Recap
Boxscore
Coverage
While I pretend to know enough about basketball to recap games I watch, it is tough to pretend such a thing off a box score, some quotes, and a quarter's worth of Steve Holman. So a quick meandering of thoughts, points, quotes, and hearsay all in that beautiful bullet form.
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Jeff Teague managed to make Mike Woodson smile. I have seen a non-sarcastic smile from Woody twice in my entire life. Either Teague did some great things or Woodson finally realized these games don't count.
- Continuing on the Teague train, from what my friend at the game said and Wake Forest after Wake Forest fan has told me, he goes from incredible to really bad about as fast any player you can imagine. I expect that to only be exasperated by his rookie status.
- Also, 8 free throw attempts for Jeff? I know he can hit the three, but we might want to put the kibosh on that until someone stops him from driving the ball.
- All I want from Teague is his confidence in tact by the time he has some handle of the offense and NBA game. After one preseason outing, good to go.
- A Joe Johnson that does not over push is a beautiful thing even in box score form. 7-10, 4 assists, 0 TOs.
Lets get as many Jamal Crawford 0-fers out of the way as possible. One down on 0-4 shooting and no free throw attempts.
When did Zaza Pachulia become a scoring center?
Don't ever say Sekou Smith doesn't bring you the details. "Rookie center Garret Siler must have forgotten his warmup pants were snap offs. Because when Woodson ordered him into the game late in the fourth quarter, the 7-footer yanked his pants down all the way over his shoes."
In the first quarter, Mario West had a basket interference and a put back slam at the buzzer. Sounds about right.
Courtney Sims DNP does not bode well for him staying in an Atlanta Hawks uniform.
Best stat in a meaningless game? Seven rebounds and two blocks in 21 minutes for Josh Smith.
Someone tell me it is ok to read a lot into Othello Hunter's 22 minutes last night.
But seriously can Othello and Randolph Morris trade contracts? Randolph only played two minutes....two points, zero smiles (I assume).
40 FTs for the Hawks to 36 for the Hornets? Chris Paul with 11 attempts in 21 minutes? Lets hope that was just a really physical game and not some indictment on the replacement refs.
""That really helped right there, that helped me a lot," said Teague, who was 6-for-12 from the floor and 7-for-8 from the free throw line. "[Mike] Bibby, Josh [Smith] and Marvin [Williams] were all telling me the same thing. They were like, ‘Just play your game and attack. You're faster than anybody they got out there so just go the hole and play your game.' So that's what I tried to do" A lightening fast guard is going to take some getting used to.
And for those people who say Johnson is no leader, at one point in the game, Johnson expertly uncoached our coach, "I knew Woody had said something to him," Johnson said. "I just told him that he has to play through the mistakes and not to let [Woodson] take your aggressiveness away. When you're a young player in this league your aggressiveness is what gets you through sometimes."
More bullet points you say? Head over to Hoopinion.
No one injured. Win. Teague feeling confident. Starters under 25 minutes. Good work Woody.
Tough to complain or get overly excited about a meaningless game, but I will take some Jeff Teague style hope any day of the week. First hand accounts, thoughts on my thoughts, thoughts on Steve Holman, crushes on Jeff Teague, all welcome in the comments. Go Hawks!
