The message was received. Loud and clear.
The Hawks’ record was 5-5 on Nov. 19 after back-to-back losses to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers. They lost by 33 points at the Cavaliers and versus the one-win Lakers.
Mike Budenholzer was not happy. The Hawks’ coach put together a film session – which was loud, animated and pointed – to break down his team’s defensive inefficiencies. The Hawks responded by winning 17 of their next 20 games. The run included a nine-game win streak soon after that eventful team meeting.
“That is fair to say,” Elton Brand said Monday when asked if the season changed after the session. “At 5-5 we felt we were much better than .500. We watched that film and the breakdown of the little things that we need to do to win games. I think that was a turning point.”
Included in the Hawks’ recent streak was an avenging 127-98 win at the Cavaliers one month later. After two games in Cleveland, the Cavaliers travel to Philips Arena for Tuesday’s game with the Hawks. At one time, perhaps this matchup with the Cavaliers and LeBron James would be considered a statement game. Not for these Hawks.
“We have to treat every game as a statement game,” Paul Millsap said. “You can’t take anything for granted. We want to be one of the best teams in this league. I think we have to prove it every night.
“You can (call the session a turning point), but it’s not just one time. It’s a buildup. We’ve been building up to this point. We’ll continue to build. You can’t just look at one moment or one film session and say that’s what did it.”
The Hawks have won 15 of the past 17 games, with one of the losses coming at the buzzer against the Orlando Magic. During that stretch, the Hawks are averaging 100.7 points and allowing 91.9 points. All agree that the team’s defensive commitment has led to the turnaround.
“We have been able to do a lot more defensively,” Al Horford said. “That has been the biggest difference as far as our energy as a team and knowing what to do on the floor. We had some corrections that needed to be made and coach addressed them, we learned from them and got better.”
The Hawks returned to the practice court for the first time in 10 days on Monday, a byproduct of a compact schedule and the Christmas break. The Hawks came off that two-day holiday respite and were soundly beaten, at home, by the Bucks 107-77. They avenged that loss the following night. In getting in a practice, the Hawks were able to address some defensive issues that were evident in the loss.
“There is definitely slippage on both ends of the court,” Budenholzer said. “We worked on some of our execution on both ends, details of our pick-and-roll coverage, some things we’ve been missing and did a lot of shooting.”
The Cavaliers are coming off a 103-80 home loss to the Detroit Pistons on Sunday. There are stories in Cleveland on whether first-year head coach David Blatt has lost the attention of his team. James said after the loss to the Pistons that the Cavaliers “right now, we are not very good.” Point guard Kyrie Irving is likely to return after missing the past two games with a left knee contusion.
Despite the results of the earlier meetings, Budenholzer said those games are “in the rear-view mirror.” Millsap pointed out at the loss was the second of a back-to-back.
“The first game, they played extremely well,” Budenholzer said. “They were good on both ends of the court. They did a lot of things that made us not play that great. I don’t think we had one of our better games in general.
“And then, the reverse is true. I don’t think we made any big changes or they made any big changes. I think we played better and they had one of those off nights that sometimes happen during an 82-game schedule.”
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