Pero Antic: The Hawks Best Bench Player This Series

At the beginning of the series between the Atlanta Hawks and the Brooklyn Nets, I knew that someone off the Atlanta bench would have to step big time for the series to go in Atlanta’s favor.

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Last year against the Indiana Pacers, that man was Mike Scott.  He has hardly helped the Hawks in this series.  Dennis Schroder is going through playoff growing pains.  He fails to understand that Brook Lopez will block his shot every time he attacks the paint.  Thabo Sefolosha’s broken ankle has left Kent Bazemore with an overwhelming plate of defensive responsibility as the team’s best perimeter defender off the bench.  Shelvin Mack and Elton Brand have hardly played.  Mike Muscala, John Jenkins, and Austin Daye have yet to step on the court.  Am I missing someone?

That someone is the mammoth stretch-five from Macedonia, Pero Antic.  When analyzing Pero’s underrated game, try not to obsess on what you see in the box scores.  While he doesn’t rebound particularly well for a big man, he does alter countless shots by opposing players in the paint.  He’s cool with Kyle Korver or DeMarre Carroll securing his board so long as the Hawks can prevent the Nets from scoring.  Pero puts the team first like all of his Atlanta Hawks teammates.

Offensively like most bigs indoctrinated in Euroball, Antic has a sound perimeter game. He doesn’t have to shoot from a particularly high clip to affect a game, as couple of drainer threes spread out an already thin Nets zone defense.  While we haven’t seen him bait a leaping Nets defender into fouling him beyond the arc, we know that he has that card in his back pocket.

Personally, I have not cared much for Coach Bud’s bench rotation in the Hawks-Nets series.  I’d like to see more guys get minutes, especially Mike Muscala.  I understand that despite a series sweep in the regular season, Brooklyn does present the Hawks with a few matchup problems.  Joe Johnson will make his isolation shots.  Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young will get their points in the paint.  But I can’t complain about Pero Antic’s performance in the series’ first five games.  Pero has been the Atlanta Hawks best bench player so far in the playoffs without question.

The Atlanta Hawks head back to the Barclays Center to take on the Brooklyn Nets for Game 6 of the best-of-seven series tomorrow night at 8PM ET.