NBA Blog – NBA Basketball Blog
NBA Blog: The NBA basketball news blog section of Inside Hoops
Atlanta Hawks blog
Vincent Goodwill of the Detroit News reports:
|
The Pistons’ coaching search goes on, and Mike Woodson is in town Monday to meet with team president Joe Dumars.
Woodson, the former Atlanta Hawks coach and one-time Pistons assistant, is considered the front-runner for the job due to his success with the Hawks…
The Pistons have already interviewed Lawrence Frank and Kelvin Sampson. Minnesota Timberwolves assistant and former Piston Bill Laimbeer will interview for the position Wednesday.
The AP reports:
“It’s an odd position, when the game is the best it’s ever been, when the ratings are the highest they’ve ever been, when the excitement is the greatest it’s ever (been),” Players Association attorney Jeffrey Kessler said last week. “It’s sort of odd to see the owners say we’re going to destroy this game unless you change this whole system. Players just want to play.”
Nobody can predict when they’ll get that chance again. When the Dallas Mavericks finished off the Miami Heat on Sunday night in Game 6, it sent the NBA into a most uncertain offseason.
Owners and players are nowhere close on a new collective bargaining agreement to replace the one that expires June 30. Without a new deal, players say they have been told by the owners they will be locked out.
The NBA was reduced to a 50-game season by a work stoppage in 1998-99, and the loss of games is a threat now. Citing leaguewide losses of about $300 million this season, the league hasn’t budged on its desire for significant changes to the financial structure, ranging from reductions in the length of contracts and the amount of guarantees, to an overhaul of the salary cap system that would prevent teams from being able to exceed it, as they can now under certain exceptions.
And Stern said the record TV ratings and all the other positive attention the league has received doesn’t make him any more motivated to get this settled, since he’d want to do it anyway.
“I don’t need any external prod to want to be able to make a deal,” he said…
The sides are scheduled to meet twice this week and say they hope for frequent discussions before the end of the month. Should those fail, the NBA could follow the NFL’s labor situation right into the court system, which both sides say they want to avoid. So although a work stoppage in July wouldn’t seem to have much effect since games aren’t going on, Stern insists “we very much feel the weight of the deadline.”
The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports:
A 2007 Lamborghini Murcielago belonging to NBA All-Star Allen Iverson that was towed by Atlanta Police from a Buckhead restaurant parking lot in April because it didn’t have a license tag, is still sitting in an Atlanta impound lot, reports Atlanta Business Chronicle broadcast partner WXIA-TV.
A source told WXIA reporter Jeff Hullinger that since it costs about $14,000 a year to buy a Georgia tag for such a car, and since Iverson’s car has not had a tag in four years, to get it back he would need to pay about $56,000 to the state and $300 to Futo’s for each month the car sits at the company’s city-contracted impound lot off Cheshire Bridge Road in Atlanta.
|
Atlanta Hawks forward Marvin Williams underwent a discectomy on his lower back earlier today to alleviate an isolated bulging disc. Dr. Hal Silcox of Peachtree Orthopedic Clinics performed the outpatient procedure.
Williams walked out of the surgery center this afternoon and will begin rehabilitation immediately.
He is expected to make a full recovery and return to full basketball activity in six-to-eight weeks.
Tim Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:
The Atlanta Spirit ownership group is on the verge of selling the Thrashers, but it will be holding on to the Hawks at least for a while.
The Spirit and outgoing San Diego Padres owner John Moores agreed Friday to terminate Moores’ exclusive negotiating period on a possible purchase of the Hawks, Spirit partner Michael Gearon Jr. confirmed.
“We no longer have an exclusivity,” Gearon told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It was ended by mutual agreement after preliminary discussions.”
It is not clear how long Moores’ exclusive period had been in effect. The parties agreed to end the arrangement after the period produced little momentum toward a deal. Ending the exclusivity doesn’t preclude the possibility of subsequent negotiations with Moores about the Hawks, but it reopens the process to other potential bidders.
The AP reports:
 |
Carlos Boozer scored 23 points, Derrick Rose doled out 12 assists in more of a supporting role and the Bulls cruised past the Atlanta Hawks 93-73 on Thursday night, wrapping up the East semifinal in six games…
As if to prove his point, Rose took a playoff-low 14 shots and finished with 19 points, his second-lowest total of the postseason. This was a textbook performance by the guys around him, each of them comfortable in a supporting role, each of them willing to do the dirty work at the defensive end.
The most impressive number: Chicago had assists on all but seven of its 41 baskets. Or, come to think of it, maybe it was this stat: The Hawks shot just 37 percent (27 of 74) and rarely got an open look…
Luol Deng hit some big baskets early and finished with 13 points, plus five steals. Joakim Noah scored 11 and stifled the Hawks with three blocks. Omer Asik chipped in with two swats of his own. Keith Bogans made only one basket, but it was a big 3-pointer as the Bulls put it away in the third quarter…
“What goes underrated about them is the depth of their team,” said Atlanta’s Al Horford, who had a miserable night and a tough series overall. “They just wear on you. They just kept coming, kept coming every game. It seemed like their starters were fresh.” …
Joe Johnson led the Hawks with 19 points. Josh Smith was the only other player in double figures with 18. The Hawks went 1-of-11 from beyond the 3-point arc.
InsideHoops.com notes: Jeff Teague hurt his wrist and finished the game with just four points (2-of-6 shooting) and three assists… Al Horford, playing power forward, was awful and shot 2-of-10 for seven points and four rebounds in 37 minutes… The Bulls dished 34 assists. The Hawks had just 14… Like the Hawks, the Bulls were lousy from three-point range. But Chicago shot 53.2% overall from the field, while the Hawks hit just 36.5% of their shots… The Bulls barely went to the free throw line, hitting 8-of-10.
Live fan discussion of the game took place in this forum topic.
Thursday night in Atlanta the Chicago Bulls eliminated the Hawks in six games. Winners of an NBA-best 62 regular season games, the Bulls now advance to the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals where they will face the Miami Heat (who won 58 regular season games).
To reach the Conference Finals, the Heat eliminated the Boston Celtics in five games.
Here is the complete series schedule (all times Eastern / ET)
Game 1 – Sun May 15 Miami at Chicago 8:00PM TNT/R
Game 2 – Wed May 18 Miami at Chicago 8:30PM TNT/R
Game 3 – Sun May 22 Chicago at Miami 8:30PM TNT/R
Game 4 – Tue May 24 Chicago at Miami 8:30PM TNT/R
Game 5 * Thu May 26 Miami at Chicago 8:30PM TNT/R
Game 6 * Sat May 28 Chicago at Miami 8:30PM TNT/R
Game 7 * Mon May 30 Miami at Chicago 8:30PM TNT/R
Discuss the upcoming Heat vs Bulls series in this forum topic.
A tragedy in the Chicago sports media world has developed.
WGN News reports:
A sportscaster for NBC 5 Chicago was found dead in a hotel room this morning in Atlanta.
Daryl Hawks was covering the NBA playoff game between the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks, in Atlanta.
NBC Chicago reports:
“We are all stunned right now. Daryl was a great member of our sports team, and was so excited about covering the Bulls during this playoff run,” said Frank Whittaker, Station Manager and Vice President of News.
Hawks was 38 years old. He was a three-time Emmy Winner and former Marine.
We’re sorry for Daryl’s friends, family as well as his station and co-workers.
Read fan reaction and share your own opinion in this forum topic.
The AP reports:
 |
Derrick Rose scored 33 points, Taj Gibson scored all of his 11 in the fourth quarter, and the Bulls beat the Atlanta Hawks 95-83 in Game 5 on Tuesday night to take a 3-2 lead.
Luol Deng added 23 points and Chicago let out a big sigh of relief…
Rose showed why he is the league’s youngest MVP, hitting 11 of 24 shots and finishing with nine assists. It was a big improvement over Game 4 when he needed 32 shots to score 34 points, and he was particularly effective down the stretch, attacking the rim.
“He made unbelievable plays. He exploded off the pick and roll,” Atlanta’s Josh Smith said.
Jeff Teague was big again for the Hawks in place of the injured Kirk Hinrich, scoring 21 for the third time in this series, but Atlanta came up short in the end.
Smith contributed 16 points. Joe Johnson scored 15, Zaza Pachulia finished with 13 points and Al Horford added 12 points and 10 rebounds. But Jamal Crawford scored just two points on 1-of-9 shooting…
Things got particularly tense after a two-handed dunk by Smith cut Chicago’s lead to 61-60 with just over 4 minutes left in the period. He hung on the rim and Carlos Boozer gave him a forearm to the face, leading to a retaliatory shove from Smith and technical fouls for both players.
Live fan discussion of the game took place in this forum topic.
The AP reports:
|
Josh Smith is frequently criticized by Atlanta fans for his inconsistent play. He heard nothing but cheers Sunday night, coming up with a huge game that helped the Hawks even the Eastern Conference semifinal against top-seeded Chicago at two games apiece.
Largely ignoring the long jumpers that aren’t his forte, Smith had 23 points, 16 rebounds, eight assists, two blocks and a steal in Atlanta’s 100-88 win over the Bulls…
Jeff Teague also played a big role in stopping the skid.
Filling in for injured Kirk Hinrich, the second-year guard again directed the team with the poise of a veteran instead of someone who played infrequently during the regular season and hardly at all in the first round of the playoffs. He scored 12 points and doled out four assists, putting the capper on a late 10-0 run that broke open a game that had been tight and intense all the way…
The actual MVP scored 34 points. But Derrick Rose needed 32 shots to do it, and he wasn’t nearly as effective as he was in scoring a career-best 44 points in Game 3, leading the Bulls to a 99-82 rout that restored Chicago’s home-court advantage…
Seven-footer Jason Collins started at center between Al Horford and Smith, putting Marvin Williams in a reserve role. Collins had a couple of early dunks, but he wound up playing less than 12 minutes…
Carlos Boozer had 18 points for Chicago, and Luol Deng added 13. Korver had an especially rough night, going 1 for 8 from the field. He missed all five of his 3-point attempts.