It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
Not with the great strides the Hawks made last season. Yet early this season, there have been only glimpses of the beauty of a well-run ball-movement offense and the relentlessness of a ball-hawking defense. Those traits became the trademark of a 60-win team that advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in franchise history.
These Hawks are off to an 8-4 start having played more games than any team in the NBA. However, they have lost three of the past four after a seven-game win streak. The defeats have been marked by defensive lapses that have vexed coaches and players.
Consider:
* They fell behind the Timberwolves by 34 points Monday then mounted a near-record comeback to take a brief lead. The Hawks surrendered the final 11 points to lose 117-107.
* They trailed the Celtics by 15 points in the fourth quarter Friday and battled back to cut their deficit to three points. The Hawks then allowed the final 10 points to fall 106-93.
* They allowed the Jazz a 12-1 fourth-quarter run Sunday that put them in a seven-point hole. They nearly climbed all the way out but again came up short when a Paul Millsap shot at the buzzer did not fall in a 97-96 defeat.
“I can’t,” Millsap said after Sunday’s game when asked to explain the recent defensive issues. “Throughout the course of the season we’ve had lapses like that. (The Jazz) is a good team. You can’t have lapses against good teams.”
The Hawks next play a road-home back-to-back at the Nets Tuesday and versus the Kings Wednesday. On the horizon is a conference final rematch at the Cavaliers on Saturday.
The Hawks are 16th in the NBA in defensive efficiency at 100.7, the number of points per 100 possessions by a team and a key statistic used by Hawks coaches to measure success. The Hawks are 14th in the league in defense as they have allowed an average of 100.3 points per game. The loss to the Jazz was the first this season and snapped a streak of 31 consecutive home games when holding an opponent under 100 points.
Rebounding has long been an issue for the Hawks and continues to be one. They are 29th in the NBA in rebounding at 39.7 per game. They are tied for 26th in offensive rebound percentage (19.2) and are 29th in defensive rebound percentage (72.5).
“I would say defensively it’s more just phases or periods of the game,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said of the lapses. “Then there are periods of the game where it’s very good. You just can’t be that inconsistent defensively.”
The Hawks are tied for eighth in the NBA in points per game at 102.8. They do continue to share the ball as they are second in the league in assists per game (26.7). But the offense has been inconsistent and bogs down at times. They are failing to score and failing to get stops in allowing opponents game-winning runs.
“I think it’s probably that we are not getting great shots on offense at times,” Al Horford said Sunday. “That leads to easy points for them in transition. I feel like we are playing pretty hard on defense but we are just not coming up with those plays and those stops.
“I just think it’s a little different (this season). Teams are very aware of how we do things. This is the next step for us. Right now, we have to take the next step as a group and run our sets a little better. We will. I know we will.”
It’s a simplistic challenge Budenholzer said after the latest loss, the Hawks’ third in seven home games this season. You must play better than your opponent for more of the game.
Of the team’s overall record, good for second in the Eastern Conference behind the Cavaliers, Budenholzer acknowledged the inconsistency.
“8-4, as coaches you are always greedy. We feel like we can be better. I think the record is not that important to us. We are not playing as well as we would like to. … Defensively, I feel like we have a better group and we can play better defensively. And that usually fuels our offense. The offense, at times it hasn’t been great. But it’s defensively were we have to improve and the boards where we have to get better. It’s one of the things we are constantly harping on.”
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