We Must Protect This Nest!

This series with the Indiana Pacers cannot end until Game 7 as long as the Atlanta Hawks can defend their homecourt. They’ll have an undersized but heavily favorable fanbase rooting for them at Philips Arena, where the Hawks have come up with the larger point total in their last 11 regular season meetings versus the Pacers.

The last time the Pacers left Philips Arena triumphant? Go back to Christmas Day 2006. Then go back three days before that. Former Hawks Stephen Jackson and Al Harrington led the way for the Pacers. Paul George (25.0 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 7.5 APG, 2.5 SPG in this series) was starting just his second year of playing organized basketball for his high school.

This arena has been a House of Horrors for Roy Hibbert, who is Bagel-and-9 over the course of his career. He’d love to get off the schneid to put the Hawks in an 0-3 hole. His professional nadir (“probably the lowest I’ve ever been in my career,” he told the Indianapolis Star) came here back on December 29, when the former All-Star managed one rebound, one block, and zero points in 20 minutes before getting benched in the final quarter.

Of course, in that game, it was starter Zaza Pachulia (17 points and 14 rebounds) who befuddled Hibbert to no end, while Al Horford had his hands full with David West without Josh Smith available.

Assistant coach Brian “don’t call me Brain” Shaw got into Roy's head after that game, and now he’s attacking the basket much more aggressively against the Hawks, as Ivan Johnson can attest. The Hawks will have to keep lengthy bodies on him to up the degree of difficulty on his jump-hooks, which means Horford and Johan Petro have to avoid early foul trouble.

Who was the leading scorer for the Hawks in that 109-100 victory? Lou Williams, whose 21 points offset George’s offensive output. For the Hawks, tonight’s game needs to see the thawing of Kyle Korver and the reemergence of rookie John Jenkins to boost the offense.

Korver proved to be an inadequate matchup against George in Game 1, while Devin Harris and DeShawn Stevenson were no match for George in Game 2. That means Dahntay Jones should be up at bat next. No one other than George is setting up teammates effectively (Lance Stephenson leads the remaining Pacers with just 3.0 APG; George Hill and David West with 2.5), so Jones has to stay in front and keep George from having carte blanche in the lane with the ball.

George Hill (20.0 PPG; 63.6 FG% and 63.6 3FG%) was hot in Indy but shoots much worse on the road (42.6 FG%) than at the Fieldhouse (46.0 FG%). He’s a bit banged up (arm, hip) and Jeff Teague (18.5 PPG, 6.0 APG; 46.7 FG%) will need to take advantage of that by forcing Hill to play the entire floor, driving on offense and fighting through those screens on defense.

As awful as the first two games in Indianapolis went for the Hawks, they shot 49.7 FG%, currently 4^th among playoff teams. It’s essential to focus at the free throw line (52.9 Team FT%, obviously last, and attack the glass when forced into tough shots (8.5 Offensive RPG, next to last). Josh Smith's aggressiveness on the boards over the next two games can make the difference in tilting this series back into toss-up country.

The Hawks are last in the playoffs for rebounds (36.5 RPG), but the Pacers are 14^th (49.5 RPG), so Indy’s sustained the advantage by playing a grindingly slow pace (25^th in NBA regular season). Atlanta (12^th in pace) showed in Game 2 they can occasionally take advantage of Indiana with quick drives to the other hoop after the Pacers make a big basket. They need to continue speeding up the game by flying down the court after opponent baskets and in transition, denying the Pacers comfort settling into their halfcourt defensive positions.

Go Hawks!

~lw3