Official Game Thread: Pelicans at Hawks

[lethalweapon3]

“Join me in Boston, Al, and I guarantee you, within five years, we’ll be going places!”

 

Big Birds! Bears and Bulls! Bugs, Brontosauruses and Bucks! Over the course of this home-friendly schedule over the next two weeks, continuing with the New Orleans Pelicans in town tonight (7:30 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, BS New Orleans), we can hope the Atlanta Hawks will be the busiest “Bs”, building up their hive while still delivering the biggest stings.

Two Sundays from now, the 20^th-winningest coach in NBA history may be able to don his Kool Moe Dee getup, and ask the visiting Pacers, “How Ya Like Me Now?” Using the upcoming schedule to expand their distance from current 9-seed Indiana, Nate McMillan’s Hawks could effectively dwindle the Magic Number for notching a Top-6 playoff spot (currently at 21) down to single digits.

Have you missed the Hawks playing against the Eastern Conference? I sure haven’t. If we discount Cleveland and Orlando, Atlanta hasn’t faced an in-conference Play-In contender since Tony Snell’s three-pointer took out Tampato to kick off the post-All-Star schedule back on March 11. For a more legitimate Playoff threat, you have to go back over a month, to Miami on March 2. With the conceivable possibility of sweeping New Orleans and Memphis on back-to-back nights here at State Farm Arena, Atlanta (26-24) can head into the weekend bearing a better record versus Western foes (currently 13-12) than the mark against the ones in their own conference (also 13-12).

Because the Hawks generally took care of business, versus sub-.500 teams like Golden State, and took advantage of the breaks they were given during their recent West Coast road trip, versus hosts like New Orleans (22-27), the NBA West now becomes a problem many Eastern rivals will have to overcome in order to catch up. Among East seeds 5 through 11, only the Bulls (10-17 vs. NBA West) and the Hornets (11-13) have played more than 20 cross-conference games.

Miami (10-9 vs. NBA West), for example, has Atlanta’s opponent tomorrow, the Grizzlies, tonight and the Lakers before heading out West for a four-game swing. Later, they’ll have to dip over to San Antonio in a couple weeks before stopping by to face the Hawks here. New York (7-10) still has to host the Grizzlies and recuperating Lakers, along with the Pelicans twice and the Mavericks, this month, and they’ll also endure a six-game Western road trip among eight NBA West opponents in May.

Pelicans stars Brandon Ingram (irritated toe joint) and Zion Williamson (sprained thumb) remain questionable in status for today’s affair. But Steven Adams should be available to give the Hawks’ Clint Capela (available, despite a sore hand; past seven games: 19.3 PPG, 14.4 RPG, 65.5 FG%, 73.5 FT%) a harder time around the hoop. Adams returned to action in Sunday’s 122-115 victory at Houston, registering a light double-double with the aid of seven offensive rebounds.

Also back in action this past Sunday was Lonzo Ball, whose eight made buckets were all threes. That set a career-best for the guard with reformulated jumper mechanics (career-highs of 14.5 PPG and 39.2 3FG%), and his 27 points were two short of the career high from his rookie season in Los Angeles. While Lonzo had nine assists, he also had six turnovers, helping the Rockets to erase a ten-point lead in the third-quarter and go into the fourth quarter up by 3.

Helping Ball and coach Stan Van Gundy (30^th all-time in NBA wins) avoid a disastrous defeat on Sunday were forwards Willy Hernangomez (7-for-7 2FGs @ HOU, 15 points, 12 rebounds) and re-energized veteran acquisition James Johnson (7-for-11 2FGs @ HOU, 18 points, 4 blocks, 2 steals).

New Orleans will need to get healthy and get on a winning stretch in order to escape the log-jambalaya with Memphis, San Antonio, Golden State, Sacramento, and OKC with one of the NBA West’s final three Play-In slots. That’s going to have to happen on the road, and the victory in H-Town raised the Pels to just 8-14 on the season. Van Gundy’s krewe parades their way up to Brooklyn tomorrow.

The Pels have plenty of interior scorers, but they’ll need someone aside from Ball getting hot from outside to keep up offensively. In addition to his team-high six assists (are you there, Eric Bledsoe?), Johnson went 3-for-4 from outside during the Pelicans’ 126-103 home loss to the similarly short-winged Hawks last Friday. Kira Lewis (doubtful for today, calf strain) also made half of his four trey attempts. But their mates were a collective 3-for-21 from the French Quarter, proving no match for a red-hot Bogdan Bogdanovic (26 points, 6-for-11 3FGs) as the half-sized Hawks roster pulled away in the second half.

Fresh off helping Joe Johnson and Team USA go undefeated during FIBA AmeriCup qualifying play in February, guard Isaiah Thomas (41.3 3FG% and 81.6 FT% last season w/ WAS, before being traded then waived by LAC) hopes to provide sparks for the Pelican offense for as long as Van Gundy can afford to keep the ten-day contractor on the floor.

The Pelicans will rely on their defensive rebounders to spur the coast-to-coast fastbreak. Since the All-Star Break, New Orleans’ 14.6 fastbreak points per-48 (3^rd-most in NBA) and 55.7 paint points per-48 (2^nd-most in NBA) are behind only tomorrow’s Hawks opponent, Memphis, among Western Conference clubs. While growing more comfortable with his all-around game, Bogdanovic (last 4 games: 21.5 PPG, 5.8 APG, 4.8 RPG, 2.0 SPG, 1.3 TOs/game, 56.7 3FG%, 3.5 personals per game) has been quite clever at selectively applying mid-court non-shooting fouls to nip opponent runouts in the bud.

New Orleans would greatly prefer to have their three-point possessions the old-fashioned way. The hard-luck Hawks (NBA-high 80.9 opponent FT%) and the Pelicans (80.2 opponent FT%) are the only NBA clubs whose opponents have shot above 80 percent from the charity stripe. While New Orleans usually finds the iron unkind themselves (73.4 team FT%, 29^th in NBA), the Hawks must be judicious hackers, making sure their intentional fouls aren’t of the shooting variety. Pausing the game clock while allowing the Pels opportunities to add to their tally, plus enjoying the pursuit of second-chances off predictable free throw misses, would continue to give them life throughout the game.

While the Pelicans and tomorrow’s opponent, the Grizzlies, have a long way to go to establish themselves as the Best of the Rest of the West, our Hawks now have a roadmap for becoming the Beasts of the Least of the East.

 

Unite and Conquer! Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Hawks' Gamenotes indicates that if the Hawks pull off Ws against the Pels and Grizzlies tomorrow, then the eight-game home winning streak would be the longest since the wild 12-game romp in the middle of the 60-win season (Dec. 30, 2014 - Feb. 6, 2015).

Also in the Gamenotes, Bogi has snatched a steal in nine consecutive games, a career high.

Since giving the Hornets their history back, New Orleans is tied all-time with Atlanta at 19 wins apiece. The Hawks have won the last four head-to-head contests.

 

~lw3

[Spud2nique]

Nice thread lw3 to get us going and building on this 3 game win streak. Love the Al and Isaiah reunion pic classic. 
 

25 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Nate McMillan’s Hawks could effectively dwindle the Magic Number for notching a Top-6 playoff spot (currently at 21) down to single digits.

I like this. 21 has always been a kind number, that and (19) lately.

 

25 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Adams returned to action in Sunday’s 122-115 victory at Houston, registering a light double-double with the aid of seven offensive rebounds.

Thought he would be a great fit in Nawlins, he seemed it on paper but I guess that’s why we play the games on the court. I don’t think he’s a Pel next season, just a hunch he gets shipped.

 

25 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Beasts of the Least of the East.

 

Unite and Conquer! Let’s Go Hawks!

Yes siiiir! 
 

GO HAWKS!!!

ps Hawks 124-107 winners! (On the prediction thread)  

ACTUAL LINE:

Hawks -150  spread -3  o/u 229.5

Edited April 6, 2021 by Spud2nique

[terrell]

Brad Rowland

 

 

Starters for the Hawks tonight against New Orleans: Trae Young Kevin Huerter Bogdan Bogdanovic Solomon Hill Clint Capela

[terrell]

Just now, terrell said:

Brad Rowland

 

 

Starters for the Hawks tonight against New Orleans: Trae Young Kevin Huerter Bogdan Bogdanovic Solomon Hill Clint Capela

I like Trae, Bogi, Snell, Hill, Capela better but ok...

[Spud2nique]

18 minutes ago, terrell said:

I like Trae, Bogi, Snell, Hill, Capela better but ok...

But we must instill more confidence in Huerter for down the road, like the playoffs in case we need him to play a bigger role. Snell is a vet, he knows his role better. I dunno. Just get the W. Heard Zion was playing now. Should be fun.

[BrazilianHawk]

LET'S GO HAWKS!!!

[Spud2nique]

Game time folks! Let’s get 4 straight. We got this. Stay together and share the ball and play as a team.

 

Go Hawks!

[Peoriabird]

Trae will have a good game tonight!  I can feel it!

[Buzzard]

Lets go Hawks!

[Peoriabird]

This will be a tough game.  Pels are healthy

[Peoriabird]

We will need those 3's tonight Trae

[bleachkit]

5 minutes ago, Buzzard said:

Lets go Hawks!

https://omny.fm/shows/92-9-the-game-morning-show-w-john-and-hugh/travis-schlenk-with-john-and-hugh-46

listen at 5:45 mark. Trae was benched in favor of Lue Williams due to performance, makes no mention of injury being involved in decision

[hawkman]

Trae with a little more bounce to his step. Good to see. 

[Dnice]

Messing up possessions still.

[Peoriabird]

Starters look like a wash.  Our bench will again over match their bench

[Buzzard]

Trae, Capela, Bogi looking good. Zion being Zion. Bledsoe playing pretty well so far. Huerter is to passive. With him and Bogi and their height and/or quickness they have a advantage every time down the floor.

Edited April 6, 2021 by Buzzard

[bleachkit]

OO, what was that?

[Peoriabird]

Gallo/Snell 0-6 .. concerning

[JeffS17]

A lot of shots getting blocked on lazy drives... hope we have better movement and shot selection next quarter