Official Game Thread: heat at Hawks

[lethalweapon3]

“We’re as mediocre as they come… and that’s No-Lye!”

 

Okay, Schedule Loss time! Or, is it?

Our Atlanta Hawks were all the way down in Ciudad de Mexico on Thursday, getting feted by I think Sprockets, Guillermo’s cousins, and cast members of Cirque du Soleil not already here at Atlantic Station.

They had to cool their keisters for almost two hours in traffic on Friday, just to make it a couple miles from the hotel over to the arena. They then played a down-to-the-wire thriller with the Orlando Magic where, at 7,349 feet, Trae Young was one more unstoppable half of basketball away from making Mexico City Game 2023 his Hershey Game 1962.

Two hours back to the hotel, after the Dub secured by the sweet dish from Trae (41 points on Who Knows-for-Who Cares FGs, 12-for-13 FTs, 8 assists, 3 steals “@” ORL) to Dejounte, and the postgame niceties, then a late-night siesta. Friday morning, once they get to the airport, it’s at least three-and-a-half hours flying back to Hartsfield-Jackson. As their plane crosses over Floribama, there’s the obligatory one-hour time-zone loss. Then, rest up, everybody, as there’s no time for much more than a walkthrough practice before the next game.

The whole time, between then and now (7:30 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, BS Sun in MIA), tonight’s opponent has been off, chillin’ like villains.

The opponent? The Hardest Working. Best Conditioned. Most Professional. Unselfish. Toughest. Meanest. Nastiest .500 Team in the NBA. Okay, you got me on the five-hunnid part, but that aside, that’s who the Miami heat are. Just ask them! It’s right there, emblazoned on their home court down in SoFla. Was this declaration cribbed from Thomas “TNT” Todd? Best Trained! Best Educated! Best Equipped!

We can credit Pat Riley, whose team bounced back from their Play-In loss to Young and the Hawks last spring to reach the Eastern Conference Finals for the third time in four years, and then The Finals for the sixth time in the past 13 seasons. His quip comes not from the eighth-seeded heat (44-38) vanquishing Coach Bud’s not-a-failure Bucks in five games during the opening round of the 2023 Playoffs, but from the dispatching of the Bucks in the Bubble, also in five, as a 44-29 fifth-seed during the 2020 conference semis.

You’re not going to catch Riley’s club getting distracted by the many Shoe Shows and Shake Shows that The ATL have to offer for some hoopers blessed with a little extra downtime. Not just because the heat are The Most Professional Bad-A** Team in the NBA, but because they emanate from, with all due respect to the good people of Houston and L.A., the one NBA town most likely to have similar been-there-poled-that performers.

They probably spent their off-hours at Fernbank, The Most Goodie-Two-Shoed, Strait-Laced Team in the NBA. Or, hey, there’s Cirque du Soleil ECHO, under the ole big top. It’s no Shake Show, but that’s close enough to the pin. Plus, The Hardest Working NBA Scouting Staff can spend a couple hours checking out Overtime Elite around the corner.

The heat didn’t need much more of leading scorer Tyler Herro to keep the downtrodden Grizzlies in hibernation on Wednesday evening, before flying from Memphis to Atlanta to continue their four-game road swing. Herro stepped on Jaren Jackson, Jr.’s foot midway through the first quarter of their 108-102 victory, and he heard some “crunches and cracks” in his ankle, to which I’d be inclined to say Welcome to Adulthood. Nonetheless, Herro will be shelved for a couple of weeks with a Grade 2 ankle sprain, giving heat coach Erik Spoelstra more reason to continue tinkering with his starting lineup and rotations.

Duncan Robinson (available, sprained wrist) assumed the lion’s share of what would’ve been Herro’s playing time on Wednesday. Since the heat are known for drafting so well whenever they have to (welcome back to Miami, Josh Richardson!), maybe it will be not Robinson, but another Triple-J, rookie Jaime Jaquez, Jr. (2.25 years older than last year’s first-rounder, Nikola Jovic), stepping fully into Herro’s role. Or, perhaps Haywood Highsmith, who was already tasked with giving season-starting power forward Kevin Love (available, contused shoulder) four consecutive off-games.

The inclusion of Highsmith with Herro, Jimmy Butler (out for today, personal family reasons), Kyle Lowry and Bam Adebayo was already the fifth different starting unit in Miami’s first eight games. Now, with Butler and Herro absent, there’ll be a sixth first-five quintet toiling for Coach Spo this evening.

It shouldn’t matter all that much, since the Hawks return home with understandably weary legs. And because Miami (4-4, three straight wins after a 1-4 start) is Just So Dadgum Professional. And Rugged! I left out Rugged, I think.

Miami surged to The Finals last season without the services of Herro, who was lost for the rest of the postseason campaign after fracturing his shooting hand diving for a loose ball in Game 1 at Milwaukee. But they got there thanks to solid supporting roles alongside Jimmy and Bam, held by Max Strus, now in Cleveland thanks to an offseason sign-and-trade for a future second-rounder, Gabe Vincent, now a Laker, the re-signed Richardson, and Caleb Martin (knee tendinosis, out since the season-opener).

Riley was dismayed to find out that with so much heatculture, there weren’t enough healthy assets to interest Portland in handing over Damian Lillard, who is now in Milwaukee in place of Jrue Holiday, who is now in Boston. After scraping by Detroit at home in their season-opener, the heat lost four straight, including to Jrue’s Celts and Dame’s Bucks. Limited with options to keep up with their conference rivals, Riley and Spoelstra are pressed to culturally appropriate Thomas Bryant, Jaquez, and former two-way contractors Dru Smith and Orlando Robinson, in order to pick up the slack.

Whether that works out or not, Miami is confident that, so long as Butler, Lowry and Adebayo are running the show, they can trick off whole segments of the regular season. That can hold true, so long as those stars aren’t worn threadbare by April, and so long as their divisional foes don’t get their respective acts together.

They are safe from the Wizards and Hornets, while the Magic, who draw Milwaukee tonight 90 minutes before the Hawks game, remain wait-and-see. But since Trae’s delicious dish to Tony Snell felled the heat back in March 2021, there has been only one instance over the past 19 games at Kaseya/FTX/AmericanAirlines Arena when Miami found their tough, mean, nasty selves on the short end of the final score versus a divisional opponent.

That exception, of course, was also thanks to Trae, whose interior-scoring masterpiece (7-for-10 2FGs, 8-for-9 FTs, 7 assists) in last April’s Play-In Game was solidified by a surprisingly balanced and collective bench effort from Saddiq Bey, Bogi Bogdanovic, Onyeka Okongwu and Jalen Johnson (53 combined bench points vs. MIA, outpacing Lowry’s 33), each of whom now have elevated and clearer roles in Atlanta head coach Quin Snyder’s schemes.

Over 82 games, Miami may need more than just heatculture to fend off the Hawks (5-3), the only rival who has kept the heat from claiming the Southeast Division banner for four years and running. They could use a little schedulefavor, too.

The heat will depart State Farm Arena to visit Wemby in San Antonio tomorrow, so it could be a tough back-to-back for them, especially while short-starred. Still, the Hawks and heat will face off again in Miami right before Christmas, and barring another poorly-timed IG Live post, Memphis is expected to have Ja Morant back when the Hawks return home to face the Grizzlies the next day. Miami will also be the front end of a road-home back-to-back for Atlanta (with the Cavs awaiting that result) after MLK weekend, as well as a home-home B2B where the Hornets follow-up the heat near season’s end.

Today, the Hawks can make things easier on themselves by overwhelming the depleted heat (minus-4.9 bench Net Rating, tie-2^nd worst in NBA; 9.1 bench TO%, 2^nd-worst in NBA) with waves of positive two-way production from their reserves, like Bogi (3 steals, 3 threes, 3 assists on Thursday) and Onyeka (3 steals, 4 blocks in 20.6 minutes), exploiting their respective matchups and drawing trips to the foul line. Conserving the starters’ late-game energies for Atlanta’s first IST game, in Detroit on Tuesday, would also be beneficial.

Maybe it won’t be quite enough for the Hawks tonight, given the short turnaround after high-wire, high-altitude play plus cross-continental travel. But if Miami gets to explain why they prevailed postgame, don’t be surprised if Coach Spo and company sound more like Daft Punk. Because, as everyone knows by their press clippings, Miami plays basketball Harder. Better. Faster. Stronger…  

 

Lift As We Fly. Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[benhillboy]

It’s always a bummer for me when Jimmy isn’t suiting up.  Good for the Hawks though, they should win by a dub.  The heat’s depth chart looks like a fiery 20-car pile up.

Jacquez Jr and Dru Smith seem like they’ll stick as guys Spo can develop and trust though.

Edited November 11, 2023 by benhillboy

[lethalweapon3]

Who was going to be the one to deactivate UD's keycard?

Good news for Atlanta that neither Udonis nor Joshua Dobbs have been signed to a 10-day.

In addition to Butler and Herro, Caleb Martin remains Out. K-Love (DNP last four games, shoulder), Dru Smith (sprained AC joint), and Dunc-Rob (sprained wrist) are Available, while Jovic (head injury plus non-COVID illness recovery) is upgraded to Probable. Two-way big Cole Swider started this week in Miami, then flew to G-League Sioux Falls before being re-routed to ATL. So hopefully his arms are tired.

For the Hawks, Wesley 2T's Matthews has been upgraded to Questionable, while rooks Mo Gueye (strained back) and Kobe Bufkin (broke thumb) remain on the Out side looking in.

~lw3

[JeffS17]

Looking forward to this one.  This will be a nice test of our defense this year because this team has out hustled us the past couple of years.  And they should not be putting up more than 105 if we play well.  
 

Hoping to see Okongwu on Bam a bit tonight to see if hes able to produce against a guy that is effectively a more polished version of himself.  Also looking to see Trae have a big night as this team does not have a good answer for him on D

[JayBirdHawk]

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

The opponent? The Hardest Working. Best Conditioned. Most Professional. Unselfish. Toughest. Meanest. Nastiest .500 Team in the NBA. Okay, you got me on the five-hunnid part

1 hour ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Today, the Hawks can make things easier on themselves by overwhelming the depleted heat (

We need to put them away early. We can't be playing from behind in this game.

[Spud2nique]

Thanks lw3! 2K got Hawks by 3. 
 

Vegas Hawks -7.5

2 in a row here we come.

 

Go Hawks!

[JayBirdHawk]

Last time we played....

 

The bench unit was big in this game:

 

[kg01]

Just gimme a 48-minute, professional effort bois. 

[Spud2nique]

We’re gonna givem..

a lil Georgia .. a lil southern twiiiiiissstttt..  

we hit and don’t miiiiiissssss…  

Shout out to the bubble gum crew  

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[HawksNWaffles]

Let's go hawks

Btw AI is.... Weird

Edited November 11, 2023 by HawksNWaffles

[hawkman]

This beef ain't over. This is a must win game.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

Heat are starting Lowry, Robinson, Jacquez, Highsmith and Adebayo.

[BrazilianHawk]

LET'S GO HAWKS!

 

Just in time. 

[Dnice]

Sleepwalking early. 

[Carmine]

Hunter.... & obligatory **** Kyle Lowry post

[MaceCase]

Kits are giving me Duke vibes..... but I'll allow it.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

4 hours ago, kg01 said:

Just gimme a 48-minute, professional effort bois. 

2 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

 

The sky blue and black is a very clean look.