Dallas Mavericks (111) Atlanta Hawks (103) Game Recap

A lot has been made of the collision in last night’s game between Hawks head coach Mike Woodson and Mavericks point guard Jason Kidd. While it did play an impact in the outcome of the game I will revisit it later in the recap.

Once again the Hawks came out like the Atlanta fans, sluggishly trailing by ten after the first period only to come roaring back in the second to tie the game at fifty going into the half. The Hawks then seized control of the game during the third quarter outscoring the Mavs by eleven a lead which eventually ballooned to fifteen in the fourth quarter. At that point the wheels came off for the Hawks.

A switch to a zone defense by coach Rick Carlisle lead the Hawks into a stagnant offense and ignited an impressive run by the Mavericks which culminated in the Woodson, Kidd incident. I don’t mind losing to a quality opponent even if it is at home from time to time. The Mavericks are a quality team even without newly acquired Caron Butler. Especially when Dirk Nowitzki is pouring in 37 points and 9 rebounds and Jason Kidd has one of the most impressive triple doubles that I have ever watched live with 19 points, 16 rebounds, and 17 assists.

That said there is two issues with the Hawks that have been there all season and are becoming increasingly more problematic as the season wears on. First and foremost has to be the offensive game plan especially coming down the stretch in close games. You can look at the last three Hawks losses (Phoenix, Golden State, and Dallas) and re-watch the fourth quarters in all of them. They all look the same.  I am not sure that I have ever seen a team that will simply abandon what has worked the entire game the way these Hawks will. To add to that I have never seen a coach that will allow such a change. To be fair during the fourth quarter of the Utah game the Hawks executed brilliantly down the stretch even attacking their zone defense with intelligent play.

The fact that the Utah game happened makes these other losses look that much worse in my mind. True Al Horford didn’t play well last night so to simply toss the ball into the post to him wouldn’t have been the best strategy. The better strategy would have been to utilize Josh Smith in the high post where he could either take Nowitzki off of the dribble or use his excellent passing ability to hit cutters. At the very least the zone would have had to shift and would have been better than having to take contested 26 foot jump shots. Low post presence or not no offense will be successful without ample ball movement. The Hawks are a beautiful team to watch when the ball movement is there and when it is, it is apparent at how difficult a match up the team is for every other team in the NBA. While watching the game and listening to Hall of Fame coach Hubie Brown call the action I thought of how Hubie would not have let that happen to any of the teams he coached. At the very least they would have lost while getting the shots that you want against a zone defense.

The other problem I am having is the disappearance of Marvin Williams from the game late. At the rate the Hawks have been blowing leads I would want my best defenders in the game at crunch time.  Even when the Hawks are defending at the top of their game, Mike Bibby is a liability. He is the target that every other team out there game plans for. It would be different if he was showing veteran point guard leadership and was actually facilitating the offense late in the fourth quarter. If Coach Woodson is not going to get the Hawks into a set then Mike Bibby should. The fact is however he doesn’t. Therefore there is no discernible reason to have him in the game at crunch time. Either Joe or Jamal assume the point guard duties by this point.

This recap wouldn’t be just without mentioning the game that Josh Smith had. Josh’s line of 18 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists, and 7 steals put him in the quadruple double vicinity. Joe Johnson was on his way to an epic night but virtually disappeared down the stretch and along with Jamal Crawford was part of the problem in the Hawks ineffectiveness against the Mavs zone defense.

Which brings me to my view of the incident between Mike Woodson and Jason Kidd. When I saw it live I thought Woodson was clearly on the floor and thought it was completely a bone headed move. However, after watching the replay you could see that Woodson got back to the sideline and that Kidd made a direct path towards him, even extending his elbow to make contact. That said a technical foul on Woodson was the only call that an official could make giving the situation. While John Hollinger and others may think it was a heady play I think it was bush league (to steal a phrase from baseball) for a future Hall of Famer like Kidd.