Atlanta Hawks at Bulls Game 1: Ready or not it’s Teague’s Time

Chicago–Teague is the starter at point guard for Game 1.

“I’ve always had faith in this kid,” L.D. said today at shootaround at the United Center.

Teague joins the “regular” lineup with J.J., Marvin, Josh and Al.

It’s a tough situation for Teague. He’s suddenly elevated from part-time rotation guy to checking D-Rose on the road in the playoffs.

“I expect him to go out and be Jeff Teague,” Drew said. “He brings a unique package with his speed, his quickness, his ability to get into the paint. He’s a solid defensive player. I don’t care who put on Rose no one guy can stop him. It’s got to be total team effort.”

There is perhaps no more volatile subject among by blog people than Jeff Teague. The drama is no doubt influenced by the emotional subtext of Hawks’ fans futile and frustrating wait for a bona fide point guard.

Some of Teague’s fans have elevated him to near-mythical status. They seize on his good moments as proof of his untapped potential and cite L.D.’s lack of patience and trust to explain away the bad moments. This group reacts angrily to criticisms of Teague.

If Teague’s detractors acknowledge his good moments at all, they ask why there are not more of them. His poor performances are proof of his limited potential. Teague’s critics tell those in the first group to stop deluding themselves.

I’m exaggerating a bit in both cases but you get my point.

I’m still not sure about Teague. I’ve just always thought he deserves more burn because of his production and potential, the team’s weaknesses and the need for the Hawks to figure out if he’s their point guard going forward.

You’d like to say this is when we can finally find out about Teague but what would it really settle if he can’t get it done in this series?

If you like Teague now and he bombs, you can say he hasn’t been properly developed and shouldn’t be judged under these circumstances. If you’ve been skeptical he’s a player, a poor showing would be just another reason to believe the same. (Of course Teague also could play well and then all of my blog people would be happy.)

This is the hand Teague has been dealt. He faces a sizable deficit in talent and experience against D-Rose. There isn’t much in the way of past performance to make any prediction of how it will go: Teague was on the court with Rose for just 13 minutes during the three regular-season games.

“He’s guarded him before,” L.D. said. “This is not anything out of the ordinary. He has guarded some tough guys.”

The Hawks have focused much of their defensive preparation on pick-and-roll coverages. But D-Rose is a strong iso player, too, so there will be times when a Hawks defender must find some way to prevent Rose from getting to the basket.

“We are asking a lot for the guys that are guarding him to contain him,” Al said. “Obviously we are going to be there to help but the guy that is on the ball has to try to do the best job to keep Rose in front of him.”

More often than not, that guy is going to be Jeff Teague.

“He’s been in situations before where he hasn’t played much, and he has stepped in and answered the call,” Drew said. “I’m expecting the same thing.”

Notes

• Boozer says he’s going to try to play.
• Hinrich is here. The Hawks are picking his brain. “That’s why he’s on the trip,” L.D. said. “He can probably do Jeff a lot of good. Stay in his ear about defending Rose.”
• Hinrich on Teague: “I think Jeff can really play. I think it’s just a matter of him getting an opportunity. I think he will be good.”
• Will Hinrich be in Teague’s ear? “I kind of just want to leave him alone. If there is something along the course of the game that I think he can help him with, I will try to do that. Right now I will just leave him alone. The coaching staff does a good job making sure guys are prepared. I’m sure he’s excited.”
• Hinrich was propped up on the trainer’s table with a contraption that iced nearly his entire leg. “Hopefully at some point it will get to where I can test it out and see where it’s at,” he said. That doesn’t seem like he’s close to returning to vigorous activity, but Hinrich isn’t ruling out playing in the series: “You never know.”
• Hinrich said he suffered the injury before contact: “As soon as I went up I felt a pop. It started swelling. I didn’t know if it was the hamstring. Initially I was concerned it was my knee.”
• J.J. on the second round: “We want to come out and make a different impression this year. I think the attention to detail is there and everybody is focused.”
• Al on the same: “In the past when we got to the second round we’ve been physically fatigued as a team. We are fresher as a team. We feel more confident.”
• Al on playing against Noah: “It’s weird, man.”
• Al on teaming with Noah at Florida: “He can make others around him play even harder and push them and motivate them. He’s the kind of guy who brings that energy and has that edge to his game. I think he really makes people around him better. I think he goes under the radar a lot with his game.”
• J.J. on the Bulls: “We know it’s going to be a fight this series. We have got to come out and do the little things like win the hustle plays, keep these guys off the glass.”
• L.D. on Smoove’s declaration that it’s all about D: “I agree with that wholeheartedly. But offensively, the last time we came here regular season played really, really well for a half. We came out for the second half and it was our offense that absolutely killed us. Bad offense is just as a good as a turnover. If you don’t get good shots and force that team to work and you start hoisting up crazy shots, it is just as bad as a turnover.”
• L.D. on rebounding: “Our bigs are going to have their hands full keep their guys off the glass. Our guards have to come in and be out secondary rebounding force. We have got to win the rebounding game. We’ve got to make sure we attack the glass and come up with all the loose balls. We can’t start heading back down until we secure that basketball.”

Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat