Atlanta Hawks: 5 Takeaways from Loss to Pacers
By Chris Guest
Poor Finishing Around the Rim (other than Collins)
After implementing a laudable modern offensive system, head coach Lloyd Pierce has gotten his young charges (and veterans) to buy into a system based around shooting corner threes and point-blank attempts at the rim.
Though the Hawks were able to generate great looks in this game, their finishing – beyond the efforts of Jeremy Lin and John Collins – was atrocious.
According to Cleaning the Glass, the Hawks were able to attempt 51 percent of their shots at the rim against the Pacers in this one – which was good enough for the 98th percentile of games they’ve played this year.
Sadly though, those looks did not lead to actual, consistent scoring. The team’s finishing at the rim was 51.2 percent, which was in the 11th percentile out of games the Hawks played, and their overall effective field goal percentage of 40.2 percent (taking into account the added point for three-pointers) was in the hilariously low 3rd percentile for the Hawks this year.
Overall, not a banner night for the Hawks in the finishing department.