The NBA doesn’t give MVP awards for first-round playoff series.
Lionel Hollins did.
The Nets coach so anointed DeMarre Carroll just minutes after the Hawks won Game 6 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series 111-87 on Friday night. The win clinched the series 4-2 for the Hawks. They will open the semifinal series against the Wizards at 1 p.m. Sunday.
“I thought the MVP of the series was DeMarre Carroll,” Hollins said. “If I was picking the second MVP, it would have been Paul Millsap. Those two guys burned us every way you could think of — scoring, driving, passing, rebounding.”
Carroll broke into the NBA under Hollins, then the head coach of the Grizzlies. When told of the comment following the convincing Hawks’ win, Carroll got a little smile on his face.
“Coach Hollins called me the MVP?” Carroll said. “That brings joy to me. He was my first coach in the NBA. Every negative situation you can take a positive from. Coach getting on me, acting like my granddad, that helped me be stronger and get where I am today. I’m not the MVP. The Atlanta Hawks are the MVP.”
A case, beyond that of Hollins, can be made for Carroll to be honored. He averaged a team-best 17.5 points in the six games by shooting 54.3 percent (38-of-70) from the field and 46.7 percent (14-of-30) from 3-point range. Those numbers, far better than his regular-season averages, include a 1-of-8, two-point performance in Game 2. Carroll also averaged 7.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 0.8 steals.
Carroll scored 20 or more points in the last four games of the series. He is the first Hawks player to eclipse that point total in four consecutive postseason games, since Jamal Crawford in 2011.
“His defense on the ball, on Joe Johnson, on different players as they subbed and changed things was great,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “His commitment to the boards was great. He’s really found a way to score whether it’s making open shots or getting to the basket. He is sneaking into the offensive boards, which we ask him not to do, but he ignores us. He is just growing. He’s had a heck of a series, and now he’s got to get ready for more.”
Carroll had 20 points, five rebounds and one assist in Friday’s Game 6 win despite playing just 2:05 of the second quarter after picking up his third foul. He was 7-of-8 from the field, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range.
While the No. 1-seeded Hawks struggled at times with the No. 8-seeded Nets, Carroll was a near constant.
“I think DeMarre came into this series focused,” Millsap said. “He had a great mindset in this season, being aggressive on the offensive and defensive end. When everybody else struggled, DeMarre pretty much carried us. He has worked hard and worked years to become this player. We are proud of him.”
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