Official Game Thread: Kings at Hawks

[Diesel]

Good Win.. but terruble play in the 2nd half.   I'm glad we came out with a win.  Mostly their turnovers, our lack of turnovers, and our FTs...  And Trae with the big bombs (I hate that shot).   Our defense was good.. except on Lyle...  
We have to notice that Murray is slumping.    JC is also slumping from 3.  CC is old faithful...

 

[benhillboy]

Same old Kevin when it comes to FT attempts.  2 woo-hoo!

[MarylandHawk]

18 minutes ago, Wretch said:

I don't want to do the merry-go-round...so I hope that what I'm putting into this post actually translates without having to write a book.  Please try to understand that I'm not a "Trae Hater."  I have been very vocal and very consistent with my support of how he plays - logo bombs and all.  There is a loud contingent of haters that do not appreciate how incredible a player we have - I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT I AM NOT ONE OF THEM.

My point is simply that his shot selection in that specific area needs to improve.  We are a better team with ball movement, PNR, PNP, CNS from the *TEAM* than we are watching Trae play hero-ball in this area and launch contested, step back 3s and rushed, out of rythm 3s early in the shot clock.  It's not a recipe for success when things tighten up in the games that matter - like the playoffs.

Not sure what's difficult to understand there.

It is not difficult to understand at all because we have already talked about it at nauseam. But we usually do that after he has a bad game shooting. This game he shot well so it was just a weird time to point that out again. The entire team is shooting well below the expected shooting percentage including Trae but are managing ways to win. We know that Trae, John, Bogi and Hunter have much better career averages shooting percentage wise and if I had to hang my hat on anything, it would be them shooting a better percentage by season's end and when it matters the most in the playoffs. Not taking personal shots at all. 

[Diesel]

1 hour ago, HawkingAwesome said:

blue flame

[Peoriabird]

7 minutes ago, Diesel said:

When Hunter get the ball, he's not passing. 

 

No one does on this team anymore except Trae.  Even Murray has become Iso Joe

[Peoriabird]

3 minutes ago, MarylandHawk said:

It is not difficult to understand at all because we have already talked about it at nauseam. But we usually do that after he has a bad game shooting. This game he shot well so it was just a weird time to point that out again. The entire team is shooting well below the expected shooting percentage including Trae but are managing ways to win. We know that Trae, John, Bogi and Hunter have much better career averages shooting percentage wise and if I had to hang my hat on anything, it would be them shooting a better percentage by season's end and when it matters the most in the playoffs. Not taking personal shots at all. 

He isn't evaluating whether the shots go in or not but rather the quality of shot.  Bad shots will go in occasional but over the long haul, they won't.

[Atlantaholic]

1 minute ago, Peoriabird said:

No one does on this team anymore except Trae.  Even Murray has become Iso Joe

We have no  player in the rotation  who has a career average of over 2 assists outside of Trae and Murray. It's a roster construction issue. 

[terrell]

19 minutes ago, MarylandHawk said:

Hide Trae on?  You really think he is a liability on this team?  Both those boys scored below their season averages while Trae dropped a cool 33. 

Huh?

He has limitations defensively.. 

They usually hide him on the other teams worst offensive player...

Edited November 24, 2022 by terrell

[MarylandHawk]

1 minute ago, Peoriabird said:

No one does on this team anymore except Trae.  Even Murray has become Iso Joe

Seems like we have a heavy pick and roll type offense. No Stanford offense type plays. I think the pick and roll offense could have more ball movement if others who weren't involved in the pnr would move without he ball. It is so noticeable when AJ does it. The ball is forced to move because he keeps loving to the open spot even though he isn’t the one setting the screen. 

[Atlantaholic]

All in all though I'd rather be struggling offensively than defensively. 

[JayBirdHawk]

58 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

Again, stop hanging out at the 3 point line if you can't hit your 3's!  Go to your strengths not your weaknesses

 

53 minutes ago, Atlantaholic said:

Yup, he could catch the ball take a dribble and pull up closer after the 4 straight miss though. 

 

But on the flipside, the coach WANTS him taking more 3s, particularly if he is wide open.

 

Nate, Nate, Nate...smh.

[Peoriabird]

1 minute ago, Atlantaholic said:

All in all though I'd rather be struggling offensively than defensively. 

Yeah because we've seen that train wreck before multiple seasons especially under Lloyd Pierce!

[JayBirdHawk]

3 minutes ago, Atlantaholic said:

All in all though I'd rather be struggling offensively than defensively. 

I said it before, I'm ok with the current offensive struggles, which I hope will normalize, as long as our defense holds.

[Peoriabird]

1 minute ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

But on the flipside, the coach WANTS him taking more 3s, particularly if he is wide open.

 

Nate, Nate, Nate...smh.

Nate channeling his inner LP

[sturt]

Logically, it should take more time for the offense to settle into a stable position than defensively as you add a new key component to the starting 5, and then effectively have an overhaul off your bench--literally an overhaul, having only Godzilla back from last year's second unit (since BogBog is out).

 

25 game pledge still intact. No hand wringing here.

[SalvorMallow]

4 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

But on the flipside, the coach WANTS him taking more 3s, particularly if he is wide open.

 

Nate, Nate, Nate...smh.

I actually agree with Nate here. JC has been solid every year on 3s, he's just slumping (I HOPE). You don't want him to stop taking 3s, he needs to shoot his way out of the slump...maybe hes adjusting to the finger injury or something. Especially in a win, I won't complain about him getting 3pt shots up. 

[Wretch]

7 minutes ago, MarylandHawk said:

It is not difficult to understand at all because we have already talked about it at nauseam. But we usually do that after he has a bad game shooting. This game he shot well so it was just a weird time to point that out again. The entire team is shooting well below the expected shooting percentage including Trae but are managing ways to win. We know that Trae, John, Bogi and Hunter have much better career averages shooting percentage wise and if I had to hang my hat on anything, it would be them shooting a better percentage by season's end and when it matters the most in the playoffs. Not taking personal shots at all. 

What has been discussed is Trae launching "ill advised" 3's.  ALL of his long distance 3's.  There have been people defending these shots and there have been people condemning them.  That topic has been beat to death.  Forgive me if I'm not clear, but that's not what I'm talking about.

My concern is with a specific shot that he is taking that nobody can justify.  It has to to go - and this is coming from someone who has very vocally defended his shot selection.  No need to rehash which shots I'm talking about, just go back and read.  Prior to this season, these shots were mostly excusable because selling out on Trae shut us down.  Him launching anything was just as good as anything anyone else was doing.  This is no longer the case. 

The logo 3's are fine...but he can't keep shooting ~30% on contested, off balance, rushed, out of rhythm 3's.  Especially if we're not moving the ball.  If we are "good" with him wasting these possessions, then we are "great" without it.

...also, for the record, I don't post according to how each game goes.  I'm not an in the moment poster like that.  I usually keep my mouth shut until I see something worth talking about.

[Atlantaholic]

5 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

Yeah because we've seen that train wreck before multiple seasons especially under Lloyd Pierce!

Defense gives you margin for error and is less streaky than offense. Last year we were elite offensively and yet lost sooo many games especially against weak teams. 

[JayBirdHawk]

2-0 in the  

[MarylandHawk]

4 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

He isn't evaluating whether the shots go in or not but rather the quality of shot.  Bad shots will go in occasional but over the long haul, they won't.

Understood but it just seems unrealistic to focus on that when he is literally making nba hisrory every night while lifting this team to a place it has never been. It is almost like focusing on your best homerun hitter’s .329 batting percentage and he is on pace to break the home run record. We wouldn’t ask him to bunt or base hit just improve his batting average and stop taking shots for the fence would we?  Look, his shooting percentage is bad, and it needs to improve, but that is the least of my worries because he has shown he can shoot it better. Even if it doesn’t improve but we keep winning at this clip, I will be very happy.