Hawks Don’t Put Up A Fight, Are Swept By the Cavs

The season ended in the same manner that the season began, on the road with a loss. On the road with the Hawks not rebounding, not grabbing offensive boards, not getting much of anything from Paul Millsap. The season ended sadly. The Atlanta Hawks looked nothing like a team that won 60 games and were the #1 seed. In fact, for much of their four game series, the Hawks looked like they didn’t even belong on the same stage with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Before this series took place, before the playoffs even started, there wasn’t much buzz about the Hawks outside of the Atlanta faithful who believed in their ability to do what had never been done. Take a team of very good players and get to the NBA Finals. But, what the playoffs are known for is centering the truth. Playoff history is lined with great players who are saviors and rescuers and who can make something out of nothing.

More than likely the NBA Finals participants will be Cleveland and Golden State. One team has the best player in the NBA. The other team has the best player this year. It’s not an accident.

Star player aside, the Hawks lost this series because they could not make shots and they could not rebound. They were brutalized by Tristan Thompson. Thompson embarrassed the Hawks frontline, giving the appearance that he just wanted the ball more. He got to all the loose balls before they came off the rim and he grabbed the 50-50 balls, often wrenching it out of the hands of a Hawks frontcourt player. Thompson was relentless in his belief that no one, no one was going to get a rebound in his area.

As bitter a loss as it was, as poorly as the Hawks competed, as lost as they looked on the court, as forlorn as their expressions were on the bench, there was a point to all of it. The Hawks need size or they need a crazy athlete who can crash the boards and out jump and out hustle everyone else. If the new billionaire owner decides to bring this same team back, he is just repeating history.

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The path to NBA greatness is a short one. All teams have a window, a shelf life. Three years tops, maybe four. Paul Millsap is a free agent now. Al Horford is a free agent next year. The recipe for team building is to amass players who can help you beat the best team in your conference. That team is the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Cavs did everything right in this series and deserve all the accolades, particularly on the defensive end. They shut down the Hawks jump shooters. The Hawks couldn’t make three point shots, they were miserable from behind the arc while J.R. Smith and Matthew Dellavedova drained open three after open three.

Without size or athleticism in the middle, the Hawks had to double in the lane and couldn’t rotate quick enough to the Cavs shooters. They have to upgrade their front court.

The Hawks free agents are: DeMarre Carroll, Paul Millsap, Pero Antic, Kent Bazemore, Elton Brand, John Jenkins.

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A lot is made of the Hawks being the Spurs 2.0. But the difference is the Spurs core, Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, are in the top 5 at their position. They can rescue their team on many a night. But, the Hawks don’t have that luxury. Instead, their hopes of de-throning the Cavs next year rests in their ability to add players who are versatile, who can hit an open three but can also put it on the floor and get to the rim and the foul line and can rebound. The current roster has a glut of one-dimensional players.

And so it is, the end, the last of 2014-15. The Hawks exceeded expectations. Once upon a time they were 5-5 after having lost to a dreary Lakers team, as a 36 year old Kobe Bryant had his way in Atlanta. That seemed to wake the Hawks up. They went on to win 55 more games in a brilliant campaign. There is a lot to praise, a lot went right.

It was only in the playoffs, in the last round, that they faltered. The Conference Finals separates the competitor from the pretender. It is where the true great teams are anointed. The Hawks couldn’t maintain their seasons long excellence, as so many had repeatedly predicted. You need athleticism and size in the front court to beat a team with LeBron James.

The Hawks were never close in this series. But, at least they got there. They now join the other 27 teams who went home with a broken heart, who didn’t win the title in 2015. The Hawks get to start from scratch all over again. But first there is that long and bittersweet summer to deal with.

Next: Paul Millsap Must Show Up