FINAL
(1-0) 109 – 102 (0-1)
Key Performers:
J. Harden (HOU): 45 pts, 7 rebs, 2 asts
L. Williams (ATL): 22 pts, 4 rebs, 5 asts, 3 stls
[FULL BOX SCORE]
Well, welcome to super-stardom, Mr. Harden. The Beard went nuts, scoring 45 points (a career high) on 14-19 shooting and 15-17 from the line. Atlanta couldn’t stop him and Jeremy Lin, who nearly had a triple-double himself. Lou Williams had 13 in the 4th quarter, but it wasn’t enough to give the Hawks their sixth-straight season opening win.
Reaction Grades: [assessed 0-10]
Josh Smith: Smoove did play good on the defensive end and showed some nice work around the basket, but again took too many jumpers. (2-7 on those) Asik did play great against him in the post, but Josh’s commitment at times around the basket was a plus. 18 points on 21 shots isn’t going to cut it, though. 6/10
Al Horford: Horford was just destroyed by Asik on the boards in the first half. He did shoot efficiently, though, going 6-10 with 14 points. Him only taking 10 shots (and only one in the first) is not the proper gameplan. 6/10
Lou Williams: Sweet Lou shot poorly early, but showed up late in the game and kept the Hawks in it. His play making off from the two-guard spot is such a contrast from ol’ Joe Johnson, and Lou’s driving ability opened up so many lanes and opportunities for Atlanta. I know Larry Drew likes to have a spark-plug off the bench, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lou slide into the starting lineup if he keeps playing games like this. 8/10
Zaza Pachulia: Zaza’s play, like Lou’s, was also instrumental in the Hawks getting back in the game. He had 13 points and 8 boards, which were huge considering the Hawks didn’t look like they could rebound anything against Asik for a while. 8/10
Jeff Teague: Had a quiet 14 and 7, which is great, but he still made some costly errors. For one, he wasn’t aggressive at all; the officials were calling practically any contact on drives, and Jeff hardly drove into the lane. There was also the possession late in the game, where he passed up and open three to pass to… Josh Smith… for three. (which I wouldn’t recommend, personally) 7/10
Kyle Korver and Anthony Tolliver: KK and AT missed all of their shots, Korver had 5 fouls in 15 minutes, and they left a ton of shooters open. (the Rockets missed for the most part, but still) I’m not saying this is as bad as they could have played, but… no, this is as bad as they could have played. 1/10
Devin Harris: His hot shooting in the first gave the Hawks an early lead, but he fell off the map after that. The box score says he played in the last three quarters of the game, but I wouldn’t have been able to tell you that. 4/10
DeShawn Stevenson: He made some big threes (4-6 from behind the arc), but let Harden go off on him and fouled of the game. With the way Harden is playing, that might not be fair, but you’ve got to control him in some fashion. 5/10
Larry Drew: The good: he went with a big lineup in the 2nd half (with Teague and Lou as the guards) that was able to counteract Houston’s rebounding and gave the Hawks several, effective options on offense. The bad: Ivan Johnson and Anthony Morrow didn’t play at all, and Al Horford and Jeff Teague did not have as many opportunities as they should have. In my view, Ivan Johnson not playing in a game where hustle was needed on the boards is the biggest blow. 5/10
The opposition: Houston executed perfectly. Lin and Harden wore out the blue paint on the floor in Philips, Omer Asik grabbed all of the rebounds, and their shooters had wide open shots. (They were 8-30 from behind the arc, though) Realistically, Atlanta is lucky that this wasn’t a blowout. 9/10
Next: Atlanta at Oklahoma City, Sunday, November 4th, 7pm ET