NBA LOCALS
A weekly look at locals players in the NBA:
Al-Farouq Aminu, Mavericks, Norcross High
Averaging 4.8 points and 3.3 rebounds in 29 games, including two starts
Chris Bosh, Heat, Georgia Tech
Returned to lineup Monday after missing eight games with calf injury
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Pistons, Georgia
Averaging 12.3 points and 3.2 rebounds in 31.9 minutes in 31 games
Jae Crowder, Celtics, Villa Rica High
Averaging 5.4 points and 2.2 rebounds in five games since trade to Celtics
Derrick Favors, Jazz, Georgia Tech
Averaging 15.6 points and 8.3 rebounds in 29 games
J.J. Hickson, Nuggets, Wheeler High
Averaging 7.0 points and 6.2 rebounds in 25 games
Dwight Howard, Rockets, Southwest Atlanta Christian
Averaging 18.1 points and 11.6 reboudns in 19 games
Jarrett Jack, Nets, Georgia Tech
Averaging 10.7 points, 3.7 assists and 3.0 rebounds in 31 games
Jeremy Lamb, Thunder, Norcross High
Averaging 9.3 points and 3.4 rebounds in 24 games
Jodie Meeks, Pistons, Norcross High
Scored 34 points, including a career-high nine 3-pointers, versus Magic on Tuesday
Anthony Morrow, Thunder, Georgia Tech
Averaging 10.3 points and 2.8 rebounds in 29 games
Glen Rice Jr., Wizards, Georgia Tech
Remains on D-League assignment with Fort Wayne
Iman Shumpert, Knicks, Georgia Tech
Remains out with dislocated shoulder
Josh Smith, Rockets, McEachern High
Averaging 8.5 points and 6.0 rebounds in four games since signing with Rockets
Thaddeus Young, Timberwolves, Georgia Tech
Averaging 14.4 points and 4.5 rebounds in 26 games
Lou Williams, Raptors, South Gwinnett High
Moved up to eight among backcourt players in Eastern Conference All-Star voting
Note: Stats through Thursday
Thabo Sefolosha doesn’t call it a slump.
However, the Hawks guard/forward surely started the season slowly from 3-point range. Sefolosha was just 4-for-32 from 3-point range through his first 22 games this season. However, he is 7-for-13 over the past seven games (through Thursday), making at least one from behind the arc in all but one of those games.
“I don’t know if I would call it a funk,” Sefolosha said. “You shoot them. You make them. You miss them. You have to stay confident and keep shooting them. That’s what I have been doing.
“Most of the shots that I missed are just shots that I missed. The last few games were the same shots, I just made a few. It’s one of those things where you don’t want to think about it too much.”
Sefolosha is averaging 5.0 points and 4.3 rebounds in 18.7 minutes in 29 games with the Hawks after being acquired in a sign-and-trade deal with the Thunder this summer. He averaged 10.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.0 blocks in four games as a starter when DeMarre Carroll was sideline with a groin strain.
Sefolosha is a career .343 shooter from 3-point range. The Hawks do not see him simply as an outside shooter.
“I don’t think there is any one thing to put your finger on other than we encourage him to keep shooting,” coach Mike Budenholzer said of his recent success. “He’s got a lot of confidence and is working hard. We all thought that if he just stuck with it, he would start making shots and start making 3s. Just getting more comfortable of when and where the passes are coming. He is great cutting off the ball so we want a balance of him cutting and slashing and him spacing. We want both.”
Limiting minutes
Budenholzer, perhaps taking a page from his days with the Spurs, has limited the minutes of his starters this season.
Paul Millsap leads the team in minutes played at 33.8. That statistic ranks 33rd in the NBA Following Millsap are Kyle Korver (42nd, 33.1), Carroll (65th, 31.7), Jeff Teague (72nd, 31.1) and Al Horford (80th, 30.0).
The Bulls’ Jimmy Butler leads the league at 40.0 minutes. The Cavaliers have three players – LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love – in the top 11. The Rockets have two players in the top 6 and the Trail Blazers have two players in the top 10.
“We’ve got a roster that we really feel confident with playing a lot of guys and giving them opportunities,” Budenholzer said. “The only way our guys can grow and improve is by playing. The way our roster is built, we need depth, we need a lot of guys contribute, different players, different nights. Overall, it is something we believe in. It fits our group. We’ll continue to hopefully keep our guys in a good place health-wise, energy, activity. The biggest benefit is you develop your bench and develop some of your young players and your role players and they get confidence and hopefully they can help you throughout the season.”
Hawks report increased viewership
The Hawks reported increases in TV viewership and home attendance Wednesday.
Through 29 games on SportSouth, viewership is up 40 percent over last year, according to the team. The Hawks’ victory over the Clippers on Dec. 23 had a 2.78 rating in the Atlanta market, the highest-rated game since the 2011-12 season.
Through 17 home games, the Hawks reported an increase of 2,200 fans per game over the same period last season. The Hawks rank 24th of 30 NBA teams in average attendance, at 16,015. The figure includes three consecutiev sellouts of which the team announced a season-high of 19,215 for Tuesday’s game against the Cavaliers. The Hawks have a total attendance of 272,261. The Bulls lead the league in attendance. Through 14 home games they have a total attendance of 308,790, a per-game average of 22,056.
Quotable
“I really don’t follow it all a lot. I’m not up to speed as you all want me to be. … Just because things are reported or said doesn’t mean it’s true.”
— Cavaliers coach David Blatt on reports the team is not responding to him
“I woke up and I (saw Celtics general manager) Danny (Ainge) popped up (on my cellphone), so I was like, ‘Oh, (expletive). That’s when it happened.”
— Mavericks guard Rajon Rondo on how he found out he was traded from the Celtics
“I got 41,000 minutes for my career, including playoffs. You drive that car in the winter time.”
— LeBron James after missing a second game with a sore knee. The next day it was announced he would miss two weeks.
By the numbers
5: Losses for the Warriors, who have the best record in the NBA, and the number of wins for the Knicks, who have lost 19 of their past 20 games.
14: Wins for the Hawks in December (14-2), tying a franchise record for wins in a month in Atlanta history (January 1997).
31.5: Average points off turnovers in the final two games of 2014 for the Hawks, who forced 20 Heat turnovers (leading to 31 points) and 10 Bucks turnovers (leading to 32 points).
Carroll’s Corner
Words of wisdom from DeMarre Carroll, the man who brought you this quote from last season: “If you see me in a fight with a bear, you better help that bear.”
Following a Dec. 26 home loss by 30 points to the Bucks: “It was just one of those games. We didn’t shoot the ball good and our defense wasn’t that good. Coming back off the holidays, we’ve just got to flush it and come back tomorrow.”
