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Saturday, January 5, 2008
Hawks must have stability at point
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Well, this wasn’t good. Moments after Hawks coach Mike Woodson used his tongue to wrap his arms around the most veteran of his point guards (“We’ve been pretty successful with Anthony Johnson, so I’m not going to buck the system that much”), the object of his affection responded with limp shoulders.
I mean, this was a potentially explosive situation for a Hawks team that needs no internal distractions during its attempt to become relevant again for the first time in a decade. There was Woodson, speaking about Johnson while smiling in his office before Saturday night’s deflating 113-107 loss to the New Jersey Nets, and then there was Johnson, speaking about Woodson while smiling at his locker, but only to avoid clenching his teeth.
Said Johnson, with a long pause and that smile after he was informed about Woodson’s praise, “We were shorthanded, and with that being said, there were a lot of minutes to be played, and I tried to take advantage of that situation. But with people getting healthy the last few games, my minutes have dropped tremendously.”
As for the Hawks in general, Johnson smiled again, adding, “You have to look at this as a unit. Since I’ve been here (for 11 months during his current third stint with the Hawks), we normally get away from what has made us successful. That being said, the onus is on everybody. Not just on the guys on the court, but on the coaches as well. Everybody needs to look at themselves in the mirror to see what made us successful and try to keep it consistent.”
No, this wasn’t good, but then Woodson spent much of the evening avoiding making a bad situation worse by doing what he should do for the rest of the season. That is, he should play Johnson until his 33-year-old legs say, “No mas,” or something, on a fast break. That might not happen anytime soon, since Johnson nearly was the catalyst for a Hawks comeback during his 36 minutes against the Nets. He helped the Hawks’ early surge to a 14-point lead with a couple of 3-pointers and several of his 10 assists for the game. Then, during the Hawks’ frantic sprint from a 10-point deficit inside the final four minutes to trailing 105-103 a few minutes later, Johnson provided two steals and a driving layup in the valiant but futile cause.
It only made sense. After all, the Hawks have been point guard-challenged for years (Did they really pass in the draft on Chris Paul and Deron Williams?). Even so, there was Johnson spending the past couple of weeks dribbling out of the mostly limping scrum at the position that included Acie Law IV, Tyronn Lue, Salim Stoudamire and Speedy Claxton.
The Hawks even managed a five-game winning streak through the day after Christmas, with Johnson starting and excelling while playing 38, 45, 37, 39 and 32 minutes. Just guessing, but it likely wasn’t a coincidence that the Hawks entered Saturday night’s game with Johnson mostly sitting and stewing during a subsequent three-game losing streak. His minutes dropped to 18, 23 and 22.
So now the Hawks’ losing streak is four, with much help from an opponent that has been point guard-efficient, courtesy of Jason Kidd. This time, he finished with 10 points, 13 rebounds and 14 assists. His starting counterpart, Johnson, wasn’t as spectacular, but he was solid enough to produce 14 points overall to complement his 10 assists and his hustle plays down the stretch.
The Hawks will need more of that, because they are in the midst of their most important stretch of the season. Now that the Nets have helped push the Hawks from promising to plunging at 15-16, the Hawks have four more consecutive home games before playing seven of eight on the road.
They still need more consistency on defense. They still need to remember to share the ball. They still need to remember that a game is four quarters.
They still need a point guard, but Johnson will do in the meantime.
That is, if Woodson just keeps starting and playing him.
Permalink | Comments (33) | Categories: Hawks / NBA, Terence Moore
Be wary of opening the checkbook for Hossa
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Marian Hossa came to Atlanta in a somewhat unorthodox way. He was an NHL superstar who had just signed a new contract with his snow-belt team in Ottawa, only to get shipped south when circumstances forced the Thrashers to take bids for the distraught Dany Heatley.
Marian Hossa’s exit from Atlanta wouldn’t be nearly so unorthodox: He is an impending free agent, and he wants to play for a winner.
But before general manager Don Waddell drops to his knees, opens the checkbook and implores Hossa to stay, he needs to realize something: The Thrashers are a .500 team partly because of Marian Hossa.
Through 42 games, Hossa is second on the team in goals (14) and points (36). Those numbers are decent, not great. The pace of 27 goals and 70 points pales when compared to last year’s 43 and 100, respectively. He has four power-play goals after scoring 31 the past two years. Shot totals and shooting percentages are down.
And how is it one of the NHL’s best two-way forwards is a minus-10 — worst among the team’s forwards?
What the Thrashers have right now is not Hossa-like. What the Thrashers have is Hossa Lite.
Hossa acknowledges his production is down. But he says he feels fine physically. He denies feeling any pressure from the contract status.
“I have a contract to play now, so there’s no reason to feel pressure,” he said Saturday.
He might want to start.
The NHL trade deadline is Feb. 26. If Hossa does not sign a new contract in the next month, Waddell will start weighing trade offers. He said Saturday that he won’t let the deadline pass and risk losing Hossa without compensation after the season. Bottom line: Sign or be gone.
“We’ve had as much dialogue as you can have,” said Waddell, who had three face-to-face meetings with Hossa’s agent in December. “Now it’s time. We need to hear if there’s a deal there to be made.”
Waddell is showing some urgency. Hossa, not so much. That says something.
He says his focus is not salary but the direction of the team.
What does he want to see?
“Consistency,” he said. “Basically we are around a .500 team, and that’s not good enough. I believe we can be better, but we have streaks. This is a big decision. If you’re signing a long-term deal somewhere, you want to make sure the team will win more. But we just go up and down like a roller coaster.”
When asked about the possibility of being traded, Hossa said: “I understand that’s a possibility.”
He said that with little emotion. He says everything with little emotion. The only time he bristled slightly was when he was asked if he felt he needed to produce more this season to justify a big contract. “I’ve been in the league for 10 years, so teams know what kind of player I am.”
There is little question that Hossa will hit it big in free agency, even with a down year. He would be the most sought-after player on the open market. He turns only 29 next week. When he’s on, he’s still one of the best.
The problem: He’s not a difference-maker right now. He hasn’t been for sometime. Go back to last season. Hossa banged his knee when he crashed into the boards against the New York Islanders on Jan. 26. He returned that game to score his 31st goal, but his production dropped significantly thereafter. After scoring 31 goals in 51 games (one every 1.65 games), Hossa managed just 12 in the past 31 (one every 2.58), including three in the past 12 (one every four). Then came the playoffs: no goals, one assist, minus-six.
This season: 14 goals in 39 games, one every 2.79.
We still see flashes. Hossa will fly down the right wing, using his speed and strength to hook around a defenseman and drive to the net. But those scenes are the exception.
The Thrashers have other significant issues: goaltending, defense, neutral-zone play, forechecking, grit. But the biggest is an offense overly dependent on Ilya Kovalchuk. They are 4-13 when he doesn’t score. Hossa is supposed to make a difference. He was barely visible in Friday’s 4-3 loss to Carolina except during penalty killing — and penalty killers don’t make $8 million a year.
Hossa played in the All-Star Game in Dallas last year. This year the game’s in Atlanta, and he might not make the cut. If he still ranks among the league’s elite, this would be a good time to show it, because right now the team is average, and he isn’t much better.
Permalink | Comments (31) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Thrashers / NHL
Buckeyes love underdog role
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
New Orleans — A year ago they were ranked No. 1 and presumed impregnable. This time the Ohio State Buckeyes are ranked No. 1 and given little chance.
“We’re seeing it from a different end,” said fullback Dionte Johnson, and in motivational terms, there’s no question which end is more powerful.
The only way the Buckeyes could have shocked the populace on Jan. 8, 2007, was by losing. If this year’s bunch can upset — it sounds funny, the notion of a No. 1 team upsetting somebody — LSU on Monday night, these Buckeyes get to pound their chests and say, “See? Told you we weren’t that bad.”
Much of football-watching America expects Ohio State to play the same game with the same result. (Florida won last year’s BCS title by trashing the Buckeyes 41-14.) Ohio State, as you’d expect, is sick of hearing about last year’s game. And what sort of tonic is it, being the underdog?
“It’s a blessing,” said Cameron Heyward, the true freshman from Peachtree Ridge High who has become a starting defensive end. “Everyone’s counting on LSU.”
The belief here is that the Tigers are more talented but pay less attention to detail. As the inspired Gators proved in the desert 12 months ago, details matter.
Ohio State acted as if it expected to win by 40, and the opening kickoff — Ted Ginn Jr. took it back 93 yards — only reinforced that foolish notion. Soon the Buckeyes were panicking in a way they never panic. The estimable Jim Tressel made two terrible decisions — going for it on fourth down and then allowing Troy Smith to be sacked with no backs behind him to help block — that turned a winnable game into a 20-point halftime deficit.
It was a wretched performance, but it seems the exception that proves the rule. It’s easier to imagine Monday’s title game bearing a greater resemblance to the Fiesta Bowl of January 2003, in which the unassuming Buckeyes felled mighty Miami in two overtimes, than to last season’s. “Don’t get sucked in,” said Vernon Gholston, the other defensive end. “We’re going to play tough. We’re going to battle for 60 minutes.”
And the pressure to win will fall almost entirely on LSU, which will be playing 80 miles from home and which will doubtless have more backing in a building named the Louisiana Superdome. But the capacity of the Ohio State fan to travel and scarf up tickets shouldn’t be discounted. Owing to geography, this won’t be a neutral site, but it won’t be like venturing into Tiger Stadium on a Saturday night, either.
The belief here is that, provided Ohio State can hang close for three quarters, Tressel can outflank Les Miles at the end. And that’s another reason to like the Buckeyes: Miles is no Urban Meyer, who coached a game for the ages that night in Glendale. Already Tressel has seized on Meyer’s no-respect tack, having DVDs burned so his Buckeyes can hear all the terrible things the TV guys have said about them.
The trouble with us media folks is that sometimes we turn into generals, and generals are forever fighting the last war. We expect what happened once to happen again. It’s the reason a terrific Texas team was afforded no shot against Southern Cal in the Rose Bowl two years ago: Media types recalled what the Trojans had done to Oklahoma — USC 55, OU 19 — the year before, and the thought process went: “Sooners, Longhorns … what’s the difference?”
The difference was that Texas had Vince Young, which made it unlike anyone else. Texas won, beating Southern Cal in Pasadena, which was even closer to the Trojans’ campus than the Superdome is to Baton Rouge.
It will surprise many if Ohio State even gives LSU a
game, but it shouldn’t. This
is a proud programof vast resources, and its coach is the nation’s best. There’s no reason the Buckeyes won’t play well. There’s every reason they might just win.
Permalink | Comments (61) | Categories: Mark Bradley, UGA / SEC
Knievel flew above radar
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
Evel Knievel may be dead, but they won’t let him rest in peace. First, a few words on Robert Craig Knievel himself and we’ll move on to the flying leap planned in his name New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas — in case you missed it, which most of us did. On the 40th anniversary of Knievel’s flight over the fountains at Caesars Palace on his motorcycle, this Australian dude planned to fly the distance of a football field on a machine of his own.
Evel was a pretty nice guy, once you scraped off the scowl and the clownish hardware. Of course, by this time he had switched from bone-breaking jumps to golf. Oh, he wanted strokes on the first tee, but he had no established handicap and he would dicker with you to the last green. He was, I’d guess, about a plus-12, but he wanted you to think he was in the neighborhood of scratch.
He’d come to Atlanta for some sort of event and stayed over a few days, sometime in the early 1980s. He traveled in a motor home, and it was some kind of palace on wheels. His wife (and a lovely person she was) presided over the scene and could whip up a rather sumptuous meal on wheels. I guess that Mr. Knievel must have relieved me of around 50 bucks, or more, on the golf course during the week, but it was worth the experience. Plus, he sent me one of those early steel-head drivers, thoughtfully left-handed, and I still have it.
As I’ve said, Evel was through jumping things by that time. Previously, every time he had advertised a jump, all hospitals in the area prepared the emergency room for a casualty. It was stock stuff to say that he must have broken every bone in his body. A jump at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas was his real introduction to the front page and national news. The distance was 150 feet. He and his machine cleared 149, and Evel went the rest of the way and several feet more skidding on his stomach. He was in a coma for 29 days.
He jumped here and there, he cleared some, missed some, and of course, there was a widely exploited leap across Snake River Canyon in Idaho. Oh how the suckers bit. Television had him covered like a presidential inauguration. Municipal Auditorium was packed for the pay-for-view telecast. I know I was there. Suffice it to say that the contraption he created for the “flight” barely got liftoff. But at least he walked away.
What Knievel had done created an outbreak of copycats. So it was on a quiet July 3 afternoon I looked up from my desk and standing there in front of me was a blustery Phil Silvers-type, full of hype, and standing beside him was a shy kid, about 18, I’d say. He was a sprouting jumper in pursuit of fame and had leaped over stuff before. On Independence Day, the shy kid was going to jump over 16 buses in Columbus. The kid barely said a word, but blustering Phil did all the talking. The next day the kid jumped, he came up short and they give him a nice funeral.
About the leaper from Australia, he made it, I hear. Never saw it. Few did, from what I know. Never made the papers. Never even made “SportsCenter” on ESPN. His name, in case you want to look it up, was Robbie Maddison. Knievel missed it, too. He was 69. After all those attempts at self-destruction, he died in a hospital bed peacefully.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: Furman Bisher
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