Ghosts of Success

In Friday's night matchup between in Charlotte, one team moved the ball effortlessly, used their athleticism to play good team defense and initiate fast break/transition opportunities.

The other team was the Hawks.

Absent of everything that has led to their early season success, Atlanta allowed what was one of the worst statistical teams so far this season to beat them silly, fully earning the 103-83 beatdown offered them by the Bobcats.

The Hawks lacked energy on the offensive end, defensive end, the glass, and the bench. Even the logo looked a little droopy tonight. Who knows how the Hawks thought they could win with such a complete zero of a game, but they spent (48) minutes trying to do it. 

If Kelly Dwyer thought the Hawks really wanted the win earlier this week against the Blazers, then this was the polar opposite, as the Hawks never did anything that resembled what it would have taken to gain a win. They settled for standing around all night forcing shots from the outside and then, when that got boring, they forced inside shots as well. This allowed the Bobcats to feast on a steady diet of run-outs and open looks, and they happily went about doing it.

It was fitting that the Bobcats beat the Hawks in every quarter---because, you know, they really did.

We feel obligated to mention the ridiculous 56-35 margin on the glass (oof!) and the 47/61/78 shooting effort for the home team against the splendid 40/13/65 egg the Hawks laid. We're also not forgetting the 24-10 assist deficit the Hawks authored. Hey, at least they won the turnover battle! Yeah! Take that, fundamental basketball!

Silver Lining--Oh Alright, Aluminum

Jeff Teague can play. We're impressed with how fast he is with the ball--definitely the fastest the team has had since JT raced around the Philips Arena floor. His passing touch is good as well---and if he can get that runner to be consistent, he's going to be tough. Now, if we could just get Terry to loan the rookie his jump shot.

The Hawks unveiled their new Twin Towers of Jason Collins and Randolph Morris with expected results. It was an awesome thing of something watching those two titans on the court at the same time. They were both +2 for the night. Well done, guys.

We heard The Namesake mention that Marvin Williams needs to be more effective in games like this one, but we (very) respectfully disagree with THHF. Marvin needs motion to be a positive force in the game, so when the ball begins to swing around, and by that for the Hawks we mean one pass, and then stops up at the top, you've taken away the weakside shooting game in which Marvin excels. Tonight, even more so that on other nights, there was zero interest in moving the ball, and Williams did very little offensively because of it.

Block Shot-a-Rama-Rama continued for the Hawks this season, as Marvin and Josh Smith had (3) each and Al Horford got (2) more himself. The (11) blocks for the team on the night was the extent of the effort tonight for the Hawks. That is all.

The starters got some rest tonight, with no starter playing more than the (31) that Joe Johnson played. Mike Bibby only got (20) to earn low man status, minutes wise. Though the minutes were low, if the Hawks were going to completely mail in a game like this, you almost wish they'd given some like Joe the entire game off. Alas.

The refs were on their game---they even called an illegal screen away from the ball with (90) seconds to go in a (20) point game. Bravo.

There is another game tomorrow that has the potential to usher this one out as quick as it has entered---an NBATV special with a very tough Denver Nuggets team that Atlanta can't possibly try to slough their way to victory against, so we're hoping there is more than just the tin lining to reflect on tomorrow night.

THHB still has to check which Collins the Hawks have on the roster--we usually pretty sure it's not Doug or Chris. Suggestions on how to remember (or to forget) can be left in the Comments Area.