Peachtree Hoops: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:


Pro Quality. Fan Perspective.
Login-facebook
Around SBN: Off Tackle Empire interviews Rich Rodriguez

Game Thread #4: Toronto @ Atlanta, November 7th

Toronto Raptors at Atlanta Hawks, Nov 7, 2008 7:30 PM EST


WHO: Toronto (3-1) at Atlanta (3-0)

WHEN: 7:30pm

WHERE: FSN South HD, Hawks Radio Network, NBA Audio League Pass, NBA League Pass Broadband (Free Preview)

Injury Report: Once again, Speedy Claxton will be presumed out. For Toronto, Nathan Jawai is out and Hassan Adams is doubtful.

For Entertainment Purposes Only: Atlanta -3, 183.5 o/u

Blogging With the Enemy: Raptorblog, Raptors Republic (not over Al Horford's foul of TJ Ford last season)

While You're Waiting For Tip-Off: Don't forget to stuff the ballot box.

The Hawks are reveling in an era of good feeling:

Any doubt about whether the Hawks trust each other was answered at crunch time of Wednesday’s win in New Orleans.

With the game on the line, the Hawks swung the ball from side to side repeatedly until they found the shot they wanted. It didn’t matter who took the shot, only that it was a good one.

And to think that a year ago this team, 3-0 heading into tonight’s game against Toronto at Philips Arena, had trust issues.

The Hawks took 19 shots in the fourth quarter in New Orleans: 7 of them were out-and-out low-percentage shots, either Josh Smith jump shots or three-point attempts by Flip Murray or Acie Law IV; Maurice Evans and Marvin Williams each made their lone three-point attempt, Flip Murray made a layup, Zaza Pachulia missed two layups, and Joe Johnson took 7 (of Atlanta's last 9) shots, 6 of those being jump shots.

It's great they went 11-19 (scoring 27 points) on those attempts but I don't think that's a consistent recipe for success. Or a major change from what we saw in a typical fourth quarter last season.

One further note of caution, Mike Woodson is getting comfortable with playing Flip Murray for the entire fourth quarter:

"That’s the ultimate sign of trust to me. That’s huge. And it doesn’t matter who is in the game. When you get to that point, where you trust each other, where you realize we didn’t even have our point guard in the game: How much trust is that? And you had guys stepping up making plays. That’s the sign of a team that’s growing.”

Just keep doing whatever you're doing that makes this a good defensive team and render my criticism of the offense pointless. Then everyone can be happy.

In news from north of the border, Mike Ganter of The Toronto Sun reports that Jermaine O'Neal has two goals heading into tonight's game:

So the goal heading into Atlanta is two-fold for the Raps marquee off-season acquisition: Get to the line as early as possible and hopefully establish a rhythm and stay out of foul trouble.

The foul trouble -- twice in the past three games he has picked up two quick fouls and found himself chained to the bench -- has played into the whole shooting funk.

The latter goal should be easy for O'Neal to accomplish if the Hawks continue their early-season trend of forgoing trips to the free throw line.

I'll be attending again tonight which will likely mean the absence of the Josh Smith Jump Shot Log from tomorrow's recap. Unless, of course, any enterprising commenters wish to notate the time remaining on the shot clock and the distance of each field goal attempt in the comments below.

If anyone wants to read a professional NBA columnist fill digital space despite having little of interest to say about the Hawks, knock yourself out.

0 recs  |  Comment 2 comments |

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Display:

I’m looking forward to this game. Good test for the Hawks and their young two big men.

Joe Johnson needs to take advantage of the Raptors wings tonight.

by NBR on Nov 7, 2008 7:46 PM EST reply actions  

Last night

Was there last night. Good crowd. Jerious Norwood sat in front of me. Anyway was impressed with Randolph Morris and Solomon Jones. Both played important minutes and did not back down. Randolph is a BIG body. Would be nice to see him get more time. Joe Johnson is awesome. Maybe the best 2 in the NBA. Bibby looked good. Marvin is playing great defense and taking good shots.

Wonder how long josh will be out. Hope he is back to the DIRTY CELTS.

by zaza on Nov 8, 2008 10:02 AM EST reply actions  

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

Welcome to the SB Nation blog about the Atlanta Hawks.
Start posting about the Hawks »

Join SB Nation and dive into communities focused on all your favorite teams.

Connect_with_facebook

SBNation.com Recent Stories

NEW YORK CITY NY - AUGUST 12:  Kevin Durant #5 looks on during the World Basketball Festival USAB Showcase at Radio City Music Hall on August 12 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images for Nike) +4 updates

FIBA World Championships 2010: Team USA Routs Iran 88-51, Clinches Top Spot In Group B

Cleveland Cavaliers' Delonte West, right, shoot over Indiana Pacers' Jeff Foster in the first half of a NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Monday, April 13, 2009.  (AP Photo/Michael Conroy) link

Celtics Sign Free Agent Delonte West

Rose +2 updates

FIBA World Championships 2010: Team USA Ekes Out 70-68 Win Over Brazil

More from SBNation.com >


Managers

Zaza_pachulia_small hawksdawgs

Nique_small The Human Highlight Blog

438px-atlanta_hawks_logo Kris Willis

Editors

Logo_small Fan Scribe Chris

Authors

Superman_small Bronn