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Tuesday, November 7, 2006
Cavs can be beat
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In honor of arguably my favorite political ads of all time, I bring you today’s election day Sonny-Do list for the Hawks (in the form of the five things we know right now, of course). Yesterday we asked and answered a few questions. Today, we’ll break down the things that will lead to the Hawks winning, or losing, at Cleveland tonight.
Don’t get bludgeoned inside. Never will the Hawks’ lack of size and depth in the frontcourt be more obvious than it will be against the Cavs. As good as LeBron James and Larry Hughes are, the people that will give the Hawks the most trouble are Cleveland’s big men. They’re deep and they can hurt you in a variety of ways (Ilgauskas, Gooden and Varejao inside and Donyell Marshall outside). Josh Smith, Shelden Williams and Lorenzen Wright have to really pick up the pace on defense and rebound the ball for the Hawks to have a good chance to win.
Give Joe Johnson a hand. Someone other than JJ has to have a big scoring night. I’m sure Hawks coach Mike Woodson will welcome another 30-point game. But on the road someone else will need to go off a bit, too. Zaza would appear to be the obvious choice for scorer No. 2. But if Speedy Claxton or Tyronn Lue off the bench, could find a way to explode for a few extra points, that would take some of the pressure off of Johnson (who is sure to see some schemes designed to slow him down). Balanced scoring on the road may be more important than anything else, other than playing sound defense.
Treat Quicken Loans Arena like it’s Philips Arena. The league’s best teams find ways to turn the one glaring advantage for the opposition against them. If the Hawks get off to a big start (something like the one they had against the Cavs during their exhibition win in Columbus) it’ll take the starch out of a pro-Cavs crowd that probably expects the home team to have an easy time with the Hawks. NBA road atmospheres this time of year aren’t particularly daunting, not with 79 more games on the schedule. A hot start is always a good way to maintain the relative silence.
Continue to swarm on defense. Aside from Johnson’s improved confidence, the most noticeable difference between this Hawks team and last year’s crew is their attention to detail on defense. Even in their loss to the 76ers the Hawks defended well. They were at their best in the late stages against both the Knicks and Magic. The reserves came in and swarmed to the ball, providing a much needed lift for the starters when it was desperately needed. When you’re undersized, swarming is the best policy.
Forget you’re 2-1. Being underestimated is usually the best motivation for a team like the Hawks. Instead of going into feel-good mode about being 2-1 the Hawks need to keep reminding themselves that they’ve done nothing yet. They need to continue to show up to work with the proverbial chip on their shoulders. The coaching staff keeps driving the point home that the Hawks can’t spit in the face of their progress by regressing, by forgetting that they’ve put in the proper work to have some success. It’s some of the best advice around.
