Archives For Denver Nuggets

Hawks look to finish road trip on high note

Chris Barnewall —  March 4, 2013 — Leave a comment

Long road trips are never easy for any team in the NBA team, and the Hawks are no different. On this latest road trip, the Hawks have gone 3-2, which is not bad at all. However, they have lost two straight to the Suns and the Lakers. Tonight they face a very tough Denver team on a road back-to-back, which is the hardest regular season game to win for any team.

If the Hawks are going to win tonight they’re going to need to fix some problems that they had in last night’s game against the Lakers. For instance the Lakers went 10/21 (47%) from three-point range last night. That is inefficient defensively and you are going to lose a lot of games allowing this to happen. When you get 34 assists on offense in one game, you need to win that game.

You need to execute down the stretch; the Hawks, for as well as they played last night, just didn’t defend the three-pointer and they didn’t execute when they needed to the most. The game was relatively close down the stretch and it was a very winnable game. If the Hawks had just executed correctly (particularly on that final play), I’d be spending more time on the good things they did, like the assists, the way the offense ran, and the amazing shooting. Instead, I’m talking about the bad things; thus is the ways of the NBA.

The Nuggets are going to be a tough team for Hawks as they are not coming off a back to back and are one of the best home teams in the NBA (25-3). The reason I was driving home the 3 point shooting issue: the Nuggets shoot 14 three point attempts per-36 minutes. This isn’t a huge number, but it’s enough that if they get warm from there, it could be dangerous. The Hawks defense will need to be on top of their game defensively, because the Nuggets share the ball; they are third in the league in assists per game (24.3), and that passing can really give a lot of teams a headache.

The Hawks want to finish this road trip strong and they have a chance to do that tonight. As long as they defend a little better and play offense the same way they did last night, it’s not insane to say they have a good chance at winning tonight.

In 2012-13 Season, Preview , ,
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RECAP: Hawks 108, Nuggets 104

Daniel Christian —  December 6, 2012 — 1 Comment

FINAL

DEN(9-10) 104 – 108 (10-5) ATL

Key Performers:

A. Horford (ATL): 25 pts, 12 rebs, 4 asts, 4 stls
T. Lawson (DEN): 32 pts, 7 asts, 5 stls
[FULL BOX SCORE]

The Hawks played one of their most exciting games of the season, outracing the Nuggets and disproving Lawler’s Law by going to the by now patented Josh Smith-Al Horford high-low late in the game. Meanwhile, Corey Brewer scored every other time I looked at the TV.

Reaction Grades: [assessed 0-10]

Josh Smith: Smoove had a very active night and, for the for the most part, chose his shots wisely. He scored some huge baskets down the stretch, one as a recipient from Al Horford in a beautifully executed high low, and the other on a break away, and-1 dagger dunk that put the Hawks up 5 with under 30 seconds to go.   7/10

Al Horford: Horford was an absolute beast on the boards and, as always, took advantage of transition opportunities by setting up shop on the block and sealing his man while the guards advanced the ball. He had one of the most important assists of the game when he found Josh Smith for a dunk late in the 4th quarter, and aside from his always stellar passing, he found a way to strip the ball from Denver’s bigs more than a few times. 9/10

Zaza Pachulia: It was one of those classic Zaza games where he just energizes the team, grabs a bunch of gritty rebounds, and somehow scores 11 points, all 11 of which coming in some awesome way. 7/10

DeShawn Stevenson: DeShawn hit 3 of 5 three pointers, so that right there is more offensive contribution than you’d expect, but his defense wasn’t as good as it has been in past games. 4/10

Jeff Teague: Since his hot start to the season, Teague has struggled more and more shooting the ball, and it showed tonight as he went 4-16 from the field. He let Ty Lawson abuse his defense throughout the first 3 quarters and didn’t really get anything going until the 4th. While he wasn’t great in the final period, he ran the offense well and hit a big 3-pointer late, while also doing a better job on Lawson. 5/10 Continue Reading…

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John Jenkins Called Up From D-League

Daniel Christian —  December 5, 2012 — Leave a comment
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Because who doesn’t pose mid-jump in the middle of a field with a basketball?

According to Chris Vivlamore of the AJC, rookie John Jenkins has been called back to the Hawks’ roster after a two game stint with Atlanta’s D-League affiliate, the Bakersfield Jam.

In those two games, Jenkins averaged 25.5 points (22 in the first, 29 in the second), 3.5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1.5 steals per contest.

The Hawks are “hopeful,” according to Vivlamore, that Jenkins will make it back in time for their nationally televised game against the Nuggets on Wednesday night. With Kyle Korver out for the birth of his child, Coach Drew might find some minutes for the three-point sniper out of Vanderbilt and see what he can do coming off some screens.

He’s no Kyle Korver or Anthony Morrow yet, but Jenkins can shoot the ball, shoot it quickly, and shoot it well. There’s a place on every team’s roster for a guy like that, and there’s no way to gain experience other than to actually get out there and do it.

And besides, if the whole John-Jenkins-playing-basketball-thing doesn’t work out, at least we have his rookie photoshoot pictures!

In 2012-13 Season, Atlanta Hawks , ,
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