At halftime of Game 3 against the Bulls, Hawks coach Larry Drew pointed to one column of the box score in particular.
It wasn’t the one that showed Bulls guard Derrick Rose’s 21 points or Chicago’s 10 offensive rebounds. Instead, Drew noted that Hawks starters had only one personal foul among them — and that was by point guard Jeff Teague, the smallest player on the floor.
It was Drew’s way of saying the Hawks had allowed Rose to drive to the basket without penalty during Chicago’s 99-82 victory Friday. He said that has to change for Game 4 on Sunday at Philips Arena.
“You are not going to win many games if you don’t play physical and give fouls—and I’m not saying hurt people or anything like that — but you have to give physical fouls,” Drew said Saturday. “It’s the playoffs. If you look around at series all over the league you see that everyone else is playing physical. Last night we didn’t play physical at all.”
Rose finished with a playoff career-high 44 points. He scored six of his 27 field goals at the basket and had nine free-throw attempts.
The Hawks had a difficult time slowing Rose because he was much more accurate than usual on long jump shots. There may not be much the Hawks can do about that, but Drew said they have to show more resistance when Rose goes inside.
“My problem was not that he scored 44 points, but how he got them,” Drew said. “He took 27 shots, [so] there is a chance his numbers are going to be good. But it’s important to look at where he is getting the scores from [to see] if we are allowing him to just constantly get into the paint and score the basketball on uncontested shots.”
Change of plan
Drew said the Hawks would adjust their defense against Rose.
“You can’t guard him the same way three games straight,” Teague said. “He’s the MVP. He’s going to start picking you apart.”
In the first two games of the series the Hawks had center Al Horford and forward Josh Smith help on pick-and-rolls against Rose until Teague could recover. In Game 3, Rose kept his dribble alive until Horford or Smith retreated, then made for the basket.
Horford laboring
Horford was the team’s most efficient and consistent scorer throughout the regular season, but he has been neither during the playoffs. He’s shooting only 40 percent in the postseason, down from his team-high 56 percent shooting during the season.
The Bulls have limited Horford’s looks on his mid-range jump shots. Horford was among the more accurate shooters in the NBA from 16 to 23 feet during the season at 53 percent, but he has shot only 22.2 percent (4-of-18) from that distance against Chicago.
Horford has made seven of 11 field goals from within 10 feet in the series against the Bulls. He said the Hawks need to adjust because Chicago isn’t allowing him to shoot from mid range.
“I got a couple touches in the post, but I think we can do more of that because I feel playing inside-out would work to our advantage,” Horford said. “I hope that’s something Coach looks into.”
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