In basketball, it is thought that crazy things happen in March. Though it may not be complete madness that with the defeat of the Mavericks last night, the Atlanta Hawks swept their seven-game home stand, it is at least a great step forward as the Hawks prepare for the playoffs, which begin in less than a month. Here are four things to glean from the superb performance by the hometown boys:
1. They can play without Marvin Williams.
When Marvin went down in the Pistons’ game and then Joe Johnson’s comments about Marvin being hurt put a real scare into me. I mean, Marvin has averaged 14 points and 6 rebounds this season and our front-court depth is not really something to brag about, but so far, it looks like the Hawks are “making do” and even though there is no word that he may return anytime soon, the Hawks have gotten by surprisingly well.
2. They can play up to the caliber of their competition.
During the seven-game home stand, the Hawks played 5 of the 7 games against teams that have winning records and are currently in the playoffs in their respective conference. It was good to see them play well against the good teams, but they will have to keep it up, seeing that seven of their next 8 games are also against current playoff teams, including a huge game on Saturday in Cleveland against the Cavaliers, who are 31-1 at home this season.
3. They have a proper mindset.
I think there are two things that fall under this. The first is the fact that the Hawks realize how valuable these home games are and they feel like they need to take advantage of the fact that they are in a stretch where 11 out of 12 games are at home. If they would have gone 5-2 or 6-1, it would not have been that big of a deal, but I like the fact that they took advantage of playing at home and were able to find a way to win each game. The second thing is the mindset of playing the “lesser teams.” About a month ago, I got extremely frustrated at the Hawks because they became really complacent against the bottom feeders of the NBA, losing to the Knicks, Clippers, Bucks, and Bobcats. I can understand if you lose to a good team, but you can’t afford to play bad and overlook the bad teams because you are more talented than they are. But after the Sacramento game in which the Hawks smashed them 119-97, I loved what Josh Smith said to the media:
“We didn’t want to lose to a team like Sacramento,” Smith said. “No offense to them, but [after] beating New Orleans and Utah, teams who are on top of the Western Conference, we didn’t want to let ourselves down by losing this game. We’re just trying to separate ourselves from the pack. Miami’s right on our heels still.”
4. They have separated themselves a little bit from the Heat.
The last part of his quote leads me into my final gleaning, which is the importance of staying ahead of the Heat and being able to clinch the fourth seed before the last weekend of the season. It seems that is what is important to the Hawks, which it should be. It is so important that the Hawks get home court advantage for the first round so they can continue to become more successful and hopefully get out of the first round of the playoffs.
These wins are not against bottom feeders but they have been against playoff-level teams in the Pistons (#6 East), Hornets (#4 West), and Utah (#5 West). Not only have these wins have been good because they were against quality opponents, but also because of some individual play. Joe Johnson had his third straight 30-point game and over the course of these four wins, Josh Smith has put some impressive numbers up, averaging 16.5 points and 10.5 rebounds. The biggest thing that I think that Josh Smith has done to become a better player was stop shooting three pointers/jumpers and do what he does best – drive to the basket and finish at the rim. Another individual that is going to have to step up (and has, including 15 points against the Pacers) is Mo Evans. He is filling in while Marvin Williams is out and he is going to have to give the Hawks good minutes at the SF position in order for the Hawks to continue to win. In regards to Marvin Williams, there is still no timetable for how long he will be dealing with the pain in his lower back. He went to see a specialist in North Carolina and has decided to go the conservative route with rest and physical therapy. I don’t like the fact that there is no word on what exactly is wrong with his back. To me, that says that somebody is not telling everybody what they know. It would be a big loss to not have Marvin around come playoff time, but let’s hope and pray that I am wrong and that he will return healed and rested for a playoff run.
Another win and a look ahead
Posted in Game Commentary, Previews with tags Atlanta Hawks, Jamal Crawford, Jeff Teague, Mo Evans, Schedule, Toronto Raptors, Zaza Pachulia on December 12, 2009 by Michael YSo the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Toronto Raptors last night by the score of 111-89. It was the second time in 10 days that the Hawks had beaten down the Raptors, which the Hawks outscored them by 53 points combined in both contests. It has been a good start to the month of December for the Hawks. The bench has played exceptionally well in addition to the starters, as shown by Mike Bibby, Al Horford, and Joe Johnson all playing less than 28 minutes last night, with Bibby playing only 16 minutes himself. The fact that the bench has played well may not be as big of a deal right now, but it will have a big effect later. With Bibby being 31 years old, he can’t physically play 30 minutes a night for a whole season. I have said before how big the Jamal Crawford trade was, but with these good performances, it has given Jeff Teague a chance to get some good minutes to help him gain experience being a rookie. Four Hawks had double figures off the bench (Crawford, Evans, Pachulia, and Teague), and with them scoring, it will let the starters not have to work so hard so they will have more in the tank come playoffs time. (Yes, I said playoffs time. Part of becoming a contender is to not think about getting there but what is going to happen when you are there.)
The schedule for the Hawks for the season on the whole is not a bad schedule at all. There aren’t any crazy home or away streaks like they had last year when they were on the road for pretty much the whole month and home for the next. They have had a pretty mild beginning to December, but as we get closer to the end of the month and the beginning of January, I feel that it is the toughest part of their schedule. After playing very winnable games against the Nets and the Grizzlies, they play 5 out of 6 on the road, with a four game swing that goes from Chicago to Minnesota, then to Denver and a swing by Indianapolis before they end the year with a back-to-back home and home with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Lebron James (and if you remember correctly, swept the Hawks in 4 games in the playoffs last year). So the Hawks need to continue to play well so that they can get through this tough stretch of games with success and stay close or get on top of the Southeast division and/or Eastern Conference Standings.
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