Following a much (much much much) needed win against the Phoenix Suns, the Atlanta Hawks have finally seen an end to their seven-game losing streak and drop in the standings. What can the team learn from it?
“Mistakes are the best teacher”, as a variation of the old adage goes. And boy has March been full of them. The Atlanta Hawks last won a game on March 12th, before enduring a seven-game losing streak.
Down Paul Millsap, Kent Bazemore, and Thabo Sefolosha for stretches, the month has been rough for the remainder of the Hawks’ roster. While many eyes were turned towards March Madness, this team was in the midst of a sort of March Sadness.
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Of the seven losses, five were by double digits. The Hawks lost their hold on fifth place in the Eastern Conference and even hopes of making the postseason began to come into question. Beating the Suns stopped the bleeding, and let Dennis Schroder flex his hero muscles, but the team must figure out what went awry if they want to keep their season off life support.
The Lessons
That starts with figuring out what didn’t work. Nothing worked less than the 3-point shot for the Hawks. Over the unfortunate streak, the team averaged a 29.01% rate from behind the arc. Yeah, ouch.
That was capped off with an 18.5% showing against the Brooklyn Nets, whom many consider the worst team in the Association. Another major blemish on the Hawks’ play has been turnovers. Over the losses, Atlanta averaged an ugly 17 giveaways per game. Yeah, also ouch. The team needs to look at their lack of efficiency for their equal lack of recent success.
There’s almost always a diamond in the rough, considering most poor circumstances, and there were a few in these rough weeks for the Hawks. One is extremely easy to observe: Paul Millsap is super important.
The star power forward has always been underappreciated, but the squad’s recent play without him has shone a light on his contributions.
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And he will be back. Another positive has been the play of the backcourt of Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dennis Schroder. THJ and Dennis the Menace have combined for 38.3 points per game and 9.7 dimes per contest. If the backcourt can keep this up when Millsap returns in a few games, Atlanta can definitely make some noise this postseason.
Also, it seems Dwight Howard really wanted to end this losing streak:
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Let’s hope this is the last such streak of the season, but the first of many crunch-time posters.