Official Game Thread: Clippers at Hawks

[lethalweapon3]

“We’re in your System! I just want you to know that…”

 

“This kid could become the face of the NBA for the next decade.” Alas, he’s an LA Clipper.

It’s 2010. He’s under contract with a team that has lost an awful lot. They’ve never won any championships, or even appeared in an NBA Finals, living in the shadow of the Lakers, at times even in their own arena, since moving to SoCal in 1978.

Understanding rookie sensation Blake Griffin needed help, the Clippers swung for the fences, poaching Chris Paul from the Lakers. But after a couple sour postseason endings, there was a sobering thought. Is Vinny Del Negro the coach to one day push this team over the finish line?

Hey, Clippers owner. When you catch a break from shaking down your tenement tenants, find out what it would take to grant Doc Rivers a graceful exit from Boston. It might take more than a first-rounder for compensation to pry him free. Perhaps, let Doc bring his trusty Celtic assistants with him?

“This kid could become the most skilled point guard in the history of the NBA, when all is said and done.” Bad news for this other #1 overall pick, though. He’s a Cleveland Cavalier.

It’s 2013. He’s locked down with a team that never won it all, no matter how hard their hometown hero tried to erase the franchise’s drab history, dating back to 1970. That meal ticket moved to Miami, the sole reason the new young star even landed here.

Understanding Kyrie Irving needed help, the Cavs were basically shrugging it out, stringing him along. Suddenly, word got out: LeBron James, the now hated hometown hero, was homesick. Hey, Cavs owner. Time to swing for the fences!

Kyrie had already cycled through Byron Scott, and a returning Mike Brown. Then Cleveland brought in a Euroleague coaching legend in hopes Irving could transcend beyond his mixtape tendencies, and plucked one of Rivers’ lauded assistants, an NBA veteran point guard himself, to be the new coach’s lead associate. But after LeBron arrived, he considered his team’s sluggish season starts, and despite another trip for Cleveland to the NBA Finals, The King eventually turned his thumb down on David Blatt, in midseason.

Tyronn Lue, you help these Cavs get to the Promised Land. Feel free, if you wish, to step over Blatt along the way.

Happy Black History Month to the last two African-American head coaches to earn an NBA championship ring. Shot-calling stars, like LeBron and Giannis, put up with head coaches who know the game, as in X’s and O’s, but they’re actively politicking to be led by longtime veterans, turned coaches, who profess to understand The Game. Thus, Rivers suddenly finds himself plopped in the chair where NBA champion Coach Bud once sat. In Milwaukee, to prove to Giannis that he’s The Guy for The Job, Rivers gets to polish off the ring he gained back when Boston swung for the fences on Paul Pierce’s behalf.

Play Six Degrees of Separation, and you’d likely be just three steps removed from either Lue or Rivers before you’d ensnare every active NBA player not on a rookie-scale. It’s not lost on me that Doc and T-Lue also just happen to have served time as PG starters for your Atlanta Hawks. That designation alone doesn’t translate easily into All-Star reserve votes. But it does bode well, for Trae Young, that prime coaching opportunities may be in the cards for his post-playing career, a decade or two down the line.

For the moment, Young toils for a team that has yet to reach an NBA Finals since 1961, none at all since moving to Atlanta in 1968. His ho-hum Hawks, throughout its organizational history, have been a franchise that prefers to try sacrifice-bunting its stars to second base, rather than swing from the shoe tops. As Young decides whether Quin Snyder is truly the guy to help him steal third base, and maybe even home plate, T-Lue’s big-spender Clippers come into State Farm Arena today (7:30 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, BS SoCal in LAX) with the bases loaded and, for once, nobody out.

(Sorry for all the cheap baseball references. At this time last week, I was already looking forward to pitchers and catchers arriving for Spring Training.)

Hey, current Clippers owner. Not enough NBA 75’ers on the roster to pair with Paul George? Go ahead and snag one more! I was among many folks giggling at the Clippers’ woes upon acquiring James Harden from Philly. But I was also concerned about the heat beneath Lue’s seat as LA dropped six straight, falling to 3-7 by mid-November.

30 wins in 38 games later, it turned out Lue just needed more time to work through the kinks, get players healthy, optimize rotations and upgrade the team chemistry. LA (33-15, 1.0 GB top-seeds OKC and MIN) has won 16 of its past 19 games, after straitjacketing Jimmy Butler’s heat in Miami last night, and Lue wound up just a couple wins short of getting to meet up with Coach Doc along the sideline in Indianapolis.

Lue was able to limit Kawhi Leonard’s and sixth-man Russell Westbrook’s fourth-quarter minutes, conserving their energies for this back end of a back-to-back set that closes out a seven-game road swing. He also got Ivica Zubac back for a half-game after the starting center missed the prior nine Clipper games with a strained calf. His Clips don’t need their Big 4 on the floor (plus Zubac) together to thrive, so long as players like Norman Powell (48.0 3FG%, 15.8 bench PPG last 4 games) and Terance Mann are hitting open shots and executing their roles well.

The Hawks (22-27) will need scene-stealing performances from Tinseltown native Onyeka Okongwu, with Clint Capela (strained adductor) sidelined over the next week or so, if they intend to extend their current four-game win streak beyond the homestand that concludes tonight. Teammates limiting paint penetration and encouraging Kawhi, PG, and the Beard (40.9-45.1 3FG percentage range, 87.0-89.1 FT percentage range) to settle for mid-range shots will be key, as keeping Gwu Tang from getting into foul trouble will be a tall task.

After Bruno Fernando, the next heftiest Hawks at Snyder’s disposal, maybe, are De’Andre Hunter (questionable, injury management), AJ Griffin and Bogi Bogdanovic. A strong team boxout effort, withholding Westbrook and Zubac in particular, to secure defensive caroms will be needed to control the clock and aid Young and Dejounte Murray in pushing the pace to their end-game advantage.

Trae Young? This kid is already the premier dime-dropper in the NBA “But, he’s an Atlanta Hawk” has been a hindrance to his profile and a detriment to his team's ascension in the league. Yet, “But, he’s a Nugget,” no longer matters in Denver. “But, they’re the Timberwolves” isn’t keeping Chis Finch from finally nudging Minnesota to the top of the West, neck-and-neck with the “But, it’s OKC,” while fending off the “But, it’s the Kings,” as LeBron and Steph struggle to get their teams’ “Buts” in gear.

“But, they’re the Clippers,” certainly isn’t stopping anyone in Vegas or Pundit-land from projecting T-Lue's squad as the team to get out of the NBA West, especially now that the dust around the Harden deal has settled. The difference is some teams, despite their sordid histories, have owners and front office managers recognizing the prime opportunities they have with the talents in their possession, and willing to swing, batta batta, swing.

 

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[Gray Mule]

LA Haircutters drop by for a visit tonight.  Betcha they expect us to roll over and play dead for them.  They are currently one of the big dogs from out west.

GO ATL HAWKS!!

Edited February 5 by Gray Mule

[lethalweapon3]

Saddiq Bey (sprained ankle) joins De'Andre Hunter (knee injury management) with Questionable designations on the Boo-Boo Report. LAC's opening injury/illness list is due in about an hour.

As per Hawks' GameNotes, Trae will scooch past Mookie for 2nd All-Time in franchise history for assists with two this evening. Three will place him 100 helpers behind franchise leader Doc Rivers.

Trae's theft in Saturday's wild win over GSW moved him into the top-twenty Hawks all-time for steals, passing Spencer's uncle Steve Hawes, who played alongside Wes Matthews Sr. in the early 1980s.

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Clips won't be in a big hurry to make it back home. Who lied to Tony! Toni! Tone!?

Their side of the Boo-Boo Report ledger is fairly clean, although minutes may be truncated by T-Lue for some of the vets tonight, particularly Harden (42 minutes @ MIA). PG (3-for-13 FGs over 33 minutes @ MIA) told The Athletic's Law Murray that he expects to play today. Zubac got about 18 minutes in his return to action yesterday, and is listed as Questionable with his strained calf. Mason Plumlee plugged the pivot spot for most of the fourth-quarter.

~lw3

[JeffS17]

We REALLY need Hunter in this game.  I don't see anyone else providing any kind of resistance to Kawhi.  We're going to have our hands full on the perimeter.

[shakes]

3 minutes ago, JeffS17 said:

We REALLY need Hunter in this game.  

said no one ever.

[AHF]

8 minutes ago, JeffS17 said:

We REALLY need Hunter in this game.  I don't see anyone else providing any kind of resistance to Kawhi.  We're going to have our hands full on the perimeter.

Agree.  We are always thin with wing defenders but desperately so today and up against a pair of really strong big wings.  Fingers crossed he can play more than he has recently.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[macdaddy]

13 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

Why send him back and forth if he's out. 

[JayBirdHawk]

14 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Why send him back and forth if he's out. 

 

 

He's probably practicing with the GL (they play on Wednesday) but they want him on the bench during the NBA games

[hawkman]

1 hour ago, JeffS17 said:

We REALLY need Hunter in this game.  I don't see anyone else providing any kind of resistance to Kawhi.  We're going to have our hands full on the perimeter.

Kawhi is back in Terminator mode. I'm worried about tonight's game but the West should be worried more.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[AHF]

32 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Why send him back and forth if he's out. 

I assume it is so he can watch Kawhi and George and the coaches will tell him:

"This is what we want you to be.  Watch and absorb as much as you can."

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

Works out well since CC is also out.

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

Saddiq Bey (left ankle sprain) is available

De’Andre Hunter (knee injury management) is available. 

Clint Capela (adductor) was already ruled out.

Mo Gueye remains out.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

 

[Diesel]

This is going to be a tough game.  Very tough game.

All of their guys are big...

All of their guys can shoot...

We can't give up all those Klay Thompson Three point opps with the Clipps. 

IMHO, we will have to play fast.  make these jokers run and see if we can tire them out.   Also, since we're small play fast.  Make them play small too.

Get the energy guys back on the floor.   Yeah, that includes the no country for old men that we have on the bench. 

And.. Welcome back Saddiq!

 

[JayBirdHawk]

 

@BTRowland

 

I asked Quin Snyder pregame about De’Andre Hunter’s progression and any limitations. Pretty vague answer overall and nothing specific on a # of minutes for tonight.