Atlanta Hawks Year of 2016 in Review: Individual Performances
2. Dennis Schroder 05/08/2016 Game 4 vs. Cleveland Cavaliers
The time had come for the Hawks to show that they had heart, guts, and pride to compete with anyone. Nobody wants to get swept, but it happens. It would be even more unnerving to be swept twice in a row by the same team in consecutive seasons. So, at home, down 3-0 in their second round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Hawks were going to throw everything that they had at their more superior opponent.
Atlanta had to have already exhausted their frustrations in the early stages of the series, in regards to any hopes that they had of competing with the Cavs. Cleveland was on fire from beyond the arc in the first three games. The defense that the Hawks played on their shooters appeared to be excellent. That is what made the madness of how the triples continued to fall from Cleveland totally unbearable as a fan.
It got absolutely ridiculous. When J.R. Smith and Channing Frye are raining down triples with at will, with a defender draped all over them, what exactly are you supposed to do? In Game 1, the Cavs made 15-of-31 of their three-pointers for a success rate of 44.6 percent. During the competition, it felt a lot worse than that, as they had a few stretches of making several in a row. After they had a great game from deep in Game 1, they followed that with a crazy, record breaking fireworks display in Game 2.
The barrage that would ensue shattered the previous record of three pointers by an NBA team in the playoffs of 21, set by the Golden State Warriors a couple weeks prior on 04/24/2016. Kyrie Irving actually nailed the record breaking three with 5:06 left in the third quarter. The Cavs held a lead as high as 38 points in a game the Hawks lost 123-98.
Mike Budenholzer’s group had served as much time as they could with their chins in their chests, and wanted nothing more than to win just one game. No one exhibited more determination than Dennis Schroder did in Game 4, as the Hawks tried to stave off elimination. He replaced Jeff Teague for the final period and finished with a line of 21 points, three rebounds, six assists, two steals, and one block.
Schroder accomplished those numbers in only 26 minutes of action. He converted 10-for-18 from the field and 1-for-3 from three-point range. He led all players with a game high 52.3 percent assist percentage, and had only two turnovers. The ball was in Schroder’s hands on the final possession with a chance to win the game. As the clock ticked down, Schroder used his lightning quick first step to get past his defender and into the lane. He went up to attempt a runner inside the paint, but was denied by a wall of defenders. A fitting way for Atlanta to fall to the mighty Cavs, 100-99.