Comatose for 36 minutes, the Atlanta Hawks opened their eyes, stretched their arms, reorganized their hearts and awoke from a deep, deep sleep that at one point had them trailing by 21 points. Mike Scott, Kent Bazemore, Dennis Schroder, Mike Muscala, Shelvin Mack shook off the oppressive apathy of the rest of their teammates and met the moment in a brilliantly executed fourth quarter.
Things great and small sometimes happen when you least expect it, when you have already written the end of the story. Earlier when the Hawks inflicted their own brand of cruelty upon us, apathy, not heroism, was the theme of the day.
It’s one thing to get outplayed. It’s one thing to be smaller and have your weakness used against you. It’s one thing to not have one great player but a bunch of good players that are not immune to the pressure of playoff basketball. But to play as if you don’t care, as if there is no passion, no oxygen, no blood in the veins, as if this not what you want after all, that’s a disgrace.
The Hawks bungled offensive possessions, confused defensive assignments, shrugged when things went badly, forgot the basic reason why they were in D.C. in the first place. Their blasé attitude was where the Hawks went wrong. Their intensity was a joke. Their focus was similar to a two-year old just waking from a nap.
But, then in the fourth quarter, the Hawks went on a 17-0 run in the same arena that had five minutes earlier buried them in a 20 point grave.
How exactly does a team of subs go on a 17-0 run?
- Schroder finger roll (7:22)
- Bazemore layup (6:44)
- Scott three (6:13)
- Schroder three (5:39)
- Bazemore layup (3:57)
- Scott three (3:34)
- Mack layup (3:12)
What had been a 20 point lead four minutes earlier was now trimmed to three. The Washington Wizards would push it to six after two Otto Porter free throws.
Apr 29, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Dennis Schroder (17) drives to the basket against the Brooklyn Nets during the second half in game five of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at Philips Arena. The Hawks defeated the Nets 107-97. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
Schroder cut the lead back to three, and then to one after making a pair of free throws. Mike Muscala hit an open three with 14 seconds left and there was a sense of watching a movie with an ending that couldn’t really be true. This was Atlanta, the Hawks. They don’t have magical endings.
And, on cue, they didn’t. On the last possession, on a switch, Schroder was guarding Paul Pierce, and, well, you know what happened next.
Even after the Pierce dagger to the heart, it was still true. What happened in the fourth quarter was a stunning 12 minutes of basketball as the Hawks picked up their reputation and prepared to fight on Monday.
The game hadn’t always been that breathtaking.
For most of the time the Hawks were on the floor, they were pathetically ordinary and uninspired, as if none of this mattered to them, as if the 60 wins in the regular season were enough success. I’m not the first person who said out loud that the Hawks needed a heart transplant. They played with enough emotion to sink a ship until Jeff Teague, who had another awful day shooting, decided to ramp things up by getting a flagrant on Bradley Beal and then Bradley Beal went back at Teague and that was the only Hawks sign of life until the last quarter. The Hawks appeared dead, or if not dead, then lifeless, as if they thought you could give a “D” effort and get an “A” result.
You earn what you work for and what the Hawks earned early on was a whipping on national television in front of critics who predicted their fate before it happened. Their passive defense, inept offense, lack of energy, listlessness and casualness, set the groundwork for a trouncing, a humiliation.
As expected, the Washington Wizards were without John Wall and they didn’t miss him until the fourth quarter. The Hawks capitalized on the fact that the Wizards didn’t have a guard out on the floor who could control pace and make plays- sorry Will Bynum.
Two hours earlier, it was the Wizards bigs who kept the Hawks confused and begging for mercy. Nene finally scored and he did so in bunches. Marcin Gortat only missed one shot. The Wizards were cruising going into their big men who the Hawks have no answer for, they are just too small.
Sometimes, Paul Millsap’s toughness makes up for his lack of size but he was fighting the flu, didn’t start, looked ill, and didn’t have any energy to finish or get lift on his shots. Al Horford was mostly invisible and DeMarre Carroll could not continue to dominate in the playoffs.
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Excluding the 4th quarter, the Hawks offense was miserable. They couldn’t hit shots, they were impatient on pick and roll, they get caught up in the moment and didn’t let the game come to them, they hurried and were ineffective on every level which only emboldened the Wizards to push at the Hawks more.
The Hawks transition defense was horrifically non-existent and despite their shots clanking the rim, the Hawks only grabbed 8 offensive rebounds out of 45 missed shots. 16 of their misses were three pointers and the question begs to be answered: when the Hawks are only making 30% from deep, can they win?
Kyle Korver, once again, found himself with the ball in his hands late in the game, unable to make shots even as he cleared himself of his defender. There is no way the Hawks will win anything with Korver only taking 5 shots. At the end of the game, Korver was guarding Will Bynum who was absolutely not going to shoot. It was a defensive switch that Paul Pierce made the Hawks pay for.
If there was one takeaway from the heart breaking way this game ended it was that geography matters. Look who was on the floor at the time of Pierce’s knife to the gut. The Hawks bench. They deserve more playing time than Coach Budenholzer is giving them. Mike Muscala earned his playoff minutes in the regular season when he adequately replaced Paul Millsap. Note to Bud: the bench is more than Dennis Schroder and Kent Bazemore.
As for Schroder, he called it a “lucky” shot by Pierce. He’s too young to know it was Shaquille O’Neall who gave Pierce the nickname “The Truth” after Pierce scored 42 points in a game at Staples Center. He is too young to know Pierce dropped 41 points in a game 7 against Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. He is too young to know that luck is what happens when skill and experience and timing meet in a perfect moment. It was a lucky shot and it was a good shot and it was a Paul Pierce shot.
It was a perfect moment that ripped out Atlanta’s heart.