The Hawks are third in the NBA when it comes to offensive efficiency.  They score 109.2 points per 100 possessions, but they do it without running the ball.  They are in the lower half of the league in terms of pace, only creating 93.6 possessions per 48 minutes.  What makes the Hawks so difficult to stop, is that they have four legitimate scorers.  Crawford, Johnson, Smith, and Horford.  If you can contain one or two of those guys, you win.  The Spurs really shut down Al Horford.  Horford 13.6 points per game and 9.8 rebounds per game.  Last night, he had 4 points and 9 rebounds.  So how did the Spurs stop the Hawks, and more specifically Al Horford and get the win?

Kept Him Away From The Foul Line

For a big man, Al Horford is a solid foul shooter, he shoots 75.6% from the line.  Combine that with the fact that he gets to the line a fair amount (his FTR of .3 is right at the league average).  He shots 0 free throws last night.

They Pushed Him Outside

The farther out Al Horford goes, the worse he his at making the basketball.  Look at the percentages (according to HoopData.com):

• At Rim:  73%
• >10 feet:  51.9%
• 10-15 feet:  42.4%

The Spurs did a great job of pushing Horford out of the post and then allowing him to shoot from the outside:

In the video, you got McDyess bodying him up, pushing him out of the block, and (most importantly) when he makes the catch he backs up off, letting Horford shoot it (Horford was 1-4 outside 10 feet).  Also, when Horford shoots from the outside, he isn’t in the paint working for the offensive rebounds.  So that is an added bonus right there.