DEL.ICIO.USTRAIL BLAZERS 102, HAWKS 80
Hawks suffer sloppy loss to Portland
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Kansas City, Mo. — After two weeks of training camp, including three exhibition games, Hawks coach Mike Woodson is sure of one thing. His team isn’t close to being ready to play regular-season basketball.
While there has been much to savor from early victories over Orlando and Phoenix to start the week, Friday night’s 102-80 blowout loss at the hands of the Portland Trail Blazers at the Sprint Center exposed some of those holes Woodson is still working to fill.
Charlie Riedel/AP
Portland Trail Blazers center Greg Oden dunks Friday night against the Atlanta Hawks.
“We’re still not in the kind of shape we need to be in to play real games,” Woodson said. “Sure, we’ve looked pretty good in spurts. But we’re going to have to put an entire game together in a few weeks. That’s why I push as hard as I do in the preseason, because you’ve got to be ready to take it to that next level in a few weeks. And these guys need to understand that.”
They certainly didn’t appear to get that message Friday. Most of the starters for both teams were long gone by the time the Blazers’ reserves busted the game open, but the Hawks didn’t have any real answers before that.
Blazers rookie center Greg Oden and third-year starters Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge made it look easy, attacking the Hawks inside and out when they were on the floor together.
Oden finished with 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting, five rebounds and two assists, leaning on Hawks center Al Horford as much as possible.
Roy and Aldridge each added 14 points. Aldridge also grabbed seven rebounds. Rookie point guard Jerryd Bayless turned in an impressive 15 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in his second pro start.
Josh Smith (12 points), Acie Law IV (12) and Joe Johnson (11) were the only Hawks starters to reach double figures. Flip Murray added 10 off the bench.
Even though they shot an ugly 37 percent (29-for-77) and managed just 17 assists, the Hawks were more focused on their lethargic defensive effort than anything after the game.
The Blazers shot 58 percent from the floor and got huge games from role players like Shavlik Randolph, who finished with a game-high 19 points on 9-for-9 shooting and added 10 rebounds.
“The first two games we shot the ball really well, and tonight it caught up with us,” Horford said. “Orlando and Phoenix scored just about the same number of points as Portland did. But we were way below what we had been producing. And we have to realize that we’re not going to shoot it well every night, so we have to be able to count on defending better to help carry us through.”
The Hawks did play without both Mike Bibby and Zaza Pachulia — neither made the trip with the team from Phoenix on Thursday as they welcomed newborn children to their respective families.
It was obvious something was missing.
“We have to make sure we’re trusting each other out there,” Smith said. “We were in sync the first two games, and we didn’t seem to have that spark tonight. But we’re fine. This is still the preseason, so there is time to get it right. Nobody said we were a finished product after two preseason games. We know we’re still working to get there.”
At least now the Hawks will have a few days at home to try to regroup. It was obvious the wear and tear of six days on the road finally seemed to catch up with them.
“There’s no excuse now,” Woodson said. “Portland played great, and it didn’t matter who they played. We looked very lethargic, and maybe we were tired because we haven’t had any time off. And I have been pushing them. We have an open practice [today at Philips Arena], so we’ll have to get home and go right back at it. And then maybe Sunday we’ll get a day to rest and then come back and be ready to go against Charlotte at home.”
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