Official Game Preview: Magic at Hawks - The Big Payback?

[lethalweapon3]

“I Want to Wake Up in a City That Never Sleeps (totally not a trade request, btw)…”

 

After getting Fournier’d by Nikola Vucevic and the Orlando Magic in a Super Bowl matinee, it’s already time for the Atlanta Hawks to lace ‘em up again, this time with a meeting at the Highlight Factory (8:00 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast, NBATV, Fox Sports Florida) where they’ll serve up a nice dose of payback to their division rivals. Maybe.

Team President-by-Coup Mike Budenholzer does seem to hold some endearing solidarity with the many contemporaries in his NBA coaching profession. With his own position fairly secure no matter what the Hawks spew on the floor these days, you are left to ponder whether Bud is stealing losses away from hopeless, floundering opponents, as a means to maybe re-instill confidence from their coaches’ higher-ups, however fleeting, and preserve coaches’ paystubs for just a little longer.

From Jeff Hornacek to Derek Fisher to Lionel Hollins to… probably soon, George Karl and maybe Sam Mitchell and Scott Skiles… is Coach Bud trying to break their falls? Do these courtesy wins serve as parting gifts? Or are his conciliatory Bud Waves more of an insidious, kiss-of-death kind of deal (David Blatt, your thoughts)? Just over a decade ago, it took a loss to the Hawks to guarantee you’d get fired soon. My, how times have changed.

We’ll get a greater sense of whether we’re onto something as Scott Skiles’ team rolls into Philips Arena with unexpectedly lifted spirits. The Hawks (30-23) especially love to giftwrap victories to bad teams missing key players, and yesterday’s win for the Magic (22-28; 3-15 in 2016) without their leading rebounder, forward Tobias Harris, was no exception. Harris (ankle) remains questionable for tonight, which is probably good news for the Magic against the Hawks.

Sunday’s contest was more of a Bizarro World Hawks game. Without Harris available to push them around, the Hawks turned into the second coming of Moses Malone, crashing the glass for a season-high 18 offensive rebounds, the most by any Hawks team since Larry Drew was running the show back in December 2012. Of course, when you’re shooting 38.5% from the field (incl. 34.9 2FG%; Atlanta’s 0-9 when shooting below 40%), you have to at least look like you’re trying, lest anyone catch on to your charitable ways.

Then the Hawks neutralized themselves further, failing to pressure Orlando’s backcourt tandem of Elfrid Payton and Victor Oladipo, into mistakes until they decided to make things entertaining, once Thabo Sefolosha’s lucky buzzer-beater concluded the third quarter. Sloppy play, no open shot-making, no transition buckets… but copious offensive rebounds? What’s going on around here?

Al Horford (5-for-15 FGs, 6 rebounds in 35 minutes) must have been thinking of the hundreds of poor fans in the stands that would love to be anywhere but Amway Center as The Big Game approached, just a couple hours away. There’s no other logical reason why, with only Payton standing before him, he’d flub a layup with 80 seconds left that would have brought the Hawks within a point of the lead.

The Magic had not held a team below triple digits since losing 96-87 at home to Philly nearly three weeks ago. And yet here was Atlanta, sitting tied at 94 apiece with under a minute to go, still poised to back their way into a victory that would even up their road record.

Kent Bazemore (23 points, 3-for-5 3FGs) had a horrifyingly bad start on Sunday, thanks largely to the officials, but used his six offensive rebounds to kickstart his game. After Paul Millsap’s dime to Baze tied things up at 94, and after Baze drew the offensive foul on Vucevic at the other end, Horford must have gone all Sarah MacLachlan in his All-Star court mate’s ear. Haven’t these Magic fans suffered enough? For the price of a cup of coffee…

So, Hawks miss shots, get boards, miss shots, Millsap (5-for-14 FGs in 34 minutes) short-rims a shot within 5 feet of the rim with 2 seconds left. Timeout Magic, Vooch gets the ball back, ba-da-boom, ba-da-bing, game, blouses. Magic fans go home happy for once, Bud Wave, end scene, fade to black, Lady Gaga croons the credits.

Back home at Thrillips, consumer confidence among Hawks fans has ebbed, and those that show up tonight aren’t going to feel quite so cordial toward Skiles’ plight. If Bud’s Fix isn’t in, it will show by way of an effort from the bench that was non-existent yesterday (2-for-17 FGs, not counting Thabo’s lucky shot). It was hard to outplay Orlando’s reserves (4-for-18 FGs, 2 assists), but Atlanta managed to find a way.

Dennis Schröder (lacerated chin, reportedly) was held out of the entire fourth quarter yesterday, but will be counted on for anything better than the 1-for-7 FGs, one-assist-in-13-minutes output he contributed. Mike Muscala (2 blocked shots since December 12, both in the same game) managed to sit out the final frame as well, and without Tiago Splitter (hip, out until after the Break), Moose’s presence needs to be felt at both ends of the floor. Improved play from this pair will limit the need for excessive floor time today from Jeff Teague (team-high 24 points, 3-for-5 3FGs, 5 assists, 5 TOs on Sunday) and Horford.

This will be the final home game before the Hawks end the pre-All-Star break schedule in Chicago, where the Bulls are struggling defensively, and suffering through injuries to Joakim Noah, Nikola Mirotic and Jimmy Butler. Wait a minute… is Fred Hoiberg’s job secure? Is that “In the Arms of an Angel” I’m hearing?

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

 

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[Guest]

Great thread lw3! I still won't Google Fournier. :-) I think we get back at them in a huge way ..

Hawks 111

Magic 97

[lethalweapon3]

Imperiling the Hawks chances of winning even more...

~lw3

[Guest]

SAP is gonna feast

[nathan2331]

Nice to see the Hawks start the game playing with some energy.

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

[rd79]

 

[RedDawg#8]

We sucked balls down the stretch on both ends. Alligator arm jumpshots, poor defense, giving up a three when they were down 2, I mean we simply fell apart. Coach Bud having Korver in on that possession instead of Thabo, leaving Dennis in until 6 mins left in the 4th when Jeff was having a great night. We deserve what our record is. I wish we would stop thinking we are  supposed to win games just by showing up against lesser opponents.

[Guest]

We basically have a rolling blackout on our starting 5.  Any given night atleast 3 starters give us next to nothing.  It's never the same 3 in consecutive nights.

[Bonkers]

Like I said the chat, this team needs to be blown up

Very little skill & talent

Softer than Charmin

With an overrated coach that can't draw up a damn play

Good job Hawks. U proved that Charles Barkley was right

[Guest]

And, yes, Bazemore he pushed off but play freaking defense and stop looking to be bailed out.

I don't even care if they miraculously pull it out, these games shouldn't have been close.  

[capstone21]

WTF!!!

 

This team is killing me two games in a row that we should have won ... This team seems to be lost ...  Some sorta change is needed 

 

[Bonkers]

Just now, kg01 said:

And, yes, Bazemore he pushed off but play freaking defense and stop looking to be bailed out.

I don't even care if they miraculously pull it out, these games shouldn't have been close.  

Weren't the Hawks leading by 20 points?

I mean this team is just pitiful. There is no point in continuing with this same roster

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Bonkers said:

Weren't the Hawks leading by 20 points?

I mean this team is just pitiful. There is no point in continuing with this same roster

I like Jeff.  I like Al.  I like Paul.  I like Kyle.  Somebody's gotta go.

Based on these 2 games and that AWFUL loss to PHX, somebody's gotta go.  It's just time.  I don't like it.  It won't feel good as a fan to see one of them playing in a new uni but what's the goal here?  To have a feel good, story or to pursue a championship?

[cam1218]

5 minutes ago, kg01 said:

And, yes, Bazemore he pushed off but play freaking defense and stop looking to be bailed out.

I don't even care if they miraculously pull it out, these games shouldn't have been close.  

Baze looks for fouls way too much. You are Kent Bazemore dude, nobody cares. 

[Guest]

Just now, cam1218 said:

Baze looks for fouls way too much. You are Kent Bazemore dude, nobody cares. 

He's a hustle guy, he doesn't play real defense.  Just waves his hands and acts all crazy, gets himself out of position and sometimes something good happens.  Most times not.

[RedDawg#8]

This years Hawks honestly wouldn't even beat the 13-14 Hawks in Buds first year. Our offensive execution has fallen off a cliff. We are no longer the precise X's and O's squad we used to be. We are a free flow offense that gets shut down by teams who play junk it up defense against us. We don't have the type of scorers who can take advantage of the over aggressive defenses we see now.

Defensively, we have a ton of potential but its obvious we are physically limited with 3 undersized frontcourt players and an aging, slow, un-athletic SG.  Teams do not respect our defense because they usually have at least two mismatches they can exploit. Our best defense comes when Thabo comes in or when Al slides over to the 4 yet Bud is too reliant upon his starters namely Kyle and it hurts us at crucial times. I will say that our bench let us down tonight but they have been playing very well overall.

Coach Bud.... try something different. We understand you wont change the roster so at least change the lineups. Ever since we decided to stick with Bazemore we have been mediocre overall. Not blaming him (although his play has slipped a lot). Put your best defensive lineup out there coach, sit Kyle. Defense leads to offense, just try SOMETHING

 

[Lurker]

1 minute ago, RedDawg#8 said:

Ever since we decided to stick with Bazemore we have been mediocre overall.

Sefolosha starting was a total disaster though. Every lineup except for the starting lineup got absolutely smashed during that stretch.

[cam1218]

4 minutes ago, kg01 said:

He's a hustle guy, he doesn't play real defense.  Just waves his hands and acts all crazy, gets himself out of position and sometimes something good happens.  Most times not.

He's a much improved player but it's pitiful to see stuff like that. Man up and play some D. Don't flop, don't look for a foul and don't look like the refs are clueless when they don't fall for it. 

Plays like that define a lot our our loses this year. Guys looking at the refs and wondering why things aren't going our way. 

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, cam1218 said:

He's a much improved player but it's pitiful to see stuff like that. Man up and play some D. Don't flop, don't look for a foul and don't look like the refs are clueless when they don't fall for it. 

Plays like that define a lot our our loses this year. Guys looking at the refs and wondering why things aren't going our way. 

The entire season has been a huge, "Do you know who we are?  We won 60 last year!"  They act like they won something and the refs and other teams are supposed to bow down to them.

Bazemore is indeed much improved but he's not a starter.  He's starting, but he's not a starter in this league for a team expecting to do anything significant.

[rd79]

When this team had lots of self esteem last year, they didn't need the go-to-guy, because several player were able to finish a game, but now they look concerned and fear missing the deciding shot. Now they really look like a team that needs a go-to-guy. They gave up some open shots for awful ones in OT. 

But there was little to none help off the bench tonight... Nobody was able to guard Smith, how can they let him net 7 of 11?

Edited February 9, 2016 by rd79