While watching Dennis Schroder try his best to carry the Hawks to an upset of the Cavs in Game 1 of the East semis, I thought back to Jamal Crawford doing the same for the Hawks against the Magic in the 2011 playoffs.
Crawford did it during the entire six-game series against the Magic. The Hawks could use a performance like that now but I don't know if they have a player who deliver consistently. They've got the system but not the sizzle.
Mike Budenholzer talks about letting the offense flow and I get it: when "pace and space" as practiced by the Hawks is at peak efficiency, it's a thing to behold. But the playoffs are often rugged and chaotic. Peak efficiency isn't possible. There is little pace and not as much pace, and gritty and fearless scorers are valuable. (Plus they are more obtainable than the elusive superstars.)
Maybe a ball-dominant scorer like Crawford couldn’t thrive in the offense over the long term (and sometimes it seems as if Schroder can't either). But Crawford is the kind of complementary player who scores when it's hard to score. He did it back in the day and sometimes does it now, at 36-years old.
In that series against the Magic Crawford was skilled, fearless, and stayed just on the right side of out of control. Schroder certainly is skilled and fearless but in the closing moments Monday he went over the edge into simply out of control. That happens sometimes, at the worst times.
That 2011 series against the Magic is the last time the Hawks won as the underdog. They beat the Magic in 6 after Orlando gave them a historic beat down the year before. Credit Larry Drew's decision to play Jason Collins against Dwight Howard. But I still think the key was Crawford making tough shots or getting to the free-throw line at important moments.
Crawford probably was the Hawks' best player in that series against the Magic. Here's an excerpt from a blog entry I wrote when Crawford returned to Philips Arena in 2012 with the Blazers:
"The Hawks probably don't win without Crawford delivering all those daggers. This befuddled Stan Van Gundy, a noted early adopter of advanced stats. I kept asking him if Atlanta's ability to make long 2s, the most inefficient shot in basketball, threw a wrench into his defensive philosophy. Van Gundy kept interrupting: "But it *is* an efficient shot for them." He marveled at Crawford's ability to make contested jumper after contested jumper. Van Gundy never did figure out how to stop Atlanta's perimeter-oriented attack, and Crawford was a key part of that. Didn't the book on the Hawks say they wilted when things got tough? Crawford didn't."
That's what the Hawks need against the Cavs: a player who gets tough buckets time after time when things get tight. The Hawks have more cohesive talent now than they did back when Crawford's squad beat the Magic but they don't appear to have a player like Crawford. Note that even with his athleticism in decline, Crawford recaptured some of his big-game scoring mojo last week and nearly carried the Clippers (sans Chris Paul and Blake Griffin) to an upset W in Game 6 at the Blazers .
It's possible that Schroder, still only 22, could develop into a scorer as explosive and mentally tough as Crawford. He needs refinement, including a better jump shot, lower turnover rate and higher free-throw rate. But at least Schroder kept the Hawks in the game against the Cavs and tried to make something happen at winning time. That's more than can be said for most of his more experienced teammates.
If they hope to beat the Cavs in this series the Hawks need someone to play with the same spunk as Schroder did in Game 1, but with more precision and control. That's what Crawford did the last time the Hawks pulled a playoff upset.
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