Atlanta Hawks Making a Power Play in the East and Other Wednesday NBA Takeaways
You could argue that the Atlanta Hawks' 127-98 thrashing of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday was nothing more than a ledger-balancer or maybe just a study in the motivational power of vengeance.
In some ways, that's true. The Hawks trounced the Cavs by 29 points, but all the result did was level the season series between the two clubs. Remember, Cleveland smashed Atlanta by 33 on Nov. 15.
Anyone who really believes this was just a get-back game for the Hawks—an outlier aided by a particularly sleepy Cavs club—is as lost as LeBron James and Co. were on defense.
The Hawks machine-gunned the Cavaliers on Wednesday, peppering them with an incessant barrage of open shots created by their trademark ball movement. Atlanta shot 16-of-28 from long distance, a scorching 57.1 percent. And its nine triples in the second quarter set a franchise mark, per Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
It was an offensive clinic, complete with 36 assists on 49 made buckets. The Hawks were surgical in their execution, committing just nine turnovers. Perhaps the best indicator of the Hawks' offensive onslaught: We've parsed out a half-dozen eye-opening stats before even getting to the fact that they shot 64.5 percent overall.
Cavs head coach David Blatt managed to recover from the blinding display of perimeter shooting to comment on the debacle by doing the only thing that seemed appropriate. He said he was sorry, via ESPN's Dave McMenamin:
To be fair, some of what happened to the Cavs (who actually hosted this game, which makes the result even more incredible) was bad luck. The Hawks aren't going to nail 16 threes every night. They average 9.4 makes from long range per game—good enough to rank sixth in the league but not good enough to say this was the norm.
At the same time, the Cavs were slow to rotate, sometimes unmindful of their assignments and, perhaps worst of all, not very good at keeping the Hawks' guards out of the middle. Brian Geltzeiler of HoopsCritic.com noted Cleveland's concerns:
This seems like a good time to mention that Jeff Teague (hamstring), Atlanta's best backcourt player, didn't even suit up.
Backup Shelvin Mack torched the Cavaliers' perimeter defenders, drilling a perfect six of six from beyond the arc. Dennis Schroder, starting for Teague, got points wherever he wanted, piling up 10 points and a team-high 10 assists in just 22 minutes.
LeBron James had a perfectly decent night, scoring 21 points on 16 shots in 29 minutes before an early trip to the pine, but not much else went to plan for Cleveland. Though there were excuses available, none of them were strong enough to disguise what really happened: The Hawks beasted, blitzing a team with the kind of buzz they probably deserve more at this point in the year.
We'll say this for the Hawks: They understand that the best way to build some cred is to hammer the hyped.
At 18-7, Atlanta has won nine of its last 10 and is only a game-and-a-half out of the top spot in the East—an impressive feat made more remarkable by the fact that Al Horford, its resident star, has only recently shown flashes of finding his groove. USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt felt the Hawks win should have been expected:
Turns out this Hawks team was actually a sleeping giant, honing its offense and building the culture of accountability that has the roster playing the most cohesive ball in the conference.
Suffice it to say, spirits are high in Atlanta.
Having done much more than avenge their loss to the Cavs, the Hawks' real test is yet to come. Their next three are against Western Conference teams: at Houston, at Dallas and back home to face the Clippers.
The Hawks' announcing their legitimacy to the East is one thing; proving they can compete with the real elite out West is quite another. We'll see how this goes.
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We Should All Just Watch the Spurs and Mavs Forever
They almost played forever on Wednesday in Texas, going back and forth in a beat writer's nightmare that featured improbable finishes, multiple twists of fate and perhaps the most riveting game of the year.
This was quality stuff, top to bottom—two incredible teams playing at postseason-intensity levels.
Marc Gasol banked in a three to send the game to overtime and then made a layup with nine seconds left in the extra period to bring about a second overtime. Then it was Tim Duncan who fired a straight-on 20-footer off the glass to send the proceedings into triple overtime.
Maybe the most remarkable aspect: Memphis was playing the second leg of a back-to-back, having just defeated the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday. USA Today's Sam Amick noted the Spurs saw a good on-court display of Gasol's skill set, as they are considering him in free agency:
The numbers were gaudy: Zach Randolph had 21 points and 21 rebounds, Tim Duncan had 23 points, 16 boards, five assists, three blocks and two steals in 48 minutes—the most playing time he'd logged in a game since 2008, per Basketball-Reference.com.
Courtney Lee played 53 minutes. Danny Green played 52, scoring 25 points and blocking five shots.
In the end, the Memphis Grizzlies won in triple OT, 117-116, mainly because nothing this good could last forever. Spurs fans will cite 14 missed free throws as the reason for the loss—not without good reason.
The takeaway (since that's what we're here for): The Western Conference playoffs can't get here soon enough.
Dwyane Wade Needs Help
It's been a long time since we've seen Dwyane Wade get loose like he did against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday. Alas, his 42 points (Wade's highest total since scoring 45 on Dec. 29, 2010) on 12-of-19 shooting came in a 105-87 loss that saw his teammates shoot a combined 29.4 percent from the field.
Like the Wade of yesteryear used to, he worked his way to the foul line like crazy, earning 21 trips on the night. The performance added to the growing hopes that Wade might have enough juice left to help the Heat survive their rash of injuries. Bleacher Report's Ethan J. Skolnick's observation is Wade may be getting closer to "believing he's who he was":
Even if this was just a flash of the old Flash, it was welcome.
Gobert's Game Is Expanding
This is not a test: 7'1" Rudy Gobert unofficially became the tallest person to ever successfully execute a Eurostep on Wednesday.
After one witnesses the majesty of that play, it's easy to understand why the rest of the Heat wilted around Wade. They were stunned into submission. Jody Genessey of the Deseret News expressed his astonishment in watching Gobert:
The Suns Averted Disaster
It didn't come easy, but the Phoenix Suns ended their six-game losing streak with a narrow victory over the hapless Charlotte Hornets behind Isaiah Thomas' 23 points off the bench and a key late steal from Goran Dragic. Paul Coro of azcentral.com pointed out that Dragic's steal was critical in helping the Suns regain the lead:
Things haven't gone as planned for the Suns this year, but salvaging this game was absolutely critical. Stumbling to a 13-14 start out of the gate is bad; losing to the Hornets to prolong an ugly skid would have been disastrous.
The Pistons Know How to Make History
Predictably, the Dallas Mavericks handled the Detroit Pistons with ease, 117-106. Chandler Parsons posted 32 points, and the Mavs made 50.6 percent of their shots from the field against the now-5-21 Pistons.
Nonetheless, we got two doses of history from Detroit.
Andre Drummond had 19 points, 24 rebounds, four steals and three blocks, making him the first player to amass those totals in a single game since Vlade Divac did it for the Lakers in 1995, per Basketball-Reference.com.
History-making performance No. 2 came from Brandon Jennings, who may have displayed the worst shot selection of all time on this play:
History's cool and all, but these two facts juxtaposed offer good reason for Drummond (not Jennings) to be part of the franchise's future.
The Blazers Found a Solution
Relative to his draft position, No. 5 overall in 2012, Thomas Robinson has been a disappointment. But when the Portland Trail Blazers had to make a lineup tweak to compensate for the injured Robin Lopez (broken hand), the third-year forward stepped in and delivered.
T-Rob matched his career high with 15 points and set a new mark with 16 rebounds filling in at the 4 as LaMarcus Aldridge slid to the 5.
The Blazers fought back to steal a 104-97 win against a Milwaukee Bucks team playing its first game without Jabari Parker, who'll miss the season with a torn ACL. Unfortunately for the Bucks, they may be looking for another replacement on the wing; Giannis Antetokounmpo went down after just 18 minutes with a nasty ankle injury in this one.
James Harden Found a Way
With his perimeter shot not falling, James Harden piled up 41 points in a 115-111 overtime win against the Denver Nuggets—18 of them via the foul line. He was 18-of-21 from the stripe, offsetting a 1-of-7 effort from beyond the arc.
Arron Afflalo sent the game to overtime with a buzzer-beating three (those were going around on Wednesday), but Harden buckled down to score eight in the extra session, icing the game.
