Quotes, Notes, and Links: Atlanta Hawks 104 Philadelphia 76ers 101

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Highlights

Larry Drew on the fourth quarter offense:

"We’ve had some success running the pick-and-roll with Mike and Joe, and they did a good job defending it. We came up with a couple of bad possessions."

Drew on the transition defense:

"We got a little lackadaisical and we didn’t get back on defense, which was one thing we really wanted to do against this team."

Again, I think it's an open question as to whether it's a lack of effort or simply due to inherent personnel limitations (exaggerated by a reluctance to play Marvin Williams in the fourth quarter) that prevents the Hawks from getting back on defense.

Another aspect of how poor transition defense hurt the Hawks is that the Hawks were pretty effective guarding the 76ers in the half-court blocking 8 shots and forcing Philadelphia to use 28 of their 85 field goal attempts on long two-point attempts. They made just six. The 76ers were, to a man, more than willing to take those low percentage shots. Eight of the nine Philadelphia players who played at least 10 minutes took at least two long two-point jumpers. The ninth, Tony Battie, took one.

Joe Johnson:

"We just kind of made some boneheaded plays down the stretch, with me leading the pack definitely. We’ve got to know the time and the score. In the fourth quarter, under five minutes [to play], we’ve really got to take care of the ball. That’s on me."

On a happier note, Joe Johnson has attempted 23 free throws in the first two games of the season. His previous high for free throw attempts in consecutive games for the Atlanta Hawks was 20, accomplished on November 5th and 7th, 2006 and November 11th and 12th, 2008.

Josh Smith:

"We was able to get it done. It wasn't pretty. You are going to have games where it's not pretty, like how it was in the end. But we found a way to get the job done."

Smith on his three-pointer with 47 seconds remaining and the Hawks up two:

"You can't be scared to take them. I wasn't afraid to take it."

THIS IS NOT SOMETHING TO PROUD OF

Through two games, Smith is 2-11 on long two-point jumpers and 2-3 on three-point attempts. He's providing two object lessons: one on his inability to make jump shots, the other on the value of three-point shot relative to one taken one step inside the line. The Hawks can survive one or two Josh Smith three-point attempts a game. It will be more difficult to stomach Smith taking five shots a game that are worth two-thirds as much the 29% of the time they go in. Which goes to show, yet again, how short-sighted and incomplete the "Josh Smith isn't shooting three-pointers" praise was.

At Peachtree Hoops, Kris Willis evaluates Larry Drew's early performance:

The way the Hawks are playing right now offensively the only people slowing them down are themselves. Once they get even more comfortable with the system the turnovers should go down. That is why it is great to steal a win like this when they were less than stellar with ball security. The last thing that I think is notable is that no Hawks starter played more than 34 minutes. Joe Johnson only played 32 minutes in this one after playing 31 in the opener. Thus far coach Drew has done an excellent job in my opinion of handling the rotation and keeping the minutes down. While the results of such a move may not be visible in the early going, they will however play a part later in the season.