Hawks earn much-needed win as offense shows life
NBA schedules occasionally extend olive branches.
Following back-to-back clunkers against the NBA's top two defenses, the Atlanta Hawks' reprieve arrived on Wednesday night in the form of the Philadelphia 76ers, owners of one win in 26 attempts and the league's worst roster even with injured big man Nerlens Noel. The 76ers indeed proved to be the necessary antidote. Atlanta snapped out of its offensive funk with a 127-106 win at Philips Arena, snapping an ugly three-game losing streak in the process.
"I think everybody goes through shooting ruts," All-Star center Al Horford said, "and you just gotta stay with it. That's what we did as a team. ... (We) took better care of the ball and made baskets when we needed to."
There are worse fates for defending conference finalists at the mid-December mark than a 15-12 record — the Houston Rockets are sitting at 12-14 having already fired head coach Kevin McHale — but the Hawks still found themselves on the outside looking in for the Eastern Conference playoff race entering Wednesday's action. The Hawks, appropriately, are more focused on their own quality of play than the standings at this point, but as the Warriors and Cavaliers have raced back to the top of their respective conference races, the Hawks have been slow to regain their form. They've logged consecutive wins just once since Nov. 7 and they own a 7-8 record against teams above .500.
Beating a beleaguered and shorthanded Sixers team does not solve such issues. Still, after suffering one-sided losses against Oklahoma City, San Antonio and Miami, routing a lottery-bound franchise could do the Hawks roster some good. The regular rotations found their rhythm early, watching shots repeatedly fall (a rarity in recent weeks) and were able to rest most of the fourth quarter as coach Mike Budenholzer played his bench significant minutes.
Atlanta's 127 points set a new single-game season high behind the efforts of Paul Millsap, who continued his All-NBA march with 21 points on eight field-goal attempts, and one of backup point guard Dennis Schroder's better games this season. The win helped the Hawks avoid their first four-game losing streak since Budenholzer's first season at the helm.
While the Hawks defense has held around league average in December, their pace-and-space attack was derailed in the six previous games this month. They were held below 50 percent true shooting on three separate occasions (Raptors, Spurs, Heat). Here's a look at how the offense stacked up league-wide prior to the 76ers shellacking (December numbers only):
For a team that creates the fifth-fewest second-chance points in the NBA, shooting at a clip that ranks near the league's basement is a recipe for offensive disaster. That's what it turned into against the Heat and Spurs. Part of that is a credit to two versatile and, at times, suffocating defenses, but for a team with lofty postseason aspirations those open-ended struggles against top competition can not continue.
When asked about the difficulty of keeping his team focused during a lopsided affair, Budenholzer might as well have given his answer for the month in general: "Everything in our game is hard. That's what makes our league great, and makes sports great: It's hard. You've got to figure out a way to do it."
Fair or unfair, the Hawks are carrying the burden of proof this season — proof that 60-win seasons are not abnormal, proof that they can replace DeMarre Carroll's contributions, proof that this core group has yet to reach its ceiling — and beating up on the likes of Philly and L.A. prove very little. But Budenholzer & Co. needed this one, if only to jog the memory of what this system looks like when things are clicking.
A loss on Wednesday would have pushed this franchise to its lowest point since losing six straight with Al Horford sidelined in March 2014, a streak that pushed that 2013-14 team to 31-41, fighting for its playoff life. (Perhaps lower since the Hawks would have joined the Lakers as Philadelphia's only wins this season.) A trademark group-effort win prevented far-too-early panic mode. This team continues its search for continuity following Carroll's departure and multiple injuries and/or rehab stints, and while upcoming dates with the Celtics, Pistons and Pacers will provide ample opportunity for conference positioning before 2016 arrives, Wednesday's showing could prove crucial if Atlanta hits its stride in the coming weeks.
After all, scheduling olive branches are only useful if the favorite takes advantage.
