Against the Magic, the Atlanta Hawks were beaten by a combined 101 points over 4 games.  That is the most that any team has been beaten during a four game sweep.  If you haven’t been able to catch all of the games (and I really don’t blame you if you didn’t watch), you would have been able to tell why the Hawks lost the series by watching just two plays during game 4.  It basically sums up everything that went wrong for the Hawks.

This first play starts when Al Horford gets the ball on the wing.  After a dribble drive from Horford, he is forced to pull up a fade away turn around jumper because of Dwight Howard’s defensive presence.  The shot barely draws iron, and the Magic are going the other way, and the Hawks jog back with them.  Jameer Nelson gets a nice little screen and Mike Bibby flails at the basketball rather than moving his feet and trying to help out.  This dribble drive draws in the Hawks’ defenders.

All 4 Hawks not getting screened by Dwight Howard are staring at Jameer Nelson.  Nobody pays attention to Vince Carter and Nelson is able to kick it out to him for the uncontested three pointer.

This second play is all on Josh Smith.  On this play, Josh Smith is never more than one pass away from the basketball, and when you are only one pass away from the basketball you are supposed to be ready to defend your man.  It is like he is not even paying attention, and when the pass to Rashard Lewis gets made, he actually takes a step backwards before trying to close out (if you want to call jogging at the shooter with a hand up a close out).

Unfortunately for the Hawks this wasn’t the first time Josh Smith has been caught napping on the court.  There were a number of times this series where Smith just wouldn’t even cross half court to get back on defense.  Then to try and make an excuse for it, he would grab a body part as if he was injured.  It was so bad that Hubie Brown really took him to task during one of the games this series, and while Joe Johnson really struggled for the Hawks in the second round, I think Josh Smith’s performance was way more embarrassing.