I know that people get tired of me saying this but simply put once again the reason we were able to pull that game out was because we started hitting our shots. As a team we shot 53% from the floor and for the love of God we shot 47% from behind the arc.
Yes the defense was much improved but to me the fact that we could go down to the other end of the floor and actually score some points was more significant than anything.
I said in the game thread early this afternoon that Luis Scola could easily be the most important player tonight. There are several players who deserve tons of credit and we will give it to them but none of it would have mattered had Scola not come in and dropped laser guided missiles in that second quarter to keep us from getting down by 20 again, a number that I don’t believe we would have recovered from.
So when he entered the game in the second half the Hawks were scrambling trying to figure out a way to cover him. Thus collapsing the defense that they had been running and allowing our guards to penetrate to the rim without having to be double and triple teamed. Obviously Watson and George played a large part in this as well by hitting their shots but it all started with Scola.
Heck he even played solid defense and rebounded very well. Now obviously we can not expect this type of performance from Scola every night but we can’t have what we got from him in game 1 either. So a nice medium of about 10-12 points should be good enough. He has to keep the Hawks defense honest and rebound.
Here is a thought that I had during the game about Hibbert. I wonder how much he would benefit from playing with Scola and Watson with the second unit? I’m not saying bench Roy, I’m just saying that maybe getting a couple of guys who can spread the floor so that the Hawks can not collapse on Roy might do a world of good for Roy.
To start the game we had more of the same. At one point in the first quarter they passed the ball to Roy and 4 count them four defenders from Atlanta converged on him. Now that tells me that either Atlanta does not respect Roy as a passer or they do not respect anyone on our team to hit a shot. My guess is that it is a combination of the two. Roy has got to learn to be far quicker deciding what he is going to do with the ball, for that matter several of our players need to do this as well. But if they get the ball to Roy in the post and he knows he is getting double/triple or even quadruple teamed then he should not even make a move, he just needs to kick it right out to a shooter.
Now remember I said that while I think Scola was the turning point of the game there certainly were other heroic efforts given as well.
Paul George played like an MVP candidate. Not only was he given the responsibility to score the most points but he was given the burden of guarding their best player. This is one of the reasons early in the year that some of us were entertaining the idea that he had reached the same level as Kevin Durrant. While Durrant could score he never really was tasked with stopping the other team’s best player. However that went to crap as Paul kind of petered out as the season went along and Kevin Durrant just exploded and became otherworldly good.
But nonetheless Paul was nothing short of brilliant tonight. Everybody on TNT hated him going towards the Hawks bench and I understand why they do but at the end of the day the one thing that Paul lacks that makes him not be able to get over the hump to that next level as a player is sometimes he is too laid back and lacks fire. Between getting into a verbal jousting match with Teague and then letting the Hawks bench know about his shot I think we got to see a fire in Paul that we don’t often see. When he plays with that passion and fire he is a rare player.
Not to be ignored though was the fact that in the second half George Hill stopped worshiping at the feet of Jeff Teague and started to punish him as he should have all series long. Of course Teague has been a dynamo on offense; he hasn’t had to guard anyone. That is until the second half tonight. He was tested by George Hill and he was found lacking.
George was also a part of two of the best plays of the night and honestly both of them should have some play of the year consideration. That give and go with David West was just stunning to behold in person and when I got home to see a replay it looked even better. Then he hit Luis Scola with about as perfect of a pass on a break as you can get. John Stockton would have been proud of that dime.
George Hill is every bit as frustrating as Roy Hibbert is but it is often overlooked because what George does is just disappear where Roy is usually trying but failing. But when he gets engaged he often times can be the difference between a win and a loss.
George I am begging you, learn from this game. Take it right at Teague next game, he can not stop you. Keeping him playing hard defense takes away the energy he can use on offense.
Also do not let numbers fool you at all. Ian Mahinmi was nothing short of brilliant and his ability to recover from the three point line to still get back and cover the paint area really disrupted Atlanta’s offensive sets. It would be nice if he could have scored but tonight we didn’t need it at all.
At the end of the day this game was some vindication for Frank Vogel. While people hitting their shots helped and Atlanta finally dropping back down to not just hitting everything they threw up really helped. There were subtle adjustments that Frank made that actually did benefit the team. Obviously he rode the hot hand with Scola in the second quarter and he went with a two point guard lineup that gave us both extra ball handling and some shooting. Also going with Mahinmi for extended min. was great as well.
But the one thing that Frank did that was not noticeable was that he benched Lance Stephenson and did not bring him back. Make no mistake this wasn’t just because Watson and Hill were playing well together, this was Lance being benched even having a decent run there in the 3rd where he scored 5 points.
David West had inside position and was holding (I think) Millsap to out of the painted area; the ball came off the rim to his side. He rises up and gets a hand on the ball only to have his arm knocked forward and the ball to go out of bounds. David thinks he has been hit by Millsap so he was expecting the foul then when the ref whistled the ball out of bounds off of Indiana he about exploded at the ref. That is until he realize that the person who came over his back and knocked the ball out of bounds costing us a possession was not Paul Millsap or any other Hawk it was Lance Stephenson.
Very soon after that Frank brought Lance out of the game. However while Lance never likes coming out he does not usually punch the scorers table, which he did right in front of Frank. He walked right past Frank, grabbed a towel and proceeded to go stand in front of Walsh. Frank gave him a very dirty but very obvious look. Lance never came back in the game after that.
Also while benching Lance he also decided that Evan Turner was doing his best Tom Smykowski imitation (office space for the uninitiated) and decided to not play him other than in garbage time either.
Look this was a damned if you do damned if you don’t game in a lot of ways. Lose and obviously everybody would justifiably be writing the obituary of the team. Win and well you’re the 1st seed vs. the 8th seed you’re supposed to win. This is how Chuck and Kenny were playing it on TNT.
But I looked at it like this, a win was going to be a win but if we struggled and barely won then I would not take a lot of comfort. However if we had a win by a good margin then I would certainly feel a lot better.
Well we won by a large margin so I’m going to go ahead and feel a lot better. Don’t get me wrong I don’t feel safe and I still worry that we will revert to not hitting shots but for the second half of this game we found what we had been missing and hopefully we can build on it.
Let’s do some quick grades.
Paul George: A++
Simply stated, brilliant.
David West: B+
Passed up some open shots that was baffling to me, in fact a couple of his lack of shooting allowed the Atlanta defense to collapse and double team the paint. However he made up for some of that with brilliant passing (his dime to Hill was breathtaking). I really would like to see him impose his will physically a few times on Millsap.
Roy Hibbert: D
Forcing the offense through him until we spread the floor is honestly just not fair to him. He is being attacked from all angles and whatever shots he gets up are either rushed or off balanced. He did grab a couple of boards and he was perfect from the free throw line.
Lance Stephenson: C+
You know what I think is missing lately? I see Lance get all excited and energetic on the offensive end of the court but when was the last time Lance played some lock down defense? I would like to see Lance try equally hard at both ends of the court. He once again picked his shots wisely so that wasn’t an issue and I felt like he tried to move the ball and not pound it to death. I’m a Lance fan btw, but even I get sick of his attitude whenever he is taken out of a game.
George Hill: B
Honestly this should be a C and I’ll tell you why. He was a solid F in the first half; however he was a brilliant A in the second half. But since he deeply impacted the game I’ll give him the bonus of going up to a B. Why must we be cursed with players who can score but refuse to do so? Did he grow up rooting for Derrick McKey?
Luis Scola: A+
This is the game Larry Bird traded him for. Well actually he wanted this throughout the playoffs but we’ll be grateful for this game. Also I’m not sure if they showed it on TV or not but when Luis came out of the game in the second quarter he stood at the Pacers bench and waved at the fans to get into the game, which the fans obliged. He was a solid team player as well as just being a solid player.
C.J. Watson: A
I believe that the loss of Watson really exacerbated whatever else was going on in March. He has been the perfect backup point guard for us. He offered shooting, defense and ball handling. He knocked the ball loose a couple of times in the 4th causing the Hawks to burn a lot of clock.
Ian Mahinmi: A
How can a guy who scored 1 point and grabbed 0 rebounds get an A? I have no idea, but he did. His foot work tonight was outstanding.
Evan Turner: D
At least he was 100% from the floor. Other than that, not much else and got burned like a wicker doll at burning man on defense.
Everybody else played garbage min. so just give them what you will.
At the end of the day Atlanta still has home court advantage for now and we all know how we play down there. So while this win feels good, it’s only as good as our next game.
But here is hoping that this is the turn around that we have so desperately needed for about two months now.
Now for some Trick Daddy
Yes the defense was much improved but to me the fact that we could go down to the other end of the floor and actually score some points was more significant than anything.
I said in the game thread early this afternoon that Luis Scola could easily be the most important player tonight. There are several players who deserve tons of credit and we will give it to them but none of it would have mattered had Scola not come in and dropped laser guided missiles in that second quarter to keep us from getting down by 20 again, a number that I don’t believe we would have recovered from.
So when he entered the game in the second half the Hawks were scrambling trying to figure out a way to cover him. Thus collapsing the defense that they had been running and allowing our guards to penetrate to the rim without having to be double and triple teamed. Obviously Watson and George played a large part in this as well by hitting their shots but it all started with Scola.
Heck he even played solid defense and rebounded very well. Now obviously we can not expect this type of performance from Scola every night but we can’t have what we got from him in game 1 either. So a nice medium of about 10-12 points should be good enough. He has to keep the Hawks defense honest and rebound.
Here is a thought that I had during the game about Hibbert. I wonder how much he would benefit from playing with Scola and Watson with the second unit? I’m not saying bench Roy, I’m just saying that maybe getting a couple of guys who can spread the floor so that the Hawks can not collapse on Roy might do a world of good for Roy.
To start the game we had more of the same. At one point in the first quarter they passed the ball to Roy and 4 count them four defenders from Atlanta converged on him. Now that tells me that either Atlanta does not respect Roy as a passer or they do not respect anyone on our team to hit a shot. My guess is that it is a combination of the two. Roy has got to learn to be far quicker deciding what he is going to do with the ball, for that matter several of our players need to do this as well. But if they get the ball to Roy in the post and he knows he is getting double/triple or even quadruple teamed then he should not even make a move, he just needs to kick it right out to a shooter.
Now remember I said that while I think Scola was the turning point of the game there certainly were other heroic efforts given as well.
Paul George played like an MVP candidate. Not only was he given the responsibility to score the most points but he was given the burden of guarding their best player. This is one of the reasons early in the year that some of us were entertaining the idea that he had reached the same level as Kevin Durrant. While Durrant could score he never really was tasked with stopping the other team’s best player. However that went to crap as Paul kind of petered out as the season went along and Kevin Durrant just exploded and became otherworldly good.
But nonetheless Paul was nothing short of brilliant tonight. Everybody on TNT hated him going towards the Hawks bench and I understand why they do but at the end of the day the one thing that Paul lacks that makes him not be able to get over the hump to that next level as a player is sometimes he is too laid back and lacks fire. Between getting into a verbal jousting match with Teague and then letting the Hawks bench know about his shot I think we got to see a fire in Paul that we don’t often see. When he plays with that passion and fire he is a rare player.
Not to be ignored though was the fact that in the second half George Hill stopped worshiping at the feet of Jeff Teague and started to punish him as he should have all series long. Of course Teague has been a dynamo on offense; he hasn’t had to guard anyone. That is until the second half tonight. He was tested by George Hill and he was found lacking.
George was also a part of two of the best plays of the night and honestly both of them should have some play of the year consideration. That give and go with David West was just stunning to behold in person and when I got home to see a replay it looked even better. Then he hit Luis Scola with about as perfect of a pass on a break as you can get. John Stockton would have been proud of that dime.
George Hill is every bit as frustrating as Roy Hibbert is but it is often overlooked because what George does is just disappear where Roy is usually trying but failing. But when he gets engaged he often times can be the difference between a win and a loss.
George I am begging you, learn from this game. Take it right at Teague next game, he can not stop you. Keeping him playing hard defense takes away the energy he can use on offense.
Also do not let numbers fool you at all. Ian Mahinmi was nothing short of brilliant and his ability to recover from the three point line to still get back and cover the paint area really disrupted Atlanta’s offensive sets. It would be nice if he could have scored but tonight we didn’t need it at all.
At the end of the day this game was some vindication for Frank Vogel. While people hitting their shots helped and Atlanta finally dropping back down to not just hitting everything they threw up really helped. There were subtle adjustments that Frank made that actually did benefit the team. Obviously he rode the hot hand with Scola in the second quarter and he went with a two point guard lineup that gave us both extra ball handling and some shooting. Also going with Mahinmi for extended min. was great as well.
But the one thing that Frank did that was not noticeable was that he benched Lance Stephenson and did not bring him back. Make no mistake this wasn’t just because Watson and Hill were playing well together, this was Lance being benched even having a decent run there in the 3rd where he scored 5 points.
David West had inside position and was holding (I think) Millsap to out of the painted area; the ball came off the rim to his side. He rises up and gets a hand on the ball only to have his arm knocked forward and the ball to go out of bounds. David thinks he has been hit by Millsap so he was expecting the foul then when the ref whistled the ball out of bounds off of Indiana he about exploded at the ref. That is until he realize that the person who came over his back and knocked the ball out of bounds costing us a possession was not Paul Millsap or any other Hawk it was Lance Stephenson.
Very soon after that Frank brought Lance out of the game. However while Lance never likes coming out he does not usually punch the scorers table, which he did right in front of Frank. He walked right past Frank, grabbed a towel and proceeded to go stand in front of Walsh. Frank gave him a very dirty but very obvious look. Lance never came back in the game after that.
Also while benching Lance he also decided that Evan Turner was doing his best Tom Smykowski imitation (office space for the uninitiated) and decided to not play him other than in garbage time either.
Look this was a damned if you do damned if you don’t game in a lot of ways. Lose and obviously everybody would justifiably be writing the obituary of the team. Win and well you’re the 1st seed vs. the 8th seed you’re supposed to win. This is how Chuck and Kenny were playing it on TNT.
But I looked at it like this, a win was going to be a win but if we struggled and barely won then I would not take a lot of comfort. However if we had a win by a good margin then I would certainly feel a lot better.
Well we won by a large margin so I’m going to go ahead and feel a lot better. Don’t get me wrong I don’t feel safe and I still worry that we will revert to not hitting shots but for the second half of this game we found what we had been missing and hopefully we can build on it.
Let’s do some quick grades.
Paul George: A++
Simply stated, brilliant.
David West: B+
Passed up some open shots that was baffling to me, in fact a couple of his lack of shooting allowed the Atlanta defense to collapse and double team the paint. However he made up for some of that with brilliant passing (his dime to Hill was breathtaking). I really would like to see him impose his will physically a few times on Millsap.
Roy Hibbert: D
Forcing the offense through him until we spread the floor is honestly just not fair to him. He is being attacked from all angles and whatever shots he gets up are either rushed or off balanced. He did grab a couple of boards and he was perfect from the free throw line.
Lance Stephenson: C+
You know what I think is missing lately? I see Lance get all excited and energetic on the offensive end of the court but when was the last time Lance played some lock down defense? I would like to see Lance try equally hard at both ends of the court. He once again picked his shots wisely so that wasn’t an issue and I felt like he tried to move the ball and not pound it to death. I’m a Lance fan btw, but even I get sick of his attitude whenever he is taken out of a game.
George Hill: B
Honestly this should be a C and I’ll tell you why. He was a solid F in the first half; however he was a brilliant A in the second half. But since he deeply impacted the game I’ll give him the bonus of going up to a B. Why must we be cursed with players who can score but refuse to do so? Did he grow up rooting for Derrick McKey?
Luis Scola: A+
This is the game Larry Bird traded him for. Well actually he wanted this throughout the playoffs but we’ll be grateful for this game. Also I’m not sure if they showed it on TV or not but when Luis came out of the game in the second quarter he stood at the Pacers bench and waved at the fans to get into the game, which the fans obliged. He was a solid team player as well as just being a solid player.
C.J. Watson: A
I believe that the loss of Watson really exacerbated whatever else was going on in March. He has been the perfect backup point guard for us. He offered shooting, defense and ball handling. He knocked the ball loose a couple of times in the 4th causing the Hawks to burn a lot of clock.
Ian Mahinmi: A
How can a guy who scored 1 point and grabbed 0 rebounds get an A? I have no idea, but he did. His foot work tonight was outstanding.
Evan Turner: D
At least he was 100% from the floor. Other than that, not much else and got burned like a wicker doll at burning man on defense.
Everybody else played garbage min. so just give them what you will.
At the end of the day Atlanta still has home court advantage for now and we all know how we play down there. So while this win feels good, it’s only as good as our next game.
But here is hoping that this is the turn around that we have so desperately needed for about two months now.
Now for some Trick Daddy
Comment