“You can call me ‘Kool Moe D!’ Ha! Get it? How Ya Like Me Now?”
It’s a tale of two Pauls, and a tale of two Point Guards, as the Indiana Pacers swing into Philips Arena for a matinee during the Atlanta Hawks’ six-game homestand (1:00 PM Eastern, Fox Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL; Fox Sports Indiana).
“I’m focusing on me.” That’s what star swingman Paul George insisted, twice, during a media scrum in the aftermath of the NBA trade deadline. George still wanted to carry the flagship of the Pacers, two-time Eastern Conference Finalists best remembered for rivaling a South Beach juggernaut that no longer exists. But now, he’s not so sure.
Pacers president Larry Bird made no moves, during the run-up to the trade deadline, to improve the competitiveness of the Pacers (31-30), currently three games behind 5-seed Atlanta (34-27), but also three games in front of teams that would watch the playoffs from home in the season concluded yesterday. Bird also didn’t seek out a deal to relinquish George to a presently more competitive team. If Larry Legend did try, George never got so much as a hint about it.
“I didn’t know what was about to happen,” said PG-13 to the Indianapolis Star and others. “It was kind of a dark moment. That was the frustrating part… I thought I should have been in the loop more.” As a rule of thumb, you never want your sole All-Star to come out of the All-Star Break feeling frustrated, with neither he nor his head coach able to know what, if anything, is going on behind the curtain.
George (43.7 FG%, highest since his first season as a steady starter in 2011-12; NBA-high 91.9 FT%) can walk in the summer of 2018, and at that time, the SoCal native may choose to reenact that old Converse commercial, setting up Bird and Magic Johnson for a showdown for his services.
While one Paul is glum, another is pretty glib.
Paul Millsap’s sole frustrations come occasionally on the floor, such as when his Hawks fell behind by 25 to the Cavaliers on Friday, finding themselves buried again under an avalanche of three-point makes (in this case, an NBA record-setting load of 25) and having to shovel themselves out. Do-it-all Paul’s 27 points, most in over a month, combined with Junior Hardaway’s late-game heroics, helped keep a tragedy from turning into a travesty, Atlanta coming up short by just five points at the final horn.
Those on-court annoyances don’t extend to Millsap’s relationship with his coach-slash-executive. He and Mike Budenholzer each understand the modern-day NBA business, and mutually resolved any misgivings when the Hawks were shopping him early in the season, with the Hawks making it clear that Sap was off-limits to all comers well before the trade deadline approached.
Millsap’s “not going anywhere,” at least not until this summer, and both parties are fine with that notion. For now, the All-Star forward is focused on a repeat of Atlanta’s 96-85 win in Indy back on November 23, when his double-double plus five dimes and four steals helped momentarily break the Hawks’ fall down the standings. With Coach Bud suspended for a game for keeping it too real with the refs, Millsap might even help design a play or two for interim coach Darvin Ham.
After getting shelled by the LeBronnaires on Friday night, the Hawks can only hope the iron will be as unkind to the Pacers as it was back when the teams met in November (7-for-27 3FGs, led by George’s 2-for-11 from outside). The Hawks will also hope the head-to-head between former teammate point guards will be more than just a push.
Many will compare the current stat lines of Dennis Schröder and Jeff Teague (career-high 8.1 APG this season), who returns to the Highlight Factory today. Instead, I prefer to look at the production of two 23-year-old apprentices, handed the keys to a playoff team that traded away their seasoned veteran floor general.
The 2011-12 Teague averaged just 13.7 points and 5.3 assists per-36, compared to Schröder’s current 20.3 and 7.3 respectively. But on a team with guys named Joe, Josh, and Al, Teague (19.1 usage%, 7th on that Hawks team) was not relied upon to commandeer the offense as much as Dennis (team-high 24.7 usage%) is today. Jeff (15.1 TO%) also had an NBA-experienced, steady-handed Kirk Hinrich by his side for the home stretch, while Schröder has been relieved, if you will, by Euroleague standout Malcolm Delaney.
As such, it would take another season (2012-13) before Teague’s turnover percentage would rise to a career-worst 17.6 TO%. Dennis’ is a career-low 16.0 TO%, but Coach Bud’s demanded pace plus the lack of a reliable offensive backup makes Schröder’s game-to-game goofs (5 TOs vs. the Cavs, 7 TOs vs. the Mavs) look much more egregious. Despite his notorious defensive challenges, the waiver-claimed Jose Calderon will eventually serve as an upgrade backing up Schröder at the position.
Both 2017 Schröder and 2012 Teague were maligned for their own defensive shortcomings, especially on pick-and-roll coverage, Schröder most recently as his inability to thwart dribble penetration from dribble-master Kyrie Irving (with little help coming from Atlanta’s sagging big men) helped the Cavs pick the Hawks apart through three quarters. With Atlanta down by 19 points, Schröder sat from the 6:33 mark until the Hawks’ last-gasp effort to narrow the lead concluded with 28 seconds to spare.
At least 2012 Teague would pressure for the occasional steal (1.6 per game) and try to recover, whereas 2017 Schröder seems allergic to thefts (0.8 SPG; 3 steals in his last 7 games). Jeff also built a reputation for blowing layups around the rim, but his field goal accuracy within three feet of the basket (61.3 FG% in 2011-12, 58.9% career, career-low 53.6% this season) is only recently getting worse than that of Mr. Got Heem (Schröder 56.0 FG% this season, 54.6% career). Teague has improved mightily after a rough start to the season, but even George knows that the Indianapolis product could turn out to be a one-season rental. To what end, only Larry Bird seems to know.
Both point guards struggled from the field (Schröder 3-for-11 FGs; Teague 5-for-15 FGs) in their first face-off, but Jeff’s superior ball control (8 assists, 2 TOs) and commitment to defense (five steals, two swats) helped keep Nate McMillan’s club in the ballpark until the end of the third quarter.
At that point, defense by Delaney, Taurean Prince and Millsap helped blow the game open. Hardaway (0-for-6 FGs vs. IND on Nov. 23) only had three fewer field goals than the whole Pacers bench (combined 3-for-13 FGs and one assist vs. ATL). As George knows, at least Atlanta took the effort to steel up their reserve options in hopes of a heady postseason run.
Whichever starting Paul is more focused on today’s game than on their personal future will shine brightest at day’s end. More importantly, whichever starting point guard forces the other team into mistakes more frequently will control the outcome today. Schröder catches plenty of grief from Coach Bud all the time, but he certainly won’t want to suffer the Curse of Ham today,
Let’s Go Atlanta United! And Let’s Go Hawks!
~lw3
