Official Game Preview: Hawks at Thunder

[lethalweapon3]

“Al Jefferson swears this stuff will cool your nerves. Bottoms up!”

 

51 rebounds?!? Wide-load Jared Sullinger and the Celtics; the league’s per-game rebounding leader Bulls; the Magic in TWO overtimes. None of them managed to collect 50-plus boards in a game against the league-leader in rebounding percentage, the Oklahoma City Thunder.

But the Atlanta Hawks did just that, along their way to a 106-100 victory less than two weeks ago. Atlanta’s 14 offensive rebounds also tied a season-high among OKC opponents. And, wouldn’t you know it, those pesky Hawks are back tonight in OKC (8:00 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast, Fox Sports Oklahoma), aiming for their third straight win! What to do? What to do?

As a rule of thumb, if rebounding is your team’s forte, and if it’s the Hawks who have done the best job so far in out-rebounding you, it might be time to consider a different line of work. With his team getting the night off, head coach Billy Donovan and his staff watched last night in horror as Zaza Pachulia’s 17 rebounds were all for naught on behalf of a Dallas team that fell, 98-95, while being held to 36.0% shooting by visiting Atlanta (14-9). 51 opponent rebounds by the Hawks is veritable disaster for the Thunder. 51 opponent rebounds by the Mavs against the Hawks? Meh. Just makes things a lil’ interesting…

Most teams are striving in vain to out-leap the uber-lanky Kevin Durant, and out-muscle Serge Ibaka. Most teams are trying to get presidential candidates to vow they’ll build a wall around Enes Kanter (1^st in NBA with 17.1 O-Reb%; six O-rebs @ ATL Nov. 30) and make Turkey pay for it. Most teams, after allowing 20 offensive rebounds and 100 shot attempts while watching their top perimeter threat go just 1-for-6 on threes on the road, would simply tip their cap and call it a night. But the Atlanta Hawks aren’t like most teams, and Mike Budenholzer isn’t like most coaches.

Like a girl’s age to R. Kelly, an opponent’s offensive rebounds ain’t nuthin’ but a number to Coach Bud. Last night’s victory raised the Hawks to 8-2 on the season (6-7 otherwise) when their opponents seize MORE than 12 O-Rebs in a game. The last loss for Atlanta under this condition was nearly a month ago. Last season? 23-7. They’re pulling the ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ even more often now, and yet they are #Winning more than Charlie Sheen (these days, anyway).

Budenholzer sees beaucoup offensive rebounding chances for the opposition as a signifier that shots are anything other than “Nothin’ But Net.” And the production bears that out. In those ten games this season when Hawk opponents are going “off” on offensive boards, they haven’t shot above 45% from the field in any of them. In the remainder, opponents shot at least 45% in seven of those 13 games, and Atlanta is 2-5 in those seven games.

“I thought our defense was good. When you are playing good defense there is probably more opportunities for offensive rebounds,” the coach responded to the AJC during last night’s postgame commentary. “I thought (the Mavs) were taking tough, contested shots. Some were coming up short with tough bounces.... I’d like to be better on the boards but it’s usually a sign you are getting a lot of stops.”

Hey! I heard that over there, quit that snickering! Yes, he called them “stops.” We oughta help Bud come up with a more apropos term. Yields? Restraints? Impedances? BudStops?

By any other name, Paul Millsap knows you have to make some “stops” when it counts in the clutch. “I think our defense did great,” Millsap (team-high 9 D-Rebs, 3 steals, 6 free throws, and 20 points vs. Dallas) said last night. “We didn’t do a great job on the offensive rebounding but down the stretch we got some key rebounds and executed on the offensive end.”

By any other name, Donovan knows all about the Hawks’ ability to produce “stops.” The Thunder (13-8) still got 48 rebounds (13 offensive) during their loss in Atlanta, and they needed all of them, and more, in a game where they shot just 39.8 FG%, including 7-for-19 from downtown.

When OKC’s leading defensive rebounders in a game are their two pillar scorers, Russell Westbrook and Durant (combined 69 of their 100 points, 15 of their 35 defensive rebounds), that suggests a lot of players – Ibaka, Kanter, Steven Adams, Nick Collison, Andre Roberson – aren’t pulling their weight. That has to change tonight, allowing KD (9^th in NBA for 2FG%, 5^th in 3FG%, 4^th in PPG, 32-and-10 at Memphis on Tuesday) and Russ (6^th in PPG, 1^st in assist percentage) to spend more of their energies on getting buckets, and less on retrieving misses, while testing their rest advantage against Atlanta.

With Ibaka, the Thunder’s Big Three shot a respectable 28-for-57 in Atlanta last month, a task made all the more arduous with the pestering defense provided by the Hawks’ wings and forwards, but they got no help from their teammates (9-for-36 shooting). Westbrook came alive with 17 points in the final frame (mostly by calling his own number, to the exclusion of Durant) to wipe out a 10-point Hawk lead, setting the stage for the Teague Time layup line to take hold in the last two minutes.

Without KD, the Thunder again had to turn to Westbrook the last time the Hawks came to Chesapeake Energy Center. Despite shooting just 8-for-24 from the field, Westbrook enjoyed a 17-for-17 shooting day from the charity stripe, and his 15-point fourth-quarter outburst were needed for playoff-hungry OKC to overtake a Hawks team that was missing both Thabo Sefolosha and Kyle Korver.

In that game last March, it was the Hawks backups, specifically Dennis Schröder and Pero Antić (combined 7-for-11 on threes) that carried the day for the offense and helped Atlanta stay in front until the final six minutes of the game. A repeat of last night’s performances by Schröder and fellow reserves Kent “Big Shot” Bazemore, Tiago Splitter, and Mike Muscala (16-for-28 combined FGs) would help keep the Hawks in even better position to win tonight’s game.

As Pachulia knows, it often takes an ex-Hawk to try and out-Hawk a Hawk, and the Thunder got that effort out of Anthony Morrow (6-for-10 3FGs) back in March. But Morrow and Waiters were 3-for-19 shooting in Atlanta, and they need to hit under-contested shots to take the pressure off OKC’s big guns.

Swingman Andre Roberson and center Steven Adams were rendered all but negligible in their efforts to defend against the Hawks last month, with Adams shut down in the opening half and Roberson particularly flustered throughout the game. Donovan hopes the Thunder’s 125-88 trashing of the Grizzlies in Memphis on Tuesday is an encouraging harbinger of things to come. Yet it will be interesting to see if Donovan continues to start the duo of Roberson and Adams tonight, or if he’ll turn elsewhere on the roster for immediate help.

Westbrook has been dazzling as a distributor (16 assists, 3 TOs @ MEM on Tuesday), but when he is your best pass-first option, by far, something’s amiss. Russell’s 14.4%-assisted two-pointers are a career-low, and his 35.5%-assisted threes are way down from 51.2% during his MVP-nominated effort.

D.J. Augustin (career-low 17.6 assist percentage) isn’t the best passer, but someone has to help Westbrook play off the ball. Waiters? (gulp.) Today is his birthday, and OKC’s 11-3 when he logs at least two dimes… so go for it, Billy! The campaign to get Cam Payne meaningful minutes is picking up steam after the rookie returned from a strong D-League stint. Donovan has emphasized he’s counting on Payne to dish the ball to justify his playing time.

Al Horford (9 first-half rebounds and 8-for-15 FGs vs. OKC, 7-for-12 2FGs @ DAL) ran circles around Adams the last time out, and then Collison committed three swift turnovers in the space of four-and-a-half minutes. Second-year player Mitch McGary isn’t quite ready-for-primetime but is back after a quick D-League run down the street. Kanter (one steal, eight blocks in 21 appearances) would likely suffer a similar fate to Adams, but if Donovan can re-orient Enes to the defensive rebounding duties tonight, he may be able to have a greater impact on the outcome.

As long as you can croon-and-swoon and woo the likes of Heidi Klum on the regular, does it really matter that you don’t have Tyson Beckford’s face? Much like Seal, Budenholzer understands that winning ugly is still winning, especially on the road. We’ll see tonight if his devil-may-care approach works with less than 20 hours of rest in between road games.

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

 

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[Guest]

Loved the game thread as always....I feel like lw3 might have an issue with Jared Sully's hip circumference...:-|

[lethalweapon3]

Speaking of hips... Tiago's isn't measuring up quite yet!

 

~lw3

[Plainview1981]

2 hours ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Speaking of hips... Tiago's isn't measuring up quite yet!

 

~lw3

Clearly he is stressed out from the heavy work load this season.

[Guest]

I hope I'm wrong tonight...:-( I played my heart out..

 

 

I'll gladly eat crow

[RandomFan]

35 points given up so far in the 1st quarter...

 

Can we play some freaking defense tonight please???

[Lurker]

I said this was real close to a schedule loss, still in it but by a thread.

Back to back after a late game last night and it’s in a tough venue.

[Sarcatic1]

I like Al but it would be crazy to max him out this summer. I don't have any guy in my mind to replace him but this dude is not worth the  max. I'm sorry but he is not.

[Plainview1981]

Horford's play this year makes me want to vomit.

[Lurker]

Seriously, I think Horford is more worried about a third pectoral tear than trying to win. But if you're just not trying to get hurt, you're usually going to get hurt.

Edited December 11, 2015 by Lurker

[JETSET]

43 minutes ago, Sarcatic1 said:

I like Al but it would be crazy to max him out this summer. I don't have any guy in my mind to replace him but this dude is not worth the  max. I'm sorry but he is not.

He isn't even worth Sap's contract.  

[JETSET]

Our effort is pathetic.  

 

Al vs the rim on a wide open layup. 

[Sarcatic1]

A very winnable game but this team just finds ways to lose

Missed way too many free throws

Al and Sap were absolutely terrible tonight. They gave us nothing

Bud also made a mistake when he took Jeff and Kyle out after the Hawks got back in the game. He should have let those guys finish the quarter...We had all the momentum there and he took them out and OKC went on a run.

 

I like Al and this is not an overreaction but might be time to entertain offers for him. He is not worth the max.  He had about 2 plays tonight that has summed up his season so far. Gets a rebound, goes up for the shot and gets blocked by the rim. Then late in the 4th and we need a bucket he passed up a shot right at the rim to kick out for a 3. Dude was right at the rim and didn't even attempt to go up strong.  Dude is playing softer than he has ever done in his career. He floats out on the perimeter and does not battle for boards.

[Lurker]

Could’ve won the game, once Teague and Korver were subbed out, all momentum was lost. Alas, I said 2-2 in this stretch with a very outside, outside shot of 3-1.

[Plainview1981]

 Team is done for. They had their o e year, but that is over.

[JTB]

That was a hard loss to take especially because it was a winnable game.

 

-Durant seem to have not been as effective as he could have been despite his good fg%...Hawks or Thabo did a great job on him tonight and it seem like someone (Teague) was finding ways to strip him a lot this game.

 

-Horford just flat out sucked and I'm not sure what's up with him. He's starting to remind me of the Matt Ryan situation....so many great consecutive seasons and suddenly he's bad except horford hasn't had a change in scheme like Ryan so it's a bit harder to understand the down play he's doing this season....Sap didn't take enough shots which was weird.

 

-I'm tired of suggesting this but Bazemore SHOULD BE A STARTER....dude was on fire for 3 quarters and when he's out there he's just able to do some things offensively on the floor that korver and Thabo just can't do. Now Korver did have a good game today but at some point if bud want to put our best on the floor he would start Bazemore over korver and make korver our 6th man....you all think Bazemore can't do it and I'm telling you guys if you watch the game he's such a huge impact....YES somehow Bud found another journey man and I would hate to lose him trying to start an ineffective old man korver who's opponent is making it tough for him to get shots up, when the young guy Baze is constantly proving his worth.

 

....only thing for Bazemore I wish he would have finished better but we had several players missing shots late including our elite shooter korver.

[Lurker]

Analytics don’t like Bazemore but I think I’d kick around the idea of starting him at SG and trying to see if you can acquire a big SF on the market, unfortunately Chandler can't be one of them. Maybe Gallo or for a lesser known name, Covington.

I'll actually point right out at where the game was lost: NINE missed FTs and Teague was subbed out in the 3rd with it a one point game, and Atlanta did not score the rest of the quarter.

[Guest]

Ahhhhh...shots weren't falling...we can't seem to grab boards...Horford needs to wake up. I have a headache...good night.

[JTB]

19 minutes ago, Lurker said:

Analytics don’t like Bazemore but I think I’d kick around the idea of starting him at SG and trying to see if you can acquire a big SF on the market, unfortunately Chandler can't be one of them. Maybe Gallo or for a lesser known name, Covington.

I'll actually point right out at where the game was lost: NINE missed FTs and Teague was subbed out in the 3rd with it a one point game, and Atlanta did not score the rest of the quarter.

Please explain how analytics don't like Bazemore? When he's out there he's shooting well, he's doing probably the 3rd best on team on defense...hell analytics are probably showing he's better than what he really may be but he still need  a chance to start along with Thabo, Sap, Horford, & Teague.

 

Oh and I agree with the other part free throws more than likely lost this game.

[Lurker]

4 minutes ago, JTB said:

Please explain how analytics don't like Bazemore?

The starting lineup with Bazemore is slightly in the negative, and suggests the 7-1 start was a big fluke.

+/- for Bazemore is -1.3 and defensive rating is 103.7 which is bad.

In losses his +/- is -9.

Bazemore can't even guard players his size that can dribble. It's only players that can't dribble that he can.