Boxscore

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With 3:32 left in the third quarter, Zaza Pachulia went to the bench. The Hawks were up 2, in no small part thanks to the 8 offensive and 9 defensive rebounds Pachulia had already grabbed. By the end of the third quarter, the Hawks would be down by 4 points. In the fourth quarter, the Hawks would never regain the lead. As a team they would grab, in the fourth quarter, just 7 defensive rebounds. Toronto would grab 15 fourth quarter rebounds, 4 of them offensive. Pachulia would never leave the bench.

Flip Murray* played part of the fourth quarter. Acie Law IV, on a night he played little and was offered even less to do when he was on the court (see Murray, Flip above), played part of the fourth quarter. Al Horford played the first 11:46 of the fourth quarter after having played the entire third quarter. He scored 2 points and grabbed a rebound in the fourth quarter. Zaza Pachulia did not play a second of the fourth quarter.

*Was your favorite Flip Murray appearance last night his first and second quarter spanning, 0-4, 1 TO, and 2 PF in 5:31 (Hawks -7 in that stretch) or his third and fourth quarter spanning 0-1, 1 TO in 4:35 (Hawks -10 in that stretch)?

It would be foolish to put the entire loss on Woodson's decision not to play Pachulia in the fourth quarter. The ineffectiveness of the bench beyond Maurice Evans didn't help nor did the latest object lesson in the difference in quality between Joe Johnson and a plausible franchise player. As frustrating as it was to watch the Hawks play with one Georgian tied to the bench, the game would not have been in doubt late had the officials demonstrated any interest in calling fouls on Hawks players attempting to slow Chris Bosh when he attacked the rim.

Mike Woodson's explanation for the defeat differs from mine:

"We hurt ourselves because we settled too much for 3s. We were just too selfish tonight. Sometimes those shots are appetizing and they look good, but if you're not making jump shots, you've got to get to the free throw line.''

On the season, the Atlanta Hawks are 3rd in the league in three-pointers made, first in three-point percentage, and 18th in FT Rate.

The AJC just reprinted the AP story linked and quoted above so I guess no one was there to raise his hand politely and ask the question, "Coach Woodson: Why didn't Pachulia play a single second of the fourth quarter?"

I don't have a real jones for acquiring press credentials but the questions I'm most interested never seem to get asked, or, if they do get asked, the answers are not published.

At Raptors Republic, Arsenalist pays Chris Bosh tribute:

Chris Bosh is the well that we all drink from and if it ever went dry we’d starve to death and have our carcasses eaten by vultures.

The AJC really didn't send a beat reporter to cover the game? Does this happen in other NBA cities? I just want to know why Pachulia sat for the last 15-and-a-half minutes. I don't want to settle for pure speculation poisoned by my long-standing anti-Mike Woodson bias. I'd like to know something true.