Atlanta @ Oklahoma City Nov 9th Game 5

[HMFFL]

Al Horford needs do more on offense. The most attempts he has during a game this year is seven (only six tonight). We need him to be more of a factor on offense.

Horford has had a rough stretch to start the season. Already an undersized center, he's had to play next to an undersized PF against D Howard, Elton Brand and Dalembert, Tyson Chandler and D West, Bosh and J. ONeal. Tough matchups indeed.

All the more reason for Al to demand the ball and to do what it takes to get our opponents bigs into foul trouble.

[tontoz]

Ugly win but it counts. It is nice to win when you shoot only 37%. No Smith, JJ was off but they pulled it out. Flip came up huge in the 4th. I was surprised to look at the box score and see he was 5-14 on the night.

Marvin had a solid game except for a couple of dumb turnovers, 16/7 shooting 50% with a clutch 3 in the 4th.

JJ missed a lot of shots he normally makes. He was going against Mason in the 4th and that guy is tough to take one on one.

Solomon with 10 rebounds and 2 blocks in 22 minutes.

[Skyhawk1]

I really thought we were going to lose. Woodson did a very bad job tonight imo. They were killing us on the board and he keeps a small line-up on the floor. Then, he kept running that play so that JJ could have Watson, and it didn't work almost 100% of the times. It's one of those nights where they got to learn from. Too many jump shots. We should play much more smart. Anyway, I'm pleased with Murray and Horford. JJ had a weird night, but I still got to give him credit. Marvin needs to learn the little fundaments. He CAN NOT box anyone out. His rebounding skills are non-existent.

[JoshB914]

We are going to be in games like this. OKC is a tough place to play, and I think even some very good teams will have problems there when they aren't hitting their shots (like for us tonight). It said a lot to me that we stayed confident, even down 7 in the middle of the fourth quarter.

[CAM]

Marvins stats look OK, but honestly, he did not play a good game.
So many fumbles and unforced turnovers. He needs to play under control. Whenever he is faking or driving, he seems rushed and off balance.

Bibby was ok, hit some shots when needed, but he's got to do something to keep his man from running right past him.

I also thought JJ was very poor tonight despite the 25 points. He scored, but missed alot of shots he normally would. He looked tired out there.

Solo was great, real solid D and snatching all the boards up. Really kept his body on his opponent well for good position.

Flip won the game for us. He scored 9 points in a 1:45 patch that single handedly stopped all of the Thunders momentum and got us back in. Thanks flip.

5-0

[HoopsGuru25]

I really thought we were going to lose. Woodson did a very bad job tonight imo. They were killing us on the board and he keeps a small line-up on the floor. Then, he kept running that play so that JJ could have Watson, and it didn't work almost 100% of the times. It's one of those nights where they got to learn from. Too many jump shots. We should play much more smart. Anyway, I'm pleased with Murray and Horford. JJ had a weird night, but I still got to give him credit. Marvin needs to learn the little fundaments. He CAN NOT box anyone out. His rebounding skills are non-existent.

I don't think Woodson did a bad job. It's going to be tough to decide which lineups to use at which times w/o Josh. I would have preferred more Solo given how bad our rebounding was-but our offense might have been even worse. It turned out to be a good trade off because the Hawks were able to finally get some stops midway through the 4th with their small lineup and the offense finally started to pick up enough for us to go on a run to win the game.

[tontoz]

At least Woody had the sense to bench Zaza for the whole 4th quarter.

[High 5]

We're going to have games where it seems like we couldn't hit water in an ocean, but when you play excellent defense (for the most part) all it takes is one spurt like the one Flip had to put you over the top. I'm loving this team.

Also, Solo played great. His offense still has a ways to go, but he has been a great shot blocker from day one and now he's really crashing the glass and playing solid defense.

[High 5]

good win, horrible game, i expect more from the Hawks, i don't want to hear the Josh Smith excuse.

Dude you're ridiculous.

[Harry10]

^ it was... i want to see Marvin, Horford, and Joe play more physical, and stop shooting fade aways.

in addition, based on the 5 games, it looks like the refs this year are not calling flops and letting the guys play.

[conleyorbust]

I HATE Marv at the 4 lineups. He isn't a 4, he's a liability there. A huge reason we were so bad on D after the Bibby trade was because Marv was our primary backup at PF.

All and all, not a bad win. OKC is legitimately bad (look, I know they are "scrappy" and have a tough arena, but they are 1-5 for a reason) but some nights, the shots just aren't falling and when you can pull out a defensive struggle without your best defender, that says something regardless of who you are playing.

So now the argument changes from, "Horford needs to start at PF to truly flourish" to "Horford needs to start at PF and play next to an All-Star C to truly flourish"

Al should have abused those guys regardless of what position he was at nominally. He has the talent, at PF or C, to handle the OKC frontcourt. He just has to call for the ball and play to his strengths. That being said, he was phenomenal on D - really strange that we play the Sonics/Thunder early in the season without Smith for two years in a row and its a close game in which Al gets 5 blocks.

Solo is making those who called for him to get more PT the last couple of seasons look smart.

Good win all and all. We missed Josh but won anyway. If our shooting is better, we should be able to be above .500 while he's out because we aren't playing too many tough teams.

[raleigh]

I HATE Marv at the 4 lineups. He isn't a 4, he's a liability there. A huge reason we were so bad on D after the Bibby trade was because Marv was our primary backup at PF.

Agreed. Marvin doesn't rebound well enough to play the 4. Plus, he's a great fit at the 3, where his newfound range spreads the defense. He has shown he can defend other SF's well.

Solo is making those who called for him to get more PT the last couple of seasons look smart.

Not really, because this isn't last year's Solomon Jones.

[conleyorbust]

Solo is making those who called for him to get more PT the last couple of seasons look smart.

Not really, because this isn't last year's Solomon Jones.

That's the thing, he was fairly productive in his rookie year (considering) but last season he only got PT in 35 games and only had 5 minutes or more 10 times. He was played less than 2 minutes for 11 of the remaining 24 games. There is no way to judge a guy by numbers when you play him like that.

[tontoz]

Over his last 47 minutes Solo has 19 rebounds and 5 blocks.

Zaza played only 9 minutes last night even though Smith was out. Maybe Woody is finally starting to get it. Zaza blows.

[JoshB914]

Solo should have received more minutes last season early on. I don't know if he would have performed like he is now, but he deserved a chance.

[Retrovision]

5-0 , we are foreal!!!!!1

[raleigh]

That's the thing, he was fairly productive in his rookie year (considering) but last season he only got PT in 35 games and only had 5 minutes or more 10 times. He was played less than 2 minutes for 11 of the remaining 24 games. There is no way to judge a guy by numbers when you play him like that.

That's fair, but I was referring more to the added bulk...

[High 5]

Over his last 47 minutes Solo has 19 rebounds and 5 blocks.

Zaza played only 9 minutes last night even though Smith was out. Maybe Woody is finally starting to get it. Zaza blows.

Zaza only blows some of the time. Some nights he's worthless, but other nights he really helps the team.