Well, it wasn’t a good effort in the 4th quarter.  Most of the team seemed to have their heads down even though the game was still close until very late.  It felt a little too much like last year to me.  No one seemed to want the ball (or know what to do with it) at the end except Kevin Martin – who was mostly being doubled – and the rest of the team stood on their hands too much waiting for him to make a play.  The derth of energy and confidence at times was upsetting.  Even Casspi seemed to suffer from it.  I think some it sprung from the lack of clearly executed plays, which was also strange as they seemed to be on the road to straightening that out against Memphis.  It was a definite backslide team trust wise.  That truth is that clean execution was missing most of the game, it was very clunky – the hawks just waited until the end to exploit it.

A theme through out the game was the constant lay-up drills the Hawks ran on just about everyone.  I believe they scored 66 points in the paint. (cough cough)  I’m all for JT and Hawes staying out of foul trouble – but maybe use a few hard ones at judicious times especially when you have a few available late.  Noce and Brockman seemed to have no trouble with that and I was frankly surprised when the Brockness was quickly pulled after a nice hard foul which seemed to discourage (I believe it was) Josh Smith.  I’m not removing the blame from the guards as many of those point paints came from Atlanta guards but our guys generally were (except for some fast breaks) right with them.  It then becomes the big men’s responsibility to lay in a little pain.

The hawks do look like a team that has been playing together for a few years now and know how to execute very efficiently.  They did the same thing to Portland last night - So there’s that.  It did seem like the Kings were the more tired team at the end which was puzzling.

You saw it, in the end we just didn't get loose balls or make plays that were there for the making and taking.

A few specifics:

Kevin Martin (bad wrist) had an excellent game as you know, 11 rebounds from your 2, that’s admirable but you wonder what the total rebound numbers would have been without that.   Kevin played very well, Beno played well and JT played pretty well.

I thought JTs final numbers were a little deceiving as at least half of his (8) offensive rebounds were off several of his own point blank misses.  I’d have liked to see him dunk it a time or three rather than those soft lay-ups.  He hit his FTs which was great to see. 

Tyreke certainly had some good moments, but he also looked like a rookie-not-quite-sure-what-to-do on many possessions.  They blocked his lay-ups four times and he waaay over dribbled on several possessions ala JSalmons mixed with some chucking late.   He’s still finding his way, I hope its not That way.

Noce started strong then disappeared.  That may be unfair; he stopped making any plays though, those rebounds he was getting early turned into off the fingertips to Hawks. 

Hawes was pretty busy with Horford all night and they mostly cancelled each other out.  A bit of a victory for Hawes I suppose though Horford came out ahead slightly.  I’m not sure why he didn’t drag Horford out and hit a few jumpers – but perhaps Horford did to Hawes what Hawes did to him.  Spence has got to take a few of those shots out there though, miss or make. Its his advantage and he’s got to try to exploit it.

As Tokyo just pointed out - I also thought the substitution patterns were pretty strange.  Casspi makes a play and is pulled etc...

Jamal Crawford did whatever he wanted out there and we had no answer for him.  Like last night against the Blazers he was the difference in the game.  That final weapon a good team needs.