Atlanta
Philip Maymin
Basketball News Services
The Hawks are starting to be a very good passing team. Sure, they got blown out by the Heat 111-92but there is some excellent news from the silver lining department at Optimists 'R Us.
First of all, the Hawks had five players achieve double figure scoring while the Heat had only four. Of course, the top two scorers in the game were Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal with 25 apiece, while Atlanta's leader was Antoine Walker with 18. Still, the scoring was spread well. Even more important than points was the distribution of field goal attempts. The Hawks had five players attempt 10 or more, with a sixth (Josh Smith) attempting 9; only three Heat players attempted 9 or more field goals. Walker led with 17 attempts but then again he played 43 minutes, and is probably the best player on the team, so it should be no surprise he got the most touches.
Walker also grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds and dished out five assists. Tyronn Lue had a game-high 10 assists, matching his season high against New Jersey, and one short of his career high, which he has set three times. The Hawks actually had 21 total team assists for the game, just two shy of the Miami total.
Atlanta had been averaging about 19 assists per game, fourth-lowest in the league. If they continue to average 21, that would put them exactly half-way in the league standings.
So what do all these numbers mean? They mean the Hawks are starting to be a very good passing team. They're sharing the ball and the field goal attempts. Walker still launched six three-point attempts, making none, but that's been a large part of his game for so long it's not going to change overnight.
NEXT GAME
The Hawks (7-29, fifth in the Southeast) face the resurgent Chicago Bulls (17-19, fourth in the Central) TOMORROW NIGHT, Friday, January 21st, 2005. The game starts at 8:30pm Eastern and will be broadcast on WPXA and NBA League Pass.
TEAM NOTES
The Hawks Fan Jam presented by Sprite will be at Greenbriar Mall from Friday, January 21 through Sunday, January 23 during mall hours ...Josh ChildressandJason Collierare scheduled to pose for pictures and sign free autographs from 3:00-4:00 pm on Sunday ... At the Atlanta Hawks Fan Jam, fans can participate in basketball and dance clinics, win prizes playing interactive games and meet Hawks players, mascots and dance team members.
INJURY UPDATE
Kevin Willis(back),Royal Ivey(knee tendinitis), andChris Crawford (knee) are all on the injured list. Crawford is out for the season.Tony Delk (hand) was activated and returned to the rotation last night, playing nine minutes.
Sekou Smith ofThe Atlanta Journal-Constitutionwrites: Twenty games separate the first place and last place teams in the Eastern Conference's Southeast Division. For so long Wednesday night, though, the distance between the Miami Heat and the Hawks didn't seem so great. But like most good things for the Hawks this season, it didn't last long enough as the Heat pulled away late for a 111-92 win. Miami's Dwyane Wade dunked over Josh Smith on a fast break with 4:21 to play in the third quarter and the Heat leading 68-63.Wade's dunk simultaneously woke up the sleepy American Airlines Arena crowd and his slumbering teammates, who went on a 25-13 tear over the next eight minutes to break the game open.
Sekou Smith ofThe Atlanta Journal-Constitutionwrites: Hawks center Jason Collier sported a scruffy beard for the better part of the last two weeks but showed up clean-shaven for his tussle with Miami center Shaquille O'Neal. After all, who wouldn't want to look his best for a primetime matchup with the NBA's most popular and imposing figure.But Collier didn't clean up for O'Neal. He had a much smaller and more important reason. "It got to the point that my daughter (Elezan) was scared to give daddy a kiss," Collier said with a smile before tussling with O'Neal Wednesday night at AmericanAirlines Arena. "The weird thing is you spend your entire life trying to grow facial hair and then when you can, you've got to get rid of it to keep your daughter from thinking you're big foot."