Game Thread #26: Golden State @ Atlanta
by Hoopinion on Dec 19, 2008 5:30 PM EST
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PrintGolden State Warriors at Atlanta Hawks, Dec 19, 2008 7:30 PM EST
WHO: Golden State (7-19) at Atlanta (15-10)
WHEN: 7:30pm
WHERE: Fox Sports South HD, Hawks Radio Network, NBA Audio League Pass
Injury Report: For the Hawks, Speedy Claxton is out. For the Warriors, Corey Maggette is out.
For Entertainment Purposes Only: Atlanta -10.5, 217 o/u
Blogging With the Enemy: Golden State of Mind
The more I think about it, wondering whether the Hawks will run with the Warriors tonight does not constitute constructive speculation. The Hawks should beat the Warriors if the game has 98 possessions. The Hawks should beat the Warriors if the game has 89 possessions. Thus I'll be watching to see whether Mike Woodson or Don Nelson controls the matchups.
My advice for Coach Woodson: If Nelson wants to run a four- or five-guard* lineup out there, let him. Josh Smith and Al Horford are athletic enough to defend smaller players creditably and the rebounding advantage those two would presumably give the Hawks will be valuable.
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I wonder how good the Hawks would be if Don Nelson were at the helm
Probably not very. Flip Murray is not a viable power forward in the NBA.
How much more productive would Marvin Williams seem
had he been drafted by a team that allowed him to get a couple easy baskets a night in transition?
Fact-checking 'Nique
“The Hawks should drive the ball because Golden State doesn’t have any shot blockers.”
Entering tonight’s game, the Warriors lead the league in blocked shots: 180 in 26 games.
My take on the first half
It’s really something when a team’s collective shot selection is worse than Golden State’s…as Atlanta’s was during the second quarter.
Anyone remember when Atlanta was the top three point shooting team in the league?
So you're saying they should take more of those two-pointers?
The shots they made 70% of the time in the half?
Speaking of which
Someone (hopefully someone smarter and with more patience than me) needs to come up with a metric to measure shot selection. Between information on NBA.com’s Hot Spots and 82games.com, the information is out there. I suppose there’s no real measurement for whether a shot is contested or not, but sometimes that does not even matter.
Ideally, you’d have three different parts of it: Career average on shots from that spot/distance, season average for the same, and recent history-say the last 10 games or so. You’d basically determine what types of shots a player is likely to make, and penalize him for every attempt he takes that does not line up with his ideal shots.
The players with the worst shot selection in the NBA would run something like this: 1) Flip Murray, 2) Baron Davis, 3) Josh Smith
At a macro, strategic level
every team’s offense should first be designed to create layups/dunks, corner 3s, and free throws. Beyond that it’s just a matter of having a couple of good passers and a couple of guys who can at least make 15-footers on the court at once.
And it’s patience (or maybe independent wealth) more than intelligence that would be necessary to accomplish what you describe.
It's very encouraging that the backup point guard in the second half
is the guy who committed three turnovers against one assist in seven first half minutes, not the guy who had five assists against one turnover in seven first half minutes.
We run 1-4 with Flip Murray at the top
even when Joe Johnson’s in the game?
Forget evaluating shot selection, I need to keep track of how many possessions per game I wonder whether Flip’s weak effort is going to be credited as a missed field goal or a turnover.
Certainly, you have to wonder what Flip thought he was doing with the ball on that possession to end the third quarter. Did he simply dump the ball onto the middle of the floor to avoid having his shot blocked, or did he mistakenly believe he had a trailer who would scoop up the ball for the basket?
If conscious thought is an element of Flip Murray's game
then my opinion of him has diminished even further.
What you often miss
are games (like this) in which Marvin is the most effective Hawks scorer. He manages to quietly produce very well, so that if you’re watching the game and not the box score, he sneaks up on you.
I suppose I can’t blame Woodson for not recognizing these instances and further utilizing Marvin on such nights because of the low-key way in which Marvin does pretty much everything.
There’s players like Flip, on the other hand, who I can’t help but notice when they have very good nights shooting.
It's going to sound churlish
but I think the rotation tonight has been horrible. Horford’s going to play very well and play less than 30 minutes. Acie Law again does not get rewarded for a good performance and Mike Bibby misses out on a triple-double because Flip Murray hits a couple of shots in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter on a night otherwise defined by his turnovers and matador defense.
I have to branch out now...
Because I just checked some scores around the league and noticed this:
Indiana started a line-up tonight of Jarret Jack, Brandon Rush, Stephen Graham, Jeff Foster, and Roy Hibbert.
Troy Murphy presumably is still suffering from a stomach virus-I don’t know why Danny Granger isn’t playing, or why TJ Ford couldn’t start but could play 30 minutes off the bench. And I have absolutely no idea why Roy Hibbert started over Nesterovic. Also, my apologies to friends and family of Stephen Graham, but who the hell is Stephen Graham?
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