In the larger effort to San Antonio-ize the Hawks, it’s not about one game or one series. Were it all about the now, this team would be running the pick-and-Popovich offense in its sleep.
Come to think of it, at Thursday night’s end it did appear as if the Hawks were operating with their eyes closed. Nothing flowed in the final minutes, and the Indiana Pacers finished on a 16-4 run, turning Philips Arena once more into the Letdown Factory.
Afterward, Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer lamented that the lessons he brought east from 17 seasons as Gregg Popovich’s assistant in San Antonio had abandoned them. That elusive execution went missing. Still early in this project, the results are bound to fluctuate.
Saturday’s Game 7 in Indianapolis represents one more glimpse into the method and the promise of the Hawks’ sixth coach of this young century.
How will he and his team react in a win-or-go-home (actually it’s more a win-or-go-on-a-fabulous-Caribbean-vacation) game? On the road? Against an opponent that has decided at this late date to match wits?
After a full season of exposure to Budenholzer, the Hawks and their followers are afforded another chance to get to know him better under the most extreme conditions.
We are told for one that Budenholzer is not the man he appears to be when before the camera. Tie askew, hair damp and ruffled, eyes rheumy, voice strained, he answers the media’s inquiries in the kind of flat delivery that normally only a computer can generate. After a game such as Thursday, he seems especially drained to the point of acute anemia.
Actually, we are told, Budenholzer is a ball of fire. Someone more than capable of matching the heat of a Game 7.
“With you guys he may be a little monotone, but with us, he’s a lightning bolt,” guard Jeff Teague said. “He is 100 percent energy all around, excited about everything. He gets you excited when you come to work.”
Consistent, too. A rock.
“He’s not too hard to get to know. He hasn’t changed in the playoffs. He gets fired up and he’s intense and he jokes and he wears the same sweat pants every day (in practice),” guard Kyle Korver said.
We know that the Budenholzer Effect upon Teague has been particularly beneficial. This is the third regime with which the point guard has ventured into the postseason, but really the first in which he has been a driving force.
The pace and spacing and smart ball movement that Budenholzer has tried to imprint on the Hawks suits Teague like a sharp haircut. The new coach has been a career-builder for him.
“It’s been great; it definitely changed things,” Teague said of Budenholzer’s arrival. “I was used to a different style of play. This fits me perfectly. It’s fun. I enjoy it. I like coming to work every day.”
We know that Budenholzer has infused into these Hawks a sense of self-belief beyond the results of this first season. This team absorbed more injuries than should be allowed by law and posted its worst won-loss record in five years. Instead of tanking and looking to the draft lottery, it fought for the eight seed and pushed the No. 1 to Saturday’s brink. Much of that is based on the belief in the system that the coach is selling.
When this series with the Pacers began there was talk of how the perimeter-oriented Hawks might extend and trouble an Indiana defense built to guard the rim and clog the lane. Budenholzer cautioned his team, “No matter what the matchup is, you have to make it a good matchup.” And when the Hawks have run at their best, they have created some delicious matchup dilemmas.
Over the course of the Pacers series, it was the lower-seeded team imposing its way upon the higher. Indiana has adjusted, most noticeably making the 7-2 Roy Hibbert disappear.
We know that Budenholzer won’t respond with any huge departure from what has gotten the Hawks this far. Having spent an entire season indoctrinating his team on the purity of his system, he’s not about to go all drastic now.
Just run your stuff, only run it better. That’s his gospel. “It’s kind of irrelevant to us who they have on the court,” Budenholzer said, emphasizing that his concerns rest only with how his bunch performs.
“We’re stubborn that way. We’re going to continue to emphasize what we consider good, fundamental basketball,” he said.
“As a rookie coach you don’t expect that level of confidence and enthusiasm, I guess. But he’s real confident about (his philosophy). He knows that if he trusts the system good things will happen,” forward Paul Millsap said.
“When we play our style of basketball, we’re a real good team,” he added.
You mean to say there is an actual signature style for the Hawks, something beyond such old favorites as Joe Johnson going one-against-all-creation or Josh Smith taking some shot so bad it even hurts your conscience?
“Trust the system, be disciplined, don’t try to go outside yourself, move the basketball,” forward DeMarre Carroll said, analyzing said signature.
It’s not about one game or even one series, what Budenholzer and his boss, general manager Danny Ferry, are attempting to transplant in Atlanta.
“Obviously we’re trying to win now, win this series, win in the playoffs, but we’re trying to build something bigger than that,” Korver affirmed.
But it sure would amplify Budenholzer’s message from steady drone to startling roar to win this particular one.
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