The NBA playoffs are here. The games are tighter, the lights are brighter, and the narratives are getting thick. It can be a lot to keep up with but don’t worry we’re here to help. Throughout the NBA postseason, FanSided will be gathering together some of the most talented writers from our network for a daily recap of our favorite stories from the night before.
Welcome to the Rotation.
The Atlanta Hawks are one superstar too
Jeremy Karll | @JeremyKarll5 | Hardwood Houdini
In Game 2, the Boston Celtics only managed seven points in the first quarter, and Game 5 is still the most embarrassing thing to happen to them in the playoffs. The Atlanta Hawks didn’t start out hot — scoring 15 points in the first quarter — but once their shots started to fall, it was over quickly.
The Hawks combined to score 74 points in the next two quarters, before resting their starters the rest of the game. The Hawks’ teamwork and well-balanced attack ignited flashbacks from their 60-win season last year. After Paul Millsap went off for 45 points and 13 rebounds in Game 4, it seemed that the Hawks game plan switched to a one-man show. Millsap didn’t get much help, besides an occasional three, as the great ball-moving Atlanta Hawks went incognito.
All the pressure was on Mike Budenholzer and the team to find a collective solution in Game 5, and they delivered. The Hawks had their best offensive display in the playoffs this year — five Hawks scored at least 10 points and Dennis Schroder chipped in with nine.
Ball movement was key to their newly re-found offensive rhythm. The Celtics were late on rotations all game which led to open threes for Kyle Korver and Kent Bazemore — Atlanta shot 38.9 percent from beyond the arc. When the Celtics tried to play up to guard the shot, Atlanta was able to use their bigs as passers — Millsap and Horford combined for 10 assists — as Korver and Jeff Teague cut to the basket for layups.
When it comes down to it, everyone was able to get in on the action for Atlanta. They cleared their bench late in the game and Mike Scott had his second surprisingly productive game of the series — 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting in 21 minutes. It was a classic performance that we got accustomed too last season. The Hawks were one of the most well-balanced teams last year — once having their entire starting five earn Player of the Month. They hadn’t been able to find the same offensive rhythm this season but it returned in startling fashion.
The Hawks have gained the momentum back, and maybe a little of their magic too. However, they’ll need to play team basketball in Game 6 if they want to close out this series. They were able to win 60 games last year because of their great team play, not because of one player. Boston’s playoff mantra has been, “We’re one superstar.”
Last night it was the Atlanta Hawks that owned it.
I wish I knew how to quit Evan Turner
Ian Levy | @HickoryHigh | FanSided
I would like to think of myself as a rational person, grounded in logic and reason. All that stuff goes right out the window when it comes to Evan Turner.
Before the 2010 NBA Draft, I was very much in favor of the Indiana Pacers trading Danny Granger and the No. 10 pick to move up and get Turner. That pick turned out to be Paul George who, consequently, turned out to be the player I thought Evan Turner would be. I fell in love with Turner’s potential at Ohio State, the ability to lean in and exert his will in any facet of the game — defending, rebounding, passing, scoring. Blinded by adoration, I kind of missed all the nitty-gritty details.
The Boston Celtics massive, enormous, catastrophic loss to the Atlanta Hawks was a set of cliff notes for the Evan Turner Story. He finished with 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists. The Celtics were outscored by 29 points in the 31 minutes he played. Turner unleashed the full arsenal — the brilliant passes, the rebound-and-go fastbreaks, the ugly missed jumpers, the careless dribbles, and the forced passes. Good and bad, all wrapped up into one neat little package.
Turner actually had a (quiet) career season for the Boston Celtics. He fit a need and made some marginal improvements by avoiding his weaknesses (somewhat). But he still can’t overcome the fact that his essential productive qualities are an economy of scale. Two out of every five possessions he does something good, something that most other players couldn’t do with Superman’s cape on. The other three possessions he’s Austin Rivers. Run those sets of five possessions back often enough and you get a fully stuffed box score and, often, a wide margin of defeat.
Watching Turner, again, be himself should be enough. I should know better than to get lost in the moments when he is superb, to lose sight of the moments when he is a careening wreck waiting to happen. There is nothing wrong with the player he is, the world needs below average basketball players too. The problem is I can’t stop holding him against the player I would like him to be. Evan Turner is a psychological scab that I can’t stop picking at.
Turner is not the reason the Celtics are facing elimination. Now I just need to convince myself he isn’t going to save them.
Raptors completed the dramatics, but not their playoff puzzle
Tom West | @TomWestNBA | FanSided, Clipperholics
The first quarter transpired, and the Indiana Pacers, holding firmly onto a 35-20 lead after 12 minutes, looked like they were ready to summon the Raptors’ playoff demons and unleash them like a set of hell hounds throughout Air Canada Centre.
The Pacers were putting on a ball movement clinic, tallying 11 assists and seven three-pointers in the first period alone, against a Raptors defense that was often slow on rotations and left a step behind all over the floor, .
With Paul George leading team, having his way with the likes of DeMarre Carroll and DeMar DeRozan to score 22 points and dish out five assists in the first half, the Pacers stayed in front. The Raptors couldn’t find an answer for him all night, whether he was teasing defenders with his handle and shots off the dribble or drawing fouls, adding a 12-of-12 mark from the charity stripe to his stat line.
Eventually, DeRozan (who finished with 34 points) became the Raptors’ sign of hope through the second and third quarters. He sparked an 11-0 run to start the second period with strong cuts off screens and some mid-range success, but it still wasn’t enough to reduce the half-time deficit beyond the Pacers’ 61-52 lead.
Again in the third, strong interior defense by Indiana and some offensive prowess from George created a 14-6 run to end the quarter. At that point, with the Raptors down 87-77 heading into the fourth, history looked set to repeat itself. As if fans hadn’t already seen it enough, questionable shot selection, Kyle Lowry failing to deliver, and lacking urgency was costing them again.
If the they went down 3-2, the 15-year drought for winning a playoff series was sure to continue.
Then, something suddenly clicked. The Raptors looked like the team we all knew they could be after their best regular season in franchise history. Even with Lowry struggling offensively (finishing 3-of-11 from the floor for 14 points), a spark of pace and intensity spurred the team on. Bismack Biyombo was a hustling force, grabbing 16 rebounds (four offensive) in only 23 minutes, while rookie Norman Powell provided a burst off the bench as a high-flyer in transition and defensive nuisance to George at times, too.
With just one fourth quarter basket from George and too much of bench players likes of Rodney Stuckey and Monta Ellis, weak possessions and poor shots helped the Raptors back into the contest. Those failures from Indiana, a buzzer beater from Solomon Hill that was waved off, some confidence, hustle, and plays such as an offensive rebound from Lowry with a minute to go enabled the Raptors to close out the game.
In a truly uncharacteristic finish after a such a typical opening, Toronto stopped crumbling for once and actually found the recipe for possible playoff success. They won the final quarter 25-9, turning the tide dramatically with a 23-2 run and took their first lead of the game with four minutes remaining.
The Raptors could figure out how to control their demons if they play with that same energy, confidence and assertiveness again. It sounds simple, but extra heart, team defense and leadership from DeRozan can go a long way. And after pulling off such a comeback against the reeling Pacers, they should know exactly what they need to do in order to replicate similar runs going forward. And just think, if Lowry was playing well enough on offense to be a factor throughout the game, the Raptors could have been in an ever better position early on.
Perhaps, just perhaps, the Raptors liked their late performance enough to reward their fans with something similar in Game 6. Until both members of their All-Star backcourt can remain poised to score consistently, though, and the team enforces the same intensity for an entire game or series rather than sudden moments, the Raptors still haven’t solved their frustrating playoff puzzle.
After that finish, they’re just putting a few more of the pieces together.
Larry Bird isn’t walking through that door
Daniel Rowell | @danieljrowell | Hardwood Paroxysm
In the final possession of the Pacers-Raptors Game 5, with 2.7-second remaining, Monta Ellis inbounded the ball to Paul George off the screen. The Pacers, down three, needed some last-minute heroics from George. After leading by 13 to start the quarter, the Pacers had managed to complete just 4-of-15 attempts from the field. On the ensuing play, George was doubled by Norman Powell and Cory Joseph, and opted to pass to Solomon Hill, left open by Joseph. Hill had been a perfect 3-of-3 from three-point range all game, including a corner three-pointer in the previous possession, but his set shot was just a split second too late. He made a game-tying shot that would be called off for the Raptors victory.
Frank Vogel said it best after the game, “He made the right basketball play, it was a great play. I mean it was just a great play. One frame shy of being a tie game going into overtime.” George had played a near perfect game through three-quarters, 37 points, seven assists, and six rebounds, and the Pacers had a double-digit lead on the road. In the fourth, he had two missed three-point attempts and had two turnovers, and his teammates stumbled with him. The Raptors 19-2 run to start the fourth quarter and a botched final shot was a frame too far.
It’s a frustrating reality for George and his Pacers. Two years ago, a 39-point performance and stifling defense would be more than enough to win the opening round of the playoffs. But with the new split-identity Pacers, stuck between some promising but raw frontcourt players (Ian Mahinmi and Myles Turner) and a small ball lineup without the requisite firepower, they don’t have the confidence to hold a lead on the road. The small ball lineup with George at the power forward position and a three-guard combination of Monta Ellis, George Hill, and Solomon Hill (with Rodney Stuckey off the bench) isn’t going to cut it in the playoffs. Cory Joseph and DeMarDeRozen outplayed the Pacers backcourt.
The game reminded me of the old Cleveland Cavaliers (2007-2010) with “win-a ring-for-the-King” LeBron James, a frequent loser of the Eastern Conference Semis and Finals. With the exception of the 2007 NBA Finals, a short-handed Cavaliers lost to the Pistons, Magic, and Celtics, leaving a defeated James to look elsewhere for the answer. And just like James, George finds himself as the sole option to carry his team in the playoffs. The Pacers didn’t have enough talent to win out Game 5, but George may have just enough in him to win a series anyways. He looked gassed by the fourth quarter, but was one shot away from a 3-2 series lead.
At the end of the Raptors fourth quarter run, the TNT broadcast cut to a gray and old Larry Bird looking on in disbelief as the his team’s lead evaporated. I couldn’t help but think back to the quote from Rick Pitino when his Celtics lost to Vince Carter’s Raptors in 2000:
Fortunately for the Pacers, the fans aren’t quite as vocal as Boston was with Pitino. But there isn’t anyone but Paul George walking through that door for Game 6, unless you want to count Monta Ellis missed layups in traffic, or Rodney Stuckey turnovers, or Solomon Hill three-pointers after the buzzer. But then again, what if it is the next Larry Bird walking through that door? What if Paul George can win? For the first 36 minutes last night, that looked to be the case, and with two more opportunities to prove it, it’s just George against the Raptors and a gray and old Larry Bird watching, hoping it will happen.
The underrated, underestimated foot soldier
Adam McGee | @AdamMcGee11 | Behind The Buck Pass
The NBA is a league dominated by star players and it always has been. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban grabbed headlines on Monday by making a point of referring to Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook as an All-Star, but not a superstar. Kevin Durant took exception to this and he wasn’t the only one.
This is the time to step back and realize the absurdity of it all. When “All-Star” becomes an insult, the notion of stardom has gone too far. If it’s normal to gravitate towards the work of those who are truly exceptional, it still shouldn’t mean that those who are “merely” excellent get lost in the background.
Step forward, George Hill.
Hill has never been an All-Star (if that’s how we’re measuring things now) and his career averages show an unspectacular 11.3 points, 3.3 assists and 3.2 rebounds for his eight years of work in the league. Yet nobody watching the Pacers and Raptors square off on Tuesday evening could have any doubt of Hill’s importance to his team. His role and his contribution transcend his time on the ball or his box score output, and they have done so since the day he entered the league.
As a point guard, Hill matches up with plenty of opponents who approach the game at an all-action, breakneck pace. That’s the instinctual way to play and for those who have enough ability, it allows them to be great. For those who don’t, it highlights their inefficiencies. Does Hill have enough ability to play instinctively? The answer doesn’t really matter, as for most of his career he has chosen not to. George Hill is the thinker’s player. He’d rather plot his way through 48 minutes, seeing the court like a chessboard.
Game 5 presented the Pacers with an opportunity to grab the initiative in the series with two hands, and at least for most of the game they showed a readiness to do just that. At half time Paul George led his team as you would have expected with 22 points and four made three-pointers, but with DeMar DeRozan scoring 19 points with some of the best play he’s shown in the series, the Pacers still needed more.
On offense, you wouldn’t have noticed George Hill in that half if not for his own four made triples. With Paul George in the driver’s seat, Hill spent much of the first half playing off the ball. He was invisible for large spells of time and then just like that he’d pop up, wide open in the corner and knock down a three.
That’s George Hill in the corner. That’s George in the spot. light ...
— 8 Points, 9 Seconds (@8pts9secs) April 26, 2016
Hill could do more if he wanted to, that was proven by his averages of 16.1 points and 5.1 assists in a career season last year. Instead he’s selfless, arguably to a fault, and happy to defer to others as his team requires. If Hill deconstructs basketball like a game of chess, he views himself as a pawn. In a world where so many are eager to place themselves in the spotlight, that may sound like a derogatory comparison, but Hill would know better.
Watching him play brings to mind a famous scene from The Wire. When D’Angelo Barksdale explains the game of chess to Bodie and Wallace, their conversation could just as easily be a metaphor for how players like Hill fit in the NBA landscape.
D’Angelo tells the youngsters: “These are the pawns. They like the soldiers. They move like this, one space forward only. Except when they fight, then it’s like this. And they like the front lines, they be out in the field…Look, the pawns, man, in the game, they get capped quick. They be out the game early.”
Broadie counters with a valid argument: “Unless they some smart ass pawns.”
That’s exactly what George Hill is, and taking the game one step at a time has made him who he is.
As the Raptors made a run back into the game, one that would ultimately lead to them stealing a vital victory, Hill was quiet once again. That’s probably what separates a very good player from a great one, but then when your point guard shoots above 50 percent from the field and three-point range with zero turnovers, can you fault him for not trying to be something he’s not?
Regardless of the result, Hill understands that you don’t have to be the king to help take down the king. Hero ball isn’t always the answer and players with that understanding are rare.