Biyombo and an improved Valanciunas, Raptor opponents have only averaged 38.2 PPG in-the-paint.

With a bevy of scattershot shooters, Toronto will hope Atlanta doesn’t bring their A-game and allow the Raptors to feed off of second chance points. Tiago Splitter remains out of action, so backups Mike Muscala and Mike Scott must continue to join Atlanta’s wings to help secure defensive boards. They’ll find ample shot opportunities on the offensive end as well, especially if the Hawks can push the tempo on the Raptors.

Teague (51.1 FG%, 44.4 3FG% vs. TOR last season) will face more defensive resistance from Lowry and the Raptors compared to last season, so his decision-making with the ball must be better than it was in stretches against the Thunder (5 assists, 6 turnovers). Teague Time needs to be spread out for the balance of the game, so a barrage of layups won’t be needed to save the day in the closing minutes.

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

 

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[lethalweapon3]

Iso Dino!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Also, #SpursGottaSpur

~lw3

[Guest]

Awesome thread as usual lw3! AlbaTRoss :-) gotta love it.  I'm surprised the  Raps are 28th in dimes considering they have a good pg in Lowry. I guess DMC has to show them how to share the rock like us. Let's gettem tonight! We didn't play well against them last year but I have a feeling there will be some Teague time tonight! Look for Kyle to warm up as well.

 

GO HAWKS!!!!

[AUhawksfan]

33 minutes ago, Spud2Nique said:

Awesome thread as usual lw3! AlbaTRoss :-) gotta love it.  I'm surprised the  Raps are 28th in dimes considering they have a good pg in Lowry. I guess DMC has to show them how to share the rock like us. Let's gettem tonight! We didn't play well against them last year but I have a feeling there will be some Teague time tonight! Look for Kyle to warm up as well.

 

GO HAWKS!!!!

I  was going to say the same about AlbaTRoss, too funny.  Hopefully our former Hawk feels like Jeff and DeMarre don't "Care-rroll" to have a good game and we take this one easily.  Yes I'm reaching for that joke, I know..... 

 

[Dnice]

Blew a big lead.

[Dnice]

Nice choke job.

[Lurker]

That’s ballgame. What a sh**y, sh**y loss after being up by 17.

[Plainview1981]

3 hours ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Iso Dino!

~lw3

Yet, ISO wins again. Toronto owns the Hawks.

12 minutes ago, Lurker said:

That’s ballgame. What a sh**y, sh**y loss after being up by 17.

Mediocre basketball team.

[BrazilianHawk]

Bud got schooled. Nogueira who barely plays made all the difference in the defensive end for the Raptors. Bud just let Lowry do what he wanted and made no adjustments. Hell, perhaps getting a big body in the paint (Edy) could have helped things. 

 

Shitty loss, poor coaching, awful execution in the second half. Just terrible. No wonder the arena was half empty. This team isn't playing like they want to do something special.

Edited December 3, 2015 by BrazilianHawk
misspelling

[JETSET]

What's it going to take for Mack to get PT over Dennis?  His sloppy play in the 3rd gave Toronto life and then the whole team quit while Toronto surged.

[LamarHampton]

it's like my grandad used to say, "I'd rather take my chances eating a fish with AIDS than betting on an Atlanta sports team."

granddad was a strange bird, but so are these Hawks. I think I get his point though. Man that was a s****y loss.

 

[Plainview1981]

3 minutes ago, BrazilianHawk said:

Bud got schooled. Nogueira who barely plays made all the difference in the defensive end for the Raptors. Bud just let Lowry do what he wanted and made no adjustments. Hell, perhaps getting a big body in the paint (Edy) could have helped things. 

 

Shitty loss, poor coaching, awful execution in the second half. Just terrible. No wonder the arena was half empty. This team isn't playing like they want to do something special.

Bud might be the most overrated coach in the NBA next to Steve Kerr.

[Q45T]

Just got a new Hawks snapback in the mail today... this game damn near made me wanna throw that shit in the trash.  2nd time this season that I flat out turned the game off... infuriating to see us let go of a game we had complete control over.

[Guest]

This one's on Bud, after being brilliant with rotations against OKC, he totally flubbed it tonight. Left the bench in waaay to long.   They aren't good enough for that. The crisp ball and player movement in the 1st half disappeared in the 2nd half. 

[rd79]

Like I already wrote in the chat, I don't get how someone wants to blame Dennis for that loss when the team is shooting under 37%
You all know I'm a fanboy and I know he had some really bad games recently but not tonight.

Like @BrazilianHawk wrote, TOR made the correct adjustments and Bud had no answer

[JETSET]

2 minutes ago, rd79 said:

Like I already wrote in the chat, I don't get how someone wants to blame Dennis for that loss when the team is shooting under 37%
You all know I'm a fanboy and I know he had some really bad games recently but not tonight.

Like @BrazilianHawk wrote, TOR made the correct adjustments and Bud had no answer

You really had no issue with Dennis's play in the 2nd half?  I'm not saying he deserves all of the blame for this loss. I'm saying that he has been consistently bad throughout this season and he has helped cost us several games.  It's about time that Mack gets a chance to at least treat water with the second unit instead of being the MVP for the opposing team.

It would also be nice if Splitters fragile self was available tonight since Muscala weighs a buck 50 and Bud insists on having him play center. 

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, rd79 said:

Like I already wrote in the chat, I don't get how someone wants to blame Dennis for that loss when the team is shooting under 37%
You all know I'm a fanboy and I know he had some really bad games recently but not tonight.

Like @BrazilianHawk wrote, TOR made the correct adjustments and Bud had no answer

Dennis needs to learn how to get the offense flowing. He has great speed and is a great scoring guard but needs to be a point guard. I'm getting tired of this. Get Mack in! 

[Lurker]

Wasn’t just Schröder, the bench was left in entirely way too long and outside of Sefolosha, they took turns roasting every other perimeter player on defense. I don’t think Mack playing makes any difference. Only adjustment to Bebe defensively is to make your jump shots.

[lethalweapon3]

 reminds us the Hawks have not won back-to-back games since November 2.

~lw3

Welcome back Bebe!

Best game of his NBA career? It has to be!

~lw3