The Hawk have placed an emphasis on protecting the paint in their playoff series against the Celtics.
It’s hard to argue with the game plan or the results.
The Hawks lead the best-of-seven Eastern Conference series 2-0 after an 89-72 win on Tuesday night in Atlanta. In the victory, the Hawks set a playoff franchise record with 15 blocked shots. The total represents the sixth most by any team in playoff history since the 1984-85 season.
Block party, anyone?
The Hawks also had nine blocks in their Game 1 victory. That’s a total of 24 blocks in two games, a 12.0 average. For context, the Hawks averaged 5.9 block per game during the regular season.
“I don’t think it’s a matchup or anything like that,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said of the success against the Celtics. “Our activity, we are trying to stress being active. We are trying to stress how important it is to take away points in the paint, points at the basket. (Celtics point guard) Isaiah Thomas is very clever, very crafty, getting into the paint and finishing in the paint. He can score on different levels but if we can make it hard for him there, including not fouling him, that’s been an emphasis.”
Al Horford and Paul Millsap each have seven blocks in the series. The two Hawks big men are tied for the most blocks in the NBA this postseason. The Hawks’ 12 blocks per game are easily tops in the league, ahead of the Spurs’ 9.5 per game. Horford tied his playoff career high (done twice before) with five blocks in Game 2.
“I feel like we are in better position to be able to make plays,” Horford said. “We just want to protect the rim as much as we can and contest every shot. The first two games we have been successful at that.”
The Hawks’ shot blocking is not limited to the playoffs. The finished with season with 486 blocks, up from 380 last season. Horford and Millsap had career-highs in blocks this season. But it’s not just them. Kent Bazemore, Mike Muscala, Mike Scott and Dennis Schroder also had career-best seasons in blocks.
“I just coaches emphasis on us being better defensively,” Horford said. “In the regular season we did a good job. I feel like in the postseason now, usually the game goes to another level and our defense has answered to the challenge.”
Budenholzer said the that during the regular season blocks were an emphasis for the big men. Steals and contesting shots without fouling were the emphasis for the guards and wings.
Many have been critical of the Hawks for not having a rim protector. The Hawks do have an issue with rebounding as they finished 24th in the league at 42.1 per game. However, you can make the argument they don’t lack for rim protection.
“I think we do,” Horford said when asked about having such a defender. “We have different guys that can step up and do what is necessary. We maybe don’t have the quote, unquote one guy that everybody always talks about. I feel Paul and I, and even our guards they’ve done such a good job contesting at the rim and making sure we don’t give up easy baskets.”
The Hawks have been successful in the series keeping the Celtics from the paint and turning them into a jump-shooting team. Just 72 of the Celtics’ 173 points in the series have come in the paint. The Celtics have shot .342 (65 of 190) from the floor and .254 (16 of 63) from 3-point range.
“We are making it a priority in taking away the paint,” Budenholzer said. “Then we want to be great in getting out and contesting shots, contesting 3’s. Coming into the series, we talked about they take a lot of 3’s and if you take a lot of 3’s you have nights when you are going to make a lot of 3’s. So we can’t just take the paint away and sit and watch guys shoot. There has been a pretty good commitment to do both, which is kind of the Holy Grail.”
The series switches to Boston for Games 3 and 4 on Friday and Sunday.
Seven Hawks players have set a regular-season career-high blocked shots. Here is the list:
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