Official Game Thread: Hawks at Celtics, Once More, with Feeling!

[lethalweapon3]

“No, seriously, Bama, how did we let this guy get away from our recruiters?”

 

Our Atlanta Hawks got next-to-no help in the Leastern Conference standings, not in the intervening days between their first win since April 2018 against the Boston Celtics, and the rematch at TD Garden tonight (7:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, NBC Sports Boston). Not unless we’re trying to catch the Bucks.

The Lakers that could play were a hot mess against the Nets that could play yesterday. The T’wolves tried their best by dragging Indiana into OT on Wednesday but ran out of gas. The Kings couldn’t help us out by crowning the heat at home yesterday, what would’ve been Miami’s fourth-straight loss amid a seven-game road swing. The last-place Pistons couldn’t hang on to a big first-half lead, letting Chicago win their second in a row in Wednesday’s suddenly rescheduled game. The Knicks lost that night, but only because the elfin’ Magic won.

Milwaukee dropped their fifth-straight on national TV last night, as TNT hosts tied themselves into knots all night trying to mansplain how folks like Khris Middleton, Jayson Tatum, Ben Simmons, Jimmy Butler, Zach LaVine and Bradley Beal (the latter voted in as a starter, on behalf of his 9-17 Wizards) will all deserve their All-Star slots, while Trae Young (as per 92.9’s Mike Conti, fastest Hawks player to reach 4,000 career points, surpassing the great Bob Pettit) is somehow unworthy of a return to the game in his host arena. Because winning matters! Or career years, or something.

Anyway, Coach Bud isn’t under fire because he’s got a couple COTY trophies sitting at his home, in the same town where he just got swept in consecutive games by Nick Nurse’s once-struggling Raptors. Track record matters, and consecutive 60-ish-win seasons while coaching an MVP into the playoffs as a top-seed offers an adequate shield when the swoons and the disappointing trends kick in.

Budenholzer’s successor with the Hawks, Lloyd Pierce, remains on a seat that’s not piping hot, but simmering. Pierce remains out on paternity leave, but he’s peeking at the Celtics games hoping ace assistant Nate McMillan can continue to instill practices on the court conducive to winning basketball for his Hawks (12-16).

Nate Mac isn’t interested in consuming LP’s top job, but he quietly has the motivation to help his current employer catch up with his prior team, the perennial-playoff Pacers, in the chase for postseason seeds. 2.5 games separate the Hawks from Indiana, who’s currently 4^th in the NBA Least, and it’s the same buffer between Atlanta and Collin Sexton’s 14^th-seed Cavs.

“We’ve got to put together a 48-minute game. We’ve got to make our breaks,” McMillan expressed to media ahead of today’s game, again insisting he’s not doing anything “major” that Pierce would have done to top a Celtics team (14-14) who played on Wednesday without at least two key starters.

There were some things, however, that Hawks fans could spy, with their little eyes, as evidence that McMillan can diagnose and address woes that players, under Pierce, seem left to figure out for themselves. One example: with 13 points on 5-for-8 shooting, 6 rebounds, just two 3FGAs taken and one made, a pair of made free throws, two steals, and a plus-14 finish during Atlanta’s 122-114 win at the Gahden, Cam Reddish had as close to a perfect game as one should come to expect of the sophomore swingman right now.

“I think the ball movement was a little bit better,” Cam correctly noted of his team, without any intention of shade. Reddish’s efficient fullcourt performance helped Trae and the frontcourt tag team of John Collins and Clint Capela (combined 44 points, 19 boards, and two swats), who overwhelmed Boston on screen rolls. It also kept the extended shooting struggles of Kevin Huerter (29.7 FG% past four games) and Danilo Gallinari (combined 3-for-10 3FGs @ BOS) from affecting the team’s best field day of the season (57.1 team FG%, highest since beating Beal’s Wizards on 1/26/2020).

Correcting his personal struggles as a closer in recent games, Young (16 points, 6-for-7 FGs in the 4^th quarter) will want to cut down on his eight turnovers in the rematch with the C’s, who will likely have Kemba Walker back in their stead, but not hound-dog Marcus Smart. Yet it was encouraging that the other Hawks, including Reddish, cut down on the goofs while being disruptive on defense. They aided Atlanta in winning Wednesday’s turnover battle (16-15 on team TOs; just 1 TO by Trae and 2 by the Hawks in the 4^th-quarter), keeping their final-frame lead, for once, from evaporating.

Walker’s back after missing Wednesday’s game due to injury management, but the Massachusetts Ranger is one of the notable veteran guard even TNT hosts won’t pencil in over Young, not this season (career-lows 36.4 FG% and 4.0 APG). If Atlanta can keep Kemba from getting to the free throw line (career-high 90.2 FT%, although on just 3.2 attempts/game), make him chase around screens, and force him to settle for his waning mid-range shots (37.0 2FG% on the season; 40.7 3FG% this month), they can limit the chance for him to regain his “Cardiac Kemba” persona late in this game.

Jaylen Brown (sore knee) is listed as questionable, perhaps putting more pressure on Tatum (35 points, 11-for-21 FGs, 10-for-11 FTs, 4 fourth-quarter assists vs. ATL) to earn his All-Star keep. Daniel Theis (team-high 1.80 Defensive RPM) is off the injury report, and he’d only need nine fingers anyway to help Boston thwart the Hawks’ interior attack.

To compensate, Atlanta’s perimeter shooting needs to be on point, and Young can pile up even more points by stepping out just a tad bit further – that is to say, on his mid-rangers (3-for-3 2FGs @ BOS, all betw. 21-23 feet from the basket). The Hawks rank 25^th in the league on catch-and-shoot three-point makes (8.5 per game, 0.6 more than Boston), and Huerter and Gallo must find their spots, not hesitate, and get good looks up before Celtic defenders with a foot in the paint can recover.

One Western Conference team did give the Hawks the hook-up. The Spurs went to Charlotte and gave the short-handed Hornets an L on Valentine’s Day, then left behind a schedule scramble by having four players test COVID+ (RIP to DeMar’s dad, btw) as the Hornets had to hibernate under health ‘n safety protocols.

Charlotte hasn’t played in six days, and if they do get to host Golden State tomorrow, it will likely be their last home game in a while, as they’ll have six West Coast games on the road to close out the first half. One of the teams the Hornets would have played today, Denver, got re-routed to Cleveland instead, and have been short-staffed themselves as they prepare to meet the Hawks in Atlanta on Sunday.

The Hornets sit happily atop the Southleast Division, but only by 1.0 games ahead of Atlanta, who could outrace Miami to the top of the division if they can pull together for a winning stretch over the next few days. Knowing they’ll get little love from the media punditry, over the next week as coaches place their votes for reserves, Trae, JC, Clint and the Hawks understand they have to make their own All-Star-worthy case.

 

Hearts out to our Squawkfam in Texas. Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Boston will have to wait a little longer to see Rondo (out, back pain) play at the Gahden again. Another day, another opportunity to know that Bogi, "Done," and Hunter are still out.

Hawks Game Notes indicate Trae Young is 10th among Hawks all-time for made threes (420-for-1210), and a current Celtic and fellow former one-time All-Star is at #9. The circumstances behind their tenures, their shot locations and their on-ball defenders differ greatly, but Jeff Teague made ten more threes as a Hawk on only four more attempts (430-for-1214). Up next on Trae's sights once he passes Teague: Warriors great Kent Bazemore (453-for-1277).

~lw3

[NBASupes]

Could this be a winning streak? 

[macdaddy]

1 minute ago, NBASupes said:

Could this be a winning streak? 

Well not now!

[lethalweapon3]

1 minute ago, NBASupes said:

Could this be a winning streak? 

 "This is like Bawb praising Gallo at the FT line!"

~n1qu3

[kg01]

59 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Could this be a winning streak? 

What the ....

This is worse than Nique calling the game over even though we're only up like in the 3rd quarter.

 "Hol' me bak, Bawb.  I'mma kick his a** like I did that suit guy."

 "Wuh-hooo, Nique.  You gave that dude 2-piece, no biscuit."

Don't worry, @macdaddy.  I'm burnin' the sage and chantin'.  Gotta get rid o' the evil spirits, Kyme-style.

[terrell]

1 hour ago, NBASupes said:

Could this be a winning streak? 

[JayBirdHawk]

Interesting stuff! 12 minutes long.

 

 

[bleachkit]

32 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Interesting stuff! 12 minutes long.

 

 

Trading JC to Boston? No thanks. Ainge will be like "Taco and a 2nd, final offer."

[JayBirdHawk]

1 hour ago, bleachkit said:

Trading JC to Boston? No thanks. Ainge will be like "Taco and a 2nd, final offer."

well Taco did get more Allstar votes!

[JayBirdHawk]

I expect the Sees will double Trae and play ball deny, they can't let him get loose for another 40.  The question is, can Cam bottle the last game.  He was stellar on defense and patient on offense.

[Bonkers]

Kevin is trash

 

That foul on Cam is on Kevin

Edited February 20, 2021 by Bonkers

[bleachkit]

Let's miss wide open threes. That helps a lot.

[Bonkers]

Only Trae and Capela have made FGs so far smh

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

WIDE open misses will be the theme for tonight.  1-6 from 3.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Trae is playing "correctly".

He's ( -12 )

[Buzzard]

Get Collins off the floor with Gallinari. Christ they suck together defensively.

[Dnice]

So much for getting 2 in Boston. 

[REHawksFan]

Cam, Gallo, and Kevin Brickin wide open 3s is precisely why Trae has to do the hero thing.  Finding the open man isn't always the best shot. 

[JayBirdHawk]

starting wings 0-8.