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
Joe Johnson: The two bursts during which Johnson scored most of his 24 points were crucial but let's not overlook his sudden ability to rebound which has emerged since Al Horford left the scene. Another blocked shot, too. He's almost matched his total from the 2009-10 season in the last two games. 8/10
Josh Smith: He's a good player even when the jump shots aren't falling. The combination of 11 defensive rebounds and his post defense against LaMarcus Aldridge were definite difference makers tonight. 8/10
Marvin Williams: It's getting ridiculous. 12 points and 8 rebounds in just 21 minutes. There's essentially no level of production possible to get Williams above 25 minutes in a game if Tracy McGrady is healthy enough to go. Ivan Johnson's a nice addition but he shouldn't be getting fourth quarter minutes ahead of Marvin Williams. 6/10
Jeff Teague: If only the Hawks had been willing to pay the luxury tax to keep Jamal Crawford, Teague would be sitting next to Marvin Williams on the bench int he fourth quarter instead of scoring five points and earning an assist in the final two minutes of a close victory over a good team. To be fair, Crawford committed four fewer turnovers than Teague tonight and scored seven more points, only needing 17 more field goal attempts than Teague to do so. 6/10
Jason Collins: Your guess is as good as mine. Made Kurt Thomas look productive and agile. 1/10
Zaza Pachulia: 11 rebounds are good enough to aid a winning cause but probably not good enough to earn a start. The former is far more important. 5/10
Tracy McGrady: A solid return. He wasn't as effective as Marvin and shouldn't have played as many minutes for that reason alone. I'd rather grade this performance after I know when he's physically able to play again. 5/10
Jannero Pargo: The three turnovers were unfortunate but you put Jannero Pargo in the game to take shots frequently for a brief period of time. Tonight, he made those shots. 4/10
Willie Green: Another night without a rebound. No matter his own numbers, Tracy McGrady's return lessens the chances of extended Willie Green minutes. There's value in that. 2/10
Ivan Johnson: At some point he needs to bring something more than energy to justify a rotation spot. 2/10
The head coach
He's tying one hand behind his back by limiting Marvin Williams' minutes. Here's hoping it doesn't take a loss to enact change. The team's record suggests that doing inexplicable things around the margins of the rotation doesn't really matter much when Joe Johnson is making loads of shots and Josh Smith is dominating the glass. Talent over everything. 7/10
13 comments:
yo wtf dont shit on tmac you guys are a better team with him and you cant deny the fact that when hes on the floor he not only manages the defense like a scientist but hes unselfish and can control the pace of the game when the ball is in his hands. he even got doubled teamed multiple times. btw statiscally he was more productive than marvin williams this game so for that fact alone i would give him more minutes. dont forget the guy is a 7 time all star so dont treat him like marvin williams because theres no comparison when it comes to which player has a better basketball iq
To be fair to Drew, Marvin's second half minutes weren't as productive. He had 8 points and 8 boards in 13 first half minutes, and only 4 points over his 8 second half minutes. Of course, I'm still not sure how he can't get more than 21 minutes in a game when he plays like this.
I feel like Jason Collins is ungradeable at this point. It seems like it would have taken Greg Oden coming out to take the floor while on crutches for Jason Collins to have been useful. You just posted that Drew liked the rapport Zaza had with Vlad, which is why he's coming off the bench...and then Vlad doesn't even play. It's why I can't be optimistic anytime any coach says anything about strategy or philosophy-I'm too used to them entirely contradicting themselves with actions that are entirely under their own control.
Was absolutely shocked to see Collins get the start. Did Drew think Dwight Howard was playing for Portland now?
there was also a few times where he gave guys wide open looks and they couldnt knock down the shot. so in my opinion he should have had a few more assist. also towards the end there he coulda drove to the basket but instead he held the ball and passed it out to teague to make the smart play and burn time off the clock. im not sure marvin would have done that
Ivan plays good man defense when he stays with his man, but he's a little overzealous when he shows on screens and has trouble recovering to his man. I also haven't seen any of the offensive aggressiveness that initially brought Ivan to our attention in his last couple outings.
Would I be wrong in saying I would rather see Vlad starting out of position at center than Collins. Why is Twin even in the league still? He has no redeeming qualities on the court. And how in many games are Vlad's minutes gonna go to Ivan, a great story but ultimately a D League caliber guy?
I have noticed a few exchanges between Josh and Teague that leads me to believe they either don’t get along, don’t respect each other, etc., It seems like neither is keen on pointing out assists after a transition bucket and there seemed to be some bickering towards the end of last night’s game. Have you heard about any riff between the two?
Ivan Johnson makes good basketball plays. His aggressiveness leads to turnovers on occasions, but he can shoot, put the ball on the floor, knock down free throws, rebound and play solid man D. No one is asking him to be a star, but he bangs and this team needs a banger. I'm a big Marvin fan as I think he is underappreciated because of the whole Chris Paul, Deron Williams(who I have always said should have been the pick) thing, but you can't play the game with Billy Knight's dream of 5 wings. Marv is just gonna have to play hard in those minutes he gets. Maybe they can manage Joe and Josh's minutes more and give Marv some of those.
And did you see T-Mac out there balling? He is still the old T-mac minus the injuries.
Let me start this comment by acknowledging that Jason Collins sucks.
That said, I think people are putting too much weight on the concept of a "starter". All starter means is person that starts the game. Collins is still only playing 12 minutes a night, which is probably a necessary evil given that he's one of two centers on the roster and Zaza is not cut out to play 40 minutes a night, especially given this year's compressed schedule.
If Collins is going to play 12 minutes a night, then the best time for him to play those minutes is when the other starters are on the court because with four other scorers his offensive deficiencies become less of a detriment.
When Drew says he prefers to play Zaza with Radmanovich, he probably really wants to say Collins sucks but if I have to play him I need to play him with the starters, but that probably wouldn't go over great.
Maybe there is an injury issue or probability of an injury by Marvin averaging over 30 minutes a game...?
Can't believe LaGree called the Blazers contenders and the Hawks pretenders on ESPN the other day. C'mon man, I'm as pessimistic as any Atlanta sports fan, but this is why dudes like Rob Parker get to hate on us on a national stage as well... just saying. No other pro sports til April? I'm all in on the Hawks bandwagon. just give it to Ivan.
"And how in many games are Vlad's minutes gonna go to Ivan, a great story but ultimately a D League caliber guy?" - WesleyM
I disagree entirely, I think Ivan is better than about half the league. He's gone toe to toe with Bosh and Kevin Love and held his own.
The problem now is that he's too inexperienced and makes mistakes that he won't make a year from now. He's also gone from being aggressive to tentative as he worries about overstepping his role on the team that gave him a chance.
Also, Thad Young did most of his damage in the post last night with Vlad guarding him. I think Vlad is a great addition but Ivan is by far a better option at center if you want to keep people away from the basket.
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