Larry Drew still promised lineup changes although the Hawks coach would not reveal what he has in mind.
The Hawks held a lengthy practice Tuesday, one day after an embarrassing loss to the Bulls where the final (58), first-half (20) and second-quarter (5) point totals were the lowest in Atlanta team history. Following the debacle, Drew said his team, losers of six of their past seven games, have mentally and physically “flat-lined.”
Drew and his coaching staff arrived at Philips Arena early Tuesday to begin the process of resuscitating a lifeless team. In their study, Drew said they found “some pretty definitive” things.
“Your character is not tested with things are going well,” Drew said. “Your character is tested when things are not going well. We are being tested right now and we have not responded to the test.”
There are issues both on offense and defense, according to Drew.
* On offense: "We have got to move the basketball," he said. "We can't play isolation basketball. If you get the basketball and you don't have a shot right away, the ball has to be moved and force the defense to have to defend another action. We have to get that ball in our point guard's hands when we are running our fast breaks."
* On defense: "We are relying on help too much," he said. "In the post we are playing behind guys and letting them catch the ball and then we are asking for help. We are not putting up enough of a resistance down in the post. We are not taking the challenge on the ball."
In both aspects, Drew said his team lost playing with energy and a sense of urgency.
Al Horford said some responsibility lies with he and Josh Smith, two of the Hawks leaders. He noted that the entire offense is out of sync with too many individuals trying to make plays at the expense of the system.
“It falls on our shoulders in way but I think we’ve gotten away from the identity we built for this team and it was to move the ball around, share the ball,” Horford said. “We can go one-on-one but that’s not our strength. Our strength is to move the ball and get out and run. We’ve gotten away from that, for whatever reason, we have. Now we have a chance to start playing the right way again.”
The Hawks started with a 20-10 record, challenged for a top spot in the Eastern Conference and were one of the surprise teams in the NBA considering their off-season makeover. They have won just once in seven games since.
The early success has also been part of their recent slide.
“I think we went into some games thinking we were going to win anyway, just thinking we were better than some teams,” Jeff Teague said. “Everybody is going to play hard, everybody is going to give their best effort, when you have a record like that. We went into a lot of games thinking ‘This team is a rollover. We are going to beat them.’ That wasn’t the case.”
Notes
* Joe Johnson returns to Atlanta as a Brooklyn Net Wednesday, his first appearance after the six-time All-Star guard was traded in July. Johnson will not be made available to the Atlanta media until postgame.
* DeShawn Stevenson will now have his ailing right knee examined by a doctor in Atlanta Wednesday.
* As part of festivities for Hawks radio voice Steve Holman working his 2000th consecutive game Wednesday, the team is offering some tickets for $19.89, for the year the streak began.
About the Author
