All Stars, Trades and a Second Half

Joe Johnson and Al Horford will both be playing in tonight's All-Star Game

Sorry for the lack of posting folks. I know how much you all rely on this blog for everything Hawks, so I feel it’s necessary to apologize for this team falling off your radar since my last post.

In more important news, Al Horford and Joe Johnson will represent the Hawks tonight at the All-Star Game in Dallas. Al Horford will make his first appearance as an All-Star in just his third year in the NBA. He’s put up some of the most consistent numbers for Atlanta this year averaging 13.4 ppg (career high), 9.4 rebounds per game, 1.2 blocks and is shooting 56% from the field (another career high to this point). It’s hard to argue that the Hawks would be in the same position they are now without Horford taking responsibility for much of the little things that mean the difference between a win or a loss. Obviously this becomes even more important when considering he’s put up these numbers while being undersized and playing out of position. Horford is a coaches dream. I can’t wait til he learns a few more post moves and how to score consistently moving to his left; if so this guys easily becomes a perennial All Star. Basically, congrats Al.

Joe Johnson will make his fourth appearance at this event, and every Hawks fan is hoping he has more chances than he’s had in the past to showcase his knack for knocking down impossible jumpers. Let’s face it, while Joe is no doubt deserving of his string of All-Star appearances, he has had the tendency to get lost in these rotations. Last year Joe played 21 minutes and went 0-4 from the floor. In fact, Joe did not manage a single stat other than 5 turnovers the entire game; basically he looked out-of-place in a game that begs for highlights and offense. But tonight, thanks to AI taking the game off, Joe will get his very first All Star start and we’re all hoping that means he will have a little more confidence on the floor. I mean, come on. In a game in which nearly half the possessions end in Iso situations, you’d like to think Joe would get his fair share of buckets. His performance last year was nowhere close to All-Star caliber, but I’d like to believe he’ll have more motivation to put his skills on display this year because of it.

Other than these two players, I could really give a shit about the rest of the game. Go East, I guess.

Now, stepping away from the wonderful distraction that is the 2010 All-Star Game, the Hawks still have 31 games left on the schedule while currently entangled in a back-and-forth battle for the second place seed with the Orlando Magic. The Hawks have gone 0-3 against them so far this year and are averaging an unimpressive 81 ppg against them while shooting a whopping 39.3%. The Hawks probably match up worse with Orlando than any other team in the NBA. It just so happens that they happen to be in our division. We have no answer for Superman Dwight down low and the defensive strategy of switching always kills us against this team who love passing the ball around the perimeter until the open man is found. Plus it helps that the Magic have shot close to season-best percentages against the Hawks this year: averaging around 45% from the field normally but over 50% from the field against the Hawks. It sure feels like those guys have no problem making every shot against Atlanta. Part of this domination I’d like to believe is mental, but the mismatches are just too glaring not to notice.

Going into this trade deadline I was hoping the Hawks might make an addition like a seven-foot Brendan Haywood or even a Drew Gooden just to take some pressure off the second unit (Zaza and Joe Beast). These are guys the Hawks are relying on to step up in the playoffs against the likes of Perkins, Shaq and Dwight and the addition of someone like Haywood would be a serious improvement to our chances, I think. But alas, both of those guys I mentioned got swapped for each other a couple days ago. The Hawks will more than likely have to manage with their current rotation, which can be unsettling when considering the match-ups we’ve had with Cleveland and Orlando this season. Who knows, maybe Zaza will take full responsibility for challenging those guys just as he unexpectedly did against KG two seasons ago. We can only hope.

There is some good news, though, going into this final stretch of the season. Of the 31 games left, 18 of them are against teams under .500. That is more than any other team in the NBA. These are games that the Hawks need to win and, really, they have to win them if they want a shot at taking the second seed in the East from Orlando. Such a feat could be the difference between Eastern Conference Finals and a second round exit. As the Hawks have proved over the past 3 seasons, there is nothing more important for this team then a home court advantage. Currently Atlanta is a game and a half behind Orlando for the division lead and holding onto a half game lead over Boston for the third seed. The Hawks still have two games left against the Cavs and one on March 24th against Orlando. Winning any of these could really boost this teams confidence going into the postseason. Or at least I’d like to think that.

Point to hammer home for the rest of the season:

-Rebounding. The Hawks’ rebounding rates have been steadily slipping this season to the point that they are pretty much even with their opponents on any given night. This isn’t encouraging when considering how important getting and preventing second chance opportunities are. That’s pretty obvious. With our current rotation I think this has to start with Marvin Williams. He is a 6-9 small forward who never looks fully comfortable offensively (either dribbling to the hoop and forgetting what it was he wanted to do exactly or hanging around the perimeter and getting lost among the rest), but he could easily use his size to beat his defender on the glass. Other than his rookie year, Marvin is averaging the lowest rebounding totals of his career at just over five per game. These numbers are perplexing because it seems that when he’s motivated the guy could easily average around eight per game (plus, he’s a smart guy). It’s all about being physical and that is no doubt a place where Marvin has struggled along with back-up, but much older, Joe Smith.

All-Star game starts around 8:20 tonight. Go Hawks