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Quick Thought: Joe Johnson, Jeff Teague !!
Deep(er) Thoughts:
The old adage is that in the NBA every team makes a run at some point during the game. Cleveland did so in the third quarter outscoring the Hawks 23-17. A closer look shows that the Hawks made 29 percent of their shots in the quarter going 7-24. Interestingly it was there only quarter under 50 percent in the game. The Hawks closed things out hitting 12 of 20 attempts in the fourth. The moral of the story is that any win over the Cleveland Cavaliers might not be impressive but its a game that Atlanta could ill afford to lose.
Afterthoughts:
The injury story is getting ridiculous as you can add Jannero Pargo's name to the list. Even worse what was thought of before the game as a stomach bug was found to be much more in appendicitis. Pargo was scheduled for surgery Sunday night and will miss some time with the club. Hopefully we will get some updates on his status on Monday. Marvin Williams, Vladimir Radmanovic and Willie Green all missed Sunday's win and from what I am hearing Rad is probably the only one that has a shot at playing against the Celtics on Monday.
Game Balls:
Joe Johnson seems to light up anytime he sees Anthony Parker or any other smaller player slated to guard him. Johnson went inside early against Parker and Alonzo Gee and then moved outside for a variety of catch and shoot opportunities. Johnson finished with 28 points on 16 attempts and tossed in five assists for good measure. Second straight game he has made quick decisions with the basketball and has been on the attack.
Jeff Teague scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half with eight coming in the final quarter. He wasn't real aggressive during the first half but got defensive in the second half to get things going. Teague hit 8 of 14 shot attempts and was 2-5 from downtown.
Tough decision for my final game ball but I am going to give a slight nod to Ivan Johnson who came off the bench to score 10 points on 5-5 shooting. Johnson has played really well in the last two games and has gotten aggressive again taking the ball to the basket.
Final Thought
Two game winning streak over two lesser opponents can't be discounted given the amount of injuries the team is faced with. The bench could be even shorter on Monday night depending on whether or not Tracy McGrady plays in the second game of a back-to-back after playing just under 26 minutes on Sunday.
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