NBA Playoffs: Hawks big men show up and tie series

When you watch the Atlanta Hawks move the ball like that, get the ball in the paint like that, see their big men take over like that and you wonder why you don’t see this version of the Hawks every night. It has to frustrate the Hawks fans.

But Hawks fans will take their arrival.

Josh Smith and Al Horford took over late in the game, Jeff Teague was getting into the lane and they sparked a late 10-0 run that gave the Hawks a 100-88 victory. That evens the series at 2-2 heading back to Chicago for a huge Game 5 Tuesday.

The Hawks can be a team that settles for the jump shot… actually, that’s an understatement. They love their jump shots in an unhealthy way.

But in the heat of this game — the Hawks 10-0 run in the final five minutes — Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford did not touch the ball. There was not isolation, there was ball and player movement. There was Josh Smith whipping a pass into Al Horford moving along the baseline to an open spot under the basket. The whole vibe felt different because Larry Drew started Jason Collins at center, moving Horford to the four and Smith to the three, and with that just came more flow (Carlos Boozer felt that was the key).

We don’t want to dismiss Johnson, who had 24 points on 14 shots, and Crawford, who had 12 points. They helped the Hawks earlier in the game, but when it came to crunch time, the Hawks showed diversity.

The Bulls don’t have that diversity. They have Derrick Rose. And only Derrick Rose. From the start the Hawks doubled Rose hard, tried to take the ball out of his hands and force difficult shots. It worked (as much as anything works on Rose). He shot 12-of-32 on the night and that was not enough. Carlos Boozer did have 18 points on 10 shots, but Luol Deng was 5-of-14. But it was all about Rose.

The Bulls bigger issue was defense — the Hawks scored at 112.4 points per 100 possessions pace. The Bulls were undone by some big-to-big passing and some of the best of what the Hawks can bring.

Can we really expect that in Game 4 from Atlanta? They haven’t been consistent like that all season. Meanwhile the Bulls can play better on defense. And you can expect they will at home.

But if the Hawks can contain Rose again, they stand a chance to pull another big upset in a playoffs filled with upsets.