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.
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