It seemed like it was only a matter of time before the Atlanta Hawks of the first half of this season returned and the Brooklyn Nets of most of this season showed themselves. While the Nets' final fight of the season occurred in a second quarter in which they seemed to keep it close enough to be a nuisance as the Hawks tried to close things out, Atlanta spread their wings in the third quarter and ended the series in style. The defense and the offense that we had been privy to up until the All-Star break came back.
For the Nets, they just didn't have the firepower or the willpower to keep pace and take away the things the Hawks were executing. An avalanche of offense crushed the Nets in the first and especially third quarter, and the Nets didn't have an answer. They put up more of a fight than many expected in this series, but they didn't really come close to the upset in the first round.
Here's what we learned from Hawks-Nets Game 6:
1. THE THIRD QUARTER WAS THE HAWKS TEAM WE'VE BEEN MISSING
A couple of minutes into the fourth quarter, the Nets had recorded 15 assists in the game. That's not a good number but it's not necessarily a disastrous number of team assists either. If you can finish between 22-26 assists, which is still attainable with a good fourth quarter, you can feel pretty good about the ball movement and sharing in your team's attack. When that 15 is a disastrous number for Brooklyn is when it matches the entire number of assists the Hawks had in one quarter.
The Hawks were slinging the ball all over the court in the third period and ended up with 41 points on 16-of-24 from the field and 6-of-9 from 3-point range. The only unassisted field goal in the period for the Hawks was a Dennis Schroeder layup with a second left on the clock following another dumb defensive breakdown by the Nets. Atlanta scored 15 of those 41 points in the third on fast breaks. It was the crazy offensive efficiency the Hawks have touted for most of this season and the offense they want to be able to bring with them into the second round.
2. HOW DO WE REMEMBER THE NETS THIS SEASON?
It's unfair to lump last year's failed experiment of the Brooklyn Nets with this year's team. Sure, it was a byproduct of the failed experiment, but this team was not set up for real success in the way they were presumed to be heading into the 2013-14 season. However, this team was a pretty sad state of affairs until they acquired Thaddeus Young at the trade deadline. When that happened, it injected just enough life into this team to give them a final push into the postseason in the sad Eastern Conference.
Deron Williams had an awful season and Joe Johnson wasn't the sneaky undervalued but overpaid wing option he had been for years. Brook Lopez emerged after the All-Star break, but you never know if his feet will hold up over the course of a season. Looking at this team, they have almost zero assets moving forward, their middle of the first round pick will be swapped for Atlanta's 29th pick, and their next few picks over the years belong to other teams. Lionel Hollins has his work cut out for him if he's going to avoid the expected surge from teams like Miami, Charlotte, Indiana, and Detroit next season.
Perhaps, we'll only end up remembering them for their Bone Goal of trying to win together.
#BoneGoal pic.twitter.com/rWR1k766JM
— Howard Beck (@HowardBeck) May 1, 2015
3. JEFF TEAGUE DOMINATED WITHOUT MAKING A SINGLE SHOT
It's rare that a guard can dominate a basketball game without making a shot but that's exactly what Jeff Teague did in this game. He went 0-of-5 from the field and didn't even get to the free throw line, and yet his mark on the game came from his defense and ball movement. He ended up with 13 assists, generating 29 points with direct passes. Six of those 15 assists in the third quarter by the Hawks came from Teague. While he got lit up in Game 4 by Deron Williams, he held him in check during the rest of the series.
Teague was a plus-27 in 24 minutes tonight and the way he navigated the pick-and-roll and provided dribble penetration are the reasons why that number was so high.
The Hawks will face the Washington Wizards in the East semifinals. Game 1 is on Sunday.
SERIES RESULTS
Game 1 – Sun April 19
Atlanta 99, Brooklyn 92
Game 2 – Wed April 22
Atlanta 96, Brooklyn 91
Game 3 – Sat April 25
Brooklyn 91, Atlanta 83
Game 4 – Mon April 27
Brooklyn 120, Atlanta 115 (OT)
Game 5 - Wed April 29
Atlanta 107, Brooklyn 97
Game 6 - Fri May 1
Atlanta 111, Brooklyn 87 - Hawks win series 4-2
