Archives For Kyle Korver

Kyle Korver’s value to the Hawks

Chris Barnewall —  May 12, 2013 — Leave a comment

Kyle Korver will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason and is likely to be a player that many teams are going to go after. His play was invaluable to the Hawks this season thanks to his three-point shooting and his ability to move off the ball. It would be a very bad move by the Hawks to not at least try to bring him back, as shown by Bo Churney’s top ten free agents for the Hawks to pursue.

One of the best statistical indicators of Korver’s ability? He finished fourth in the NBA in true-shooting percentage, only behind Tyson Chandler, Kevin Durant, and LeBron James.

Korver Shot chart (HotShotCharts)

(Chart used from HotShotCharts.com)

Look at how dominant Korver is from the wings and corners. This season, Korver shot 50% from the left corner, 43% from the left wing, 48% from the right wing, and 45% from the right corner. Continue Reading…

In Analysis, Atlanta Hawks ,
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Atlanta’s Defensive Struggles Need Solving

David Vertsberger —  April 26, 2013 — 4 Comments

After a brutal 113-98 loss to the Indiana Pacers in game 2 of the first round of the NBA Playoffs, the Atlanta Hawks must look to latch on to whatever has worked in this series and ride it to some much-needed victories at Phillips Arena in Games 3 and 4. Problem being, Atlanta’s biggest issue is the defense and there’s no clear-cut reason as to why it’s been struggling as much as it has been in this first round Playoffs matchup. Looking into the Hawks’ lineups played in the first two games against Indiana, I came up with some findings that can help decipher what approach should best be taken.

Before I begin, I must note two things:
1. The absence of Zaza Pachulia is absolutely hammering the Hawks, things are significantly different he was healthy and playing.
2. The statistics that are about to be used are based off of the two Playoff games the Hawks have played the Pacers in. Just two, so keep caution when jumping to conclusions as it’s a minuscule sample size.

First, the lineup most used by the Hawks has been their starting lineup obviously, totaling 29 minutes in the series. They have been ghastly on the defensive end, worse so than the five most-played lineups before them. Although their ORTG (Offensive rating: points scored per 100 possessions) is a whopping 113.1, their DRTG (Defensive rating: points allowed per 100 possessions) is a putrid 137.1. This starting lineup leads the next most-used lineup by 21 minutes over two games, nothing out of the ordinary, yet appalling considering how much they’ve had trouble defending.

The most noticeable reasoning behind these defensive woes by this lineup has to be Kyle Korver guarding Paul George, who’s now averaging 21.5 points per game Continue Reading…

In 2012-13 Season, Playoffs , , , ,
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RECAP: Knicks 95, Hawks 82

Bo Churney —  April 4, 2013 — Leave a comment

FINAL

NYK(48-26) 95 – 82 (42-34)ATL

Key Performers:
C. Anthony (NYK): 40 pts, 5 reb, 3 ast
K. Korver (ATL): 25 pts, 6 reb, 2 blk
[FULL BOX SCORE]

This game was tied after three quarters. Melo already had 36 points by this point, but the rest of the Knicks were struggling to get anything through the hoop. Horford and Smoove were both having bad nights as well, and it seemed like the Hawks might have had the upper hand going into the fourth quarter.

If only it worked out that way.

JR Smith and Raymond Felton turned the fourth quarter into their own personal layup line, with two combining to go 9-for-12 for 20 points in the final period. The result? A Drew-Teague shouting match on the sidelines, and a visit from Danny Ferry and the team executives in the locker room after the game ended. Not exactly a pretty ending for the Hawks in what could have been a key victory on national television.

Reaction Grades: [assessed 0-10]

Josh Smith: He was completely erratic offensively, missed all seven of his free throw attempts, and looked straight up exhausted after guarding Melo for the bulk of four quarters. He did play great defense on Melo, but Melo was just hitting everything he attempted. It doesn’t make up for the completely atrocious effort on offense, though. All I know is that you shouldn’t be taking three three-pointers when you miss seven consecutive free throws. 3/10

Al Horford: As bad as Smith was in this game, it wasn’t like Al was much better. His best moment from this game was a sick cross-court pass that led to a Kyle Korver three, but otherwise, he had plenty of open looks that he passed up on. Honestly, it seemed like he was completely scared of attacking Chandler and Martin in any form. Al has to realize this: he’s the face of the franchise now, meaning he has to take the open shot when he gets it. No more hesitating. 5/10

Jeff Teague: How bad to you have to play defense to get Larry Drew to yell at you? Well, Teague let Raymond Felton walk into the lane three times in a row, and LD had seen enough. To make matters worse, Jeff had six turnovers on the night, and couldn’t get the offense into a rhythm at all. A key play that sticks out in my mind is when Jeff had Kenyon Martin in a switch, and picked up his dribble in a matter of seconds with plenty of time left to work with. When you get the opposing center in switch, you have to make a move; picking the ball up and passing to a guarded teammate is not that move. 4/10

DeShawn Stevenson: Like Josh, he had a lot of good defensive plays on Melo that were overmatched by even greater shooting. He made a couple of shots, but my beef with him will always be how he does when he gets an open three; 1-for-4 isn’t going to cut it. 5/10

Kyle Korver: Hey look, someone that actually came to play tonight! Kyle was on fire from the field, and he extended his three-point streak to 69 games, which is now the fourth longest streak in NBA history. However, my biggest takeaway from Kyle tonight was his defense. He was extremely active with his hands, coming away with two blocks, and he successfully defended Carmelo a couple of times, including a sequence where he demonstrated a perfect front on Anthony trying to post. His only flaw tonight was that it seemed like he missed whenever the Hawks needed it the most. (he was still 9-for-14 from the field, so it’s not that big of a deal) With everything taken into account, it’s a real shame that his effort was put to waste. 9/10

Continue Reading…

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A Look at Kyle Korver’s Streak

David Vertsberger —  March 25, 2013 — 4 Comments

Kyle Korver has evolved himself into one the best role players in the entire league for this Atlanta Hawks team, so much so that he’s fourth on the team in minutes allocated this year. His major improvement in the recent stages of his career has come on the defensive end, which developed during his two years as a Chicago Bull under coach Tom Thibodeau. His primary skill for a basketball team is his deadliness from long-distance though, and that’s where he’s crept closer and closer to history this season.

Korver has made one or more treys in his past 63 contests, which ranks fourth since 1986. The three-point arc was instituted for the first time in the 1980 season, so there is a small gap here. the streaks ahead of Korver are:

  • Reggie Miller, 68 games (11/15/96 to 4/6/97)
  • Dennis Scott, 89 games (5/12/95 to 4/4/96)
  • Dana Barros, 89 games (12/23/94 to 1/10/96)

Korver’s streak began on the second game of this season, and he’s shot 45.8% from downtown on the year. This percentage is good for the second-highest mark he’s put up for a season in his career, and is higher than Reggie Miller’s and Dennis Scott’s best season clip. Korver’s shooting has been consistent from everywhere behind the arc as well, with no location spitting out less than a 40.5% shooting percentage. He’s been very much a go-to option on offense, there’s hardly a set where you won’t see him curling off one or two screens. 33.1% of his offense come with him running off a screen, per SynergySports. He has an impressive catch-and-fire speed that’s only matched by maybe a small handful of players around the league, and he’s only had one stretch during the season that can be remotely considered a slump. In 5 straight games that were played in just under a week in the beginning portion of March, Korver didn’t put up over a 33% shooting exhibition from downtown in any of those contests.

So, how far can this streak continue? With 12 games to go on the Hawks schedule in the regular season, so it’s safe to assume that Korver’s streak can extend to 74, Continue Reading…

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RECAP: Hawks 107, Suns 94

Bo Churney —  March 15, 2013 — Leave a comment

FINAL

PHX  (22-44) 94 – 107 (36-29) ATL

Key Performers:

D. Harris (ATL): 15 pts, 4 reb, 5 ast, 4 stl
G. Dragic (PHX): 21 pts, 8 ast
[FULL BOX SCORE]

The Hawks were able to get back at the Suns for the loss in Phoenix, riding fiery three-point shooting (52%) to put them on top. Josh Smith returned and nearly put up a triple-double, and Devin Harris was set the tone early by constantly getting out on the break, resulting in a fastbreak point disparity of 29-5 over the Suns. After the game, Larry Drew credited the win to swarming defense at the three-point line, as the Suns only shot 3-for-19 (16%) from deep.

Reaction Grades: [assessed 0-10]

Josh Smith: An impressive return from Smoove after sitting out the Lakers game. He was on triple-double alert early, and joked after the game “hey man, all I can do is distribute” when asked how he fell short of double-digits on assists. His game started off strong, as he was 5-for-6 in the first quarter, with five of those attempts coming inside the paint. The 17-11-7 line gave Josh his 25th double-double on the season, and for good measure, he banked in his only free throw attempt on the night. 8.5/10

Al Horford: Al’s shot was off tonight, but it didn’t look like it did anything to his confidence, because he was willing to keep shooting. After starting 1-for-6 from the floor in the first half, he recovered to shoot 5-for-10 in the 2nd. Al also had a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, meaning that the Hawks improved to a record of 15-2 when he and Josh both record a double-double in a game. 7/10

Devin Harris: Devin started at point for the first time this season, and he set the tone for this game early with his quick play on the floor. Coach remarked, “I thought Devin did a phenomenal job pushing the pace of the game. He was able to get to the basket and make plays, and we tried to sustain that throughout the game.” To me, this is the most important aspect of the game for the Hawks; they have to set a fast pace early in the game, and force teams to match their energy. Despite Josh’s near trip-dub, I would give Devin MVP honors for today’s game. 9/10

Kyle Korver: The streak is up to 58 games, as Kyle scored 16 points tonight on 4-for-5 three-point shooting. I was really happy to see a game like this from Kyle, because the last few games of the streak had seemed to hanging by a thread at some points. Barring Steph Curry’s game against the Warriors, this performance was likely enough to put Kyle back on top of the league in three-point percentage. 8/10

DeShawn Stevenson: DeShawn added to the three-point barrage the Hawks employed tonight, knocking down three three-pointers of his own. He was also able to force some turnovers, which helped a lot with the transition game. 6/10

Continue Reading…

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RECAP: Heat 103, Hawks 90

Bo Churney —  February 21, 2013 — 3 Comments

FINAL

MIA (37-14) 103 – 90 (29-23)  ATL

Key Performers:

L. James (MIA): 24 pts, 6 reb, 11 ast, 4 stl
A. Horford (ATL): 27 pts, 9 reb, 2 ast
[FULL BOX SCORE]

Was that Josh Smith’s final game as a Hawk? If so, he left an extremely empty feeling out on the floor. The Heat stormed past the Hawks in the fourth quarter, out-scoring the home team 40-17 in that frame to erase a double-digit deficit.

LeBron was the main reason for Miami’s havoc, causing steals with his athleticism on defense and quickly running up the floor in transition. The Hawks shot 50% from the field, but had 21 total turnovers, easily allowing Miami to stay in the game despite their spotty shooting the first three quarters.

Reaction Grades: [assessed 0-10]

Josh Smith: No, he didn’t shoot well from the field. No, he didn’t make the greatest decisions at every juncture throughout the game. However, he did one thing that we don’t see from every athlete: despite constant trade rumors, he went out and gave his best effort. He held LeBron to his least-good (saying worst seems weird, because it’s still over 50%) shooting night over the past couple of weeks, and was grabbing rebounds vigorously when he was tasked to do so. In the end, it just wasn’t enough, and to some fans, anything Josh could have done tonight never would have been enough. 6/10

Al Horford: Larry Drew put Zaza in the starting lineup in hopes of getting Al a lot of mismatches down low. This plan was successful, as Horford was able to capitalize off of a lot of easy opportunities. Defensively, he was able to keep Bosh and Haslem under lock-and-key, and was even forced to defend LeBron a time or two. 9/10

Zaza Pachulia: Z was definitely instrumental in disrupting Chris Bosh, but I felt like the team could have used more from him. He was wild on a couple of rebounding chances that he should have controlled, and really didn’t contribute as much on the offensive end like he usually does. His best highlight was probably a hard foul on LeBron that was called a flagrant. (which should probably be rescinded by the league in the coming days) 5/10

Jeff Teague: I believe the term to describe Jeff decision making from this one is “bad”. He tried to make too many risky passes, not realizing that LeBron lives off of intercepting risky passes. The six turnovers that he was credited with don’t even accurately tell the story, as he was responsible for a couple of more due to his lack of focus. He also missed a ton of open shots. Tough way to see Jeff’s stretch of great games end. 3/10

DeShawn Stevenson: He made his open shots, but I feel like he should have shot a couple of more times in this one. Like Josh, he was also tasked with guarding LeBron in the halfcourt, which he probably didn’t do as well as Smoove; a few of the defensive breakdowns that LeBron caused late in the game came off when DeShawn was guarding him. 5/10 Continue Reading…

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RECAP: Hawks 105, Mavericks 101

Daniel Christian —  February 12, 2013 — 2 Comments

FINAL

DAL(22-29) 101 – 105 (28-22) ATL

Key Performers:

J. Smith (ATL): 26 pts, 13 reb, 6 asts
D. Nowitzki (DAL): 24 pts, 7 reb, 2 ast
[FULL BOX SCORE]

Some games are filled with anomalies, filled with the abnormal and ridiculousness of chance. This was one of those games. I’ll get more into it when I specifically assess his play in the reaction grades, but Josh Smith was money from everywhere tonight. He was 4-5 from beyond the arc and was connecting on jumpers all over the floor. What? Yeah. That sentence is a real thing. It seems like this happens maybe 3 or 4 times a season. It seems like Smith is destined to shush the “haters” for a lone night, which of course only emboldens his quest to launch jumpers from a myriad of different locations across the hardwood. But does it matter? Should we really care?

By now we should know to take the good with the bad, to appreciate Smith’s incredible play despite some glaring faults. On nights when those faults are washed away, his game seems almost complete, almost THERE, wherever that is. And on nights when Smith is as in sync with his outside game as he was tonight, all the other good he does, all the other positives he brings every night only seem magnified (but of course any uncommon or prevalent outlier in another statistical category can stand out in a negative light). It wasn’t just Smith, though. Sure, he was the one who was draining clutch three PUJITs (for those of you who don’t know: Pull Up Jumper In Transition), but everyone was more or less on their offensive game tonight. Defensively, there were some lapses, and those will be covered, but on nights when Smith isn’t slogging his way through a sub .500 field goal percentage, it’s nice to enjoy. So I enjoyed it. And I’m sure Josh did too, which is just what I’m worried about.

Reaction Grades: [assessed 0-10]

Josh Smith: I already said most of what I had to say in the intro, but while I took that time to appraise the validity and awesomeness of his game, I’ll take this time to extrapolate on some of the more negative aspects. He had 5 turnovers, one of which was absolutely ridiculous– literally it was like he forgot that he was supposed to dribble. He also picked up 5 fouls, three of which I believe came in the fourth quarter. And I point these things out, and I still can’t shake the befuddled excitement I felt when he swished that three to put the Hawks 99-94. You knew it was going in, and you knew it made no sense. You saw him trailing on the break, and everything was telegraphed perfectly. Josh was going to catch it. Josh was going to swish it. Rick Carlisle would throw his hands in the air. We’d all laugh and celebrate and high five and tweet stupid things. There’s also the six assists and 13 rebounds thing, too, which was certainly helpful. 9/10

Al Horford: Horford is always a stabilizing force, a beacon of consistency within a single game. On the whole, he can be, at least while recovering from injury, a tad bit inconsistent. But within single games, and now more and more frequently as he seems to be completely in the swing of things, we are reminded of how calming and how talented and how good Horford really is. He was 10-14 from the field tonight (Smith was 10-15), he grabbed 10 rebounds, and was tied for the best +/- of any player in the game (I know single game +/- is pretty “meh,” but it’s just another indication that Atlanta benefits from his presence). He scored in the post, he hit a runner, he made his jumpers, and he was the recipient of ANOTHER beautiful high-low pass from Josh Smith. 8/10

Anthony Tolliver: Larry Drew loves his Anthony Tolliver, and so do I, only in smaller doses. Tolliver can be an effective spark-plug, but he’s not an effective full time rotation guy. He played 24 minutes today, missed all four of his shots, and split his free throws. His defense is generally suspect and sometimes I’m confused why he’s in when he’s in. But that’s not meant to be an insult. I get the Tolliver appeal. He can occasionally give this team a huge lift, a huge energy boost. But he didn’t tonight. 2/10

Kyle Korver: The streak continues! Korver has now made a three-pointer in 44 consecutive games, which is really quite an incredible accomplishment if you think about it. He was solid tonight, and helpful defensively (although for a stretch Vince Carter did experience limited success on him), but what I love about him so much, aside from his brilliant perimeter shooting, is his ability to be a decoy. On these high-low plays with Josh and Al, so much of its success relies on an opposing big waiting to hedge Korver off of an off-ball screen so that Korver’s man can recover. When the opposing big hedges: BOOM. Our guy is open. Anyway, more on that in a later post. 10 points, 2-4 on threes– seems like just another day at the office for Korver. 5/10

Jeff Teague: And to think I went through a phase of doubt. This was about a month ago, when the Hawks were in the midst of their more serious struggles. I doubted Jeff Teague. I was, as I always am in my head however much I try to hide it, super reactionary and went to ESPN’s Chad Ford’s draft board and looked at potential point guards to draft. Why would I do that? I feel silly. Because Teague is awesome, he’s incredible. He’s relentless in transition, had several great drives in which he finished with a scoop, and he is finding his teammates more than he ever has (9 assists tonight). Now, defensively, there are still some issues. Tonight he really struggled fighting through picks, even  when he went under the screens he allowed a lane for Collison. He also gambles far too much, allowing his man to pull out in front of him in hopes that he can swipe the ball from behind. He has his faults, and they were on display tonight, but they’re fixable. And Teague is great. He’s fun to watch and he’s ever-improving. He finished the night with 20 points on 7-14 shooting, 9 assists, 4 rebounds, and just(?) three turnovers. He’s strung together quite a few impressive games in a row now. 8/10 Continue Reading…

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Hawks dig another hole to keep it interesting

Buddy Grizzard —  January 26, 2013 — 1 Comment

Last night’s dramatic, double-overtime victory over the Boston Celtics was a much-needed kick in the pants for a Hawks team that has been struggling. The Celtics arrived at Phillips Arena on a 5-game losing streak and desperate for a win. I’d like to break down the first half, analyze how the Hawks put themselves in a 27-point hole, and provide some commentary on the theatrics after halftime.

First quarter

The Hawks started the game by pounding the ball inside to Josh Smith and Al Horford. The two combined to shoot 1-for-6 over the game’s first 5:43, missing many point-blank opportunities. Ivan Johnson, making his second career start, had a fast break layup and missed another layup and short jumper. He was replaced by Zaza Pachulia with 6:13 to play in the 1st and the Hawks trailing 14-5. Horford converted a 3-point play and Pachulia had a basket to draw the Hawks within 16-10 with 5:22 to play in the first quarter.

Jannero Pargo then replaced Kyle Korver and combined with Devin Harris (who checked in for Jeff Teague when Pachulia entered the game) to shoot 0-for-7 on jumpers as the Hawks failed to score the rest of the quarter. After Pachulia’s basket, the Celtics finished the quarter on a 13-0 run.

Second quarter

With the failure of the Hawks to establish an inside game in the first quarter, and the failure of Pargo and Harris to keep the game close with a steady stream of long jumpers, coach Larry Drew seemed desperate to find a shot maker in the 2nd. Teague heated up for 14 points in the quarter on a variety of shots after failing to attempt a shot in the 1st. Teague shot 5-for-5 in the quarter, including the team’s only 3-pointer.

While Teague was on fire, DeShawn Stevenson, John Jenkins, Smith, Korver, Pargo and Harris combined to shoot 0-for-11 on 3-pointers for the first half. Korver, the NBA’s leader in 3-point percentage, attempted only a single shot in the half.

Comments

Teague didn’t heat up until the second quarter, but I don’t understand the need to replace him less than six minutes into the game. Drew’s strategy was obviously to get the ball inside to Smith and Horford. Teague ran the plays and got the ball inside. The fact that there was a lid on the basket for Atlanta’s big men does not indicate that Teague was failing to do his job. And I doubt that a young player like Teague needed a rest after playing less than 6 minutes.

With Harris available but not in the starting lineup, it seemed the Hawks would have sufficient depth at point guard. Bringing in 3rd-string point guard Pargo so early seemed like a panic move by Drew. As I’ve noted previously, Pargo plays better against non-playoff teams. My immediate reaction to Pargo’s 6-for-11 debut for the Hawks against the Timberwolves was to declare it fool’s gold. We’ve seen in the past that Pargo can get hot against sub-par competition. Shooting 1-for-7 against the Celtics brought back painful memories of Pargo’s disastrous performance in the playoffs last May.

Meanwhile Johnson was -20 for the first half. Anyone who has read me knows what a point of emphasis I place on +/- numbers. However, Johnson’s 2nd career start was a textbook example of how individual +/- numbers can be misleading. During his first stint, Johnson accounted for 60% of the team’s offense while enduring the errant shooting of Smith and Horford. By the time he returned with 2:32 to play in the first, the ball was no longer going to the front court players as Harris and Pargo chucked away. As the second half showed, a better idea might have been to get Korver more than one shot attempt for the entire half.

Second half

The Hawks opened the second half with Johnson on the bench, Harris at shooting guard and Korver at small forward. When Harris finally hit his first shot of the game, a 3-pointer with 9:15 remaining in the 3rd, it felt like a turning point. The basket drew the Hawks within 59-47 and prompted Celtics coach Doc Rivers to call a timeout. From there, it was the Korver, Teague and Ivan Johnson show.

After a flurry of baskets by Teague and Korver tied the game, Johnson checked in with 2:40 to play in the 3rd. He promptly posted up Jared Sullinger and scored, calmly sank a 20-footer at the end of the shot clock, then beat Sullinger down court and converted a Josh Smith touchdown pass into a 3-point play.

Last February I declared that Johnson was “already a better NBA center than Kendrick Perkins.” The latter, who makes about $9 million per season on a contract with two years remaining, has started 44 games for the Thunder this season. In the interest of small sample size theater, I decided to compare Johnson’s first two career starts to the best two games Perkins has played this season. In the last two games, Johnson has averaged 11.5 points on 9-for-19 shooting (47%) and 8 rebounds in 25 minutes. In games Nov. 30th against Utah and Jan. 23rd against Golden State, Perkins averaged 12 points on 12-for-17 shooting (71%) with 6 rebounds in 32.5 minutes per game.

Obviously Johnson could up his totals if given Perkins’ minutes, while Perkins holds the advantage in shooting percentage. However, there’s not much to complain about with Johnson’s accuracy since he led the Hawks in shooting percentage last year and is second only to Horford this season. After his 12 point, 15 rebound performance against the Bobcats, Johnson told AJC beat writer Chris Vivlamore, “I need some more money.” I daresay he’s going to get it.

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Kyle Korver’s record-breaking eight 3-pointers (Video)

Raj Prashad —  January 26, 2013 — Leave a comment

Kyle Korver was instrumental in pushing the Hawks past the Boston Celtics, who once trailed by 27 points, Friday night in a 123-111 double-overtime victory.

He put on an astounding show, knocking down eight 3-pointers in the second half, which broke the Hawks franchise record for most in a half.

Check out the video below and relive each of Korver’s treys on the historic night.

In 2012-13 Season, Atlanta Hawks, Game Recap ,
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RECAP: Hawks 104, Bobcats 92

Bo Churney —  January 24, 2013 — Leave a comment

FINAL

CHA (10-32) 92 – 104 (24-18)ATL

Key Performers:

J. Smith (ATL): 30 pts, 13 reb, 8 ast, 3 blk
R. Sessions (CHA): 27 pts, 3 reb, 5 ast
[FULL BOX SCORE]

No Horford, Zaza, or Devin Harris? No problem for the Hawks against the Bobcats. With Charlotte lacking a competent frontcourt, Josh went to town, posting a near monster triple-double, earning him ESPN’s top player performance of the night. Despite some turnover issues, the Hawks got a lot of open looks, sinking 12 three-pointers and racking up 31 assists. Even though Charlotte is pretty terrible, the Hawks can take a lot from this game in that they won handily without several key players. Hopefully those players missing this game can mean they can come out at full strength against Boston on Friday.

Reaction Grades: [assessed 0-10]

Josh Smith: This was one of Josh’s best games of the season, as you can see from his statline above. He did have seven turnovers, but quite a few of those were team mistakes/mis-communications. He took a lot of jumper (nine of them to be exact), but 16 shots in the paint with Smoove showing extreme patience on a lot of post ups? Sign me up! 10/10

Ivan Johnson: Ivan got his first career start in this game, and he didn’t disappoint. He had ten rebounds by halftime, and finished with a strong double-double of 12 and 15. Among his highlights from his first start: he took three charges and had an amazing block on Bismack Biyombo. 8/10

DeShawn Stevenson: Maybe DeShawn should have sat this one out… his jumper was off badly, and he drove into the lane one time in the 2nd quarter only to have the life swatted out of him by Biyombo. (I love saying that name… Biyombo!) 2/10

Kyle Korver: The Bobcats had this strategy of leaving Kyle Korver open; it wasn’t very effective. Kyle had 21 points on only 11 shots, including a 5-6 performance from behind the arc. The Hawks just kept setting up screens and pindowns for him, and he wasn’t missing. 9/10

Jeff Teague: When Jeff wasn’t letting Sessions blow by him, he was relatively quiet. On the offensive end, this didn’t hurt, because a lot of possessions were Smoove post ups that either turned into Josh shooting, or into a flurry of ball movement that resulted in him not getting direct assists. 6/10 Continue Reading…

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