DeMarre Carroll is now among the elite playoff scorers in Hawks history - right up there with Dominique Wilkins.
Go figure.
The defensive-minded forward scored a game-high 22 points in the Hawks’ 106-90 win over the Wizards in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series Tuesday night. Carroll now has six consecutive 20-point postseason games, tying a feat last done by a Hawks player in 1988.
That player? The Hall of Famer Wilkins, who did so as part of a 12-game 20-point stretch.
Carroll is the Hawks’ leading scorer during the 2015 postseason. He is averaging 18.9 points in eight playoff games. He is 55 of 99 (.556) from the field and 20 of 43 (.465). Those gaudy numbers including a two-point performance on 1 of 8 shooting in Game 2 of the quarterfinal series against the Nets.
“The biggest thing for me is to take advantage of my opportunity,” Carroll said Tuesday. “There was an opportunity to step up offensively. My main focus is defense. Guys like Kyle (Korver), Jeff (Teague), Paul (Millsap) and Al (Horford), they draw a lot of attention. They need for me to be effective when I’m on the court. That is all I have been doing and my teammates have done a good job of finding me. I give credit to my teammates. I don’t take any credit.
“If it was something about defense, I might take all the credit,” he then joked.
Carroll mentioned each of this starting mates, all of who made the All-Star Game this season. Carroll was the one who missed the trip to New York for all the pomp and circumstance. Carroll averaged 13.9 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists following the All-Star break up from 12.0 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists before the festivities.
Carroll has been one of the biggest bargains in the NBA after signing a two-year, $5 million deal two seasons ago. He makes just $2.4 million this season but will be due for a major pay raise this summer. Some of estimated that Carroll could command between $6-8 million a season in a new deal on the open market.
According to the NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement, Carroll must become an unrestricted free agent after the season along with teammate Paul Millsap. What Carroll can command is likely increasing with each playoff performance.
“He just gets it within the context of hwo we play in our offense and his teammates are creating a lot of opportunities for him,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said Tuesday. “He’s taking advantage of them. He’s driving and attacking more. Tonight, I think he actually probably didn’t finish as well as he has been the last month or two of the season. But I think he’s just taking advantage of good looks and good opportunities and being aggressive and being confident. And we need more of that from him.”
The Hawks will have some decisions to make this summer in free agency in trying to keep Carroll and Millsap. In addition Elton Brand, Pero Antic and John Jenkins will be free agents. It could be difficult for the Hawks to keep both Carroll and Millsap, who is also likely to get a significant raise of the $9.5 million he makes this season.
The Hawks have approximately $39 million committed in salary with a project salary cap of $67 million next season.
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