Official Game Thread: Hawks - Hornets

[lethalweapon3]

“I just checked with Johnny's Hideaway. Last call in Atlanta is at 2:30.”

60! It’s a nice, round number.

There are no big cheers for a 359 dunk. “59 Minutes” would be an incomplete news program. Nobody is rushing to the cinemas to see “Gone in 59 Seconds.” Nobody cares how long it takes for a racecar to go “from 0 to 59.”

Nobody ever looks back fondly on “Nine” numbers – maybe 69, but that depends on the context. And nobody wants to look back on that time the Atlanta Hawks won “almost” 60 games. We’d much rather round down.

Hawks fans have never seen their team win 60 games in a single season, and there’s no certainty they’ll have a chance to see it again. Although they’d much prefer a 59-win season that concludes with a championship trophy in the NBA Playoffs, it’s not an either-or proposition. It will be intriguing how the Hawks (59-19) get to 60 over the next four games, starting with tonight’s matchup at Philips Arena against the Charlotte Hornets (SportSouth in ATL, Fox Sports South in CHA; If You’re Reading This, TAKE MARTA If You’re Headed to the Game Before It’s Too Late).

Thabo Sefolosha would be kicking himself right now, were it medically sound to try that. To the people who are huge fans of ESPN’s Real Plus/Minus stat, both of them know that Thabo (25^th), Paul Millsap (28^th), and Thabo’s What-is-Love dancing buddy Pero Antić (102^nd) are the top-three Hawks when it comes to Defensive RPM. Not having that trio at coach Mike Budenholzer’s disposal made it tough to keep playoff-starving Brooklyn at bay for four full quarters on Wednesday night. Shutting down teams with offensively-skilled wings will become that much more difficult in the postseason with Sefolosha now out of the picture.

Yet for now, there’s a silver lining: the Hawks have four zero-pressure games left to recalibrate before the Win or Go Home games tip off. They built up this gaudy record exactly for the convenience of playing out these kinds of scenarios: What if our power forward goes down with a bum shoulder? What if a key bench player slips on a banana peel, or something, and is done for the season? What if we shoot 4-for-25 from deep? Can we STILL win games? So far, the answer has been in the affirmative.

They’ve been able to pull it off, lately, because DeMarre Carroll has emerged to complete the offensive quintet in Atlanta’s formidable starting lineup. Over the past six games, he’s shooting 69.8 FG% and 48.0 3FG% while averaging 18.7 PPG. Opponents once satisfied with periodically scoring against Carroll now have to figure ways to outscore him by shutting him down, too. No more hiding weak defenders on #5, or leaving him open to tend to some other Hawk with a hotter hand.

Couple that with his trademark defensive effort, and Atlanta is now 43-0 on the year when DMC finishes a game with a plus-minus of zero or higher. Coincidentally, his top plus-minus effort came against these Hornets (+28) at Philips back on November 29. With Sefolosha done for the season, Carroll will have to work for longer stretches to contain opposing swingmen. But there’s never any doubt that the Junk Yard Dawg is up to the task.

It’s Elimination Practice once again for the Hawks. After crippling the Suns and the Nets’ postseason chances, Atlanta gets a shot at terminating a division rival’s fleeting postseason hopes tonight.

With their Tragic Number down to 2, Charlotte (33-45) has been looking like the Horridnets, ready to kickoff their summer break early. Their spirits were artificially inflated with a 115-100 home win over the Hawks two weeks ago, when Budenholzer sat all the starters. Since beating Detroit on April 1, they’ve scored just 74 points against the Pacers, 91 against the Sixers, 45 second-half points in Miami, and then 45 points through three quarters at home against the Raptors. Talk about buzzkill.

Much like Lance Stephenson on occasion, the Hornets haven’t been playing with a full deck. Lance jammed his toe in Miami (without the assistance of either Crockett or Tubbs, Thabo!) on Tuesday night, and will watch this game from courtside. Cody Zeller (sore shoulder) and Michael-Kidd Gilchrist (ankle) have missed several games due to injury. They’ll continue to sit, as will centerpiece center Al Jefferson, who is succumbing to chronic knee soreness. “They’re not close,” Hornets coach Steve Clifford advised the media a couple days ago, and with the sun setting on postseason hopes, there’s a strong likelihood one, or all, of this quartet has played their last game this season.

With the starting frontcourt and Stephenson unable to go, if this game remains competitive for long stretches of the evening, that will be because of whatever guards Kemba Walker and Mo Williams bring to the proceedings.

Walker (career-high 17.9 PPG, career-low 1.7 TOs/game) remains brutally inconsistent with his shooting (FGs in last 5 games: 7-for-13, 1-for-9, 11-for-21, 7-for-20, 5-for-13). And after a nearly error-free stretch during the week of the game against Atlanta, his solid playmaking has evaporated as well (last four games: 12 total assists, 10 turnovers).

Kemba is bending over backwards to insist Clifford’s job shouldn’t be in jeopardy. “He’s a fantastic coach,” he told the Charlotte Observer recently. “I’m 100 percent behind him… It hasn’t been the best season for us this year, but he is definitely not to blame.” Whether Clifford indeed gets the blame (and the Dunlap Axe) this offseason may depend on whether Walker can prove, through these final games, that the Hornets’ offense is not hopelessly dysfunctional. Against Toronto, he led the way with 15 points, but no one else on the Hornets (34.6 team FG%) could manage more than 10.

Mo Williams came to Charlotte intending to be the offensive spark that would get the Hornets back over the hump; at age 32, he’s a 2015 unrestricted free agent gunning for that last multi-year paycheck. He’s putting the ball in the bucket (17.8 PPG in Charlotte) but terribly inefficiently from the floor, his 39.0 Charlotte FG% equivalent to Kemba’s for the season. Mo’s 6-for-9 shooting on field goals against the Half-Hawks on March 28 is the only one of the past ten games where he’s eclipsed 38 percent shooting.

Atlanta defenders like Jeff Teague (4 steals @BKN on Wednesday) will need to stay in front of Kemba and Mo, and not allow them to create offense with the clock stopped. Both Hornets get a significant chunk of their offense from the free throw line, where Kemba makes 83 percent of his shots and Mo over 89 percent.

Forcing the Hornet guards to give up the rock will put pressure on Gerald Henderson, Marvin Williams, P.J. Hairston, Bismack Biyombo, Jason Maxiell, and Jeff Taylor to catch and finish, while forcing those guards to take wild shots will keep them crashing the offensive boards and less capable of impeding Atlanta’s transition plays.

Marvin (0-for-5 vs. TOR, but team-highs of eight D-Rebs and two steals) has done yeoman’s work in spots, but his inability to approximate what Josh McRoberts brought the Hornets last season is a notion that’s hard to duck. Henderson (9-for-10 shooting vs. ATL on Mar. 28) will spend less time relaxing on offense and an inordinate amount of time chasing Kyle Korver through a forest of screens. Rookie Noah Vonleh is finally getting some attention (1-for-7 FGs in 23 minutes vs. TOR on Wednesday), and it’s hard to assess whether his rawness at this late stage says more about him or about Clifford and his staff’s developmental work to this point.

The Hornets struggled to stop even the Hawks’ backup corps during Atlanta’s March visit to the Cable Box. The fill-in starters (Dennis Schröder, John Jenkins, Kent Bazemore, Mike Muscala, Elton Brand) shot 49.1 percent from the floor and produced 21 assists (11 from Schröder, not even counting Shelvin Mack’s eight dimes) while turning the ball over just seven times. Muscala (18 points, 10 boards, 2 blocks @CHA on Mar. 28) will feel right at home playing the Hornets again, and has accorded himself well replacing Millsap in the starting unit.

Mike Scott’s offensive spark against Brooklyn (20 points, 3 O-Rebs) was sorely needed, but he’ll need to continue making defensive plays so teammates don’t erode his playing time. The D-gional Manager produced a steal in four of his last six games, compared to just two in the previous 12.

Al Horford (11-for-20 FGs @BKN) got all but two of his field goals around the rim, and should continue to feast in that area tonight, compelling the depleted Hornet frontcourt to send him to the free throw line. If Antić plays for the Hawks tonight, hopefully he’ll find himself in the right places at the right times. He’ll have to keep Biyombo from having lob parties around the rim, and should not hesitate to take three-pointers that will surely be open, or at least make good decisions on offense with the ball at the perimeter.

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

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[lethalweapon3]

Hopefully, the first of 3 banners this year.

 

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~lw3

[Dnice]

I gotta do a spin off on our banners.

Edited April 10, 2015 by Dnice

[Guest]

On our way to the game.

[hawkman]

Good to get back to actual basketball. 60 wins here we come.

[DS5]

Haha, "Marvin... hard to duck." Great stuff as usual lw3!

[High5]

I wanted to lose to the Hornets last time, but they're too far out of it at this point. So full speed ahead to #60.

[turnermx]

Great stuff LW3.

[Guest]

Great thread as usual lw3!!! Maybe there is a way, medically for Thabo to kick himself. If he can't, I volunteer..

LETS GO HAWKS!!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH( see Thabo I just let it frustration without protecting copeland at 4am)... My bad

[Dnice]

Good looking banner..

[Guest]

Please tell me this is a late arriving crowd?

[benhillboy]

Moose is gonna be a beast on the offensive glass.

[JETSET]

Moose being Moose!  I look forward to watching the most these days.

[Dnice]

Please tell me this is a late arriving crowd?

competing with the braves opener

[benhillboy]

That play at the end of the quarter from Pero: The worst this year? It was awful on so many levels, planes, and dimensions.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

That play at the end of the quarter from Pero: The worst this year? It was awful on so many levels, planes, and dimensions.

 

Moose just needs to play well enough to take his spot.

[benhillboy]

Love the new wrinkle of the alley oop. Jeff and Al just waited and forced it down their throats once while they were looking for it, still helpless. They're also the perfect way to get Moose involved.

Edited April 11, 2015 by benhillboy

[benhillboy]

Moose should be a trending topic in the league by now, but thankfully he can fly under the radar until about the second round. Next year he's gonna be Top 10-15 in FG%, even with his well-timed jumpers.

[PSSSHHHRRR87]

[ATLHawks3]

Atleast Charlotte's been knocked out of the playoffs.