Official Game Thread: Hawks at Pacers

[lethalweapon3]

“OWW! Friggin’ COVID Toe!”

 

I was this old, minus a couple months, when I discovered, for the first time, that coaches don’t get Olympic medals. It never dawned on me that in all the years I watched Dream Teams and their predecessors stand on the podiums, that the Bobby Knights and Coach Ks of the world weren’t right there among them collecting shiny laurels. In a world where participation trophies are frowned upon, coaches of top-3-finishing teams and athletes don’t even get those from The Notorious IOC.

I suppose, “Assistant Coach, Gold Medal-winning USA Basketball Team, 2020- “, ought to look nice on a LinkedIn page somewhere. But at what cost for Lloyd Pierce?

An Atlanta Hawks team that checks out of 2020-21, pointing to injuries and discombobulated lineups and such, hovering around 40 percent victory rate at 30-42 (still a considerable improvement over the prior season’s 20-47 mark), would have fans disappointed but looking forward to a season where internal growth translates into a genuine playoff push.

But Pierce, stuck between a Pop and a hard place over second-year pro Trae Young’s Olympic worthiness, elected to prioritize golden medals for NBA vets over standing in alignment with the goose that lobs golden eggs. He could have done both and, coming off the Tokyo momentum, made 2021-22 his make-or-break season as the Hawks' head coach. Alas, for Pierce, nothing gold can stay.

What LP does get, as a consolation prize, is being the man next to The Man, in the Fieldhouse of his former assistant’s employer. His Indiana Pacers, coached by Rick Carlisle in the lead chair, will meet a similarly shorthanded but rested Atlanta Hawks club (7 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, Bally Sports Indiana) at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse. If Pierce is to catch up with his Atlanta replacement tonight, he’ll have to do so via Zoom calls.

A victory shy of 700 NBA regular-season wins for his career, McMillan has some work to do if he is to one day catch Carlisle (845), one spot ahead of him in 3rd place among active coaches. But he’ll need to turn to Chris Jent tonight in order to keep the Hawks (11-10) above .500 on this season. Nate’s son, Hawks assistant Jamelle, came down with You Know What, and out of an abundance of caution, Atlanta’s head coach will isolate until he is cleared with sufficient negative test results.

The bug is going around, even among vaxxed players and staff, and the Hawks are fortunate to this point that injuries have been the sole setbacks for deploying a steady rotation. Justin Holiday has That Thing, and the former Hawk will miss time for the Pacers (9-14) just as he was beginning to get back his starter’s minutes.

Holiday joins shot-blocker extraordinaire T.J. Warren (out since December 2020 with a foot injury, may return later this month) on the shelf, albeit at a minimum six-foot distance. The Pacers will be thrilled to have shot-blocker extraordinaire Myles Turner (re-activated after non-COVID illness) back in the stead.

Carlisle went with essentially a four-guard lineup around All-Star Domantas Sabonis on Monday, versus Karl-Anthony Towns and company in Minnesota, plugging T.J. McConnell in Turner’s slot. The late night returns were kind of like Felicia Moore’s. Towns and the T’Wolves ran off with a 20-point turnaround from the third quarter on, letting off the gas late to make their 100-98 win over Indy look respectable.

At least from inside the paint, Sabonis (25 rebounds, 10 assists, 16 points on 5-for-8 2FGs vs. MIN) did all he could to hold the fort. But, in a theme familiar to Young after his Hawks got Bing Bong’d by New York on Saturday, Sabonis got little support on the offensive end.

Aside from Holiday and dry-behind-the-ears rookie Chris Duarte, who will likely start in place of Holiday, the other Pacers combined to hit just 3-for-24 from beyond the three-point line. Resistance was futile against Minnesota, too, as Karl-Anthony went to town with 16 third-quarter points to outpace Anthony Edwards’ 11, and almost Indiana’s 19 as a team.

Jent will similarly seek to put a dent in the Hawks’ third-period woes, as displayed on Saturday when the visiting Knicks turned the momentum in their favor with a 34-24 edge. The first-half losses of Bogdan Bogdanovic (out for at least a couple weeks, sprained ankle) and Cam Reddish (out, aggravated sprained wrist) seemed to throw Atlanta off-kilter. The sustained brilliance of Young (5-for-10 3FGs vs. NYK, ATL teammates 4-for-27), the reigning Eastern Conference Player of the Week, was insufficient by his lonesome to keep the Hawks in contention for victory on that night.

Former Pacer Solomon Hill will take a stab at filling Bogi’s minutes, as will Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot. But for Kevin Huerter, and reserves Danilo Gallinari and Lou Williams (combined 7-for-30 FGs vs. NYK), Atlanta can ill afford “open shots not falling”, particularly if the Hawks hope to stretch their road winning streak to three games tonight.

The lack of cohesion in third quarters comes mostly in losses for Atlanta (NBA-worst 132.9 3^rd-quarter D-Rating in Ls, “ahead,” admiringly, of 3-loss Phoenix’s 130.8), particularly as the team fails to get stops in halfcourt and/or get back in transition off missed shots. But second-half meltdowns, regardless of outcomes, have become de rigueur for Indy (NBA-worst 98.8 2^nd-half O-Rating, incl. NBA-low 1.16 assist/TO ratio). The Pacers often find themselves scrambling late behind Sabonis and Malcolm Brogdon after coughing up early leads.

The team that comes out of the Fieldhouse tunnel for what will hopefully be the final 24 minutes of action with a gameplan and a sense of urgency will have the upper hand by evening’s end. Is there a coach capable of making adjustments in the house?

I do hope LP was able to stop by the IOC gift shop on his way out of Japan, picking up the commemorative clothing that says, “I HELPED A WATERED-DOWN TEAM USA NOT FUMBLE AWAY GOLD, SALVAGED COACH POP’S OLYMPIC LEGACY, AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY T-SHIRT”.

 

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[kg01]

Does Carlisle become collateral damage on Trae's Team USA revenge tour?

[Spud2nique]

36 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

stuck between a Pop and a hard place

 

36 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Former Pacer Solomon Hill will take a stab at filling Bogi’s minutes

Oh boy! 

 

37 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Atlanta can ill afford “open shots not falling”,

Gallo

 

37 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

LOUSY T-SHIRT”.

Funny we were discussing tees out kg’s van  

 

Nice work lw3! Gettin us ready to roll.

ps I just got my covid booster  

Go Hawks!

[aali34]

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

I do hope LP was able to stop by the IOC gift shop on his way out of Japan, picking up the commemorative clothing that says, “I HELPED A WATERED-DOWN TEAM USA NOT FUMBLE AWAY GOLD, SALVAGED COACH POP’S OLYMPIC LEGACY, AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY T-SHIRT”.

December has just started, but this is the POTM 

[GameTime]

TLC for 3

[hawkman]

By all means keep doing that TLC.

[GameTime]

TLC looks way better than Solo.

[hawkman]

Heckuva block by Myles.

[GameTime]

Trae is really good folks.

[Bonkers]

If the Hawks improve their team defense steadily over the course of the season and end up being in the top 10 I think they can be true contenders

[Dnice]

Defense  is poor

[JayBirdHawk]

12 minutes ago, GameTime said:

TLC for 3

TLC's 1st 3 as a Hawks starter.

 

 

[terrell]

NO defense...

[Dnice]

Sabonis might  get 20 boards  tonight

[Bonkers]

1 minute ago, Dnice said:

Defense  is poor

It's their biggest problem. Like I said if they really wanna be contenders they need to focus on team defense because it's been really bad.

 

If you're shooting 60% and only have 2 TOs and your down 4 that means your defense is horrible

[hawkman]

Wright must read Hawksquawk.

[Sothron]

I was wearing my SAR Vancouver jersey while playing the 97/98 rosters on 2k22 on PS5. I still had it on until just now. Mrs. Sothron insisted I change out jerseys for Grandmama so we get back to our winning ways.  

[Dnice]

Good lil run.