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Monday, November 5, 2007
Five things (and then some)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DETROIT - Welcome to the first regular season installment of the Five Things (I use it as therapy really).
The Hawks actually produced 21 things I know they hated in last night’s loss to Detroit, a completely avoidable outcome if the Hawks had simply cranked up their pace (and played fearlessly instead of playing not to screw things up).
We’ve seen them do it so many times before, trying to manage leads only to watch them slip away in a flurry of their own mistakes. Unlike some people (uh, basically 99.9 percent of the coaches in every sport) who subscribe to this theory that slowing things down allows a team to better control their actions, I think that’s the best way for a team like the Hawks to lose the way they did to the Pistons.
Joe Johnson said it best, “They scored every time we turned it over. Even when we were up we still needed to be in attack mode. But we were playing too cautious and trying to protect the lead instead of pushing it out there further.”
When the Hawks slow down and try to run their half court sets they seem to pile up the useless turnovers and their shot selection goes haywire. Everyone’s talking about their turnovers and that shaky late foul call on Marvin Williams (calling it shaky doesn’t do that horrible call justice) but the real culprit, in these eyes, was the Hawks’ inability to keep the ball moving on the offensive end when they had that nine-point cushion.
They had just four second half assists and finished with 15 for the night to Detroit’s 26. And the first thing to go wrong when you’re not moving the ball is the shot selection of players who should be catching the ball in the best possible positions to convert easy baskets (yes, I’m talking mainly about Josh Smith, who is being roasted for his dismal shot selection against the Pistons). But for every ill-advised shot attempt he took of his own making, he tossed up a desperation heave that was the result of him getting the ball in a no-win position with the shot-clock winding down. Why the Hawks don’t post him up on the low block all night is a mystery to me (I’ll address this more below).
Enough yapping - and I’ll spare you the details of my Saturday trip to East Lansing for Michigan’s splendid 28-24 win over Michigan State - let me get back to the five things still on my brain as I wait for my flight outta here (and I apologize in advance for any drifting, I’m working on very little sleep and no morning caffeine):
Acie Law with the ball in his hands and on defense and in transition and just doing whatever it is this confident rookie can do when given the opportunity. So he had five turnovers. He had to brutal, open floor giveaways that were the result of carelessness. But he was pushing the pace the way he was supposed to and trying to create for others. He also had two steals, played solid defense on Chauncey Billups and also Tayshaun Prince when he was switched on to him. Young fella has to be allowed to play through his mistakes if he’s going to be ready to lead this team by Thanksgiving. It’s a must.
The Hawks are supposed to be the up-tempo team, yet they were 20-8 in fast break points by the supposedly aging Pistons. It makes no sense for the Hawks to avoid their strengths - even the Pistons commented after the game on the Hawks’ length and athleticism bothering them throughout the game). I don’t think the Hawks trust themselves enough to commit fully to playing the style that so obviously suits them best. And this isn’t just me talking, listen to what Detroit coach Flip Saunders had to say, “I think we were so discombobulated offensively at times [because] we were chasing so much. Once we settled down offensively, it helped us defensively. And we threw some zone in there. We ran zone about three or four times, I think it helped us take away a little bit of their tempo, how they were playing.
Back to Josh Smith and his 4-for-17 shooting effort, which included just two 3-point attempts. He made some awful choices last night. Just awful. But what those numbers also tell me is that he continues to languish in no-man’s land on offense. He not being used in space the way a man with his talents should be - I’ve seen no sets posting him up to take advantage of his quickness against the bigger and slower defenders he’s being matched up against. Now he has to be willing to take direction from his point guard (whichever one is on the floor at the time). He also has to be willing to forget about negative plays and move on to the next one and not let them do a number on his psyche. Because when he operates within the framework of what the Hawks are trying to do offensively, he can take this team over the top with the other elements (namely the game-changing blocks) he brings. But he has to be forced (peer pressure works best) to mesh with what the Hawks are trying to do, even when they’re not getting up and down the floor.
Who kidnapped Josh Childress? The guy that was flying around during the exhibition season hasn’t been spotted since the week before the regular season began. Another victim of the Hawks’ penchant for slowing things down rather than speeding them up, Childress has looked tentative and bit unsure of his role. The Hawks need much, much, much more out of Childress if they’re going to have success this season.
The Hawks’ collective improvement should be obvious to you all by now. It certainly is to everyone else. People were stopping me in my tracks after Sunday’s game to comment. Nearly everyone I bumped into at the Palace showered the Hawks with praise, several people even commented that they felt the Hawks were the most improved team in the league. “That’s the most athletic team I’ve seen the past couple of years,” one writer friend said. “They’re ridiculous. And they’re getting better.” Saunders offered up another telling statement, via the Detroit Free Press, when he said the Hawks “have always been athletic, spectacular. Now they’re getting mature.”
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