Official Game Thread: Bucks at Hawks

[lethalweapon3]

“For he’s a jolly good fellow… which nobody’s around to deny!”

 

It took a long and distinguished coaching career, coming off a stellar playing career in the NBA, that extended from Seattle and Portland in the Pacific Northwest to the Midwest, then to Atlanta. But in January of 1995, Lenny Wilkens finally did it.

939 victories, the most by any NBA coach all-time, over the course of 22 seasons. After dispatching Gheorghe Muresan’s Washington Bullets at the Omni, Ken Norman and the Atlanta Hawks paraded around Lenny waving celebratory towels. Regrettably, though, this accomplishment does not register in the annals of Atlanta Sports history.

There are multiple reasons why. Just 70 of those regular-season wins, to that point, were notched while employed by the Hawks. Atlanta was regressing – on the heels of a franchise record-tying 57-25 season, the defeat of the Bullets moved the team up to a still-deflating six games below .500 in 1994-95. That season began with a trade of longtime Hawk Kevin Willis to the heat, retrieving a young Steve Smith that Wilkens would soon banish to the bench.

Jon Kontrakt was still here. Danny Manning was not, the playoff rental and four-time All-Star electing to join Sir Charles and Paul Westphal’s eventual 59-23 Suns as an unrestricted free agent. Pete Babcock was still here. Dominique Wilkins, perhaps the greatest athletic UGA legend until Stetson Bennett would return to Athens from junior college, was not. Atlanta fans took their ire out on the whole lot, but particularly Wilkens.

Fifteen seasons removed from guiding the Sonics to championship glory, Lenny had not guided a team to the NBA Finals again. His ’80 Sonics getting shown the door by the Winning Time Lakers, Wilkens needed more than a decade to coach another team to the conference finals, his ’92 Cavs getting bounced by The Next Dance Bulls.

There were lots of first-round bounces during his tenures in Seattle and Cleveland, and there wasn’t much cooking as it pertained to Wilkens’ future here, certainly not with Babcock buying the groceries. Perhaps, the thought prevailed around Atlanta, the NBA has passed dear old Lenny by?

He would not inherit a star as electrifying as the well-established player with the synonymous surname in Atlanta, not until he would be hired to take Vince Carter to higher heights in Canada. Yet Wilkens stood by, in 1994, as Babcock sent the pending free agent Wilkins (and that upcoming offseason’s first-rounder) packing for the younger pending free agent Manning, amid a first-place run by the Hawks in a season where His Airness was no longer in the picture. At least Lenny would pocket his first NBA Coach of the Year award for his trouble.

It was but a matter of time, anyway, before Lenny would relinquish the all-time mark. It took until 2010 for Don Nelson to surpass Wilkens, coaching up a horrible Warriors team with a rookie Stephen Curry. But it was just over two years after Lenny passed Red Auerbach, for #939, when Smitty’s Hawks beat Danny Ferry’s Cavaliers by a scintillating 74-68 score at the Omni, making Wilkens the first NBA coach ever to win 1,000 regular season games. And the crowd goes mild.

The luck wasn’t with the Hawks, by then featuring Dikembe Mutombo along with Smitty, on St. Patty’s Day of 1999 during a 86-85 loss to the heat. But it was Lenny’s 2,051^st game as an NBA coach, the newly-minted Hall of Fame coach passing Bill Fitch for the most ever. Do you recall that watershed day, you proud Atlanta sports fan? Me neither. Might have been all the green pitchers of beer.

28 years to the month after #939, another prominent NBA head coach is being quietly paraded for his watershed achievement. Nate McMillan did the whole Pacific Northwest to Midwest to ATL trail that Lenny blazed, and he arrives at the Omni’s successor arena for tonight’s matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks (7:30 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, BS Wisconsin, ESPN everywhere else) with 750 NBA regular-season victories in the rear-view mirror.

Aside from ex-Hawk coach Cotton Fitzsimmons and Nellie, each of the other 17 coaches above McMillan have been able to get at least one team through its respective conference playoffs and into The Finals. He came tantalizingly close in 2021, a big reason he is coaching the Hawks in 2023. But the same whispers that hovered above Lenny during his time in Atlanta are within Nate’s earshot. Has the game passed him by? Don’t answer that too loudly.

There are but three other active coaches who have been there, done that when it comes to 750 wins. Pop, Doc, Carlisle. Erik Spoelstra may be deep into next season before he even gets a crack at 750. But none of them had to buy the T-Shirt that says they coached a team to an NBA title. Neither does Mike Budenholzer.

There was a time when Hawks fans imagined they’d be at what is now State Farm Arena one day to celebrate milestone victories with Budenholzer (five years Nate’s junior, still 48 wins short of #500). Sadly, his pal Ferry, by that time the GM, screwed the proverbial pooch by talking spicy about Luol Deng. So all that smoke has cleared, and McMillan sits in his Coach Bud’s old stead.

Nate has never had a Giannis, a Timmy, a KG-Pierce-Allen trio as the centerpiece of a club to shepherd. But however longer he willingly coaches in this league, it is unlikely that he will be able to field a star as gifted and dynamic as Trae Young (30 points, incl. the final 8 in the Hawks’ 112-108 win on Sunday @ LAC, plus 8 assists; out for tonight due to non-COVID-illness).

Despite his wayward shooting percentages of the moment, the diminutive but deft Young perches atop Hawk franchise marks for per-game assists and Offensive BPM. He may not be the physically imposing star Atlanta could have had, but for some rumored ownership meddling in the 2018 draft. But Trae has already shown he can put a team – one that is deep, inspirationally coached, and well-designed, as with the more succesful NBA stars, to play to his unique strengths while making up for his shortcomings – on his back, and to carry them far.

The Hawks’ months-long struggle to regain traction lead many a detractor to deny Young (career-high 9.8 APG while sharing the rock with Dejounte Murray, doing without roll-mates John Collins for 8 starts, and Clint Capela for 13 and counting) his All-Star laurels, preferring less accomplished but higher-ceiling point guards for their votes, or lower-ceiling but recently accomplished tag-along guards like Jrue Holiday.

McMillan can help fix that perspective of his ace talent, but only if he can keep the Hawks from digging unnecessary holes to climb out from, and blowing double-digit leads of their own, as were the cases throughout Atlanta’s latest West Coast swing, and season to-date.

Not many coaches can say they bested Coach Bud and the Greek Freak twice this season. Yet McMillan already took two games from the Bucks (26-14, 3-1 over last four games), one notably without the services of Young, handing two of Milwaukee’s first three Ls of their season in November, which seems like ages ago.

The Bucks have maintained their place among the Eastern elite, but they have been in an offensive swoon of late (4-6, league-worst 106.9 O-Rating, 1.28 assist/TO ratio and 54.2 team TS% in past ten games) that only Giannis’ perpetual brilliance can help them overcome. They regained, then lost, co-star Khris Middleton (out, sore knee) in the middle of last month, but he had struggled to regain his footing, and his second injury departure (the first, due to wrist surgery) preceded Milwaukee’s offensive precipitation.

Recent non-COVID illness absences for Holiday and George Hill tell only part of the picture. Even with Joe Ingles (rehabbed a torn ACL) finally in the fold, Bud’s signature pace-and-space schemes have gone out the window for the Bucks (top-5 in prior four seasons, 13^th currently). Milwaukee’s vaunted team defense was exposed further by defending Eastern champ Boston in a 139-118 Christmas Day rout.

Bud has slowed the tempo, in part to keep elder contributors Brook Lopez and Holiday fresh at the defensive end of the court. But basically, the steady playmaking, the kind exhibited often by the likes of Young and Murray, has not been there in long stretches for Milwaukee (17.1 team TO% since Dec. 21, 29^th in NBA; ATL’s 10.1 TO%, as is McMillan’s signature, has been the NBA’s best).

John Collins, Onyeka Okongwu and De’Andre Hunter (24 points @ MIL on Nov. 14) will all have their work cut out in limiting Antetokounmpo to circus-style layups and mid-range jumpers. Off-ball, keeping Lopez, Bobby Portis and Grayson Allen from extending Milwaukee possessions will be crucial to Atlanta securing a third-straight win over Milwaukee and the first two-game winning streak since December 19.

Aaron Holiday will be counted on to help Murray, taking care not to over-pursue Milwaukee’s drivers and leave Buckshot needlessly scattered around the perimeter. Giannis may be efficient from the field, but the key is ensuring his role-playing mates don’t have banner outings, too.

Perhaps it wasn’t to the scale of the halcyon days of 1979, but you could sense Wilkens greatly valued his coaching victory achievements, no matter if many fans did. #939 and %1000 were his #715. For Lenny, it was also about inspiring the future generations of NBA head coaches to put in the work, and to stay committed to the course no matter where it leads.

Nate is but one of the modern-day beneficiaries of Lenny’s legacy, and his staying power on the sidelines of the league serves as testament. But it’s important for McMillan to get this team functioning in a winning fashion, not just picking up Ws in drips and drabs along the way to a dissatisfying conclusion. Chasing Red can be a noble goal. But not at the expense of a fanbase Seeing Red.

 

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

The only other Buck on the Boo-Boo Report, aside from Middleton, is Serge Ibaka, who is missing Milwaukee's four-game road trip due to personal reasons.

Clint (strained calf) practiced at shootaround yesterday, but the momentary addition of South Atlanta's Finest, Derrick Favors, allows Capela to heal up a little longer, help Nate to better manage foul trouble in the frontcourt, and lessen the need to play The Tank, if I may be Frank.

~lw3

[Spud2nique]

Thanks @lethalweapon3 Kenny Norman haha good to see him from 92! Kg’s guy.. his body… ohhh camaaaannn..

BSPN game.

Good news though I got killed in 2K so we have a chance! Bucks got me by 18, tough to recover when the freak puts up 39/19/5 on ya! 

[kg01]

BSPN game?  Blowout, no-show city potential folx. 

[JayBirdHawk]

Back to normal game time....those 10PM games were brutal.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

 

 

[terrell]

Stop dribbling Dre.. smfh

Edited January 12, 2023 by terrell

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Nate acts like Favors have never played in the NBA before.

Horrible start so far.  Already down 11 - 0.

 

Good Lord.  Pick it up guys.

[terrell]

Good grief... Horrible start

[terrell]

Does Dre have small hands? He loses the ball so easily.. Even when he dunks its kinda loose...

[JayBirdHawk]

Geeeez! 

What are we doing? Get your heads in the game.

[Vol4ever]

Good grief, smh.  

[JayBirdHawk]

At least Nate called the timeout early.

[JayBirdHawk]

Already digging that hole.

 

 

 

[terrell]

"Trae didnt feel good when he woke up"?

 I never feel good when I wake up... lol

And how does CC go from looking fine after Pistons game to out for 3 weeks?

Edited January 12, 2023 by terrell

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Hawks have stabilized big time since Bogi has been in.

What possessed Nate to even start Holiday anyway?  Just let A Hol come off the bench and run with AJ and JJ, which he'll end up doing anyway.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

13 minutes ago, terrell said:

Does Dre have small hands? He loses the ball so easily.. Even when he dunks its kinda loose...

 

Need to get Dre catching balls from a Juggs machine.  Cris Carter and Keyshawn Johnson makes it look easy.

 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Save us AJ and JJ.

The kids will have to save us tonight.

[Vol4ever]

No effort at all.  

[JayBirdHawk]

12 minutes ago, terrell said:

And how does CC go from looking fine after Pistons game to out for 3 weeks?