As bad as we played, this is what probably lost the game

[Bankingitbig]

I think having 19 turnovers and only 18 assists contributed to the loss more so. But yea need to defend better when its Wall/Gortat PnR vs. Dennis/Howard. Though I don't know what else you would do in that situation besides telling Schröder to fight harder through the borderline legal screens. Howard is too slow to step up and if he did then Wall can blow past him or lob to Gortat. Maybe some wing on the side needs to help a bit more, but then you need much more aggressiveness/coordination out of the defense in order to rotate and help the helpers.

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

I didn't say it..someone else did

I know, man.  I ain't readin all them words tho.  I'm just in it for the ill-informed hot-takes. 

[HawkItus]

5 minutes ago, Lurker said:

Here's some tweets from the other side on PNR coverage:

 

Now I would love a break down of how we were guarded on our pick and rolls

[Lurker]

12 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

What the video tape showed that it happened with combo of Dennis and Howard...Not just with Howard.  The team was o.k. with other players and Howard.

 

I think you needed to look harder. He was really meaning remove both players from the equation on PNR, now that I am looking at that article. He provided an example like this:

Kent/anyone other than Howard PNR defense: seven points on ten possessions.
Kent/Howard PNR defense: seven points on four possessions.

And said he could go on and on with everyone except Dennis/Dwight. The defense would be worse with Dennis paired with the big, and it would be worse with Dwight paired with the guard.

[HawkItus]

Elite PG's own the pick and roll

 

Quote

2. The Pacers Got Picked-and-Rolled

While Cleveland’s dismal defense may prevent the Cavs from winning back-to-back NBA championships, Indiana’s half-court defense will prevent it from making much first-round noise. In Game 1, the Cavs feasted on Indy’s 26th-ranked pick-and-roll defense. No team defended the pick-and-roll more frequently than the Pacers this season, since it was their most exploitable weakness. The Cavs had 100 offensive possessions in Game 1, per Synergy, and 32 came in the pick-and-roll, where they shot a blistering 15-of-26, and that doesn’t even include possessions in which the Pacers switched screens.

The Pacers tried blitzing James-Irving pick-and-rolls to apply pressure:

It didn’t work. If LeBron and Kyrie weren’t driving to the rim, they were creating side-to-side ball movement that eventually found an open shooter.

The Pacers tried “dropping” by having the screen defender sag back to protect the paint:

It didn’t work, and the Pacers saw lob dunks and open 3s for their trouble. They tried switching screens, which stuck a smaller Jeff Teague or a slower Myles Turner on a bigger, faster LeBron:

The Pacers have no antidote for the Cavaliers’ pick-and-roll attack. The Cavs struggle to defend, too, so Indiana’s best and perhaps only hope is to outshoot the Cavs.

The problem is the Pacers don’t shoot enough 3s. Of playoff teams, only the Bulls shot fewer 3s. No other team took more midrange shots than the Pacers. Even in Game 1, 44.4 percent of their shots came from midrange — identical to their season average. They’re not about to undergo a makeover in the middle of a playoff series.

 

Edited April 17, 2017 by HawkItus

[Guest]

51 minutes ago, HawkItus said:

It seems to me Bud has told DH8 to concede the J and concentrate on rebounding.   It doesn't look like he is being lazy, this looks like concerted effort.  Greg Anthony and Kenny Smith both pointed this out.   And we DH8 did commit hard we usually missed out on the rebound.

There is conceding a jumpshot and not even attempting to offer ANY resistance for a WIDE open free throw jump shot. 

Wall is at the free throw line Dwight is at the restricted area, that can't happen.

He doesn't have to over commit and close hard but at least make Wall have a decision to make. Giving him a practice freethrow is too easy.

Plus Wall already pointed it out during the regular season, smh.

[HawkItus]

Quote

7. The Hawks Need New John Wall Countermeasures

The laws of physics that apply to feeble humans don’t pertain to John Wall — at least they didn’t during Game 1 against the Hawks. He scored an easy-looking 32 points on 12-of-24 shooting with 14 assists and only three turnovers — the kind of platonic John Wall performance that shows how far he’s come as a young player. He used to be held back by his jumper. Now, he uses it to make opposing teams pay:

 

 

Defenses always used to stop short on closeouts on Wall, just like Dennis Schröder did on the play above, because he would either miss a high rate of open shots or force a drive into traffic — just like in that sloppy Lance Stephenson play we discussed earlier. Wall still isn’t a true knockdown shooter off the catch, but he’s improved his shot to at least a reliable-enough level that defenses can’t sag off him, either off the catch or the dribble. With defenders pressuring more on the ball, Wall can do more as an attacker.

 

Hawks guard Kent Bazemore turns his head for just a millisecond, and Wall slingshots toward the rim, hanging in the air to score around paint enforcer Dwight Howard. The Wizards aren’t a perfect team. Their sloppy turnovers helped keep Atlanta in the game, and they somehow scored only seven more points, winning 114–107, despite taking 22 more shots. This series is anything but over. But for the Hawks to have a shot to win, they’ll need to find a new way of stopping Wall, because the old tricks don’t work anymore.

 

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, HawkItus said:

Now I would love a break down of how we were guarded on our pick and rolls

Probably not one effective screen set.

[Lurker]

5 minutes ago, HawkItus said:

Now I would love a break down of how we were guarded on our pick and rolls

Here's a hint of how different Dennis was played, although I don't think it's in PNR:

Help is received from the big man to make it tough on Dennis, I don't think Dwight is in a good enough position to receive a lob pass despite Gortat helping off in this case that was highlighted, but he gets the rebound and does not kick it out when he's surrounded. The result, missed shot at the rim, then a turnover.

[TheFuzz]

Defense wasn't perfect, but Hardaway and turnovers killed us. We need Hardaway to play well.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, macdaddy said:

Dennis is letting Gortat stick his leg way out and force him to go under.   Frankly he needs to go through the leg and try to get a call.   These are great screens but borderline legal for sure.   And not to be a jerk but if a big is going to stick his leg way out like that there's another way to discourage him from doing that next time.  

Can Delaney work the speedbags a lil?

[macdaddy]

2 minutes ago, Spud2Nique said:

Can Delaney work the speedbags a lil?

Or Bembry

[Guest]

Gortat has a big ugly nose...

 

(gimme a few posts to warm up...that's all I got now..)

[JTB]

17 minutes ago, TheFuzz said:

Defense wasn't perfect, but Hardaway and turnovers killed us. We need Hardaway to play well.

Thank you! I get defense has some issues but hell if we can't score better than that and be more efficient all while cutting down on the turnovers we aren't going to win even if the defense plays perfect for most of the game.

we aren't going to stop wall and beal a whole game. I too think bud is telling Howard to go after the rebounds however cause when Howard did come out on the pick gortat or some other wing on the wiz got the ball in those few times Howard left the paint. 

In other words I think the open mid range shot can be maintained and though the guards can run past Howard I believe there's others on the Hawks that are highly capable of rotating over and challenging the lay up but what I don't think this team is capable of is rebounding well without Howard.

all that said better offense , less turnovers and we should be ok

[Thomas]

As far as the imbalance between assists and turnovers, if we weren't shooting blanks from everywhere and of course in particular from three there would have been a ton more assists. Surprisingly lackadaisical issues were pretty much all over the court for us yesterday. Perimeter shooting, defense and physicallity. Maybe we have been awakened with the physical stuff which is surprising because the whole offseason was about improving that, at least glass wise. Lets not waste this whole year and not show up and deliver a few bruises especially if the refs don't seem to care. And alas, please hit some threes.

[benhillboy]

The offense was bad mainly due to not getting what you expect from Junior but I will never diminish defense.  Wall and Beal can be stopped.  Just not by us lol.

Den-Den and Superman are just a bad combo, almost as bad as putting them up against arguably the best screen-setter since he's been in the league in Gortat (if they ain't illegal you ain't trying). Dennis is weak and clearly conserves energy for offense as opposed to how he competed defensively as a BU.  Dwight isn't quick enough to hedge or trap, let alone recover, and doesn't communicate very well.  He doesn't know how to hug his man so Dennis can go under without committing (or the referees calling it just cause it's Dwight).  He also gets the lion's share of the blame for the offensive PNR struggles.  F&@k was Bud thinking.

Edited April 17, 2017 by benhillboy

[Peoriabird]

32 minutes ago, benhillboy said:

The offense was bad mainly due to not getting what you expect from Junior but I will never diminish defense.  Wall and Beal can be stopped.  Just not by us lol.

Den-Den and Superman are just a bad combo, almost as bad as putting them up against arguably the best screen-setter since he's been in the league in Gortat (if they ain't illegal you ain't trying). Dennis is weak and clearly conserves energy for offense as opposed to how he competed defensively as a BU.  Dwight isn't quick enough to hedge or trap, let alone recover, and doesn't communicate very well.  He doesn't know how to hug his man so Dennis can go under without committing (or the referees calling it just cause it's Dwight).  He also gets the lion's share of the blame for the offensive PNR struggles.  F&@k was Bud thinking.

That's our amazing superstar coach for you...I still don't know how there are still so many in Bud we Trust posters here.  So much so that they will go out of their way to trash the personnel to keep him clean!  Some will do it without even watching games.

[Lurker]

38 minutes ago, Peoriabird said:

That's our amazing superstar coach for you...I still don't know how there are still so many in Bud we Trust posters here.  So much so that they will go out of their way to trash the personnel to keep him clean!  Some will do it without even watching games.

Word on the street was this might not have been his choice.

[AUhawksfan]

9 hours ago, macdaddy said:

This is the part that is deflating though.   There is no fixing this offense because we don't have enough talent.   The only thing that can save us is great shooting suddenly appears.   

That's where I felt like having Hardaway's offense could've made the difference. We're too busy nitpicking Dwight, Dennis, and Millsap's small things when his absence was a big, glaring thing.

I'm surprised there hasn't been as much mention of his poor performance for someone that's been trending upward. He has stepped up in some big games this year but was not aggressive at all and was just off overall. 

I feel like we will go as he goes this series. His offense could tip the scales in our favor, we win the series, and he is due a nice contract. Or he fades, we lose, and he proves he is still inconsistent and doesn't get as good an offer. 

[benhillboy]

6 hours ago, Lurker said:

Word on the street was this might not have been his choice.

If true I would like him to gracefully bow out of the President role (like someone else I know but wrong forum).  Give Wilcox his pink slip first tho.  

Bud is an outstanding coach when all the pieces fit together and make sense.  This is the worst/ least entertaining starting lineup construction since 06-07 when we had 3 mediocre SFs and a backup 5.

Edited April 18, 2017 by benhillboy