Atlanta Hawks Blog – Page 49 – NBA Blog

Pacers rebound with 106-83 rout of Hawks in Game 5

Frank Vogel made a few simple lineup adjustments and a strong pregame pitch. It was just what the Pacers needed Wednesday night.

Indiana played more physical and more focused basketball than Atlanta, and for the first time in this best-of-seven series played defense the way Vogel has been coaching it all season. Against all that, Atlanta never had a chance.

Veteran David West broke out of a series-long funk to score 24 points, Paul George finished with another double-double and Indiana pulled away for a 106-83 victory to take a 3-2 lead over the Hawks.

”We needed to re-establish our confidence,” said Vogel, the Pacers coach. ”We’re still a young team. We needed to re-establish our ability to slow them down.”

Indiana did that and a whole lot more on a night in which it was virtually flawless.

West looked like his old self backing down defenders, then spinning away to hit his trademark step-back shots. George went making 7 of 8 shots from the field, finishing with 10 rebounds and five assists – another strong showing in a series he’s dominated in Indiana’s three wins.

Vogel changed the rotations, keeping some starters with the second unit to add scoring punch. And after posting the best defensive field goal percentage in the NBA this season, the Pacers finally managed to hold Atlanta under 50 percent shooting.

— Reported by Michael Marot of the Associated Press

Josh Smith scores 29, Hawks beat Pacers 102-91 to tie series

Josh Smith scored 29 points as the Atlanta Hawks built a 17-point lead at halftime, then withstood an Indiana comeback over the final two quarters to even the series with a 102-91 victory in Game 4 on Monday night.

After struggling much of the second half, Smith made every big play down the stretch. He swished a rare 3-pointer, came up with an offensive rebound to set up a 3 by Kyle Korver, then finished off a fast break with a right-handed dunk.

Paul George scored 18 of his 21 points in the second half as the Pacers made a game of it but couldn’t come back from a 57-40 deficit at the break.

Tied at two wins apiece, the series returns to Indianapolis for Game 5 on Wednesday night.

Korver added 19 points off the bench, most of them coming on his specialty: the 3-pointer. He knocked down five from outside the arc, including the biggest one with 2:33 remaining after Al Horford threw up a wild shot that missed. Smith snatched one of his 11 rebounds and spotted Korver lurking all alone on the outside.

Horford chipped in with 18 points.

Indiana was better offensively but still struggled to make shots, finishing at 38 percent on a 32-of-84 performance. George came alive after halftime, connecting three times from beyond the stripe, while every other starter was in double figures.

It wasn’t enough.

— Reported by Paul Newberry of the Associated Press

Pacers continue to lose games on road in Atlanta

The Pacers, these Pacers, are not the stay-out-all-night, party-hearty, go-hard-or-go-home types.

So why can’t the Indiana Pacers, losers of 12 straight games in Atlanta, beat this ordinary Hawks team on the road? Why can’t they come into Philips Arena, which is usually three-quarters filled with fans who’d rather be watching football, and take down a team that will be dismantled at season’s end?

It’s understandable to lose 11 straight in San Antonio, as the Pacers have. It’s not understandable to lose 12 consecutive times in Atlanta, where the Hawks have been beacons of mediocrity over the years.

“I have no theory why,” Paul George said after the Pacers practiced in advance of Monday night’s Game 4. “Sometimes we’ve played well down here and lost. Sometimes, like (Saturday night), we’ve played poorly and lost. I couldn’t give you a reason.”

— Reported by Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star

Hawks center Johan Petro with wife for birth of child

Atlanta Hawks center Johan Petro has missed practice to be with his wife for the birth of their child.

Petro returned to his home in Miami to with his wife, who is scheduled to deliver the child on Sunday. The team is hopeful the 7-footer will return to Atlanta in time for Game 4 of the playoff series against the Indiana Pacers on Monday night.

Petro made his first start of the playoffs in Game 3, part of a new, bigger lineup that carried the Hawks to a 90-69 victory.

— Reported by Paul Newberry of the Associated Press

Josh Smith to start Game 2 despite ankle sprain

Josh Smith will be in Atlanta’s starting lineup Wednesday night at Indiana.

The Hawks forward sprained his right ankle after stepping on Devin Harris’ foot late in Sunday’s 107-90 loss. Indiana leads the best-of-seven first-round series 1-0.

Coach Larry Drew said before the team’s morning shootaround he expects Smith to be “full go.” Smith adds he’ll be “all right” and he’s not thinking about the injury.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Josh Smith expected to play Game 2 for Hawks

Josh Smith, the Hawks’ leading scorer, will play in Game 2 against the Pacers Wednesday after suffering a sprained right ankle in the playoff series opener.

Smith was a full participant in Tuesday’s workout. He missed the on-court portion of Monday’s workout after suffering the injury in the third quarter of the Game 1 loss.

“I should be all right,” Smith said. “It’s still a little sore but it’s playoff time and I have to suck it up.”

— Reported by Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Atlanta Hawks coach Larry Drew calls out team for playing soft

On the flight back to Atlanta, Hawks coach Larry Drew watched tape of his team getting pushed around in Game 1 of the playoffs.

”I couldn’t believe my eyes, to be perfectly honest,” Drew said Monday.

So, the normally upbeat Drew delivered a scathing message to his players: If they don’t get more passionate and a lot more physical, this series against the Indiana Pacers won’t be lasting very long.

”It becomes a little bit mind-boggling, particularly when you get to the playoffs,” he said. ”You’re going to come up with schemes and ways to defend things … but the last thing you think you need to come up with is any kind of motivating to get the guys to compete and play at a high level.”

The Pacers were quite the bullies in the opener of the best-of-seven series – and the visiting team barely pushed back. Atlanta was outrebounded 48-32. Indiana got to the foul line a staggering 34 times, compared to just 14 for the Hawks. The result was not all that surprising: a 107-90 rout that led to the scathing critique from Drew.

— Reported by Paul Newberry of the Associated Press

Melo score 40 vs Hawks, Knicks win 10th game in a row

Carmelo Anthony put on another scoring show, though he didn’t have to do it alone.

Anthony scored 40 points and the Knicks got key contributions from J.R. Smith and Raymond Felton during a 19-5 fourth-quarter run that sparked New York to its 10th straight victory, 95-82 over Atlanta on Wednesday night.

”Melo is smart enough to know that if he’s doubled, he’ll sacrifice the ball,” said Knicks coach Mike Woodson. ”And we’ve got enough shooters around him that are making big shots. That opens it up for him even more. And when he gets going like he did tonight, they’re not going to leave him alone very often.”

Anthony, who scored 50 in his last game at Miami, scored 26 in the first half. He commanded more defensive attention in the second half, which left opportunities for Smith, who scored 19, and Felton, who scored 14. Felton’s quickness to the basket resulted in three straight scores during a 12-2 streak that turned a tie game into an 84-74 Knicks lead that was never threatened…

Anthony made 17 of 27 from the field and was 5-for-6 at the line. He also had five rebounds and three assists, with only one turnover…

Atlanta lost the opportunity to move into a tie for fourth place in the Eastern Conference and wasted a 25-point effort by Kyle Korver, who came up two points short of his season high.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Hawks center Zaza Pachulia out six months after surgery

Atlanta Hawks forward/center Zaza Pachulia had surgery today to repair his sore right Achilles at Mercy Hospital in Charlotte, NC. The surgery was performed by surgeon Dr. Robert Anderson of OrthoCarolina with Hawks Team Physician Dr. Michael Bernot of Peachtree Orthopaedic Clinic attending.

Pachulia will now undergo a period of rest, treatment and rehabilitation. The expected recovery time is approximately six months and his status will be updated as appropriate throughout his recovery.

Hawks hand Cavaliers ninth straight loss

Devin Harris scored a season-high 25 points and Josh Smith nearly added a triple-double Monday night as the Atlanta Hawks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 102-94 to improve their chances of securing home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Smith had 18 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists before a sparse crowd in Philips Arena to help the Hawks (42-33) pull within one game of Brooklyn (42-31) for fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

Reserve Marreese Speights scored 14 of his 22 in the final quarter, but the Cavs (22-51) did not seriously threaten after pulling within 58-56 early in the third period.

Shaun Livingston, starting with Kyrie Irving not playing in the second night of a back-to-back, had 14 points and six assists in Cleveland’s ninth straight loss.

Harris, who scored 13 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s win over the visiting Magic, picked up where he left off. He scored Atlanta’s first seven points and had 11 in the first quarter as the Hawks built a 25-19 lead…

Al Horford returned to start at center for Atlanta after missing two games with a stomach illness. He had 16 points and six rebounds before fouling out in the fourth quarter.

— Reported by Matt Winkeljohn of the Associated Press