Al Horford set an NBA record last night, fouling out of an NBA game in 2 minutes and 11 seconds. Oh sorry I got confused, as it appears he didn't actually foul out of the game, but his coach fouled him out of the game instead. It appears that Larry Drew also saved Jason Collins and Zaza Pachulia from fake foul trouble as well, which culminated in a 26-10 Orlando run during the last 8 and a half minutes of the first half, as three competent bigs (Collins is very useful in this series) sat on the pine watching the entire implosion unfold with fake foul trouble.
The Hawks had an opportunity last night. They didn't play particularly well in the 1st half, but they got some improbable shots to drop and benefited from some horrendous Magic shooting in the 1st half to lead by 10 points early in the 2nd quarter, despite being out rebounded by about a billion. This out rebounding was somewhat self inflicted as well, when Larry Drew hilariously decided that a frontcourt of Josh Powell and Jason Collins could get the job done on the glass versus the best rebounder in basketball. This of course didn't work, but Magic turnovers really helped out the Hawks here, combined with a 31 or so foot Joe Johnson prayer going in, a Josh Smith 3, and an improbable buzzer beater by Jamal Crawford helped Atlanta build the lead.
But this is where the real fun starts. Jason Collins picked up his 2nd foul with 8:44 left in the 2nd quarter, after Zaza Pachulia had picked up his 2nd foul earlier in the quarter. Collins goes to the bench in favor of Josh Powell (kiss da ringz baby!), leaving the Hawks with this lineup on the floor: Hinrich, Crawford, Wilkins, Williams, Powell. Oh my god. I see 2 incompetent defenders, one of whom has to guard Howard, a 3rd who is a good defender as long as he isn't playing the 4 (oops), and 2 good defenders. Orlando predictably scored 5 points on its next 2 possessions to cut the lead in half. Starters Joe Johnson and Josh Smith immediately get reinserted. But not Al Horford (their best player), or for that matter Jason Collins or Zaza Pachulia, the 2 guys who have a chance to competently guard Dwight Howard.
After proving once again that he doesn't belong on an NBA team (he did in both his stints on the court) Josh Powell left the game for the equally incompetent Hilton Armstrong, who also proved rather predictably that he couldn't guard Dwight Howard either. However, he did pull of the great feat of being allowed to pick up his 3rd foul in the 1st half, as apparently, this is something that your 5th string center is allowed to do. During this 26-10 run that ended with the Hawks down 6 at half time, Dwight Howard scored 17 of his 33 points as he ran roughshod on the incompetent 4th and 5th string centers the Hawks threw out there on him. All while the 3 front court players who have a chance to guard him sat on the bench watching with just 2 personal fouls. The Hawks never led again in the game, despite the fact that they outscored the Magic by 10 points when they any one of Horford, Collins, or Pachulia was in the game. But of course, it's more important to make sure your guys don't foul out, rather than, you know, WINNING the game. Thanks, Larry Drew you just made a resounding final argument for why, even if your Hawks win this series and win a game against the Bulls in the next round, you still absolutely deserve to be replaced as the coach of the Hawks. That was a gruesome display of coaching incompetence.
To cap my argument, I present the number of fouls accumulated by Horford, Collins, and Pachulia. Respectively, they finished with 2, 3, and 4 fouls, while being allowed by NBA rules to commit six before having to sit out (which, of course, is what they did during the decisive 1st half run anyway. Ironic, isn't it?). Yes, Atlanta's best player, Al Horford, finished the game with 2 fouls, despite playing the entirety of the 2nd half. Horford commits 2.85 fouls per 40 minutes, one of the lowest rates by a frontcourt player in basketball. Yet, despite having this knowledge (presumably at least. I hope he does, because I do, and I'm just a fan), Larry Drew kept his best player on the bench for the decisive run because of foul trouble he was not in and was unlikely to achieve. A clear opportunity to win that game, and possibly the series, just fell by the wayside because of gross negligence from the man in charge. That burning smell is me lighting myself on fire.
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