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Larry Drew:
"That was about as bad as we've played this year, from start to finish."Drew on the offense:
"We couldn’t make shots and we just panicked. We just lost our composure. Then we had defensive breakdowns and the game just slipped away from us."Six of Atlanta's first eight points came on:
- Josh Smith makes 23-foot jumper
- Jason Collins makes 17-foot jumper
- Josh Smith makes 21-foot jumper
Drew:
"We started pressing very early with some quick turnovers, and they made shots."The Hawks committed seven first half turnovers, six of them coming before the 5:15 mark of the second quarter and none of those six occurring with the Hawks trailing by more than one point.
Mo Evans:
"The difference was they made shots. That’s very discouraging throughout the course of the game. Early on, we played great defense on Chris Paul, and he came down and shot a 35-footer. That was the type of night it was for them."Josh Smith:
"You really can’t explain it. You have games like this. I think Chris Paul is a very smart point guard. I think he just got the ball where he wanted to with dribble penetration."You can explain it but I certainly understand why those involved don't want to have that discussion in public.
Jamal Crawford:
"I'd be lying if I said games like this are easy to forget. But if you lose by one or lose by 40, it’s still a loss. You just have to move on. It’s not like football where we have to wait a week. So we have an opportunity tomorrow."Evans:
"It’s one loss, whether it’s by one or 80. No matter how disappointing or embarrassing, it’s one loss. Tomorrow we’ve got a chance to go out there and show what kind of team we really are."Of course, it's just one loss but the Hawks also "really are" a team capable of losing by 41 at home.
How unusual is that?
Per ESPN Stats & Information:
Atlanta, which entered the game with a 28–15 won-lost record, is the first team in NBA history to lose a home game by 40 or more points after entering the game at least 10 games over .500.Entering the game, the Hawks were outscoring opponents (through 43 games, 3900 offensive, and 3910 defensive possessions, mind you) by 3.3 points per 100 possessions on the season. After Game 44 and another 85 possessions, the Hawks are outscoring opponents by 2.1 points per 100 possessions on the season.
The Hawks also dropped three projected wins in John Hollinger's playoff odds and fell from eighth to thirteenth in Hollinger's power rankings in the course of a day.
After scoring 152 points on 180 possessions in their last two games, the Hawks are back to scoring less efficiently than the league's worst offensive team (now the Cleveland Cavaliers rather than the Milwaukee Bucks) when they play a team with a winning record.
Michael Cunningham's not impressed with what he heard in the locker room after the game:
How can the Hawks follow up a strong effort at Miami by laying down to the Hornets at home? Some of the Hawks’ answers top the question made it sound as if they’d just loss a close one at Boston.At Peachtree Hoops, Jason Walker on the missing piece:
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Yes, the Hornets made some shots, especially in the third quarter, when Belinelli made some deep threes. But that’s about the only unusual thing that happened. The Hornets basically played like a competent NBA team and won by 41 at Philips.
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Yes, CP3 is a very smart and skilled point guard and he did hurt the Hawks with dribble penetration. But Paul had only 16 points and eight assists in 30 minutes while shooting 4 of 10, and the Hawks always struggle with dribble penetration.
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But the Hawks missed shots at Miami, too, and they didn’t stop competing. So, one more time: Can the Hawks explain how they got handled like this at home after handling their business at Miami?
Al Horford's MVP stock just went nuclear.Detonating with the power of a thousand Nowitzkis. Dallas was outscored by 53 points over the 10 games Nowitzki missed.
At Hornets247.com, Ryan Schwan calls "Washington Generals" on the Hawks.
At At the Hive, Rohan provides more from the New Orleans perspective:
The Hornet defense was primarily in a man configuration for this game. Monty Williams popped the zone in and out during some stretches, but for the most part, he stayed with individual assignments. While Atlanta's total lack of a creative scorer outside of Jamal Crawford (Joe Johnson routinely settled for horrible jump shots) played a huge role, the Hornet defense was simply stifling. In many ways, this game epitomized what Monty Williams has brought to the team in 2010-2011.The only positive Hawks news of the night comes from Provo, Utah where Pape Sy set a (D-League) career scoring high (16) for the third consecutive game. Sy has made 15 of 18 two-point shots (his TS% is up to 49.9%) over the last three games en route to 10, 15, and 16 points. His assist and turnover rates are dropping so may have been given an offensive role he can more easily handle at this time.
3 comments:
Just saw Bill Simmon's trade on Twitter. What do you think of Smoove, Zaza, and Jamal for Curry, Biedrins, Radmanovic, and Bell? Seems like you kind of have to do that if you're Atlanta. A trade like that is our only shot to get out of this mediocre situation we're in. Biedrins for 4 kinda sucks, but at least we'll finally have a center.
That trade would be a big change and Curry and Horford would make a delightful high efficiency duo, but I don't know that it would make the Hawks any better. Perimeter defense would still be a problem (possibly moreso without Smith around to erase a goodly share of the mistakes) as would depth since Bell can't play, Radmanovic would offer the inverse of the problems associated with playing Damien Wilkins at the 3, and it's a fair question as to whether or not Biedrins is any better than Pachulia at this point.
Biedrins certainly isn't multiple times better than Pachulia and that's what he'll cost but the lack of tradeable assets means, that if the Hawks do make a major deal, they won't be able to improve their cap outlook.
The Tweet in question.
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