Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Tough defensive opponent. Foul trouble up and down the lineup. Off game by Cuz. Bad Atlanta juju. What you gonna do? And yet still we fought. that's the upside takeaway. the Hawks had to fight hard for this one, because we never let them get away. We made a few runs, but couldn't keep our guys on the floor, and the needed 8-10 point Cuz surge never emerged. And we were still there.
The Hawks BTW entered the game leading the league in defense and point differential in the early season. Hanging tough into the 4th is not nothing. In fact its really more progress.
Link to Boxscore
Starters
Gay ( B ) -- in the early going was the only guy keeping us afloat, and had 9 of our first 13 points at a time when the Hawks' defense was strangling. Slowed down thereafter, and yet another King's starter heavily limited by fouls.
Cousins ( D+ ) -- looked out of sync on offense all night, and the Hawks had a lot to do with that, packing the lane and throwing a former 3-time DPOY on top of it. Jumper was erratic, and the refs weren't sending him to the line, and got frustrated and mopey. Good defense on Milsap gets him the grade he has here, as impressive work vs. star scorers continues.
Featured Grade
Koufos ( C ) -- Consistent again, nearly invisible but good defense on Dwight Howard. Early on drew Howard into offensive foul then stole pass to hime as he caught it. Got his 8 reb. but only 4 pts. in 25 minutes didn’t held the cause. Always seems in the right place but Hawks loaded up down low clogging his movements. In second half blocked couple shots by Howard but never got offense going. Did lead on one fast break getting full court pass for easy layup. Otherwise, quiet game. -- Cruz
Afflalo ( C ) -- we still need more from Arron, just not involved enough, although the Hawks were flat taking away everybody's postups. Hit the few shots he took, but problem was on the other end when he didn't stop Korver from doing that thing he does.
Lawson ( B- ) -- wasn't sure what to do here, invisible for much of the game, and removed for long stretch due to fouls, and defense. And that was a big thing as Shroeder was bigger and just as quick. But Ty deserves a grade and a lot for credit for singlehandedly keying as mini-run in the 2nd to shake us awake and get us back in it.
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Bench
Barnes ( B ) -- interesting grade, because Barnes did it again -- it was his three point barrage which gave us a major 2nd half gasp as our stars were pinned by fouls. He had a few good defensive plays too. But he also made a number of poor mistakes in this one, adding 4 TOs that led directly to points, and finished with the worst +/- on the team by far.
Cauley-Stein ( D ) -- on the positive side, Willie looked more consistently around the ball and was a bit of a presence with his length. On the negative side...the WTH continues. Overpowered by Howard, fumbled not one, but two surefire spoonfed dunks, and I'm dead serious when I say I could get you more boards at this point.
Temple ( B ) -- got a lot of minutes here with Lawson's early foul trouble, and then for length and defense. Still not a creative point, but hit some jumpers, and stiffened a defense which held the Hawks to 41% shooting.
McLemore ( B ) -- might have been the most confident Ben has looked in his entire life. Started slow but came online and bounced right into shots, almost violently called for the ball on one possession, and had a midgame impact because he willed it. But then it went too far, he got wild and we started treating him like a goto guy, and it contributed to the backbreaking 11-0 Hawks run to start the 4th.
Tolliver ( C- ) -- was notably absent as the bench started playing together, with Joerger opting to keep Rudy in to sustain offense. Did finally appear, and even hit a three in the second half, but overall lack of production still a problem.
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