Atlanta Hawks vs. Indiana Pacers Game 6 Preview: One More Win for Round 2
Apr 28, 2014; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Atlanta Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer reacts during the second quarter in game five of the first round of the 2014 NBA Playoffs against the Indiana Pacers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Pat Lovell-USA TODAY Sports
One more win. That’s all the Atlanta Hawks need to complete the biggest upset of the playoffs and advance to the second round instead of the No. 1 seed Indiana Pacers. Leading the series 3-2, the Hawks will return home to Philips arena where they will try to win the series in front of their fans, and the Pacers will come out as desperately as we’ve seen them yet. It should be a fantastic game.
Monday in game 5, the Hawks caught on fire with the basketball, and proceeded to shoot above 50 percent from the floor and the free throw line. Kyle Korver went 5-10 from behind the arc, Mike Scott went 5-6 from 3-point land off of the bench, DeMarre Carroll went 6-9 from the floor and Shelvin Mack came off of the bench to lead the Hawks in scoring with a 5-9 shooting day (including 8 of 10 from the free throw line).
After looking over the film, Kris Willis of Peachtree Hoops realized that the key for all of this was the fantastic spacing that the team employed throughout the game. It’s a simple, but effective strategy:
"There is nothing complicated or earth shattering about this tactic the Hawks are using. They are just forcing Indiana to defend the entire floor due to having so many good shooters on the court at the same time."
To counter that success, it appears that Frank Vogel is prepared to sit Roy Hibbert as much as he possibly can and role with a smaller lineup to try and better defend Mike Budenholzer’s plethora of shooters. With that, coach Bud should be hard pressed to use Pero Antic too much, as he’s continued to struggle throughout each game. With that in mind, we should be seeing a lot more out of Mike Scott tonight.
Vegas has the Hawks as 1-point underdogs in this one, but Vegas has been terribly wrong throughout this series so I would probably just throw that number out the window. Instead you should sit back, relax and enjoy an awesome basketball game and potentially a huge win for the Atlanta Hawks.
You can follow us on Twitter (@ATLBeatBlog) for updates before the game and commentary throughout it, and also be sure to check back here on the site for a full game recap after its conclusion.
Date: May 1, 2014
Tip-Off Time: 7:00 p.m.
TV Channel: SportSouth (Local in Atlanta), NBA TV
Radio: 92.9 FM (Atlanta Flagship), Atlanta Hawks Radio Network Affiliates
Live Stream: League Pass Broadband