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Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Gimme a break!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
HAWKSVILLE - Perhaps I should have said, “Give him a break.”
Because that was the look I saw on Joe Johnson’s tired face last night in the Hawks’ 107-102 loss to Phoenix, their fourth straight for those of you counting.
You don’t need a pair of Blublockers to comprehend the notion that this guy needs a break. He shot 4-for-21 from the floor and struggled to make those four. And we’re talking about shots this guy usually makes in his sleep.
I’m not making this stuff up folks. JJ is averaging 14.5 points in his last six games, a whopping 7.5 points below his season average, while shooting just 32 percent (32-for-100) from the floor and just 24 percent (5-for-21)from beyond the 3-point line.
I realize it’s sacrilegious in NBA coaching circles to even suggest a team play without it’s best player, it’s captain and All-Star during crunch time of any game (can you imagine suggesting that the Lakers leave Kobe off the floor late or the Cavaliers keeping LeBron on the bench at the end of a game in favor of Delonte West or somebody?).
But I’m going to say what Joe Johnson won’t. “Gimme a break.” And I don’t mean an extended stretch of days when he doesn’t have to play or practice, but more like an extended stretch of a game where he doesn’t have to be the first, second and third option for the Hawks on offense.
The Hawks made their best run against the Suns with a motley crew of characters on the floor and Johnson resting, deservedly so, on the sidelines. And it’s okay some nights for the star player to watch his supporting cast take care of things, especially when that star player averages 41 minutes a night and carries a load as large as the one the Hawks have asked Johnson to carry the past few years.
Now I also realize that a player’s pride precludes him from admitting that he’s gassed and that he might need a break from the constant pressure of toting the heaviest load.
That’s fine. We’ve all got raging pride that colors our decisions sometimes. But that doesn’t mean someone else can’t step in and notice the obvious and do something to alleviate the problem.
I just kept thinking that Flip Murray played far too well last night to be on the sideline in the final three minutes. He made too many big shots to help the Hawks recover from that early 19-point deficit to have to sit with a towel wrapped around his neck.
And don’t get me wrong, the Hawks can point to plenty of other factors that led to their demise Tuesday night (missed free throws late, awful shot selection from several guys in the final two minutes and no one, and I mean NO ONE, bothered to shadow Leandro Barbosa, even after he’d drained what seemed like a dozen open shots). So I won’t pretend a jelly-legged Joe Johnson was the sole issue.
I just think that you can dig only so deep before you hit the bottom. And Johnson’s clearly spent right now.
Hawks coach Mike Woodson rightfully credited the Suns’ defensive effort after the game, telling reporters, “Their defense was solid. I thought they did a heck of a job on Joe wherever Joe was trying to make a play with the ball and they had one or two guys going at him and he struggled tonight to make shots. We still had our chances. I mean, it’s a fine line when you are trying to win games when you are struggling and you have to do everything right coming down the stretch. We just didn’t do it; we missed some free throws and we didn’t get some key stops when we needed them.”
All true. I can’t dispute any of that.
However, Suns coach Terry Porter pointed out another nuance of the game that highlights my point perfectly.
“I thought overall our guys made them take a lot of contested shots, especially early on in the first half,” he told reporters after the game. “In the second quarter they got to the basket a little more and we got beat off penetration. As the game went on, we did a much better job of taking the challenge.”
The Hawks chief penetrator and catalyst last night was Murray. Watch the second quarter again and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
Instead of riding that wave after halftime and particularly down the stretch, the Hawks eased up and turned things back over to the Suns by avoiding that challenge Porter was talking about.
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