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Posted: 11:35 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 6, 2013

Some things gleaned from open scrimmage 

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By Chris Vivlamore

Here is an abbreviated version of my story from the Hawks open scrimmage to give you an idea of some of the takeaways.

* The Hawks are going to run and spread the floor. Coach Mike Budenholzer has preached movement, both ball and people, during camp.

“There was some sloppiness but I also think there was a lot of good ball movement, we could see the spacing and how we want to spread the floor,” Budenholzer said. “Hopefully we’ll make shots. We shot the ball real well. When you get in a real-game situation they will be sharper and hopefully a little more attacking.”

* One of the benefits of floor spacing will be open just shots – especially 3-pointers. Kyle Korver had four 3’s during the three 12-minute period scrimmage. The Hawks also got long-range baskets from DeMarre Carroll (two), Pero Antic (two), James Johnson, Jeff Teague and Dennis Schroder (one each).

“That is how we are going to play,” Korver said. “Pretty much everyone that we put out there can at least shoot a corner 3. You’ll see Paul (Millsap) and Al (Horford) sliding out there instead of settling for that 17-footer. We are encouraging them to step back for the corner 3. It’s what we do in practice. Everyone is shooting corner 3s. There is no having spacing, giving Jeff and Dennis room to drive the paint. There are shooters all around. This is what we are going to do.”

* The Hawks look to be an unselfish group passing the ball. Carroll, Millsap and Gustavo Ayon were especially deft at setting up teammates.

* The Hawks were divided into two teams for the scrimmage with the likely starters separated for the first period. However after some in-game trades, the group of Teague, Korver, Carroll, Millsap and Horford played much of the second period together. They won the period pretty handily, 30-21.

* James Johnson, a non-roster training camp invite, looks to have a real shot at making the team. He was among the 10 starters.

* The play of the day came when Royal Ivey threw an alley-oop pass that Jared Cunningham leaped for and flushed a reverse slam dunk to the delight of the crowd.

* According to unofficial stats, Ayon led all scorers with 18 points. He added six rebounds. Horford finished with 15 points, seven rebounds, three assists and one steal. Korver (14 points), Antic (13) and Teague, Schroder and Millsap (11) rounded out the top scorers.

* Non-roster invitees David Lighty, Adonis Thomas and Eric Dawson saw limited time. Each played about eight minutes.

 

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About Chris Vivlamore

Chris Vivlamore is the beat writer for the Atlanta Hawks at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. AJC Atlanta Hawks blog

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