Category: Atlanta Hawks Blog

Atlanta Hawks blog

Dikembe Mutombo suffers career-ending knee injury

Dikembe Mutombo, 42, was carried away on a stretcher in the first quarter of the Rockets’ 107-103 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 2 with what he said was a career-ending left knee injury. “It’s over for me for my career,” said Mutombo, who will be examined by team doctors when the Rockets return to Houston today. An eight-time NBA All-Star and four-time Defensive Player of the Year, Mutombo is one of the game’s great humanitarians and had a distinguished 18-year career with Denver, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York and Houston.

More Dikembe quotes from the Chronicle: “It’s not something that I planned,” Mutombo said. “All I can say right now is I had a wonderful run of 18 years and stayed injury-free. I thank God a lot for all this blessing and putting such great people around me for all of my career in the NBA. I’m just happy. “I have to go out with my head high and not be disappointed and have no regrets. I have so many things I can be so thankful for over my 18 years.”

InsideHoops.com note: Mutombo was banging for position against Blazers center Greg Oden, who has had several early-career knee injuries himself, when he suffered the injury.

Read fan discussion of Mutombo’s career in this forum topic. 

Rockets players imitate Mutombo’s voice:


Hawks more than a one-man team

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Sekou Smith) reports: “I know we’ve been cast as a one-man team in the past,” Hawks forward Josh Smith said, referring to captain and All-Star Joe Johnson. “But the truth is, that’s never really been the case. Never. “And that’s really the beauty of our team, when you think about it. We’ve got six or seven guys that can get going at any time and change the game for us. You never know who it’s going to be.” In Sunday’s Game 1 romp over Miami, it was Smith serving as the catalyst on both ends of the floor. He finished with a game-high 23 points, 10 rebounds and three steals in the Hawks’ 90-64 win. “The beauty behind that is Joe Johnson doesn’t care. Mike Bibby doesn’t and Flip Murray doesn’t and Mo Evans doesn’t and Zaza Pachulia doesn’t,” Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. “That’s how you build a team. When guys could care less about who’s going to get the glory and just pass the baton around, it makes winning the top priority.”

Mike Brown named Coach of Year

Cleveland’s Mike Brown is the recipient of the Red Auerbach Trophy as the 2008-09 NBA Coach of the Year, the NBA announced today.

Brown totaled 355 points, including 55 first-place votes, from a panel of 122 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. Coaches were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote.

In his fourth season at the helm in Cleveland, Brown guided the Cavaliers to a franchise- and NBA-best 66-16 (.805) season, marking only the 12th time an NBA team has won at least 66 games. Cleveland started the season with a franchise-best 23-straight wins at Quicken Loans Arena and finished with the best home record in the league at 39-2. Cleveland is the sixth team in NBA history to record 39 home wins and the first to do so since the 1996-97 Chicago Bulls. The Cavaliers’ 21-game improvement over last year’s 45-37 record tied the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers for the second biggest improvement all-time among teams with at least 45 wins in the previous season.

Brown was named NBA Coach of the Month for December, February and March. At the All-Star break, Cleveland owned the highest winning percentage in the Eastern Conference (36-9, .800), earning Brown the spot as head coach for the East in Phoenix. It was Brown’s first appearance as an All-Star head coach and the second in franchise history (Lenny Wilkens, 1989).

Brown led the Cavaliers to at least 45 wins in each of his first three campaigns, marking only the second time Cleveland won that many games in three consecutive seasons (1991-92 to 1993-94). With a combined regular season record of 211-117 (.643) in four seasons, Brown has the highest winning percentage of any head coach in franchise history. In each of his first three seasons in Cleveland, Brown has led the Cavaliers to the playoffs, amassing a franchise-best 26-20 (.565) postseason record. In 2007, he led Cleveland to its first trip to The Finals.

Brown joined the Cavaliers after two seasons as associate head coach for the Indiana Pacers. Prior to that, Brown served as assistant coach for three seasons in San Antonio, helping guide the Spurs to the 2003 NBA championship. Brown began his coaching career with the Washington Wizards, where he spent two seasons as an assistant coach under Bernie Bickerstaff.

The Coach of the Year Award is named after legendary coach and Hall of Famer Red Auerbach who guided the Celtics to nine NBA Championships. In 1996, Auerbach was honored as one of the Top 10 Coaches in NBA History as the NBA celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Houston coach Rick Adelman finished second in the voting with 13 first-place votes and 151 total points.

Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy finished third with 13 first-place votes and 150 total points.

Portland Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan finished fourth with  15 first-place votes and 127 total points.

Denver Nuggets coach George Karl finished fifth with 11 first-place votes and 117 total points.

The next five coaches to receive some votes were Jerry Sloan, Erik Spoelstra, Mike Woodson, Phil Jackson and Doc Rivers.

Hawks destroy Heat 90-64 in Game 1

The AP reports: With Josh Smith delivering one rim-shaking dunk after another and plenty of teammates chipping in, the Hawks made Miami look like a one-man team, running Dwyane Wade and the Heat ragged for a 90-64 blowout in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference series Sunday night… “We can’t worry about what anyone else is doing,” Joe Johnson said. “We’ve got to control our own destiny.” For one night at least, they did just that by holding Wade to 19 points—11 below his NBA-leading average—and allowing only one other Miami player to reach double figures… The Hawks tied a franchise record for fewest points allowed in a playoff game. Wade spent much of the night on his backside or complaining to the referees, his frustration growing as the Hawks raced to a 20-point lead by halftime in the opener to the best-of-seven series.

InsideHoops.com notes: The Heat shot just 36.6%… Both teams were lousy from three-point range… The Hawks had 50 rebounds, the Heat 35. The Hawks had 23 assists, the Heat 12… All five Hawks starters scored 10 or more points, plus Zaza Pachulia had 10 with 10 rebounds off the bench… Wade had 19 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals but 8 turnovers.

Fans predict first round playoff results

InsideHoops.com posted a poll two days ago asking fans to predict the results of the 2009 NBA playoffs first round.

In the East:

325 fans picked the Cavaliers to beat the Pistons. Just 29 picked Detroit.
321 fans picked the Magic to beat the 76ers. Just 20 picked Philadelphia.
258 fans picked the Celtics to beat the Bulls. 87 picked Chicago.
And in the East’s only fairly close result, 183 fans picked the Heat while 155 picked the Hawks.

As expected, other than the Lakers-Jazz series, the voting was pretty close in the West:

336 fans picked the Lakers to beat the Jazz. Just 17 picked Utah.
241 fans picked the Nuggets to beat the Hornets. 113 picked New Orleans.
224 fans picked the Spurs to beat the Mavericks. 122 picked Dallas.
198 fans picked the Trail Blazers to beat the Rockets. 152 picked Houston.

Hawks beat Heat 81-79 in meaningless game

The AP reports: Flip Murray scored 17 points to lead the Atlanta Hawks reserves past the Miami Heat scrubs 81-79 Tuesday night in a game that shed little light on their upcoming playoff series. With both teams locked into their seedings—they’ll play Game 1 in Atlanta this weekend—there was little incentive for either to give significant minutes to top players. They didn’t. Miami star Dwyane Wade, coming off a career-best 55 points against the New York Knicks, wasn’t in uniform. Neither were Jermaine O’Neal or Udonis Haslem, the latter recovering from a deep cut on his right thumb. Michael Beasley led the Heat with 23 points and 13 rebounds in only 24 minutes. The Hawks rested Maurice Evans and Zaza Pachulia, and kept their starters on the bench much of the night. Speedy Claxton, a $25 million free-agent bust, actually played for the first time in more than two years.

Hawks clinch fourth in East with win over Indiana

The AP reports: Josh Smith scored 30 points and Joe Johnson had 24 to help the Hawks clinch the fourth spot in the Eastern Conference with a 122-118 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Friday night. Al Horford finished with 22 points and 15 rebounds as the Hawks earned home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Atlanta needed either a win or a loss by Miami, which fell by seven in Boston, to wrap up the No. 4 spot… Danny Granger had 35 points to lead the Pacers in scoring for the eighth straight game. Jarrett Jack, who finished with 17, matched Indiana’s biggest lead at seven midway through the third, but the Hawks never trailed after Johnson hit two free throws to make it 76-74 with 4:04 left in the quarter.

Hawks beat Bucks 113-105, close in on No. 4 seed

The AP reports: The Atlanta Hawks’ recent string of losses to playoff contenders was understandable, if not particularly convenient. But with the Hawks scrambling to secure the No. 4 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference, a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks would have been much harder to explain. Joe Johnson stepped in took care of the potential problem. Johnson scored 30 points and hit a pair of big shots in the final minute of the game, stopping a late Milwaukee rally and nailing down a 113-105 victory Wednesday night… Bibby finished with 22 points and Josh Smith added 21 points and 7 rebounds for Atlanta. Bogans had 22 points and Jefferson added 19 for Milwaukee.

Hawks use 3-pointers to beat Raptors 118-110

The AP reports: Josh Smith had 25 points and seven rebounds, and the Hawks used 11-for-22 shooting from 3-point range to beat the Toronto Raptors 118-110 on Tuesday night. The Hawks (44-34), trying to secure the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference, also got 25 points from Joe Johnson and 17 from Maurice Evans. Mike Bibby added 13 points and 10 assists, while Al Horford chipped in 15 points and 12 rebounds… Chris Bosh had 21 points and 10 rebounds for his eighth consecutive double-double and 40th this season, but the Raptors lost their second in a row after winning six straight. Shawn Marion had 18 points and six rebounds, Jose Calderon added 16 points and 13 assists, and Andrea Bargnani scored 15 points for the Raptors.