Official Game Thread: heat at Hawks

[lethalweapon3]

“Did somebody say, ‘Come up short in the finals?’”

 

715 is a number held in great regard here in the 404. I’ve got another special number I wouldn’t mind being around long enough to see one day in The A.

15,807 is a world away for most NBA players, when it comes to assist-making. Even pro-hoop lifers winding their careers down, like Chris Paul, have yet to eclipse 12,000 assists. But I imagine John Stockton’s record to be attainable, in an era where hooping into one’s forties isn’t a crazy concept, for a 25-year old who is currently the active NBA leader in per-game assists (9.5 regular-season APG, above CP3’s 9.36; 29-year-old Nikola Jokic, at 6.91, and 26-year-old De’Aaron Fox are the next closest among vicenarians).

As was the case with would-be standard bearer Magic Johnson, health and wellness will surely be one factor for The Trae Young, still attacking his rehab (pinkie ligament tear) ahead of the final scheduled Atlanta Hawks home games today, versus Miami (7:30 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, BS Sun in MIA), and tomorrow versus Charlotte, without much confirmation as to whether he will get any warmups with adversaries before the 9/10 Play-In arrives. As big a component will be Young finding his Karl Malone partner-in-grime.

Up in Wisconsin, Hammerin’ Hank, a league MVP, a World Series champ and a two-time batting champ, was already near 400 dingers before he begrudgingly accepted the risk of joining his baseball club on the dive into the great unknown of professional life in 1960s America’s Deep South. Here in Georgia, it would be sweet to see a sporting record of high repute one day snapped by a special athlete who, to that point in his/her career, only needed to don one city’s jersey the whole time.

Salt Lake City knows the vibe. Stockton might have threatened to breach the 20,000-assist barrier there, had Frank Layden’s Jazz taken the risk to make the lightly heralded Gonzaga product, instead of esteemed vet Rickey Green, the regular starting PG in any of the first three seasons of his career. Atlanta, comparatively, handed 2018’s lottery draft prize the keys to the Range from the jump.

From his sophomore season on, Stockton was able to grow side-by-side with The Mailman delivering, with durability, as they led their team to 18 consecutive playoff campaigns. Currently 12^th in PPG all-time, Trae has had the benefit of Clint Capela (62.1 career FG%, 4^th-highest in NBA history, eye-tests be darned) and John Collins (55.1 career FG% w/ ATL, good enough for Top-30 all-time), but not scorers at volumes worthy of mutual All-Stardom and folklore. Whether Young’s Hawks (36-42, first losing record since 2019-20) make it four playoff runs in a row remains to be seen.

One Hawk who helms from Wisconsin might be just the right frontcourt coupling for Young, going forward. While he projects as more neo-Kemp than neo-Malone, the key for Jalen Johnson (last two games: 11-for-30 combined FGs, 8 assists, 8 TOs) will be to use the offseason to expand on his versatility, where he can become as dependable on the low block, at the three-point corner, and the free throw line, as he is whenever he soars assertively into the lane.

Annually, or all-time, home run records feel like singular athletic feats of fancy. But even after generations of seasonal home run chases, Henry Aaron remains the king of runs batted in, his final tally of 2,297 upon his 1976 retirement not approached even after players named Pujols, A-Rod, Bonds, and Cabrera have hung up their cleats. The nearest active RBI leader in the majors, 34-year-old Freddie Freeman, would have to nearly double his current collection to someday surpass Aaron.

Being the home run king is a testament to longevity, endurance, and power. But one doesn’t get to be the RBI king without good teammates.  Pitchers couldn’t pitch around Aaron, not with the likes of Eddie Matthews, Joe Torre, and later Joe Torre and the punchy Rico Carty around him.

Record assists, much like RBIs alongside HRs, will never be as heralded as LeBron’s newfound scoring record in the NBA. But with the right coalition of teammates that allow Trae to thrive, particularly in this three-point-heavy era, Young can one day lead the NBA all-time in points created, by either scoring or passing, well before he approaches Stockton’s lofty assist mark. It is clear, as it stands, that a new batting order for the Hawks is in order.

Can Dejounte Murray continue to be Trae’s main battery mate? We’ve gotten a little of the bad, and a lot of the good, of the Hawks (12-10 since Feb. 23) soldiering through the back end of this season with Murray calling the shots primarily in Young’s absence. However long the post-regular season lasts, this is likely to be the last opportunity to see Young and Murray (minus-6.1 per 100 possessions, as per bball-ref, lowest among ATL 2-Man pairs with over 1,000 minutes) figuring out how to function together as a winning backcourt tandem.

In the visitors’ dugout are the heat, whose 43-35 record is hardly an improvement over last season, when they won four of their final five games just to finish at 44-38. In a conference where seeds 2-through-8, though, are separated by 4.0 games, hope trickles anew.

It helps the heat that they have Tyler Herro back in time for another playoff push, and that they have the stability of a trusted, rings-bearing Coach/Executive combo. It aids their cause that Herro’s return from knee and foot ailments reunites the trio, with Bam Adebayo and Jimmy Butler, that went from barely surviving 2023’s Play-Ins as an 8-seed to an NBA Finalist for the second time in four years.

The flirt with disaster that came with the Bulls, in Miami, up 1 in the third quarter of last year’s PIT second-round, a game that became a must-win after Young and Capela’s rebounding-dominant Hawks humbled the heat in Round 1, makes it imperative that this year’s heat (1.5 GB 6-seed IND), first, avoid the Play-In altogether. Failing that, and then without a first-round Play-In victory, a rematch for either the upset-minded Bulls or Hawks would be in the cards, with the team the heat vanquished in the ECF, stride-hitting Boston, awaiting the winner.

That’s why not only is Herro back already, but players up and down the roster are sticking their necks out to improve Miami’s standing. Most literally Terry Rozier, the Deadline pickup who played through neck spasms for three quarters of Sunday’s 117-115 loss in Indy, then spent the fourth quarter sorely regretting that decision. “I felt like I hurt the team by trying to be a warrior and get out there,” Rozier shared with the Miami Herald.

Questionable to appear this evening, Scary Terry is among a litany of wounded-warrior statuses on Miami’s side of the injury report. Adebayo (sprained hand), Kevin Love (sprained ankle), Orlando Robinson (spasming back) and Nikola Jovic (sprained ankle) are all listed as probable for The Baddest and Bougiest Team in the NBA. Had Jimmy Butler (57.4 average games played over five seasons in MIA; tonight will be Game #57) and the heat not tricked off whole segments of the earlier season, coach Erik Spoelstra might have been in a position to designate these players as out, joining Duncan Robinson (spinal arthritis), for these remaining games.

They messed around on Udonis Haslem’s jersey retirement night, and they found out what happens when you let Murray steal the show. While Young was sidelined due to illness, Dejounte’s game-winning triple with two seconds remaining secured the 109-108 win for Atlanta. That precipitated a losing skid for Miami that would extend to seven games, dropping the heat to 24-23. Having split their past 20 games, mixing big wins with humbling defeats, it is hard to say that the heat have found their footing.

Miami would much rather have the extra few days off, to more fully heal, and then draw a struggling team like Milwaukee, who thought they had made up for last year’s first-round dispatch by stealing away Damian Lillard from the heat’s clutches. A team Miami doesn’t want to see anytime soon in their house are the Hawks, who are no Murderer’s Row, especially on defense, but can be a tough out whether it’s Young or Murray in the leadoff spot.

Johnson, De’Andre Hunter, Capela (team-high 19 points and 12 rebounds @ DEN last Saturday) and the Hawks frontcourt can be beneficiaries of Miami’s banged-up frontcourt and bench, so long as Murray (10-for-32 combined FGs last two road games, losses @ DAL and @ DEN, but 8.0 APG) doesn’t fall prey to early-game hero-ball whims and feeds them relentlessly.

Miami heads home later for a nationally televised game versus Dallas, currently in Charlotte as the Mavs and Hornets race south for respective games in South Beach and ATL tomorrow. The heat might catch the breaks they need when Toronto arrives for a pair of games to close out this season. But a loss or two, particularly against Atlanta in the heat’s final road game, will once more beg the question of whether one should hope for Playoff Jimmy to appear, year after year, when it’s so hard, even with Jimmy, to sneak into the Playoffs.

I’d delve further… oh, I’m told I can’t use “delve” anymore, because ChatGPT, or something… but I'll stop here, since we’re getting very close to 7:15.

 

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

Back backbackbackbackbackbackbackback... almost gone?

"My neck! Your back!"

Atlanta of course has Easy Mo Gee back after having missed most of this season with back and UCL injuries. Trae as we know is back practicing with the Basketball Club, too, and we'll have to see if one, or both, gets trotted out tomorrow during Fan Appreciation Night.

 

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

This guy and the Media? They're in a good place. Great, actually!

~lw3

[lethalweapon3]

I'd like to buy a vowel, please!

Kevin Love and Orlando Robinson are also upgraded to Available. No notable movement on the Hawks' side of the Boo-Boo Report.

~lw3

[KB21]

 

[REHawksFan]

Nice moves from Bruno. 

[JayBirdHawk]

So many shots hitting the front of the rim.

[REHawksFan]

Heat with 30 pts in the 1st and 29 in the 2nd. Shooting 56% and winning the TO battle 8-4. 

I thought we were supposed to have a good D now? Miami ain't exactly a killer Offense. 

[hawkman]

Welp. That sucks for JJ. He's going back to the locker room. Sigh.

[REHawksFan]

1 minute ago, hawkman said:

Welp. That sucks for JJ. He's going back to the locker room. Sigh.

It looked bad but he wasn't limping much once he got up. Hopeful for the best. 

[JayBirdHawk]

JJ with another ankle injury....geeeeeez!  

Wear some of the Trae-style braces son. 

[terrell]

1 minute ago, JayBirdHawk said:

JJ with another ankle injury....geeeeeez!  

Wear some of the Trae-style braces son. 

Praying  the kid just isn't injury prone.. smh

[hawkman]

Just now, JayBirdHawk said:

JJ with another ankle injury....geeeeeez!  

Wear some of the Trae-style braces son. 

High tops and even mid tops are out of "style". I think players forgot why guys were wearing them in the first place.  Guys hoop in what look like borderline running shoes nowadays.

[terrell]

34 minutes ago, REHawksFan said:

Heat with 30 pts in the 1st and 29 in the 2nd. Shooting 56% and winning the TO battle 8-4. 

I thought we were supposed to have a good D now? Miami ain't exactly a killer Offense. 

75 points with less than 2 min left in the 3rd is pretty good Defense..

Finish that shit Dre!!

Edited April 10 by terrell

[JayBirdHawk]

33 minutes ago, REHawksFan said:

Heat with 30 pts in the 1st and 29 in the 2nd. Shooting 56% and winning the TO battle 8-4. 

I thought we were supposed to have a good D now? Miami ain't exactly a killer Offense. 

I think we have missed Vit's energy and defense in the starting unit.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

keep it rolling Bruno

[REHawksFan]

May sound crazy but I'm starting Bruno in the play in and playoffs. Bring Clint off the bench. But Brunos energy and activity is an asset. 

[REHawksFan]

4 minutes ago, terrell said:

75 points with less than 2 min left in the 3rd is pretty good Defense..

Finish that shit Dre!!

Played much better in the 3rd. Only allowed 21 pts compared to 30 in the 1st 2 qtrs. 

 

 

Edited April 10 by REHawksFan

[JayBirdHawk]

Good 3rd.

[REHawksFan]

And of course Herro is going off.