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Atlanta Hawks: 5 Reasons We’ve Got Ourselves A Series

By Gerald Bourguet

Apr 22, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer talks with players during the fourth quarter of game two of the first round of the NBA Playoffs against the Brooklyn Nets at Philips Arena. The Hawks won 96-91. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Liles-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 22, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer talks with players during the fourth quarter of game two of the first round of the NBA Playoffs against the Brooklyn Nets at Philips Arena. The Hawks won 96-91. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Liles-USA TODAY Sports /
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Atlanta Hawks
Apr 27, 2015; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Brooklyn Nets guard Jarrett Jack (0) celebrates the three point basket by guard Deron Williams (8) during the fourth quarter against the Atlanta Hawks in game four of the first round of the NBA Playoffs. at Barclays Center. Brooklyn Nets won 120-115 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports /

5. Unpredictable Flukes

As much as we can’t chalk this bizarro series up to a bunch of random occurrences, no one can deny the presence of some unbelievable flukes along the way. We’ll get to Atlanta’s offense in a bit, but some truly baffling things have happened to give us this 2-2 series tie.

For one thing, head coach Mike Budenholzer has really struggled to live up to his Coach of the Year standing so far. In the heat of a playoff battle, you want your head coach to show poise and consistency. Instead, last night in Game 4, this was something that happened:

Al Horford has had his fair share of problems slowing down Brook Lopez in this series, but Pero Antic looked overmatched and the Nets got a number of good looks on the interior with Horford sitting on the bench late in the game. Bud didn’t bring Horford back in until there was a minute left in regulation and didn’t play him enough in overtime either.

Horford wasn’t the only tactical error Budenholzer made. With the game on the line and the Hawks having a chance to win the game on the final possession, Bud called a timeout to draw up a play. That play ended up being a Paul Millsap isolation gone horribly wrong, with Millsap posting his man up near the three-point line.

Millsap couldn’t get through the physical defense, tripped and threw up a lame flip shot…about two seconds after the buzzer sounded. It was actually more pathetic than Brooklyn’s final possession, which was a Deron Williams turnaround jumper that had left six seconds on the clock.

Speaking of D-Will, Bud’s tactical errors weren’t the only Game 4 flukes that left us scratching our heads.

Remember back in 2008 when Deron Williams vs. Chris Paul was a legitimate conversation for a while? Last night, D-Will came back to life with 35 points, seven assists, five rebounds and three steals. He made 13 of his 25 shots, seven of his 11 three-pointers and carried the Nets with a couple of big-time threes down the stretch.

Deron Williams was unstoppable, and that’s something I never thought I’d type in this series, especially after he had put up a grand total of 18 points on 26.9 percent shooting through the first three games.

Williams was probably the biggest unexpected quirk of this series, but as we continue on, you’ll see it’s not the only thing that hasn’t gone according to plan.

Next: No. 4

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