Larry Drew had a message for Jeff Teague.
So the coach met with his point guard Thursday, a day after a lopsided Game 5 loss that has the Hawks on the verge of playoff elimination. Drew told Teague his confidence in him had not wavered despite a 3-of-16 shooting performance.
“I told Jeff, I don’t want his game to be predicated on whether he’s making shots or not,” Drew said. “He does too many other things on the floor to impact the game. You see good players who have bad shooting nights, but they do other things to affect the game. That is the mentality that I want him to have.”
The Hawks trail the Pacers 3-2 in their best-of-seven first-round playoff series in the Eastern Conference. For the Hawks it’s win Game 6 on Friday at home or go home for the offseason. Should the Hawks win on their home court, as each team has done in the series, Game 7 would be played Sunday in Indianapolis.
Teague clearly was bothered by his off night. He drew a technical foul after shoving the Pacers’ Paul George on his way to the bench in the third quarter. It was one of three technicals called on the Hawks, who lost their composure in the second half of a 106-83 loss.
“We got the same shots we usually hit,” Teague said after Game 5. “We were just missing them.”
Teague was far from the only Hawk to struggle on offense. Josh Smith, who also was hit with a technical, was 5-of-16. Al Horford was 5-of-14. Combined, the Hawks’ three leading scorers were 13-of-46 (.283). Teague was the only player to have an individual meeting with Drew.
Game 5 was the first in the series in which the Hawks (25-of-75) were outshot by the Pacers (35-of-69).
“You have to give them a lot of credit,” Kyle Korver said Thursday. “I thought they played a really good game. It was probably their best game of the series. … We had a hard time getting good shots. They had great defense, and you give them credit for that, but we have to find a way to get out in the open floor and get some easier shots.”
Since arriving in Atlanta, the Hawks have a 5-7 record in Game 6s, including 3-4 at home. In series in which they trailed 3-2, the Hawks advanced to the next round two of seven times. The two series they won each lasted seven games. Of the five they lost, four went to six games and one to seven.
Drew and several players said the series with the Pacers is no longer about X’s and O’s. After nine games, including four in the regular season, both teams know each other inside and out. They know what each wants to do on offense and defense.
With that in mind, Drew met with his players Thursday afternoon and then dismissed them without a film session or a practice. Drew would not reveal what he said to his team, only that his comments were brief.
“When you are in a series and you go from game to game and you make your adjustments, there does come a point to where it stops being about X’s and O’s,” Drew said. “It’s about stepping up and taking the challenge, and hopefully we step up and make shots. I think that is where we are.
“It’s a two-game series, and obviously we want to get this thing extended by winning at home. It won’t be about the X’s and O’s. It will be about how we play in between the lines and how hard we compete and play physical.”
The Hawks have some history on their side in an attempt to force a Game 7. They have won 13 consecutive games against the Pacers at Philips Arena, including games 3 and 4 of the series. Each game in the playoff series has been won by double-digits, with an average margin of victory of 17.4 points.
“I would expect our guys to come out tomorrow night with a whole different focus,” Drew said.
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