Atlanta Hawks Building Chemistry and Momentum Early

The Atlanta Hawks won their second preseason game of the year on Friday against the New Orleans Pelicans by a final score of 103-93 in Jacksonville, FL.

The Atlanta Hawks rallied behind the bench in the second half, overcoming a half-time deficit to secure the victory. Though the game was not televised, it’s becoming apparent that Head Coach Mike Budenholzer is more concerned with affording the team’s new additions time to build chemistry with the rest of the rotation.

Similar to Wednesday night’s contest against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the starters and primary reserves all played significant minutes. Starters Al Horford, Paul Millsap, Jeff Teague and Kent Bazemore all played over 20 minutes, while Kyle Korver played 19. Korver continues to display that he has recovered from an injury suffered during the Eastern Conference Finals in May, scoring 10 points on Friday.

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The primary reserves all saw big minutes too, as Dennis Schroder, Tiago Splitter, Mike Scott and Mike Muscala all played 16 minutes. Tim Hardaway, Jr. led the team in minutes on Friday with 23, scoring 7 points and owning the second best +/- on the team with a +19. Rookie C Walter Tavares performed well for the second consecutive game, scoring 8 points in 11 minutes on 3-5 FGA. The 7’3” rookie also recorded 6 rebounds and a block. The two main contenders for the final roster spot, Lamar Patterson and Terran Petteway, played 11 and 10 minutes while scoring 6 and 2 points respectively.

Contrary to how must teams handle the preseason, Mike Budenholzer is not affording non-roster invitees like DeQuan Jones, Edgar Sosa, Earl Barron and Arsalan Kazemi much playing time during exhibition games. Instead, Bud is using these games as opportunity for his team to achieve midseason form before the year even begins. By doing this, the team will gel more easily — especially helping new players like Tiago Splitter, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Justin Holiday.

Oct 9, 2015; Jacksonville, FL, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Ryan Anderson (33) defends Atlanta Hawks guard Dennis Schroder (17) in the first quarter at Veterans Memorial Arena. Mandatory Credit: Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports

Another benefit of utilizing your regular season rotation early is the opportunity to experiment with different lineup combinations. After acquiring Tiago Splitter, we speculated on whether Bud would ever go “big”, using Splitter at the 5, slide Horford down to his natural PF position, and play Paul Millsap at SF (as he did at times during the ECF). We got our answer last night in Jacksonville, as Mike Budenholzer tinkered with his lineup and used a big lineup to counter against Anthony Davis and the Pelicans frontline.

By introducing more size to matchup better against taller teams, the Atlanta Hawks become a more effective rebounding team and aids in their efforts to establish a presence in the paint. We saw Bud play a two guard lineup last season with Jeff Teague and Dennis Schroder — and it looks as if he will utilize a small lineup and big lineup in certain situations.

With the addition of Splitter, Mike Budenholzer has more options than ever when it comes to frontcourt depth. Having Mike Muscala and Walter Tavares coming off the bench affords the Atlanta Hawks even more size to matchup against bigger teams.

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On the wing, we’ve also seen a good dose of Tim Hardaway Jr. and Justin Holiday manning the 2 and the 3 when Kyle Korver and Kent Bazemore are sent the bench. Two of the Atlanta Hawks newest additions also have seen minutes with the starters as well. Mike Budenholzer mirrors Gregg Poppovich with his rotations, mixing and matching his reserves along with his starters to keep bodies fresh and exploit mismatches.

If the preseason is any indication, the Mike Budenholzer will continue to tinker with his lineups to give the Atlanta Hawks the best possible chance to win. After his starters for most of the final three weeks of the season last year, I’m ecstatic to see Bud play his best players early. Resting certainly has its benefits, but the Atlanta Hawks lost their regular season momentum going into the postseason in 2014-2015, and I believe that by playing his starters and primary reserves early, the Atlanta Hawks are gaining momentum before the season even begins.

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