Game Previews

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J.R. Smith and the Cavaliers limited Kyle Korver to just one field goal attempt. Expect the same focus from Cleveland on Atlanta’s sharpshooting guard in Game 2.

But it's always fun to watch Korver maneuver away from the ball, even when he isn't getting lots of shot attempts. One of the joys is watching how his screens routinely free his teammates for opportunities.

Here is a play where Korver sneaks up on LeBron James to send Kent Bazemore hauling in for a layup.

The fact that Smith doesn't want to leave Korver limits Smith's ability to help stop Bazemore and Korver's screen keeps James occupied until it is too late.

On this other screen, Korver sets off a chain reaction that ends with a Mike Scott Richter-registering dunk. 

Korver sets the screen for Dennis Schröder and pops out to the opposite side. If you watch closely, you can see Kevin Love, the player guarding Scott, eyeing Korver when Korver gets separation from Smith. 

At that point, Scott already has a step on Love, but a back pick by Thabo Sefolosha and a no-look pass from Schröder finish the sequence leading up to the dunk.

While Korver will almost certainly have more shot attempts than he did in Game 1, it will be fascinating to see how the Hawks manipulate the extra defensive attention being paid to him. The screens he sets should be a big part of that plan in Game 2.

The Hawks have two big men in their starting lineup, but the Cavs, thanks to the versatility of James, essentially have three: him, Love and Tristan Thompson.

At times, Bazemore will guard LeBron. At other moments, you'll see Korver guarding Love or perhaps Bazemore guarding Thompson. Watching the chess game within the game as the coaches mix and match their lineups will be super interesting in Game 2.

Scott made all three of his shot attempts and had 7 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists in 16 minutes against the Cavs in Game 1. He made a perfect pass to assist Bazemore on a three-point shot in the final minute of the third quarter that gave the Hawks a bit of momentum going into the fourth quarter.

Game 1 marked a big improvement for Scott over last season's playoff matchup against Cleveland, when he had 16 total points in the series and went 0-for-12 on threes.

Paul Millsap and Al Horford combined to block 7 shots in Game 1. Millsap, in particular, had a couple of devastating blocks to protect the rim against Cleveland's fast breaks. Always fun.

The Cleveland defense is daring point guards Jeff Teague and Schröder to beat them. More often than not, when the Hawks set up their offense with a high pick and roll, the Cavs' point guard defenders are running behind the screen instead of over the top of it. It's an attempt to cut off Teague and Schröder from driving into the paint, and beyond that, to disrupt the Hawks' drive-and-kick offense.

The Hawks should have counters, though: Teague made 40 percent of his three-point shots this season, and Schröder scored a game-high 27 points in the series opener. In Game 2, the Hawks will need Teague and Schröder to be on top of their respective games.

Story by KL ChouinardTwitter: @KLChouinard

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5 Things To Enjoy About Watching Game 2

This one has all the makings of a heavyweight fight.

In one corner you have the Cleveland Cavaliers' offense led by LeBron James. James, ever a dominant offensive force, led the NBA in points scored in the paint: 14.0 per game. His drives to the hoop are the engine that makes them go, and the Cavaliers take advantage by surrounding him with a bevy of shooters. Cleveland made 880 three-point shots this season, which ranks as the second-best total in the NBA and the fifth-best of all time. 

In the opposite corner, you have the Atlanta Hawks' defense, which held opponents to a league-low 43.2 percent shooting from the field. Led by two strong, savvy and mobile interior defenders, Paul Millsap and Al Horford, the Hawks were the only NBA team that finished in the top 5 in both steals (3rd) and blocks (5th). Those weren't empty stats either: the Hawks finished second in defensive rating, allowing opponents just 98.8 points per 100 possessions. Clearly, Atlanta takes pride in its defense.

"When we watch film, it's 80 percent how we can be better defensively," Horford said.

Both teams upheld their reputations in the first round of the playoff. Cleveland swept Detroit and made 41.3 percent of their three-point shots. Atlanta blocked 8.7 shots per game and held Boston to 38.7 percent shooting overall.

So what do the Hawks want to do when these two teams meet? Millsap summed up the strategy.

"I think we go for the head of the snake now, which is LeBron, make it tough on him," Millsap said. "Get out to the shooters, when possible, and make it tough all around."

The series is going to have a different feel from last year, in part because the starters are different. Kevin Love is healthy, and the Cavaliers have moved Timofey Mozgov out of the starting lineup (he played just 14 minutes total in the Detroit series) in favor of Tristan Thompson. That leaves the matchups as:

Cavaliers: Kyrie Irving, J.R. Smith, LeBron James, Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love Hawks: Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver, Kent Bazemore, Paul Millsap and Al Horford

There shouldn't be much cross-matching here. Irving and Teague will guard each other, as will Smith and Korver. The one exception is that Love will probably guard Horford on one end while being guarded by Millsap on the other. It's this cross-match that creates what may be the pivotal matchup of the series: Thompson being guarded by Horford.

Thompson is a multi-talented player. He's a relentless offensive rebounder, he has good touch close to the basket, and the Cavs need him in the game to defend the rim on the other end of the court. But Thompson took almost all of his shots in the paint this season. Horford will likely be the one Hawk with a chance to help near the rim while the other Cavaliers, like Smith, Love, Channing Frye and Matthew Dellavedova, stretch defenders all over the place.

"Give credit to Boston, but (Cleveland's) shooting compared to Boston's is like night and day," Bazemore said. "They have a ton of guys who can fill it up from the outside."

One of the strengths of the Atlanta defense is its flexibility to play a number of styles, but here is a peek at some of the ways that they may use Horford over the next two weeks. And as Bazemore hints, it might not be the daring, trapping scheme that the Hawks used against Boston.

Let's take a look at some examples from the most recent Cavs-Hawks game. In this first play, James uses a pick in the corner to drive baseline while Horford guards Thompson on the opposite side.

Horford lingers close enough to the play to cut off James. Even after James finds Thompson open at the rim with a solid pass, Horford is still right there to recover and block the shot. 

The tricky part is that when Horford helps, he needs other Hawks to chip in and do everything they can to box out Thompson, a good offensive rebounder. The Cavaliers can also make things hairy by having Thompson set screens all over the place. 

Here is a pick-and-roll play where Thompson tries to free Irving of Teague's defense. But Teague fights valiantly over the top of the screen – not once, but twice – to discourage Irving from launching a three-point shot. Horford is the real key, though. He sags back toward the rim waiting to clean up whatever comes his way. This version of the Hawks defense is essentially conceding a long two-point shot to Irving while economically defending the pick and roll with just two players. By not bringing in a help defender, the Hawks are also not opening up any three-point shooters.

(The ball doesn't make it's way to the rim on this play. On the plays where it does get there, Horford's progression from very good rim defender to shot-blocking, verticality-using basketball ninja is going to help immensely.)

In this next play, Irving uses a double screen from Thompson and Frye. Of the three plays clipped here, this one is probably the toughest for the Hawks to defend, partly because it happens in delayed transition and partly because after Irving darts behind the picks. Thompson and Frye (who is an excellent shooter) criss cross like a pair of tight ends running routes on a football field.

Teague, who is guarding Dellavedova, drops down to help contain Irving's penetration. Bazemore chases the play over the top and Millsap tries to cut Irving off as well. With three players focused on the ball, Dellavedova has lots of time for an easy pass to Frye. Frye misses the shot, but he had a quality look at the shot because the Cavs lured in help defenders.

The Hawks aren't going to stick entirely to one defensive scheme or look. Bazemore will get the lion's share of time guarding James, but Thabo Sefolosha, Millsap and Horford will take turns guarding him too. Teague will start on Irving, but Sefolosha and Dennis Schröder will try to limit him too. Regardless of the matchups and regardless of how the Hawks vary things to keep Cleveland off balance, they will need to defend penetration with as few players as possible so as to minimize open shooters. 

"Everything starts with taking away the paint, taking away the basket," Head Coach Mike Budenholzer said. "We've got to do a great job of trying to keep them in front of us. I think our guys understand how important that is. We've got to guard the ball well initially, we've got to guard the pick-and-rolls well initially, and then we've got to have everybody participate with rebounding." 

It's a task easier said than done, but let the bout begin.

Story by KL Chouinard Twitter: @KLChouinard

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Hawks' D vs. Cavs' O: Which Has The Upper Hand?

Searching for a boost and trailing by 18 points in the fourth quarter of the opening game of the regular season against Detroit, Hawks Head Coach Mike Budenholzer went to a surprising lineup. He subbed in 6-foot-8 Paul Millsap at center alongside 6-foot-8 Mike Scott for a super-smallball front court.

The Hawks didn’t win that game, but they did shave the deficit down to seven points with an extreme version of their pace-and-space style. Budenholzer said Wednesday that the origins of that lineup can be traced back even beyond this season.

“It really goes back to our first year when Al played the first 25 or 30 games and then wasn’t available,” Budenholzer said.  “I’m pretty certain during that first year we used it, and we’ve used it every year since. It’s something that we used sporadically, but we’ll definitely put it out there.”

In this series, that duo has been highly effective together: lineups with the Scott-Millsap pairing have outscored the Celtics by 38 points in 44 total minutes.

“Their bigs are more perimeter-oriented and spaced,” Budenholzer said of the Celtics while also noting that Boston uses a lot of dribble handoffs. “I think he and Paul defensively can be good for us, and offensively, they both create space.”

Boston guard Isaiah Thomas had to leave the game during the fourth quarter of Game 5 with a sprained left ankle, but Boston Head Coach Brad Stevens said Wednesday that he expects Thomas to play.

“The swelling looks down and he feels good. All signs point to him being ready tomorrow,” Stevens said.

Celtics guard Avery Bradley has also missed most of this series with a hamstring injury, but Stevens doesn’t expect him to play in Games 6 or 7.

“It would be extremely unlikely that he would be able to suit up in this series,” Stevens said.

The Hawks’ bench has 32 assists in the series, and exactly half of those assists came in Game 5.

Part of the high assist total was accurate passing, and part of it was that the Hawks had their best shooting game of the series. Thabo Sefolosha led the bench with 6 assists. If Sefolosha and his bench cohort continue to make sharp passes with few turnovers (the Hawks had just 12 turnovers in Game 5), then that effort will go a long way toward ending the series before a decisive Game 7. The Celtics thrive off turnovers as a means for jump-starting their fast-break game, and if the Hawks make baskets then they will have the perfect antidote to that recipe.

In Millsap and Al Horford, the Hawks have two of the quickest and most skilled defenders in the NBA.

To slow Thomas in the first half of Game 5, the Hawks used a trapping scheme on the Celtics’ point guard. When Thomas would make a play in a pick-and-roll, the Hawks sent both defenders – including a big man – at Thomas. The tactic worked to a point: the Celtics were forced to have other players make plays for them, and Thomas had 0 points and just four shot attempts in the first half.

Boston adjusted quickly in the second half. Evan Turner functioned as the point guard on more plays, enabling Thomas to work without the ball. And when Thomas did have the ball, small forward Jae Crowder set most of the picks for him, so that Millsap and Horford weren’t close enough to the play to jump out and trap Thomas.

Expect more fun and interesting chess moves from Budenholzer and Stevens in Game 6.

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Will Hawks Use More Small Ball In Game 6?

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4 Adjustments For Hawks After Friday's Loss

Wednesday night will mark the fourth Astor Chocolate Hawks Fan Takeover of the season as we finish the pre-All Star portion of the schedule in Chicago against the Bulls.

Tweet your game commentary live with the hashtag #HawksFanTakeover, and we may retweet you!  That's right, your tweet may be on the @ATLHawks feed.  We will not tweet anything from our account during the game, instead choosing only to retweet our favorite #HawksFanTakeover tweets as a way to keep our fans updated on the game.

The game will air live on FOX Sports Southeast and the FOX Sports GO app at 8 p.m. ET.  Bob Rathbun and Dominique Wilkins will read select tweets live during the broadcast, so your tweet may also get on air!

So, what's the best chance to get retweeted and/or get your tweet on FOX Sports Southeast?  It's a good question.  Tweeting the way we normally tweet during games is your best chance.  We like to stay away from score and stats updates because you can find that info just about anywhere.  Instead, we focus on commentary...a perspective you won't get anywhere else.  So your best chance to get retweeted is by focusing on something similar.  Give us your thoughts and commentary about the game.  Be excited.  Use memes, GIFs and emojis.  We like all that stuff.

The first three takeovers saw more than 3,500 combineed tweets using the hashtag.

Reminder: The game starts at 8 p.m.  We can't wait to see your #HawksFanTakeover tweets!

Game Previews

5 Things To Enjoy About Watching Game 2

Hawks' D vs. Cavs' O: Which Has The Upper Hand?

Will Hawks Use More Small Ball In Game 6?

4 Adjustments For Hawks After Friday's Loss

#HawksFanTakeover Returns For Final Game Before All-Star Break

Three Keys For Hawks To Make It Three In A Row

3 Keys To Getting Back On Winning Track vs. Suns

6 Things To Build On From Saturday's Win