Atlanta Hawks Weekly: Back-To-Back Losses And Lessons Learned

The Atlanta Hawks continued their preparations for the new season with two more games over the past seven days. On Sunday, the Hawks traveled to Mississippi to face the New Orleans Pelicans before returning home to Philips Arena to play the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday evening. They were two distinctly different games, which highlighted all that’s good and bad about the current state of this Hawks group. One thing is for sure, there is still a lot of hard work to be done in Atlanta over the next 10 days.

The Week That Was

New Orleans Pelicans – Sunday, Oct. 13 (Mississippi Coast Convention Center, Biloxi, Miss.)

The Hawks were slow out of the blocks on this afternoon start in Mississippi and they were never really able to recover. Outscored 9-0 to start the game, the Hawks were shell-shocked and could do little to hold out against the on strong Pelicans offense. By the time the first quarter came to a close, Atlanta trailed by 16, with New Orleans having posted an exceptional 34 points.

Kyle Korver’s lack of ball handling skills can at times cause Atlanta problems in the backcourt. (Photo Credit: Mark Runyon, Basketball Schedule)

The Hawks were outscored by 10 or more points in three of the four quarters of the game, but in preseason, nights like this can be forgiven. What would have been much more alarming to the Hawks coaching staff was the stuttering performance of the first choice backcourt. As was flagged up in the “Air Balls” section of last week’s weekly roundup, the presence of Kyle Korver at shooting guard can at times leave Jeff Teague yearning for the support of another ball handler. Sunday was a shining example of this and I would guess it won’t be the last of the season. The duo combined for seven points, four assists and a clumsy eight turnovers. When Teague, as point guard, turns the ball over 6 times, it makes it very difficult for the team to get into an offensive rhythm. This remains an issue to keep an eye on over the coming months as the Hawks will need to occasionally relieve the scoring pressure from Al Horford and Paul Millsap up front. You can bet after seeing it develop in front of their eyes, the coaching staff will have learned and be working on solutions.

Credit where its due, the Pelicans gave a polished and clinical performance, as they have throughout the preseason so far. New Orleans moved to 5-0 for the month of October with strong performances from the likes of Anthony Davis, Ryan Andersen and Jrue Holiday and look every bit a team ready to hit the ground running when the regular season begins. From the Hawks’ point of view, Al Horford was the sole bright light. Horford shot 9-for-12 for 21 points to go along with six rebounds. In spite of this, the final score saw the Pelicans cruise to victory by 32 points, 105-73.

 San Antonio Spurs – Thursday, Oct. 17 (Philips Arena, Atlanta)

After the poor performance against New Orleans, the Hawks arrived home for their first home game of the preseason. Their opponents were the San Antonio Spurs, coach Mike Budenholzer’s former employer, and the team that the Hawks are trying to emulate in terms of style both on and off the court. With that in mind it was perhaps fitting enough that this was the closest the Budenholzer system has been to clicking so far in preseason. The difference in the performance was night and day compared to the Sunday before. Both teams started the game off at a frantic pace, but the rapid-fire exchanges were not resulting in buckets.

In a close first half, the Spurs gained a narrow lead. The Hawks showed strong, physical and focused defense though, keeping themselves in the game behind their poor shooting. The Hawks had 12 steals compared to the Spurs seven, showing their grit and desire on that end of the floor. Both Horford and Millsap were making their bodies significant obstructions down low, contesting shots and grabbing an impressive haul of 22 boards between them on the night.

On the offensive end, Atlanta looked much smoother also. Despite some rusty jump shots, the Hawks found a way to score and perhaps most importantly for the new team ethos the organization wants to bring forward, the scoring load was shared. Seven Hawks players managed to score in double digits, as Mike Scott and Jared Cunningham joined the starting five in posting a solid number.

Jeff Teague bounced back from his poor form in the game against San Antonio. (Photo Credit: Mark Runyan, Basketball Schedule, Flickr)

Kyle Korver was top scorer in the game with 26 points off 10-for-15 shooting. Jeff Teague continued the backcourt revival, following his disastrous game against New Orleans up with an outstanding double-double, 15 points and 12 assists. Teague’s jump shot still didn’t look quite right and he was an inefficient 6-for-15 from the field, but he showed willingness to drive the lane and either kick out to an open man or finish strongly himself.

The game was a tight one, generally within a two-possession range, until Tony Parker caught fire in the third quarter. Parker went from having a quiet game to scoring at will. Eventually he would finish the night with 17 points. Entering the final quarter the Hawks trailed San Antonio by 15 points. A late rally from Atlanta brought the game down the stretch with a single score between the sides though, and if they had gotten the shot off a little bit quicker on their final play drawn up from the inbounds, Atlanta could have snatched victory. Instead, following a spirited performance, it ended in a Spurs win, 106-104.

Slam Dunks and Air Balls

Here’s a look at the best and worst aspects of the Hawks play from the past week:

Slam Dunks

• The biggest plus the Hawks can take from this week is their fourth-quarter performance against San Antonio. For the second time in the four preseason games they have played so far, Atlanta came back from 15 points or more behind in the fourth to be right there in a single-possession game down the stretch. Against Miami, the Hawks scored 31 points in the final quarter, while they put up an astonishing 37 points in the fourth against San Antonio. For a team that is comprised of a variety of new faces just recently assembled, this is an incredible positive. The Hawks are already building an identity as a tough nosed team who will fight to the end, and play for each other.
• In the past week, Al Horford stepped his game up to a level which we’re accustomed to seeing from him at the mid-season stage. For the two games, Horford averaged 17 points and 8.5 boards while shooting 62.5 percent from the field and 80 percent from the free throw line. The common perception of Atlanta is that this is now Horford’s team with Josh Smith and Joe Johnson elsewhere, so it’s vital that Horford can get a quick start to the regular season to drive his teammates on. Aside from offense, Horford is a smart defender and he’s quickly becoming a formidable post defender, as well as utilizing his hands to grab steals (four this week).
• Against the Spurs, the Hawks did an excellent job of rebounding the ball. With Josh Smith gone there were suspicions that the Hawks, a poor rebounding team last year, would become even worse this year. On Thursday night though, Horford and Millsap both pitched in with 11 boards each, while DeMarre Carroll also managed to add seven rebounds from the 3 spot. On top of this, Elton Brand came off the bench to get four rebounds in limited minutes and based on the evidence so far, the former No.1 overall pick will be a valuable defensive weapon off the bench.

Paul Millsap will play a big role in the Hawks rebounding figures this season. (Photo Credit: LandRover164, Flickr)

Air Balls

• For this week’s games, Atlanta averaged 20 turnovers a game. Pretty simply, this is too many. If the point guard is coughing the ball up regularly under pressure or if the ball is given away in live ball situations, it will be very difficult for the Hawks to pick up wins. Currently, the turnovers are nearly all coming in live ball situations, allowing the opponents to charge down court and grab easy fast break scores. This needs to change.
• The Hawks shot 30 percent from downtown this week, up 2 percent from last week’s total, but still a long way to go. Last season Atlanta finished with a 37 percent average from 3-point range, so the current shooting percentage needs to increase anywhere from four to eight points over the next two weeks.
• With two points separating the teams with 3.5 seconds to go against San Antonio, there was a genuine opportunity for the Hawks to snatch victory. Coach Budenholzer drew up the inbounds play out of the time out. When his players then went out and executed it, the game clock expired before they could get the shot off. Although such an error can be forgiven in preseason, it’s not the sort of habit a team wants to carry into the main event of the regular season where it could be so costly.

Rookie Watch

Dennis Schroeder: It was a quiet week for the prodigious young German. Having rested for the game against the Pelicans, Schroeder then picked up a knock in practice which forced him to sit out the Spurs game. Schroeder and the training staff are hopeful he will be fit to return against Memphis on Sunday afternoon.

Pero Antic: Although he didn’t feature against the Spurs, the Macedonian once again demonstrated his abilities in a 15-minute cameo against New Orleans. Antic showed his touch from deep, making 2-for-3, for a tally of six points and two rebounds.

Training Camp Cuts

The Hawks started off the week by making their first cuts. Adonis Thomas, Damien Wilkins and David Lighty were all released from the roster on Monday.

That left Royal Ivey, Eric Dawson and James Johnson as the remaining invitees before former Washington Wizard Cartier Martin was brought on board.

Ivey and the non-guaranteed Shelvin Mack will fight out for the third point guard spot, while the other three will battle for what’s likely the last empty spot in Atlanta.

Player of the Week

Al Horford, HoopsHabit Hawks Player of the Week. (Photo Credit: NBA.com)

This week’s Hawks player of the week is Al Horford. As mentioned above, the Dominican played exceptionally on both ends of the floor this week and posted some excellent numbers to seal the deal.

Weekly Averages: 17 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 2 SPG, 62.5% FG, 80% FT

Coming Up Next

Oct 20: Memphis Grizzlies (Philips Arena, Atlanta)
Oct 22: Indiana Pacers (Philips Arena, Atlanta)
Oct 23: Dallas Mavericks (American Airlines Center, Dallas)

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