Hawks Leads Series

The Hawks leads series 2-0 against the Nets. The team emphasizes “team play” much like the San Antonio Spurs with a pace-and-space offense that showcases smart passing and 3-point shooting. Also, Atlanta had a decent defense, too, ranking 7th in Defensive Rating (they were 7th in Offensive Rating, too). That ability to lock down opponents was needed last night as the Hawks’ defense got sluggish in Game 2 and it came through with flying colors, writes our own Sekou Smith:

The Hawks offense now is balanced with their pace-and-space type of offense that has dazzled all season long ground to a halt as the Hawks shot just 39 percent from the floor (35-for-90) and from beyond the 3-point line (12-for-31), missing out on opportunity after opportunity to put some distance between themselves and the Nets. The free-flowing offense was missing in action on this night, replaced by a bunch that got plenty of good looks but simply could not find the mark.

They had a hard time with the Nets. As ugly as their shooting was, the Hawks have no problem resting their case on their defensive efficiency rating that ranked among the top six teams in the NBA during the regular season, a fallback plan that showed its playoff legs Wednesday night.

This series hasn’t been as easy as some people assumed it would be for the Hawks. This is the result of not playing a hard for the final three weeks of the regular season. Well, just like the Spurs, the team limited their starter’s minutes getting ready for the upcoming playoffs.

“It was what you expect in the playoffs,” said Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer, who was recognized before the game as the 2014-15 Red Auerbach Trophy winner as NBA Coach of the Year. “They’re a good team. They kept coming back and there were big possessions late in the game. I think we feel fortunate that we made just enough plays, just enough stops. Defensively, we got a little bit better tonight. But we need to play better going forward, to play better for longer stretches.”

The two teams are head to head in the last two games. The two games are close. Give credit to the Nets. Veteran backup point guard Jarrett Jack is playing lights out (23 points on 5-for-7 shooting, five rebounds and three assists) to go along with Johnson’s steady attack (19 points, nine rebounds) and Brook Lopez (20 points, eight rebounds and three blocks) inside, these Nets do not resemble a team that needed the final night of the season to determine whether or not they’d even make the playoff field.