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Five Reasons The Atlanta Hawks Shouldn’t Lose Hope

By Ti Windisch

May 20, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward DeMarre Carroll (5) reacts after a basket against the Cleveland Cavaliers during the second quarter of game one of the Eastern Conference Finals of the NBA Playoffs at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
May 20, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward DeMarre Carroll (5) reacts after a basket against the Cleveland Cavaliers during the second quarter of game one of the Eastern Conference Finals of the NBA Playoffs at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports /
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May 20, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Jeff Teague (0) celebrates with center Al Horford (15) and forward Mike Muscala (31) during the second quarter of game one of the Eastern Conference Finals of the NBA Playoffs at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
May 20, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Jeff Teague (0) celebrates with center Al Horford (15) and forward Mike Muscala (31) during the second quarter of game one of the Eastern Conference Finals of the NBA Playoffs at Philips Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports /

3. The Hawks Pass-Happy Offense Can Live Without Carroll

Now that’s not to say that the loss of DeMarre doesn’t impair said offense; it definitely does. But the Hawks can overcome his absence by doing what they do best: distributing the basketball. Budenholzer’s straight-from-San Antonio scheme of giving up good looks for great ones excels because it does not place importance on individual players.

Instead, the entire team is emphasized. Seeing more Bazemore, Dennis Schroder or even Shelvin Mack on the post-Carroll Hawks won’t hurt Atlanta as badly as it would some other teams, just because the Hawks don’t require one player to score a ton of points every single night.

The scoring is distributed across the offense, making OK players look better than they might actually be due to seeing more open looks and minimizing the importance of any one player.

If the Hawks stick to their brand of unselfish basketball and start to make more three-pointers than they did in Game 1 they will be right back in this series. Atlanta made just four of their 23 attempted threes on Wednesday (17.4 percent), a far cry from their regular season average three-point percentage of 38.

One of those four threes was provided by the fourth reason Hawks fans shouldn’t call it a season yet.

Next: MV-Teague?

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