Game Thread #6: Atlanta @ Chicago, November 11th
by Hoopinion on Nov 11, 2008 4:30 PM EST
36 comments
Atlanta Hawks at Chicago Bulls, Nov 11, 2008 8:30 PM EST
WHO: Atlanta (5-0) at Chicago (3-4)
WHEN: 8:30pm
WHERE: SportSouth, Hawks Radio Network, NBA Audio League Pass, NBA League Pass Broadband (Free Preview)
Injury Report: Josh Smith is out. Kirk Hinrich and Larry Hughes are out. Drew Gooden is questionable.
For Entertainment Purposes Only: Chicago -3.5, 187.5 o/u
Blogging With the Enemy: Blog a Bull
As John Hollinger pointed out yesterday, the Hawks are facing a busy, road-heavy stretch of the schedule without their best defensive player. Smith may not be missed to a significant degree tonight as the Bulls (in my limited observation) again seem unable or unwilling to score on the interior. Without a big guard capable of posting up Mike Bibby, the Hawks should be fine with Joe Johnson playing sagging man-to-man defense to keep Derrick Rose in front of him. On what could well be a first-team-to-80-wins night it's imperative that the Hawks control the defensive glass.
- Sam Smith has a good quote from Rick Sund on the subject of Josh Smith's unique abilities:
"The loss of Smith hurts. Up until he got hurt, we were in real good shape. Realistically, we've been one of the teams fighting for the eighth spot and looking now to get up higher. With Josh Smith and Joe Johnson, that's a really good one-two punch. With Josh, the whole focus of camp has been for him to be our guy on defense to get the club to be what it can be and he's played great. It's been a credit to him for always taking the best player. My big thing with Josh has been, 'You've got a unique ability few have.' He's somewhere between a Scottie Pippen and Ben Wallace. He blocks shots and boards like Ben and does all those rangy things with length and quickness and athleticism like Scottie."
Smith also knows how the Bulls can beat the Hawks:
They started Zaza Pachulia for Smith Sunday—and you only hope they will again-- though didn't play Pachulia much since he usually picks up a few fouls before leaving the locker room.
I like the Don Nelson gambit and would put Ben Gordon on Pachulia, in effect, daring him to score, so then I could put someone taller on Joe Johnson and at least bother him some.
- Erin Jacobsen has a longer interview with Sund in The Elgin Courier News.
- Micah Hart has Lang Whitaker on the podcast this week as well as links to five different sets of power rankings which include the Hawks in the Top 5.
- Lang Whitaker's new column on the official site: Yes We Can!
- Playoffs Hawks pays tribute to the 5-0 start.
- Drew promises a live blog of tonight's game at Zaza's Playground.
I'll be here writing the first draft of the game recap in the comments. See you at tip-off.
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Also for his skepticism
regarding Derrick Rose not just taking Bibby off the dribble every single possession.
That Bibby is guarding Rose is another reminder of why I didn’t used to write game previews.
Following up on the second sentence above
I believe I wrote “first to 80 wins” and it’s 55-52 at the half.
don't worry
i would have bet my dog joe was going to start on him. and i dont have a dog so i would of had my legs broken.
If one of Rose or Gordon
is checked by one of Bibby or Law all game, the Bulls could control this game should they choose to keep the offense simple.
Luol Deng's struggles posting up Flip Murray
suggest he may never become as good a player as I once expected.
good run by the Hawks there
anytime you have two options Joe scoring or flip shooting threes that is not the best lineup.
Joe Johnson
looks tired on the defensive end of tonight. Didn’t close out on Nocioni’s 3 that made it 47-42.
Another reason to like 'Nique the color man
he’s open-minded enough to expand the blue-collar player fraternity to include the son of a professional tennis player.
I love how Mike Woodson is doing his best to keep the Bulls in the game.
Why exactly does he feel the need to “match-up” with the Bulls anyway? Just because they’re guard heavy is no reason to sacrifice your biggest advantage in the game by playing four guards. Horford’s on his way to a career night, and between him and Zaza the Bulls can’t score down low, and they can’t really check those guys on the defensive end either.
And yet we get over three minutes of Acie, Flip, Mo, Joe, and Soloman. It wasn’t a TOTAL distaster, but it did allow the lead to evaporate and become a two point deficit. I’m not saying Horford had to be on the floor-for all I know he was on the bench sucking wind-but Zaza had been sitting for several minutes starting at the end of the first quarter, and Randolph Morris didn’t get into the game at all, even though he’s looked rather effective in his limited minutes this season.
At the end of the half, we get more of the four-guard look, and even Bob Rathbun is like “Hey, is JJ playing the 4?”
play-by-play check reminder
Yahoo’s box score credited Bibby w/ Horford’s assist on Joe Johnson’s made FG at 3Q 5:49.
does anyone else notice that play they are running for Horford
where he catches the ball on the low block, and the guard runs baseline so it turns into a isolation playis the same play San Antonio runs for Tim Duncan?
thought that was funny
It's nice to see that Flip Murray
can play poorly enough that Woodson removes him at some point during the fourth quarter.
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