by Charles Jay
This was a phenomenal season for the Atlanta Hawks, and a few of the things that typified the campaign were strong ball movement, potent three-point shooting and very efficient team defense. They were so good this year that at one point they won 33 out of 35 games, and ran away with the #1 spot in the East, which gave them home court advantage in this half of the playoff bracket. But to be perfectly honest, their play in the post-season has been choppy, and at time they have abandoned those things that made them so formidable, As Vietbet customers are well aware, such an occasion was Wednesday night, when they were erratic shooting the ball and ineffective in stopping the Cavaliers’ big guns, as Cleveland came to the Phillips Arena and pinned a 97-89 loss on them, which now puts the pressure on this club to win or face on 0-2 deficit as they head for the Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland for Game 3.
NBA Playoff Picks – Game 2 Hawks vs Cavaliers
In the NBA playoff betting odds posted on Game 2 by the people at Vietbet, the Hawks are slight home favorites in this critical situation:
Atlanta Hawks -1.5
Cleveland Cavaliers +1.5
Over 197 points -110
Under 197 points -110
Sure, Atlanta is sweating out a knee injury sustained by small forward DeMarre Carroll that could affect the way it defends the most dangerous player in the game – LeBron James – in Game 2 and possibly beyond. But it would be inaccurate to attribute the Hawks’ woes in the opener strictly to that. There have been plenty of other things going wrong, and they have to be addressed if the Hawks are going to even up the series and avoid getting completely behind the eight-ball.
The objective of the Atlanta offensive philosophy is not much different than that which has been employed for many years with the championship-level teams in San Antonio, and for very good reason, as head coach Mike Budenholzer was an assistant under Gregg Popovich for sixteen seasons. What they want to do is distribute shot attempts as evenly as possible and make opponents defend the entire court. And when a player like Jeff Teague is taking twice as many shots (24) as anyone else in the lineup, they are not accomplishing that objective.
As Vietbet patrons are undoubtedly aware, the Hawks shot 38% from the three-point arc during the regular season, and only one team (Golden State) had a higher percentage than that. But they have fallen well below that standard in the playoffs; for example, they were just 35% against Brooklyn and then a shade under 33% against Washington in the second round. On Wednesday night the looks weren’t there, as they made just four out of 23 three-point tries. Kyle Korver, who was the league champion at 49% triples, has shot just 36% from downtown in the playoffs.
Atlanta found itself beaten on the boards in Game 1 (49-37) and had only seven offensive rebounds. Paul Millsap had three of them, but Millsap, who is a catalyst for what Atlanta really wants to do, is left in a position where he doesn’t want to be on defense if Carroll can’t make the opening tip, or is not close to 100% of full capacity. All of this has a residual effect that may just help Cleveland get back tot he winner’s circle on Friday.
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