The Hawks are looking more and more like a 4th-quarter team. Keyed by a terrific shooting performance from Jamal Crawford, the Hawks pulled away from a promising young Memphis Grizzlies team and cruised to a 108-94 victory Tuesday.
Crawford played more minutes (27) than Mike Bibby (22) or Joe Johnson (26) and flat out carried the offense for long stretches of the third and fourth quarter. It was a tremendous game from an efficiency standpoint, as Crawford needed just 14 shots to reach his 28 point total. He finished 9-14 from the floor, including 5-7 on 3-point attempts.
The Grizzlies held a 55-53 half-time lead thanks to some terrific shooting to start the game, but were not able to keep pace once Crawford got going. The 4th quarter began with the Hawks nursing an 82-75 lead, but five Hawks 3-pointers later, (four by Crawford, one by Mo Evans) the margin had swelled to 20. Curiously, Grizzlies head coach Lionel Hollins (I hadn’t heard of him until tonight either) waited until the 5-minute mark to call a timeout, with his team already having been buried by Crawford’s barrage. It’s no wonder why Hollins has already been fired by the Grizzlies twice before.
As the Hawks continue to take over late in games with Crawford on the floor, one has to wonder if he should replace Mike Bibby as the full-time starter. How many lackluster first-halfs will Crawford have to rescue the Hawks from before Mike Woodson recognizes that his best crunch-time lineup is also his best starting line-up?
Bibby, easily one of the worst defensive PG’s in the league, is out there for the purposes of ball-handling and making shots, and he’s just not making them. Tonight, he shot 4-9 from the floor and missed all four of his attempts from outside. Crawford’s not exactly Bruce Bowen on the defensive end either, but he at least makes up for it with his scoring.
Seeing Bibby trying to keep OJ Mayo (16 points on 7-18 shooting) out of the lane tonight was like watching Paris Hilton’s poodle, Tinkerbell, square off in a cage fight vs. one of Bad Newz Kennel’s top heavyweights.
The lack of a ball-stopper is also contributing to opposing teams’ soaring rebounding totals, as Josh Smith and/or Al Horford must leave their man to provide help on a penetrating guard.
While the backcourt defense must continue to be addressed, the reality is that a fourth-straight win is on the board, and the Hawks are keeping pace in the tightly contested Eastern Conference standings. Up next for the team is a home game with the Miami Heat on Wednesday night.