Teague hits the right mark in Hawks debut

By Sekou Smith

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Jeff Teague swears he was nervous before the Hawks' preseason opener Wednesday night at Philips Arena.

He even had the stomach tremors to prove it. But it didn’t take long for the rookie point guard to shed his inhibitions, which led to his shredding the defense of the New Orleans Hornets in the Hawks' 108-102 win.

Teague led the Hawks with 19 points off the bench and a team-high 33 minutes as the Hawks' starters built a huge lead and the second unit cruised, for the most part, over the Hornets.

Teague even managed to put a smile on Hawks coach Mike Woodson's face several times throughout the game, a tough job for many of his rookie predecessors.

"Coach didn’t really dial off on me or anything," a smiling Teague said afterwards. "But he did tell me at halftime to play my game and stop playing nervous. And I was nervous. Man, I was nervous. I got out there and I didn’t want to make any mistakes."

Hawks captain and All-Star Joe Johnson noticed the early jitters and did his best to calm down the rookie as they headed back to the floor after halftime. The rest of Teague's teammates echoed the sentiment.

"That really helped right there, that helped me a lot," said Teague, who was 6-for-12 from the floor and 7-for-8 from the free throw line. "[Mike] Bibby, Josh [Smith] and Marvin [Williams] were all telling me the same thing. They were like, ‘Just play your game and attack. You're faster than anybody they got out there so just go the hole and play your game.' So that's what I tried to do.

"And when your teammates have that confidence in you, it makes it that much easier to play."

A 32-point lead helps ease the pressure as well. The Hawks' starters toyed with the Hornets early, paving the way for youngsters like Teague, Othello Hunter and Mario West to do plenty of damage as the game wore on.

"When you've been in camp for seven, eight, nine-days like we've had," Woodson said, "guys are kind of anxious to see someone else on the basketball floor. I thought our first unit was pretty solid to start the game and to start the third quarter. And the guys we have a strong look at – Teague, Othello and Mario -- I thought they came in and filled in and did an excellent job for us."

For the Hawks' veterans and regulars, seeing a youngster aggressive as Teague was in his debut was a comforting sign that there won't be a significant drop off when Bibby or Jamal Crawford isn't on the floor.

"It's early and our first preseason game so everybody was amped up to play," Johnson said. "We know it's going to be tough this year. I'm just glad we came out and took care of business so we could have a chance to see what Teague could do."

When Woodson jumped Teague about being nervous, Johnson swooped in with some sound advice for the young point guard that hit the mark.

"I knew Woody had said something to him," Johnson said. "I just told him that he has to play through the mistakes and not to let [Woodson] take your aggressiveness away. When you're a young player in this league your aggressiveness is what gets you through sometimes."