Initial Feedback: Try, Try Again

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's hot streak has continued as he slashed the Celtics middle for 21 points on 8-12 shooting and six assists, and I'm not sure I can understand why he didn't receive the ball for the last shot of the game. Had five turnovers, but his aggressive play sparked the offense. 8/10

Josh Smith: Smith started the game hot, but fell in love with the jumper and ended up missing 3 three-pointers. A terrible overtime period concluding on a missed opportunity to score a touch pass to Teague for a wide-open shot. Josh provided our best rebounding in a game where it was desperately needed. 5/10

Joe Johnson: Joe struggled to find his range all game, shooting only 5-17 and 0-5 on threes. He did contribute by playing good defense on Pierce, but in the end, tight games for the Hawks go as Joe goes, and Joe was not on today. 4/10

Kirk Hinrich: Kirk gave the Hawks good defense while on the floor and made the only basket in overtime, but his shooting woes have continued, shooting only 39% in his last five games. 3/10

Zaza Pachulia: Zaza came out with his usual energy against the Celtics. He was instrumental in getting Garnett and Stiemsma fouled out, which gave the Hawks a fighting chance, all while putting up 13 points and seven rebounds. The C's bring out the fun side of Zaza. 8/10

Marvin Williams: Williams couldn't carry his recent good shooting streak into this game as he struggled from the field. Reasonable D and six boards don't always make up for the many missed opportunities like Marvin had tonight. 4/10

Tracy McGrady: Tracy McGrady played 14 minutes? You'd never know. 2/10

Jannero Pargo: Coming off a reasonably good game in Charlotte, Pargo showed that those kind of games come against bad teams. Boston shut down his game. No made shots and poor defense -- and it was under his watch that the Celtics made some of their best runs. 1/10

Willie Green: Some days I wonder if Pargo and Green are psychically connected. Green's day echoed Pargo's, with no made shots and poor defense, but tack on a terrible -11 in the +/- column. 1/10

Ivan Johnson: Ivan has made great strides this year (see Buddy's column about it), but looked downright lost when dealing with Garnett and Bass. I don't blame him too much, as most defenders do, but it speaks to his time on the court that he tied for a team-low -17 while on the floor. 3/10

The head coach

Drew should be given some credit for keeping the Hawks in the game as the C's were up and down, mostly for keeping the game in reach while the 2nd unit struggled. That said, the final plays in regulation and overtime lacked vision, with Iso-Joe being the main option, giving the Hawks only rushed, poorly set shots (in, let's face it, plenty of tries). 6/10


A thought regarding the opposition

Did anyone think that Glen Davis was ever gonna be better than Brandon Bass? What an easy trade to make. They've never looked back. Also, the win for the Celtics ties them, the Hawks, and the Magic for the 4-5-6 spots in the East. If the season ended at the time of this posting, tonight's game would be a preview of an extremely fun series.