Atlanta Hawks: NBA Finals a reminder of how close this team came

The Atlanta Hawks haven’t played a game in just under a week but the sting of the defeat in the Eastern Conference Finals is renewed with every NBA Finals game. Not simply because they were two games from reaching their first Finals since 1961.

Rather it’s the way they went down, and how the Phoenix Suns have thrived, that’s been the most frustrating part.

Through two games, the Suns and Bucks are generally shooting the ball with similar efficiency. Phoenix has shot 47.7 percent from the floor while Milwaukee is at 45.3 percent. But from three-point range, the Suns are shooting 41.9 percent while the Bucks have shot 37.3 percent.

Those numbers from beyond the arc are a reminder of the missed opportunity that was for Atlanta as their shooters went cold at the worst possible time.

The Atlanta Hawks would be in the NBA Finals if it weren’t for missed opportunities in the previous round

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Over their final two games, both losses, the Hawks shot 38.6 percent. That was better than their average for the series as they had four players shoot over 42 percent from downtown in Bogdan Bogdanovic, John Collins, Danilo Gallinari, and Cam Reddish.

But those numbers are a bit misleading. In particular, the deciding Game 6 in which Atlanta shot 37.5 percent from outside, just 0.3 percentage points behind the Bucks. But in the first half, the gap was larger.

The Hawks only connected on 25 percent of their triples. They did so as Milwaukee was hitting just 26.3 percent of their threes.

The inability to take advantage of the situation with some timely offense is what ultimately doomed the offense.

For example, Kevin Huerter had been one of the Hawks most consistent shooters all postseason. But he went cold just as the others were heating up. That’s not to lay the blame on Red Velvet. Remember, only Game 2 seemed like the Hawks never had a chance so there are no excuses.

Phoenix has thrived in another area that Atlanta let down and that’s at the free-throw line. The Suns are shooting an absolutely absurd 92.5 percent so far in the NBA Finals. The Bucks are hitting on just 61.7 percent. For reference, that is far below the 72.4 percent they shot against the Hawks.

They had just one game worse than that, Game 3 in which they shot 57.1 percent. Except the Hawks could only knock down 56.3 percent of their looks at the charity stripe.

It was that inability to take advantage of the Bucks struggles that made watching these NBA Finals so frustrating. Not because there isn’t good basketball being played; indeed there is. But one can’t help but notice how ripe the Eastern Conference Finals were for the taking.

Seeing how things have played out so far in the Finals has inevitably led to the “what ifs”. Fortunately, the future still looks as bright as ever for this team.