Despite Lackadaisical Defense, Hawks Offense is Key In Game 3
The Atlanta Hawks and the Washington Wizards find themselves tied after two games of their seven game series in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. Each team has won one game as the series moves to Washington for the next two.
While Atlanta has played some questionable defense thus far in the series, the offense has proved to be the deciding factor in the first two games.
Atlanta shot 25 percent in the second half of game one and 37.8 percent overall. The final score was 104-98.
Despite the woeful shooting, Atlanta lost by six points.
Bradley Beal and John Wall carved up the offensive end, both from inside the paint, and from beyond the three-point arc, and yet Atlanta stood firm until the offensive collapse spelled their doom in game one.
Although the offense wasn’t great in game two, it was enough to get the job done.
If the Hawks can find the offensive rhythm that they carried with them throughout the regular season, this series will be over. Atlanta’s shooting, inside scoring, and ball movement will be too much for the Wizards — if they can find the offense of the regular season, which is a big “if”.
Atlanta is shooting 43.1 percent as a team in the postseason compared to 46.6 percent in the regular season. Not at terrible downgrade, but a dip in production nonetheless. While some teams’ production soars to new heights in the playoffs, the Hawks can’t afford for their finely-tuned offense to falter due to shooting slumps, specifically from their back-court of Jeff Teague and Kyle Korver.
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Speaking of Teague, he seems to have lost his way in a startling fashion. Averaging 13.1 points per-game on 36.3 percent shooting in the playoffs, he must find his scoring groove for this team to succeed. Although Atlanta has gotten by without much scoring from him, his shooting will need to resemble that of the regular season soon if this team is to make a serious case for a championship.
He’s running the offense well, averaging 7.8 assists per-game in the playoffs, but Teague’s ability to score is key for this offense.
The same goes for Korver, who is averaging 14.8 points per-game in the playoffs, but has missed some surprising shots throughout the postseason. In game two against Washington, Korver went four of 11 from behind the arc — a respectable number for sure, but not by Korver’s standards.
Korver will need to knock down his open looks to help this offense get back in the swing of things.
While the front-court started off slow in the first round, Al Horford and Paul Millsap have found their strokes in the second round, joining DeMarre Carroll as reliable scoring options once again. Horford in particular is key, as he can draw would-be shot blockers away from the paint with his mid-ranged ability. This will be paramount for Teague’s game especially, since he relies on getting looks inside for much of his scoring.
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The ball-movement — which was a staple of Atlanta’s offense in the regular season — has come around nicely in the conference semi-finals. The Hawks have notched 27 assists on 37 field-goals in game one, and 30 assists on 37 field-goals in game two. The only cog missing is simply making the shots that are created from the defense-shattering movement of Mike Budenholzer’s offense.
As far as individual offense goes, no one has been better than DeMarre Carroll thus far. Averaging 18.9 points per-game through the postseason, Carroll has been a spark-plug for the Hawks’ offense. Until the rest of the team comes around, Carroll should be relied upon offensively for as long as his shots are falling. While not ideal to lean on one guy, it’s often a necessity for teams in the playoffs to ride a hot-hand for a series or so.
All-in-all, the Hawks are in decent shape. Despite cringe-worthy bricks off the side of rim littering their playoff run, they’ve managed to keep winning. Washington is no Brooklyn however, and, eventually, the shots will need to start falling if Atlanta is to advance to the Conference Finals.