“You kiddin’ me???”
“Let’s Not Suck! Let’s Not Suck!”
No Excuses Week rolls on for our Atlanta Hawks, as Devin Booker and whoever’s left playing for the Phoenix Suns (7:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, Fox Sports Arizona) roll into Philips Arena to get just a little more shine at our expense. For Hawks fans, “Let’s Not Suck!” is a more inspirational three-note refrain right now.
“All terrible roads lead to beautiful destinations.” Such a quote passes as an apt slogan for the Hilton Head Island Convention and Visitors Bureau. But it’s also the inspiration scribbled on the whiteboard by the team’s resident Confucius, Kent Bazemore. Tonight, the Hawks will again try to scrounge for buckets without Paul Millsap (out at least 3 more games), Bazemore or Thabo Sefolosha available.
Indeed, the Hawks’ chances at even saying they’re a .500 team, much less a playoff team worth watching, has been imperiled after falling 107-92 to Kenny Atkinson’s Brooklyn Nets on Sunday afternoon. That was not only the Hawks’ seventh-straight defeat, it was also the seventh time in a row Atlanta (37-36) failed to surpass 100 points. A lack of offensive firepower usually spells doom for most modern-day NBA outfits, and especially this one (5-28 when scoring 100 points or fewer, incl. 1-15 since MLK Day).
One sliver of a silver lining? Those JuggerNets just whalloped the Suns five days ago, 126-98 in Brooklyn. While Phoenix (22-52) has a better record than the Nets, they come into the Lowlight Factory on an eight-game skid, having dropped ten of their last 11.
Wrapping up a winless six-game road trip tonight, Phoenix has prevailed in two road games over the past two months. Unlike the Nets, the Suns are chasing the Lakers (21-52) for lottery odds, and have effectively pulled the ripcord on the regular season.
Suns coach Earl Watson put lead guard Eric Bledsoe and leading rebounder Tyson Chandler on the shelf for the season, joining rookie Dragan Bender (knee surgery). And when Watson tried to hand the tank keys over to Brandon Knight (DNP-CD’d since the All-Star Break), the embittered, untradable guard basically said, “You know what, coach? I got back spasms now, how about that?”
Backup guards Leandro Barbosa (hamstring) and Ronnie Price (lower-leg contusion) remain iffy as well. So it’s no wonder that Watson is going all-in behind Booker (24.7 PPG, 89.1 FT% in March) and Tyler Ulis (9.0 APG in last seven starts), hoping these up-and-coming guards will cut their teeth wearing out opposing defenses.
Yes, Booker weed-sprayed TD Garden with 70 points on Friday, making him one of just six NBA ballers ever to accomplish the feat. Yet he did it with 66 shot attempts (field goals and free throws combined) against a defensively laissez-faire Boston backcourt (Avery Bradley was unable to join the proceedings) as both teams kept the pace deliberately high, granting Booker (51 second-half points) plenty of unimpeded possessions. Despite helping Phoenix win the second-half by 13 points, Booker’s Suns still lost by double-digits, 130-120. There’s no way Atlanta’s Dennis Schröder could have performed the same way in a loss and had NBA fans eagerly buying up “HIS70RY” T-shirts.
The Suns again started slow on Sunday, falling behind host Charlotte 38-18 after the first quarter, 22-3 in the opening five minutes of action. They allowed four Hornets to reach double-figures in scoring by halftime. And with no one bothering to keep Kemba Walker (31 points, 9 assists, 1 TO) in check, not even the single-minded Booker (7-for-17 FGs, 5 assists, 4 TOs, minus-32 in 35 minutes) could do enough in the second half to make the final 120-106 outcome interesting.
Atlanta remains over-reliant on remnant starters Schröder (10-for-24 FGs, 8 assists, 3 TOs vs. BKN) and Dwight Howard (19 points and 16 boards, but 5 TOs vs. BKN), who repeatedly find themselves getting fried trying to save the Hawks’ bacon. Mike Budenholzer’s pace-and-disgrace offense (dead-last 101.0 March O-Rating, 8th in March pace, NBA-high 17.2 March TO%) can’t get off the ground without some reliable bench options.
Reserves shot just 3-for-19 (0-for-8 3FGs) against Brooklyn, and that won’t get anything done, to say nothing of 3 defensive rebounds among six so-called players. Atlanta didn’t start hemorrhaging points in earnest until Coach Bud inexplicably subbed in Mike Dunleavy, Mike Muscala, and Kris Humphries together late in the first quarter. Mixing in just one or two backups with the Hawks’ current first unit is likely to produce less cringe-worthy results.
One stretch that worked in the second quarter on Sunday, after the Hawks languished their way to a 43-21 deficit, involved the Hawks going small with Ersan Ilyasova manning the middle for a lineup featuring Schröder and Jose Calderon, and replacement starters Tim Hardaway, Jr. and Taurean Prince at the forward spots. For whatever reason, Coach Bud didn’t field this crew until the Hawks fell behind again by double-digits midway through the third quarter, and even that was a brief spell.
Ilyasova was a rebounding fiend against the Nyets (18 rebounds, 7 offensive), but a lot of those boards were from caroms created by his own point-blank misses (3-for-14 FGs). The Hawks need his first-shots to hit nylon, preferably on the inside of the net. It’s a similar deal for Hardaway (4-for-10 2FGs, 1-for-6 3FGs vs. BKN), who is capable of shedding himself free from Booker tonight and scoring at-will. He’s needed to do more than simply trying to keep his THJreak alive.
Not only Schröder, but the entire Hawks backcourt must pressure Ulis and Booker (3.6 APG, 3.7 TOs per game in March) into errors from the outset, or at least forcing unaccustomed players like T.J. Warren (21 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals @ CHA on Sunday), Dunk Contest flop Derrick Jones, Jr. and rookie Marquese Chriss to become playmakers outside the paint. Charlotte converted seven errors into 15 first-quarter points to put the stiff-arm to the Suns early.
Phoenix can phold early, but only if their guards are unable to get the ball out to shooting swingmen, like Jared Dudley (26.2 March 3FG%, but we need not mention his December 2014 performance at Philips as a Buck) and momentary preseason Hawk Jarell Eddie (41.5 D-League 3FG%). The Suns were a gun-shy 3-for-10 on threes in the first three quarters in Boston, then 3-for-12 on triples in Charlotte.
Watson is also using the balance of the season to help his team decide whether next season’s backup center will be A-Len or Alan. Both Alex Len and Phoenix native Alan “Big Sauce” Williams will be restricted free agents this summer. Williams uses hard screens to spring teammates free, but often gets overwhelmed inside versus bigs like Howard. When Len is in the game, the Hawks will need Humphries’ help as a pick-and-popper to draw the starting center out from the middle of the floor.
The Hawks play their first back-to-back contest in 18 days tomorrow, with Philadelphia (last 15 days: wins over Boston and Chicago, 2-point loss at Golden State) lying in wait after a trip to Brooklyn. There is no benefit to the Hawks, or their suffering fans, enduring some wild late-game back-and-forth scramble tonight, certainly not against a similarly-depleted Suns team that is far more interested in making SportsCenter for their mid-game highlights than actual victories.
Atlanta’s starting five has no choice but to start, and finish, collectively strong. But the Hawks need their vets and rookies to step up in brief stints off the bench if they have any real hope of a satisfactory N.E.W. result.
Let’s Not Suck! Let's Go Hawks!
~lw3
