With their 106-101 win on Monday, the Atlanta Hawks have evened up their series versus the Washington Wizards at two games apiece. Starting point guard Jeff Teague played a key role for the Hawks, scoring 26 points to go along with eight assists, four rebounds, two steals, a block and only one turnover.
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He also came through late in the game with a big three after Otto Porter had cut the lead to four when he made one of two free throws with 1:36 left in the game.
Teague’s crucial 3-pointer gave the Hawks a seven-point lead 104-97, right before Bradley Beal and Nene would score on back-to-back possessions. The Wizards were then forced to attempt a three on their last possession to tie the game, which Paul Pierce missed.
If not for Teague’s late three, Atlanta could be looking at a 3-1 hole, instead they are headed back home tied up with three games remaining and home court advantage.
Jeff Teague had a strong Game 4, but has he had a strong playoff run overall for the Atlanta Hawks?
Teague’s Postseason
Because the Hawks playoff run is not over, this does not constitute the final assessment of Teague’s playoff performance. He has at least two games and possibly many more to either improve or regress. That being said, a player’s effectiveness in the postseason is judged primarily on two things.
1. Is their team winning and how much do they have to do with those results?
2. How do their playoff numbers compare to their regular season numbers?
These two questions go a long way towards determining what type of performance a player has in the playoffs. There really isn’t much left once those two questions are answered.
1. Winning
The ultimate currency in any sport is winning. The phrase, “He’s a winner,” is often used as a catchall that refers to a player that, one way or the other, seems to find himself on the right side of the score more often than not. This involves doing things that show up in the box score and things that don’t, the big things as well as the little things.
So far, this category is merely an “OK” for Teague and the Hawks. They won 60 games during the regular season and secured the top seed in the East, only to then use six games to defeat the 38-44 Brooklyn Nets. They are also now tied 2-2 with the 46-win Wizards even after the Wizards lost their All-Star point guard John Wall to a wrist injury in Game 1.
The Hawks have disappointed a bit in terms of winning. It would have been nice to see them validate their 60-wins by blasting through the first two rounds of the playoffs with only a loss or two, but that hasn’t happened.
However, as long as they keep advancing and make it to the conference finals—and put up a fight or even win—with Teague being a big part of it, he will have a successful postseason in terms of winning.
How much impact Teague has had on the results of the games so far leads to the second point.
2. Regular Season vs. Postseason
Has Teague been able to maintain or raise his game in the playoffs?
Against stiffer competition and more focused defenses it can be an accomplishment to merely maintain strong regular season play in the postseason. Raising the level of play to the next bar is usually reserved for the top players in the league and on a given team.
Below are Teague’s regular season numbers and playoff numbers.
Regular Season
| G | MP | FG% | 3P% | FT | FTA | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 73 | 30.5 | .460 | .343 | 3.8 | 4.4 | .862 | 2.5 | 7.0 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 2.8 | 15.9 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/11/2015.
Postseason
| G | MP | FG% | 3P% | FT | FTA | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 32.2 | .372 | .303 | 3.7 | 4.5 | .822 | 3.2 | 7.7 | 1.8 | 0.1 | 2.6 | 14.9 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/11/2015.
Teague has struggled shooting the ball in the playoffs. He has dropped from 46 percent to 37.2 percent from the field and from 34.3 percent to 30.3 percent from 3-point range. Including Game 4 against the Wizards, Teague has only shot above 45 percent three times so far. All three of those games the Hawks won.
In the seven games in which Teague didn’t break 45 percent from the field the Hawks are just 3-4.
He has been especially bad against the Wizards. The previous three games against Washington, Teague shot a combined 12-for-41 (29 percent) and didn’t hit more than a third of his shots in a game until Game 4.
Every other aspect of his game outside of shooting percentage and points per game is up compared to the regular season. While the extra 2.2 minutes per game certainly helps Teague grab an extra rebound or assist here and there, it doesn’t help him decrease his turnovers per game—from 2.8 to 2.6.
Teague has missed shots that he was making during the regular season, but he hasn’t let it deter the rest of his game. Teague has shown poise in not letting his poor shooting frustrate him into forcing things on offense and committing extra turnovers or giving less effort on defense.
Atlanta Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer praised his point guard’s play after Game 4, letting everyone know it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.
From John Schuhmann of NBA.com,
“All year, Jeff’s made good decisions on distributing and scoring. We need to continue to do that. That’s the burden of a point guard in our league. We expect a lot of him and Jeff made a lot of good decisions tonight.”
That, more than anything else, has been Teague’s best attribute. Making the right decisions and running the team. He put up solid numbers during the season, but nothing spectacular. The Hawks as a team on the other hand put up some fairly spectacular numbers enroute to their bloated win total.
If Teague can continue making smart decisions while remaining poised, the Hawks have a good chance make it to the conference finals.
If Teague can do that while also regaining his shooting form on a consistent basis, who knows how far they can go?
Next: 25 Greatest Shooting Seasons In NBA History
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