The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Early exit proves decline is for real
Two years ago, the Hawks won two playoff series. Last year, they won one. This year, none. Sometimes you don’t need advanced analytics to tell you there are problems.
The Hawks didn’t just lose a game and a series to the Washington Wizards on Friday night. They affirmed in defeat that, despite generally exceptional coaching, despite solid effort, they have a flawed team resulting from two years of poor roster construction since the run to the Eastern Conference finals in the 2014-15 season.
The team that trailed by 22 points early in the third quarter at home in an elimination game, the team that walked off the court at Philips Arena a 115-99 loser in the game and a 4-2 loser in an opening-round series, can’t closely resemble the squad that returns next season. Because if it does, the downward spiral will continue.
Owner Tony Ressler’s efforts
to build a championship team and grow a jaded fan base will fail without significant change. Impending arena renovations, a new practice facility and a D-League team aren’t going to change that.
Ressler said in an extensive interview last week that he believed these Hawks were deeper and superior to the one that won 60 games and went to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in franchise history.
“We’re more playoff-ready. We just haven’t shown it yet,” he said
I’m not sure if he really believes that or he just didn’t want to say anything publicly that might be construed as criticism of this bunch. Either way, he’s wrong.
The Hawks, whose regular-season win total has dropped each of the past two seasons, were bounced in the first round for the first time in three years. Furthermore, center Dwight Howard, the offseason’s major acquisition, sat for the entire fourth quarter for the second time in this series.
That gives you some indication about how important coach Mike Budenholzer considers him down the stretch of games. The problem: Budenholzer is the one who brought him here.
This team — which lacks consistent offensive flow, outside shooting and a dependable player outside of Paul Millsap — committed 22 turnovers in a must-win game.
Meanwhile, three key pieces from the 60-win team of 201415 move on. Al Horford and No. 1-seeded Boston will meet Washington in one conference semifinal. No. 2 Cleveland (with Kyle Korver) will face No. 3 Toronto (with DeMarre Carroll) in the other. Hawks fans can watch and remember what successful postseason basketball was like not so long ago.
They trailed by 22 points at 68-46 early in the third quarter. They didn’t quit. So there’s that. They stopped turning the ball over and started making shots. When Kent Bazemore — trying to make amends for five first-half turnovers and seven in the game — made a 3-pointer, it was a four-point game for the first time since early in the second quarter.
It was 93-90 when Dennis Schroder drove in for an expected layup that would cut the deficit to one. But John Wall, the best player on the court, the best player in this series, chased him down and blocked the shot. Then he finished with a layup at the other end, followed moments later with a jumper and suddenly the lead was back to seven. The Hawks were dead.
The Wizards are a good team, not a great one. So the fact that the Hawks took them to six games was not surprising. But this game looked like too many games this season. Turnovers, struggles to maintain any flow on offense, lapses on defense.
The Wizards closed the first half with a 19-4 run to take a 65-46 lead. It takes at least two things for that kind of tilt to happen on the scoreboard: One team has to be really good, one really bad. Both complied.
The really good: by Wall and Bradley Beal. They combined for 37 points on 15-of-22 shooting in the first two quarters. (Wall finished with 42, Beal with 31.)
The really bad: by the Hawks, who committed 15 turnovers in the half, leading to 20 Wizards points. Bazemore and Howard each had five.
Emotion wasn’t a problem. A Bazemore turnover led to a fast break and a Beal dunk. Beal tumbled into the crowd after the basket and immediately jumped up and bumped Bazemore, whom he believed gave him a nudge to cause the fall. What unfolded was a scrum with four players — Bazemore and Howard of the Hawks, Beal and Jason Smith of the Wizards — getting technical fouls.
It wasn’t quite the 1980s NBA, but it worked for a little excitement. On this night, it was a relative Hawks highlight. Not that long ago, the highlight was a win.