Just how many free throws did Paul George make against the Hawks?
The Pacers forward made 17 of his 18 attempts. It was the second most made free throws by an opponent in Hawks playoff history. Minnesota’s Elgin Baylor made 18 in a postseason game against St. Louis on March 17, 1960.
“We expected (George) to be aggressive,” Jeff Teague said. “We have to do a better job with our hands and keep them off the foul line.”
In all, the Pacers made 30 of 34 free-throw attempts in the 107-90 Game 1 victory over the Hawks Sunday afternoon.
“You could say they were a little more aggressive,” Hawks guard Devin Harris said. “We were going to the basket too. Not getting some of the calls, we have to play through it.”
Kyle Korver said the Hawks committed too many “cheap, bad fouls.”
George's big day: George finished with a triple double of 23 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds, all game-highs. The Pacers' All-Star forward made just 3 of 13 shot attempts, missing all five from 3-point range, en route to his point total.
“My teammates were able to make shots and I was trying to rebound the ball,” George sasid. “I said for this playoff run I’m leaving everything on the floor. I know as a team what is expected of me now. I want the pressure. I’ll do whatever it takes. I don’t want to be known as a scorer or defender. I want to be a ballplayer.”
Defensive breakdowns: Hawks coach Larry Drew was concerned about the number of defensive breakdowns by his team, especially after he spent the previous three days going over coverages.
“(The Pacers) did a couple of things different but it comes down to how you guard and how you defend certain actions,” Drew said. “If you blow the assignment then chances are they are going to score. We did not do a good job of defending things we worked on for three days.”
Josh Smith said the Hawks must focus on help defense in Wednesday’s Game 2.
“Everybody has to be ready on the defensive end,” Smith said. “We have to help each other out. We can’t be concerned with our man. We have to be on a string and understand that there are going to be defensive breakdowns we just have to be there for each other.”
Small ball: The Hawks started the game with their small lineup with Al Horford playing center against the Pacers' Roy Hibbert. Drew also wanted to use his team's speed and quickness with a starting backcourt of Devin Harris and Teague.
“I wanted to go with what we’ve been best with throughout the season,” Drew said. “We’ve been smaller, we’ve been quicker. We’ve been faster. It’s certainly something we’ll keep an eye on throughout the series against this team because they are so big. We are going to have to be us. We made that decision throughout the three days of preparation. We’ll be prepared to make adjustments.”
Tough shooting night: Harris and Korver combined to make 6 of 16 shots attempts, including 1 of 6 from 3-point range.
“I need both of those guys to play well,” Drew said. “… I need all my guys to step up.”
After the Hawks pulled to within nine points in the fourth quarter, 95-86 with 4:56 remaining on a 3-pointer by Teague, they never scored another field goal the remainder of the game. They were 4 of 6 from the free-throw line to close out their scoring. The Pacers finished on a 12-6 run for the final 17-point margin.
Etc.: Hawks guard Lou Williams, who was lost for the season with a torn right ACL, was on the end of the bench cheering on his team. … The Pacers recorded the game as a sellout of 18,165 but tickets were still available Sunday morning and there were noticeable empty seats. … Every available Hawks player got into the game even though Anthony Tolliver, Dahntay Jones and Mike Scott played less than two minutes each.
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