Hawks thump Nets in Game 6, advance to face Wizards
NEW YORK, NY - MAY 01: Paul Millsap #4 of the Atlanta Hawks lays up a basket in the second half against the Brooklyn …
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The Hawks got out to an excellent start in the first quarter, shooting 13 of 18 from the field on their way to 36 points and a 13-point lead after one. Korver, the bellwether for the Atlanta offense throughout this series, knocked down his first three 3-point attempts. The Hawks offense has been significantly less fluid than expected vs. the Nets, with a lack of the excellent ball movement that became the squad's identity during this 60-win season. It returned in Game 5 and reached a peak in Game 6, indicating that the Hawks may have regained their form at the necessary time.
Unfortunately for Atlanta, its hot shooting fell off in the second quarter as the Nets cut the lead to just six points by the half. The Hawks followed up their explosive first with just 15 points in the second, including a scoreless stretch of more than 3 1/2 minutes in the middle of the period. The Nets certainly didn't dominate the second quarter — 22-15 is not a commanding performance by any means — but they got enough scoring from Joe Johnson (eight points in the quarter) to suggest they could scrape together enough points moving forward.
Whatever hope Brooklyn had of forcing a Game 7 ended in a 41-21 third quarter. The Hawks executed at a near-flawless level with 15 assists on their 16 field goals, including six of point guard Jeff Teague's 13 total dimes. The Atlanta starters were in such fine form that it wasn't even immediately apparent that Teague, who hit double figures in each of the previous five games, went scoreless on the night with only five field-goal attempts. The other starters more than made up for his donut — they combined for 83 points on 30-of-47 shooting from the field. Both teams played their rotation players for the bulk of the final quarter, but it had the character of garbage time.
It was a fitting end for a Nets team that most often resembles a collection of talent rather than a cohesive unit. This game did not have the desperate character of an elimination game, to put it lightly. That may have been due to the subdued atmosphere at a not-full Barclays Center, but it also relates to the form of the Nets. While it was surprising that they won two games after backing into the postseason, the Nets played with little consistency throughout the series and didn't exactly prove themselves to be playoff-ready. (Nowhere was that more clear than in the play of point guard Deron Williams, who scored a combined five points in Games 2 and 3 before storming back with 35in a Game 5 win.) They lost Game 6 as they lived — with remarkable indifference.
The Hawks will not enter the next round with the aura of a contender, but this performance at least allows them to entertain the notion that they can get to that point soon. As our Kelly Dwyer wrote before Game 5, the Hawks cannot continue to play down to the level of their opponents — at some point they're going to have to show that they didn't peak in January. The Wizards will present a more formidable challenge if only because of the star quality of point guard John Wall, but this is yet another team that the Hawks should be able to beat with some degree of comfort. Starting with Sunday's Game 1, Atlanta will need to show that it's serious. This series clincher suggests that they're getting there.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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