Notebook: Hawks welcoming quickening playoff schedule

NEW YORK CITY -- Two NBA playoff series are already in the books and a third, the Houston-Dallas clash, could reach its conclusion by the time Atlanta and Brooklyn tip off for Game 4 on Monday night. It's been slow going for the Eastern Conference's 1-versus-8 matchup, but changes are already in place.

After opening the series playing every third day, the Hawks and Nets will play Games 4 through 7 every other day -- a schedule more akin to the regular-season pace. Kyle Korver, DeMarre Carroll and other Hawks players wrapped up Sunday's practice in a renovated warehouse on the shores of the East River with ice packs strapped to their knees, measures taken in recognition of the quickening pace of the playoff schedule. But for an Atlanta team still searching for its regular-season proficiency this postseason, the return to normality is welcomed.

"Ah, I'm so glad," said Korver, letting out a loud sigh. "There's like -- people have already played four games. Several of them. Last night there was a series that was over before a team played their third game, you know? We're ready to play. There's been a lot of down time in between. Fortunately we won the first two and we weren't sitting there mad for two days, but we have plenty of rest and we're ready to go."

The Golden State Warriors, the Hawks' top-seeded counterparts in the West, moved onto the second round on Saturday night. Even if the Hawks were playing well, that success rate would have been impossible to match.

At one point during this series, the spread-out schedule looked like a benefit for Atlanta's unit. With All-Star forward Paul Millsap still recovering from a late-season shoulder injury (and debating on playing with or without padding that limited his range of motion) and fellow All-Star Al Horford growing accustomed to playing with a dislocated right pinkie, an injury that requires the finger to be taped, the two days of rest were perceived to be beneficial.

The Hawks simply needed to get healthy, or as healthy as possible. In that respect, it worked.

But there were side effects that might have had something to do with the extended layoff.

Atlanta's offense has yet to get off the ground against the Nets, winning two close games at Philips Arena before the wheels fell off in Game 3 at Barclays. Whether this lackluster three-game stretch can be at all attributed to the unfamiliar routine is unknown, but Hawks players were unanimously in favor of the schedule picking up the pace -- if only to get the bad taste of a loss out of their mouth.

"Long days off for us kinda throw our rhythm off," wing DeMarre Carroll said.

"Eight days off? I hate sitting around," point guard Jeff Teague confirmed. "I'm glad guys get an opportunity to get back on the floor quicker, especially after a loss."

Playing every other day obviously alters the team's schedule. Practices are more about making small adjustments and maintenance than about initiating any sweeping strategic changes. Rest and recovery is paramount. When told his players were unanimously in favor of playing meaningful basketball at a faster pace, coach Mike Budenholzer agreed.

"The coaches are unanimous, too," he said. "It felt like forever for us to get to Game 3. I think there were some series that were already on their fourth game. It's just kinda not the normal rhythm of the season. Win or lose, it's better for all of us to play them in a little shorter time span. I don't think that's why anybody has won or lost, but I think everybody is happy to be playing a little quicker."

With his Saturday performance, Brook Lopez hit the refresh button on an age-old question in Atlanta: Do the Hawks need a traditional big man to solidify their status? Can a 6-foot-10 skilled big man cut it at the 5-spot?

The Hawks were just fine throwing out an All-Star frontcourt of Horford and Millsap for the majority of the 82-game season, finishing sixth in defensive efficiency while putting pressure on opposing big men to defend all over the floor, but Lopez's 22-point, 13-rebound effort in Game 3 posed problems. He's the traditional 7-foot lane-filler NBA centers are expected to be -- Hawks guard Dennis Schroder's scouting report on playing against Lopez consisted of, "He's tall." -- and he's done an admirable job on both ends of the floor in this series.

The Hawks want to challenge him to defend multiple looks and sets as the series moves on, but overall he's factored into Atlanta's shortcomings.

"Defensively, he's someone that score in the paint. You got to make his catches tough and you've got to be able to guard him kinda like a traditional post-up player. But then he stepped away from the basket and made a couple shots. He's done that," Budenholzer said. "Offensively he can be a problem, or difficult to guard. Right now, I think he's doing a pretty good job defensively of playing pick-and-roll coverages, protecting in the paint, contesting in the paint.

"So we've got to move him around. We've got to make him guard multiple actions, make him guard away from the basket. And then get us going to the basket when he gets moved a little bit."

For the series, Lopez is averaging 19.7 points and 11.3 rebounds per game. He owns a series-best 126 offensive efficiency rating and a more-than-solid 96 defensive rating.

While acknowledging that defending Lopez is taxing physically, Budenholzer said he does not sense that Horford, his primary defender, is wearing down or being overly affected at the other end of the floor.

"There's a lot of effort being required, really for all five guys, but when you're the guy that;s got to guard him -- I think Al is somebody that can use his athleticism, use his quickness and I think we keep Al's minutes in a good place," Budenholzer said. "I think Al can beat him up and down (the floor). He can use his strengths against him."

It's always going to be push-and-pull when two players clash in styles. Lopez wants to camp out in the lane, get close-to-the-basket looks and cause problems on the offensive boards. Horford and the Hawks want to push him away from the basket, force him to defend outside the paint and move laterally and exploit him in the running game. The Hawks didn't need a traditional 7-footer to beat the Nets in six consecutive games prior to Game 3 -- and they won't feature one as they try to close out this series.

"He's a great player. He's a big guy. At the same time, we've got to get him playing our pace," Carroll said. "What did we score, 83 points? That's not us. We get up in the 100s. We're playing too much slow-down basketball."

In the lower corridors of Barclays, Brooklyn coach Lionel Hollins lauded his team's effort on Saturday. He seemed more than pleased with how his team has locked in defensively, particularly in allowing Korver zero breathing room. There's no question the Nets have geared up to take away the Hawks' first options -- a task made a little easier after seeing Atlanta's sets and tendencies seven times now.

To Hawks players and coaches, that means they need to get deeper into their sets. If the first option is being taken away, they need to quickly and efficiently move on to the next one.

"They're really loading up for us, so getting to the second and third actions is gonna be key," Korver said. "There's not really any major adjustments for us. We've got to read what they're doing. They're doing some things to load up the middle. We've to keep on trusting the offense."

Budenholzer practically regurgitated Korver's response: "Every game you have a couple possessions where you're more stagnant than you want to be, but I think generally speaking it's not that. But I think we may have to take it to another level with second actions and third actions and fourth actions."

After posting the seventh-lowest scoring night in the Budenholzer Era in Game 3, it's clear (and not surprising) that the focus is on putting the ball in the basket. Topics at Sunday's practice ranged from missed layups to simplifying the offensive reads. And, boy, are those missed layups grinding on them.

"Everything comes down to making shots, right? If we make a lot of those shots that we feel like we could've made, the defense loosens up. It's just what happens," Korver said. "You've got make some of those shots to make the defense loosen up."

"We missed, like, 11 layups," Carroll said.

Outside of Georgia Tech product Jarrett Jack, this has not been a great series for point guards. The Nets' former All-Star, Deron Williams, has looked like a shell of himself, failing to get going offensively and being outplayed by his backup. (Add an injury to Williams's series, too. Hollins said his point guard is "banged up pretty good" after hurting his tailbone.)

All-Star Jeff Teague owns an offensive efficiency of 90 points per 100 possessions, 21 points below his regular-season pace while shooting 39 percent from the floor. His backup, Dennis Schroder, has been even less effective on both ends of the floor.

For the Hawks, specifically, Teague and Schroder are vital. The team relies on its floor generals to set the pace and make the correct reads in the offense. There were long stretches in Brooklyn where neither point guard seemed to make the correct decision: driving and forcing the shot when a kick-out would have been the smarter option, finding the wrong shooter in the wrong position or failing to attack when there was ample space. Nothing seemed to go right.

"I hated our game last night. I hated how I played," Teague said. "I think our whole team hated the way we played."

Atlanta doesn't seem worried about its 1-2 combo, though.

"They just gotta keep doing what they've been doing. I think Dennis missed like four easy layups. Jeff missed some floaters, but at the same time those are shots that we normally hit (for assists) during the season," Carroll said. "We've got the utmost confidence in them. They'll come out ready to play (in Game 4)."

That seemed to be the overarching message: Come out ready to play.

Both Carroll and Horford said the Nets were the aggressor in Game 3. That's not how this team got to this point. With a struggling offense, lackluster play in multiple spots and the ever-present defensive challenges posed by players like Lopez and Joe Johnson, the Hawks are trying to simplify the message and let everything fall into place. That message: "Throw the first punch."