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In the first round of last year’s NBA Playoffs, Jeff Teague was a key reason why the Atlanta Hawks pushed the No. 1 seed Indiana Pacers to a Game 7. He was aggressive from the start and took control of the Hawks’ offense. This year, Teague has dialed it back a little and has often deferred to his teammates in what has become an extremely balanced Atlanta attack.
While his assist numbers are up, his scoring isn’t. He’s shooting less, getting to the free throw line less and therefore scoring less. Sure it’s great that he is sharing the ball, but at this stage of the playoffs, against a team as good as the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Hawks need an aggressive Teague. Given the current health status of the opposing point guard, Teague has the opportunity to be a difference maker in the upcoming Eastern Conference Finals.
Kyrie Irving on two, fully healthy legs is an average defender at best. Factor in tendinitis in one knee and a strained foot, and he starts to become a liability. Enter Teague. Teague needs to consistently attack Irving and make him play defense. We’ve seen it countless times before in the playoffs — a player’s production on offense can be affected by the amount of energy expended on the defensive end. Irving’s health alone will limit his effectiveness on offense. If he is forced to guard Teague consistently, the point guard match could soon become an advantage for the Hawks.
An aggressive Teague will also open things up for the rest of his teammates. If he is repeatedly beating Irving to the basket, it’s going to force the rest of the Cavaliers’ defense to collapse. This will lead to more open shots on the perimeter for a guy like Kyle Korver. It will also force bigs like Tristan Thompson and Timofey Mozgov to leave their assignment to protect the rim. That should open up Al Horford or Paul Millsap.
Teague can also force David Blatt to make a decision. If Irving starts to become a liability on defense and it is resulting in inefficient offense, will Blatt look to his bench? He had no problem sticking with Matthew Dellavedova in Game 6 against Chicago last week when Irving first went down. That decision was kind of a no-brainer. Dellavedova was having the best game of his career and the Cavaliers were in the midst of a blowout. Even though Irving admitted he could have returned to the game, there was no need to further jeopardize his health. If it’s a close game, and Dellavedova has been more effective, will Blatt be willing to bench Irving? He’ll probably defer to LeBron James for that one.
However, all of this is contingent on the aggressiveness of Teague. If he continues to defer to this teammates, then none of the above becomes relevant.
Derek McVay is a Boston Celtics beat writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @mcvay34, or add him to your network on Google.
