Initial feedback: A completely subjective and immediate response to the events of tonight's game, featuring a comment and rating, the latter on a scale of 1 to 10, on every player who saw the floor and the head coach, along with ephemera and miscellany as the author deems necessary.
Your ratings and commentary, dear reader, are welcomed in the comments to this post.
Boxscore
Players
Jeff Teague: Teague showed both his utility and his limitations. He's an above average player but he lacks the combination of ability, confidence, and experience to take over a game at this point. 5/10
Joe Johnson: Just as there was no shame in Josh Smith getting outplayed by Kevin Love in the win over Minnesota, there's no shame in Joe Johnson getting shut down by an excellent defender like Andre Iguodala. Unfortunately, Johnson wasn't able to contribute in other areas of the game. 3/10
Marvin Williams: I think any discussion of Marvin Williams deserving more playing time can take the night off. 3/10
Josh Smith: 11 jump shots, made just three. Grabbed but five defensive rebounds on a night the Hawks allowed Philadelphia to rebound 15 of their own misses. 4/10
Jason Collins: A contributor to Philadelphia's offensive rebounding excellence. Collins is clearly stretched beyond his abilities when asked to play 19 minutes in a game. He averaged less time than that on the court against the Magic, when his presence had a clear purpose, last season. 2/10
Tracy McGrady: I continue to believe he'd be more effective playing the bulk of his minutes alongside the starters. The 76ers made him look a little old and slow when the Hawks tried to run the offense through him. Still the second most effective Atlanta player on the night. 5/10
Zaza Pachulia: Another Hawk who disappointed on the defensive glass sufficiently to undermine an otherwise acceptable performance. 3/10
Willie Green: The Hawks don't score 70 without Willie Green tonight. A shame to waste this performance. Jamal Crawford would have killed for a return engagement this effective. 5/10
Vladimir Radmanovic: I don't know if it's the missed shots or the irregular playing time, but if Radmanovic doesn't shoot when he's open beyond the three-point line he's limiting his contributions to team success. 2/10
Jannero Pargo: Ehh. 2/10
Ivan Johnson: Meh. 1/10
Jerry Stackhouse: Wha? 1/10
Donald Sloan: Hm. 1/10
The head coach
Doug Collins talks openly about wanting the other team to take jump shots. The Hawks needed a contested 30-footer to hit double digits in the decisive third quarter, a period in which they attempted just three shots in the paint.
It was only a matter of time before the Hawks missed Al Horford, at least for a game. I doubt he would have reduced the team's reliance on jump shots but his ability to defend the pick-and-roll and rebound on the defensive end would have come in handy. 4/10
A thought regarding the opposition
The 76ers were no paragon of offensive efficiency themselves, but the second chances they made for themselves (as well as those they almost thoroughly denied the Hawks) and the fast break points they scored wore the Hawks down. It's impressive to beat a good team so thoroughly despite your own obvious weaknesses.
6 comments:
That 3rd quarter was just an awful display of basketball. Turnovers and an overeliance on jump shots did the Hawks in. Most of the turnovers were of the live ball variety too, which only exposed the poor transition defense the Hawks have continually shown over the last few years.
Almost every player was subpar tonight, so the Hawks can have no complaints with the result. Every team has their stinkers every now and then, but lets hope it doesn't become any kind of trend.
Jeff Teague needs to share the floor with people who can either hit open shots or execute the pick and roll successfully enough to get lay-ups. The sole fault of his game tonight was the he was too passive, too willing to yield control to players who weren't nearly as efficient or effective as he was. I don't think that's likely to change, as long as he's got a coach that talks down to him and teammates that don't really look to him to lead.
Jason Collins is a monument to basketball uselessness-unfortunately, Zaza Pachulia failed to capitalize. Outside of a two minute first quarter stretch when he got two of his rebounds and all 5 of his points, he was equally useless.
One thing that will continue to bug me-I don't know why Willie Green and Vlad are both seen as fit to play alongside the starters, but Tracy McGrady never does. His ability to be a floor general is a great asset to the second unit, but his skills are useful beyond that.
It goes beyond everything I can understand as to why Marvin Williams is a starter in the NBA. He didn't even start in college did he? He wouldn't start on any other team in the NBA. I don't see what usefulness he brings to this team. He's not a knock down shooter, he consistently misses layups, he doesn't hustle at all, consistently jogs upaand down the court,and doesn't fit into the offense nor is he a great defender, so again, why is he a starter on thei team? Go Figure.
Willie Green has been a huge lift to this team off the bench. He comes in and does his job consistently...knock down shots. Why is this guy on the bench and Marvin Williams starting nobody knows. Why not put Joe at the 3(other than the fact that he's too slow and can't defent quicker 3's) Green at the 2, Teague at the 1, Josh at the 4 and Zaza at the 5. Makes sense to me. And yes, let Tracy get more run with the starters in the game so that the offense is more efficient.
Josh Smith needs to stop taking jump shots. Joe Johnson needs to take more shots, and we need a new coach and we also need a better mindset. We have the players to win it all just not the mindset.
Hawks4Life - So your main concern with moving Joe to the 3 is keeping up with faster 3's???? He plays the 2 which has faster players....Also, Willie Green is not the answer - he is a black hole on the court. Also, Marvin is a league average player. The reality is, not everyone can score 20 a night. We have 3 all star caliber players and we dont run an offense to put those players or any of our other players in a place to maximize there strengths.
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