The Atlanta Hawks advanced to the Eastern Conference Semifinals Friday night beating the Brooklyn Nets in six games. Here's what we learned about the Hawks in Round 1. Here's what you should know.
1. THE GREAT OFFENSE STILL EXISTS INSIDE OF THEM SOMEWHERE
The final three games of this series were great offensive efforts by the Hawks and two of them resulted in victories. That's what we've been waiting to see from the Hawks. We want to see an offense so potent that the opponent simply can't catch their breath. We want to see the Hawks moving the ball on the perimeter, driving and kicking without hesitation, constantly moving without the ball, and making the defense feel like it's a futile venture to try to stop them. This was the Hawks team of December and January, and that's the Hawks team that was supposedly going to challenge the star-driven NBA hierarchy.
In Game 4, the Hawks ended up losing due to Deron Williams' brief revival, but they still posted an offensive efficiency of 113.2 points per 100 possessions and an effective field goal percentage of 55.3 percent. In their Game 5 victory, they put up an offensive efficiency of 112.9 and a 56.0 percent eFG. In the closing Game 6 win, Atlanta had a 113.7 offensive rating and an eFG of 58.0 percent. This is the consistency of an overwhelming offense they'll need against the Wizards in Round 2.
2. THE 3-POINT SHOOTING IS STILL THEIR LIFEBLOOD
The Hawks don't live by the 3 and/or die by the 3. What they do is use the 3-pointer to deliver knockout punches to their opponents. That's the difference between the old, outdated adage and the style of play the Hawks employ. They can beat you without the 3-point shot falling at a high rate of accuracy. The Hawks were 19-13 this season when they shot below the league average 3-point percentage of 35.0 percent. But when they hit on 35.0 percent of their 3's or better, the Hawks were a ridiculous 41-9 this season.
Their Game 3 loss saw them make just 20.0 percent from 3-point range. Then the Game 4 loss saw them make 39.3 percent of their shots from outside and it didn't change the result. However in their four wins, they made 38.1 percent from 3-point range and only had one poor shooting victory, which was their 33.3 percent clip in Game 1. The rest of their wins came with shooting 38.7 percent or better from 3.
3. YOU HAVE TO BE CONCERNED WITH HOW THE NETS SLOWED THEM DOWN
While the final three games of the series were offensive shows for the Hawks, the first three games of the series were offensive woes. The Nets were an awful defensive team this season, finishing 24th in the NBA in defensive rating. You can't even say that at least this team was a different defensive team after acquiring Thaddeus Young because they still clocked in at 23rd in the NBA in defensive rating after the trade deadline. That makes the slow start to the series offensively for the Hawks pretty confusing.
The Hawks were tied for sixth in the NBA in offensive rating with the Spurs this season, but they only put together an offensive efficiency of 94.1 in the first three games against Brooklyn. Luckily for them, they won two of those games so it didn't bury them in the series. However, dropping over 10 points per 100 possessions wasn't ideal. They had an eFG of 44.4 percent and even their true shooting percentage was just 48.9 percent. The Hawks are probably closer to the team we saw in the final three games than the first three, but against this Wizards' defense coming up, they'll have to be at the top of their games.
4. PAUL MILLSAP AND AL HORFORD HAVE TO BE STARS IN ROUND 2
The combination of Paul Millsap and Al Horford was simply too much for the Nets' frontline of Thaddeus Young and Brook Lopez to handle. In their time on the court together, the Millsap-Horford duo had a net rating of plus-17.4 points per 100 possessions. They were just slaying the Nets on both the offensive (114.5) and defensive (97.1) ends of the floor in this series. Horford averaged 14.3 points (48.2 percent from the field), 10.0 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.0 steal, and 1.2 blocks. Millsap averaged 15.7 points (45.0 percent FG, 47.5 percent 3FG), 9.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.2 steals, and 1.2 blocks.
This is the type of performance the duo has to throw out there against the Marcin Gortat and Nene pairing. While small ball worked for the Wizards in the first round against the Raptors, it's going to be much harder to make Millsap feel uncomfortable with these smaller lineups. Instead, they'll need to possibly draw early foul trouble by pounding the ball into Gortat and Nene in the post and pick-and-roll situations. It'll be on Millsap and Horford to play the same smart basketball that helped them shine in the first round against Brooklyn.
5. DEMARRE CARROLL MIGHT BE THEIR MOST IMPORTANT PLAYER
It's hard to glean a lot out of six-game sample sizes because the smallest stretches of bad or good basketball can throw off the numbers. But the importance of DeMarre Carroll to the Hawks in this series was evident by both the eye test and the numbers. In the 83 minutes of this series that he was on the bench, the Hawks had a pathetic offensive rating of 83.1 and their net rating was a minus-18.1. So if they played a 100-possession game at this rate without Carroll on the floor, they'd be much more likely to lose by 20 points than to win the game.
However, with Carroll on the floor, the offense jumped and the score went far into the Hawks' favor. Atlanta's offense against the Nets improved by 31 points per 100 possessions (112.6) and their net rating moved to a plus-13.7. That's a difference of 31.8 points per 100 possessions between the 83 minutes Carroll didn't play and the 210 minutes he did play. He did everything for them from grabbing many key offensive boards to knocking down 3's and making timely cuts. Carroll could be their X-factor throughout their entire playoff run.
