Gameflow
The game was probably lost because Mike Bibby shot 9% from the field and he can't even stay in front of Andre Miller defensively. (I think Woodson's refusal to use Acie Law IV for anything other than 4 to 8 minutes in the first half suggests that Woodson knows he won't be around next year and developing Acie Law in any way shape or form won't do Mike Woodson a damn bit of good so why bother.) Still, I'm curious why Mike Woodson decided that Al Horford (should Coach Woodson be reading this, I'll make explicit that Horford is the team's best rebounder and one of only two Hawks (the other being Joe Johnson) who could ever be described as an above average man-to-man defender) was superfluous to efforts in the fourth quarter.
My specific questions:
- Why did Woodson rest Horford for the the first 6:12 of the fourth quarter if he was willing to pull him for the final 3:13?
- Why did Woodson replace Horford with Marvin Williams?
- Why was Williams guarding Andre Iguodala late in a close game?
- Why did Woodson keep Williams on the court to guard Samuel Dalembert after Williams had to be switched off Iguodala following consecutive possessions where Iguodala scored?
- In the final three minutes of a close game, should 40% of your lineup be matched up against the guy they're guarding only because they've made it abundantly clear they cannot guard someone else on the court? Shouldn't, maybe, at least one of those guys be sitting next to you, the head coach?
- Wouldn't Al Horford be expected to better the production (0-1 FGA, 1 offensive rebound, 1 defensive rebound) of the players (Pachulia and Williams) who played in his stead in fourth quarter?
If you'd like to read (once again) various Hawks players quoted as saying they lost because they couldn't match their opponents' energy level and they must do better tonight, click here.
2 comments:
Unfortunately even though the Hawks will probably go 2-4 the rest of the way only beating Miami and New York, they'll still make the playoffs and Woodson won't be fired. We can only pray for Indiana to get hot and save us from the embarrassment of losing 4 straight games by 30 points to Boston in the first round.
You could have gone on and on about Woodosn pulling Horford in the fourth quarter. I don't know that I've ever seen a coach overreact to something so mundane in a manner so crippling. Al was trying to get back in front of Andre Miller after Miller grabbed a rebound to go coast to coast.
Keep in mind, the only person in a position to stop Miller (the opposing point guard) was Al Horford (our center) off of a defensive rebound. We have NO one who could stay in front of Miller last night. The result of Horford trying to keep up was that he bumped Miller as he took a running jumper, and Miller hit two free throws to put Philly up by 6 with 3:12 remaining.
Woodson's reaction was to decide that Al, who by rights shouldn't have been in a position even to foul Miller on that play, was not worth having on the floor if he couldn't stop Andre Miller-who NO ONE else could stop. He didn't even have the dubious excuse of foul trouble-Horford was sitting the rest of the game with 2 fouls.
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