Hawks secure #7 Seed vs C's

[sturt]

13 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

He can add wrinkles to our offense and defense that the C's would not have scouted.

Yes and no. And sorta.

1. Can he add wrinkles to our offense and defense that the C's have not seen the Hawks implement?

Yes.

2. Is it very likely that he would add something he hadn't relied upon in his several years in Utah.. and for which there is tape?

No.

3. Will Q even have enough time to add wrinkles to any degree, given that the series starts in 3 days?

"To any degree," yes, but not a lot... so sorta.

[kg01]

1 hour ago, marco102 said:

I don't know where to post this so I'm going to rant here.  Listening to nbaradio on SiriusXM today.  Brian Scalabrine was straight up slandering Trae.  What is it with these media guys and their agenda to make him seem like his teammates and the front office hate that he's here.  They even suggested a Ben Simmons for Trae Young trade. Like WTF!?!

Also said the Hawks don't have a shot against the C's which isn't surprising.

I'm about to cancel my subscription.  These guys and their agendas.

I see Looka on first team all nba ballots, but was told it was all about winning when Trae was putting up 29 and 9 on great efficiency.  The double standards are wild around here. 

@kg01 did you listen today? 

Yep.  Ridiculous.

He spoke highly of Trae most of the show.  They talked Collins comments about Trae being a better playmaker than Curry.   He said he's right because Trae is "the best playmaker in the league".

They were complimentary when they interviewed Fields.  So it was a mixed bag. 

1 hour ago, AHF said:

Not only a trade for Simmons but BKN shouldn't be adding picks.  Yep.

[marco102]

7 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Yep.  Ridiculous.

He spoke highly of Trae most of the show.  They talked Collins comments about Trae being a better playmaker than Curry.   He said he's right because Trae is "the best playmaker in the league".

They were complimentary when they interviewed Fields.  So it was a mixed bag. 

Not only a trade for Simmons but BKN shouldn't be adding picks.  Yep.

Just strange. I hadn't gotten to the Fields interview. Those comments just threw me in a rage.

[bleachkit]

2 hours ago, marco102 said:

 

@bleachkit looks pretty serious to me when it's your shooting hand.

Just depends. Where exactly is it on the hand? Is it completely healed? I'm guessing if they are letting him play it can't be too bad. 

[AHF]

59 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Not only a trade for Simmons but BKN shouldn't be adding picks.  Yep.

That is **&$ing insane.  Like Simmons value should be in the absolute toilet right now.  You might not be able to trade him for a bag of chips without attaching picks right now given the risk that he isn't even available to play let alone that he plays as poorly as he did last year.  So just...how....how?  

[JayBirdHawk]

4 hours ago, ShooterSays said:

5 stitches in his shooting hand and to see it wrapped like that…yikes. I’m sure he’ll play, but this will likely impact his shooting until fully healed. I mean, look how much a finger injury impacted JC…

 

It may not only affect his shooting, but maybe also his ball handling. He's not really strong with the ball, apt to TOs....Hawks need to make him a play maker to test that hand.

[sturt]

Keith Smith is one of those people who I really wonder if/how he has any family life whatsoever. I know of no one more consumed by his NBA passion. How he holds down any decent job is a mystery. But that said, though a Celtics fan, he's always impressed me as someone who earnestly tries to speak from some degree of objectivity.

Here's his take on the series. WARNING: This will not affirm that "some degree of objectivity" sentence. But to be fair, we all know there's no shortage of people who agree with his take.

https://www.celticsblog.com/2023/4/12/23680395/boston-celtics-atlanta-hawks-eastern-conference-first-round-playoff-series-preview

After assessing all the angles, here's his bottom line...

 

Also notable... schedule for first four games is set...

 

 

[REHawksFan]

Was traveling for work today so listened to a couple of NBA podcasts.  Listened to Locked on NBA as well as one other one.  I was amazed that even in the recap of last nights game, it was all about Miami and very little about the Hawks playing well.  And then always ended in the same thing regarding the celtics - Boston Sweep.  Not even a path to a competitive series.  Not even willing to entertain the idea.  Just out right dismissal. 

And frankly, the only real Hawks talk most would entertain was whether the Hawks should trade Trae or not.  And almost all of the discussion was some bogus media narrative featuring Trae not being able to mesh with Q, Trae not getting along with his teammates, Trae being horrendous on D, etc.... 

I want nothing more than for the Hawks to beat the hell out of the celtics and let Trae lead the charge just to give a giant FU to these talking heads that don't know ish about the Hawks.   

[JayBirdHawk]

We have to figure out guarding the Celtics 5-out offense. Capela struggles guarding 3pt shooting centers, he's always slow to get out to them.

What's the solution?

[NBASupes]

This team has only put it all together like 3 times all year and this was the first time where the starters and bench was tremendous and playing plus ball. I can see why people are down on us. That said, don't count out the Hawks.

[sturt]

27 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

We have to figure out guarding the Celtics 5-out offense. Capela struggles guarding 3pt shooting centers, he's always slow to get out to them.

What's the solution?

 

Believe me, I've been turning down NBA head coach job offers right and left the last several years since Hawksquawk began exposing my exceptional strategery skills ... and my highly sophisticated analysis has found the court is leveled to the degree that you

(a) make sure Tatum... Tatum in particular... doesn't find a rhythm from the arc... and

(b) keep them from getting 2nd shots.

 

So, to address the question posed... I'm going to view Horford's 3 pt shooting as a trade-off to Capela's rebounding. If Horford shoots so outstanding for the entire series, oh well... just as, for them, they have to say if Capela dominates the defensive paint so outstanding for the entire series, oh well.

 

But what I might do that I haven't done all season...

(a) throw caution to the wind and put Yeka on the floor to guard Tatum sometimes even if Clint is on the floor...

(b) throw caution to the wind and see if Jalen can neutralize an All-Star with some consistency...

along with doing what everyone anticipates, playing Dre against him.

 

They can win without Tatum having a good game, but the evidence says you gameplan first against him because, when they do lose, Tatum has shot .280 from the arc.

[sturt]

28 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

This team has only put it all together like 3 times all year and this was the first time where the starters and bench was tremendous and playing plus ball. I can see why people are down on us. That said, don't count out the Hawks.

Damn, sure.

This is the same team that imploded just three games ago against the "mighty" Sixers bench.

That said, I subscribed to the theory that this team simply one of those that has an exceptionally wide range of performance... ie, a lower floor than you can normally anticipate from a playoff team, but also a higher ceiling than people are generally prepared to conceive... and and and... they have been especially prone to emotional ups and downs, which would explain why our guys were on their way to a win vs. PHI the other night until word got around on the bench that TOR was getting roasted in BOS. The urgency to win went out of that balloon, and they just didn't have the emotional maturity to remain focused and beat PHI anyway.

THIS is congruent with what we heard Quin telling the team after last night's game... he wanted them to recognize the confidence they can take... to grow some emotional maturity... from having taken knockout punches thrown by MIA, and persevered still.

I was never as down on Nate as most around here, but I'm a firm believer as are many that Quin's voice can be a difference maker in the outcome of this season.

[swanlee]

To me this one win is a fine sendoff and proof that Quinn is the right guy for this team long term.

Anything else we do is gravy. With the crazy ups and down ill take a play in win and call it good and be excited for next year.

Edited April 13, 2023 by swanlee

[Diesel]

1 hour ago, JayBirdHawk said:

We have to figure out guarding the Celtics 5-out offense. Capela struggles guarding 3pt shooting centers, he's always slow to get out to them.

What's the solution?

We're going to have to outscore them.  Push the pace... I would even play some small ball.   Let JJ play some Center.   The key is constant movement and faster pace.   Defenses work when they can get set.   Fouls happen when you run on an unset defense.   That's what we do. 

[Diesel]

47 minutes ago, swanlee said:

To me this one win is a fine sendoff and proof that Quinn is the right guy for this team long term.

Anything else we do is gravy. With the crazy ups and down ill take a play in win and call it good and be excited for next year.

Nah... Boston can be beat.   We can beat them.   We just have to have the focus. 

 

[NBASupes]

2 hours ago, sturt said:

Damn, sure.

This is the same team that imploded just three games ago against the "mighty" Sixers bench.

That said, I subscribed to the theory that this team simply one of those that has an exceptionally wide range of performance... ie, a lower floor than you can normally anticipate from a playoff team, but also a higher ceiling than people are generally prepared to conceive... and and and... they have been especially prone to emotional ups and downs, which would explain why our guys were on their way to a win vs. PHI the other night until word got around on the bench that TOR was getting roasted in BOS. The urgency to win went out of that balloon, and they just didn't have the emotional maturity to remain focused and beat PHI anyway.

THIS is congruent with what we heard Quin telling the team after last night's game... he wanted them to recognize the confidence they can take... to grow some emotional maturity... from having taken knockout punches thrown by MIA, and persevered still.

I was never as down on Nate as most around here, but I'm a firm believer as are many that Quin's voice can be a difference maker in the outcome of this season.

I don't know if this team has a high floor but if we can do more spamming with a lot of actions with the starters and just keep doing what we doing with the bench, we got a chance to be great in these playoffs. 

[benhillboy]

I expect Boston to win being the far better two-way squad but they have to show me they can put clamps on Quin’s 121.4 Offensive Rating.  That ain’t no walk in the park.  

I haven’t said this in years but if the Hawks can manage to consistently have a winning margin in 3 out of 4 factors (rebounding, FT attempts/ efficiency, 3 point efficiency, turnover) as they did in the last run they can kick anyone up the ass.  Bey and Jalen add such unpredictability.

I wished we still had Delon to press Jaylen Brown’s dribble but DJ will have to do in spots.  Oladipo and GPII got their hands on it almost at will during the Celts run in the last two rounds.  Derrick white is the guy you never gameplan for and he slick been their most consistent player through the whole season with their highest on/off net by far at +9.8 followed by Tatum and Time Lord.

Edited April 13, 2023 by benhillboy

[JTB]

8 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

We have to figure out guarding the Celtics 5-out offense. Capela struggles guarding 3pt shooting centers, he's always slow to get out to them.

What's the solution?

In my opinion OO is a key factor in this series due to the Cs big man 3pt shooting and he’s going to have to grow up, man up quickly with vets like horford. I hate to say it cause it sounds bias and I’m sure @NBASupes would disagree about his boy horford but Al gets away with being overly physical in the playoffs during his time in Boston!…he would have never gotten away with that here in Atlanta and that’s why we never saw it. 

Theres a trade off between Capela guarding horford and OO guarding horford and it’s a key matchup to me that is NOT being talked about enough.

We all know since horford hawk days that you can’t go off of his box score stats as he’s about the intangibles. But let it be known …Alice is shooting lights out from 3 this season at 44% on 5 attempts per game which for a center is outstanding.

 

So I’m getting to my point….based on Horford shooting ability OO is the better matchup but IF you play OO more minutes, horford has shown that he can be physical. Alice is one of the few that battled Giannis 1on1 in the paint and won some of those battles. My fear is that OO plays more minutes and then gets bullied by horford in the paint. I’m not calling OO weak after all he held his own vs Embiid his rookie season but he’s still a very young center at this stage.

If Capela gets all the minutes then we know the result. Horford will get easy spot up shots or if CC isn’t near the goal it’s going to be layup City for Tatum and Brown.

 

MY SOLUTION:

Run a smart zone defense that has some perimeter switching at the top of the key even if there’s clear mismatches along the perimeter. Let Tatum shoot those long 3s over Trae at the top of the arc. Keep Collins, Hunter, Bey, Jalen near the baseline of the zone to help our centers attack the boards defensively. Overall there’s no perfect defense for this but I would rather have our backcourt players contest shots at the top areas of the perimeter against Boston 3pt shooters like Tatum , Brown, Horford etc then to allow easy baskets and potential offensive rebounds.

We can’t let Trae or even Murray get trapped into low post defense in this series AND allow the barrage of 3s. 
 

 

[theheroatl]

I think it doesn't even really come down to what the Celtics are or do... 

If we play with really intense and focused energy like the Miami game, we can beat anyone. It will take some motivation similar to what was said then. I like the talent we have now and if we hit them where it hurts, in the paint and the 3 pt. line then we can match or beat them.

I don't know what was said or how we came out so strong on the road against a team that has historically been a problem for us but if we can somehow use that as a model for getting fired up, we have a great chance.

[gurpilo]

I would say that one player we need to control is Sam Hauser and his 3 pt shooting, yeah weird and stupid but look at the data

1st game vs Hawks: 5 3pt shots converted on 6 attempts

2nd game vs Hawks: 4 3pt shots converted on 5 attempts

3rd game vs Hawks.: 8 3pt shots converted on 14 attempts....

17.7 ppg vs Hawks for a guy that is averaging 8 ppg on this season