Hawks fall to Wizards in the First Round

The Atlanta Hawks were eliminated in six games by the Washington Wizards in the first round of the NBA playoffs.  This wasn’t a surprise.  The Wizards are clearly a better team and John Wall has elevated himself into the discussion of “best point guard in the NBA”.  Still it was good to see Dennis Schroder step up with a huge series averaging 24.7 pts and 7.7 assists.  Paul Millsap also had a big series putting up 24.3 ppg , 9.3 rpg and 4.3 assists per game.  After that though there just wasn’t enough help.  Taurean Prince had a small coming out party.  With the need for wing scoring on this team he would be a great help moving forward if he can continue to develop.  Tim Hardaway Jr. and Kent Bazemore didn’t shoot well and Dwight Howard wasn’t a factor. 

I’ve said it before.  This team doesn’t have a real identity nor does it have that go to guy.  This was Schroder’s first time putting up big points consistently and Millsap is normally an 18 PPG guy.  Millsap is also a free agent after this year (he won’t pick up his player option).  Atlanta rolled the dice by not trading him during the season.  Even keeping him has its issues as a max or near max contract would not allow the Hawks to make other changes that may be necessary to actually get better.  I do like Schroder but there just isn’t that much else on this team unless a few players take some big leaps forward.  To be honest this run the Hawks have had, 10 straight playoff performances, is probably over.  We’ll see how the offseason plays out but it feels like they’ll be fighting just to get an eight seed next year.