Oklahoma City Thunder 94 Atlanta Hawks 91

(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Lightening didn’t strike twice in Atlanta as a desperation 3 point attempt from Jamal Crawford didn’t fall and the Hawks lost to the visiting Thunder 94-91. A lack of execution on the offensive end pretty much sums up the effort by the Hawks. Entirely too much one on one play resulting in long contested jump shots ultimately doomed them. Having not watched Oklahoma City this year I came away very impressed. On most nights the Hawks usually appear to be the quicker and more athletic team. Today the quicker team was clearly the Thunder. I stated in the preview that I thought the Hawks would be able to own the boards but the Thunder’s athleticism gave the Hawks trouble the whole game. The Thunder penetrated the Atlanta defense at will and Westbrook in particular was able to get to the rim basically anytime he wanted too.

While the Hawks did pick up the defensive effort and dug themselves out of hole they had to expend a ton of energy to come back. That takes its toll on the jump shooting and late in the game the Hawks simply could not buy a shot. Their lack of execution in any kind of game plan prevents them from getting the ball into the post and playing through Al Horford or Josh Smith even when that seems to be the only viable option.

Either the lack of a game plan or lack of execution of that game plan is very disappointing for this team. We turned to the Joe Johnson iso hero basketball way too early in this game and carried it out through the 4th quarter. Kudos go to Thunder Coach Scott Brooks who came out after half time and immediately attacked Mike Bibby with Sefolosha in the post to help push the lead back out after the Hawks had made a run to close the half. Its disappointing to see the Hawks not make the same adjustments for whatever reason.

In the end this was a game that I thought the Hawks were capable of losing. They got down and through good defense did dig themselves out of a 15 point hole. This loss like any other needs to be learned from and forgotten quickly before Wednesday’s match up with Sacramento.

Tags: Atlanta Hawks, Oklahoma City Thunder