Kris Humphries finally played his first meaningful minutes of the postseason.
The Hawks center, acquired late in the season, was not a part of the rotation in the opening-round series against the Celtics and was stuck on the bench for much of the first two games against the Cavaliers.
However, the Hawks called on the veteran as the first big off the bench in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Cavaliers on Friday night. Humphries finished with nine points, four rebounds, two blocks and a steal in 20 minutes of the Hawks’ 121-108 loss.
“It’s always difficult not playing in the NBA, no matter who you are,” Humphries said Saturday. “I just use it as motivation and stay ready because, for some reason no matter what, you always get a chance. It was difficult but you have to use it as motivation.”
Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said Humphries would likely have a similar role in Game 4 on Sunday.
“We’ll use Kris similar to how we did (Friday),” Budenholzer said. “He got maybe a little extended. Paul (Millsap) and Al (Horford) both got a couple of fouls and there were a few times when we were trying to hopefully trying to get them to halftime without a third foul.
“We always talk about him bring a physical presence, an edge. I thought he did that. He has an ability to make a 3. He made one of those. He shot a couple more. If he gets a couple more of those to go down it opens things up for everybody. Defensively, the physicality, the edge, the rebounding, was what we’ve seen from Kris since he’s gotten here. He’s been good.”
Humphries said following Game 3 that his first indication that he would be a part of the rotation came when Budenholzer summoned him from the bench with 8:50 left in the first quarter to replace Horford.
Surprise.
Humphries has performed well this postseason but it has all been in garbage time, when a win or a loss was well in hand. In three playoff games, Humphries averaged 9.7 points and 5.7 rebounds in 14.7 minutes. He had 12 points and nine rebounds in Game 2 against the Cavaliers. He had eight points and four rebounds in Game 5 against the Celtics.
“I play with a lot of energy,” Humphries said. “I’m a guy who can do different things on the floor. For me, I never go in the game thinking I’ve got to do this, I’ve got to do that. For me, it’s more about trying to energize my team and try to make some plays, whether it’s blocking a shot, rebound, just doing something. Sometimes not everything shows up in the stat sheet. A guy may come in the game and play really big for his team but he really didn’t do that much on paper. So I just try to be that guy who does those types of things and take advantage of the opportunity when I get out there.”
If the Hawks are to climb out of a 3-0 deficit to the Cavaliers, the veteran Humphries knows where it will start. The next game is all the Hawks can think about. Humphries reminded one of his teammates of that Saturday.
“I walked into the locker room today and someone was like ‘OK, we’ve got to get four in a row,’” Humphries said. “I was like ‘No, we’ve got to win just one game. Can we win one game? Just tomorrow. One game.’ We know we can win one game. You’ve got to approach it as one game. OK, another game. It’s too big of a hurdle to look at in terms of four. Just compete every night. Lay it out there for our fans and for each other. Just try to win one.”
