The Hawks’ home opener is Friday night against the Raptors — but right now the team is more focused on fixing what went wrong against the Mavericks.
A film study revealed multiple errors in transition defense that were costly in Wednesday’s season-opening 118-109 loss. There is much work to do.
“Especially early (in the season), and I would say hopefully us more than others, we want to evaluate ourselves,” coach Mike Budenholzer said following Thursday’s practice. “We want to be more about us. Who our next opponent is. We are going to be prepared, and it’s important. I’m of the mindset of making sure we do what we do and that we are paying attention to ourselves and building our habits. It’s a line we all walk, but our plan is to err more on the side of focusing on ourselves.”
The Mavericks shot 57.1 percent (44-of-77) from the field in the victory. The total included a 45.8 percent (11-of-24) performance from 3-point range. Every player but Jose Calderon shot better than 50 percent. The Mavericks scored more than 30 points in three of the four quarters.
Player after player echoed Budenholzer’s assessment that transition defense largely was responsible for the loss.
“We were running back to our own man,” said Jeff Teague, who had a team-high 24 points and nine assists. “That’s stuff you learn (not to do) in second grade. Just get the closest guy to you. We weren’t doing that last night, and they got some easy baskets. We were looking for our own man, and we’ve got to match up in transition no matter who you have.
“Guys were looking for their own man, to make sure they had their man. We made mistakes. We’re learning. We’ll get better.”
Budenholzer, quite succinctly, summed up the aim of the team’s transition defense: Sprint back, take care of the basket first, then the ball and then most dangerous situation — in that order.
The Hawks are implementing new systems on offense and defense with a new coach and a new roster. Earlier this week Al Horford said he thought the team had a better grasp of the defensive system. The Hawks held opponents to 97.6 points in seven exhibition games. Not great, but certainly not the 118 points the Mavericks put up.
“We have to be better,” Horford said. “There is no question about it. We saw clearly we weren’t good enough in that area, and we have to improve in transition defense.”
The Raptors opened the season with a 93-97 home win over the Celtics on Wednesday. They got points from all 10 players who entered the game, including double-digit scoring from four of their five starters.
Still, the priority remains getting the Hawks’ house in order.
“(It’s about) following some basic, simple principles,” Budenholzer said. “(They are) new habits for some people, so we are going to keep pounding and hammering on that.”
Option news: The Hawks picked up the 2014-15 team options on John Jenkins late Thursday, hours before the deadline. The team will not pick up the option on Jared Cunningham.
Jenkins will receive $1.31 million in the third year of his rookie contract. The Hawks also have a team option on the guard for the 2015-16 season at $2.23 million and the right to make a qualifying offer for the 2016-17 season.
Cunningham will become an unrestricted free agent after this season.
