After an up-and-down regular season where the Atlanta Hawks finished 41-41, they now find themselves in the eighth seed and in the NBA Play-In Tournament for the second time in as many years. As you probably remember, the Hawks fought their way out of the play-in last season as the nine seed. The Hawks defeated the Charlotte Hornets convincingly at home, and won a thriller in Cleveland.
You probably also remember the Hawks matching up with the No. 1 seeded Miami Heat last year as well and the Hawks getting dominated in that series other than Game 3 where they won in Atlanta. The way that playoff series went last year against the Heat turned into one of the main reasons the Hawks traded for All-Star guard Dejounte Murray in the offseason. So when the Heat try to trap Trae Young, Murray will be able to be another ball-handler, facilitator, and scorer for the Hawks.
It’s almost been a year since that series happened, and now the two teams will match up again in the postseason. While we will see if the Murray trade pays off for the Hawks, Atlanta Hawks general manager Landry Fields told The Morning Shift earlier Tuesday that he believes De’Andre Hunter will be an X-Factor for the team tonight.
“Typically, De’Andre has played really well in Miami," Fields said. "I think for us he’s sort of an X-Factor, like if we can get him to play really good, sound basketball, be that big presence on the wing that he is capable of being, really take the challenge of guarding tonight, and then doing his job offensively. I would lean on him for a lot.”
Fields is spot-on about Hunter playing well in Miami. Hunter has averaged 13.9 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 12 games versus the Heat in his career. While those aren’t eye-popping numbers, Hunter’s more recent numbers against the Heat are a little better. In his last four regular-season games against the Heat, Hunter averaged 16 points, 3.5 rebounds, and three assists.
You’re probably thinking those numbers still aren’t anything to call home about. But if you look at Hunter’s performances in the playoff series last year against the Heat, he was really the only constant, scoring at least 14 points in each game and leading the Hawks in scoring the last two games of the series with 24 points in Game 4 and 35 points in Game 5. Hunter did it efficiently too, shooting 55 percent from the field and 46 percent from 3.
Hunter was a certified Heat killer in that postseason series, so Fields is right to look at him as an X-Factor because if he can have another big performance in Miami like he did in Game 5 of the series last year. With the additions of Murray, Saddiq Bey, and AJ Griffin, the Hawks could get out of Miami with a win and the seventh seed.
However, Landry did say it will take a full team effort, which it will. But again if the Hawks get a Game 5 in Miami performance from Hunter tonight the Hawks should be in good shape to avenge their playoff series loss from last year, punch their playoff ticket for this year, and head up to Boston to try and upset the Celtics.