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    Atlanta Hawks community, for the fans, by the fans

    lethalweapon3
     
    “WE WILL… WE WILL… ROCK YOU!”

     
    As a young Phillies fan, my first real baseball season of conscience was in 1983. Despite a mid-season coaching change, Philadelphia got their bleep together, won 90 games, and claimed the National League East pennant. One problem though. Dale Murphy’s Bravos fell short of a repeat division crown out West, probably thanks to the Dodgers winning 11 of 12 games during the regular season against the Phillies. 11 to 1! How in the world would Philly have a chance in the NLCS, after being dominated by L.A. all year long?
    Well, a homer from Sarge Matthews here, a few Ks from Steve Carlton there, bada-boom, bada-bing, and the Phils found themselves back in the Fall Classic. In a head-to-head series, bada-boom, bada-bing is all it takes sometimes to turn the tables.
    I’m reminded of those Phightin’ Phils as the sun sets on the Atlanta Hawks’ regular season. Winning three straight last season against Cleveland, while shooting a scintillating 55 percent from the field, had no bearing whatsoever on the confidence the Cavaliers exuded rolling into Atlanta for the conference finals.
    By the same token, the Hawks need not be cowed by tonight’s visitors to the Highlight Factory, the Toronto Raptors (8:00 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast, TSN), even though Dwane Casey’s club has bested Mike Budenholzer’s in eight of their last ten meetings, including four straight.
    Whether or not the Raps extend that streak to five shouldn’t matter one bit to the Hawks if these teams are fortunate enough to meet in a later round, which would be a first for Toronto since 2001. Confidence-building is fine and all, but there is much more to play for at this stage of the season, for both teams.
    After sitting LeBron and falling in Indiana last night, Cleveland still isn’t done sewing up pole position in the East. The Raptors (52-25) can move within 2.5 games behind the Cavs with four games left to play if they prevail tonight. After hosting those Pacers tomorrow, their final three come against the Knicks, Sixers, and Nets. So a sweep of likely playoff foes on back-to-back nights would put a lot of pressure on LeBron and Company to pull through. One slip, and any dreams of hosting Game 1 of the ECFs would be kaput.
    GM Masai Ujiri has no plans to type up War and Peace-style farewell manifestos anytime soon. But a third consecutive first-round postseason loss could imperil his status going forward, along with that of Casey. Toronto has been known to can people (looking at you, Butch Carter and Sam Mitchell) for far less significant shortcomings. Unlike the Raps’ previous GM, Ujiri doesn’t have a daddy to hook up a new cushy NBA gig for him.  He and Casey recognize that drawing an 8-seed that probably just backed their way into the postseason could lessen the likelihood of disaster striking.
    As for the Hawks (46-32), they have no looming issues to worry about in the front office, only on the floor and in the standings. Atlanta doesn’t control it’s own destiny for the third and fourth-seeds, as it has to wrest it from Boston (their opponents on Saturday) and Miami. They got no help, Magic Number-wise, last night from their conference colleagues. So when it comes to first-round homecourt advantage, if you need a job to get done, you’re going to have to do it yourself.
    After allowing Phoenix to wear itself ragged for a full quarter on Tuesday night, the Hawks turned on the defensive jets and cooled off the Suns for a 103-90 victory. A 59-34 second half all but erased memories of the opening quarter, when Devin Booker, Ronnie Price, Archie Goodwin, Mirza Teletovic, and The Gorilla where plopping threes from all over the floor.
    It’s in those opening quarters where the Hawks look like a team that’s feeling out their opponents, and come away looking like they just bearhugged a cactus. Atlanta’s +11.1 net rating in fourth quarters leads the NBA (by comparison, Toronto’s +6.6 ranks third), and their +5.7 in third quarters leads the East. But that per-possession advantage dwindles to a modest +2.0 in second quarters and +1.0 in first quarters (both ratings 11th in NBA) this season.
    The Hawks have played close-to-the-vest from the jump against Toronto this season, but they haven’t scored more than 21 first-quarter points in their three meetings, and have been outscored 61-48 in second quarters in their last two meetings. A strong first-half start will be crucial to keeping the Raptors at bay by the close of the contest.
    Toronto knows how to get it done. On Tuesday night, they held the visiting Hornets to 16 points in the first frame, widened their lead to 14 by halftime, to 19 in the third-quarter, and never relented even against a fourth-quarter rally from Jeremy Lin and Kemba Walker to salt the Raptor lead down to single digits. It was a similar deal last week when Atlanta came to Air Canada Centre. Toronto held the Hawks to 20 points in the first quarter, expanded the lead to 13 by halftime, and pulled ahead by 24 at the outset of the fourth before the Hawks’ bench corps arrived to make the final outcome look respectable.
    To get the ball rolling offensively, Atlanta needs to spread the Raptor defense out by sending shooters to the corners. Toronto foes shoot an NBA-high 44.9 3FG% from the left corner, 39.4% from the right. Drawing the Raptors’ defensive bigs out of the paint can open up cuts from the perimeter and weakside.
    The Hawks starters must produce when Jeff Teague serves up the ball, most especially Paul Millsap, who had a whale of a game during the comeback against Phoenix (17 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks) but has been next to invisible offensively against all season (season-low 84 O-Rating vs. TOR; 11.0 PPG, 9-for-23 2FGs, 1-for-8 3FGs). With Patrick Patterson and Luis Scola piling up points for the Raptors, Sap has to be much more than a rebounding presence tonight.
    Phoenix isn’t a strong 3-point shooting unit, but Toronto is (36.9 3FG%, 4th in NBA). Kent Bazemore (17 points, 9 rebounds, 5 steals vs. PHX) ceded open shots at the outset to Phoenix, to help with the interior rebounding and defense, but adjusted accordingly as the Hawks turned things around. Tonight, his role needs to be more pronounced around the perimeter, helping to thwart dribble penetration from DeMar DeRozan but also helping Kyle Korver keep hands in the face of Terrence Ross and Norman Powell. And there's no telling what our good friend DeMarre Carroll (inactive since Jan. 3; 37.8 3FG%), finally activated for tonight's action, will bring to the table.
    Millsap must also close out properly on Scola (40.9 3FG%) and Patterson, making boxing out duty for Al Horford and Kris Humphries imperative against a much-improved Jonas Valanciunas (13.7 O-Reb%, 5th in NBA) and Bismack Biyombo.
    Toronto may have more TO’s in their name than they allow in a game. The Hawks thrive on transition points off turnovers, but the Raptors have averaged just 12 TOs in their three contests against Atlanta. The Hawks are a mediocre 10-10 when they compel 12 or fewer turnovers, including the 12 committed by Cleveland in their 110-108 OT win at Philips last Friday.
    Eight of those ten Hawks victories had opponents shooting below 40 percent from the field. Toronto, by contrast, shot 45.6 percent, including 11-for-23 on threes in the March 30 game. The Dinos also earned more than double Atlanta’s free throws (28 to 13) in their last meeting.
    The story is always the same defensively. Man defenders have to turn Lowry and DeRozan into volume jumpshooters, and position themselves to force them into either taking inefficient shots, drawing charges or giving up the ball, without committing ticky-tack fouls.
    Despite a poor shooting night in Toronto on March 30 (4-fpr-19 FGs), Lowry scored 7 of his 17 points at the stripe. It was a similar deal for Lowry back on March 10 (6-for-14 FGs, 6-for-8 FTs) during Toronto’s 104-96 win. And during the Raps’ last visit to ATL, Lowry got to the line 12 times, 11 of his makes contributing to a successful 31-point night.
    No matter the recent history between these teams, the Hawks know what it takes to top Toronto on any given night. And they understand how valuable a victory could be as they move toward the end of the season. There’s nothing to it, but to do it.
    Let’s Go Hawks!
    ~lw3
    lethalweapon3
     
    “¡Es un Nuevo Dia!”

     
    After a tough OT loss to King James and his Cavalier Court last weekend, the Atlanta Hawks should be rested and rarin’ to go against the Phoenix Suns (8:00 PM Fox Sports Southeast, Fox Sports Arizona). They should be eager to shake off their two-game losing streak, and also to exact a measure of revenge against a Suns team that simply begs to be taken out of their collective misery. Alas, these are our Hawks we’re talking about. And this is the dreaded game-after-a couple-days-layoff. “Should” is always the operative verb.
    The Hawks (45-32) started out just 3-5 (including four straight L’s) when they returned to play after two or more days of rest, but have since prevailed in their last four such scenarios. Homecourt advantage remains on the line for third-seeded Atlanta. But with several more challenging opponents for the Hawks on the regular-season docket, the Suns fit the role as a looked-past opponent ready-made to trip up lackadaisical birds-of-prey.
    After a sturdy 6-4 start to the season, victories have become more like blips for Phoenix (20-57). Starting in late December, lowlighted by Markieff Morris tossing a towel at his coach, the team lost four straight (including a home loss to the 76ers). That stretch prompted management to fire a warning shot by issuing walking papers to two of coach Jeff Hornacek’s assistants.
    The Suns then lost five more games (including a road loss to the Lakers), before pulling it together to drop a then-mediocre Hornets team back below .500. Six more defeats (including a road loss in Minnesota) followed before the Hawks paid Phoenix a visit.
    Atlanta played that January 23 game without their anchorman, Paul Millsap, due to personal leave. But a number of Hawks on the TSR Arena floor didn’t exactly show up, either. Not until midway through the third quarter, with the Suns enjoying a 15-point cushion. Kent Bazemore scored 13 of his team-high 21 points in the final quarter as Atlanta tied the game on several occasions. But with a prayer of a 3-pointer answered at the buzzer, for his then season-high 24th point, Archie Goodwin handed the Hawks a Badloss.
    Inspiring as the victory was for the Suns, it wasn’t enough to save their head coach’s jerb. Four consecutive losses followed, and then nine more after assistant coach Earl Watson usurped Hornacek’s position. Morris was sent packing in exchange for Washington’s hopefully-lottery draft pick and a pair of brief stays, by DeJuan Blair and Kris Humphries.
    A 6-7 run through mid-March, albeit against unimpressive competition, gave some hope that the team was finally leveling off. But sloppy, desperate play and the revolving door of injured players became too much to withstand. Just as was the case in January, they’re coming into the game tonight on a six-game skid.
    Then, as now, the Hawks won’t have to deal with Brandon Knight. Having re-aggravated a sports hernia, the Human Conundrum joins Eric Bledsoe and T.J. Warren on the season-ending sideline, setting the tank jobbery into full swing.
    Phoenix is crossing fingers that Euroleague star Bogdan Bogdanovic will cross the Atlantic and suit up in purple-and-orange next season. Also, they presently have three first-rounders coming their way (including Cleveland’s, via the Isaiah Thomas three-way deal) this summer. And as the team with the worst record in the league aside from the Suxers and Flakers, they don’t want to screw up with a win and risk giving Boston (who has shutting-down-for-the-year Brooklyn’s first-rounder) better lotto odds. The Hawks probably don’t want that to happen, either.
    With any of those picks, the Suns can only hope to select as good a blue-chip prospect as shooting guard Devin Booker. With 51 more points this season, he’ll become just the fourth NBA rookie (Melo and LeBron, KD) to amass 1000 points while still a teenager. The league’s youngest player emerged as the go-to option in the Phoenix backcourt, setting the stage for yet another “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the Three of Us” situation next season when Bledsoe and Knight, the highest-paid and highest-scoring Suns, are set to return.
    Despite averaging 20.7 PPG in his last 20 games, Booker predictably struggles as a defender, and his accuracy (39.9 FG%, 28.7 3FG% post-All-Star-Break) isn’t what it was back in January during his coming-out party. Still, Suns fans’ hopes for a bright future are tightly affixed to the young gunner. Thus, the more-seasoned guards on the roster will certainly be on the market for just about any takers.
    Behind Booker, the Suns are taking a flyer with our old friend, John Jenkins, who was claimed off waivers from the Mavericks in late February. Jenkins is looking to stick as a hired gun off the bench somewhere in the league, and Watson is giving him much more room to roam than Dallas did.
    After sinking just three triples with the Mavs (none since the first week of December), Jenkins recently went 9-for-9 on threes over a five game stretch for Phoenix last month, finishing just four made field goals shy of the NBA-record Threak. His contract from the Mavs includes a team option for 2016-17, so Johnny is looking to give the Suns every reason to pursue bundling the more erratic Goodwin into a deal to go elsewhere.
    As is the case for a few NBA teams, the best option for floor general right now is the head coach. The injuries to Bledsoe and Knight have moved Ronnie Price (2.2 APG, 1.0 TO/game) up to the top line. Watson is also turning to his 2-guards to fill in time as the lead ballhandler, pushing Booker (team-high 2.6 APG) out of his comfort zone and creating another wrinkle of evaluation for Goodwin and Jenkins.
    Even without score-or-bust Knight around, the Suns are ripe for a turnover on just about every other possession (15.2 team TO%, worst in NBA; 20.2 opponent PPG off TOs, ahead of only Philly’s 20.3), especially at the high tempo Watson continues to push (101.4 possessions per-48 post-All-Star-Break, 3rd highest in NBA). That’s a banana the Hawks (14.4 opponent TO%, 5th-best in NBA) need to unpeel, every chance they get.
    Phoenix’s game plans are simple. Park both Tyson Chandler (three-straight double-doubles, season-high 21 points @ UTA last Sunday) and Alex Len (30.5 FG% from 3-feet out; 33.4 FG% on non-dunks) in the post, and let the 7-foot-1ers throw their weight around. The Suns will seek out lob, jump-hook and post-up opportunities for the pair, who were just beginning to start together when the Hawks visited back in January. Otherwise, the shooters will loft up whatever shots they can, in hopes of second-chance points (13.6 per-48, 5th in NBA) brought about by their bigs.
    One could argue that Chandler was 2015’s biggest free agency loser, certainly from a competitive standpoint. The Suns’ gambit of signing him to woo LaMarcus Aldridge, at the expense of the Morrii, blew up spectacularly. “It’s been a year,” said a glum Chandler to the Arizona Republic, when asked to look back upon this season. “Honestly, I feel like I came in blind this season. I expected one thing and it was another. I’ve been trying to adjust. I was expecting to play a certain type of basketball and it was different.”
    Publicly, Chandler remains a good-soldier and mentor to Len (16 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists vs. ATL in January), and is locked down for three more seasons. But for what he can only hope will be a parting gift, Chandler was granted a near-career-high of 27 rebounds (one short of his career-best; including a franchise-best 13 offensive boards) in the January win over Atlanta. Chandler’s defensive rebounding percentage this season (27.8 D-Reb%) is a career-best, and thank goodness for that (team 107.5 D-Rating, 3rd-worst in NBA).
    Glue-guy P.J. Tucker will help Len and Chandler maintain the advantage on the glass. When Chandler needs a breather, the Suns can turn to 6-foot-8 Phoenix native Alan Williams. Undrafted last summer, college basketball’s top rebounder from 2014-15 (11.8 RPG) went to China and became the CBA’s top rebounder (15.4 RPG).
    Mirza Teletovic (39.2 3FG%) averaged 21.0 PPG and 7.8 RPG off the bench in his last four games, although he’ll be more interested in overtaking Chuck Person’s NBA record for 3FGs made by a bench player. Mirza’s just two triples behind The Rifleman, who set the mark in Mike Budenholzer's first video-coordinating season with the Spurs. Jon Leuer might play despite a sprained ankle. Chase Budinger exists. With all that defensive rebounding potential, Phoenix players hope to take advantage of Atlanta’s offensive dry spells, which have gotten Mojave-Desert-arid in recent games.
    On Friday, the Hawks made a basket to widen their brief lead to four points midway through the first quarter. Over seven basketball minutes and 13 missed shots later, the Hawks were still thirsting for their next basket. Once it arrived, the next five minutes involved seven misses and one make, while the Cavs artfully widened their lead. Just over a minute to go before halftime, and Atlanta found itself scrambling from a 20-plus-point deficit for the second consecutive game.
    Making one bucket every 3-to-5 minutes turns the Hawks into the burrowing animals we’ve grown accustomed to in prior years, and places undue pressure on an otherwise sound defense to hold together. By the time they drew back to within single digits in Toronto during the fourth quarter, and by the time they evened things up at home against Cleveland (39.8 opponent FG%, 31.6 3FG%), Atlanta was spent, unable to match the energies of their opponents to take the game-winning shots and grab the game-clinching 50/50 balls.
    Anything resembling a nip-and-tuck affair by the back half of the closing quarter of play tonight should be a deep disappointment for a team that’s supposed to be whetting its axes for the postseason. There is no reason for Jeff Teague (28 points, 9-for-23 FGs, 9 assists, 2 TOs vs. CLE on Friday) or Kyle Korver (4-for-6 3FGs vs. CLE) to fail to find whatever shots they want against the Suns’ defense, and even less reason to make them. Phoenix’s opponents shoot 38.0 3FG%, a league-high, so there should be no excuses about an off-night from the perimeter.
    Same deal for Dennis Schröder and Tim Hardaway, Jr. (combined 3-for-12 FGs vs. CLE; 5 Schröder TOs in 14 minutes), part of an offensively inept bench corps on Friday that carried the day for the Hawks two nights before during garbage time in Toronto.
    After 9 turnovers in the past two games, The Menace is on the verge of eclipsing Millsap for total turnovers on the season, despite spotting Sap well over 900 additional minutes of floor time. As tremendous a sixth-man as he has become, a continued lack of focus and ball-control risks having Schröder watching Kirk Hinrich from the bench to close out the year. Hardaway, meanwhile, needs to be preoccupied with getting stops and moving the ball, rather than getting up shots.
    Millsap did his part on Friday by matching James point-for-point (29 points, 12-for-22 FGs) while also matching Bazemore’s 12 rebounds. Millsap is of course available for the rematch with Phoenix, and he and Humphries will help Al Horford (5-for-11 2FGs, 0-for-way-too-many 3FGs, including the game-non-winner vs. CLE) achieve defensive rebounding parity with the Suns’ big men. Bazemore will play despite banging up his wrist during the demolition derby with the Cavs. He’ll be needed more for interior rebounding help and transition scoring than for roving the perimeter after wayward-shooting Suns.
    There will be not more than 20 individuals at The Highlight Factory tonight pulling for a Phoenix victory tonight, and they’ll all be on the floor, either in uniform or decked out in suit-and-tie. Hawks fans have zero appetite for another Suns win, and Suns fans definitely don’t want one, either. Are the Hawks capable of giving the people what they want?
    Congrats to the late Zelmo! Let’s Go Hawks!
    ~lw3
    lethalweapon3
     
    “There can only be one King. Sorry, LeBron.”
     
    Another big bout in primetime! The Atlanta Hawks have done tremendously (and oddly) well this season with the whole world watching, on either TNT or the Four-Letter Network. It would be great if they can keep that run going tonight at the Highlight Factory, against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers (8:00 PM Eastern, 92.9 FM in ATL, Fox Sports South, ESPN, Fox Sports Ohio), leaving analysts in their predictable postgame mode: “What’s Gone Wrong with the Other Team?”
    Either way, I’d prefer tuning in to the local broadcast, as the 13th-leading scorer in NBA history provides his u-Nique blend of color analysis to the game featuring the 12th-leading scorer all-time. LeBron swapped places with Dominique Wilkins during last night’s easy-breezy victory over the Nyets. “It’s an honor,” James remarked postgame about moving up to 12th. “It’s great to be in that position.” Of course, he’s referring to scoring, not the standings.
    The Eastern Conference coronation hasn’t happened just yet for LeBron and his merry band of Cavaliers. Cleveland (53-22) sits just 2.5 games ahead of the Toronto Raptors, who just slowed the Hawks’ roll on Wednesday. They know they need not fool around with clinching the top-seed, as the sooner they wrap things up, the easier it will be for deposer-head coach Tyronn Lue to rest his veteran players.
    Clevelanders were kind of hoping they’d be cruising into April. But while last year’s conference top-seed had to literally break a leg to get anyone’s attention, this year’s banner-carriers could do without one show-stopping distraction after another.
    There’s LeBron, subject of the annual player option this summer, casually unfollowing his team on Instagram just days after a blowout loss in Miami, scrambling to re-follow the team (but not on Twitter! Dun-dun-dunnnn…) just as the ensuing freakout reached its fever pitch.
    There’s LeBron, practicing in preparation to win the gold in Rio 2016, but not medaling in men’s basketball, no… in the men’s synchronized coaching event. Given a rest against the Rockets on Tuesday, he showed up in a suit and then suited himself to coaching duties, mimicking his marionette Lue on the sideline and during a timeout. Owning the owner and serving as the de facto president of basketball operations apparently isn’t enough. I imagine David Blatt was entertained by the display.
    There’s LeBron, palling around with Dwyane Wade at halftime of that Miami game, fraternizing with his old teammate during the second-half shootaround while his Cavs were down 21 points. There’s LeBron, saying that, yes, he would love to “get a year in” alongside Carmelo Anthony, Wade, and Chris Paul before his career concludes. “We’ve had plenty of conversations” about building such a super-team, James asserts. I’m sure all of that just warms the cockles of Kyrie Irving’s heart.
    Speaking of Kyrie’s heart, there was even more social-media drama for yo baby mama this past week, as his starlet girlfriend was sepia-filtered in the arms of her former beau, some random musician who’s better at the “arts” of getting trending clicks and making people use caps-lock than anything else.
    After grabbing her V-Day sweets, she chose to break up with the player she called, last month, “the greatest boyfriend of all time,” and run back to her old flame, which is perfectly fine. Except, there’s this thing, that once you’ve gained six-digit followers on social media for posting every silly detail of your life, you have to kind of carry them along with you on your journey from one celebrity bed to another. Twitter panic ensued, whole Instagram accounts were deleted, pics were scrubbed, suicidal fears were detailed (back on Instagram, of course). It was quite a time to be alive.
    “It’s hard enough to win without worrying about a d@mn Twitter,” noted Lue. Even Anthony had to acknowledge that while his Knicks are up to their knees in Melo-drama, the drama over in Cavalier Country has been “more comical.” Irving is doing his part to get his team’s stories out of the supermarket cashier aisles and nail salons, and back in the sports bar.
    “Everything surrounding our team, (it) is just crazy to think that we’re still in first place and we’re still the team to beat, honestly.” Not leaving well enough alone, ESPN pressed for clarification from Kyrie that he meant “team to beat” just in the East, but Irving wouldn’t oblige. “I feel like we’re the team to beat,” Irving responded, including the likes of the Spurs and Warriors.
    To LeBron’s credit, he’s able to insulate his on-court play from his off-court play as well as anyone. That was demonstrated as he earned the most recent Eastern Conference Player of the Week honor, averaging 29.0 PPG, 8.8 APG and 8.5 RPG while shooting 56.4 FG% (45.5 3FG%). It’s quite possible that LeBron is engineering some of these non-issues to draw the media heat lamp away from his team’s more pressing problems on the floor. Among them…
    Tristan Thompson is getting paid $15 million to do what? Cleveland’s newest Iron Man feasted on the glass against the Hawks in the postseason of his contract year, and promptly made bank. Yet, while he leads the league with a 129.5 O-Rating thanks to his outstanding ability to clean up the glass (13.5 O-Reb%, 6th in NBA), his on-ball defense hasn’t improved.
    While it’s not just Thompson’s fault, Cleveland’s team defensive rating has been going in the wrong direction, from 101.1 to 104.2 since the All-star Break, and their opponents’ 61.1 at-rim FG% ranks in the mix with a lot of non-playoff teams. The Cavs force just 13.8 turnovers per 100 possessions, which is also bottom-ten in the league.
    To try addressing the defensive issues, Lue has been interchanging Thompson’s starting spot with Timofey Mozgov, who has just been sort of there all season. Thompson’s offensive skillset despite having a marginal defensive imprint is nice, but they’ve got that guy already, in Kevin Love and now Channing Frye. Speaking of which…
    Can Kevin Love play center adequately? Assistant coach Jim Boylan doesn’t think so. “Kevin at center just hasn’t been effective for us,” he told Zach Lowe of ESPN. But as the SB Nation Cavs site pointed out, Cleveland has been fantastic offensively (133.7 O-Rating, team 61.9 TS%) with Love plugged into the 5-spot, while being no more than the usual sieve at the other end. Boylan and Lue have also noted that the once-feared pick-and-roll play featuring Love and James doesn’t work well, since teams simply switch and the ball stops moving.
    What was the whole deal about picking up the pace? A big part of the sell-job in replacing Blatt with Lue was that the Cavs were going to run more. The post-Blatt pace is 95.97 possessions per-48 (26th in NBA), hardly a noticeable uptick from 95.47 under Blatt (28th in NBA). It can be a chore to bring vets like J.R. Smith and Richard Jefferson up to speed when they’ve grown accustomed to a certain tempo.
    Can they get some steadier play out of the bench? After apparently making a wrong turn along his way to an Aussie Rules Football game, Matthew Dellavedova is being relied upon more than ever. But he hasn’t shown many new wrinkles to his game (39.8 2FG%, 41.8 3FG%) aside from passing more often and improving his free throw shooting (85.2 FT%). Mo Williams started the season in place of Irving, but is only now rounding back into form after sitting to rest a swollen knee. Lue has fresher-legged options at his disposal, in Delly and Iman Shumpert, but is leaning on the likes of Jefferson, James Jones, and Frye more than he’d like.
    All of that said, in the mind of LeBron, there ain’t a problem that he can’t fix. But casting aside the James-less Cavs losing in Houston on Tuesday, there was the South Beach beatdown, and a road loss in Brooklyn last week, at the hands of Shane Larkin and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson.
    A home loss to the remnants of the Grizzlies earlier this month was as bad optics-wise as anytime the Hawks were beaten by a shorthanded for. Fourth-quarter collapses included a 30-15 frame against Dallas, a game where the Mavs resurrected the ghosts of David Lee and J.J Barea, and 24-12 in Brooklyn after spotting the Nyets 59 first-half points. James, Irving, Love and company should not be working this hard, this late in the season, to be winning these types of games.
    The Hawks would relish that type of slippage over long stretches this evening. As for Atlanta (45-31), it’s fascinating that after a half-season of the team seeming to carry its star point guard, the roles apparently have switched.
    Jeff Teague led the way with 18 points in Toronto on Wednesday, making 8 of his 13 shots and doing his part to keep Kyle Lowry cool (17 points, but 2-for-15 2FGs, 5 TOs). But while Lowry (11 assists) had plenty of help from his supporting cast, Teague seemed to be the only starter willing to drive the bus for the Hawks. He’d have matched Lowry’s assist tallies easily if his teammates played with focus and finished plays without turning the ball over (18 player TOs @TOR, most since March 5).
    Kent Bazemore, Al Horford, Kyle Korver, and Paul Millsap were a combined 11-for-32 from the field. Bazemore, Korver, and Tim Hardaway, Jr. struggled to get open along the perimeter, and when they did, made just two of their eight attempts through the first three quarters. What good are wings without a feathery touch? To escape The Dime Trap tonight, Teague and Dennis Schröder need their shooting guards to live up to their position title and shift pressure onto Cleveland’s interior defenders. They’ll need Horford to make more out of his touches as well.
    It wasn’t until the final quarter, when Mike Budenholzer turned mostly to a quintet of Kirk Hinrich, Schröder, Tim Hardaway, and the Mikes (Scott and Muscala), that the pilot light finally came on, Atlanta chopping a 24-point cushion in half and forcing the Raptors to play Lowry and DeMar DeRozan much longer than they’d have preferred.
    Unlike the situation during last year’s conference finals, Thabo Sefolosha’s presence alleviates Paul Millsap of the dubious task of checking LeBron at the halfcourt line. Sefolosha’s sore ankle got plenty of rest in Toronto (12 irrelevant minutes of action) and Detroit (DNP-CD), and it will get even more recuperation time with three off days coming up. So Thabo should be spry and ready to give Bazemore and Millsap the help they’ll need, particularly when LeBron wants to break out in transition.
    Ultimately, this is shaping up to be another disappointing loss for the Hawks, who would fall to 2-9 against the league’s top six teams…
     
     
     
    April Fools!
    The Hawks took three of four from the Cavs last year, including three in a row, and it ultimately didn’t matter when the calendar turned to the postseason. Winning tonight only serves as a momentum builder, but that’s not the most important thing.  A win tonight would not only pile onto Cleveland’s championship anxieties, it would help in the race to firm up a first-round homecourt situation for the Hawks.
    Despite the tough closing schedule on-paper, one thing the Hawks have working for them is that they’ve got more games in their pocket (76) than any playoff contenders that could catch them in the East. Each victory for Atlanta makes it extra hard for the teams in the 4-through-8 slots to keep up. And no win would be a better confidence-builder (and Twitter trender) than one in front of a ravenous crowd tonight.
    Let’s Go Hawks!
    ~lw3
    lethalweapon3
     
    Say, did you know that the “De” in DeMarre stands for “Dónde estás?”

     
    Telephone poles throughout Ontario are plastered with “Missing!” posters, fans of the Toronto Raptors pleading for the return of their Junkyard Dawg II. On the verge of the first 50-win season in franchise history, the Raptors hope to hand the Atlanta Hawks not only another L tonight (7:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast, NBATV, TSN), but also a flashlight, to help them out with the search for DeMarre Carroll.
    This JYD isn’t just any pooch, mind you. Toronto made him the top priority that the Hawks could not this past summer, a priority that costs them a team-high $14.5 million annual average, over this and the next three seasons. That’s nearly six times as much as Atlanta paid for their defensive stalwart, hustle hound, and postseason savior in 2015, a salary that actually went down a smidgen from 2014.
    After a modest 23 games, Carroll, who turns 30 this summer, surprised many with the announcement in January that he would be getting his knee scoped, and would miss some time. That’s okay, thought the Raptors’ faithful… so long as he’s back in time for the playoff push.
    Besides, Toronto was just beginning to make their power moves up the Eastern Conference standings without him, supercharged by the dynamic duo of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan and bolstered by a supporting cast of improved players. Even with Junkyard Doggone, the Raps got blown out by top-ranked Cleveland, and then went on a 27-7 tear, including a thrilling home win over the Cavs last month with Lowry dropping a career-high 43 points. How good might they get once DMC gets back? There’s no need to rush things!
    “I mean, yeah, that’s what it’s all about, having him 100 percent when things matter, especially as we get closer to the playoffs,” DeRozan optimistically told the Toronto Star, after Carroll hobbled through his last game back in January. “Before we know it we’re going to look up and it’s going to be March, April. As long as we get guys 100 percent, that’s all that matters.”
    Well, after some signals that DMC would be working his way back into the Raptation in March, he has essentially disappeared from sight. Carroll has been Tweeting and making PR appearances (most recently, reported by the Toronto Sun to be hanging around the ATL on personal matters). But he hasn’t spoken to the media about his recuperation status since February. The calendar is turning to April, and now fans are growing as jittery as a Tim Hortons addict.
    Was there a setback in recovery? How bad is it? This guy was supposed to be their LeBron Impeder. Not Terrence Ross, not DeRozan, not rookie Norman Powell or James Johnson. This guy. Yet, not until this morning did the Raptors express renewed optimism that he’ll be back on the court before the regular season ends. Can Carroll work his way back into the rotation, and be productive, in time? With the investment they’ve made, will it be wise to just shut him down for the season, and simply grin and bear it without him?
    Those who asserted before the season began that the Hawks would sorely miss the presence of Carroll, especially once their ninth-consecutive playoffs tip off, are correct. What few could possibly have imagined is that the Raptors might miss him even more. Yet now, there’s hardly time to even entertain those thoughts.
    Elbow pasta, elbow bursitis. It’s always best if you drain them. Lowry has been playing through soreness in his shooting elbow, he says, since mid-January. That was back when he and DeRozan shared Player of the Month honors and the Raps soared, just ahead of the All-Star Game that he and DeRozan played in while his team hosted. Toronto went from being tied with the Hawks at 21-15 when DeMarre exited, both teams looking up at the Bulls in the standings, to joining the Cavs as the class of the East.
    Then, ten days ago, Lowry’s elbow pain and swelling flared up again after a fall against the Magic. He was rested against Boston and then tried playing through the discomfort, but the results on the scoreboard – a 1-3 record, with the sole win against residual Pelicans – and the box score – Lowry’s 23.9 FG%, 19.2 3FG%, and 54.2 FT% in three of those games – were less than stellar. Immediately after a blowout loss at the Air Canada Centre to the blazing-hot OKC Thunder, a struggling Lowry went to get his elbow drained of fluid.
    This isn’t just any bony joint, mind you. In Canada, this is The People’s Elbow. No less than a nation full of rabid hoops fans have waited patiently for the breakthrough of a franchise that has been around for 21 seasons and have one, solitary playoff series victory (during Vince Carter’s Chapel Hill graduation year of 2001) to show for it.
    Lowry’s back problems deep-sixed the Atlantic Division champions’ chances to advance in the 2015 playoffs. One year later, they’re relying on this star point guard’s elbow to make the passes, the steals, the help rebounds, the shots, that could lift this team to the conference finals – and beyond, if they dare.
    To his credit, Lowry was forthcoming with the postgame media about the status of his sore elbow, and is allaying fears that it might impair his effectiveness going forward, particularly now that it’s drained and has undergone additional treatment since.
    "It’s definitely something I don't want to play with, and I don't like to play with, but it is what it is," Lowry said to the press after the Thunder game. "It just gets you when you can’t extend your elbow and your arm the complete way.  Hopefully we’ve got it taken care of. Hopefully I won't be playing and shooting as bad as I’ve been playing the last three games." Hopefully. He remains likely to play today despite sitting out shootaround this morning.
    Like the team, Lowry remains furtive about the status of someone who should be a starting forward for Toronto by the time the playoffs get here. When pressed for his estimation of the time Carroll will need before he’s playoff-certified: "I don't know, Dr. Kyle isn't in the office today."
    Two nights after the Raptors got triple-doubled by the magnificent Russell Westbrook, Jeff Teague’s arrival in town will certainly feel like a vacation for Lowry. But fresh from bewildering a desperate Derrick Rose, Teague (26 points @ CHI; 19 assists, ZERO turnovers in last 2 games) is in no mood to alleviate the Raptors’ woes.
    No one in Atlanta was shedding a tear during the first few months of the year, when Jeff’s lower leg was forming his first-name initial repeatedly on the floor. There was little regard to his persistent issues with lateral movement and finishing in the paint (44.3 2FG%, lowest since his rookie year), especially with a wunderkind in Dennis Schröder waiting-in-the-wings to close games out. There certainly was no mercy from Lowry when he plopped 22 of Toronto’s 39 fourth-quarter points in Atlanta back on December 2, his Raptors storming ahead with the lead while Teague Time consisted of exasperated 2-for-8 FG shooting.
    After sitting out a few games in November, through January Teague was shooting 41.7 FG% (43.1 2FG%) and averaging 13.7 PPG and 5.1 APG. Since February, he’s upped those values to 44.5 FG% (46.6 2FG%), 16.3 PPG and 6.8 APG. Jeff has also sunk his last 16 free throws, including four in the final 25 seconds to help his Hawks finally put the Bulls to bed.
    Teague did compile 17 assists and just a pair of turnovers in two losses to Toronto, but is out to make amends after shooting just 9-for-31 in those games. Actually, the whole Hawks team is out to bounce back after sinking just 5 of 22 three-pointers (0-for-8 in the second half) in Chicago. That’s three nights after drawing more iron than you’d find in a Geritol bottle (5-for-32 3FGs, 2-for-24 in final three quarters) back home against the Bucks, and two nights after making just a third of their treys (5-for-15 3FGs) as the Pistons tried to claw their way back into the game.
    The point guards’ effectiveness in seizing control of the game depends a lot on their teammates’ ability to bury perimeter shots and open up the floor. The Hawks continue to manufacture 16.1 wide-open three point shots per game (17.0 in March), 3.8 more than second-place Golden State, but have made just 34.7% of them (34.9 wide-open 3FG% in March), as none of the next ten most-frequent shooting teams converted at less than a 37.5% clip.
    Atlanta relies more than most teams on bigs that are just recently expanding their ranges, like Paul Millsap (31.4 wide-open 3FG%) and Al Horford (35.6%; 39.5% in March), the latter being tied with Kent Bazemore (34.1%; 22.9% in March) for the team lead with 2.6 wide-open 3s per game. But that doesn’t excuse snipers like Kyle Korver (36.1 wide-open FG%; 42.9% in March) or Tim Hardaway, Jr. (38.6%; 40.0% in March) from the need to continue getting their weight up.
    Hardaway has worked hard to carve a steady role in the Hawks rotation, but suffers from the dilemma suffered by shooting guards and swingmen of the past, like Lou Williams and Anthony Morrow. Specifically, if your shots aren’t falling, what ELSE are you doing out there? In the past three games, Junior (1-for-11 on 3FGs, 3-for-10 on 2FGs) has contributed one defensive rebound, 5 assists, four points-in-the-paint, three free throw points, and one steal, total. The Hawks need Hardaway to make a bigger imprint on both ends of the floor, especially to exploit their depth advantages on most nights.
    It’s well-known that I’m wary of making too much about Hawk opponents’ injuries, so I’ll quickly add that Toronto has upgraded Terrence Ross to probable, after their fourth-leading scorer missed the past three games with a sore thumb. Raptors coach Dwane Casey has been turning instead to Powell, and the rookie guard is certainly plugging the gaps. He’s made 47.4% of his 3-point attempts in the past three games (15.3 PPG, 5.0 RPG) and brings much more energy on the defensive end than Ross (6.6 TO%, 3rd-best in NBA), who is much improved as an on-ball defender in his own right.
    Still, the Hawks must find advantages among their reserves, and that begins in the backcourt. Dennis Schröder should have little problem outperforming Toronto’s Cory Joseph (32.5 FG%, 21.7 3FG%, 6.5 PPG, 2.7 APG this month), who has been struggling just as he’ll be needed to step things up while Lowry rehabs. Schröder and Hawks wing Thabo Sefolosha have to find ways to disrupt one of the NBA’s stingiest offenses in Toronto (NBA-low 6.5 opponent SPG; 14.3 opponent PPG off TOs, 3rd-lowest in NBA).
    If Lowry remains ineffective as a shooter, DeRozan is likely to put more of the offense on his shoulders. Sefolosha (probable, despite continued stiffness in his ankle) will be needed to help force Toronto’s leading scorer into inefficient shots, without bailout fouls (…Paul!)
    As was the case in Toronto’s March 10 victory over the Hawks (DeRozan 30 points, 11-for-20 FGs, 7-for-9 FTs), the Raptors are 7-3 when DeRozan gets more points than shot attempts taken (field goals plus free throws; 13-for-23 3FGs in those games). But they’re a pedestrian 8-7 when he gets at least 25% more attempts than points scored (3-for-26 on 3FGs in those games). They’re also 9-1 when he’s granted 14 or more free throw attempts, 10-1 when he makes more than ten of them.
    Over the course of a long career, former Raptor Kris Humphries’ 7.2 RPG against Toronto is his highest mark against any NBA team, his 8.1 PPG the best against any Eastern Conference foe. While undoubtedly much of that production came against guys named Bargnani and Garbajosa, Humphries will play a role in establishing defensive-rebounding parity for the Hawks’ big men as Toronto rotates Bismack Biyombo, Patrick Patterson and Jason Thompson behind Luis Scola and Jonas Valanciunas. Hampered by a slow pace of play, opponents average just 31.3 D-Rebs per game against the Raptors, second-lowest in the league.
    Horford (3-for-5 3FGs, 5-for-9 2FGs @ TOR on Mar. 10) and Millsap must continue to force opposing bigs to play faster, spurred on by aggressive guard play and ball movement. Atlanta’s perimeter shooters have little excuse against a Raptors team that allows opponents to make 37.5% of three-pointers, second-most in the league.
    Take care of business on the interior, find and convert open shots, and continue making offenses work outside of their comfort zones for whatever points they can get. And by the fourth quarter, the courtside rappers will have their minds set on mixtapes, ill-timed Instagrams, and “Where’s DeMarre?”
    Let’s Go Hawks!
    ~lw3
    lethalweapon3
     
    “Okay, here’s the plan! You, go warm up the bus. You, send Jeff around the corner for pizza…”
     
    Sucking Wind City! While the Atlanta Hawks’ biggest issue at the moment is getting the headcount right on the travel bus, we’re just about at the point where their hosts tonight, the Chicago Bulls (8:00 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast, NBATV, CSN Chicago), will look to throw somebody under one.
    Last season, just five teams in the Eastern Conference had a winning record, and Chicago’s current mark (36-36) would have had them on pace for the 6th seed. Not so in 2016, with as many as ten East teams at least capable of finishing above .500, and the Wizards and Bulls on the outside looking in.
    Hawks GM Wes Wilcox was an assistant coach on LeBron James’ 2004-05 Cavs (42-40), the last East team to sit out the postseason despite amassing more victories than losses. That team had too many questions about its head coach, setting free Paul Silas despite 18 games left and his team still in 5th place despite a post-All-star swoon. This Bulls team seems to have even more questions about its leadership, including its first-year head coach.
    It’s not like the Bulls haven’t been down this particular primrose path before. In 1998, the team had vacancies all over the place after the final MJ-led NBA title followed with everyone of significance, including head coach Phil Jackson, abandoning ship.
    That summer, Jerry Reinsdorf went to the sleepy college town of Ames, and plucked Iowa State coach Tim Floyd, a 44-year-old with no NBA coaching experience (but one Sweet Sixteen appearance, so there was that), to serve their director of basketball operations, hoping against logic that Phil (and Mike) would have a change of heart and return to the fold once the lockout ended. Yeah, that was never gonna happen. When the season opened in February, Floyd was the coach, running the show for the first of nearly three-and-a-half disastrous seasons, when the Bulls couldn’t even crack 20 wins.
    Somebody in Chi-town must really like the Cyclones. Fifty wins, the NBA’s Most Improved Player in Jimmy Butler, and a conference semifinals appearance where the Bulls gave LeBron his strongest resistance along his path back to the NBA Finals, apparently wasn’t good enough for Tom Thibodeau to retain his job in 2015. Entrusted with joint management decisions, executive VP John Paxson and GM Gar Forman figured, why the heck not?
    In comes Floyd’s first All-American college player, Fred Hoiberg, now a 42-year-old with one season of NBA assistant coaching experience back in 2006 (but a Sweet Sixteen appearance, so there’s that), as the new head coach. Being hopelessly enamored with the Big 12 is one thing, but would it have pained the Bulls brass to at least go after Lon Kruger?
    After blowing a home-and-home set with the Knicks and then getting their doors blown off down in Orlando, all in a span of four days, Chicago (10-16 since Feb. 1) is facing their worst season finish since stumbling out of the pen under Scott Skiles in 2007-08. The Hoi polloi are seeing red. Players are getting restless, too.
    “We’re losing to… trash teams.”  Taj Gibson tried explaining his feeling “embarrassed” last week after the Knicks’ sweep, certainly not endearing himself to anybody in Gotham or the Magic Kingdom in the process. Well, Taj will be emboldened by the discovery that his Bulls blowing games against teams that are beneath him, in his estimation, is now a thing of the past.
    Beginning with an Atlanta (44-30) team that dispatched Detroit with surgical precision (34 assists, four player turnovers, 8 of 9 players scoring in double figures) on Saturday, six of Chicago’s next seven opponents are in playoff contention, and the seventh (Milwaukee) was eliminated last night. Just two of those forthcoming games are at home. After that stretch, they’ll host LeBron’s Cavs, their opening-round opponent even in a rosiest-case scenario. By that point, we’ll know if this is a roster that also deserves to get tossed into Gibson’s round file.
    The largest average fan attendance in the NBA fills up the United Center. But Chicago’s diminishing faithful anticipates another fall-flat performance tonight, and the tension is as thick as you’d find at a presidential candidate rally there.
    Their All-Star at the wing, Butler, is still laboring through a knee injury sustained back in early February, and is likely to get shut down for exploratory surgery the minute Chicago gets mathematically eliminated. “…at times I feel like I’m hurting this team. That’s the most disappointing part because I’m not the player I was,” noted Butler to the Chicago Sun-Times, in what had to sound a bit like an echo to fans of the Bulls’ starting backcourt.
    One good element of Butler’s return to action has been his passing (5.3 APG, 1.0 TO per game in last 8 games). But Jimmy “Pails” (14.3 PPG, 39.2 FG% in last 8 games) in comparison to the Jimmy Buckets (22.4 PPG, 45.8 FG%) that preceded his injury, and his defensive intensity has ebbed as well.
    Derrick’s Rose Rule contract expires after next season, while Pau Gasol may be following the injured Joakim Noah out the door in free agency. Gasol (nursing a sprained ankle, but probable for tonight; 8.3 PPG and 39.1 FG% in last 3 games) and Rose (18.4 PPG in March) have been trying to plug the gap in Butler’s production as best they can, but that only shows up on the offensive end of the floor for Chicago.
    The Bulls have allowed triple-digit opponent tallies in nine of their past ten games (the exception being the Jazz, who don’t even get down like that) and in 25 of their last 27 games, going back to January 31. Under Hoiberg, they’ve become offensively inefficient (26th in O-Rating, 25th in FG%) and, to the dismay of fans longing for the Thibodeau days, defensively deficient (24th in D-Rating since February 1).
    Reinsdorf would relish any fan-favorable news that kicks the soap opera by his White Sox off the front page, so it’s likely GarPax will get gored soon. But Hoiberg’s not in deep dish just yet. End the losing streak tonight against Atlanta, inspire a mad-dash charge for the 8-seed (they’re just 2 games behind Detroit, 2.5 back of Indy), and Hoiberg can make a case out of being a transition guy completing the first season of his five-year, $25 million contract, hamstrung by well over 180 man-games lost due to injuries.
    Even if the Bulls’ closing campaign falls short, a new managerial regime might arrive in the upcoming offseason with a lot to work with, including not just one but perhaps two lottery picks. The 2014 mid-season dealing of Luol Deng to Cleveland netted them a top-ten-protected 2016 draft pick via Sacramento, and the Kings are within just 1.5 wins of royally screwing that up. Throw in a full season of off-season recovery from Butler, Rose’s contract year, and growth from youngsters like Bobby Portis, Doug McDermott, and Nikola Mirotic, and the skyscraper’s the limit.
    But any half-full perspectives for Hoiberg must begin with a big win, soon. And there’s no time like the present with the Hawks in town. Solving Atlanta involves figuring out the Hawks’ stifling perimeter defense. With Saturday’s victory over the Pistons, Atlanta matched last season’s total of 15 games holding opponents below 25% shooting on three-pointers, with eight games left to spare.
    Chicago’s 36.8 3FG% ranks 4th in the NBA, but among this season’s most accurate Bulls-eye marksmen, the top one (E’Twaun Moore) remains out with a strained hammy, the fourth-best was Kirk Hinrich, and the fifth-best is our old friend, and Drake troll victim, Justin Holiday.
    The Bulls’ Big Three (Butler, Rose, Gasol) have to look for targets like McDermott (43.2 3FG%; team-high 20 points on 6-for-13 FGs @ ATL on Feb. 26) and Mike Dunleavy (41.8 3FG%) in the corners, where Hawks opponents (37.8 3FG%) have had much better success than they have above-the-arc (NBA-low 32.2 opponent 3FG%). They’ll have a simpler time doing so if Thabo Sefolosha (ankle stiffness, questionable for tonight) isn’t on the floor to frustrate them all.
    Gibson will come out to the perimeter to guard Paul Millsap, who was having a whale of a game in Motown (3-for-4 3FGs, 23 points, 4 steals, 4 blocks) before donning a mask of crimson, courtesy of a fourth-quarter head-butt from Errin’ Aron Baynes. But he’s a hockey player, and after nearly a dozen stitches, Millsap is ready to hop back in the fray tonight.
    A stitch in time saves nine, so with Sap looking to repeat his team-high nine rebounds and nine points off threes from Saturday, he’ll need his point guards to beat their man off the dribble and make the Bulls pay for leaving Gasol (16 points, 17 rebounds, but 6-for-22 shooting @ ATL on Feb. 26) abandoned around the rim. Only the Lakers, Knicks, and Clippers have been outscored in the paint to a greater degree than Chicago (-3.1 PPG in-the-paint).
    Who knew the team would have such an aversion to Jeff Teague’s penchant for anchovies? Teague’s shooting hasn’t been Hot recently (36.2 FG% in his last 8 games), but he has been Ready to dice up teams like the Pistons and Bulls (6.0 team SPG and 11.9 opponent TOs/game, 29th in NBA) who aren’t aggressive with ball handlers.
    After 12 assists and zero turnovers in Detroit, Jeff, plus Dennis Schröder (7 assists, 3 TOs @ DET on Saturday) should have little trouble dicing up their defenders like pepperoni tonight, especially if Butler and Tony Snell get preoccupied with chasing around Kyle Korver and Tim Hardaway, Jr.
    Al Horford stands to have a productive evening as well, after adding four assists and four blocks to his 18 points (8-for-11 FGs; 2-for-3 3FGs) in a 103-88, nearly wire-to-wire win over the Bulls in Atlanta last month. Consistent with the successful stretch that began with that victory, the Hawks shot just 20.6% on threes in the game and 41.6% overall, but the Bulls had even fewer answers (36.4 FG%, 5-for-20 3FGs).
    Horford and Millsap combined for 9 of the Hawks’ 11 blocked shots (compared to Chicago’s two blocks) and matched Chicago’s total of 3 steals as Atlanta built up a 20-11 forced turnover advantage. Hoiberg’s crew needs to find players willing to be more disruptive and force the Hawks to play Butler and Rose in transition. Only the Lakers and Knicks score fewer points off turnovers than Chicago (13.5 PPG, 28th in NBA).
    Getting the W tonight over the Bulls would virtually sew up the ninth-consecutive postseason for the Hawks, the longest for the franchise since the St. Louis-to-Atlanta run between 1963 and 1973. They have a tiebreaker over Chicago and a 2-1 edge in games over Washington, who should make it all official with a loss in Golden State tomorrow night. While Chicago resorts to internal finger-pointing meetings, maybe the Hawks can celebrate with a pizza party. Who’s buying?
    Let’s Go Hawks!
    ~lw3
    lethalweapon3
     
    “YOUR Dad’s a GENIUS!”


     
    It’s another Separation Saturday! When our Atlanta Hawks last left Auburn Hills, eight days ago, their Palace coup left the Detroit Pistons a bit embittered. Both teams have done fairly well for themselves in the days since, and each has a good reason to grab a win tonight (7:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast, Fox Sports Detroit) —specifically, stiff-arming the competition below them in the conference standings.
    Atlanta and Detroit share the top spot among the East’s toughest remaining schedules, opponents each holding a 57% winning percentage. Seven of Detroit’s remaining nine games involve back-to-backs. The Pistons actually do pretty good with back-to-back series, as they’re an impressive 20-14 in those games. Even better, they’ve won their last six contests on the back ends of those series, and hoping to extend it to seven tonight.
    The Pistons are STILL amid that nine-game homestand that began with the loss to the Hawks on March 18. And the confines have gotten quite comfy. They dusted four lotto-bound teams before fumigating the Hornets last night (62 team rebounds in regulation, a season-high). Tonight, they’re on the hunt for their first six-game winning streak since the infamous Smoove Buyout spurred Stan Van Gundy’s club to seven-straight back in December-January of last season.
    After tonight, Detroit (39-34, 8th-seed in East) hosts OKC and the Mavs before finally hitting the road, for a three-game stretch that includes a miffed Bulls squad (2 games behind) and the heat. Their schedule concludes with a visit to Cleveland. Since they have a better record versus their Central Division rivals than they do against the Raptors, they might not mind bringing an extra bag to the Buckeye State in advance of a playoff series there.
    In the Hawks’ case, tonight concludes the back-to-backs (22-14, 11-7 on second nights) for the season. They’ve swept their last three series and are looking to extend that string to four tonight, after starting out the year sweeping their first three.
    Winning their sixth road game out of their last seven tonight should keep Atlanta (43-30, 3rd-seed in East) a half-game ahead of the Celtics, who are in Phoenix tonight awaiting a team that played yesterday, and extend their division lead over resting Miami to a full game. While two games each versus Cleveland and Toronto await, the sooner that these teams firm up their playoff positioning, the sooner they can focus on rest and recuperation ahead of the postseason.
    Bang The Drummond Slowly! The last time the Hawks were here, Mike Budenholzer’s strategic fouling of the Pistons’ mammoth center was a successful exercise in torture that even some presidential candidates could admire. Dre sunk almost half of his 17 foul shots to add 8 points to his 18-and-18 evening. But more importantly, Hack-a-Dre effectively short-circuited his entire team’s momentum, the Hawks eroding Detroit’s 11-point third-quarter lead to surge ahead for good in the fourth.
    “If we feel like it’s going to create an advantage,” Coach Bud said unapologetically to the postgame media, “we’ll continue to do it… (Detroit) was playing so well offensively, it’s a way to give your defense a little break and take the ball out of some other people’s hands and change the rhythm of the game.” Those “other people’s hands” rightfully belong to guys like Reggie Jackson (36.1 Assist%, 10th in NBA), who had 17 points and 10 assists without sinking a single three-pointer against the Hawks (0-for-6 3FGs on March 16).
    "He drilled us in transition, the pick-and-roll game, everything that we worked on," Hornets coach Steve Clifford praised of Jackson's offense after last night's game. Still, RJax is looking to right the ship after going 0-for-5 from deep last night while getting torched from the perimeter by Charlotte's Kemba Walker (25 first-half points; 6-for-9 3FGs; 5 assists and no turnovers). Their Atlanta counterpart, Jeff Teague, had half of the Hawks’ paltry 12 player turnovers last night versus Milwaukee, and went 0-for-5 on threes, but saved his best for last with 12 of his 18 points in the closing seven minutes of the contest.
    Detroit seized the frontcourt scoring edge from Charlotte thanks to 18-and-14 by Drummond (just two free throws, both missed), along with bench bigs Aron Baynes (16-and-8 in 18 minutes) and Anthony Tolliver (3-for-7 3FGs and 8 boards in 20 minutes). The Pistons will need a double-dip of that tonight from a bench corps that ranks last in the NBA with a cumulative 26.5 PPG and 41.4 FG%.
    Detroit relies more than any other team on three-point bench shots (40.7% of bench FG attempts are from 3-point distance), so the Hawks perimeter defense must continue to be on point today. Conversely, despite shooting just 32.0 3FG% on the season, the 45.4 FG% by Atlanta’s bench is the best in the East. Tim Hardaway, Jr., Kris Humphries, and Dennis Schröder will continue improving Atlanta’s offensive ambrosia, particularly when Kyle Korver (0-for-4 3FGs on Friday, 1-for-3 @ DET on March 16), Teague, and the All-Star starting frontcourt are having off-nights from the field.
    Detroit cooled off with 3-for-16 team shooting in the fourth quarter on Friday, as the Hornets’ reserves dwindled a 26-point mid-fourth-quarter deficit down to five with 38 seconds left to play. Similar to the situation with Atlanta’s bench scoring, in fourth-quarters, the Hawks shoot just 32.4 3FG% but their 46.4 FG% is second-best in the East, just a hair behind Miami (46.5 FG%). Detroit’s fourth-quarters haven’t been so hot (42.8 FG%, 26th in NBA). So they’re hoping once again to pounce early and hang on late, especially after SVG rested his starters in the final frame while the Hornets made their late-game charge.
    The Hawks got a bit discombobulated while up nine points with 80 seconds left in the last Pistons game, making the eventual outcome, a 118-114 win, a little tighter than necessary. After Paul Millsap’s And-1 bucket gave the Hawks the final lead of the night with under four minutes to go, their final 13 points were all free throws. A Teague turnover, a few missed freebies and some defensive lapses in the closing minute allowed the Pistons to sneak back into the rearview mirror. But Jeff’s 8-for-8 fourth quarter FTs helped make Detroit’s last stand too-little-too-late.
    Last night, Atlanta showed that they want to be a team that Lives by the D, not just the 3. Even with the iron unkind all night from downtown (5-for-32 3FGs), the Hawks refused to take, “Just not our night!” as an answer. They kept the Bucks few perimeter threats cool from deep (Khris Middleton and Jerryd Bayless 2-for-8 on 3FGs) and made Milwaukee earn just about every interior shot they could make.
    While Milwaukee missed 23 shots in the taint, I mean paint, Atlanta’s 58-42 points-in-paint advantage made all the difference in the final score. The Hawks also helped their own cause by slowing down the Bucks’ fastbreak, building a 22-14 advantage in that category as well. The Bucks, meanwhile, didn’t help their own cause by missing nine of their 26 free throw attempts. Foreshadowing, Pistons?
    Let’s Go Hawks!
    ~lw3
    lethalweapon3
     
    “I must say, Woody… my hips are feeling just fine right now!”


     
    Remember last week, when I said it’s unlikely the Atlanta Hawks will have a chance to eliminate anybody from playoff contention? Well, that’s technically still true as the Milwaukee Bucks stop here, at Philips Arena (8:00 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast, Fox Sports Wisconsin), but just barely.
    For Milwaukee (30-42), their Tragic Number is down to 3, thanks in part to Myles Turner’s birthday bash yesterday in Indianapolis, and in part to their own 3-game losing skid, lowlighted on Monday by a last-second tip-in loss to Andre Drummond at Auburn Hills. If the 8-seed Pistons prevail at home tonight against Charlotte ahead of their Saturday night affair with the re-visiting Hawks, and if the Bucks falter in Atlanta, that’s just about all she wrote for any postseason prayers up in America’s Dairyland.
    But what’s the big deal, really? There’s no use in crying over melted cheddar. All things considered, this season is an unqualified success for Jason Kidd’s staff. The Bucks’ head coach missed 15 games in mid-season to recover from hip surgery, and his replacement, Spurs acolyte Joe Prunty, held serve with an 8-9 record.
    The team struggled with the squeezeplay of having Khris Middleton, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jabari Parker, and Greg Monroe on the floor simultaneously, choosing to go with their 2015 free agent prize as a center. And they never could get comfortable with their rudder at point guard, Michael Carter-Williams never quite being to Kidd’s liking, up until MCW’s own season-ending hip surgery was announced at the end of February.
    Even before Carter-Williams’ departure, Kidd recognized the MCW-Monroe starting tandem was hampering his defensive gameplans. Kidd benched MCW and Monroe for awhile, and has since tried to plug ‘n play with backups at the point. But a guilty verdict was handed down in the case of “The Stairs vs. O.J. Mayo”, sending Option B out for the season as well with his broken ankle.
    That leaves the remaining lead-guard choices as Jerryd Bayless (now the starter) and second-year guard Tyler Ennis. After undergoing bone spur surgery back in November, Greivis Vasquez just began practicing with the team, but is unlikely to appear tonight.
    The depth behind Middleton has been shaky as well. Rookie shooting guard Rashad Vaughn hasn’t quite turned the corner, so the Bucks brought in former Hawks guard Jared Cunningham on a ten-day to see if he can shake things up a bit. Bayless (44.0 3FG%, 4th in NBA) and Middleton are about all Milwaukee has in terms of perimeter shooting, although Kidd has been encouraging Ennis to look for his shot more lately.
    Parker (career-high 13 rebounds plus 28 points @ ATL on Feb. 20) continues shaking off the cobwebs after missing most of last season’s turnaround due to injury. Middleton (2nd in NBA for minutes played; tied with Kyle Korver at 40.5 3FG%, 14th in NBA) struggles at times to live up to his new contract, but admirably fills in Milwaukee’s offensive gaps.
    Monroe (24 rebounds in two OT games vs. ATL this season) has been steady but hasn’t shown measurable improvement in much of anything, aside from maybe blocking shots, without Drummond around to help him at the pivot. Alpha-Bits (career-high 16 rebounds plus 28 points vs. ATL on Jan. 15) continues to fill out his boxscore lines as best he can. But defensively, Giannis cannot be patrolling the perimeter and the paint at the same time, and leads the NBA with 228 personal fouls.
    So with all that working against them, plus a still ridiculously young roster devoid of vets like Zaza Pachulia and Jared Dudley (probably passed Orlando as the league’s youngest; their oldest active veteran, Bayless, is 27 years old), a 30-to-35-win season should be considered a successful step forward. That is, if it were not for the Worst-to-Mediocre season of 2014-15 that sprang the Bucks into the playoffs, going from 15-67 to 41-41. Despite the high expectations at the outset, consider this season more of a correction and recalibration for Kidd and the Gang.
    Any victories at this point are just Ones to Grow On for 2016-17. That includes the pair of overtime wins the Bucks have over the Hawks (42-30) this season. Neither victory was of the apply-hoof-to-tailfeather variety, and big shots in both games by Al Horford (16-for-30 2FGs, no free throws vs. MIL this season) kept the Hawks in the running. But in both contests, the Hawks’ multifaceted perimeter offense failed to stand out against a mostly limited 3-point shooting team.
    In Milwaukee in January, the Hawks shot the same from deep (30.0 3FG%) as their opponents, despite lofting 20 more attempts. Back at the Highlight Factory one month later, the Bucks made a paltry 3 of their 17 3FG attempts, but percentage-wise, Atlanta didn’t fare much better with 24 more three-point shots (9-for-41 3FGs) than Milwaukee, and ultimately couldn’t take advantage of Alpha-Bits fouling out in regulation.
    The Hawks weren’t great shakes up in Washington, either, through the first three quarters (10-for-30 3FGs) on Wednesday night. But then Dennis Schröder popped off a trey with three minutes to go, showcasing his versatile potential, and the spigot stayed on throughout the fourth quarter (7-for-12 3FGs), while the Hawks defense clamped down on John Wall and the Wizards for the 122-101 runaway victory. But for Atlanta’s super-sub, Milwaukee might not have needed OT to top the Hawks in either game.
    Can we all just hold hands and declare it together, definitively, out loud? “Dennis Schröder is The Best Sixth Man in the East, at least!” Someone out West is sure to win the annual hardware. But among Eastern reserves with at least 15 minutes-per-game and 50 games played without starting, only Toronto’s Patrick Patterson has a better net rating (+10.9) than Schröder (+10.4).
    In this category of backups, only Evan Turner (4.7 APG) averages more assists (4.6 APG), and no one averages more than Schröder’s 11.1 PPG over the course of this season. Throw in the absence of a bench sidekick like Tim Hardaway, Jr., until after the All-Star Break, and Schröder’s effectiveness only becomes starker. Take Dennis’ inside-outside threats with an invigorated commitment to defense, and he eclipses more lauded bench guys like Boston’s Turner or Cleveland’s Matty Dellave-dive-on. Plus, the precocious point guard doesn’t hit age 23 until September.
    There’s a saying that the most popular man in town is the backup quarterback. Jeff Teague remains, to use Budspeak, “a big part of what we do.” But to keep from eventually getting Bibbied himself, our Agent Zero has to be a bigger offensive threat, particularly at the outset of games like this, when opponents have meager options at the 1-spot.
    Despite 10 assists against the Bucks in January, Jeff shot just 4-for-13 from the field, egging Mike Budenholzer on to turn to Schröder, who promptly plopped in 16 points and added 5 dimes in just over 19 minutes. In the next matchup with Milwaukee, Jeff shot just 2-for-8 and struggled to play with a second-half wrist injury. This time, Dennis did yeoman’s work in 40 minutes (25 points, 8 rebounds, 10 assists), bringing his shooting to 16-for-29 FGs in the pair of games against the Bucks.
    Washington thought they had Wednesday’s game in the bad, until they fell victim to The Budenhustle beginning in the back half of the third quarter. Rather than a Teague Takeover (3-for-10 FGs, 1-for-5 2FGs, 9 points and 6 assists in 26 minutes), Atlanta foisted a Schröder Shakedown (7-for-9 FGs, 8 assists in 20 minutes, four 3-point-assists in four fourth-quarter minutes) upon Wall and his suddenly flummoxed Wizards. The Menace also entered in the opening quarter with the Hawks down 25-15. Within five minutes, the Wizards hadn’t scored, and Atlanta tied the game. What’s the German word for “Microwave?”
    Teague and Schröder need to continue making smart ballhandler decisions, as they’ll face an opportunistic Milwaukee squad that, despite their faults, are just about as eager as the Hawks (19.1 points off turnovers) to score in transition (18.8 PPG off turnovers, 3rd in NBA; league-best +6.2 PPG off TOs in March).
    Paul Millsap (25.0 PPG, 10.5 RPG vs. MIL this season) was the biggest turnover culprit for Atlanta on Wednesday (5 TOs @ WAS, 3 off Wizard steals) and needs to make swifter decisions when he’s fed the ball inside, before Middleton, Alpha-Bits and the Bucks go for the strips. Hawks defenders must also play close-to-the vest on Bucks ball-handlers, forcing the action and disallowing the ability for Milwaukee’s core offensive starters to function in space.
    In addition to their offensive advantages at the point, the Hawks must exploit their advantage in terms of team defense. While Atlanta’s defensive measures since January 1 (97.1 opponent points per 100 possessions, 42.2 opponent FG%, 30.9 opponent 3FG%) all lead the league, the Monroe-infused Bucks have dropped from 4th in defensive efficiency in 2014-15 to 20th (105.4 opponent points per-100) this season.
    Monroe and his athletic associates (including Barnes-magnet John Henson) love to build up an edge on the interior (NBA-high 50.3 PPG in-the-paint), but are so single-minded on scoring around the rim that they’re subject to runouts at the other end. Despite their touted size, the Bucks are also dead-last in defensive rebounding (72.4 D-Reb%). Neither Bucks victory over the Hawks included Atlanta’s Kris Humphries, who played just 16 minutes in D.C. and should be well-rested in advance of this back-to-back set with the Bucks and Pistons.
    With another big game in Detroit tomorrow night, there’s no need for the Hawks to be Kidd-ing around in overtime again versus Milwaukee. To make tonight a small-g good Friday, Teague’s job is to guide the starters to a sizable first-quarter lead, then to leave it to Schröder and the bench mob to make quick venison out of the Bucks.
     
    Let’s Go Hawks!
    ~lw3
    lethalweapon3
     
    They can’t guard me! Or, at least, they won’t. Not so long as I’m in my Big Panda disguise!
    So, I’m pooped! No time to put together a fulll Game Thread ahead of the Atlanta Hawks’ payback game against the Washington Wizards (7:00 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast, CSN Mid-Atlantic). A few nuggets in lieu of the whole chicken:
    Like a Philly cheesesteak, the Wiz is on a roll! They last won six-in-a-row early last season, in November/December 2014. That said, they’re still clawing for a final playoff spot, because both the Bulls and Pistons (1.5 games ahead) are feeling their oats as well, winners of three straight games and six of their last ten. Washington knows they cannot afford any more missteps, particularly at home. They've won 9 of their last 10 at the Verizon Center.
    The Hawks are in a nice little logjam at 41-30, not the least of which is because the Hornets took care of business at home against the big, bad Spurs. A loss tonight drops the Hawks to 7-8 in-division, which won’t bode well for otherwise-meaningless division title contention with Miami (0.5 game ahead; 8-5 Southeast), Charlotte (now tied, along with Boston; 7-7 Southeast) and, for now, Washington (5.5 GB, 8-5 Southeast). San Antonio may give the Hawks a break by trying to extend their home winning streak tonight against the heat (41-29).
    Atlanta’s also in a race with Boston to be the first among the East’s Top 7 with 20 Eastern Conference losses, although the Celts have five more in-conference wins under their belts. The Hawks still have the toughest schedule ahead in the East, and likely need a winning road record (18-17) to keep the postseason on lock.
    The Wizards had the Hawks under a heat lamp on Monday at Philips Arena. Their 50.5 FG% was the best by any Hawks foe since their epic comeback in Houston back on December 29. That included a 13-for-25 shooting display for Washington beyond the arc, and 59 FG% in the middle quarters. The Zards are 24-5 when they hit the 48 FG% shooting mark, 16-3 when they bury half their shots.
    Atlanta’s offense, to be fair, wasn’t too bad on Monday, keeping the outcome entertaining until the wheels came off late. Al Horford was sharp as a tack (14 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists, 3 steals), and could stand to use even more touches tonight to get Gortat off his game. As a team Atlanta hit 55.6 2FG% and nearly 40 percent on threes (13-for-28 until the fourth quarter), thanks in no small part to Tim Hardaway, Jr. (4-for-5 3FGs). But John Wall, Bradley Beal (12 third-quarter points), and Marcin Gortat (12 first-quarter points) were too much to keep up with, the modest pace being more to the Wizards’ liking.
    After a rough start, Jeff Teague tried to keep up (23 points, 7-for-17 FGs, 6-for-9 in the middle quarters, 6-for-8 FTs) but it didn’t last for long. He and Dennis Schröder will hopefully be able to distribute more to starters Kyle Korver (1-for-2 3FGs, 19 minutes) and Kent Bazemore (0-for-4 3FGs, 21 minutes), who played sparingly. The latter seemed rattled after absorbing a hard offensive foul from Jared Dudley in the second quarter, and perhaps a day of recovery will serve him well.
    The Hawks tipped their cap all night to the Wizards’ offensive onslaught. But tipping one’s cap doesn’t also require tipping one’s hand. Teague and Schröder persistently went under on screens for Wall (just three mid-range shots outside the paint/FT circle, seven FGs at the rim), who turned on the jets. Once in the paint, with Hawk defenders scrambling to help, there was a candy shop full of options available for Wall (27 points, 10-for-21 FGs, 14 assists).
    If you’re Wall, you can await the cutters by Gortat and Markieff Morris, or swing the rock out to Beal (5-for-6 3FGs, 3 Wall-assisted), Morris (both Wall-assisted), or Otto Porter (both Wall-assisted). Or, stay behind the line and call your own number (Wall 3-for-5 3FGs).
    The Hawks did not practice on Sunday (or on Tuesday, Ye Ole Recovery Day), and maybe their much-improved pick-and-roll defense got out of whack. But the guards must put in the work to fight over screens (particularly by Gortat, who several Hawks praised as the best in the biz postgame) and catch up with Wall. Otherwise, there’ll be Big Trouble in Little Chinatown tonight.
    Let’s Go Hawks!
    ~lw3
    lethalweapon3
     
    “Serenity now… serenity now…”


     
    It’s Demotivational Week for the Atlanta Hawks! Over the next eight days, the Hawks can help put as many as four Eastern Conference wannabe contenders out to pasture. A home-and-home that begins at Philips Arena against the Washington Wizards (8:00 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast, CSN Mid-Atlantic) initiates this stretch.
    To be sure, the postseason isn’t tied down yet for the Hawks (41-29), who will take a stab at six straight victories tonight. But in far more precarious situations are the Wizards, the Bucks, the Pistons, and the Bulls, all teams on the horizon in Atlanta’s schedule, all teams vying for what’s likely to be one of the final three playoff spots.
    While the notion of, “If only we could get in the playoffs,” is a tad played out in the minds of Hawks fans as their team marches toward their ninth consecutive trip, for their upcoming opponents, It’s Still Real to Them, Dammit.
    Chicago missing out would end a run of seven straight and likely kickstart a sorely needed shakeup in the management department. Detroit would be sitting it out for seven straight years, certainly a disappointment after having made moves strategically designed to snap the string. Milwaukee is just about out of it, but a last dash might re-energize a team that has moved in fits and starts, after surprising last season and making a big free agency swing last summer.
    As for the team up in the District of Columbia? They’ve won four in a row, including defeats of the Pistons and Bulls at home, one of two four-game win streaks that sandwiched a five-game skid. Despite allowing the most points per game of any of the East’s potential playoff teams, the Wizards have held opponents below 100 points in four straight games for the first time all season.
    Still, not all is sweet in Chocolate City. After swinging for the fences to get their hands on the Suns’ mischievous Markieff Morris at the Trade Deadline, finishing the season below the 8-seed spot is not likely to salvage the jerbs or either GM Ernie Grunfeld or head coach Randy Wittman. As of today, they’re 1.5 games behind those Pistons and Bulls for the final slot.
    You wanna see Kevin Durant in a Hawks uniform? Well, failing that, how’d you like to see him in a Wizards jersey? To hear anyone in our Nation’s Capitol tell it, getting John Wall and the Wizards into the postseason party has been nice, but in reality, the past couple seasons have merely been one giant postcard for the Durantula: “Wish You Were Here!”
    The D.C. native might not find palatable an NBA team that seems to be regressing and unstable, and a loss tonight would match the 36 losses from last year’s edition of the Wizards. Atlanta likely dodged a bullet (or, if you prefer, a wizard) when the clingy Dwight Howard looked elsewhere during his free agency period, and they can do their part this week to cure KD of any homesickness.
    Meanwhile, Bradley Beal should be available in Animal Style, he’s In-n-Out so often. The Wizards’ star shooting guard has 44 appearances and 24 starts out of 69 games this season, thanks in part to shoulder and leg injuries and a concussion. He was only recently eased back into the starting lineup, but missed four of the last seven games after spraining his pelvis against the Pacers and ruining any shot at starring in a remake of ¡Three Amigos!
    Still, Beal (career-high 17.6 PPG) is shooting a career-best 48.4 2FG% and, after a February swoon, his three-point shooting is coming around (45.8 March 3FG%). The Wizards sound committed to keeping him during restricted free agency this summer, whether the Slim Reaper joins them or not, so you can expect Beal to scour the market for max deals that the Wizards might have to match.
    It’s probable that the Wiz will not be able to improve themselves via the draft, barring trade-offs of key assets. Their 2016 first round pick is Top-9 protected and eventually headed to Phoenix, courtesy of the deal for Keef. Their second-rounder heads to the second-round-pick-hungry Hawks, and can get juicier for Atlanta with each Wizards loss.
    That pick arrived as part of a three-way 2015 Draft Night deal that sent rookie Kelly Oubre, Jr., to Washington, and the Knicks’ score-and-not-much-more guard Tim Hardaway, Jr., to the ATL. How is that deal looking right now? It’s safe to say that Oubre (10.5 minutes per game, 41.2 FG%, 65.1 FT%) would not be working his way into Atlanta’s rotation right now.
    The swingman totaled 28 assists in 36 games as a freshman with the Jayhawks, and isn’t doing much more than that as a rookie playing alongside teammates worth passing to. His 0.7 assists per-36 is the lowest rate among non-NBA centers with at least 500 minutes logged, the 7th-lowest rate overall when you bother to throw centers into the mix. That wouldn’t fly with the Hawks. Oubre was getting steadier minutes while the Wizards wrestled with a plethora of injuries at the wing positions, but hasn’t been on the floor for 10+ minutes in a game since January 20.
    As for Hardaway, he seems to be doing quite well for himself lately. Saturday’s win over the Rockets marked the second-straight time Junior reached the 20-point plateau, on the strength of a 5-for-7 3FG shooting bonanza. That brings his shooting splits since the All-Star Break to 50.0 FG%/42.2 3FG%/90.5 FT%. His four assists in the preceding game versus Denver showed he can fit within the flow of the Hawks’ pace-and-space-all-over-the-place offense.
    I can’t speak for Tim, but if I was averaging 14.3 PPG as a starter for an NBA team in Manhattan, no matter the circumstance, I’d expect rose petals being laid before my feet during my daily entrances into arenas. Hardaway showed a complete lack of ego upon his arrival to Atlanta, and his commitment to improving his defense, mechanics, and conditioning off the floor while remaining a good egg on the sideline, is just beginning to pay dividends.
    Morris plugs a starting spot at power forward that once belonged to Nene, as Wittman has chosen to bring his Brazilian big man off the bench. The player that began the season in that starting spot for the Wizards? Kris Humphries. Hump and DeJuan Blair were dealt to Phoenix in that Morris deal, was waived shortly thereafter, and now toils behind Paul Millsap and Al Horford in Atlanta. Blair was replaced on the roster by scuttled Nugget J.J. Hickson.
    With his head on straight, or even slightly ajar, Morris (10.5 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 52.4 2FG%, 21.6 3FG% in 17 games for WAS) should be a definitive upgrade over Humphries and brings some stability to Washington’s forward positions, given Nene’s inexorable decline, the inconsistencies of Otto Porter (15.0 PPG last five games; career-high 23 points @ ATL on Nov. 7), and the expiring contracts of both Nene and Jared Dudley (43.1 3FG%).
    In the immediate term, Morris will be used by the Wizards as an offensive answer for Atlanta’s Paul Millsap (last 3 games: 47.2 FG%, 10.3 RPG, 2.3 BPG). Whether Morris’ addition will be enough for the Wizards to crack the East’s Top 8 and make a meaningful playoff run remains to be seen.
    Any shot the Wizards have begins and ends with Wall, and he’s playing like he knows it. He rung up a pair of double-doubles and two triple-doubles in last week’s four wins, averaging 21.0 PPG (40.0 3FG%, 95.7 FT%), 12.0 APG and 4.8 TOs/game, plus 7.0 defensive RPG to boot. While Kyle Lowry won the Player of the Week honors for the East, only Horford (+21.3) and dunk-meister Kyle Korver (+20.3) enjoyed a plus-minus average that approached Wall’s +22.0 last week.
    Wall’s blazing speed is his selling point. Washington scores 18.7 fastbreak PPG (2nd in NBA) and runs the 4th-quickest pace in the league, but most of that is Wall pushing the tempo above all else. Defensively, the Hawks need to channel Wall’s energies to make him zip from sideline-to-sideline, rather than from hoop-to-hoop.
    Wall takes the most mid-range shots (6.8 FGAs per game) of any East guard aside from DeMar Derozan, but only shoots as well on those (35.8 mid-range 2FG%) as he does on above-the-break threes (35.2 3FG%). Stout defensive work by the Hawks, particularly with help from Kent Bazemore (25 points, 4-for-7 3FGs vs. WAS on Nov. 7) and Thabo Sefolosha can again make Wall’s outing (19 points and 11 assists, 7 TOs, 6-for-16 FGs @ ATL on Nov. 7) an inefficient one.
    Washington is one of the few teams that produce fewer second-chance PPG (10.2) than Atlanta (10.9). While both teams space the floor out for drives and pick-and-pop shots, Washington also deploys center Marcin Gortat for cuts to the hoop. Gortat’s 263 cut possessions are 61 more than the next closest player (Dallas’ Zaza Pachulia’s 204), although he isn’t especially efficient in scoring off them. Horford and Humphries should be prepared to short-circuit Gortat’s offense with sound positioning to disrupt passes and strip the ball when he struggles to gather it.
    Victories over the coming week aren’t likely to clinch anything or eliminate anyone. But there’s a chance that one of these upcoming teams on Atlanta’s slate could be their first round playoff opponent. The Hawks can use these games to continue fine-tuning their play, and simultaneously give these opponents reasons to want to avoid them when the calendar turns to April.
    Let’s Go Hawks!
    ~lw3
    lethalweapon3
     
    “Tinder Love, Love So Tinder. Holding Me Close to You…”


     
    The NCAA doesn’t consider a 7-seed in the West Region beating a 3-seed in the East Region to be an upset. But fans of the Atlanta Hawks would feel just a tiny bit of a letdown if the Atlanta Hawks don’t ground the Houston Rockets (7:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast) on Swipe Right Night 2.0. After all, the Hawks have been making their case to march back toward a second-straight Final Four.
    Not too wild about the prospect of a $20-mill-plus-making Al Horford? The Rockets envy you. They’ve been shelling out that amount for Dwight Howard (61.8 FG%, 2nd in NBA; 28.9 D-Reb%, 6th in NBA) for a few years now, and are poised to compete with themselves this summer by paying him much more. The 30-year-old center has played a steadier role in the Rockets’ halfcourt offense, but still shoots a hack-able 50.4 FT% as his usage has fallen to the level of his rookie season.
    The Pride of The SWATS, Howard remains an interior help defender par excellence. But leaving his own assignment unattended leads to performances like Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns (32 points, 13-for-22 FGs, 11 rebounds) yesterday. And it’s Dwight’s Rockets, not the Hawks, who allow a league-high 11.7 O-Rebs per game.
    Atlanta’s driving guards will be adequately checked by Patrick Beverley, and shooters by Trevor Ariza (career-high 2.1 SPG), but they can’t cover everybody. Cuts by Hawks forwards and wings will render Howard a paint traffic controller and allow for jumpers galore by Al Horford and Paul Millsap (combined 11-for-20 FGs on Thursday, as the Hawks cruised against depleted Denver).
    The one guy who can stop D-12 from returning to Clutch City in free agency also happens to be the team’s other pillar. There have been reports that, ever since the 2014 playoffs, the two have been coming-and-going through GM Daryl Morey’s revolving door and asserting that this one-horse town’s not big enough for the two of them, each Rocket pleading with Morey to work the phones for a deal involving the other guy. The animosity has been evident on the floor as well.
    “No chemistry with that group. (Bleep)ing horrible!” That was former Hawks star Jason Terry’s postgame utterance, after a final loss before the All-Star Break sent Houston back below .500. Since Kevin McHale got dispatched in November, that duty of mixing this toxic brew into something palatable has fallen to J.B. Bickerstaff, a finalist for the “At Least You Tried!” award from the Bart Simpson Foundation.
    Bickerstaff tried to weave Collipark’s Finest, Clipper outcast Josh Smith, into the starting power forward spot after the Break. Suffice to say, it hasn’t worked out. After Josh shot 30.4 FG%, 21.1 3FG%, and 20.0 FT% while totaling one steal and no blocks in five starts, Bickerstaff has been Smoovely explaining why he’s been DNP-CD’ing Smith in the last seven games.
    “Josh is taking care of his body right now, working to get himself healthy,” Bickerstaff said, cryptically, to the Houston Chronicle. “When he got here (from the Clippers, in late January), it had been a while since he played. We kind of thrust him into a position and made him play. His body wasn’t prepared for it at that time. So, he’s taking this time to get his body prepared so he can help us down the stretch.” That’s Bickerstaff’s story, and he’s sticking to it.
    In lieu of Smoove, whose body allegedly isn’t ready, the Rockets have been turning to Donatas Motiejunas – yes, the guy who couldn’t pass a physical, nixing his trade to Detroit at the deadline – and Michael Beasley, fresh off of winning MVP in the Chinese Basketball Association and scoring 63 points in the CBA All-Star Game.
    Donuts put up 17 points in last night’s home win against the T’wolves, and Beas matched that number coming off the bench against, perhaps ironically to Smith, the team that drafted him. Bickerstaff also likes to go small and shifts Trevor Ariza to the 4-spot on occasion. Back in the Highlight Factory, expect to catch Josh and JET stepping away from the bench to grab a food court slushie when Kiss Cam time comes around tonight.
    Houston’s PB didn’t come with much of a J in the past, but Patrick Beverley’s jumper is getting wet (career-best 40.2 3FG%), as demonstrated last night against Minnesota. The Rockets point guard nailed five of his nine three-pointers and still found time to dish out a career-best 10 assists as his pairing with Harden (29 points, 14 assists, 9 TOs, 3 steals) kept the Wolves hungry all night. Hawks guards will need to close out on the perimeter when Beverley or Ariza are hovering. Houston religiously avoids settling for mid-range shots (10.7 FGAs per game, 3.6 fewer than the next-lowest team).
    It’s rarely a bad thing to be compared to Artis Gilmore, but Harden is well on his way to relieving the A-Train of an unwanted NBA record. The reigning Player’s Choice MVP is going to blow past Gilmore’s record of 366 turnovers (4.5 per game), compiled while playing for the ne’er-do-well Bulls back in 1977-78. Harden raised his goofs-per-game average on Friday to 4.6, and while the assists are up from his real MVP-runner-up season, they’re not increasing relative to the turnovers.
    Harden runs into a Hawks team that ranks 3rd behind Houston (10.2 team SPG) and Boston with 9.3 steals per game. While all the signs are there that this should be a wild back-and-forth game, the Rockets allow 0.5 more PPG off of turnovers, while Atlanta scores a net-positive 2.7 PPG (4th-best in NBA).
    The Rockets will push the tempo with Harden looking to run fullcourt and draw contact, allowing the league leader in free throw attempts (career-high 10.5 FTAs per game; 86.7 FT%) to feast from the line. Whether it’s Beverley on Jeff Teague and Dennis Schröder, or Harden on Kyle Korver and Tim Hardaway, Jr., those Hawks have to keep in front of their man and allow forwards to provide help with strips and pass pickoffs. Those help defenders should include a rested Kent Bazemore.
    Tonight will feature the rare on-floor meeting of guys who once swiped right on Kardashians. Kris Humphries will provide the requisite help around the paint to keep Howard and Clint Capela from producing second-chance opportunities (13.7 second-chance PPG, 5th in NBA). As is the case with turnover-transition points, the Rockets are a net-negative in this department, allowing 14.4 second-chance PPG (4th-worst in NBA). Expect Millsap, Humphries, and the Hawks’ big men to judiciously try extending Atlanta’s possessions.
    The Rockets will want to avenge the 121-115 loss to the Hawks in H-Town back in late December. Howard had 30 points (10-for-12 FGs, 10-for-18 FTs) and Harden added 26 (6-for-16 FGs, 11-for-12 FTs). But after starting out with a 41-25 first quarter and enjoying an 11-point fourth-quarter lead, Houston was overwhelmed by Horford (30 points, 5-for-7 3FGs, 14 rebounds), Teague (22 points, 8 assists, 1 turnover), and Bazemore (26 points, 5-for-9 3FGs), three of four Hawks starters with 20+ points. But for Kyle Korver’s 0-for-10 3FGs, or Schröder being in an abbreviated “player development” exile, it could very well have been five.
    Ty Lawson scored 14 points in that defeat, but can’t be kicked around anymore since he was waived in February, putting a lot more of the workload onto Terry. Bickerstaff needs to find enough defensive solutions to keep the Rockets close, and they’ll have to weaken Atlanta’s wing rotation with foul trouble to allow Harden to play Heroball at the close.
    With consistent on-ball pressure, transition defense and ball movement on offense, the Hawks can continue giving its fans more reasons to be smitten by what they’ve been accomplishing lately.
    Let’s Go Hawks!
    ~lw3
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