In aftermath of 60-win season, Hawks believe they are ready to soar
Paul Millsap started getting into his free-throw routine when he quickly noticed something was amiss with the basketball. Millsap tried to spin the ball on his fingertips but it didn't move, instead leaving behind a sticky adhesive. Then, with the disdain of a thousand stink faces, Millsap curled his lips, angrily tossed the basketball back to referee Monty McCutchen and stared at the superglue-type substance on his hands for several seconds.
"I can be a little dramatic," the Atlanta Hawks' All-Star forward told The Vertical with a chuckle.
Millsap's exaggerated reaction and rejection of the basketball – which exposed an illegal practice by Dwight Howard – matched the dismissive manner in which some regarded the Hawks' surprising 60-win season last year after they were swept by Cleveland in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Hawks didn't have an established history of success to make their memorable run appear to be much more than a one-year wonder. But Millsap saw hope in what the team was building and elected to stay via free agency, spurning a few admirers – most notably the Orlando Magic – for the chance to finish what was undone by bad luck, ill-timed injuries and a determined LeBron James.
Millsap didn't expect the Hawks to duplicate a season in which they produced four All-Stars and awakened an apathetic fan base with a selfless, five-as-one style of play that easily could have been described as Southern fried Spurs. And that has turned out to be an accurate assumption with the Hawks among a compressed four-team cluster in contention for home-court advantage in the East while conceding the top two seeds to Cleveland and Toronto.
"We’re a little different team than last year; it’s time that we face that fact," Millsap told The Vertical.
Being different doesn't necessarily mean dramatically worse, though the Hawks (42-30) would be fortunate to get at least 50 wins in their encore to their best season since the franchise moved to Atlanta. After a more challenging campaign that has required patience and persistence, Millsap maintains that the Hawks have what it takes for a return trip to the conference finals.
"I think we do. Record says otherwise. But we don’t care about the record," Millsap told The Vertical. “I think the main thing we have to do is stay focused on winning as many as we can. I don’t think we care where we fall. As long we’re in and we have an opportunity to play for a title, it doesn’t matter where we fall. Because at the end of day, we’re going to have to go through everybody. And whoever it is in the first round, hopefully, we’ll be ready."
The reasons the Hawks took a step back despite not having any serious injuries are plentiful. Teams adjusted to their system and the importance of neutralizing Kyle Korver. DeMarre Carroll’s departure for Toronto in free agency had a greater than expected impact. And the team went through an understandable funk around the trade deadline, when speculation about starters Jeff Teague and Al Horford left many on the team contemplating their futures and how the organization could pull the plug so soon after a magical season.
“I think [the uncertainty] was definitely probably on our minds,” Horford, who will be a free agent this summer, told The Vertical. “Once we got passed that, everyone could breathe and we could play and that’s what happened.”
Since Feb. 26, the Hawks are 11-3, a run that has been aided by the return of Korver's 3-point accuracy, perimeter defensive ace Thabo Sefolosha's recovery from a broken leg, offseason addition Tim Hardaway Jr. finally making contributions off the bench, and the late-season signing of Kris Humphries to replace the injured Tiago Splitter. Atlanta has also been the league’s best defensive team by a wide margin over that stretch.
Players scoffed at the notion they peaked too soon last season – they had a 19-game winning streak before the All-Star break – but kept getting asked the question in the playoffs as the Hawks survived scares to a Brooklyn Nets team that had a losing record and a Washington Wizards team whose All-Star point guard, John Wall, suffered a broken left wrist. But Horford admitted the team let up late in the regular season. "We kind of tried to cruise toward the end," Horford told The Vertical. "This year, I feel like we’re just starting to play our best basketball. So, it’s good because we gain good momentum going into the playoffs."
Millsap waited eight years to get back in the conference finals after making it his rookie season with Utah and has been playing like someone who doesn’t want another lengthy gap between visits. He has been the Hawks’ most consistent and efficient player, leading the team in scoring and rebounding for the third consecutive season, and was the only member of last year’s All-Star quartet to be selected by the coaches for a return in Toronto (Horford was a late replacement after Chris Bosh was forced to withdraw for health reasons).
“I have a big role on this team. A lot of it falls on my shoulders,” Millsap told The Vertical.
One shoulder in particular remains a sore subject for Millsap, who sprained his right shoulder late last season and struggled with his shot while wearing layers of protective gear in the playoffs. "Everybody goes through whatever. At that point of the season, everybody’s injured, everybody’s got something going on. I hate to make excuses for myself. If I put on that jersey, put on those shoes and go out there and play, no one cares. So, I had a few injuries nagging along but can’t make that an excuse," Millsap told The Vertical. "When the ball tips up, you’ve got to go out there and play. It’s frustrating. It’s upsetting you can’t be your full self. But you give what you can when you’re out there. Obviously, it wasn’t good enough to get us past the conference finals. But hopefully, this year, we can get back to that position and be fully healthy."
Millsap's setback was part of a nightmarish stretch in which Korver sustained torn ligaments in his right ankle in a collision with Cleveland backup guard Matthew Dellavedova, Horford got ejected for throwing a well-aimed elbow after another run-in with Dellavedova and Carroll – arguably the team's best and most consistent player through the first two rounds – played through a knee injury and turf toe. Millsap remains disappointed the Hawks couldn’t be at their best at the most important time of the season.
"It was unfortunate for us, but we just got to learn from that. Learn from those mistakes. Try to get better from it this year, not look too far ahead," Millsap told The Vertical. “I think we’re on a pace toward being the team that we want to be, especially on the defensive end. We still got some games left. We want to continue to get better. We don’t want to just peak. We want to go higher and higher, get better and I think we’re capable of doing that.”
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