The drama and chaos of Game 4 will do two things. It will reveal character or it will reveal fragility. Neither are a recipe for winning, not against the Cleveland Cavaliers who are doing everything right in this series, whether it be executing on offense or on defense.
Watching the Atlanta Hawks for three games has been an exercise in torture as they have had moments of excellence that quickly fade away with a blink of an eye; credit the Cavaliers defense for that. Nevertheless, there is a sense that the Hawks have to be perfect. Strange as it is to say, perfection still may not help the Hawks in Game 4.
Faced with adversity of this magnitude, the mental talent of a team comes in to play. How do they fight when everything is against them and-to put it bluntly- when everything is on the line?
Carrying the weight of expectations, Jeff Teague enters Game 4 as the engine of a finely tuned Mercedes that can’t make its way up a hill. How Teague performs, his ability to maintain calm and push his teammates forward with his fingerprints, will be the reason the Hawks win.
Or, it will be the rationale behind a Hawks loss, the person to blame. If the Hawks are to be competitive all the way to the end, Teague has to have his most important game of the year as a playmaker and a scorer.
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If the Hawks win tonight, another game in Atlanta is on the horizon because Jeff Teague was responsible. If the Hawks lose tonight, Jeff Teague has to be the hard nose fighter who refused to let go of the ropes, even at the very end when it was hopeless and he’s been knocked flat.
Teague has always been an enigma. The label “underrated” is a cop-out; it isn’t the truth. Teague isn’t underrated. He is exactly who his game says he is. There are stretches when Teague appears to be a top 5 point guard. He cuts to the rim off the dribble and finishes. His vision and ability to deliver the ball to a cutting DeMarre Carroll and/or Paul Millsap is an example of his talent. His scoring binges- he is a streak shooter- can seal a game, or the opposite can occur, his missed shots can interrupt fluidity.
On the other side of the ball, Teague’s defensive quickness often creates turnovers that he turns into easy buckets. That is Teague at his best.
Teague at his worst is an average competitor. He makes decisions that don’t make sense or don’t fit in with the structure of the offense. His playmaking falls off the ends of the earth, pushed there by Teague himself. It is replaced by Jeff Teague who is determined to be heroic. That Teague has surfaced in this series more than once.
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Against the Washington Wizards, the equal distribution of the offense was the primary explanation for achieving. It was very fair. Al Horford had 92 shots. Jeff Teague had 87 shots. Paul Millsap had 86 shots. DeMarre Carroll had 73 shots.
In their series with the Cavs, Jeff Teague has taken 33 more shots than Al Horford. Teague has launched 66 shots, shooting 40%. While Horford’s 30 shots and only 10 misses have produced a brilliant shooting percentage of 67%.
The fact that Teague is averaging 6 assists in this series when he averaged 7 assists against the Wizards is in no shape or form the reason the Hawks trail the Cavaliers. His 23 points leads the team but scoring for himself, in the aggregate, has taken away the identity of a team built, not on I, but built on we.
Even in the harsh glare of the bright lights. Teague has a fine line to walk with his aggression. Feed himself, yes. But, also be aware that he has to create for others.
Which brings us to Game 4 in Cleveland and the Hawks holding on for dear life to a season no one expected but a season that has brought them this far. Jeff Teague has been the Hawks oxygen and, win or lose, that won’t change.
But Jeff Teague can add another adjective to his biography other than underrated or unexpected or late bloomer. He can lead his team to a win tonight and be thought of as exceptional.