In a sometimes shaky performance, the Hawks showed enough of their dominant side to beat Brooklyn in the opener of their first-round series.
ATLANTA -- There were several moments in the Hawks' 99-92 Game 1 victory over the Nets where Atlanta looked like the team that blitzed through the league in December and January. And, there were other times when the Hawks looked like a team that might be vulnerable against bigger, more talented squads as the playoffs wear on.
There was the 16-point lead in the second quarter that dwindled to single digits before the half. There was the third quarter that was played at Brooklyn's pace and saw the Nets close to within three. And finally, there was the fourth quarter that became uncomfortably close once Brooklyn stopped turning the ball over and the Hawks stopped running their offense with crispness and precision.
Always, there was an Atlanta response. Whether it was Kyle Korver draining threes or Jeff Teague hitting big shots down the stretch, the Hawks had enough to hold off Brooklyn and avert what would have been a colossal letdown, if not a minor catastrophe in a series few expect to go beyond five games.
In short, we didn't learn all that much about the Hawks that we didn't already know. They always seem to walk this line between wide-eyed optimism and excessive caution, and Game 1 was no different. When they're getting stops and the jumpers are falling, they're as dominant as anyone. When they're not, they appear more vulnerable than the other contenders.
From Brooklyn's perspective, things went almost exactly as predicted. The Nets wanted to limit turnovers and play at their (slower) pace. When they were able to do that, their size was a problem. When they didn't, they were in trouble.
"There's no time for spectating or standing around because it's really hard," Nets coach Lionel Hollins said before the game. "It's tough to win. To impose your will is, to me, the biggest thing and it's a battle for 48 minutes. The minute you blink you'll be down 10."
In the end, the Nets blinked a time or two too many. That they were able to hang around says a lot more about how Atlanta played than anything they were doing.
To be sure, the Nets do present specific problems for the Hawks, namely the front line of Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young that combined for 11 of their 12 offensive rebounds. Defensive rebounding has long been Atlanta's Achilles heel. The Hawks ranked 22nd in defensive rebounding percentage, a pedestrian rank for any playoff team, let alone a championship contender.
Yet, the Hawks also defended the 3-point line, where Brooklyn missed 15 of 20 shots, and forced 17 turnovers. That's where Atlanta makes its living on defense, and on that score the Hawks were right where they needed to be.
"Defense was great. It was just the second chances," said DeMarre Carroll who helped hold former Hawk Joe Johnson to 17 points on 17 shots. "Us guards got to commit and get in there and hit Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young and try to get some of those rebounds. Other than that, we were getting the stops we needed."
There were other concerns, as well. Paul Millsap, who has been battling a shoulder injury that kept him out of five of the final six regular season games, shot just 2-for-11. Al Horford, who has exactly zero injury luck, dislocated the pinky on his shooting hand and was noticeably uncomfortable when he returned.
X-rays on Horford's hand were negative and he's optimistic he'll be better when the series resumes on Wednesday. Millsap's shoulder is a more serious problem, but in keeping with the Hawks' ethos they simply relied on others to carry the weight.
"This is what we've done all year, right? We're not just one person on this team," Korver said. "We're not playing hero ball. We go out and play like a unit. There's lots of nights when guys don't shoot the ball well or play as well as they'd like to. The reality is Paul is probably finding his rhythm a little bit, and he will. We just keep on working our system and I'll give you the lines that we always give: move the ball, play with the pass, play with space, play with pace and keep on finding someone else."
On this night, someone else was everyone else. All the Hawk starters took between 11 and 12 shots and everyone besides Millsap scored in double figures. Dennis Schroder added 13 points off the bench and Teague served as their crunch-time performer. On another night it may be Horford or Korver or Millsap. That's the beauty of this team, and also perhaps, its biggest weakness.
Much has been made about the way the Hawks finished the season. After surging into the top spot in the East by winning 33 out of 35 with a 19-game winning streak thrown in for good measure, coach Mike Budenholzer employed the Popovichian method of selective rest over the final two months of the season.
"It was a little bit unique," Budenholzer offered before Game 1. "I think there was a real desire to have a balance between keeping our guys in a great place physically and mentally and being sharp as far as execution and everything on the court. It's not math so you never know exactly."
Even if it was by design, Cleveland's second-half run coupled with Atlanta's middling finish left many to presume that the Cavs are now the clear favorites to come out of the East, regardless of seeding our home court advantage. That's fine and may ultimately be true, but it doesn't change the fact that Atlanta is in a very comfortable position as the playoffs begin.
On the final day of the regular season, the Hawks elected to play their starters normal minutes in the first half of their game with the Bulls. This caught many by surprise, but all it did was confirm that Atlanta is still a frighteningly good team when everyone's playing and clicking in harmony. With that point emphatically made, the Hawks eased off the gas in the second half, allowing the Bulls to win and move up to third spot where they are now Cleveland's problem.
You can get yourself in trouble trying to dictate matchups, but few would argue that a second-round date with the battle-hardened Bulls is a less-desirable matchup than whoever emerges from the Raptors-Wizards series. Add to that a first-round date with the Nets, who spent most of the season flailing about in a futile bid for mediocrity, and the path is clear for the Hawks to reach the conference finals for the first time in the Atlanta era.
Game 1 did little to quell any local angst about whether this team has what it takes, but it was a win and in the postseason that's all you can really hope for under any circumstances. The Hawks are a veteran group and they understand these things.
"It did feel like we haven't played a meaningful game in quite a while," Korver said. "You still try to go do your job every day, but when the playoffs come there's that little something extra in you that really gets you going."
They earned the right to get back up to speed. The next few weeks will tell us a lot more about whether they're up for the challenge.
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