At some point over the past month, the Atlanta Hawks became “America’s team.”
Winning 27 of their last 29 games, including an ongoing 13-game winning streak — two consecutive victories away from setting a franchise record — the Hawks have officially evolved into a legitimate title contender.
Atlanta hasn’t been beating on the little sisters of the poor, either. In fact, since the beginning of December, they have defeated the Chicago Bulls, the Cleveland Cavaliers (twice), the Houston Rockets on the road, the Dallas Mavericks on the road, the Los Angeles Clippers (twice), the Portland Trail Blazers on the road, the Memphis Grizzlies, and the Josh Smith-less Detroit Pistons (twice).
The Hawks are dissecting teams with creativity and cohesiveness — stifling opposing offenses by walling off the middle while scrambling to cover the perimeter, limiting teams to 96.1 points per 100 possessions during their incumbent streak, the best mark in the NBA over the aforementioned span.
In addition, their selflessness and ball movement on the offensive end is unrivaled, as 55.9 percent of their created field goal attempts come directly off of a pass and 50.9 percent of their shots are comfortably taken when the closest defender is 4+ feet away, per NBA stats — a level of quality looks envied by all, including their forefathers, the San Antonio Spurs.
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Accordingly, their infectious play, aesthetically-pleasing style, and winning ways have won over the hearts of many — including the support of their hometown fans. In fact, the usually nonpartisan crowd at the “highlight factory” (a.k.a., Phillips Arena) have been filled to capacity as of late — most recently rising to 23rd in average attendance.
The good vibes should conceivably continue.
Looking at their upcoming schedule, with six forthcoming home games against the Indiana Pacers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves, Brooklyn Nets, Portland Trail Blazers, and Philadelphia 76ers, the Hawks can easily extend their winning streak to 19 games by the end of the month.
But, as history has shown, teams who go on extended winning streaks during the regular season tend to peak too early (see: 2008 Rockets, 2012 Spurs, 2009 Celtics, 2013 Clippers, 2013 Nuggets… just to name a few). Even the ’13 Miami Heat, despite winning the championship, never recaptured their regular-season peak form at any time during their playoff run.
As a self-admitting Hawks band wagoner, my hope is to preserve Atlanta’s peak up until the end of April.
Enduring a defeat, particularly at home, and ending the streak as a result, could be beneficial to the Hawks in the long run — injecting the team with a dose of midseason adversity and prevent them from resting on their laurels.
Beating the Hawks, at present, however, is somewhat of an insurmountable task, as Atlanta has an aura of invincibility surrounding the team. Each player on their roster, from Paul Millsap to Mike Muscala, brings a tangible skill that adds relevant value to the Hawks’ winning formula.
As such, to beat Atlanta, the opposition must play a particular style to effectively mitigate the Hawks’ diversified set of strengths.
It should be noted, though, not all teams have the right complement of players to carry out such a game plan. The following is just a general blueprint most NBA teams can adhere to.
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Specifically, on offense, the opposing team must comply with the following strategy:
- Play small
- Push the tempo
- Attempt at least 25 3-pointers
- Run plenty of misdirection plays
- Initiate most of the offense out of the high-post
In an effort to keep pace with the scrambling Hawks, the opposition must go small to have any chance of winning.
Specifically, by going small, I do not mean employing your everyday four-out lineup — but, going Nelly-ball circa 2007 small; playing your stretch 4 at center, your small forward at the 4, your shooting guard at the 3, and if roster permitting, your two point guards in the backcourt.
By doing so, the opposition will be able to alleviate the Hawks’ biggest strength on defense — their fastidious rotations.
While, in theory, a more prudent strategy would be to overwhelm the Hawks’ “undersized” frontcourt with a traditional front line; the Hawks, however, have the luxury of playing small without compromising size, as Paul Millsap and Al Horford ameliorate their lack of elite rim protection with precise rotations and a sound scheme.
In addition, they are, both, exceptional help defenders with active hands; as such, solidifying their interior D. They are also, as a duo, capable rebounders despite their size, as the Hawks are currently ranked 18th in defensive rebound percentage.
To combat their strengths (by going Nelly-ball small), you are effectively forcing Atlanta’s contingent of defenders to cover more ground than they’re use to. As such, they’ll be prone to more breakdowns, and as a result, relinquish middle penetration.
However, to successfully exhaust the Hawks’ defense, the opposition must push the tempo at all times — hence, the two point guard lineup. The goal is to play as many possessions as possible without going up against the set defense of Atlanta.
Moreover, by pushing the tempo, I do not mean selective running — I’m envisioning a “seven seconds or less”, push the ball off a miss or make, type of running.
Furthermore, the opposing team must take upwards of 25 3-pointers. Consequently, it’ll keep the Hawks’ rotations honest, and prevent their wings from over helping on diving cutters, digging on strongside drives, and stunting on open mid-range opportunities.
Accordingly, in an effort to cause more chaotic movements from Atlanta’s defense, the opposition must run a ton of misdirection plays and initiate their offense, if roster-permitting, out of the high post.
Thus, not only will it keep the Hawks moving from side to side, it will also promote middle penetration — either off of consecutive weaves into a high PNR action, or a dribble hand-off (DHO) into a PNR action.
And by initiating the offense out of the high post, not only are you pulling Horford out of the interior, you are also effectively curating multiple options off of DHO sets — as your guards can cut off of a fake hand-off towards the basket, or set a backdoor screen for a cutting wing.
Additionally, the Hawks are prone to give up a substantial amount of corner threes — especially when experiencing extensive pressure from ball-in-hand penetration.
Meanwhile, defensively, the opposition must focus on the following:
- Avoid overplaying/over-committing on initial actions
- Face guard Kyle Korver (find him on the break!)
- Hard show on Jeff Teague and zone-and-recover on Denis Schroeder in PNRs
- KYP (Know Your Personnel)
- Deny all shooters of the ball when the Hawks’ bigs receive the ball at the nail/top of the key
- See man and ball at all times
The Hawks’ perpetual movement can confuse the most disciplined of defenses. Accordingly, the opposition must be wise in choosing what to overplay, and what not to.
For example, when Jeff Teague makes a pocket pass to Horford at the top of the key/nail area, the help defense must stay within an arm’s length of their outside shooters, as Horford is an exceptional passer. Alternatively, make Horford take the jumper from the top of the key (which he is capable of making, but not at the insane rate that he shoots from the elbow-extended) or make him put it on the floor.
Atlanta Hawks 2014-15 Shot Chart
Conversely, when Kyle Korver is coming off a pin down or brush screen towards the three-point line, you would want the screener’s defender to jump out and bump Korver, before recovering back to his man.
Speaking of Korver, the opposition must designate a defender, preferably their best perimeter defender, to face guard Korver the entire game — which means, hug onto him when he’s setting screens, find him immediately on the break, and stick onto him at all times to prevent Korver from finding any air space, which he is masterful at doing.
In pick-and-roll situations, the defense should hard trap on Teague and force the ball out of his hands as much as possible; as Teague is too good with his change of pace maneuvers to allow him to probe with a live dribble. Additionally, he is also an accomplished three-point shooter; thus, eliminating the possibility of going under.
Contrarily, when Dennis Schroder is manning the point, the defense should zone up on the second year guard, and force him to score from mid-range. Like Teague, Schroeder is an excellent PNR negotiator, but he has the tendency of over-dribbling when offensive opportunities do not immediately present itself.
It is crucial, however, that the help defense stay put on Atlanta’s bevvy of outside shooters in such instances, as Schroeder is highly capable of making the cross-court pass off-the-dribble to a wide open corner shooter. Moreover, Schroeder is simply not a very efficient scorer off the bounce, scoring on an effective field goal percentage of just 39.3 percent on pull-up situations.
Finally, the defense must force Millsap and Horford to beat them, as oppose to Teague and the three-point line — which means staying at home on shooters, seeing the ball and man at all times, and tracking Korver at every turn — as Millsap operates from the top of the key or Horford on the low block.
Most notably, avoid collapsing on Horford or Millsap when they receive the ball out of the pick-and-pop, and consequently, giving up the corner three. Instead, force the Hawks’ duo of multi-functional bigs to put the ball on the floor and create for themselves.
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There is a reason why the Hawks haven’t lost in almost a month — the team is too well-rounded and their players are too disciplined defensively.
So many uncontrollable factors have to fall your way in order to beat Atlanta; namely, an abnormally-hot shooting night from beyond the arc, hoping Horford has an off-night from mid-range, relying on Millsap to over-penetrate and struggle finishing from within the paint, and a sub-30 percent 3-point shooting night from their core of role-playing wings, such as DeMarre Carroll, Kent Bazemore, and Thabo Sefolosha.
As the Hawks continue to streak, pundits have started to question their ability to play their brand of basketball in the playoffs — when the game slows down, and teams rely on their “superstar” to generate quality looks.
However, the effectiveness of the Hawks’ defense won’t deteriorate in the playoffs; in fact, in a slow tempo game where Atlanta can set up their help-oriented scheme for consecutive possessions, their defensive efficiency will be accentuated.
In addition, as the old saying goes, “the playoffs are all about matchups” — and most of the top teams in the Eastern Conference match up horribly with the Hawks.
Most notably, both, the Bulls and the Wizards play a traditional frontcourt for the majority of the game, and the Hawks’ D is built to put the clamps on iso-heavy offenses with no weakside man movement, like the Cavaliers’ and the Raptors’ current offensive schemes.
As such, Atlanta will still generate the same type of mismatches and achieve the same type of quality looks through the flow of their offense. For this reason, it is hard to imagine any team in the East beating the Hawks four times out of seven games.
With that being said, the success of the Hawks this season will determine the fate of the superstar era — if they reach the finals, or win the championship, Atlanta — along with the Spurs, the Warriors, the Mavericks, the Bucks, and to an extent, the Blazers and the Suns — can finally put an end to “the Big Three” strategy in building a team.
Instead of saving a ton of cap room to sign three ball-dominant superstars; hopefully, teams will start building a sensible collection of players, and perhaps accumulate a roster full of basketball intellectuals around one star.
Not only will we see the best individual talents flourish — instead of conforming their games to fit with other superstar players — we will also experience, as fans, the most beautiful brand of basketball to date.