In Ivan’ Johnson’s latest confession to the AJC:

“My thing is, I don’t really watch basketball so I don’t know who anybody is,” Johnson said after sinking two free throws with 4.6 seconds left to give the Hawks a 93-91 victory over the Timberwolves Saturday. “So when I match up against them, they are a regular player. I know the major players like LeBron [James], Kobe [Bryant], [Dwyane] Wade but all the extra ones I don’t know. Even if I did know them, I’m not going to be afraid. We are playing basketball.”

Yep, that’s right, he said that. Kevin Durant? Derrick Rose? Dirk Nowitzki? Typically, you’d think “NBA All-Star” or “MVP.” But nope; just another number to Ivan Johnson.

The Hawks defeated the Bulls 109-94 last night, giving the team a 6-3 record on the season. The win brought a particular sense of satisfaction after the team lost to Chicago on Tuesday after letting a 17-point lead slip away.

Despite being mired in trade rumors, Josh Smith has performed well and led the team last night with 25 points and six blocks. Three other Hawks starters were in the double digits as well– Al Horford (14), Jeff Teague (12), Joe Johnson (17).

“We did a good team job on him defensively in crowding him, trapping him and showing him different looks,” Smith said of Bulls star Derrick Rose. ”We played sound defense on him.”

Rose was limited to just eight points on the night and did not play at all in the fourth quarter.

The victory is the team’s second in a row after Atlanta beat the Bobcats in overtime Friday night and brought Chicago’s six-game winning streak to an end.

Next Up: The Hawks will face the New Jersey Nets tomorrow night at the Prudential Center.

Photo Credit: Hector Alejandro

Hawks stars Joe Johnson and Al Horford were among the nine NBA players who kicked off the Hoops for Troops USO Tour on Monday. The players met with several thousand military members and their families at Schofield Barracks, an Army base in Oahu, Hawaii. They also visited injured servicemen and signed autographs and took pictures with soldiers and their families.

The USO, United Service Organization, is a private, non-profit organization that provides moral support, entertainment and recreational services to members of the U.S. military and family members.

Other players on the tour included league MVP, Derrick Rose (Bulls), D.J. Agustin (Bobcats), Tyreke Evans (Kings), Brook Lopez (Nets), Robin Lopez (Suns), JaValee McGee (Wizards), and Mike Miller (Heat).

The tour will last one week and include basketball games at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickman and Schofield.

“Flopping.” The act of over-exaggerating the impact of a foul to get a call in your favor. It’s most often associated with soccer, and today’s Champions League championship match between Barcelona and Man U was no exception.

I couldn’t help but remember Rajon Rondo’s comeback against the Heat in which he dislocated an elbow, had it popped back into place and came back to play with essentially one arm. In one case, a player grimaces and rolls around as if his life is over after a slight shove; in another, a player shrugs off a dislocated elbow and returns with his game face on.

The NBA isn’t exactly void of its own floppers either, and players have been increasingly called out for it of late. LeBron James gave what was called the “greatest flop of all time” in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdvwepbKG9E&feature=youtube_gdata_player

You do what it takes to win. In basketball, sometimes that means falling over for a 250-lbs. center when a 185-lbs. guard runs into you, and sometimes that just means sucking it up and popping that elbow back into place.

But somehow it seems like that gap is that much greater in the NBA. Admittedly, this could be because my familiarity with great moments in soccer is dwarfed by my memory of NBA comeback stories. But it just seems like there aren’t as many of those instances in soccer, whereas basketball is full of them (Rondo, Willis Reed, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, etc.).

They are two different kind of games that entail different styles of play– quick sprints down the court in three to five minute increments versus long 45-minute stretches. You could also make a cultural argument– those Europeans and Latin Americans always have a flair for the dramatic. And of course, it’s about the incentive structure and the kind of behavior is rewarded and punished with free throw, free kicks, fouls and penalties. And what about “taking one for the team” in baseball? The hitter who inches up a little to get brushed by a ball inside?

This is a rather inconclusive thought. Not a value judgment one way or another, just some recent event-inspired musings. And maybe a shout out to any more knowledgeable soccer fans out there that might be able to shed some light on the issue!

Jeff Teague averaged 5.2 points per game during the regular season. The Hawks’ backup point guard averaged 14.8 points per game during the conference semifinals against the Bulls. And that included a 4-point performance in which Teague sprained both wrists.

Granted, Teague played a lot more minutes as Hinrich’s replacement rather than his backup– 13.8 minutes per game during the regular season compared to 38.2 in the series– offering more opportunities for baskets. But Teague was clearly sharper against the Bulls as he shot 54% from the field compared to his regular season average of 38%.

Teague’s breakout performance has several people wondering why Larry Drew didn’t play his number one draft pick more frequently during the season. But Teague actually did get more than his fair share of chances. He just didn’t deliver. Results means minutes, and the results weren’t there. Every once in a while, Teague would put up 20-plus points, and Atlanta fans all over wondered, “Is this finally the moment?” But the Hawks never saw the kind of consistency from the 22-year-old that they had hoped for.

» Continue reading “Will The Real Jeff Teague Please Stand Up?”

Aaand t-minus about 170 days until next season. The Hawks saw their season come to an abrupt end tonight in a 93-73 loss to the Bulls in Game 6. The Bulls will head back to Chicago and take on Miami in the Eastern Conference finals, and the Hawks will head back to their homes after yet another 40-plus win season followed by an unsuccessful run in the playoffs. Well, at least each year we get a little further, after losing in Round 1 in 2008 and being swept in Round 2 in 2009 and 2010. At this rate, I’m thinking 2018 will be our year.

In any case, 2011 wasn’t the year, and tonight definitely was not the night.

The Hawks couldn’t crack through the Bulls’ tough defense all night. Atlanta struggled to score 20 points in any quarter– they final managed exactly 20 in the fourth– and were 27-for-74 (37%) on the night. Jeff Teague, who had been the Hawks’ go-to guy throughout this series, took an injury to the wrist in the first quarter and had only 4 points. Only Josh Smith and Joe Johnson were in double digits (18 and 19 points, respectively).

And for the Bulls, it was not just The Derrick Rose show for once, and the Hawks couldn’t step it up to match. In fact, for the first time in the series, the Rose was not the leading scorer but instead it was Carlos Boozer’s 23 that led the team. Rose finished the night with 19 points and 12 assists.

Surprisingly the two teams were dead even in rebounds at 35 apiece. But the Hawks couldn’t buy an open look tonight and had only 14 assists compared to the Bulls’ 34.

2018. Just you wait.

“Largest Lead: Chicago – 15. Atlanta – 1.”

This game was a bigger tease than the class-president-captain-of-the-football-team-wants-to-save-the-world-best-friend-but-really-just-a-friend in high school. And at least you can usually get a prom date out of that.

Atlanta went down 2-3 in the Eastern Conference semifinals after a heartbreaking loss to the Bulls, putting the Hawks in a must-win situation for Game 6 on Thursday night.

The game started on a 10-2 run for the Bulls, and Chicago had a 15-point lead at one point. But the Hawks played gritty “playoff” basketball and hung tough. Atlanta managed to cut the lead down to 6 at halftime by staying aggressive on the boards and boxing out; rebounds were even at 16 a piece in the first two quarters. Every time it seemed like the game was starting to slip away, Atlanta battled back and kept it close, thanks in large part to a lot of clutch shots by Jeff Teague who had 21 points on the night.

The Hawks even managed to take a one-point lead in the third quarter on an 22-foot jumper by Josh Smith! Aaand then immediately lose it…. And then take a one-point lead again on a 20-footer from Horford! Aaand then immediately lose it… This went on a few more times, but the game slowly slipped out of the Hawks’ control, and the Bulls at one point pushed their lead back up to 15 in the fourth. The Hawks never recovered and lost the game 95-83.

Larry Drew went with a bigger lineup with Collins starting after this had success in the series against Dwight Howard and the Magic, and it was effective tonight as well. The Hawks just couldn’t get the shots to fall at the right time, especially from 3-point range. The team was 1-for-12 (8%) from behind the arc. Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford, usually the team’s most reliable shooters, went a combined 7-for-24 (29%).

For the Bulls, Derrick Rose led with 33 points and 9 assists. Luol Deng also had a big night with 23 points, 15 in the first half.

And, it wouldn’t be the playoffs without a little friendly push and shove. A double technical was called in the third quarter when Carlos Boozer sent Josh Smith an elbow to the chin, and Smith gave Boozer a push in return. And was subsequently booed by Bulls fans every time he stepped on the court. (At least this time it’s by the opposing fans rather than the home crowd…)

The Hawks will return to the Highlight Factory and hope the a little home court advantage will work in their favor. Coverage begins at 8 PM EST on ESPN!

A few highlights from last night’s 100-88 win over the Bulls:

Josh Smith, meet the Paint; Paint, meet Josh Smith: Josh Smith had 23 points, 16 rebounds and 8 assists. And do you know how he got them? By attacking the basket, taking fewer jump shots, and venturing inside that oh-so-daunting darker colored rectangle on the floor. Smith hasn’t let all of the criticism get to him:

“There are people who don’t understand the game, who don’t know the game. That doesn’t faze me,” he said. “My teammates matter more than anybody else. They believe in me. They have confidence in my game. When I was in my rut, they told me to stay positive, to stay in the game, just do what I’d been doing all season long. I stayed with it and had the game I had tonight.”

Jim Joyce Part Two?: Reminiscent of baseball umpire Jim Joyce’s missed call that cost Colorado Rockies pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez a perfect game last season, referee Bennett Salvatore admitted to a blown call late in the game.

“I blew my whistle and didn’t mean to,” Salvatore said. “I didn’t think it was a foul. Having watched the replay after the game, it was a foul and I should have called it. I made a mistake.”

Salvatore blew his whistle while Derrick Rose was shooting and called a jump ball. Rose rightfully thought it was a foul.

The negative? A blatant blown call late in the game during the playoffs never feels good, and it’s easy to get caught up in “what might have happened.”

The positive? Like Joyce, Salvatore admitted his error. And it’s a human mistake. There are always going to be missed calls here and there– it certainly felt like the Bulls were on the favorable end of the “benefit-of-the-doubt” calls earlier in the game as well. It’s unfortunate that it happens some times, but it’s all a part of the game.

M-V-Teague: Jeff Teague had another great performance playing in the place of injured Kirk Hinrich. Teague had 12 points and 4 assists in 40 minutes, his fourth straight game playing at least 40 minutes. Not bad for a guy who averaged just under 14 minutes per game in the regular season. And one Hawks fan recognized his efforts, holding up an “M-V-Teague” sign during the game, likely in response to the recent announcement that Derrick Rose had been named the MVP.

When the two lines in the game flow chart look almost indistinguishable for the majority of a game, I feel like I start to veer closer and closer to the “Very Severe Stage” on a blood pressure chart. As if the pressure and fear of being down 3-1 going back to Chicago wasn’t enough. There were nine ties and eleven lead changes in the first half alone, but the Hawks came out on top 100-88 to take Game 4 and even up the series at 2-2.

This series is testing my blood pressure...

In Game 3′s embarrassing 17-point loss, Larry Drew harped on his team’s unaggressive play– the Hawks only had one foul in the entire first half and gave the Bulls easy looks and paths to the basket. Perhaps the Hawks learned their lesson a little too hard tonight. Atlanta got into foul trouble early, and Al Horford and Marvin Williams had three personals each at half time. At one point, the Bulls had taken 15 free throws to the Hawks’ 1. Not surprisingly, Zaza Pachulia was called for a technical early on as well.

But apparently the fouls were worth it as the Hawks held Rose to 38% from the field (12-for-32). Rose still managed 34 points, so let’s not think about what might have happened were it not for the Hawks’ good pressure defense and double teaming…

And, just as the Hawks learned their lesson on defense after Rose’s 44-point performance in Game 3, the Bulls seemed to have learned theirs after Joe Johnson’s 34 points in game one. When he put up the shots, Johnson was on target. But getting to the basket was the problem. Joe led the team with 24 points, but managed to do so taking only 14 shots (9-for-14, 64%). Josh Smith also had a big night with 23 points and 16 rebounds, breaking his previous record of 14 boards in a playoff game. Al Horford had 20 points, and Jeff Teague continued to make big plays as Kirk Hinrich’s replacement with 12 points and quick, feisty defense.

Hawks fans can breathe a small sigh of relief as the Hawks force a Game 6 in Atlanta Thursday night. Game 5 will be Tuesday at 8 PM EST on TNT. GO HAWKS!

One thing the Hawks didn’t have to worry about in Friday’s loss to the Bulls was getting into foul trouble. The team had only one foul in the entire first half. And head coach Larry Drew took issue with this:

“We played basketball, but we didn’t play physical, playoff basketball,” Drew said. “You’re not going to win many games if you don’t play physical and get fouls.”

Derrick Rose is hard enough to stop when teams do play physical, “playoff” basketball. In the first two games, the Hawks threw everything they had at him and the league MVP still managed to score over 20 points on a sprained ankle. The kind of sit-back-and watch defense the Hawks displayed in Game 3 is not exactly the way to contain him. The Hawks need to get back to playing “playoff” basketball. As LeBron so eloquently put it in this week’s Sports Illustrated, “Playoff sweat is different from regular season sweat.”

Time to step it up, guys. GO HAWKS!