Another night of NBA basketball, another tough loss at Philips Arena by the Atlanta Hawks. This time it was to the Cleveland Cavaliers 121-114. (Photos-Hawks.com)
This is a very frustrating team to watch. The team plays well in spurts, but can’t finish and close out games
The Hawks do not have a real clutch shooter, a go to guy
Late in games the team short arms shots and make costly mistakes in fundamental play. With bigs Dewayne Dedman,and Mike Muscala The team is even more undersized at Forward and Center. They have no consistent scorer at the wing positions small forward and 2 guard. Point Guard Dennis Schroder is a 20 pt per game type scorer, but often does not hit KEY shots in 4th quarter. Rookie John Collins is good but still a year or two away from being a star. This team is unable so far to play well for a full 48 minutes. Everyone keeps talking about how hard they play but a lot their energy is wasted. On offense mad dashes to the paint often end in missed layups. Players seem to be out of control or unable to find an open teammate to finish plays. Defensively they have active hands,ranking #4 in league with 9 steals per game. However they are a bad defensive team overall hovering near the bottom of the league in most categories They are #26 in opponents shooting percentage, #27 in points allowed, #28 in 3 pointers given up per game.
Players out often are out of position when ball is rotated by their opponents. Their close outs on 3 point are horrible. Defenders arrive late and often leave their feet way too early causing silly looking ‘fly bys’ missing the block, and puts them out of position for the rest of the play. Unfortunately unfocused energy is wasted energy.
It looks a lottery pick is coming sooner rather than later for Atlanta. #Hawks2020 is still on schedule.
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