That Was Ugly: Hawks 97, C’ s 86

Posted by Zach Lowe on Nov 13, 2009 42312 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2009%2F11%2F13%2Fthat-was-ugly-hawks-97-c-s-86%2FThat+Was+Ugly%3A+Hawks+97%2C+C%27+s+862009-11-14+04%3A40%3A50Zach+Lowehttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D4231

ESPN Recap • Peachtree Hoops • Hoopinion

Pace: 85 possessions (slow)

Offensive Efficiency: 101 points/100 possessions (league worst)

Defensive Efficiency: 114 points allowed/100 possessions

Bullets (with full recap coming from Brendan later):

• Two games does not make a trend. It does not mean something is wrong with the team in a fundamental sense. But that’s two straight teams with young and athletic big men that have killed the C’s with offensive boards. Utah had 17 on Wednesday, Atlanta grabbed 16 tonight—and that 16 amounted to 41 percent of all available offensive rebounds for the Hawks. That can’t happen, and it’s how you lose a game in which you shoot 49 percent and hold your opponent to 45 percent. 

The C’s looked…old. And Josh Smith has arrived. Finally. 

• There is no circumstance in which Rajon Rondo should take just four shots in a game against Atlanta. I don’t care how the Hawks defended him. He needed to me more of a force on offense tonight, and I’m not sure why he wasn’t. I’ll have to watch the tape again. 

• The other stat of the game is obviously the C’s 1-15 mark from three. It’s only the fourth time since 2007 the C’s have made one or zero threes in a game, according to Basketball Reference. Needless to say, the C’s aren’t going to win a lot of games in which they make one three.

• The Hawks lived up to their reputation as a team that switches often on screen/rolls, and that left the C’s with all sorts of tantalizing mismatches—Bibby guarding Pierce, Horford guarding Rondo. Credit the Hawks—they were quick and active enough with their help to prevent the C’s from taking advantage of those mismatches.

• The C’s continue to have no consistent answer for Joe Johnson. Last year, when they defended Atlanta well, they geared their entire defense toward Johnson—aggressive double teams far from the hoop, overloads on the strong side, etc. The Hawks are solid enough now (offensively) at every position that the C’s, at least tonight, couldn’t afford to play them that way. 

• This was a “Hey, we sort of miss Glen Davis” game. We all love Shelden Williams, but the bottom line is that he just isn’t athletic or coordinated or whatever enough to finish around the basket in traffic. Big Baby is. Shelden of course brings unique strengths, but on a night when the C’s needed every basket they could get, Shelden’s troubles finishing down low hurt.

• The C’s continue to turn the ball over far too often for a team playing at an ultra-slow pace.