Full Recap: Hawks Lose Ugly vs. Warriors

The Golden State Warriors gave the Hawks every opportunity to come from behind and get an ugly win, but the Hawks didn’t take advantage.

The Hawks didn’t rebound very well, they took bad shots, and they missed free throws.

Very simply, the Hawks deserved to lose yesterday.

Final Score: Warriors 85 | Hawks 82

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SDS Player of the Game (David Lee)
It would have been tough to pick the SDS Player of the Game if the Hawks were to win. I might have still had to give it to David Lee even if the Hawks won. There just wasn’t any Hawks player that I was impressed with. With that being said, David Lee gets it. He posed a 22-12 stat line.

Josh Smith……More Like JR Smith
Not an official stat, but I saw Josh Smith take 12 jump shots last night. How many of them did he make? 2. He averaged 3 jump shots every 5 field goal attempts last night. Why? I have no idea. I could understand if he was making those jump shots, but he wasn’t. He kept missing but he kept on insisting to take them.

I’ve said this so many times, and I’m sure I’ll say it more in the future, but Josh Smith is not ever going to be considered as a “top Power Forward” in the league until he improves his shot selection and basketball decisions. Josh Smith has the talent and athleticism to be a top Power Forward, but that potential will never be reached until he either makes that jump shot consistently (unlikely) or stop taking that jump shot completely (unlikely).

But let’s not all just focus on his shot selection. Josh Smith also didn’t box out much and his overall defensive performance isn’t something to rave about. I can’t think of a worst Josh Smith game this season.

Now I know there are games where you could say “Why is this guy not an All-star?”, but then there are games like the one last night….where you could say “Why should he even be considered to be an All-Star?”.

Below Average Joe
Joe Johnson made his first field goal attempt last night, which got me optimistic early about him having a good game last night…. However, he went to miss 7 straight shots after that, so that went out the window. He did have a good third quarter though, as he went 5-8 from the field, but in the fourth quarter, he only took one shot (and missed it) Michael Cunningham tweeted that Joe’s knee stiffened up in the 4th quarter, so there’s that excuse….but still, if you’re going to be out on the floor, you better be trying to contribute, especially when your team is down, and you’re the player that the team looks at when it comes to clutch situations.

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Warriors & Hawks Players & Coaches Quotes/Reactions:

Larry Drew on “rust” playing a factor to loss:

"It could have been [rust]. One thing is with a few days off, you don’t want guys laying around the whole break. But I’m not blaming it on that. We didn’t play the way we were capable of playing and we didn’t play with energy."

Joe Johnson on “rust” playing a factor to loss:

"Granted, the layoff, but, no excuse, man. They beat us to a lot of hustle plays. They got a lot of easy baskets. We shot a lot of jump shots and we weren’t making them, so it was tough."

Joe Johnson’s reaction on loss:

"We shot a lot of jumpshots, and we weren’t making it . . . [and] I thought we missed a lot of point-blank shots with nobody around. It was definitely a tough loss for us."

Tracy McGrady tweets about loss:

"We took a tough L last night. Milwaukee Bucks in town tomorrow."

Al Horford tweeting after the game:

"Tough one tonight. Have to get ready for the next one! #energy!"

Marvin Williams on the Hawks’ missed shots:

"Take nothing away from Golden State. They played extremely hard. But it was a combination of both (our offense and their defense). Guys kind of buckled in and got stops when they needed to get stops."

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Extra Short Notes:

Atlanta shot 33% from the floor, only made six of their 11 free throw attempts and got outrebounded 33-18 in the first half.
Joe Johnson moved past Eddie Johnson into 7th place on the Hawks’ all-time made FGs list.
Zaza Pachulia had a 13 and 16 statline. He missed way too many easy bunnies though.
Marvin Williams also grabbed 12 rebounds (7 offensive rebounds).
Jeff Teague scored 15 points, but was bullied by Monta Ellis on the defensive end.
Tracy McGrady only played 6 minutes.
The Hawks finished the game 4-18 from beyond the arc (22.2%).
The Hawks finished the game 16-26 from the free throw line (61.5%).
The Hawks record is now (20-15) and maintain their 6th seed spot.
They are still only 2.5 games behind the Indiana Pacers (3rd seed).
They are still 2.5 games ahead of both the Boston Celtics (7th seed) and the New York Knicks (8th seed).
Hawks have lost 9 out of their last 13 games.
The Hawks went 4-9 in the month of February.

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Next Game:

Another home game, vs. Milwaukee Bucks.

The Bucks have lost 7 out of their last 9 games and they are only 6-13 on the road, so there’s hope that the Hawks will start the month of March with a win.

Let’s just hope Josh Smith doesn’t try to get into a shooting competition with Ersan Ilyasova.

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