Tuesday NBA Roundup: Are Hawks the Team to Challenge LeBron James, Cavs in East?
What does LeBron James do on a Tuesday night when his Cleveland Cavaliers are resting up for the New York Knicks on a Wednesday?
Well, he might lend some words of praise to a book:
And when he's done with that, he's probably watching the rest of the East duke it out for the title of "Team Most Ready to Challenge the King"—hopefully from a throne befitting an NBA superstar who's won his conference five years running.
On this night, James probably caught the Charlotte Hornets shellacking the Chicago Bulls on League Pass (more on that in a bit) before tuning into his old team (the Miami Heat) taking on the squad he saw—and conquered—in last year's Eastern Conference Finals (the Atlanta Hawks).
Between Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Goran Dragic, Luol Deng and Hassan Whiteside, the Heat have the glitzy pieces to be a powerhouse along the Eastern seaboard. The Hawks, on the other hand, are already a well-oiled machine, fresh off a franchise-best 60-win season and the team's first trip to the conference finals since conference finals became a thing in the Association.
Both teams fit those respective descriptions to a T during Atlanta's 98-92 win at American Airlines Arena in South Florida.
The Hawks held control of the game from the first quarter on. A 12-0 run to start the second provided enough cushion that Atlanta spent most of the middle periods up by double digits.
Jeff Teague spent much of that spurt setting up his teammates for easy shots in their favorite spots. When he wasn't dishing out his nine assists, Teague was busy torching Dragic and the rest of Miami's guards with his quickness, ball control and ever-sharpening shot. The All-Star out of Wake Forest tallied a season-high 26 points on 9-of-18 shooting, including a pair of threes.
Teague, though, could only do so much to keep the Heat down. Miami made a push late, scoring the first 10 points of the fourth quarter and keeping things within single digits the rest of the way. Tyler Johnson and rookie Justise Winslow brought an energy to the game that some of the Heat's key players—among them, Bosh (nine points on 4-of-14 shooting) and Deng (four points on 2-of-9 shooting)—couldn't sustain.
Miami also did well to attack the middle, where Atlanta is still Charmin-soft despite the offseason addition of Tiago Splitter. The Heat matched the Hawks' 52 points in the paint, with Whiteside (23 points on 11-of-12 shooting, 14 rebounds and four blocks) more than holding his own up front.
Still, Miami has its own issues to sort out before it can think about coming after Atlanta's lofty perch, much less the Cavs' crown. The Heat, who came into the game leading the league in three-point shooting and just outside the top 10 in turnover ratio, made just five of their 28 treys and gave the ball away 18 times.
That is to say, Miami's pieces got ground up by the Hawks' gears, all while Dr. Claw the King plotted his next move from the comfort of his lair.
Charlotte's Shooting Show
Some defensive slippage was to be expected for the Bulls in year one of the post-Thibodeau era. The Hornets did their part to drive that point home in Charlotte with a 130-105 whitewashing of the Windy City squad.
"We ain't been playing no defense," Jimmy Butler lamented (via ESPN's Nick Friedell) after watching Chicago give up more points than it has in any single game in over five-and-a-half years, according to Bulls radio producer Jeff Mangurten. Other teams have just been missing shots to tell you the truth, to be honest."
Charlotte, to its credit, hit more than its fair share. The Hornets knocked down 51.6 percent of their shots, including a scorching-hot 14 of 23 from three. That performance kept Michael Jordan's club on pace to erase its brick-tastic memories from 2014-15, as stats illustrate, per Charlotte Hornets PR:
Not bad for a squad that shot a league-worst 31.8 percent from beyond the arc last season.
Another "No" For New Orleans
At this point, the New Orleans Pelicans probably couldn't buy a win, even with the full force of team owner Tom Benson's hefty pocketbook behind them.
Of course, it takes much more than money to win in the NBA. Health and luck are both paramount to success, and the Pelicans haven't had much of either. Alvin Gentry's shorthanded squad struggled to keep things close in a 103-94 loss to the previously winless Orlando Magic in the Crescent City.
Alexis Ajinca, starting at center in place of the injured Omer Asik, managed a mere four points and four rebounds in 20 minutes. Luke Babbitt chipped in eight points and eight rebounds from Tyreke Evans' typical spot. New Orleans surely missed Quincy Pondexter's shooting stroke amid a 1-of-13 start from beyond the arc.
Those absences have only made things more difficult for Anthony Davis. The Magic, like the Golden State Warriors and Portland Trail Blazers before them, smothered The Brow from the opening tip to the final buzzer. New Orleans had trouble getting the ball to Davis, and when it did, the All-NBA First Teamer was surrounded by Orlando's long arms and forced to put the ball on the floor.
The result? A 14-point night on 3-of-12 shooting from the field and an 0-4 start for the West's reigning No. 8 seed.
Drummond Doing Damage
The Detroit Pistons at once saw their perfect record go up in smoke and wound up on the wrong end of the Indiana Pacers' first win. But the biggest story out of Detroit's 94-82 loss at the Palace had little to do with the final result.
Rather, it was Andre Drummond taking advantage of Indy's thin front line with the same productive fury that's fueled his historic start to the 2015-16 season. The fourth-year big man out of UConn piled up 25 points on 12-of-17 shooting and a career-high 29 rebounds. That marked his second 20-20 game in a row. It was also just the second 25-25 game by a Piston in at least 30 years. Drummond produced the other, in 2014.
You'll have to go back much further than that to find anyone who's matched Drummond's production through his first four games, per the Elias Sports Bureau (via SportsCenter):
It's no wonder, then, that Drummond wasn't worried about signing an extension before the Nov. 2 deadline. At this rate, he can replace any worries about locking down a max contract next summer with plans for his first trip to the All-Star Game.
Toront-and-0
It took the Toronto Raptors 20 full seasons before they could claim their first 4-0 start. A 102-91 win on the road over the Dallas Mavericks extended Toronto's impressive opening to the 2015-16 campaign.
Kyle Lowry led all participants with 27 points and 10 assists, DeMar DeRozan chipped in 20 points of his own, and the Raptors held their third opponent in four games under 40 percent shooting.
At this rate, and with its spruced-up defense, Toronto has to feel good about its chances of winning 50 games for the first time in franchise history. Then again, the Raptors were probably just as encouraged last season, when they started 24-7 but finished 25-26 from there on out.
Still Winless in L.A.
Nights like Tuesday figure to feel familiar to the Los Angeles Lakers by the time the 2015-16 campaign comes to a close.
The Purple and Gold suffered another double-digit loss—this time to the rebuilding Denver Nuggets, 120-109. Their leaky defense allowed Denver to shoot 50.6 percent, which was bolstered by blistering efficiency from Kenneth Faried (28 points on 10-of-13 shooting) and J.J. Hickson (17 points on 8-of-9 shooting).
On the other hand, the Lakers' youngsters showed some exciting glimpses. Jordan Clarkson matched his career-high 30 points—20 of which he scored in the first half. Julius Randle bullied his way to 16 points, with two coming on this monstrous baseline jam over Faried—highlights courtesy of CBS Sports' James Herbert:
D'Angelo Russell's game was plagued by poor shooting (3-of-11) and third-quarter foul trouble, but the rookie out of Ohio State still managed to hit Roy Hibbert for a beautiful fast-break jam:
As for the vets, Kobe Bryant shot his fair share of air balls—and neglected to get back on D—while Lou Williams drew three-point foul after three-point foul on the way to a career-high 19 free-throw attempts.
For all the good the Lakers offense did, the stench of the Lakers defense was overpowering, particularly for HBO's Bill Simmons:
If the team's first four games are any indication, Simmons may want to look into moving further away from Staples Center.
Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.
