BoxscoreTeam
| Poss | Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% |
| TO% |
ORL
| 84
| 0.964
| 47
| 26.9
| 22.6
|
| 16.7
|
| ATL | 84
| 1.000 | 44.3
| 17.7
| 36.8 |
| 19 |
The Atlanta Hawks took control of this game in the first quarter on the strength of the defense played by Jason Collins and Kirk Hinrich. Without the play of those two without the ball in their hands, Jamal Crawford and Marvin Williams don't get a chance to make the jump shots that clinched the game for the Hawks (to the extent that Orlando missing open jump shots didn't clinch the game for the Hawks). Hinrich didn't just stifle Jameer Nelson when given the chance to play. He, in the first quarter, dug down very effectively on Howard (as Collins used his bulk to hold him up) and salvaged points from more than one sluggard and potentially empty Atlanta possession.Of course, both Hinrich and Collins picked up a second personal foul in the first half, and thus sat for 9:14 and 9:45 of the second quarter, respectively. Collins played just 5:32 of the second half. Hinrich, before leaving the game due to injury, played just 10:14 of the second half. You can see how important it was neither picked up a third foul in the first half.
Hinrich left the game, following a bucket he made to give him 11 points on just 7 shots (plus 3 steals), with just 2:56 left in the fourth quarter. By my count, Orlando scored just 34 or their 84 points in the 20:58 Hinrich played and just 28 of their 84 points in the 16:41 Collins played.The Hawks never trailed in the game. They were tied twice: 2-2 and 12-12. And still Larry Drew resisted the opportunity to put the players most likely to keep Orlando from scoring in the game. He got away with it, not because the alternatives played such good offense--Marvin Williams scored 10 points on 6 shots, Jamal Crawford scored 19 on 16 shots and 4 free throw attempts, Joe Johnson scored 23 points on 25 shots, and Josh Smith scored 8 points on 14 shots--but because the Magic, Dwight Howard once again excepted, could not quite score efficiently enough when Hinrich and Collins were off the court to take advantage of their absence.Dwight Howard scored 25 points on 14 field goal and 12 free throw attempts. He committed six turnovers. Half of those before Larry Drew removed Collins and Hinrich from the game at the three minute mark of the first quarter. The rest of the Magic scored 56 points on 53 field goal and 10 free throw attempts while committing 8 turnovers. Orlando had open shots. On the perimeter when guarded by Crawford or Johnson or Josh Smith. Coming off curls to shoot or going to the basket when guarded by Crawford or Johnson. They didn't make many of them.To Larry Drew's credit, he came up with an effective game plan to defend the Magic over 10 matchups this season. That's a huge step forward from the 2010 playoffs even if he didn't always stick with said plan. It turns out that a fixation on Dwight Howard had real, tangible value for the 2010-11 Atlanta Hawks. With a willingness to be wrong twice in quick succession, I don't see how that fixation aids the Hawks against the Chicago Bulls, especially if Kirk Hinrich's knee injury is nearly as bad as it looked. There is no bullish Bull for Jason Collins to defend and there is no Atlanta guard* who can reasonably be expected to stay in front of Derrick Rose.*Hinrich mostly stayed in front of Rose in the blowout loss in Atlanta on March 22nd but did so by giving Rose open jumpers which Rose knocked down at an unsustainably high rate. Even Hinrich would be looking to slow, rather than stop, Rose.Plus, the Hawks scored 98.8, 89.4, and 94.2 points per 100 possessions in three meetings against the league's finest defensive team. Without a specialist to drag Chicago's (admittedly average offense) down to their level, with Chicago's best player positioned to exploit Atlanta's greatest defensive weakness, and Al Horford having suffered an additional injury since he led the Hawks to their lone victory on the strength of their two lone competitive quarters against the Bulls it's difficult to envision Atlanta competing in their next playoff series. Winning a game against the Bulls would be some sort of mark of progress. But a mark of progress for a team that has lost 15 straight second round playoff games, was outscored during the regular season, and was outscored during their first-round series victory.
Short answer: no.Longer answer: almost entirely not.There was one positive thing on display last night, and one needn't even look selectively or qualify it: - Al Horford and Josh Smith combined for 25 rebounds in less than 70 minutes of combined playing time.
It's difficult to imagine a circumstance wherein that achievement would necessitate a caveat. However, everything else the boxscore describes is either an accurate description of ineptitude or fool's gold.
Al Horford earned an assist on 6 of the 16 field goals his teammates made while he was on the court. Of those six assists, one resulted in a Zaza Pachulia layup to pull the Hawks within 20 points with 1:47 left in the first half. One resulted in a long two-pointer from Kirk Hinrich. One resulted in a Jamal Crawford three-pointer. The other three resulted in two long Josh Smith two-point jumpers and a Josh Smith three-pointer. Al's a good passer but iso-Al, at best, created slightly better than average jump shot opportunities for his teammates. Which brings us to the other two misleading items from the boxscore: Josh Smith's 22 points and Atlanta's 32 free throw attempts.Josh Smith played 9:24 in the first quarter. He scored five points on six field goal and six free throw attempts. After taking (and missing) a 22-footer late in the shot clock on Atlanta's first offensive possession of the game, Smith took his next five shots inside of ten feet. He made one of those shots. A couple were good attempts that missed. A couple were taken right handed, and in desperation, after he failed to get to the basket going left. When Smith returned in the second quarter, the Hawks were down 19. Over the second and third quarters, Smith scored 17 points on 12 field goal and six more free throw attempts. His first two shots upon re-entering the game and 7 of those 12 field goal attempts would be taken at least 18 feet from the basket. Smith scored his points in a manner perfectly acceptable to the opposition, a manner that in no way could change the course of the game.Similarly, the Hawks attempted an uncharacteristically large number of free throws but not so many of them before the game was decided. In the second quarter, the Atlanta Hawks attempted 19 field goals and not a single free throw. Of Atlanta's 22 second-half free throw attempts, 12 came in the final 12:48 of the game. Yes, poor defense and good Orlando shooting rendered the other 10 second-half free throw attempts pretty meaningless as well but, let me repeat, in the second quarter, the Atlanta Hawks attempted 19 field goals and not a single free throw. Larry Drew's response to falling behind early was to play his worst possible defensive backcourt and the players' response was to double-down on jump shots. The Hawks used 20 of their 38 first half field goal attempts outside of 16 feet. Only seven of those were three-point attempts. Another four shots were taken between 12 and 14 feet. The loss was comprehensive and, in every way, a team effort.
BoxscoreTeam
| Poss | Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% |
| TO% |
ATL
| 90
| 0.844
| 39.1
| 31.9
| 15.9
|
| 14.4
|
| ORL | 89
| 1.135 | 47.6
| 26.5
| 23.4 |
| 6.7 |
It's just one game and some history still awaits the Hawks if they can win at home on Thursday or even in Orlando on Saturday but the chance to record an, if not outright impressive, at least a feel-good series victory likely passed them by tonight. The Hawks took bad shots, their head coach created foul trouble where none yet existed, that choice put an inferior defensive unit on the floor for long stretches of the first half, the Hawks fell way behind, and they tried to catch up by taking more bad shots. A familiar tale for the 2010-11 Hawks.The Magic also made jump shots tonight and thus didn't need the extraordinary offensive production Dwight Howard had provided through four games. Which isn't to say that Howard wasn't a factor offensively. True, Orlando took control of the game with Howard on the bench after he committed two early fouls and Larry Drew kept Kirk Hinrich on the bench after committing two fouls in the first half as the Hawks fell irreparably behind, saving his best defensive guard for meaningful minutes that rapidly ceased to exist but the Magic were able to neutralize, for the most part, at least within the confines of this uncompetitive game, Hinrich's defense when he was on the court by repeatedly making him partner with the immobile Jason Collins to defend the pick-and-roll.By running their 1/5 pick-and-roll to the middle of the floor when Collins was in the game, Orlando largely negated Atlanta's heretofore effective pick-and-roll defensive strategy. By attacking the lane, Orlando forced help to come a long way from the corner which both exacerbated Collins' limited mobility and forced the Hawks to rotate to, rather than sit on, shooters on the three-point line.Yes, a good portion of the margin of victory is due to Orlando shooting well rather than horribly. And, yes, some of the rest of that margin can be attributed to Atlanta's hideous offensive display. But Orlando made a tactical adjustment. One that worked. As one who feared, before the series began, that the Hawks had but one way* to beat the Magic, the necessity of Larry Drew making a counter-adjustment proves fertile soil, at least in the immediate aftermath of this game, in which to sow the seeds of doubt.*The Hawks beat the Magic in Game 1 by outscoring them but the last four games make that appear even more of a one-off than it seemed at the time.
In lieu of a standard game preview (plus your Game 4 recap, if needed) and in the interests of perspective, let us be reminded that the Atlanta Hawks:- Have not won a playoff series without holding home-court advantage since May 5, 1996
- Have not clinched a playoff series with a win on the road since that day
- Have not won a playoff series without playing the maximum number of possible games since May 1, 1987
Has it been pretty so far? No. Have the Hawks won the series yet? No. If they do win tonight, would it be, by the franchise's standards, historic? Yes.
BoxscoreTeam
| Poss | Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% |
| TO% |
ORL
| 90
| 0.944
| 40.5
| 26.6
| 21.3
|
| 14.4
|
| ATL | 91
| 0.967 | 50.7
| 16
| 17.9 |
| 17.6 |
Either prolonged exposure to this series is creating an illusion of coherence or Game 4 was the most Hawks/Magic game of this Hawks/Magic series. There were the requisite 88 points scored by the winning team, the terrible shot selection (both teams), the terrible shot-making (Orlando only), the improbably great yet perfectly representative, in kind if not frequency, shot-making of Jamal Crawford, a routine 29 and 17 from Dwight Howard, Jason Collins fouling, 19 unproductive minutes from hideously unqualified Hawk frontcourt reserves, the Hawks building a significant lead despite not playing very good offense, the Magic erasing that lead despite not playing very good offense, and the Hawks prevailing through some combination of the aforementioned Crawford and Collins plus an inefficient but impressive Al Horford, Joe Johnson being efficient but unimpressive for long stretches, Kirk Hinrich making Hawks fans so happy Mike Bibby's gone, and Josh Smith being inexplicable but not completely useless. Oh, and Gilbert Arenas scored 20 points on 18 shots in 22 minutes.Years from now, when looking back on this series, I contend we may remember this game* for that last fact. The possessions where Dwight Howard scored (or turned the ball over slightly too often) against single coverage, where Jamal Crawford compressed an entire contract year performance into a single series, where the Magic went from shooting a statistically improbably low percentage from the perimeter to an almost physically impossibly low percentage from the perimeter, those will begin, those may have begun, to run together in this oddly competitive playoff series that has featured few (successful) adjustments.Then again, perhaps I just can't make complete sense of a series that has played out almost exactly inversely to my expectations.*Game 1 will be the game the Hawks got to the free throw line, Game 2 will be the game Larry Drew...well, we'll have to come up for a name for whatever that was he did, and Game 3 will either be the game Zaza Pachulia sort of headbutted Jason Richardson once or the game Jamal Crawford banked in the game-winning three. All of this pending Game 5 and (if necessary) Games 6 and 7.
BoxscoreGameflowHighlightsTeam
| Poss | Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% |
| TO% |
ORL
| 81
| 1.037
| 47.9
| 19.2
| 26.3
|
| 12.3
|
| ATL | 81
| 1.086 | 45.7
| 17.3
| 24.4 |
| 9.9 |
Since a lot had to go right on Atlanta's final offensive possession to secure victory in Game 3...no.Jamal Crawford: "I just tried to get to my comfort zone, my sweet spot. I felt pretty good getting there. I thought I got a good look, and it just happened to go down for me."
Larry Drew: "I was hoping he would attack the basket. He was two or three feet behind the 3-point line. I didn't know if it was going in or not. I was just pretty relieved that it did go down."
Dwight Howard: "I think Jamal Crawford's shot was lucky and an angel had to be sitting next to him when he let that one go, but he hits tough shots."
Since one thing had to go very right at the very end of Atlanta's final offensive possession to secure victory in Game 3, it's instructive to remember all the Hawks had to overcome to be in position for Jamal Crawford's prayer to get answered:- Jason Collins injuring himself while flopping
- Zaza Pachulia crossing the line from irritant to participant in the 2011 equivalent of a fight (the definition of headbutt appears to have expanded to include "touching foreheads" as well) in a playoff game
- Lots of iso-Al
- Joe Johnson's 1-10 shooting in the second half
- Josh Smith making a heel turn into a spot-up shooter and purveyor of wild passes out of bounds
- Orlando making a greater number (8) and high percentage (28.6%) of their three-point shots than in the first two games of the series
- The reappearance of Josh Powell late in the second quarter, surely just coincidentally coinciding with Atlanta's biggest lead of the game getting halved in less than two minutes
The Atlanta Hawks are only playing consistently well on one end of the floor (and then only when fielding a five-man unit capable of executing the sound defensive game plan) but, even that limited, consistent success marks them superior to an Orlando Magic team that, Dwight Howard (and for one half of six, Jameer Nelson) excepted, has struggled to score and been just susceptible enough to dribble penetration from Jamal Crawford and Joe Johnson that the Atlanta guards have created enough good shots to augment their abilities to make difficult shots and to overcome their own team's (self-inflicted) defensive lapses.You don't have to play well to win a playoff series if you make (and let) the other team play worse.The Hawks had some excellent possessions on both ends of the floor in the final minute. At NBA Playbook, Sebastian Pruit looks at two of them. First, Al Horford's go-ahead bucket features beautiful player movement, ball movement, and spacing, three things lacking from most of Atlanta's second-half offensive possessions. Next, take a gander at Orlando's subsequent offensive possession for a vision of what Atlanta's defense might look like if the team's highest paid player didn't stop moving once he switches on a ball-screen. Also pictured, the more familiar sight of Al Horford chasing and harassing an opposing ball-handler (Hedo Turkoglu, in this case) all over the court, post-switch.Stan Van Gundy on the culmination of that Orlando possession: "It was a horrible shot."
Evan Dunlap on Zaza Pachulia, the fight, and possible repercussions: [F]ormer Magic center Zaza Pachulia gave Howard almost all he could handle in the low post, forcing Howard to work exceptionally hard for each field goal attempt. And he managed to do it without sending Howard to the foul line too often.
And Pachulia may have swung the balance of the series more during an altercation with Richardson in the fourth period. Pachulia took an elbow from Howard--I couldn't tell if it was intentional or not, but it's worth noting Howard was not facing Pachulia when it happened--after fouling him hard under the basket. Pachulia shouted in frustration, Richardson apparently took exception to what was said, and the two shoved each other before their teammates stepped in. Richardson used his left hand to shove Pachulia in the face, which is sure to result in at least a one-game suspension. You may recall Quentin Richardson received a two-game suspension for a similar exchange with Charlotte Bobcats guard Gerald Henderson late in the regular season.
Jason Richardson and Pachulia are guaranteed to miss Game 4 on Sunday, though the league has yet to announce an official punishment. Howard's status is less clear. He earned a one-game suspension during the 2009 Playoffs for throwing an elbow at Samuel Dalembert, though in that instance he clearly intended to harm the Philadelphia 76ers center.
At Peachtree Hoops, Jason Walker on the oddity of the familiar Hawks having a 2-1 lead in a playoff series: There were all there, in alarming number. All the things the Hawks fail to do, all the things the Hawks shouldn't do, all of the things that have cost them games time and time again were all over the Philips Arena floor tonight.
The Magic forced the Hawks into all of their bad habits and it's still 2-1, ATL.
He's not admitting so publicly. As reported by Michael Cunningham, Larry Drew has no regrets about sitting his best player for 21 minutes of the first half to stave of future foul trouble that never materialized, sitting his specialist starting center for eight-and-a-half minutes, and sitting his competent backup center for more than eleven-and-a-half minutes: "When he picked up the early two fouls it put it us in a bit of a bind. You don’t anticipate your starters picking up two early fouls like that. When he went to the bench, had we hit a bad stretch at the start of the second quarter to the middle of second quarter, I would have put him back in. We actually had a really good stretch in the middle of second quarter, three minutes hit a bump in the road and jeopardize him picking up his third when we were going good."
There's no tangible value in Drew making a public confession regarding his incompetence, he just can't play his worst players at the expense of his best player and better players for long stretches of the game. Will he resist the mystifying temptation? I don't know. Given that he largely moved away from the Horford Treatment and gave Josh Powell a non-playing role commensurate with his abilities as the season progressed, one could fairly concentrate real hard on Drew's ability to do so again while ignoring the incomprehensible (given the stakes) backsliding Tuesday night. On the other hand, Drew quite clearly was far more interested in addressing the possibility of three of his players committing three first half fouls than how a Hawks lineup of Jason Collins, Josh Powell, Josh Smith, Joe Johnson, and Kirk Hinrich is going to get a rebound three minutes into a playoff game.Other reactions to Drew's coaching job in Game 2...John Hollinger (Insider): [S]tudies have shown there may be some benefit to sitting a player in more dire foul trouble -- with more fouls than the quarter of the game, basically (i.e., two fouls in the first quarter, three in the second, four in the third) -- because such players will slack off on defense if they stay on the court.
Even by this logic, however, Horford should have been back on the court to begin the second quarter. Or, at worst, come back in with 8:44 left in the quarter after Jason Collins picked up his second foul.
Oh, did I leave that part out? Yes, the Hawks did the same thing with Collins, too -- their most valuable player this series because of his defense on Dwight Howard. Wanting to preserve Collins for the fourth quarter -- one he ended up not playing a minute in, because the Hawks were behind and Collins can't score -- Drew also sat Collins for the final 8:44 of the half with two fouls.
And Zaza Pachulia, the backup to those two players? Yes, really. Him too. He picked up his second foul with 11:22 left in the half and immediately hit the pine for the rest of the period. Can't be having players getting a third foul in the second quarter, after all, because if they get three more, they'll be forced to sit out. And there's nothing worse than having a player forced to sit out. Which is why Drew sat them out. My brain hurts.
Up 'til that point the Hawks had the game under control, with a 10-point lead. Soon things would change dramatically.
First, Josh Powell came in, after he mystifyingly was left activated while Etan Thomas didn't dress. (True story: I was talking to two NBA front-office types before a game this month and we were trying to come up with the worst player in the league. Without any prodding from me, both of them nominated Powell.)
Then came Hilton Armstrong, who managed to commit three fouls in his 5:20 stint but somehow stayed on the floor. Apparently the two-foul rule is waived for fifth-string centers.
Nonetheless, the damage was done. Orlando outscored the Hawks 26-10 over the final 8:44 of the second quarter, with Howard erupting for 17 points against Atlanta's scrubs.
There is no way to sugarcoat it: This is the most indefensible coaching decision I've seen this season. Horford played the entire second half and finished the game with -- you guessed it -- two fouls. This didn't come as a surprise to anyone who watched the Hawks this season. Horford has one of the lowest foul rates in the league at his position -- just 2.85 fouls per 40 minutes -- so even if he had stayed in the game with the two fouls he was at virtually no risk of fouling out.
Overall, when a real center was on the court the Hawks won Game 2 by 10 points. Unfortunately, Drew's personnel choices sabotaged them so badly in the second quarter that they missed a golden opportunity to grab this series by the throat.
Zach Lowe: Stat-heads have been going nuts for years about coaches overreacting to foul trouble, to the point that a consensus was almost forming. So folks took notice at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in March, when three researchers steeped in heavy math backgrounds presented a paper essentially arguing that coaches are right to take out starters in foul trouble early in games. After analyzing several years worth of play-by-play data, the researchers found that teams fared a bit worse when coaches asked guys to play through foul trouble in the first two or three quarters. No one is quite sure why, but the group behind the paper speculated that guys play too tentatively while in foul trouble, and that only the very worst bench players would play worse than a foul-plagued starter.
But here’s the thing: Even the thrust of this research goes against the kind of caution Drew showed Tuesday. The researchers defined “foul trouble” as any scenario in which a player’s foul total is greater than the number of the quarter at a particular time in a game. A player with, say, three fouls in the second quarter would qualify as “in foul trouble,” but the researchers took him out of the “foul trouble” category if he still had three fouls during the third quarter.
By this definition, Horford was in foul trouble with two fouls in the first quarter but would have been safe to re-enter in the second quarter — and stay in the game until he picked up his third foul. And critics at the conference considered even this definition of “foul trouble” a bit too conservative.
Horford played the entire second half. He finished the game with two fouls. That wasn’t shocking. Horford is not a foul-prone guy; he averaged just 2.6 fouls per 36 minutes this season, and he has cut his foul rate every season he’s been in the league. Add in the relatively low quality of Atlanta’s backup big men beyond Zaza Pachulia, and I’m willing to bet even the most conservative math would suggest that Horford should have been on the floor for at a chunk of the second quarter.
Horford is Atlanta’s best player. The Hawks will have trouble beating a quality team four times in seven games if their best player logs just 26 minutes for no good reason.
Zach McCann: @ZachLowe_SI @hoopinion Well that is stupid.
Tom Ziller: Larry Drew's mishandling of foul trouble and Horford's foul trouble in particular has been a constant lament for numerous Atlanta writers, but Tuesday's head-slapping (il)logic was just too much. Horford picked up his second foul just a shade over two minutes into the game. Drew unsurprisingly pulled him ... for the entire first half! That's right: Al Horford, the most valuable Hawk, played two minutes in the first half because Larry Drew didn't want him to be unavailable later on due to an ejection he was four fouls away from.
Horford played every second of the second half, and finished with ... two fouls. That's right -- a player who sat for 22 minutes in the first half due to foul trouble never actually sniffed foul trouble. He could have had five fouls in the first two minutes and not fouled out.
Drew has no concept of the reality that 22 minutes in the first half are just as valuable as 22 minutes in the second. It'd be hilarious if it weren't killing a playoff team as we speak.
BoxscoreTeam
| Poss | Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% |
| TO% |
ATL
| 86
| 0.953
| 43.8
| 13.6
| 28.9
|
| 17.4
|
| ORL | 86
| 1.023 | 37.8
| 29.5
| 43.5 |
| 18.6 |
No team deserves to win a playoff game when they put Josh Powell in before three minutes have passed. If that misappropriation of resources (and even categorizing Josh Powell as a resource seems wrong) fails to explain how quickly the good feelings engendered by Game 1 evaporated, take a gander at the shots the Hawks made in building their first quarter lead:- Joe Johnson from 13-feet after having his first attempt blocked
- Josh Smith 8-foot hook shot over two defenders
- Kirk Hinrich 19-footer
- Kirk Hinirch 21-footer off the dribble
- Joe Johnson 31-footer as the shot clock expires
- Jamal Crawford three-pointer from the top of the key (assisted by Josh Smith from the post)
- Josh Smith three-pointer
- Josh Smith jump hook from the right block
- Jamal Crawford fall-away 28-footer at the first quarter buzzer
That's a lot of work for 22 points. (Note the absence of free throws.) Another coach might choose to count his blessings and get his best player back on the floor. Larry Drew decided to keep Al Horford on the bench for the entire second quarter and maximize Orlando's chances of winning. Get this: Al Horford played the entire second half and finished the game with two personal fouls.
Also note: Dwight Howard played the entire game despite committing (gasp!) five fouls.
The Hawks, even after the intentional fouling, played the Magic even in the second half. Orlando outscored the Hawks by 12 during the second quarter, in which Al Horford did not play, Zaza Pachulia (8 rebounds in 19 minutes, finished with 4 fouls) played 22 seconds, Jason Collins (purported Dwight Howard stopper, finished with 3 fouls) played 3:38, fourth- or fifth-string center Hilton Armstrong (1 offensive rebound, 1 turnover, 3 fouls) played 6:33, and the aforementioned career-long and rightfully (albeit previously) demoted incompetent Josh Powell spent 2:11 on the floor en route to one foul and one offensive rebound. Dwight Howard scored 20 second quarter points.The second quarter didn't finish off the Hawks, the other eight Magic players, who made just 18-66 shots from the field, saw to that despite Atlanta using 11 of 16 third quarter field goal attempts on jump shots (making two, as well as two of the five shots attempted in the paint plus three whole free throws) and not really coming alive until the fourth quarter was more than half over, futilely cutting a 12-point Orlando lead to two with 2:14 before letting Orlando score on consecutive possession with a long, unsuccessful, jump shot-resultant possession occurring in between.It's difficult to argue that Orlando absolutely didn't play better than in Game 1. Perhaps, the volume of Atlanta jump shots were contested to a greater degree than is perceptible to the human eye. Certainly, they sent the Hawks to the line less often. Still, the Magic, Dwight Howard excepted, were woeful offensively and Howard scored 20 of his 33 points in the second quarter, 17 of those points with Atlanta's top three centers on the bench, three centers who finished the game having committed nine fouls between them, and no more than four fouls committed by any one of them.As impressive and enjoyable as the Game 1 victory was, two concerns lingered: the probably unsustainable percentage of jump shots the Hawks made (unofficially, I have the Hawks 7-23 from 16-23 feet* and, thus, 40.7 eFG% outside of 16 feet once three-pointers are accounted for) and Larry Drew's tactical personnel decisions. In Game 2, the Hawks shot much worse and had a chance to win despite Larry Drew. It was a terribly wasted opportunity but, if Drew can either commit to playing his best players until they are disqualified or not play his worst players until absolutely necessary, the Hawks, in possession of home court advantage, can still conceivably win this series. Which is rather amazing considering they were outscored over the course of the 82 game season and their head coach either didn't try his hardest or proved himself obscenely incompetent in one half of their playoff games.
*That's 28.4% of Atlanta's shots being used on long, two-point jumpers. Less than in Game 1 and less than their season average.
TIP-OFF: 7:30pm (EST)
TELEVISION: Fox Sports South, NBA TV
CHAT: Daily Dime Live
GAME NOTES: Hawks/MagicATLANTA INJURY REPORT: None.ORLANDO INJURY REPORT: Daniel Orton is out.BY THE NUMBERS
2010-11
| Poss | Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% | TO% |
ATL (off)
| 89.3
| 1.061
| 50.1
| 20.9
| 23.4 | 13.5
|
ORL (def)
| 91.4 | 1.018 | 47.5
| 29.5
| 23.1
| 13.4 |
2010-11
| Poss | Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% | TO% |
ATL (def)
| 89.3
| 1.07
| 49.5 | 27.3
| 25.4 | 12.3
|
ORL (off)
| 91.4 | 1.077
| 52.1
| 22.7
| 26.1
| 14.5 |
head-to-head
| Poss | Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% | TO% |
ATL
| 87.6
| 1021
| 48.4
| 19.5
| 21.9 | 15.9
|
ORL
| 87.4 | 0.921 | 44
| 22.5
| 23
| 14.4 |
OTHER PERSPECTIVES: Magic Basketball, Orlando Pinstriped PostFOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: Orlando -8.5, 183.5 o/u
PREVIOUSLY...the Atlanta Hawks won Game 1 of the series 103-93 in Orlando on Saturday night.
The Atlanta Hawks won three of four games from the Orlando Magic during the regular season, outscoring Orlando by 15 points cumulatively. The four meetings:
Consider this an open thread for all pre-game, in-game, and post-game (but pre-recap) thoughts.
Mike Prada on Game 1 of the Hawks/Magic series: Apparently, it is possible for an NBA team to allow a player to score 46 points and be universally praised for it. Dwight Howard ran all over the Atlanta Hawks' single-coverage, but because nobody else on his team decided to do much of anything, the Hawks came away with a Game 1 victory on the road. Howard and Jameer Nelson scored 73 points; everyone else on the Magic scored 20. Howard and Nelson shot 26-41; everyone else shot 8-34. It was a brilliant strategy by the Hawks to make sure that their horrible teammates had horrible games. Let's praise them for it!
Snark aside, the bottom line is this. Playing Howard straight-up and taking away the three-point shooters is a strategy. Allowing Howard to score 46 points and hope his teammates shoot 8-34 is not.
Hawks fans and neutral observers agree: playing Josh Powell instead of Zaza Pachulia is not a strategy. Shooting lots of long two-point jumpers is a strategy, however, and I, for one, anxiously await seeing how it will play out.(HT: Orlando Pinstriped Post)
Sebastian Pruiti breaks down how single coverage complemented by late digs once Dwight Howard began a post move, helped the Hawks defend Orlando on the perimeter in Game 1 of their playoff series and takes a guess as to how Orlando might counter: It will be interesting to see if the Magic can counter by running a few more plays for their three point shooters (for example throwing it into Dwight and setting a screen away from the ball for a shooter, then having him kick it out. A play like that doesn’t require a double to get an open look), or if they will continue to dump it into Howard and let him work one on one.
Sebastian also confirms my live impression that Dwight Howard's three-second violations had most to do with the ball arriving late.
RecapLarry Drew on Dwight Howard's 31 first half points: "He was scoring but the other guys weren’t getting as many touches. That was just a decision I made to stay with that particular coverage. I did not want to open up any type of opportunities with their 3-point shooters."
Josh Smith on Jason Collins defending Howard: "He got in his head a little bit. Even though Dwight had an explosive game I think he did a pretty good job on him, especially in that second half."
Smith on Hinrich's defense on Jameer Nelson: "He’s getting over screens. He’s fighting, picking up the point guard full court and turning him in the half court.
Zaza Pachulia, who played less than nine minutes despite finishing the game with just three personal fouls: "I am sure like us they are going to see what they can do better but it doesn’t matter for us. We know individually what we can do. If we play together for 48 minutes I think we should be in good shape. We are going to have a chance to win the series if we play just like today. Together, help each other defensively, share the ball. It was beautiful to watch our team."
And there's beauty (well, effectiveness) to be tapped should Pachulia get the minutes wasted on Etan Thomas and Josh Powell in Game 1.Joe Johnson on his excellent offensive performance: "I wanted to attack early and just try to make the game easier. I was getting in there and making plays for myself and my teammates and it worked out."
Josh Smith, coach on the floor: "He has to keep that up. What I always stress to him is make quick moves. That’s what he’s been doing."
Jason Collins: "We are here to win. We are not here to get a free T-shirt and head home or anything like that. We accomplished the fist step. We got the win tonight, and Part 2 is on Tuesday night."
Stan Van Gundy: "The primary problem is we couldn’t guard them at all."
Jameer Nelson: "Offensively we have to get better, move the ball, whatever. I don’t know. I really can’t put a finger on it right now."
More from Van Gundy: "I'm not coming in here angry at players who had bad games. My focus right now is on me and my game plan. I've got to do a better job. I've got to find a way that we can guard them more effectively, and we've got to find some answers on the offensive end of the floor to get some of these other guys going, too. I want to get to the film as soon as I can and get back to work."
Writing at SI.com, Mark Haubner has praise for Kirk Hinrich and Jason Collins: Jameer Nelson's strong stat line of 27 points on 10-of-18 shooting belies the defensive work done by Kirk Hinrich, an underrated player in the game. Nelson went off for 13 points and his only assist in the final 4:13 of the third quarter, after Hinrich went to the bench. Hinrich had a game-high plus-21 in just 28 minutes of action. He was acquired at the trade deadline to beef up Atlanta's perimeter defense, and in Game 1, he did just that, doing a good job of containing Nelson's penetration and preventing him from collapsing the Hawks' defense.
...
Collins didn't necessarily stop Howard, who scored seven points on him in the game's first seven minutes, but the Hawks' big man deserves credit for being on the floor during a critical 11-0 run in the third quarter. Plus, six of Howard's eight turnovers came when Collins was on the floor.
At Magic Basketball, Eddy Rivera focuses on the Orlando Magic supporting cast: Jason Richardson was absent, contributing nothing to the cause and getting picked apart defensively by Johnson. There’s no question that Johnson has an advantage on Richardson with his size and strength. Head coach Stan Van Gundy tried a number of options in hopes of slowing down Johnson, including using J.J. Redick and Quentin Richardson defensively. Johnson was too strong and athletic for Redick. As for Richardson, even though he did a decent job of checking Johnson when he was matched up against him, two costly turnovers in the fourth quarter negatively impacted his contributions on defense.
Hedo Turkoglu was just as bad. Josh Smith is too strong and athletic — there’s a pattern here — for Turkoglu, bullying his way to the basket and doing an excellent job of not solely relying on his jumpshot. Even though Turkoglu’s engagement on defense improved in the final period, there’s no question that he will continue to struggle containing Smith all over the court.
As for Brandon Bass and Ryan Anderson, they have no chance against a big man of Al Horford’s caliber. Horford abused Bass and Anderson not only in the low post but on pick and rolls, as his ability to accurately shoot mid-range jumpers killed Orlando time and again. The Magic struggled to rotate properly on Horford as he jumped out between 16-23 feet, knocking down four shots in that range. Bass and Anderson are not entirely to blame for allowing Horford to enjoy plenty of open looks from the perimeter, but they weren’t helping the cause either.
Evan Dunlap provides further Orlando perspective: It's tempting, I believe, for Magic fans to panic here. I'm not entirely sure that's warranted. Yes, the Hawks scored efficiently. I understand that much. But it's the Hawks' first truly great offensive performance against the Magic's typically stout defense since March 22nd, 2008, when Mike Bibby (five three-pointers) helped the Hawks score 112 points in 96 possessions... in an Orlando victory. Indeed, the Hawks went more than three years without cracking 1.1 points per possession against Orlando, and I'm skeptical their jump-shooting core of Johnson, Jamal Crawford, and Josh Smith can continue to hit mostly difficult shots with a high degree of accuracy.
But the Magic still have serious issues to work out if they are to rally back and take this series. Apart from the serious scoring imbalance, turnovers continue to plague the team. Their 18 miscues tonight led to 21 Hawks points. Howard will draw criticism for his 8 turnovers, but if anything, Quentin Richardson (2 turnovers in 7 minutes despite hardly ever touching the ball) and Arenas (3 in 12 minutes) deserve a bit more scrutiny.
Having said all that, the Magic did manage to get some great looks for Jason Richardson (4 points, 2-of-8 shooting, 41 minutes) and J.J. Redick (4 points, 2-of-6 shooting), but they didn't fall. Orlando had a chance to win this game, and I wonder if it were to be played again, with each player on both sides getting the same exact shot attempts, if the Magic would prevail.
Rob Mahoney on the Atlanta defense: It might be a bit generous to say that Atlanta’s Jason Collins allows the Hawks to defend Howard one-on-one in the post; Collins wasn’t much of a difference-maker, as Howard went above, through, and around both Collins and anyone else tasked with defending him. However, the fact that Collins is on the roster allows Hawks head coach Larry Drew to make a defensive commitment to Orlando’s peripheral players. The fact that Howard can’t single-handedly beat the Hawks isn’t an indictment of his offensive game, but simply a statement about the dynamics of basketball.
Kelly Dwyer: [L]et's give Atlanta credit defensively. They got after it in contesting shots, and they did well to grab those 18 Orlando turnovers. This was an impressive win.
Courtesy ESPN Stats and Info, Dwight Howard was the first player to score 45 points and grab 15 rebounds in a losing playoff effort since Hakeem Olajuwon in 1987. Howard and Olajuwon are the only players to do this in the last 45 years. The other two players to do so are Wilt Chamberlain (3 times) and Elgin Baylor.
BoxscoreGameflowHoopdata boxscoreHighlightsTeam
| Poss | Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% |
| TO% |
ATL
| 89
| 1.157
| 55.4
| 28.4
| 15.6
|
| 11.2
|
| ORL | 88
| 1.057 | 49.3
| 25.3
| 35.1 |
| 20.5 |
A tremendous win for the Atlanta Hawks. Yes, that degree of jump shooting accuracy is unlikely to be sustainable for another game but neither can Dwight Howard (for an entire game) nor Jameer Nelson (for another half) be expected to be so simultaneously tremendous again for the Magic, especially if Larry Drew can resist the temptation to ask Josh Powell and Etan Thomas to defend Howard for a 12-minute stretch of the first half or leave Kirk Hinrich on the bench* for a ten-and-a-half minute stretch of the second half so Nelson can enjoy the freedom** of being guarded by Jamal Crawford. *Safely, sadly assuming that playing Jeff Teague is not an option.**Nelson scored 15 of his 23 second-half points in the five-and-a-half minutes Hinrich wasn't on the floor against him.What makes this win tremendous is the location (The Hawks won six games all season on the road against teams with winning records, just two of those wins coming after December 7, 2010.) and the manner. The Hawks beat the Magic with offense, which suggests that I was wrong in my pre-series assessment that the Hawks had but one way in which to beat Orlando.Nobody ever said the Atlanta Hawks looked bad when they make jump shots and, when the other shoe dropped* in the fourth quarter, the Orlando Magic remained a discombobulated two-man gang** unable to bridge the 14-point gap the Hawks created through three quarters.*The Hawks made 1-9 shots outside of 16 feet in the fourth quarter which makes the 18 points they scored, by going 5-10 inside of 15 feet and getting to the line eight times, something of an accomplishment.**Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson scored 41 of Orlando's 45 second half points and it's not like they did so by using every offensive possession. Their teammates were 2-14 from the floor and committed four turnovers in the second half.Let's bring back a chart for the series preview to examine where the Hawks scored Saturday night. The first two rows show the season averages for Atlanta and for Orlando's opponents. The third row shows Atlanta's totals from Game 1: | Team | at rim |
| 3-15 feet |
| 16-23 feet
|
| 3PTA |
|
| %FGA | eFG%
| %FGA | eFG%
| %FGA | eFG%
| %FGA | eFG%
|
| ATL | 25.5 | 63.6 | 22.1 | 41.3 | 30.1 | 43.3 | 22.2 | 52.8 |
| ORL (opp) | 24.8 | 63 | 24.1 | 39 | 28.6 | 37.7 | 22.5 | 52.4 |
Game 1
| 18.9 | 57.2 | 25.7 | 57.9 | 36.5 | 48.2 | 18.9 | 64.3 |
That's far from ideal shot distribution but the volume and quality of shots the Hawks took inside of 15 feet (plus the 29 free throws the Hawks, the Hawks!, attempted in the game) provides some encouragement the offense won't wither and die when they stop making more than half their shots outside of 16 feet. Though I suspect there will be more quarters in the remainder of the series where the Hawks score in the teens than in the thirties.Also encouraging were two things written too rarely in this space this season: Josh Smith's shot selection and Joe Johnson's aggressive offensive play. Smith used just 2 of his 12 field goal attempts on shots in between the paint and the three-point line and made seven trips to the free throw line. Johnson took 9 of his 16 shots inside of 15 feet, got to the line 8 times himself, and used his ability to make long, difficult shots more often to bail out the Hawks on difficult offensive possessions than as the basis for difficult offensive possessions.
TIP-OFF: 7pm (EST)
TELEVISION: ESPN, ESPN3, SportSouth
CHAT: Daily Dime Live
GAME NOTES: Hawks/MagicATLANTA INJURY REPORT: None.ORLANDO INJURY REPORT: JJ Redick will play. Daniel Orton is out.BY THE NUMBERS
2010-11
| Poss | Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% | TO% |
ATL (off)
| 89.3
| 1.061
| 50.1
| 20.9
| 23.4 | 13.5
|
ORL (def)
| 91.4 | 1.018 | 47.5
| 29.5
| 23.1
| 13.4 |
2010-11
| Poss | Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% | TO% |
ATL (def)
| 89.3
| 1.07
| 49.5 | 27.3
| 25.4 | 12.3
|
ORL (off)
| 91.4 | 1.077
| 52.1
| 22.7
| 26.1
| 14.5 |
head-to-head
| Poss | Off Eff | eFG% | FT Rate | OR% | TO% |
ATL
| 87.3
| 0.978
| 46.8
| 17.4
| 23.2 | 17.1
|
ORL
| 87.3 | 0.95 | 42.7
| 21.8
| 20.6
| 12.9 |
OTHER PERSPECTIVES: Magic Basketball, Orlando Pinstriped PostFOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY: Orlando -8.5, 179.5 o/u
PREVIOUSLY...the Atlanta Hawks surprisingly won three of four games from the Orlando Magic this season, outscoring Orlando by 15 points cumulatively. The four meetings:
Orlando won 93-89 at home on November 8th
Atlanta won 80-74 in Orlando on December 6th
Atlanta won 91-81 at home two weeks later
Atlanta won 85-82 at home on March 30th
Surprising because the Magic won seven of eight games against the Hawks last season, including an historic playoff blow out.
Consider this an open thread for all pre-game, in-game, and post-game (but pre-recap) thoughts.
