Official Game Thread: Nets at Hawks (1 PM Tip!)

[lethalweapon3]

“AND THREE POINTERS DON’T STOP ‘TIL 8 IN THE MO’NIN!!!”

 

No Excuses Week begins today! Our Atlanta Hawks have certainly had a rough go of things this month. But now comes a slate of N.E.W. games, beginning with an afternoon affair at home versus the Brooklyn Nets (1:00 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, YES Network in NYC) and concluding in Brooklyn next week, that will help the team sew up their invite to the NBA Playoffs.

Whoops! Did I say “will”? I should have said, “could”.

The Grizzlies, the Pistons, the Hornets, the Thunder, the Celtics, the Warriors, the Jazz. Each of these teams have caught at least one L this month from one of the four teams (Brooklyn, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Chicago) Atlanta faces over the course of this upcoming week. Many of these opponents thought they could slide by with second-rate and half-hearted execution, and found themselves sorely mistaken as the final buzzers sounded.

Aside from a pretend-road win in London, the Nets have not won at the so-called Highlight Factory since March 2013, and the Nets have no plans on making Atlanta their San Antonio. Unable to benefit from a lottery pick by deliberately tanking, Kenny Atkinson’s charges are plucking at any opportunities for wins they can find… but not at the expense of enhanced development for young players.

Brooklyn (15-57) hasn’t had a break-even or better calendar month since Lionel Hollins’ club went 5-4 in April 2015 to help crush Atlanta’s lottery dreams. Yet after starting out 2017 winning just one of 26 games, they’re 6-8 this month, one of those losses a 110-105 close-shave defeat at Philips back on March 8, and have the Sixers and Pistons to close out the March schedule after today.

Just weeks ago, the Hawks needed all of Paul Millsap’s 24 points to fend off the Nets, who were led by Sean Kilpatrick’s 27 points in 30 minutes off the bench. Brooklyn controlled much of the proceedings until the middle of the third quarter and got the deficit down to a single point with just 13 seconds left to play. As was the case during Atlanta’s ill-fated road trip this past week, Millsap and fellow starter Kent Bazemore won’t be available this afternoon due to knee rehabs.

The good news for the Hawks (37-35) is that Kilpatrick is unavailable as well, due to a sore hammy. While the Nets look to the Brook-Lin duo of Brook Lopez and Jeremy Lin to start and finish close contests, Atkinson is turning to starters Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (9-for-13 FGs @ WAS on Friday) and Caris LeVert, and backups Justin Hamilton (team-high 20 points, 2-for-3 3FGs @ WAS) and K.J. McDaniels, to try and keep his team competitive in the middle of games.

Turning the tables on a hot Suns offense on Thursday, McDaniels and Brooklyn’s bench brigade helped “hold” Phoenix’s Devin Booker to 28 points, while outscoring the Suns’ reserves 81-22, in a resounding 126-98 home victory.

Coach Kenny hopes to overwhelm Atlanta’s thinned bench by subbing in a host of contributors. Thus, it’s essential for the Mike Budenholzer’s starters to dominate, and not simply hold serve, versus Lopez, Lin and the Nets’ defensively-challenged starters.

Those Hawks starters include Tim Hardaway, Jr. and Ersan Ilyasova, who moved to the top line in place of Bazemore and Millsap. They comprised 26 of Atlanta’s 28 bench points when these two teams last met. The other two points came from Taurean Prince, who also starts today while Thabo Sefolosha deals with his pesky groin strain. Today, the rookie needs to provide major contributions in the form of defensive rebounding, perimeter closeouts, ball movement, and finishes around the rim.

Dennis Schröder led the way with 31 points (incl. 10-for-10 FTs), but the playmaker must refrain from forcing plays that aren’t there to make. Still, his assertiveness remains perhaps the growing point guard’s best asset.

Atlanta, surprisingly, is just 5-13 on the season when Schröder’s in-game turnover percentage is BELOW ten percent, including 0-4 this month. The Hawks are also a more representative 7-5 when Dennis exceeds 25.0 TO%. Including this week’s road losses in Milwaukee and Washington, though, the Hawks are 1-5 when his usage rate exceeds 33.3 percent. Part of the uphill challenge is expecting more ball movement from bigs like Dwight Howard and Ilyasova. But if Dennis goes through stretches of trying to do too much on his own offensively, Coach Bud should not hesitate to deploy vet backup Jose Calderon today.

Being more cognizant of the shot clock and his alternative options will benefit the Hawks whenever Schröder penetrates the paint. Sounder decision-making from his backcourt mate Hardaway in the fourth quarter will help the Hawks as well. It should be noted that Timmy has not had a single game with true shooting percentage below 50.0 percent since February 24, and that Atlanta is a respectable 11-6 (although 0-3 this month) when his assist percentage exceeds 20.0% in a game.

Beginning right before New Year’s, the Hawks took advantage of the opportunity to put recent failures behind them versus mostly subpar competition. The result was a seven-game winning streak, a stretch of 9-1 basketball, and an All-Star nod for Millsap. More importantly, an understandably underappreciated run from December 7 through the All-Star Break without consecutive losses created a nice cushion in the playoff standings which lasted for two months.

Demonstrating that they can learn from the critical mistakes in their recent past, without dwelling too much on them, will -- okay! could -- help the Hawks cruise triumphantly through No Excuses Week. As will emphasizing the things they can do well, not getting distracted by the records or accolades of their opponents. Chins up, gentlemen… it’s a N.E.W. day!

~lw3

 

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[Alex]

Really hope Brooklyn can take of business today.  Good thing that one of Milwauke/Chicago have to win today.  Indy and Miami would be awesome if they win too!

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, lethalweapon3 said:

Brook-Lin duo of Brook Lopez and Jeremy Lin

Love this as well as the entire thread. Meryl Steep is a phony bologna...lw3 got Meryl hip hoppin like Martha Stewart n snoop. 

 

Needless to say, we are in a funk. No Kilpatrick helps but look out for Brook and Lin and TREVOR BOOKER, who for some reason decided to kick my butt last night. 

 

Can somebody let 2k know that we miss Sap a lot but comon...this score is ridiculous..:-(

 

Apparently..

 

Nets 124

Hawks 92

 

:-|

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Alex said:

Really hope Brooklyn can take of business today.  Good thing that one of Milwauke/Chicago have to win today.  Indy and Miami would be awesome if they win too!

I'm rooting for the Bucks and the Pacers today as well. Obviously I'm never against us, I'm just hoping we can keep our options open because the Celtics are just .5 back if the Cavs  and playing the Celtics in a 1/8 or 2/7 matchup for us would be sweet.

 

Dwight vs Alice :-)

[Alex]

4 minutes ago, Spud2Nique said:

I'm rooting for the Bucks and the Pacers today as well. Obviously I'm never against us, I'm just hoping we can keep our options open because the Celtics are just .5 back if the Cavs  and playing the Celtics in a 1/8 or 2/7 matchup for us would be sweet.

 

Dwight vs Alice :-)

I like where your head is at.  This team isn't doing anything, but a playoff series for Boston would at least be fun.  Good chance they take the Hawks off NBATV too since they would have Boston.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Alex said:

I like where your head is at.  This team isn't doing anything, but a playoff series for Boston would at least be fun.  Good chance they take the Hawks off NBATV too since they would have Boston.

Ya just thinking a 7/8 seed is prolly just as good as a 5 seed and we get a higher draft pick. 

 

And like you said...Since it's Boston we probably get a lot of TNT and possible ABC playoff games.

[AUhawksfan]

12 minutes ago, Spud2Nique said:

Ya just thinking a 7/8 seed is prolly just as good as a 5 seed and we get a higher draft pick. 

 

And like you said...Since it's Boston we probably get a lot of TNT and possible ABC playoff games.

I like it!  A matchup like that would at least get me excited for the playoffs and would hopefully pump up the players too. 

[Dnice]

No nique either, I guess as I see bowlder with Jerome.

[Guest]

 

No Thabo. Prince  starting.

 

Hopefully this  is  the starting lineup of the younguns going forward:

Dennis,  THjr and Prince.

 

[Dnice]

So when is USC vs UF?

[Thomas]

The bench is already living up to their rep so far today.

[Alex]

6 minutes ago, Dnice said:

So when is USC vs UF?

Like 45 minutes.

[AUhawksfan]

Yikes. Dennis' head isn't right at the moment. 

He's like a bull going to the basket but I can't tell you how many times he could dump it off on a drive when the defense collapses on him. Make them respect your drive!

While I want to see us lose I'd at least like to see a little fight in them. 

This D is sad too. Time to get some stuff done around the house. 

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, AUhawksfan said:

Yikes. Dennis' head isn't right at the moment. 

He's like a bull going to the basket but I can't tell you how many times he could dump it off on a drive when the defense collapses on him. Make them respect your drive!

While I want to see us lose I'd at least like to see a little fight in them. 

This D is sad too. Time to get some stuff done around the house. 

The defense displayed against the Bucks from Friday has disappeared in this game.

Think I'll  go put the pot on.

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, AUhawksfan said:

Time to get some stuff done around the house. 

That's what I told my gf as well..:-|

[Thomas]

We may really, really struggle to end up .500 at home this season. Ugliness.

[Thomas]

1 minute ago, Spud2Nique said:

That's what I told my gf as well..:-|

Matrimony may not be in your immediate future.

[Dnice]

Boob and the Hawks have just mailed it in.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

1 hour ago, Spud2Nique said:

Love this as well as the entire thread. Meryl Steep is a phony bologna...lw3 got Meryl hip hoppin like Martha Stewart n snoop. 

 

Needless to say, we are in a funk. No Kilpatrick helps but look out for Brook and Lin and TREVOR BOOKER, who for some reason decided to kick my butt last night. 

 

Can somebody let 2k know that we miss Sap a lot but comon...this score is ridiculous..:-(

 

Apparently..

 

Nets 124

Hawks 92

 

:-|

LOL

Current score

 

Brooklyn 46

Atlanta 29

[TheNorthCydeRises]

19 minutes ago, AUhawksfan said:

Time to get some stuff done around the house. 

When I turned on the game, and saw that we were down 42 - 24, that's exactly what I thought too.   At least they're playing better with me watching now.

Best 2 minute sequence of the year for Dwight.  As much crap as he takes from fans these days, he's the ONLY ONE playing with a little passion these days.

Dennis playing like garbage again.  THJ playing worse.

Edited March 26, 2017 by TheNorthCydeRises