Hawks coach wants his team to commit more fouls

ATLANTA — The Hawks had plenty of reasons to be unhappy with their Game 3 performance against the Bulls. Coach Larry Drew picked one off the stat sheet.

At halftime, Atlanta’s starting five combined to commit exactly 1 foul and that was by second-year guard Jeff Teague. One potential counter to Derrick Rose’s 44-point performance is tossing in a hard foul once in a while.

“You’re not going to win many games if you don’t get physical, give fouls,” Drew said Saturday. “I’m not saying hurt anybody, but you have to give physical fouls.”

The Hawks aren’t going to turn Josh Smith into Josh McRoberts overnight, so there’s probably no reason to fear for Rose’s health. It’s safe to say Drew just wants a bit more defensive resistance.

“We did not come out and play like a desperate team,” Drew said. “In the playoffs, you have to treat every game like it’s going to be your last game. I thought we came out and played like we really accomplished something in Chicago. We came in and completely let our guards down.”

The Hawks have more problems than just trying to stop Rose. They’ve been outrebounded by double figures in four of six games this season against the Bulls. Top scorers Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford combined for 56 points in the Game 1 victory, then managed just 44 points between them in Games 2 and 3.

“Whenever you see me play 30 minutes and get 6 or 7 shots, they’re definitely doing something (defensively),” Crawford said.

Crawford credited the Bulls for ambushing he and Johnson in the last two games, refusing to give up open jump shots.

“You have to credit (Bulls coach Tom) Thibodeau for that, for sure,” Crawford said. “Now with Joe, pretty much every time he gets on the wing, they’re bringing a second and third defender. Me, if I have the ball out top, they’ll chase me all the way out to half court with two people. I’m making the right play by passing. We just have to take advantage of it.”

Forward Marvin Williams agreed that the Hawks need a new game plan to deal with the Bulls’ punishing defense.

“I think the coaches are going to have their work cut out for them trying to figure out a way to get those guys going,” Williams said. “You’re talking about two big-time, big-time scorers, man, and they’re not getting the looks they usually get. It’s tough.”

The most basic question heading into Game 4 is whether Atlanta can summon a sense of urgency now that it trails in the series for the first time.

“I don’t think there’s a lot of pressure on us because nobody really gave us a chance to win anyway,” Teague said. “We know in our heart we can win, so we’re going to come out swinging.”

“Against a team like that, you can’t go down 3-1,” Crawford added. “We’ve had some tough moments this season. I think we’ll be fine.”