Official Game Thread: Hawks at Wizards (1 of 2)

[lethalweapon3]

Even Bel-Air High’s fans know.

 

The services of the slap-happy Mr. Smith aren’t needed. Neither those of Messrs. Ferrell, i.am., Arnett, Poulter, nor Truman.

Not for opponents that routinely seem to find ways to out-Will our Atlanta Hawks.

In the town that hosted a McKinley, a Henry Harrison, a Howard Taft, and a Jefferson Clinton for some extended stays, even Mr. Barton isn’t essential these days for the Washington Wizards, who get another crack at the Hawks tonight (7 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, NBC Sports Washington) and on Friday here at Capital One Arena.

As Hawks fans have grown accustomed, the Wizards team that appears before the Hawks this week is likely to be a parallax of the group that barely escaped the NBA’s bottom-feeders in Detroit last night. Foes in the Hawks’ mirror are objectively better than they appear, against literally everybody else in The Association.

Daniel Gafford’s putback layup at the buzzer off Bradley Beal’s missed mid-range jumper helped the Wizards outlast a reawakened Jaden Ivey and the tanks-a-million Pistons. Led by Beal (32 points, 7 assists), Washington had a far harder time in the clutch walking down the Pistons than the Hawks (negative-1.3 plus/minus in Clutch scenarios, 4^th worst in NBA and worst by any non-tanking team, unless you take ORL seriously) in Atlanta on February 28.

Atlanta does have company with Memphis among the NBA’s most inefficient fourth-quarter teams (negative-4.8 4^th-quarter plus/minus, 4^th-worst in the league). But at least Memphis does enough early on in games to give them the space to hang on and prevail late. Or, at least, they used to. That’s not a shot at you, Ja, simmer down.

Now, the Hawks are in the Wizards’ sights, with the hosts (31-34) in prime position to overtake Atlanta (32-34) in the clarifying race for Play-In seeds. Washington again trains their sights, as Miami did in Monday’s comeback victory, squarely upon Trae Young. Defensive opponents know, until Quin Snyder can throw together schemes that untangle Atlanta’s unimaginative offense, that the Hawks can’t find ways to dismount from their One-Trae Pony.

There is no denying that Young (last ten games: 25.9 PPG, 10.6 APG, 90.1 FT%) oozes superstardom. But when your superstar is also the primary ball-handler, rarely bears a height advantage, weighs under 170 pounds with adidas on, has to hoist threes (1-for-10 3FGs last 2 games @ MIA) well beyond 30 feet just to get good looks, and is incapable of just leaping over defenders to get high-percentage shots at the rim, you should know that adversity is baked in. Overcoming such adversity, more often than not for a minimum of 82 games per season, is a matter of collective Will.

Having a Little Engine That Could is fine, and it can be fun, even wildly popular when it comes to attendance (ATL’s 103.6 home attendance% is behind only DAL) and jersey sales (Young’s #11 ranks #11 in the NBA, runs circles around Beal, and leads all the NBA Southeast’s players). But you’ve got to engineer a little better than Norfolk Southern, lately, to make things chug smoothly on the tracks, never mind operating a high-speed bullet train or, as they say in D.C., a wizard train.

Atlanta was derailed in their last meeting with the Kristaps Porzingis-less Wizards, a 119-116 defeat. Young (team-high 31 points vs. WAS, 2-for-6 3FGs, 9-for-20 2FGs, 7 assists, 4 TOs) was blocked and stripped at turns by ex-Hawk Delon Wright (5 steals last night @ DET), Gafford, and Kyle Kuzma in the pivotal fourth, with pleas to the referees for kind whistles as Trae’s only recourse.

You Score, I Score used to be the strategic identity of Beal and his Wizard star mate in the backcourt at crunch time. Now, it’s Atlanta’s Young and Dejounte Murray, who each mustered 11 points in the final quarter of Monday’s loss in Miami, but also had teammates patching together a combined 10 points on 8 shots.

Despite ten points in ten first-half minutes, John Collins returned to his apparition role with one shot in three-and-a-half fourth-quarter minutes, going scoreless along with fellow starting frontcourt mate Clint Capela. With the game safely out of reach for Miami, Collins did manage a pair of assists in the final two seconds of play, but those were the only productive dishes by a Hawk not named Trae or Dejounte in the closing quarter.

There are scant few Off-Ball Trae plays. But aside from Young, there are no two-man post plays featuring the bigs, no finishing through contact in the paint, and no DHOs, fake or otherwise, to get DeAndre Hunter (1-for-4 FGs in 4^th @ MIA, his too-little, too-late make with two seconds to go) going at the basket. Further, as the Tyler Herros and Beals heat up versus Atlanta, the only genuine three-point threats to space the floor for Hawk guards come off the bench (hang in there, Pastor Griff, your sabbatical is nearly over), making it easy for opposing defenses to go Good Trae Hunting when it matters most.

I could be accused of over-selling the Hawks’ late-game malaise, as Atlanta only fell to 27-6 (11-2 in road games) when leading through three quarters. Usually, the problem is a case of digging too deep of a hole, and Young being left to swim upstream through defenders just as he needs to be heading downhill on them.

In any case, it’s All Eyez on Trae, and Young doesn’t mind the attention when ten defender-peepers and the crowds’ attention are all directed his way. But other teams, like Beal’s, have ample tactical diversionary threats that make opponents pay, either for overhelping, or when the ball rotates back into their stars’ hands.

It’s not all on Jimmy and Bam, all on Tatum and Brown, all on Brad and whoever, to generate offense when outcomes hang in the balance. Sometimes, just by moving off-ball, the stars serve as useful decoys for other playmakers (say, for example, a Corey Kispert, who went a useful 4-for-5 on treys last night) playing effectively to their strengths.

This isn’t just a SEGABABA for coach Junior Unseld’s club, but a fourth game in five nights. The Otherhawks have to do more than just retrieve the ball as caddies for Young and Murray, actively pushing the pace in transition and getting open with designs on scoring or earning fortuitous trips to the free throw line. Keeping the Zards on their heels for four quarters is merely a matter of, well, y’know.

Since it is March Madness season, is there any way we can dust off Mr. Bynum for a ten-day… welp, never mind. Please come through, Mr. Cauley-Stein, just as soon as your Rockets rental ends. Because, where there’s a Will, there’s a way to be cliché!

 

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[kg01]

7pm start.  Hate the non-7:30 starts. 

[shakes]

2 minutes ago, kg01 said:

7pm start.  Hate the non-7:30 starts. 

i love it here in Chicago.  6pm game times?  Hell yea.   By the time I fire up the DVR at 6:45 I can watch the whole game commercial and free throw free and be done in an hour with still 2-3 hours of quality TV time before I pass out on the couch.

[NBASupes]

Let's go Hawks!

[Gray Mule]

Many, many years ago my dad told me about a couple who had  identical twin boys.  They named then Will and Way!  Because, you know, where there is a will, there is a way!

GO ATL HAWKS!  Win one for the gripper (Quin)!!

 

[JayBirdHawk]

Who's gonna stop Beal tonight?

[SalvorMallow]

10 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Who's gonna stop Beal tonight?

HUNTER! He can guard 4 positions right? 

[Spud2nique]

2 hours ago, lethalweapon3 said:

tanks-a-million Pistons.

 

2 hours ago, lethalweapon3 said:

That’s not a shot at you, Ja, simmer down.

 

2 hours ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Young’s #11 ranks #11 in the NBA, runs circles around Beal, and leads all the NBA Southeast’s players).

Really? Wow surprising! I saw a kid at Costco here in Cali with a pink baby Butler of Miami. 

 

2 hours ago, lethalweapon3 said:

All Eyez on Trae,

 

2 hours ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Since it is March Madness season,

Yes yes!!!

 

2 hours ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Because, where there’s a Will, there’s a way to be cliché!

Beauty! You da man @lethalweapon3thank you! We need a win tonight! 
 

Vegas got Hawks -3

2k got Hawks by 26 (coincidentally Kyle Korver’s #.. not sure why but every time I see 26 I think Korver).

TRAE 40 points 12 dimes

DM 31 points 8 rebound 7 dimes

OO and CC double double!

 

 

GO HAWKS!!!!!!!

 

 

[BrazilianHawk]

34 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Who's gonna stop Beal tonight?

Tricky question, I don't have an answer but sure hope Quin does!

LET'S GO HAWKS!!!

[JayBirdHawk]

The Mitten with the early steal.

[hawkman]

Mitten x 2.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Uh OH . . Trae going big tonight.   6 pts and 2 STEALS already.

[JayBirdHawk]

Just now, JayBirdHawk said:

The Mitten with the early steal.

And another, lol

[Guest]

I'm late... and they're up a bunch already.
Should I leave again? 

 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Hawks just need to end the game after every 1st quarter.  Great start once again.

Even Collins knocking down 3s.

[Spud2nique]

1 minute ago, JayBirdHawk said:

And another, lol

Witness  

[JayBirdHawk]

Looking good on offense. Gotta tighten up the defense.....

AND TRAE HAS 3 STEALS .  Love it.

[BrazilianHawk]

You can tell the guys want to play tonight. It looks like Quin is doing some magic, defense has improved a lot. 

[TheNorthCydeRises]

Trae channeling his inner Isiah Thomas.  Now we just need Dejounte to turn into Joe Dumars.

Hunter, you can be Adrian Dantley.

 

[JayBirdHawk]

One of the changes Quin has made is having Hunter in with Murray and bench.