Quotes, Notes, and Links: Atlanta Hawks 110 Utah Jazz 87

Recap

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Highlights

Larry Drew:

"From start to finish I thought it was one of the most complete games where we controlled it from start to finish on both ends of the floor. Defensively, I thought we did a great job. And then we actually got out and ran, made the extra pass."

Jerry Sloan:

"They pass the ball well. They got it to who was supposed to have the ball almost every possession. We didn’t seem to be able to do anything with it."

I'm not entirely clear if Sloan means that the Jazz didn't move the ball as well as the Hawks did or that the Jazz couldn't deal with Atlanta's ball movement. Either interpretation makes sense.

Drew on Atlanta's defense:

"We tried to take away a lot of the easy touches. The system that they run, they are so good at it. They put you in a position of switching and if you are not careful you can get back cut. I thought we did a good job of defending that. I think we forced them into more one-on-one situations than what they are accustomed to and then we defended it."

It is so much easier to avoid getting burned on back cuts when you don't switch every off-the-ball screen.

Josh Smith:

"We did a good job with team defense.

We wanted to match their physicality. I think we did a good job at really pressuring them and stopping them from swinging the basketball easily. We got in the passing lanes and did a nice job of limiting them to one shot and rebounding and getting the ball out."

Smith on Joe Johnson:

"Joe was on fire tonight."

Johnson:

"We are starting to figure things out about how L.D. wants things to be run offensively and defensively."

Kris Willis on Johnson's return to form over the past two games:

One of the biggest developments of this season has been the increased impact of Josh Smith and Al Horford offensively on the Hawks. With the injuries that the Hawks have suffered this season, both players have had to carry the load for the team. Often they have carried the load even with Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford both in the lineup. We have talked many times about the quality looks at the basket that the motion offense had produced Johnson and that he hadn't been able to cash in on a lot of those opportunities during the first quarter of the season. That left us wondering what this Hawks offense would look like if Johnson was able to return to form. We have got our answer the last two nights in Sacramento and Utah.

Also at Peachtree Hoops, Jason Walker on the historically unique nature of the victory:

I can't remember ever handling the Jazz like that in Salt Lake City. Dominant.

Well, I checked, and the Hawks have only won (4) times in Salt Lake City since 1986, and none of those wins were more than (9) points, much less the double digit, 23 point stiff-arm the Hawks gave the Jazz tonight.