2015 NBA Playoffs: Previewing The Eastern Conference Finals
By Shane Young
Odd, Streaky Benches
All season, it was the Hawks’ bench that looked to be thriving in the perfect distribution of minutes. Jeff Teague could get more rest than he’s been able to since 2010, barely breaking the 30 minutes per game mark this year.
Atlanta could use Schroder for 20 minutes, Shelvin Mack for 15, and then still have the primary four of Bazemore, Scott, Antic, and Sefolosha to supply a healthy balance of scoring and defense to help their starters rest. It was the main reason they won 60 games for the first time in franchise history, since no starter had to wear their body into the ground by playing 38 minutes a night. No Hawks starter played over 32.7 minutes per night in the regular season.
When the playoff arrived, though, Budenholzer was struck with two dilemmas. Sefolosha had been eliminated from the picture, and he also knew that he couldn’t get away with playing his deeper bench players (Mack, Brand, or even Scott) as many minutes as he did in the regular season. It’s the playoffs — where opposing teams are going to ride their starters, especially if they’re a lower seed just playing out of desperation — and Atlanta was forced to match the firepower.
Therefore, Budenholzer went from having zero guys over the 32.7 minutes threshold to now having four starters exceeding that mark, including 38 hard minutes for his roaming shooter, Korver.
In terms of how effective Atlanta’s bench has proved to be in the playoffs, it hasn’t been too gorgeous.
After having a +2.4 net rating as a bench in the regular season (10th overall), the Hawks’ reserves have dropped to a -2.8 in the playoffs. It doesn’t sound like much, but a 5.2 point swing per 100 possessions is actually a huge deal. By that same token, the Cavaliers’ bench has transformed into the exact opposite. After developing a -0.2 net rating in the playoffs, Cleveland’s second unit has risen from the dead and is now a +7.5 in net rating for the playoffs (7.7 point swing).
One of the main knocks on Cleveland’s second unit, though, is the lack of ball movement that haunts them when LeBron heads to the bench. Of all 16 playoff teams we started with, Cleveland’s bench has racked up the second-worst assist percentage (10.3%) and absolute worst assist-to-turnover ratio (1.16).
Atlanta will always have the edge there, even as Schroder continues to make silly mistakes on his drives and turns the ball over more than Budenholzer prefers.
The shooting woes only seem to carry on for Atlanta when the starters get extended rest, however. Now, they have made huge sparks in crucial games (such as the Game 3 turnaround performance before Pierce buried them), but it hasn’t been too efficient for the most part. The Hawks’ reserves went from shooting 34.3% from 3-point range in the regular season, to just 29.4% in the playoffs. One notion you should hold onto, though, is that these playoffs have only been a 12-game sample size for Atlanta, and it doesn’t prove that they’re not capable of hitting a few hot streaks we’ve known them to create.
Nevertheless, Cleveland is getting excellent production from everyone involved. Whenever Dellavedova is clinching a Game 6 in the United Center for you by going berserk, there’s really nothing to worry about. The Cavaliers’ bench is the most efficient one remaining, shooting 45.2% from the field and 37.8% from beyond the arc.
Not once did we imagine a depleted, frantic Cleveland bench would go from worrying about Kevin Love’s absence to now feeling the utmost confidence in huge moments. I guess playing with No. 23 will have that effect.
Next: Coaching Matters