Quotes, Notes, and Links: Hawks 114 Knicks 101

Gameflow

Highlights

Al Horford:

"In the first half we missed a lot of easy shots. I did myself. Coach told us to stay confident and keep fighting. I think in the second half that's what we did and how we were able to pull away. We came out and were more aggressive. I think that was the difference."

Mike Woodson, presumably referring to the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons:

"We've grown. The last two years we've been in some tough games. We've won some tough ones and we've lost. You know this team hasn't quit these last two years and it's a sign of the guys in that locker room. We're all fighting for something. We're trying to be better than a year ago."

Josh Smith:

"We can wear a team down with our depth and our athleticism, and the way we're able to switch we can kind of stop a lot of plays being ran. We didn't play our best basketball, so we had to turn it around in the second half and we did."

An interesting perspective from Seth at Posting and Toasting:

Like the Knicks, the Hawks switch pretty much everything on defense. They just do it with a lot more conviction and better angle management. You know what I mean? The Knicks always look like their tripping over each other when defending the pick. The Hawks got it right.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Peachtree Hoops nicely sums up Marvin Williams' current predicament:

In no way do I think Marvin has regressed, but he is certainly lost. And the old adage, "don't mess with what is working" only sounds good when things are working. Because when things stop working and Marvin Williams is crying in the corner unable to shoot the ball, we are going to say I wish we did something to carve out Marv's role the team.

The Human Highlight Blog looks at the Al Horford/David Lee matchup through the prism of five-year-old college practices. I'll do something similar for Brandon Rush and Julian Wright* should they happen to get released on the same day.

*Byron Scott, you're killing me.

Dime interviews Josh Smith (HT: @one66soul)

Dime: Like I was saying your field goal percentage is way up, and I’ve also noticed you haven’t taken a single three yet this season. Have you made it a point to get away from shooting jumpers?
Josh Smith: Yeah I wanted to focus on driving to the lane and making mid-range shots. We got a lot of guys on this team who can hit it from behind the arc so it allows me to focus on other things.

Substitute "free throws" for "mid-range shots" and it's the perfect answer.