Official Game Thread: Hawks at Pacers

[lethalweapon3]

“Snatching that Hairy Lollipop joke out of my monologue at the last minute this weekend was a WISE decision. Phew! Ol’ Day Day sure dodged a five-piece and a biscuit this time!”

 

First order of business: There’s some feel-good news about our Atlanta Hawks to share. You all remember that late summer Sunday in September 2014, when life got flip turned upside down for our favorite NBA team?

Owners were outwardly infighting, the solid-ground GM was suddenly on thin ice, and an ugly internal “But His E-mails!” showdown was uncovered. Fans and locals and activists and Twitterfolk were incensed, from inside and outside the Perimeter and as far away as Africa. We found out the hard way that Real GM had a service that real GMs actually used. Poor chap Luol Deng couldn’t grasp how he managed to catch a stray.

The positive spin from the post-surprise-playoff offseason had evaporated, the value and status of Atlanta’s unsellable NBA franchise, much like the dearly departed NHL one, seemed to be in dire jeopardy. And Steve Koonin, the then-new minority owner and CEO who grew up adoring these Hawks and took the leap from helping run Time Warner’s Turner Networks, was left to hold the smelly, burning bag.

The public face to withstand the corporate PR blowback, Koonin found himself in quite the entanglement, pulled into one Red Table Talk after another to profess genuine remorse for a hot-suburb mess he pretty much moonwalked into.

Eight years removed, it is safe to say, Steve pulled a Stanley Steemer on the entire organization. Having transcended the morass to see through the transition to new, steadier, more diverse and less problematic ownership regime, the Hawks’ CEO stuck around and strategically transformed a third-rail toxic product, and the home venue, into local and regional assets for which we, fans and citizenry, can all embrace proudly. Regardless of the nightly results on the hardwood floor, no matter what the Hawks are selling us in the front, no one needs to feel skeptical anymore about shadiness going on in the back of this team’s shop.

Accordingly, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Southeast chapter will be honoring Koonin and the Atlanta Hawks with their annual Torch of Liberty Award, this Thursday over at Ponce City Market’s City Winery Atlanta (any event where Michelle Malone and Gurufish are set to perform is destined to be a good one). Bestowed upon individuals and companies since 1988, the Torch of Liberty honors those "making outstanding contributions to the welfare of our community." Congrats to Steve! More info on the award recipient and the event are linked here:

https://www.adl.org/atltorch

Second order! Speaking of defamation and the potential consequences thereof, you will squeeze no more liquid from my stream of consciousness regarding the event that unfolded last night in Tinseltown. Persons of my stripe, especially, got precious little shuteye, in anticipation of having to blacksplain the blow-by-blow to co-working colleagues this morning.

Once one gentleman decided, “I’m Gonna Git You, Sucka!”, and another found himself knocked back into the hole-in-the-wall rib joint of his heyday, I knew that I would have neither the bandwidth nor the cholesterol for reactionary thinkpieces any more rambling than the ones you endure from me routinely around here. As one might imagine, the resulting thread opener ahead of tonight’s game between the Hawks and the hosting Indiana Pacers (7 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, BS Indiana) is sure to be brief, and all over the place.

No, Pacers fill-in coach Lloyd Pierce wasn’t trying to respond to a mid-game question from Chris Kirschner. But whatever bars got spit during the second quarter on Saturday up in Toronto was flames! Scotiabank Arena got cleared of fans, due to the need to extinguish fire shooting out from an overhead speaker, and LP’s team had to hold out for an extra hour or so before the Raptors could finish cleaning their clock.

Pierce hands the head coaching keys back to Rick Carlisle, who missed Thursday’s 133-103 mauling in Memphis and Saturday’s 131-91 trampling in Toronto due to personal leave. Back at the Fieldhouse, Carlisle’s Pacers should expect to fare much better, having nearly added to the Hawks’ pile of miserable outcomes just a couple weeks ago in Atlanta.

The lightly regarded Duane Washington and new additions Tyrese Haliburton and Buddy Hield helped Indy whittle down a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit in the closing minutes of the Hawks’ 131-128 escape on March 13. Atlanta needed every bit of Trae Young’s 47 points (33 in the first half), and six other Hawk double-figure scorers, including Bogdan Bogdanovic and Danilo Gallinari, to build up the victorious cushion.

No longer still kicking in the hunt for a Play-In slot, the Pacers (25-50) justifiably remain cautious about fielding their would-be marquee contributors, be it Malcolm “My Main Man” Brogdon (out, rest? Up all night, too, eh?) or Myles Turner (out, stress-reacted foot). The players that do grace the floor on Indiana’s behalf will be permitted to throw caution to the wind.

Chris Duarte (out, sore piggy that went to market) and Isaiah Jackson (out, headache; team-high 15 rebounds @ ATL on Mar. 13) are no-goes, and even Washington (22 bench points @ ATL; questionable, bruised hip) and Goga Bitadze (questionable, sore foot) may not suit up. The Pacers might have one ex-Hawk at his disposal tonight, although they’d have to upgrade his contract from a ten-day to an end-of-season variety.

“He’s been the best player on the [Fort Wayne Mad Ants], and probably the best player in the entire [G-League],” said Carlisle to Fieldhouse Files in heaping praise upon Justin Anderson, whose second ten-day call-up expired yesterday (His first one came simultaneous with ex-Hawk Lance Stephenson’s re-signing back on New Year’s Day). Starting in place of Take Your Pick, Anderson sunk four of seven 3FGAs on the way to an 18-point outing in Toronto, not far behind Oshae Brissett’s 21.

Including Stephenson and somehow Anderson, by my count, those are eight definitely active players for Carlisle to run with, relying upon the loosest possible definition of “active.” Hawks fans understand this means the Pacers have Atlanta, who may be without Bogdanovic (questionable, sore knee) and Gallinari (questionable, bruised elbow) tonight, right where they want them.

If Nate McMillan could have any one game back from last season’s momentous turnabout, it would have been the 133-126 loss here in his old stomping grounds back on May 6. In the only smudge on their final month’s regular-season schedule, Atlanta let the team led by Domantas Sabonis, Caris LeVert and T.J. McConnell make over 62 percent of their shots from the field while piling up 35 assists. This revived Indiana’s Play-In prospects, despite the Pacers having been blitzed by Sacramento’s Delon Wright and Hield on this Fieldhouse floor one night before.

In a McMillanian theme that would carry forth into this season, that late-season loss soured a convincing win over a surging Suns team back in Atlanta the prior evening. It would also be a reason the fateful Hawks-Knicks series would kick off in Manhattan instead of Atlanta.

The silver lining is that Brissett and Bitadze are the only present-day active Pacers who were around to participate in that contest. Nonetheless, the Hawks are not a team capable of resting on their laurels, however flimsy they may be at any moment. The Pacers, while new to this whole tanking biz, are in no mood to hand Atlanta any pillows.

Everyone from Trae to De'Andre Hunter may be a bit groggy at pregame shootaround. But the same could be said for the Pacers and most NBA players, who were up late last night turning Twitter and The 'Gram into a virtual barbershop of memes and hot takes. Once they get all the grit out of their eyes, the Hawks have to lead with their defense to secure victory today, shielding would-be spot-up shooters, limiting Haliburton’s paint penetration, winning the turnover and transition-bucket battles, and disallowing Indy to dictate the pace of play to their own liking.

I can’t say for certain how important it is to Atlanta (37-37) to want to finish this topsy-turvy season with a winning record, wherein a 5-3 close would suffice. But with this game, followed by a return to Trae Young’s home state in a couple days before flying back to The A to face reeling Play-In candidate Cleveland, when it comes to blazing a path to Above-.500 Land, and maybe even a Play-In home game? As the great Kenny Loggins would put it, This Is It! Just make no mistake where you are, play like you know your back's to the corner, and don't be a fool anymore, certainly not this week.

Are you gonna wait for your sign, Hawks? Your miracle? Stand up and fight! No, no, wait, no! Not like…

 

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[Spud2nique]

15 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Once one gentleman decided, “I’m Gonna Git You, Sucka!”, and another found himself knocked back into the hole-in-the-wall rib joint of his heyday, I knew that I would have neither the bandwidth nor the cholesterol for reactionary thinkpieces any more rambling than the ones you endure from me routinely around here.

 

15 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

The lightly regarded Duane Washington

Baller, I like this kid.

 

16 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

My Main Man” Brogdon (out, rest?

He really is as is Domantas. Lw3, were you a lil closet Pacer fan? 

 

17 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Delon Wright

His d is exciting, I anticipate his anticipation on steals. Fun stuff.

 

18 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

No, no, wait, no! Not like…

 

Awesome lw3! 

There are gonna be a lotta hero’s out there today.. “I woulda”… “oh nobody turn they back on me.” 

2K has Hawks by 16, Vegas has Hawks by 7.

GO HAWKS!

[Gray Mule]

Are the Hawks really expected to win tonight?

Or will they sleepwalk their way back below the .500 mark?

We all know that this Hawk team will usually play up or down to the talent of our opponent, especially on the road.  Pacer's record tells us that they have had a bad season.  Hawks have players out and others questionable.  This lines up to be a terrible game, regardless of the outcome.

[benhillboy]

Trae daddy with the 2004 bootcut jeans.

Is it me or do we play the Pacers more than our division foes?

[kg01]

8 minutes ago, benhillboy said:

Trae daddy with the 2004 bootcut jeans.

Is it me or do we play the Pacers more than our division foes?

Have you seen the Pacers this year?  Shiiiiii, I wanna play them twice a week.

And you know you still got some o' them bootcuts in the cloest. 

Oh wait, I forgot you and I got beef.  Can't be laughin' at your jokes and whatnot.

[Spud2nique]

29 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Oh wait, I forgot you and I got beef. 

TAKE HIS AVATAR!!!   Oh wait, nevermind it’s OO. 

I expected Curry avatar  

[lethalweapon3]

Wojsparkler! To the surprise of no one...

meanwhile, I guess the January 10-day for Simba counted as hardship, because...

~lw3

[benhillboy]

1 hour ago, Spud2nique said:

TAKE HIS AVATAR!!!   Oh wait, nevermind it’s OO. 

I expected Curry avatar  

I was gonna change it to Delon but OO got the nod.  I see you changed yours, nice lol.

1 hour ago, kg01 said:

Have you seen the Pacers this year?  Shiiiiii, I wanna play them twice a week.

And you know you still got some o' them bootcuts in the cloest. 

Oh wait, I forgot you and I got beef.  Can't be laughin' at your jokes and whatnot.

I don’t do beef, more of a fish and chicken man.  I don’t want no problems, Will.  Please stay seated and take the jokes in stride, sir.

Edited March 28, 2022 by benhillboy

[kg01]

23 minutes ago, benhillboy said:

I don’t do beef, more of a fish and chicken man.  I don’t want no problems, Will.  Please stay seated and take the jokes in stride, sir.

 

[Sothron]

Do we dare to hope this team actually goes ABOVE .500 for the first time since....late November? Good God it has been so long I don't remember.

[Spud2nique]

12 minutes ago, Sothron said:

Good God it has been so long I don't remember.

[Diesel]

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Wojsparkler! To the surprise of no one...

meanwhile, I guess the January 10-day for Simba counted as hardship, because...

~lw3

Pacers are clearly tanking.. but for what..  The draft class is really weak..

[JayBirdHawk]

Let's play 'who'll go nuclear against the Hawks tonight?'

[lethalweapon3]

"Yeah, nice try, Jalen. Gorgui! Next Man Up!"

~n@t3

[Spud2nique]

13 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Let's play 'who'll go nuclear against the Hawks tonight?'

Keifer Sykes. No relation to Wanda! 
 

He’s a scrappy dude. Having said that I think Delon will hassle him.

I’m gonna go with lady Goga Bitadze, final answer.

LADY GOGA! 

[Spud2nique]

Just now, lethalweapon3 said:

"Yeah, nice try, Jalen. Gorgui! Next Man Up!"

~n@t3

Not happy about Gallo but at least this forces Nate’s hand to play Jalen. 
 

Gorgui just launched a 3… (upon hearing the Gallo news) LET FLY BABY!!!

[lethalweapon3]

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

"It's YOUR time. Let's Go, Knoxie!"

~n@t3

[lethalweapon3]

Noted Karl Malone Award winner Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot in the 4-spot.

~lw3

[JayBirdHawk]

I