Initial Feedback: The Sad Events Supporting Pessimism

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: A constant in the team's poor pick-and-roll defense, he didn't do anything to mitigate his struggles on that end of the floor. 3/10

Joe Johnson: He was a key part of the Hawks' second and third quarter run. Not coincidentally, his involvement during that stretch was primarily as a finisher rather than a creator. It was painful watching him struggle to get past Steve Nash and Sebastian Telfair when the Hawks ran the 2/1 pick-and-roll. 5/10

Marvin Williams: If Larry Drew didn't play Marvin and Tracy McGrady together tonight, I think it's time to give up hope that it will ever happen. Not that either made a great case, within the confines of this game, for additional minutes. 4/10

Josh Smith: Much as with his shot selection this season, Josh Smith seemed either unaware or disinterested in the fact that Channing Frye can shoot. Smith had a good offensive night but his body language was atrocious, especially in the third quarter where he appeared far more interested in looking over at the bench than doing anything to change the course of the game. 5/10

Zaza Pachulia: A dreadful night for Pachulia, beaten repeatedly when attempting to defend the pick-and-roll and often out of position when the possibility of a rebound presented itself. 3/10

Kirk Hinrich: It didn't matter in the end, but Hinrich's second quarter defensive performance on Steve Nash was excellent. Given that none of Atlanta's big men defended the pick-and-roll effectively all night, his ability to delay the pick-and-roll's inception paid brief dividends. 6/10

Tracy McGrady: A complete non-factor. 1/10

Vladimir Radmanovic: Handed a third quarter stint after Pachulia pciked up his fourth foul, he looked like the third-best choice (after McGrady and Ivan Johnson) for those minutes. 2/10

Willie Green: His garbage time performance was clearly the best he could do and it's in no way his fault that his effort was useless. Context must be remembered if discussing how that performance might lead to future playing time. 6/10

Ivan Johnson: Pretty poor during the symmetrical portion of the game, he came alive when the Hawks went frantic against the Phoenix bench. 4/10

Jannero Pargo: Scrambled for a few minutes in the fourth quarter and shot the ball often. That's what he's paid for but the mountain was too steep long before he got on the floor. 3/10

Jerry Stackhouse: Four trillion. His contract becomes guaranteed with the week. 1/10

The head coach
The first three quarters were the Hawks at their familiar worst. Inconsistent on offense and disorganized defensively. The two are related, it's harder to get set defensively after a miss but the inability to get back and find your man is far from a new problem and only gets more frustrating to watch with each passing season. Whether it's a lack of depth or a lack of authority that allows accountability to wax and wane, doesn't really matter. The end of the bench played hard (albeit against a bad team's bad bench, hardly a harbinger of better things), letting them do that earlier in a game might produce dividends with regard to the guys who will have to play well for the Hawks to achieve any playoff success. 2/10