“¡Es un Nuevo Dia!”
After a tough OT loss to King James and his Cavalier Court last weekend, the Atlanta Hawks should be rested and rarin’ to go against the Phoenix Suns (8:00 PM Fox Sports Southeast, Fox Sports Arizona). They should be eager to shake off their two-game losing streak, and also to exact a measure of revenge against a Suns team that simply begs to be taken out of their collective misery. Alas, these are our Hawks we’re talking about. And this is the dreaded game-after-a couple-days-layoff. “Should” is always the operative verb.
The Hawks (45-32) started out just 3-5 (including four straight L’s) when they returned to play after two or more days of rest, but have since prevailed in their last four such scenarios. Homecourt advantage remains on the line for third-seeded Atlanta. But with several more challenging opponents for the Hawks on the regular-season docket, the Suns fit the role as a looked-past opponent ready-made to trip up lackadaisical birds-of-prey.
After a sturdy 6-4 start to the season, victories have become more like blips for Phoenix (20-57). Starting in late December, lowlighted by Markieff Morris tossing a towel at his coach, the team lost four straight (including a home loss to the 76ers). That stretch prompted management to fire a warning shot by issuing walking papers to two of coach Jeff Hornacek’s assistants.
The Suns then lost five more games (including a road loss to the Lakers), before pulling it together to drop a then-mediocre Hornets team back below .500. Six more defeats (including a road loss in Minnesota) followed before the Hawks paid Phoenix a visit.
Atlanta played that January 23 game without their anchorman, Paul Millsap, due to personal leave. But a number of Hawks on the TSR Arena floor didn’t exactly show up, either. Not until midway through the third quarter, with the Suns enjoying a 15-point cushion. Kent Bazemore scored 13 of his team-high 21 points in the final quarter as Atlanta tied the game on several occasions. But with a prayer of a 3-pointer answered at the buzzer, for his then season-high 24th point, Archie Goodwin handed the Hawks a Badloss.
Inspiring as the victory was for the Suns, it wasn’t enough to save their head coach’s jerb. Four consecutive losses followed, and then nine more after assistant coach Earl Watson usurped Hornacek’s position. Morris was sent packing in exchange for Washington’s hopefully-lottery draft pick and a pair of brief stays, by DeJuan Blair and Kris Humphries.
A 6-7 run through mid-March, albeit against unimpressive competition, gave some hope that the team was finally leveling off. But sloppy, desperate play and the revolving door of injured players became too much to withstand. Just as was the case in January, they’re coming into the game tonight on a six-game skid.
Then, as now, the Hawks won’t have to deal with Brandon Knight. Having re-aggravated a sports hernia, the Human Conundrum joins Eric Bledsoe and T.J. Warren on the season-ending sideline, setting the tank jobbery into full swing.
Phoenix is crossing fingers that Euroleague star Bogdan Bogdanovic will cross the Atlantic and suit up in purple-and-orange next season. Also, they presently have three first-rounders coming their way (including Cleveland’s, via the Isaiah Thomas three-way deal) this summer. And as the team with the worst record in the league aside from the Suxers and Flakers, they don’t want to screw up with a win and risk giving Boston (who has shutting-down-for-the-year Brooklyn’s first-rounder) better lotto odds. The Hawks probably don’t want that to happen, either.
With any of those picks, the Suns can only hope to select as good a blue-chip prospect as shooting guard Devin Booker. With 51 more points this season, he’ll become just the fourth NBA rookie (Melo and LeBron, KD) to amass 1000 points while still a teenager. The league’s youngest player emerged as the go-to option in the Phoenix backcourt, setting the stage for yet another “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the Three of Us” situation next season when Bledsoe and Knight, the highest-paid and highest-scoring Suns, are set to return.
Despite averaging 20.7 PPG in his last 20 games, Booker predictably struggles as a defender, and his accuracy (39.9 FG%, 28.7 3FG% post-All-Star-Break) isn’t what it was back in January during his coming-out party. Still, Suns fans’ hopes for a bright future are tightly affixed to the young gunner. Thus, the more-seasoned guards on the roster will certainly be on the market for just about any takers.
Behind Booker, the Suns are taking a flyer with our old friend, John Jenkins, who was claimed off waivers from the Mavericks in late February. Jenkins is looking to stick as a hired gun off the bench somewhere in the league, and Watson is giving him much more room to roam than Dallas did.
After sinking just three triples with the Mavs (none since the first week of December), Jenkins recently went 9-for-9 on threes over a five game stretch for Phoenix last month, finishing just four made field goals shy of the NBA-record Threak. His contract from the Mavs includes a team option for 2016-17, so Johnny is looking to give the Suns every reason to pursue bundling the more erratic Goodwin into a deal to go elsewhere.
As is the case for a few NBA teams, the best option for floor general right now is the head coach. The injuries to Bledsoe and Knight have moved Ronnie Price (2.2 APG, 1.0 TO/game) up to the top line. Watson is also turning to his 2-guards to fill in time as the lead ballhandler, pushing Booker (team-high 2.6 APG) out of his comfort zone and creating another wrinkle of evaluation for Goodwin and Jenkins.
Even without score-or-bust Knight around, the Suns are ripe for a turnover on just about every other possession (15.2 team TO%, worst in NBA; 20.2 opponent PPG off TOs, ahead of only Philly’s 20.3), especially at the high tempo Watson continues to push (101.4 possessions per-48 post-All-Star-Break, 3rd highest in NBA). That’s a banana the Hawks (14.4 opponent TO%, 5th-best in NBA) need to unpeel, every chance they get.
Phoenix’s game plans are simple. Park both Tyson Chandler (three-straight double-doubles, season-high 21 points @ UTA last Sunday) and Alex Len (30.5 FG% from 3-feet out; 33.4 FG% on non-dunks) in the post, and let the 7-foot-1ers throw their weight around. The Suns will seek out lob, jump-hook and post-up opportunities for the pair, who were just beginning to start together when the Hawks visited back in January. Otherwise, the shooters will loft up whatever shots they can, in hopes of second-chance points (13.6 per-48, 5th in NBA) brought about by their bigs.
One could argue that Chandler was 2015’s biggest free agency loser, certainly from a competitive standpoint. The Suns’ gambit of signing him to woo LaMarcus Aldridge, at the expense of the Morrii, blew up spectacularly. “It’s been a year,” said a glum Chandler to the Arizona Republic, when asked to look back upon this season. “Honestly, I feel like I came in blind this season. I expected one thing and it was another. I’ve been trying to adjust. I was expecting to play a certain type of basketball and it was different.”
Publicly, Chandler remains a good-soldier and mentor to Len (16 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists vs. ATL in January), and is locked down for three more seasons. But for what he can only hope will be a parting gift, Chandler was granted a near-career-high of 27 rebounds (one short of his career-best; including a franchise-best 13 offensive boards) in the January win over Atlanta. Chandler’s defensive rebounding percentage this season (27.8 D-Reb%) is a career-best, and thank goodness for that (team 107.5 D-Rating, 3rd-worst in NBA).
Glue-guy P.J. Tucker will help Len and Chandler maintain the advantage on the glass. When Chandler needs a breather, the Suns can turn to 6-foot-8 Phoenix native Alan Williams. Undrafted last summer, college basketball’s top rebounder from 2014-15 (11.8 RPG) went to China and became the CBA’s top rebounder (15.4 RPG).
Mirza Teletovic (39.2 3FG%) averaged 21.0 PPG and 7.8 RPG off the bench in his last four games, although he’ll be more interested in overtaking Chuck Person’s NBA record for 3FGs made by a bench player. Mirza’s just two triples behind The Rifleman, who set the mark in Mike Budenholzer's first video-coordinating season with the Spurs. Jon Leuer might play despite a sprained ankle. Chase Budinger exists. With all that defensive rebounding potential, Phoenix players hope to take advantage of Atlanta’s offensive dry spells, which have gotten Mojave-Desert-arid in recent games.
On Friday, the Hawks made a basket to widen their brief lead to four points midway through the first quarter. Over seven basketball minutes and 13 missed shots later, the Hawks were still thirsting for their next basket. Once it arrived, the next five minutes involved seven misses and one make, while the Cavs artfully widened their lead. Just over a minute to go before halftime, and Atlanta found itself scrambling from a 20-plus-point deficit for the second consecutive game.
Making one bucket every 3-to-5 minutes turns the Hawks into the burrowing animals we’ve grown accustomed to in prior years, and places undue pressure on an otherwise sound defense to hold together. By the time they drew back to within single digits in Toronto during the fourth quarter, and by the time they evened things up at home against Cleveland (39.8 opponent FG%, 31.6 3FG%), Atlanta was spent, unable to match the energies of their opponents to take the game-winning shots and grab the game-clinching 50/50 balls.
Anything resembling a nip-and-tuck affair by the back half of the closing quarter of play tonight should be a deep disappointment for a team that’s supposed to be whetting its axes for the postseason. There is no reason for Jeff Teague (28 points, 9-for-23 FGs, 9 assists, 2 TOs vs. CLE on Friday) or Kyle Korver (4-for-6 3FGs vs. CLE) to fail to find whatever shots they want against the Suns’ defense, and even less reason to make them. Phoenix’s opponents shoot 38.0 3FG%, a league-high, so there should be no excuses about an off-night from the perimeter.
Same deal for Dennis Schröder and Tim Hardaway, Jr. (combined 3-for-12 FGs vs. CLE; 5 Schröder TOs in 14 minutes), part of an offensively inept bench corps on Friday that carried the day for the Hawks two nights before during garbage time in Toronto.
After 9 turnovers in the past two games, The Menace is on the verge of eclipsing Millsap for total turnovers on the season, despite spotting Sap well over 900 additional minutes of floor time. As tremendous a sixth-man as he has become, a continued lack of focus and ball-control risks having Schröder watching Kirk Hinrich from the bench to close out the year. Hardaway, meanwhile, needs to be preoccupied with getting stops and moving the ball, rather than getting up shots.
Millsap did his part on Friday by matching James point-for-point (29 points, 12-for-22 FGs) while also matching Bazemore’s 12 rebounds. Millsap is of course available for the rematch with Phoenix, and he and Humphries will help Al Horford (5-for-11 2FGs, 0-for-way-too-many 3FGs, including the game-non-winner vs. CLE) achieve defensive rebounding parity with the Suns’ big men. Bazemore will play despite banging up his wrist during the demolition derby with the Cavs. He’ll be needed more for interior rebounding help and transition scoring than for roving the perimeter after wayward-shooting Suns.
There will be not more than 20 individuals at The Highlight Factory tonight pulling for a Phoenix victory tonight, and they’ll all be on the floor, either in uniform or decked out in suit-and-tie. Hawks fans have zero appetite for another Suns win, and Suns fans definitely don’t want one, either. Are the Hawks capable of giving the people what they want?
Congrats to the late Zelmo! Let’s Go Hawks!
~lw3
