Basketball Prospectus: Doolittle: Fo-Fo-Fo

Bradford Doolittle on the unbearable sameness of Atlanta's four losses to the Orlando Magic:

Why then did Atlanta not attempt to run more? The Hawks had six fastbreak points in their season-ending loss. With the team unable to get to the rim against Orlando's Dwight Howard-led defense, transition might have been the Hawks' best chance to get good looks. The Hawks played at a slow tempo during the regular season and were successful doing that, but how many times do you have to watch your scorers beat their heads against the wall before you try something different?

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n the second half, the Hawks' offense deteriorated into an ugly display of one-on-one basketball, as their touches per minute dipped below four for the half and below three in the fourth quarter. The Hawks had 25 shots off isolation in the game and scored .76 points on those shots. The Magic had 24 spot-up shots in the game, scoring 1.25 points per shot, almost all of them on kick-outs or pull-up threes in transition. Orlando was 15-of-20 in the paint. Since we know the Magic was 16-of-37 on threes, that means in the low-percentage zone between the paint and the line, Orlando took just eight shots--two per quarter--and made five. That's how you run an inside-out offense in the modern NBA.