The first-round series pitting the Hawks against the Nets was supposed to be one of the most lopsided of the playoffs. Brooklyn is a mediocre team that made the postseason only because the East was shockingly weak after the top five teams. The Hawks rode a surprising December and January to the top of the conference and have title aspirations. Yet the Nets almost stole Game 2 in Atlanta on Wednesday and are exposing some serious weaknesses in the Hawks.
The Hawks’ offense is collapsing in the playoffs
Atlanta is not getting the three-pointers it needs to score enough to beat the Nets comfortably, and the team is having trouble finding an alternative.
Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
One of the biggest concerns regarding the Hawks’ style was their reliance on three-pointers and lack of a dominant scorer to carry the offense when defenses tighten up and easy shots aren’t there. It’s early in the postseason, but it looks like the doubters were right. The Hawks are scoring just 99.5 points per 100 possessions against the Nets, a mark that would have ranked in the bottom five in the league during the regular season. The most worrying aspect of it all is that it’s happening against a bad defensive team like Brooklyn.
The Hawks are jacking up more than 30 three-pointers per game, four more than they averaged during the regular season, despite playing at a slower pace. The increase in frequency has caused a dip in efficiency. Players who excelled from beyond the arc all season long like DeMarre Carroll and Mike Scott are regressing at the worst possible time, and the Hawks are not finding ways to make up for those missing points by going inside. After two games, the Hawks have taken just 49 shots at the rim.
Paul Millsap and Al Horford are better pick-and-pop players than dive men, and Carroll and Kyle Korver are not dribble penetrators. That leaves only Jeff Teague as a threat to drive and score inside. Teague was one of the most prolific players in the league driving to the bucket, both scoring himself and creating shots for his teammates. His numbers have taken a huge hit in the postseason, and that is really hurting the Hawks.
| Jeff Teague | Drives per game | Points on drives | Team points on drives |
| Regular season | 11 | 6.7 | 12.1 |
| Playoffs | 11.5 | 5 | 10.5 |
His teammates missing shots after kick outs explains the team point numbers, but Teague's trouble finishing can be attributed to the Nets' big men. Brook Lopez in particular has been great at deterring close shots, forcing Teague and any other Hawks player venturing to the paint to pull up from mid-range or take tough shots inside.
When Lopez is on the floor, only 29 percent of Atlanta’s shots come from within five feet of the basket. His length is bothering the Hawks and making them almost exclusively reliant on outside shots. When the Nets go small and string together a few possessions in which they run shooters off the line and grab defensive rebounds after misses, the Hawks go on droughts like the one they experienced in the second quarter on Wednesday.
Slow, low scoring games in which the paint is packed just don't suit the Hawks at all. They need that explosive offense to create separation. The Nets, on the other hand, are happy to play at the slowest pace possible and go to post ups or isolations for Lopez, Joe Johnson and Jarrett Jack. Those three players can create offense for themselves and have punished Atlanta to the tune of a combined 54 points per game. The swarming defense that makes Atlanta dangerous doesn't work when the ball doesn't really move much.
The old adages about jump-shooting teams facing an uphill battle in the postseason against squads with elite individual scorers is proving to be true. The Hawks will advance because the Nets can't sustain above-average defensive play for 48 minutes and are a terrible three-point shooting team. In the next round, however, Atlanta will likely have to face Washington. The Wizards had one of the best defenses in the league, have two rim protectors, are an elite defensive rebounding team and can go small with Paul Pierce at power forward to stretch the Hawks defense. If the three-pointers don't fall, the chance for an upset is there.
Of course, it’s been only two games. It’s possible Carroll starts hitting three-pointers again. Giving more minutes to Dennis Schröder would give the offense another threat off the dribble that could shred the Nets’ defense on secondary action after the initial drive and kick. When Teague is aggressive, he can get himself to the line or force the big man to commit and go for dump offs. The ingredients for a good offense are there for the Hawks, it’s just a matter of it all coming together at the right time. Whether that will happen as consistently in the playoffs as it did in the regular season remains to be seen.
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