Atlanta Hawks: Kent Bazemore’s Outstanding January
One of the Atlanta Hawks’ big summer signings just had his best month of the season. Is this stellar play here to stay?
On Sunday afternoon the Atlanta Hawks beat the New York Knicks in a marathon four overtime battle. There were plenty of interesting storylines from the game. Carmelo Anthony had a season-high 45 points. Paul Millsap played 60 minutes, finishing with 37 points and 19 rebounds.
The officiating was also a disaster. The NBA found 14 incorrect calls after the two-minute mark in the fourth quarter. That’s not ideal. I’m sure Adam Silver had an annoying Monday. All this is to say is that there was a lot to talk about in the aftermath of that game.
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I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t notice how well Kent Bazemore played. Bazemore played one of his best games of the season against the Knicks. In 50 minutes of action, Bazemore finished with 24 points and nine rebounds on 9-for-15 shooting. Most importantly, he finished 4-for-5 from the three-point line.
It’s no secret that Bazemore has struggled for most of this season. He had a career year in 2015-16, averaging 11.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game on 44.1 percent from the field and 35.7 percent from three-point range.
This season his efficiency has dipped. Through Jan. 30 he’s averaging 11.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2.6 assists on 39.5 percent shooting and 33.5 percent from three-point distance. Bazemore’s biggest issue has been his outside shooting. He went from slightly above league average last season to two percentage points below league average this season.
Bazemore’s improved jumper is what took him from bench celebration expert to valuable role player. Last week he spoke to Rob Mahoney from Sports Illustrated about his reformed jump-shot and how perfecting it is a constant process.
"“I’m still trying to perfect that,” Bazemore said. “Using my legs a little bit more, using my athleticism in my jump shot. At the times where you get tired, your body wants to revert back to what it knows. I’ll use less legs and more arms and that has so many inconsistencies. I’m just trying to make that shot as consistent as possible.”"
It looks like he’s ironed out the early season kinks with his jumper. January was Bazemore’s best shooting month of the season. He shot 28-for-63 (44.4 percent) from three-point range for the month. That’s more than 10 percent better than his next best month. Overall he shot 45.3 percent from the field in the month of January.
There’s a renewed confidence to Bazemore’s game. When he was struggling, he was reluctant to shoot, opting to pass up open three-pointers in some cases. In 12 December games Bazemore only attempted 32 three-pointers (he made just 15.2 percent of those attempts).
There’s no hesitancy in his jumper now, as he showed during the crucial moments of Atlanta’s victory over the Knicks. If Bazemore continues to shoot this well for the remainder of the regular season that bodes well for Atlanta’s playoff prospects.
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They’ve struggled to make shots from outside for most of the season. They need someone to stretch the floor. It looks like Bazemore is ready to be that someone.