| 07 May 2011
The Hawks are now down 2 games to 1 in the NBA Playoffs to the Bulls. Perhaps they could use Obi Wan Kenobi or the Force to help them out, because they certainly aren't helping themselves any. Not quite time to give up, but some outside help might be their only hope.
The Hawks let Derrick Rose run all over them on Friday night putting up 44 points. They let him score 17 points in the first quarter alone. In fact, they basically got beaten by Rose and not the Bulls as a team, but nonetheless they allowed it to happen. The Hawks let Noah grab 15 rebounds. The Hawks let Taj Gordon grab 11. The Hawks attempted to overcome Rose with Jeff Teague, who was the leading scorer. The Hawks decide to play under screens allowing Rose free access to the basket. They let Rose beat them.
The Hawks $120 million man Joe Johnson put up 10 points. When your team is led by a guy who has seen very few minutes in the regular season and is coming off the bench to replace an injured starter, instead of being led by your actual starters, you have big problems. The Hawks have completely forgotten what they did in game 1 to win and are now playing right into the Bulls hands or rather Rose's hands. Teague had 21 points on the night. The Bulls shot the same number of free throws as the Hawks and only had 4 more shots than the Hawks, but they had 10 of 20 three point shots whereas the Hawks had 1 of 6. The Bulls aren't beating them outright as they as a team have played substandard basketball. The Hawks are LETTING them win. It is as simple as that.
The Bulls put their bench in at the start of the 2nd quarter and the bench players stretched their lead to 42-29. The bench players. People like Watson, Asik, Gibson, Korver, and Brewer. The Bulls bench outscored the Hawks bench 34-14. Not surprising as the Hawks bench has been less than stellar all season long. But the Bulls bench also put up massive points on the Hawks starters - that is abysmal. The only highlight for the Hawks bench was Hilton Armstrong and Pape Sy picking up 5 rebounds in garbage time. Hawks coach Larry Drew summed it up perfectly when he said he knew the Hawks were in trouble after the first timeout. They had no energy. They weren't getting back in transition. They weren't putting forth the effort. They LET the Bulls (Rose) beat them. No other explanation.
Al Horford is having a terrible time matching up with Noah mnaking just 7 of 19 shots the first two games and 5 for 12 in game 3. Jamal Crawford has gone ice cold with 8.2 points per game in the first round against Orlando while shooting 45.9 percent from beyond the arc, is averaging 13.3 in this series after scoring seven Friday and 11 in Game 2. He's made just 5-of-18 shots in the past two games, including 1-of-7 treys. The Hawks had a better shooting percentage than the Bulls on Friday going 47.1% to the Bulls 46.8%. The Bulls had 50% on three point shots while the Hawks had an anemic 16.1%. The Bulls shot 83.3% from the stripe while the Hawks only had 60%. The Bulls outrebounded the Hawks 18 to 9 on the offensive boards. The Hawks had more points in the paint going 44 to 32 on Friday.
The Hawks had 5 players in double digit points in Friday's game while the Bulls had just three - Rose with 44, Gibson with 13 and Korver with 11. The rest of the Bulls starters had 21 points combined! For the Hawks, Teague had 21, Smith 17, Williams, Horford and Johnson all had 10. The Hawks bench had 14, including only 7 from Crawford. The Bulls bench had 34 points and it was the difference in the game. The Hawks starters didn't counter Rose and the Hawks bench was anemic compared to the Bulls bench. The Bulls starters were almost nonexistent and yet the Hawks lost - from lack of energy and effort. The Hawks had 4 steals, 4 blocked shots and 9 blocked shot attempts.
The next game is Sunday night in Atlanta. The Hawks have to come with energy and effort. If they don't Rose will beat them again. If they don't they will be down 3 games to 1 and Obi Wan Kenobi may be their only hope if that happens. LET'S GO HAWKS!!!
