Hawks' Uphill Battle vs. Cavs Gets Steeper with Kyle Korver Done for Season
The Atlanta Hawks survived an injury scare with DeMarre Carroll (knee) after their 97-89 Game 1 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, but the same didn't hold true for Kyle Korver following a deflating 94-82 Game 2 defeat.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Chris Vivlamore, Korver will miss the remainder of the postseason after suffering a severe right ankle sprain during the third quarter of Friday's loss.
That means the Hawks—who were already thin on the wing without Thabo Sefolosha (broken fibula) and dealing with a gimpy Carroll—will be fighting up a steep hill that resembles San Francisco's Lombard Street as they attempt to wipe away a 2-0 series deficit against the Cavaliers.
Mentally and physically, this is a tough pill for Atlanta to swallow.
Korver—for all of his postseason struggles—is far and away the Hawks' best three-point shooter and one of the league's most renowned perimeter marksmen. For the second straight season, the 34-year-old led the NBA in three-point field-goal percentage (49.2) while finishing as one of three players—Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were the others—to bang home at least 220 triples.
All season long, Korver had been a master of running off screens and tiring out defenders while forcing opponents to game plan for his ability to shimmy around the floor and free himself up for rapid-fire attempts from around the arc.
During the regular season, Korver scored 1.13 points per possession coming off screens, possessions on which he recorded an effective field-goal percentage (which adjusts for the fact that a three is worth more than a two-point shot) of 62.6, according to Synergy Sports (via NBA.com).
On spot-ups, the story was the same. Korver finished in the 98th percentile when he could get his feet set on spot-up attempts, per Synergy, which allowed him to record an insane 1.36 points per possession.
Stopping him wasn't an option. One way or another, he was going to get free. And one way or another, defenses and opposing fans were going to cringe and brace for the ball's impact with the net once he elegantly flicked his wrist.
Korver's ability to attract the eyes of multiple defenders was always one of his greatest assets, and it's what allowed the Hawks to often find open shooters. Directly and indirectly, Korver was huge. He helped the Hawks finish the regular season with the sixth-ranked offense, top-ranked assist percentage and second-ranked three-point percentage.
The sharpshooter's production had tapered off in the postseason, but that didn't mean his presence was a deterrent.
In 14 playoff appearances, the Hawks were 7.5 points better per 100 possessions with Korver on the floor. A whopping 6.7 of that cumulative total came on offense, where the Hawks scored at New York Knick-level rates when he sat on the bench.
So despite the fact that his three-point conversion rate dropped nearly 14 points from the regular season to the postseason (35.5 percent), he was still spacing the floor in ways other Atlanta players couldn't.
Combating a Korver-less reality, then, will be difficult.
Carroll has led the Hawks in playoff three-point shooting at 41.3 percent, but he displayed noticeably less burst despite playing a team-high 34 minutes on a sprained left knee in Game 2.
That leaves Kent Bazemore—who's converted 4-of-21 postseason threes—and the defensively-challenged Mike Scott (23.5 percent from three in the playoffs) to fill Korver's seismic void.
Considering those two have posted plus/minus ratings of minus-34 and minus-19, respectively, in playoff minutes, concern should be flowing through the Hawks' veins. They already ranked last among conference finalists in three-point shooting (20.4 percent)—and that was with a healthy Korver.
"The Hawks can go big in Korver’s absence, bringing perimeter-orientated Mike Scott off the pine or Austin Daye out of the mothballs, but this is a crucial blow for a team charged with winning two games in Cleveland just to get back to where it was entering Wednesday evening," Yahoo Sports' Kelly Dwyer wrote.
Possessing few viable solutions and little time to adjust, the Hawks will need to wield a headstrong mentality that allows them to plow through perceived obstacles if they want to have any shot at prosperity.
"The mental approach is going to be important," head coach Mike Budenholzer said, per Vivlamore. "It kind of hammers it home. Whether we are down in a series, whether we've lost a player, whatever the situation may be, having the right mental approach no matter what the situation, no matter what is happening, is going to be the most important thing for us. You almost get double-punched."
During a postseason that's been impacted by injuries to a staggering degree, it's sadly not surprising to see a former favorite on its heels entering a must-win moment.
With Game 3 looming, the Hawks are facing a defining contest with the odds stacked against them. They couldn't down the Cavaliers even when they were without Kyrie Irving, and his eventual return could spell complete doom.
All of a sudden, Atlanta's fairytale season is on the brink of morphing into a nightmare, and Korver's absence only complicates things for an offense that's struggled to replicate its phenomenal pace-and-space production from the regular season.
All stats are courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com unless noted otherwise.
Alec Nathan covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @AlecBNathan.
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