“You don’t need your ankles to punch, do ya?”
The Atlanta Hawks have a great chance to firm up first-round homecourt advantage with a win in their regular season home finale versus the Boston Celtics (7:30 PM Eastern, Fox Sports South). But first, may I look ahead for a moment, and indulge you in my annual airing of playoff-time grievances? Lemme go find my red Sam I Am hat…
I have no appetite for a first-round affair with (other) teams that won’t bring eyeballs to the screen or booties to the seats. None. Yes, Charlotte Hornets, I am looking at youz guyz. An opening round affair between the Hawks and the Hornets is something only The Hoopers’ All-Star family begrudgingly talks about. When multiple games are on, we’ll be the ones relegated to truTV or Destination America or something. “Up next, it’s the Hawks and the Hornets going at it in Game 4… right after the Swamp Loggers marathon!”
Nobody needs to see another Ex-Hawk Seeks Revenge series in the first round. Yes, Marvin, go spread your wings and fly against somebody else. Then, maybe if we take care of our business, we can meet up in the conference finals. Joe, again? I’ll go watch My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 if I wanna see a sequel so badly. When’s Ride Along 17 due to come out, anyway?
To get and keep the basketball world’s attention, the Hawks have to slay a sacred cow. And there’s no more blessed bovine in the first-round to turn into roast beef than the ones donning Celtic green.
Eleven times, the Hawks and Celtics have met up for a postseason series. Ten times, the Hawks’ season ended there. That includes nine times, since our franchise’s title year of 1958, that Boston sent either St. Louis or Atlanta packing for the summer. But for Bill Russell spraining his ankle in Game 3 and Bob Pettit going bananas in Game 6 of the ’58 Finals, this might still be a clean sweep. There’s no better time than the present to break a longstanding Hawks Hex.
There are no Larry Legends, Hondo Havliceks, or Ratface Pierces in the way this time around, so Boston would need to look to some new heroes to keep the Hawks caged. Isaiah Thomas sure fits the part. He is making his final charge for an All-NBA lower-team nod (Atlanta’s Paul Millsap has a decent shot, too), and he’s making his closing statement with guns-a-blazing.
Only Larry and Havlicek have ever turned in a Celtics season with 1600 points and 500 assists, and seven more dimes tonight ascends IT into that lofty realm. When it comes to averaging at least 22.0 PPG and 6.0 APG while committing less than 3.0 TOs per game, this season, Thomas sits in a class by himself. Not too shabby for a guy who was Mister Irrelevant in the 2011 NBA Draft.
To get the end-of-season accolades Thomas craves, it helps a ton if his team is playing Games 1 and 2 of the opening round at home. And that makes tonight’s tussle with Jeff Teague and company very important. The Hawks and the Celtics (both 47-32) now control their destinies for securing the 3-seed and 4-seed (Thank you, Orlando! Keep that up, please!), but that could change again for whoever comes up on the short end of the stick tonight, with Charlotte and Miami nipping at their heels.
Thomas could barely miss last night (7-for-9 FGs, 5-for-5 FTs) against the Bucks at The Gahden, but Tyler Zeller was the big exceller (26 points, 4 blocks) for the Celts, as coach Brad Stevens unleashed his bench on Milwaukee. Zeller and Kelly Olynyk (16 points, 5-for-5 FGs) pounded the Bucks’ bewildered interior as Thomas was able to turn distributive duties over to reserves Evan Turner and Marcus Smart (9 assists apiece). All six of Boston’s steals on the evening were produced by bench players.
Starting forward and glue-guy Jae Crowder is returning to form after rehabbing from an ankle injury last month. And Turner is getting accustomed to goggles after a gnarly eye injury (“I thought that bad boy came out!”, he said) that he suffered on Sunday against the Lakers. It will help Atlanta’s cause if Kent Bazemore (stiff knee, gametime decision) can help Teague and Thabo Sefolosha chase Thomas off the ball.
Having defensive savants Smart (0-for-2 FGs but +24 in 27 minutes last night vs. MIL) and Avery Bradley available helps Boston keep opposing guards like Kyle Korver and Junior Hardaway (7-for-13 3FGs vs. TOR on Thursday) cool from outside. That wasn’t a problem for the Hawks in their last game versus the Celtics, way back on December 18. Atlanta shot just 4-for-20 on threes but still used a 38-28 fourth quarter to prevail, 109-101. The game was apt as a microcosm of the season for Atlanta (51.6 eFG%, second-best in East; 103.1 O-Rating, 17th in NBA), where they’ve still pulled out victories down the stretch even when their perimeter-shooting as a team has been underwhelming.
Thomas was able to feast from the free throw line (14-for-15 FTs) in that game, and finished with 29 points. But the Celtics were unable to do what they do best, forcing turnovers, from the Hawks (23 assists, 12 player TOs). They were also incapable of holding back either Millsap (20 points, 6-for-10 2FGs, 8-for-10 FTs) or Al Horford (21 points, 10-for-17 2FGs, 10 rebounds, 3 swats) inside, the dynamic duo combining to make 10 of 13 shot attempts in the restricted area alone.
Unlike the Hawks, who went after former Celtic Kris Humphries, Boston made no moves to bolster the quality of their interior play since the two teams last met (unless you count their waiving of David Lee). Atlanta’s frontcourt trio plus The Mikes (Scott, 11 points and 7 boards in 14 minutes vs. TOR, and Muscala) must put the Celtics bigs (namely, Amir Johnson and Jared Sullinger, both rested after logging under 20 minutes last night vs. MIL, plus Olynyk and Zeller) to work defensively.
That will make life easier for Teague (last 5 games: 23.0 PPG, 48.2 FG%, 44.4 3FG%), Dennis Schröder, and the wings as they try to make productive plays from outside the paint. Look for Millsap (last 8 games: 11.8 RPG, 2.9 offensive) to make boxing out miserable for a Celtics squad that allows 14.3 second-chance PPG (4th-most in NBA; Atlanta’s 13.1 opponent PPG ranks 14th-most).
Shut out of the scoring column during the Hawks’ big win against Toronto, Schröder has been lounging in more ways than one lately (last 4 games: 6.0 PPG, 20.0 FG%, 11.1 3FG%, 2.3 APG, 3.8 TO/game). But it was his spark off the bench (team-high 22 points, two of the Hawks’ four 3FGs, 5 assists and no TOs, 4 steals), not the struggling Teague’s play, that allowed the Hawks to storm ahead in the fourth quarter in Boston back in December.
Getting Schröder off the schneid is imperative for enhancing the Hawks’ postseason prospects, and it’s going to take much more than un-blonding the ‘DS’ in his hair. Dennis does have to cease the reversion to driving full-bore into defensive fly traps and jump-passing the ball into the waiting arms of the enemy. But his teammates have to use more motion to get open for outlet passes, drawing defenders out of driving lanes. Static positioning whenever Schröder is pounding the ball makes his next moves more predictable for his opponents.
Despite Atlanta’s careful play in the December 18 contest, this should be another wild, high-paced game, featuring two teams that thrive on turnover-transition offense. The Celtics’ pace (101.2 possessions per-48) ranks 1st in the East, while Atlanta’s ranks 4th (99.2) and second among playoff teams. Boston’s net of +3.9 PPG off TOs this season leads the NBA, and the Hawks’ +2.7 isn’t far behind. Whichever team provides superior transition defense off of their opponent’s stops will hold the edge for the balance of the contest.
The last two times the Hawks faced Boston, the Celtics were within a game of Atlanta in the standings. Now they’re statistically tied, and prevailing for the third-straight time in the series would provide just the separation Atlanta needs for the closing run.
A Hawks W would establish a decisive head-to-head advantage in case of a two-way tiebreaker, and it would bring the Hawks’ in-conference record (currently 28-21, worst among the East’s Top 6) within a game of Boston, who goes home from here to face Charlotte and Miami next week. With a Hawks win tonight in their home finale, I might just get the first-round matchup I’m pulling for. Buzz off, Hornets!
Let’s Go Hawks!
~lw3
