Court Vision: Hawks lose finale; focus shifts to Nets in East playoffs
FOX Sports South offers eight quick-hitter takes from the Hawks' 91-85 road loss to the Bulls, the regular-season finale for both clubs.
It goes without saying: Wednesday's game had little bearing in the standings for the Hawks, who clinched the Southeast Division title and No. 1 playoff seed in the East a few weeks ago.
The playoffs start this weekend, with Atlanta hosting Brooklyn on Sunday (tip-off at 5:30 p.m.).
1. The Hawks likely accomplished all of their goals from this hard-fought defeat.
**The starters (Paul Millsap, Al Horford, DeMarre Carroll, Kyle Korver, Jeff Teague) were sharp in various spots, but none logged 30 minutes of court time.
**Reserve guard Dennis Schroder was proficient from the field, burying 9 of 13 shots and leading the Hawks with 21 points. On the down side, Schroder didn't tally an assist in 17 minutes.
**Of most importance, the Hawks enter the playoffs in relatively good health, especially now that Millsap (five points, six rebounds) has returned from a mild shoulder injury.
2. Speaking of minutes, how does Bulls shooting guard Jimmy Butler log 40 minutes in a game meaningless to the final standings (the 50-win Bulls own the 3-seed in the East)?
Was it really necessary for Butler (21 points, 6 rebounds) to collect his 37th outing of 40-plus minutes? The kid's a warrior -- I'll grant him that.
(1) ATLANTA vs. (8) BROOKLYN
3. The Atlanta bench nailed just three of their 16 three-pointers on Wednesday, a disconcerting, but hardly troubling stat moving forward. From my perspective, a red flag would only be waved if that same group attempted 16 triples during a single playoff outing.
4. An Atlanta-Chicago matchup in the the East finals would be equal parts rough-and-tumble on the inside and exhilarating along the perimeter. It would also be a great test of the Bulls' prodigious defense ... since very few teams -- and none in the East -- can match the Hawks' levels of expert spacing and unselfish passing.
But first things first for both teams. The Hawks must impress the skeptics who view them as a regular-season mirage (not sure what that means) ... and the Bulls must contend with the Bucks -- and probably LeBron and the Cavaliers in Round 2.
5. The Hawks and Nets have become rather close during the month of April, meeting on April 4 (an Atlanta rout) and April 8 (close-shave victory for Hawks).
Not sure if that benefits Brooklyn (38-44), which enters the playoffs as a substantial underdog ... and the only postseason club with a negative scoring differential for the season.
On the year, the Nets averaged 98 points. By comparison, the Hawks scored 97 points or less just 25 times.
6. In a weird way, it's a good thing the Hawks lost their final two games (Monday to the Knicks, Wednesday to the Bulls). Yes, the 60 victories easily eclipsed the franchise's previous record (57) ... but it also gives next year's Atlanta team (60-22) a reasonably attainable goal for overall wins.
7. For the playoffs, I expect Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer to have a tight rotation of the five starters (Korver, Teague, Horford, Carroll, Millsap) and Schroder, Pero Antic and Kent Bazemore off the bench.
Given Thabo Sefolosha's season-ending injury (broken fibula), Bazemore could be an indispensable asset throughout the postseason, in terms of shutting down the opposing team's best wing scorer.
8. From the Hawks' perspective, it's too bad they won't play the Pacers in Round 1:
**Atlanta decisively swept Indiana in its three-game series.
**In all three cases, the Hawks cleared the century mark, while the Pacers never exceeded 92 points.
**Atlanta jumped out to a first-quarter lead all three times.
**Of the three outings, the Pacers cracked the 40-percent shooting mark just once.
**In the Jan. 21 meeting (the last between the clubs), the Hawks' starting quintet of Paul Millsap, DeMarre Carroll, Al Horford, Jeff Teague and Kyle Korver had a staggering on-court ratio of plus-109 ... compared to the Pacers' minus-93 for the starters.
