Coverage of the NBA playoffs continues on Friday night as the Milwaukee Bucks host the Hawks, seeking to tie the Eastern Conference Finals series after Trae Young's 48-points led Atlanta to victory in Game 1; join us live from 1:30am on Sky Sports Main Event & Arena
Friday 25 June 2021 15:44, UK
For the third successive Game 1 during the 2020-21 NBA playoffs, the Atlanta Hawks have confidently strolled into an opponent's arena, ignored the odds and betting lines heavily stacked against them, and strolled back out again with a hard-fought win.
In each of them, Trae Young, their talisman, has put up at least 30 points and 10 assists. This is no coincidence.
Wednesday night's 48 point dismantling of the Milwaukee Bucks - tied for the most playoff points in a game before turning 23, alongside Kobe Bryant and LeBron James - was the logical culmination of a player, and a franchise, starting to truly believe their own cocksure strut.
After all, it's taken them from Madison Square Garden to the Wells Fargo and now the Fiserv Forum in the Eastern Conference Finals relatively unscathed. The Hawks are a scarcely-believable 6-2 on the road this post-season.
Whereas on the other coast the Los Angeles Clippers seem to embrace every available opportunity to go 2-0 down away from home just so they can desperately claw themselves back out of the hole, Atlanta sees each Game 1 as a chance to rob the bank vault and quietly leave through the back door.
It's telling that each of their series-opening victories have been by four points or less. These are agonisingly tight affairs that the Hawks just keep winning. Under Nate McMillan's guidance, Atlanta have gone 13-2 in games decided by five points or less. That is also no coincidence. Simply put, McMillan is outcoaching his opposite number, particularly down the stretch. Part of this is simply giving Young more play-calling responsibility, something his star point guard clearly relishes.
However, it was Mike Budenholzer, who has so often taken the role of helpless onlooker during the playoffs so far, a man in the rain watching his last bus home leave without him, who made the first crucial adjustment in this series.
With Young torching the Bucks through three quarters for 37 points, Budenholzer went with a switch-happy defense anchored by the slithering destructor Giannis Antetokounmpo at the five down the stretch. It was a belated attempt to quell the Hawks' by going for the head of the operation - and it worked.
Had he made this change sooner - much sooner - when it was clear Brook Lopez's drop coverage was barbecue chicken happily gobbled up by Young, and neither this, nor any Conference Finals is the Conference Finals for Jeff Teague's comeback tour, Milwaukee probably would have won this one.
With PJ Tucker, Pat Connaughton, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday alongside Giannis, the Bucks happily absorbed every attempted screen, maintaining length and crucially speed at all times on their quicksilver opponent. There were suddenly no mismatches to find. Whatever Young did, he could not find space in the lane for that running floater he loves, nor room on the perimeter to carve out a killer pass or two.
As a result, he shot 1-7 from the field in the fourth quarter, the majority of which were three-point heaves from over 30 feet out, the only look the Bucks were giving him. Nine of his 11 points in the final period came from the free-throw line as Milwaukee desperately fouled with the clock winding down.
While that scheme works to limit Young, it does leave the Bucks exposed in certain areas. Of that five-man line-up, only Giannis is a quality rebounder of the ball. Given the fact he is out switching everything near the three-point line in a bid to lock up Young, it means that when the Hawks do let it fly they have both Clint Capela and John Collins - two absolute monsters on the boards - in great positions near the basket to gobble up second-chance opportunities.
They had two crucial offensive rebounds each in the fourth on Wednesday night, hustle plays that ultimately decided the game as 'Ice Trae' eventually went cold - this time in the bad kind of way.
Should Budenholzer commit to this strategy early in Game 2, the Atlanta Hawks will have a real fight on their hands freeing up Young to do what he does best: slither and shimmy around the court with complete disdain for the weight of the occasion and the thousands jeering him from the stands.
It will up to Capela (19 rebounds, 3 offensive) and Collins (15 rebounds, 5 offensive) to dominate the glass again and make the Bucks pay for their smaller line-up, along with Young himself to show greater patience as he unpicks this new lock.
For Milwaukee, it appears coach Bud has stumbled upon the winning formula. Whether he is brave enough to deploy it for extended minutes, with Lopez (and Teague) nailed to the bench and Giannis on the floor for as much of the game as possible, remains to be seen.
In the playoffs momentum swings fast and you can never afford to go 2-0 down... unless, of course, you are the Los Angeles Clippers.
