Hawks Wrangle the Bulls

Hawks 113 Bulls 108

You know what they say, “You mess with the bull and you get the horns”. Try telling that to Al Horford or any of the Hawks.

Coming off a fine performance against the Thunder, Horford raked in 27 points and coraled 17 rebounds. If those numbers don’t impress you, he also smothered six blocks. Needless to say, it was a career night for the second year big man out of Florida.

The Hawks win over the Bulls was as impressive a victory as they have had all year. The fact that Joe Johnson went an uncharacteristic 4 for 16 from the floor and Josh Smith was inactive once again due to injury (out 3-4 weeks with high ankle sprain) did not deter the team one bit.

Led by Horford, the Hawks played calm and confident on offense and with tenacious aggression on defense. In the paint, the Bulls were outmatched on both ends of the floor. The Hawks exploited inside matchups all night.

Conifendence is the name of the game in Atlanta these days and it centainly looks like this team feels as though they have the ability to beat any team in the league.

Key Note:
Maurice Evans is emerging as another force off the bench. Already putting in big performances this year (though getting outshined by the play of Flip Murray) Evans was the key reserve last night scoring 17 points on 7 for 9 shooting (3 for 4 from the three point line).

Al Horford continues to inprove in his second NBA season, which is scary. After playing a key role in the win over Oklahoma City, Horford got the better of his old friend Joakim Noah on Tuesday night. Horford should have been R.O.Y. last year, but I’m sure if you ask him it’s “water under the bridge”.

The inside play of the Hawks has been outstanding. Power forward, Al Horford has been dominate putting up lines that are usually reserved for the freakishly athletic Josh Smith. Zaza Pachulia has stepped up his game as well. After a ruff season last year, where he saw his playing time diminish, he is back in form this year and providing good production in Smith’s absense. Solomon Jones is fun to watch. With his lanky frame, he can elevate for rebounds and blocking shots. What has been understated is these guy’s ability to make the extra pass underneath the basket to get easy dunks and layups. Last night, Solomom Jones had 1 assist and Zaza and Al had 3 a piece. They also were dominant on the boards. Horford had 17 rebounds, Zaza had 7, and Solomon Jones had 2. I am a huge fan of Horford’s ability to rebound the ball and immediately dribble out into a fast break. He has showed that he has good ball handling skills and awareness of players on the break around him. Most times, it leads to fastbreak points, because teams are unable to recover in transition defense.