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.
When you think of the Orlando Magic, you think of 4 shooters surrounding the perimeter as Dwight Howard kicks it out to them. You don’t really think of the pick and roll too much, however in game 2, the Magic ran the pick and roll at the beginning of the 4th quarter. almost exclusively as they were able to pull away from the Hawks.
Three different times when the Magic ran their pick and roll in the 4th, the Atlanta Hawks tried three different ways to stop it. The one common link in these three plays were the Hawks going over the screen set by Dwight Howard. This is because the Magic were using Vince Carter as the ball handler in these PNRs. If the Hawks’ defenders went under these screens, it would have given Vince Carter an open jumper, and he is a very good shooter when he is shooting off the dribble going to his right side. So to prevent that, the Hawks went over the screen to chase him off the three point line.
Going Over And Switch
Each of these plays started with Vince Carter getting the ball on the wing. Dwight Howard would then come over and set a screen for Carter.
The Hawks had a big lead last night, and they saw it disappear in part of the Bucks’ hustle and the Hawks’ lack of it. This really showed when it comes to offensive rebounding. The Bucks got themselves two key rebounds and it really gave the Bucks a big lift, propelling them to a lead late in the fourth quarter.
As Brandon Jennings sets up to shoot his second foul shot, you want to pay attention to Josh Smith and Ersan Ilyasova who are on the right side of the lane.
The Hawks were trailing the Bucks all night last night, but in the 4th they were able to cut the lead down to 6 points with about 4 minutes left. If the Hawks would have been able to get one more stop, they really could have put the pressure on the Bucks, however a mistake defending a simple pick and roll cost them that opportunity.
As Brandon Jennings comes off of the Kurt Thomas screen, everything seems to be in order. It is a really good screen by Thomas, so Al Horford is probably going to be forced to switch, but that shouldn’t be a big deal.
After being down more than 20 in the first half, the Milwaukee Bucks made a nice run to cut the lead all the way down to 7 points in the middle of the 4th quarter. The Hawks were able to answer though, with two very important baskets. One with the Bucks down 7 and one with them down 8.
Jamal Crawford’s Three
The Hawks, needing a bucket, look to run a set play for Joe Johnson. He is going to come off of a backscreen set by Al Horford. At the same time, Josh Smith flashes to the top of the key to get the basketball. He makes the catch and immediately looks for Johnson in the post.
Going into tonight’s game with the Orlando Magic, the Atlanta Hawks were hoping to clinch a playoff spot with a win. They were in good shape for most of the game, but they allowed Orlando to get back into it late. After Vince Carter hit a fade away three with 9.9 seconds left, Atlanta had one more chance to win the game.
After Vince Carter’s three, the Magic drop everyone back on defense. Maybe this is nit-picking, but I would have loved to see the Magic show a little bit of pressure. Not necessarily press, but at least have one guy pressuring the ball. If the Magic have Carter defending Joe Johnson the full length of the court, he might have been able to speed him up and force him into a mistake. Instead, Johnson is able to walk the ball up the court and let things develop.
The title of this post isn’t a joke, as one would assume. The Knicks were up by 1 with the ball and about 20 seconds left, but they turned it over. The Hawks were now breaking down the court with the chance for a win. How did the Knicks stop them? Let’s look:
As Crawford brings it upcourt he uses a smooth behind the back move to put Toney Douglas on his hip, Crawford gets himself into the lane. Al Harrington (Al Horford’s man) steps up to greet him in the paint. Also arrowed is Wilson Chandler, the man who ends up making the block to save the game.
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.
