Initial Feedback: 76ers out-Hawk the Hawks

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: The Hawks outscored the 76ers on fast break points and points in the paint. This game wasn't about the Hawks getting dominated inside or run out of the gym. This game was about the 76ers making shots. They made just enough tough, contested shots with the clock running down to win. Jeff Teague made two shots. 2/10

Joe Johnson: Hawks players still do not know their roles. Joe Johnson's role is to score more than 15 points. 4/10

Kirk Hinrich: Hinrich shot 50%, the best percentage of any Hawks guard, and had more assists (6) than Teague (4) vs. 2 turnovers each. But again, it just wasn't enough. The Hawks needed someone to take some of the scoring burden off of Josh Smith, but Kirk was 0-for-3 from 3-point range and scored only 8 points. 4/10

Josh Smith: Josh shot 12-for-18, scored 34 points, grabbed 9 rebounds and dished out 5 assists. He was also 9-for-11 on free throws despite a decided lack of help from the referees. What more can you ask? 9/10

Zaza Pachulia: Neither Spencer Hawes nor Elton Brand is a good matchup for Zaza. Joined Hinrich and Teague among starters who failed to reach double figures with 4 points on 2-for-7 shooting with 7 rebounds. 3/10

Marvin Williams: After his nice game against the Knicks, he led the reserves in this game with 27 minutes. But he was not the shot maker Larry Drew was looking for as he hit only 1-for-4 on threes, 2-for-8 overall and finished with 6 points. 3/10

Willie Green: I'm going to sound like a broken record, but I don't know what else to say. Willie Green shot decently but didn't make enough shots. 3/10

Ivan Johnson: This game featured some promising developments. Despite the short rotation, Jason Collins did not see the floor. Ivan Johnson scored 7 points on 3-for-5 shooting and pulled down 6 rebounds in only 16 minutes. He was the only player with the right combination of size, strength and foot speed to slow down Brand. During his first appearance, spanning the first and second quarters, the Hawks outscored the 76ers 16-8 and Elton Brand did not score. However, on a night when the Hawks only went 8 players deep, Ivan only played 16 minutes. 4/10

The head coach
This is the closest the Hawks have come to defeating the 76ers during the current losing streak to this team that dates back to last season. Drew was unable to use telepathy to prevent the ball from going in when the 76ers shot. Drew allocated zero bad player minutes during the close loss. 5/10

A thought regarding the opposition
The 76ers are third in the Eastern Conference in point differential but somehow have fallen all the way to 7th in playoff position. A team that looked like world beaters early in the season, blowing out opponents with reckless abandon, now sits only 6 games above .500. They even struggled against the Hawks, which hasn't happened in a while.