The Atlanta Hawks are halfway to the second round. The Hawks held off an impressive late comeback from the Brooklyn Nets to win Game 2 96-91 and take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven first-round series.
Nets vs. Hawks 2015 final score: 3 things we learned in Atlanta’s tight win over Brooklyn
The Hawks rode a balanced scoring attack to a Game 2 victory in Atlanta on Wednesday.
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Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
Brooklyn got within one-point late thanks to a 16-6 run in the fourth quarter, but Atlanta was able to hold on thanks to a clutch bucket by DeMarre Carroll and a missed jumper late by Deron Williams that could have tied the game with 10 seconds left.
Atlanta was carried by Paul Millsap, whose hot shooting touch helped the Hawks through a rough stretch in the middle of the game. Millsap finished with 19 points and seven rebounds and hit all four three-pointers he attempted. Millsap's partner in the front court, Al Horford, was solid at both ends of the floor, too. Horford finished 14 points and 13 rebounds during an inefficient shooting night and played tough interior defense all game long.
The biggest difference in the win was Atlanta's three-point shooting. The Hawks hit 12-of-31 attempts from three-point range (38.7 percent) on the night. It helps to have Kyle Korver on your team:
Brooklyn was led by an incredible game from Jarrett Jack, who finished with 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field. Brook Lopez (20 points) and Joe Johnson (19 points) also were impressive for the Nets in the loss.
Here’s three things we learned in Atlanta’s win.
1. Atlanta is still committed to a balanced scoring approach
The Hawks are often described as a team whose whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It’s like people have already forgotten that four Hawks were named to the All-Star Game this season.
The more accurate way to explain the Hawks is to say that they’re not overly reliant one player to carry them. In Game 2, five scorers reached double-figures, led by 19 from Millsap. Starter DeMarre Carroll only had two points, but he still finished with eight rebounds and five assists and played good defense the entire night.
Simply put, Atlanta needs everyone in their rotation to contribute to win.
2. The Hawks don’t look like the best team in the East until the jumpers start falling
The Hawks have taken care of business in their first two games against Brooklyn, but they haven't inspired much confidence that they can go to the NBA Finals just yet. Despite finishing with seven more wins than the Cavaliers during the regular season and beating Cleveland in the season series 3-1, most people still think LeBron James and company are the favorites out East. There's a reason for that.
For much of Wednesday night, Atlanta couldn’t get a jump shot to fall and struggled to convert around the rim. Atlanta finished the night shooting 38.9 percent from the floor, and were under 40 percent for almost the entire night. Without Millsap catching fire, this game could have been a lot uglier.
3. Brooklyn won’t go away easy
This was the second game of the series that Brooklyn stuck around longer than expected. The Hawks came out on fire, but Brooklyn kept the deficit within one point late into the fourth quarter.
The Nets only finished 38-44 this season and made the playoffs mostly by default because the Eastern Conference is so weak. With that being said, Lionel Hollins still has his team playing reasonably well. This might not be the most compelling series of the playoffs, but at least Brooklyn isn't rolling over.
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