Atlanta Hawks: 3 trends to watch for in Eastern Conference Finals

Atlanta Hawks trend to watch No. 1: Defending Giannis will be a group effort

The Hawks dealt with the duo of Ben Simmons and Joel Emiid last round. In this one, they’ll face a player that is like some sort of jumble of those two in Giannis. He fills the stat sheet like Embiid and generally has an aggressive mentality. But he can handle the ball like Simmons. He also shares similar struggles at the free-throw line, where he shot 48.3 percent in the last round.

We saw the Hawks employ the “hack-a” strategy on Simmons at times last round. They had mixed results with it though as it allowed others to thrive in the passive Simmons’ absence.

We’ll talk about why that’s not quite the issue here in a bit, but it certainly shouldn’t be at the forefront of Nate McMillan’s game plan. Not when the Hawks have a few options in their arsenal to throw at the Greek Freak.

He’s coming off a 40-points, 13-rebound Game 7 and averaged nearly 32 and 13, respectively, for the series as Brooklyn didn’t really have the bodies to keep up with him. And while no one should expect to completely shut him down, the Hawks trio of bigs can all take turns trying to derail his freight train-like drives.

John Collins will likely have to do most of his damage by making Giannis work on the defensive end. Clint Capela will be on Brook Lopez for the most part but should also see Giannis in the post, and especially at the rim.

The Bucks could opt to play primarily on the perimeter ( Lopez shot 40 percent from three against the Nets), in which case Capela might get played off the floor.

The x-factor is rookie Onyeka Okongwu. He gave the Hawks some good minutes against Embiid, especially when Capela struggled, and could be used in a similar role here. He averaged just 9.5 minutes last round but played 15-plus in the series-clincher.

What the Hawks can’t allow is for Giannis to seek out and destroy the likes of Trae Young, Kevin Huerter, and Bogdan Bogdanovic. They’ll have their hands full as it is.