With the Hawks clawing and scratching at the Eastern Conference’s final playoff spot, they couldn’t afford a home loss to the bottom-feeding Knicks. Indeed, the Hawks ultimately took care of business with a 99-93 victory, but they didn’t look too impressive in doing so. In fact, the newest Hawk, Mike Bibby, was the difference between a win and a loss.
For the majority of the game, Bibby (4-11 FG, 1-5 3FG, 5 REB, 10 AST, 2 STL, 2 TO, 11 PTS) didn’t have the range from the perimeter. Nevertheless, he had no difficulties bringing the ball up the court and finding open teammates after accepting a screen. Bibby made excellent passes on the break, sparking Atlanta to their total of 28 fast break points.
Of his two turnovers, one was Marvin Williams’ undoing, when Williams twice bobbled nifty passes from Bibby on one possession leading to a turnover.
If Bibby wasn’t making his outside shots, and if his defense was unspectacular, he saved his best for the last two minutes of the game. That’s when Bibby:
- Correctly anticipated a Jamal Crawford left-to-right crossover, stepping in front for the charge.
- Made an on-target lob pass to Josh Smith off a high screen culminating in a lead-changing alley-oop.
- Set a sturdy wing screen on Jamal Crawford with Joe Johnson attempting to use it to gain the baseline. With Crawford knocked down and unsure who to defend, Bibby was left wide open to pump fake away a flailing Crawford, take a step in, and knock down a critical jumper.
- Calmly sank two free throws to seal the win.
When the young Hawks got flustered and needed points, Bibby was a calming presence who kept them from panicking. His clutch presence and play down the stretch allowed the Hawks to prevail against a game Knicks squad.
What about the rest of the Hawks?
Joe Johnson (8-22 FG, 2-2 FT, 8 REB, 6 AST, 2 STL, 1 TO, 1 BS, 20 PTS) is a playmaker, but he overhandles and takes too many bad shots to be an elite player.
Josh Smith (11-19 FG 1-2 3FG, 9 REB, 1 AST, 2 TO, 0 STL, 2 BS, 25 PTS) has range out to three-point land but only if he has his feet set and has time to wind up his slow release jumpers. The rest of his offensive game consists of early offense drives, long layups, catching lobs, running the floor, and knocking down mid-range pull-up jumpers.
For all of his hype, athleticism, and statistical achievements suggesting so, Smith is an unwilling defender.
When matched up with Zach Randolph. Smith was toyed with under the basket, and when Smith was defending a small forward, he didn’t move his feet at all. Smith’s closeouts were sloppy as he never came to a jump-stop while closing out, opting instead to drift to his man while the player just drove past him.
Smith only cared about playing defense when he was stride for stride with Fred Jones on the break and saw an opportunity to stuff Jones at the rim, and when he left his man to swat Quentin Richardson’s post up with 2 minutes to go—the point being, Smith only cares about the defensive plays that get on Sportcenter.
Al Horford boxes out, has an effective 15-footer, is either soft or weak (or both), and is too small to play center. Most of his points came on jumpers, or garbage points under the basket.
Marvin Williams doesn’t have the handle to play the three, and isn’t strong enough to play the four.
Smith, Marvin Williams, and Al Horford were pushed around down low by Eddy Curry, David Lee, and Randolph.
With the exception of Smith and Johnson, the Hawks were willing and able to make the extra pass to open teammates.
The Hawks make extremely good decisions on the break.
The Hawks are still young and their immature in the sense that they aren’t crisp in their half court sets, they don’t all come to play every night, and they crumble on the road. Their spectacular athleticism, and their genuine eagerness to produce is what has them knocking on Philadelphia and New Jersey’s doorstep.
Even with Bibby, the Hawks don't look like a playoff team as of yet.
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