It’s almost impossible for an NBA season to end without some serious surprises in the playoffs. Usually, the storyline goes like this – a team with a small budget finds a way to upset one of the luxury-tax paying franchises. However, this year, the scenario is a little bit different. The team that has the chances to create an upset is one of the biggest tax-payer in the entire league. Yes, we are talking about the Brooklyn Nets.
Even though, the series between the Nets and the Hawks is tied at 2-2 and Atlanta has the home-court advantage, it can’t be denied that Brooklyn has looked very good throughout the first four games. The Nets barely reached the number eight seed in the Eastern Conference and it’s hard to believe that have been able to win two games against a 60-win, title-chasing team. Nevertheless, the Atlanta Hawks have not performed well in the playoffs, even though they were one of the best squads during the regular season.
The regular season series between the two teams ended in favor of the Hawks, as they won all four games by an average difference of 17.3 points. However, in the playoffs, the Nets have given Atlanta all sorts of problems, and the squad led by Mike Budenholzer has looked out of sync. The Hawks look nothing like the team that played in the regular season, failing to score when they have and giving up easy points on defense.
The main problem in my opinion is the fact that Atlanta is a jump-shooting team. A big part of their points come from jumpers, which is good, but only when the shots go in. The overall shot percentage of the Hawks is 41.5%, which is the worst mark among all playoff squads. Furthermore, the Brooklyn Nets have defended their perimeter pretty well and haven’t given the Hawks sharpshooters a lot of easy shots.
“You don’t see the 3-point line taken away from the Hawks like this often. The perfect example of how well the Nets defended in this game is finding the possessions in which the Hawks killed ticks on the clock trying to find an open Kyle Korver. It just wasn’t allowed and so when Korver did catch the ball without much space, he’d either have to pass off without much threat of creating anything or he’d rush a jumper off-balance, which you almost never see.”
The series isn’t over yet, and the Hawks have all the chances to win and advance to the next phase. However, this makes us think whether Atlanta has what it takes to reach the NBA Finals and win them? Very soon, we will find out.
NBA News: The Brooklyn Nets have what it takes to upset the Atlanta Hawks
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