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Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Hollywood horror show!
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Los Angeles - What looked like a purple and golden opportunity early morphed into a massacre fit for a Hollywood slasher movie in a matter of minutes.
Leading by nine points early, the Hawks wound up getting smashed by as many as 27 points by the Los Angeles Lakers Tuesday night at Staples Center before losing 96-83 in the first game after the All-Star break for both teams.
The Hawks suffered one of their worst beatings of the season at the hands of the NBA’s best team, not that the final score reflected what actually transpired.
That final score was kind to the Hawks (31-22), who were destroyed in every facet of the game on this night.
Because when the crowd here is cheering wildly for Adam Morrison (the former No. 3 pick in the draft who has now taken on the persona of a college walk-on) to make a shot and there are still over six minutes to play in the game, the visiting team has probably caught a severe beating.
“We played a quarter and a half,” Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. “Then they hit us in the mouth and we shut it down. I mean we were still in the game. You hold them to 45 points going in at the half and come out in the third quarter and we were just flat. So flat that when they hit us [in the third quarter] we never responded.”
All-Star Game MVP Kobe Bryant barely broke a sweat, scoring just 10 points on 4-for-12 shooting).
He didn’t need to with Pau Gasol collecting his triple double (13 rebounds, 12 points and 10 assists) midway through the third quarter and Lamar Odom chasing one of his own (he finished with 15 points, 20 rebounds and five assists) into the fourth quarter.
They combined to mangle the Hawks for 33 rebounds, 27 points, 15 assists - unruly numbers however you slice it.
On the flip side, Hawks power forward Josh Smith finished with 13 points, two assists and without a single rebound. Hawks center Al Horford ended his night with seven rebounds, six points and one assist. Marvin Williams managed 10 points and three rebounds and two assists.
“Just starting with the forwards,” Woodson said. “They played almost 30 minutes a game and get just three rebounds between them. That’s a problem.”
Especially when the Lakers use the boards to control the entire game.
The Lakers outrebounded the Hawks 67-39, punctuating their physical beat down of the Hawks with a clear statistical edge in every category that mattered.
“Our rebounding attitude is obviously not sufficient,” Hawks captain and All-Star Joe Johnson said. “It was their will against our will and they wanted it more. We watched rebounds come off. We’re not trying to pursue it and get it. We don’t get it unless it comes right to us … that just kills me.”
Not even the lure of a make-up game Wednesday night in Sacramento was enough to lift the spirits in the Hawks’ locker room after the game.
There have been too many nights like this for a team that speaks publicly about winning 50 games. There have been far too many power outages on one end of the floor or the other for the Hawks to be serious about such lofty goals.
Whenever the Hawks get taken apart the common refrains are sounded.
“We stopped helping each other, we stopped playing together on both ends and we weren’t making shots and they were,” Mike Bibby said before snatching a stat sheet and realizing that his team had been outrebounded 67-39. “What the [expletive].”
Yup, 67-39.
The Hawks’ inability to hold their own inside and on the glass was their undoing against a team like the Lakers, an NBA-best 43-10 after this one.
“Our starters were [expletive],” Woodson said, noting that the mettle that his team showed in a tough road win in Detroit last Wednesday was missing in action against the Lakers. “We came out with a purpose and just didn’t sustain it. When somebody hits you, you’ve got to hit back. It’s got to be a heavyweight fight, man. Back and forth. And we didn’t … it’s disappointing. We can’t be like that.”
Not here.
Not against these Lakers.
Or any other team that’ll hit first.
