The Atlanta Hawks suffered a bit of a bump in the road over the last week or so. After winning 7 games in a row, the team has now lost three of their last four games to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Boston Celtics, and most recently the Utah Jazz.
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Last night against the Jazz some absolutely brilliant coaching by Mike Budenholzer brought the Hawks one Paul Millsap jumper away from a buzzer beating victory. The play he drew up to get Al Horford a wide open corner three-pointer was particularly breathtaking.
Two lovely things about setup to Horford's 3:
— Kevin Chouinard (@KLChouinard) November 16, 2015
1) Fake dribble handoff -- a great idea + more great w/Korver decoy pic.twitter.com/BtqI928RUA
Despite the loss there were still positive signs. Paul Millsap dropped 28 points on 10-for-18 shooting and made big shot after big shot in the fourth quarter to give Atlanta a chance to win. Just like in the Wolves game the team did not give up even when faced with a late fourth quarter deficit. It may be a stereotypical sports cliche, but that kind of fight is important and it’s never a bad sign to see a team claw their back into a game they should have lost easily.
The loss seemed to light Twitter ablaze with concern with what this latest selection of games means for the overall prognosis for Atlanta’s season. I just can’t think of any reason to get that upset this early in the year. First of all, those aren’t necessarily bad losses. Those are three up and coming teams that likely got motivated to take on one of the best teams in the Eastern Conferences. It’s not like they got blown out by the Brooklyn Nets (if that happens Tuesday I apologize for this jinx *knocks on wood*).
However, now is not the time to panic Hawks fans. Ease into your recliner, crack open a cold beer, and get caught up on the excellent second season of Fargo (it’s pretty dope). The Atlanta Hawks are going to be just fine. They’re still 8-4. That’s good enough for a .667 winning percentage.
The Hawks have the 7th rated offense in the NBA, they score 106.2 points per 100 possessions, and at 52.5 percent they have the 2nd best effective field goal percentage. The well oiled offensive machine from last season still exists and should only get better as Coach Budenholzer figures out his rotations and those respective groups improve their on the court chemistry. Not too shabby, folks. They’re in 2nd place in the Eastern Conference behind a team that employs LeBron James. The sky is not falling.
Al Horford is having a tremendous season (17.1 points and 7.6 rebounds on 51.2 percent shooting and 34.1 percent from three-point range) and he has added a three-point shot to his repertoire. Paul Millsap showed against the Jazz that if needed he can carry the team on his back, and is nearly averaging a double-double.
Kent Bazemore has proven to be a solid DeMarre Carroll replacement while knocking down 43.9 percent of his three-points. Despite slow starts from Kyle Korver and Jeff Teague the team is winning. Perhaps I’m too glass half full of a person to read the situation, but at the moment there just seem to be more things to be happy about than to fret over.
I’m not saying there aren’t reasons for concerns. They’re not flawless, every team in the NBA has flaws. Except for the Golden State Warriors. They’re the basketball equivalent of the war boys from Mad Max, but only if they were truly immortal and blew up everyone in their path leaving tears, sand, and destruction in their wake.
The Hawks are ranked 29th in the NBA in rebounding percentage and bigger frontlines can absolutely bully them on the boards. The Jazz outrebounded them 40 to 33 in Sunday night’s victory. Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors outrebounded Horford and Millsap 20 to 11. Not great, but that’s to be expected against teams like Utah.
The defense has also been shaky lately. They’re currently ranked 17th in defensive rating and giving up 103.7 points per 100 possessions. In their eight victories they’ve given up 97.3 points per game, as opposed to 106.5 in their four losses.
When the defense shows up Atlanta is pretty hard to beat, but when it doesn’t things get a bit dicey. Of course, there are rational explanations for their early defensive issues. Kyle Korver is returning from offseason surgeries, so one would expect him to come out of the gates a bit slower than usual. The same can be said for Thabo Sefolosha. He’s been very good defensively, but even so, he needs to be eased into things.
Kent Bazemore is getting used to playing more minutes and is usually guarding an opponent with a size advantage. Then there’s Tiago Splitter. He’s playing for an organization other than the San Antonio Spurs for the first time in his career and things cannot be expected to be instantly perfect overnight.
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NBA seasons are like sitcoms. You can’t judge a show based on the first few episodes. They need some time to work out the kinks. Consider The Office. It wasn’t until about halfway through season two that Michael Scott and company got into their groove. In NBA terms this like just after New Year’s day. Into January and February is when you start figuring out what teams actually are and what they can become. Sometimes you don’t even know until playoff time.
All this is to say, don’t let this current stretch in the Hawks season send you running into the streets like Chicken Little. The sky is not falling. It’s merely a rainy day that throws a slight damper on an otherwise pleasant week.
We don’t know what the rest of the season holds for the Atlanta Hawks, but we do know that this team has the talent and coaching to be one of the best teams in the NBA. So, keep calm and we’ll see you on Tuesday night.