Gameflow
Points allowed by the Hawks per 100 possessions in games since the All-Star Break:
| Opp | Pts/100 |
| @Lakers | 119.8 |
| @Sacramento | 124.8 |
| @Golden St | 104.1 |
| @Utah | 106.8 |
| @San Antonio | 98.0 |
| Sacramento | 114.7 |
| New York | 97.9 |
| @Boston | 103.4 |
| Golden St | 129.8 |
| @New Orleans | 127.2 |
| @Charlotte | 112.8 |
| Miami | 102.6 |
| @Orlando | 125.5 |
The league average is less than 106.9 points allowed per 100 possessions. (Basketball-reference.com has 106.9 as the league average, but they don't include team turnovers when estimating possessions so the efficiency numbers published there run a bit high.) Milwaukee, the worst defensive team over the course of the season thus far, allows 111.3 points per 100 possessions. The Hawks have allowed more points per 100 possessions than that in 7 of their last 13 games. The Hawks have allowed at least 10% more points per 100 possessions than the 30th-ranked Bucks in 4 of their 13 games since the All-Star Break and 3 of their last 5 games. Right now, this is a horrible defensive team.
In other news, I have made myself this promise: I will not the watch the second half of any more games this season where Solomon Jones plays more minutes than Al Horford in the first half. The Hawks trailed 51-42 when Jones entered the game with 6:22 left in the second quarter. They were likely to lose the game. Jones played the rest of the first half at the end of which the Hawks trailed 74-53 and were certain to lose the game.
I don't believe I have an out-sized notion of the value of my own time but I'm confident it can be better spent than debating whether Mike Woodson is an idiot or an asshole.
2 comments:
Any ideas for why the defensive collapse? Were Lue and Johnson really that much better than Bibby and Stoudamire?
In Woody's defense, Horford can't guard Howard by himself. Apparently the Hawks don't know about the concept of double teaming despite it being used against Joe every night. Leaving Al in would have just led to a quick foul out. Not that it matters anyway. This team utterly sucks on the road so there was little chance of them beating the 3rd best team in the conference .
AJ may, and i use may loosely, be a better defender than Bibby, but Lue is certainly not better. Maybe a push but not better. Bibby is terrible or injured or terrible and injured, but the hawks weren't any good defending point guards before...at all.
I think more to the point is the Hawks are in the process of quitting. They were an above average defensive team and now they are downright terrible.
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