AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2008 > October > 07
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
First impressions
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Orlando - Mo Evans was smaller and older than what the Orlando Magic felt like they needed at the shooting guard position than what Mo Evans gave them a year ago and replaced him with free agent Mickael Pietrus over the summer.
That theory looked legitimate for all of about 35 seconds Monday night in the Hawks’ 118-101 win in their preseason opener over the Magic.
Pietrus is taller and younger than Evans. But Evans got the last laugh, outscoring Pietrus 17-9, including an impressive 4-for-4 showing from beyond the 3-point line.
Evans outplayed Pietrus and every other shooting guard the Magic deployed (JJ Redick did come off the bench and score 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting, but this is JJ Redick we’re talking about).
And he played the kind of role that the Hawks envisioned when they tapped him to replace Josh Childress.
“I think I can bring experience and bring the intensity and [help] energize the second unit,” Evans said after the game. “I think I can bring that experience from starting and calmness to them by playing hard all the time like I do. I think we will have a chance to have a very special second unit.”
A second unit the Hawks needed against the Magic. With the first team struggling early on the Hawks needed a boost from the bench and got exactly that with the performances of guys like Evans, Acie Law IV, Zaza Pachulia, Solomon Jones and Flip Murray.
“[Monday’s game] was a perfect mixture of being involved on both ends of the floor,” Evans said. “We came out and changed the tempo of the game. We allowed the starters to really go out there and finish things up. They opened it up in the third quarter and if we can do that it will have the right balance between our first and second unit.”
As for the Magic’s decision to go in another direction, Evans admitted to being stung by the lack of love for the contributions he and other veterans made in the Magic’s run to the Southeast Division title last year.
“They didn’t make any attempt to re-sign me,” Evans said. “I think they had it in their minds that they were going to target Pietrus and go in another direction. That is why they didn’t re-sign any of the free agents like myself, Carlos Arroyo or Keyon Dooling. We all played a huge role in us winning, but you have to respect management. I respect [Magic GM] Otis Smith and coach [Stan] Van Gundy. But I really thought we had something special [here], so I was disappointed that things didn’t work out.”
The Magic’s loss is the Hawks’ gain.
BIG AL: Al Horford’s name has been mysteriously absent from any of Hawks coach Mike Woodson’s pre and post practice rants so far this season.
One look at Horford shortly after halftime and it should be clear to anyone wondering why.
The guy is beyond his years in terms of how he approaches the game.
Horford was at the center of the Hawks’ rebound from a perpetual 10-point first-half deficit, trading elbows, shots and rebounds with Dwight Howard as the Hawks flipped the script and went up by as many as 10 points.
Howard is at least three inches taller than Horford and easily 40 to 50 pounds heavier than the Hawks’ second-year center. But Horford more than held his own against the new Superman (sorry Shaq).
Horford’s final numbers (13 points, nine rebounds and four blocks) weren’t far off from Howard’s (17 points, eight blocks and five rebounds), and his team won the game.
The Hawks will have to play through the post more this season and with Horford’s post up game much improved, he appears to be ready for that challenge.
“Between AL and Zaza (11 points, six rebounds and a block), we should be capable of going with a power game inside when we need to,” Joe Johnson said. “We have to be able to work inside and out and in the past we haven’t done that consistently. But we have to be able to operate like that.”
STRANGE START: The Hawks’ disheveled beginning Monday night had as much to do with the Magic as it did with the Hawks’ inability to get into any offensive rhythm.
With the Magic jumping their plays before they could get the calls out, there was little room to operate on the offensive end of the floor. And whenever Anthony Johnson was on the floor he was calling out where the Hawks were headed for his new teammates, one of the benefits of having played in Mike Woodson’s system in the recent past.
“Teams jump plays all the time,” Marvin Williams said. “These guys had a little different advantage in that AJ was our starting point guard for a time last season and really understands what we’re trying to do. But we still should have been able to execute. For the longest time we just couldn’t find the space to work. That’s why it’s good that our bench came through the way they did.”
.JPG)
-1.JPG)
Services »
