In the first seven minutes, 35 seconds of a playoff game in Brooklyn on Friday night, Jeff Teague set up Kyle Korver for a 3-point shot (1), set up DeMarre Carroll for another 3-pointer (2), drove and dished to Al Horford for a layup (3), drove and dished to Paul Millsap for a layup (4), passed to an open Horford for a short jumper (5) and found Korver for a 3-pointer (6).
The Hawks led 23-12, and Teague didn’t score a point. He just orchestrated a majority of the assault.
“His presence and fingerprints were all over the game,” Korver said later. “It was one of the best games I’ve ever seen him play.”
It’s understandable why the Hawks have confused the masses recently, leaving everybody wondering how deep they can go in the playoffs. Throughout their first-round series against Brooklyn, they went through spells when they either suddenly seemed out of rhythm or went cold from the outside.
But Teague’s play in Games 5 and 6 keyed the two wins that clinched the series.With the series tied 2-2 and his team clinging to an 84-82 win Wednesday, Teague had nine points, three assists, a steal and a rebound in the final 6:49 of the game to ignite a win.
Two nights later, he jump-started the Hawks to the early lead, then sparked a 23-3 run to open the third quarter with two steals to start fast-break layups by Carroll, then blocked a Jarrett Jack shot and fed Millsap for a drive. He finished the game with 13 assists, two steals, a blocked shot and only one turnover in more than 23 minutes.
Mike Budenholzer, the Hawks coach, isn’t prone to long-winded responses. He is polite and professional and obviously quite good at his job. But there are things he would rather do than talk to the media, like possibly stab himself with a fork.
So for Budenholzer to give a relative Gettysburg Address when asked a question — in this case, about Teague’s evolution in the past two seasons — it’s like a watching a mime morphing into an auctioneer.
(Response edited for space purposes.)
“I don’t know if I said it or we said it or anybody said it enough after Game 5 how he competed and how he worked in pick-and-roll defense,” Budenholzer said. “There is such an emphasis, such a priority to be good at the point of the ball. To follow it up a second night, a second game, and the way the third quarter started with him generating a couple of turnovers and a couple of baskets for us in transition, it’s what is most important for his growth. It’s what is most important for him.”
Inhale, exhale …
“To see what he can do to impact the game defensively in two very important games is critical to us and our success. The way he kind of quarterbacked the game and facilitated for his teammates — 13 assists and not a single bucket. Some nights, he scores 28 or 30. He understands to take what the defense gives us and be happy to facilitate for his teammates and yet score when we need him to. He hits a big 3 when it’s 90-89 in Game 5. The last 10 or 15 points in Game 5, he is a huge part of. Then in Game 6 he doesn’t have a single point and 13 assists. Both nights his defense was critical to us having success.”
Pause.
“Is that enough? I’m tired.”
The Hawks are favored to defeat Washington in the second round. But the Wizards are coming off a four-game sweep of Toronto, and they’re led by one of NBA’s premier point guards, John Wall, who tortured the Raptors, averaging 17.3 points, 12.5 assists and four rebounds. For the Hawks to advance and win a second-round series for the first time since 1958, Teague must be able to neutralize Wall.
Two years ago, there was a question whether the Hawks trusted Teague enough be their future point guard and whether he could fit into Budenholzer’s share-the-ball, space-and-pace system. Teague was used to isolation offenses. But there are no doubts now, even if Teague has been inconsistent at times.
“From the day we got here, I was very impressed with his unselfishness and willingness to pass and be a facilitator,” Budenholzer said. “Actually, there were times when we had to push him to be more aggressive, to score. It’s something he was gifted with, or we were gifted with.”
Probably both.
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