Atlanta Starts Fast, Cruises Late In 106-101 Win Over New Jersey

by Kris Willis on Jan 10, 2012 10:01 AM EST

The Atlanta Hawks jumped out to a big 31-18 first quarter lead and essentially cruised their way to victory. Interestingly enough the Hawks were outscored in quarters 2-4 by the Nets thanks to a high free throw rate and some long distance marksmanship. New Jersey could never close the gap far enough and Joe Johnson slammed the door with four straight free throws in the final moments which was a good thing to see given the Hawks struggles at the line over the first nine games of the season.

Offense

Atlanta recorded 10 assists on 14 made field goals in the first quarter on their way to 26 on 42 makes for the game. The ball movement is a beautiful thing to the point where it almost felt that they over passed a little to set up a three point attempt. The ball movement has played a big part in Atlanta's shooting surge over the last two games. All five Hawks starters finished in double figures with Josh Smith, Joe Johnson and Jeff Teague all scoring at least 20.

Defense

I thought it was a solid effort that stopped just short of being great. The Hawks did a good job of defending inside particularly clamping down in that key first quarter. The Nets found some room and knocked down half of their three-point attempts including 7-14 after halftime.

Josh Smith

How good has Josh Smith been over the last three games? He stuffed the stat sheet once again on Monday night finishing with 26 points, six rebounds, four assists and three steals. The only blemish on an otherwise nearly flawless night was 6-11 shooting from the free throw line. Ever since the negative comments were made following last Thursday's loss to Miami, Josh Smith has been the best player on the floor and the Hawks haven't lost a game since.

Jeff Teague

Teague found the perfect mix in my opinion of aggressiveness and finished with 20 points, four assists and two steals. He had a big third quarter scoring eight points and has become surprisingly accurate from three-point range where he is shooting 47 percent on the season.

Joe Johnson

Johnson has hit at least half of his shots in the Hawks last two wins while averaging 19 points a game. Prior to those two games, he had only hit at least half of his shots one other time this season. He is also playing a big part in Atlanta's ball movement dishing out 17 assists during the three-game winning streak.

The Bench

For really the first time in a regulation game this season, Larry Drew decided to ride his starters in the second halfand leave all of the reserves besides Zaza Pachulia on the bench in the second half. Joe Johnson and Jeff Teague played the entire second half against the Nets. Perhaps the fact that the Hawks have a day off on Tuesday played into the decision but it didn't seem like the bench performed that badly in the first half either.

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Comments

That is the best thing about this team offensively

while no one is a dominant, can’t be stopped force, they all have pretty good offensive skills, and are all from 1-5 excellent passers. Marvin might be the worst passer/offensive player of the bunch, and he’s not bad by any means. Replace him with McGrady, and the passing/offensive skill level from 1-5 goes up even more. A ball/player movement offense is exactly what a team with those skill sets should be running, not Isos. And they are running it well right now.

http://sportsandgrits.com/

by Mr. Sanchez on Jan 10, 2012 10:44 AM EST reply actions

i hope LD doens't regress from playing the bench like he did earlier

Atlanta will win a championship....someday

by maxxj3 on Jan 10, 2012 11:46 AM EST reply actions

agree

and let’s also hope that no one is telling Smoove to keep shooting the j’s – the evidence is so clear on this. Sure, he can have a hot night. I had hot nights in rec league and trust me, I was NEVER dead eye. I just knew that when I had it to ride it and when I didn’t – provide the energy and defense and transition buckets they asked of me.

Hawk Str8Talk

by Hawk Str8Talk on Jan 10, 2012 2:35 PM EST up reply actions

Are you Mario West?

Any and all new Chuck Norris and Jack Bauer factoids must be approved by Ivan Johnson

by a hooter's baby on Jan 10, 2012 5:54 PM EST via mobile up reply actions

didn't have the hops

Hawk Str8Talk

by Hawk Str8Talk on Jan 11, 2012 2:07 AM EST up reply actions

transition buckets? My guess A) you were playing the wing (sg-sf)?

Because the position Smith normally plays (PF-C/trailer) does not allow for a lot of transition buckets.

* Hawks trade {Al Horford + protected 2nd rounder} for {Perimeter F Jon Leuer and C Andrew Bogut}

* Jeff Teague * Joe Johnson* Jon Leuer * Josh Smith * Andrew Bogut *

by PointGuardSlim on Jan 11, 2012 9:53 AM EST up reply actions

then again

how hard is it for teams to force him into jump shots? Maybe they give him enough of a reason to take some of them, but he should never be in that position.

Atlanta will win a championship....someday

by maxxj3 on Jan 10, 2012 11:09 PM EST up reply actions

not hard at all

when you want nothing more than to prove that you can shoot jumpers. That’s the problem – I know that Josh is saying … I’m going to prove that I can shoot those shots instead of ceding to the people that they are right and to just focus on the post.

Hawk Str8Talk

by Hawk Str8Talk on Jan 11, 2012 2:08 AM EST up reply actions

I think you're overthinking it. Smith shot 72% Expected field goal % in New Jersey.

He’s taking the right shots. He’s passing to teammates. Did you see when he passed up a 3 to Radmanovic. Forced out of the post, clock winding down Playground crossover, Playground crossover, Sees Horford at the 3 pt line to his left and a man sagging off teammate to the right. Oh, should I shoot this step back 3?

No pass to Radmanovic. Shoots 3, misses it.

Smith is passing up shots. And him focusing on the post? He’s not gonna be able to post up bigger guys consistently. He needs a jumper to keep the defense off balance.

That said 13 footers are better and should be a cakewalk compared to 19 footers. Don’t know if he really is shying away from that high school 3 pointer but the FT line and his in between game seems like it matured over the summer, only a few games ago that was not the case.

* Hawks trade {Al Horford + protected 2nd rounder} for {Perimeter F Jon Leuer and C Andrew Bogut}

* Jeff Teague * Joe Johnson* Jon Leuer * Josh Smith * Andrew Bogut *

by PointGuardSlim on Jan 11, 2012 10:01 AM EST up reply actions

Now thinking back I realize Smith asked for Vlad.

He is is the one ‘player’ who asked for a dead-eye shooter like Radmanovic.

I don’t think anyone seriously trusts Marvin to make a contested jump shot or a play off the dribble. Or make up for Josh’s lack of range. Marvin’s skillset is not a great ‘counter’ to Smith.

Here is the full camp roster, minus Vladmir Radmanovic, who was signed tonight.
I guess he’s the 3-point shooter that both L.D. and Smoove said the Hawks need. "We need a for real, for real knock-down shooter," Josh said. "I’m not asking for Kyle Korver, but a guy who can just spread the floor and just knock the shot down."

http://blogs.ajc.com/hawks/2011/12/10/atlanta-hawks-camp-report-day-1/

* Hawks trade {Al Horford + protected 2nd rounder} for {Perimeter F Jon Leuer and C Andrew Bogut}

* Jeff Teague * Joe Johnson* Jon Leuer * Josh Smith * Andrew Bogut *

by PointGuardSlim on Jan 11, 2012 10:05 AM EST up reply actions

Let me repeat

Josh Smith is never, has never, will never be a jump shooter. He’s not good at it. Every metric (even this season) points that out. You obviously haven’t watched all the games, but each game he’s had 2-3 jumpers that were taken with over 10 seconds on the shot clock and in many cases they were just bad decisions. So, you can talk about he needs a jumper – that’s just patently false. He needs a jumper if he can consistently hit it. Otherwise, you’re just throwing away possessions. Many players in this league don’t have things that would make the superstars, but they can be effective doing what they do best. So, that’s it. You aren’t going to convince me by picking one game where the shots fell. I’d rather he concentrate on making FTs at a 75% clip than taking one more j outside of 15 ft the rest of his career.

Hawk Str8Talk

by Hawk Str8Talk on Jan 11, 2012 6:33 PM EST up reply actions

With the cramped schedule

I don’t think he can ever get away from using the bench extensively. Otherwise, there will be some very dead legs on the floor.

http://sportsandgrits.com/

by Mr. Sanchez on Jan 10, 2012 4:20 PM EST up reply actions

Teague will only get better

Two examples recently,

1. Game vs. Chicago, lob pass to Smoove not high enough or in the right place, Smoove just laid it in.
2. Last night, he throws a lob pass that clearly was not high enough. He needs to realize who he is playing with. Smoove caught it in traffic and made it happen.

Until Teague learns how to throw a lob pass well to Smoove, he won’t be on the happy side of Smoove’s nor the crowd.

Other than that, he is everything we want him to be. Just stay agressive young man

by ATLpaul on Jan 10, 2012 12:33 PM EST reply actions

maybe the loss to miami was a good thing

to finally wake up josh

Larry Drew makes me think I can coach at a professional level.

by Throw on Jan 10, 2012 1:08 PM EST reply actions

Hopefully.

I hope that this team shows growth by not having as many let down games. “Let down” games are what derailed us last years and in previous years. They often led to losing streaks. The Hawks will have a good regular season if they can avoid the dreaded 3,4,5+ game losing streaks.

by jdewayneatl on Jan 10, 2012 3:42 PM EST up reply actions