| Sonics Rain On Atlanta's Fast Start Authored by Zettler Clay IV - November 12, 2006 - 7:46 pm
The best start in seven years could not be sustained Saturday night against Seattle. Different reasons abound if you ask different people. Mike Woodson cites faulty free throw shooting.
"It was huge," Woodson said when asked about his team's 63.6 percent free throw shooting. "Especially when you come out of training camp a 80 percent free throw team and for the last two nights, I don't think we even shot 70 percent. We are a better shooting free throw team than that."
Joe Johnson says it was something simpler.
"Defense," Johnson intimated, when asked what was the one thing that stood out about this game. "Our defense had an off-night. We didn't do a good job of keeping men in front of us."
Chris Wilcox says it was something totally different.
"We made a conscious effort to take the ball inside. After being involved in close games earlier (against Miami and Orlando), we knew that we had to get to the paint to get some easy buckets," Wilcox stated. "The Hawks are playing really well right now. They came out and played hard."
However, contrary to Wilcox's assertion, the Hawks actually outscored Seattle 58-56 in points in the paint; And they got to the free throw line 12 more times than the Sonics. In fact, they led in second chance points, rebounds, assists, and fast break points (where the Hawks held a 21-6 advantage).
To take it even further, the Hawks made more three pointers, shot a higher field goal percentage, and had more blocked shots. This was just one of those games where both teams brought it, and one team answered last. Seattle left 2.1 seconds on the clock in overtime for the Hawks to draw up an play. Johnson's buzzer-beater fell short.
"I really didn't want to take a three, but it was the closest shot I could get. It felt good, it was just a little off-center," Johnson said.
Before that last second attempt by Johnson, Allen hit an acrobatoc lay-up between Josh Childress and Josh Smith to put Seattle up by one. After the game, Smith spoke on that improbable shot that Allen hit.
"Me and Chill played great defense. He (Ray) penetrated and I stepped up, and I thought I had a good shot at blocking it, but he went to his left hand, and it was a tremendous shot, That's all I can say about it."
So the Hawks stand, after a tail end of back to back games, at 4-2. Seattle, who also was on their tail end of back-to-back games, simply made more plays. In a game this close, anything little component is magnified.
"This is a game of inches," Woodson said, disappointedly. "When you miss your free throws, it comes back to haunt you, and it did tonight."
Allen led both teams with 33 points scoring, while Wilcox led both teams with 15 rebounds. Johnson set a franchise record by scoring 25 or more points. Smith scored 24 points, while ZaZa Pachulia added 21 points. On any other night, this would have been a W for the Hawks.
However, Seattle came in and put a damper on the sell-out crowd in Phillips Arena, and rained on Atlanta's sunshine. Literally. |
