Hawks not worried about 8-vs.-1 history against Pacers
INDIANAPOLIS — For all the fretful Indiana Pacers fans still fuming that their No. 1-seeded team lost its playoff home opener to the Atlanta Hawks, there may be some solace found in history.
Before Saturday night, when the Hawks surprised sold-out Bankers Life Fieldhouse with the 101-93 win, nine eight-seeds had won Game 1 in a first-round playoff match dating to 1984, when the playoffs were expanded to 16 teams. However, only three of those underdogs went on to win the series — the 1999 New York Knicks, the 2007 Golden State Warriors and most recently, the 2011 Memphis Grizzlies.
For Atlanta to become No. 4 on that list, it should expect a series that grinds on. New York defeated the Miami Heat 3-2 when first-round series were still a best-of-five format, while the Warriors and Grizzlies extended their matchups to six games.
Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer isn't bothered by this type of history. Though he has intimate knowledge of the Grizzles' upset, since he was a San Antonio Spurs assistant then, Budenholzer said he does not look to past No. 8 seed upsets for inspiration today.
"I don't think that there's a whole lot of value — I guess one happened a couple years ago; I was in it," Budenholzer said. "But it seemed like all of the other ones were a long, long time ago. It's a new team, new situation; everything's new and I don't think there's a whole lot to put into those."
The Hawks seemingly have more than enough confidence to pull the series upset. After soundly defeating the Pacers twice within a two-week span as the road opponent, the Hawks know that they belong in spite of the ranking by their name.
"You go into every series trying to win," Hawks guard Kyle Korver said. "I don't think we view ourselves as an eight-seed. I think if we'd have been healthy all year we'd have been much higher. Had to deal with some injuries. When we're healthy and playing good basketball, we've got a really solid team."
The teams practiced Sunday in preparation for Tuesday night's Game 2. Even though the Hawks were not around — they worked out on a different court in the city — their imprint remained on the Bankers Life Fieldhouse court.
"They're a good team," Pacers center Roy Hibbert said. "They showed that they could beat us here in the regular season and beat us at their place. It's going to be an uphill battle for us, especially with their lineup."
In terms of the Pacers' lineup, coach Frank Vogel would not say whether he planned to make adjustments. But again, if history is any indication, don't expect Vogel to abandon the game plan after a Game 1 loss.
Before Saturday night, Vogel was 3-3 in series openers, with each win or loss predicting the outcome of the series. Vogel said that in the past, he has used Game 1 as the showcase for the complete team identity — everything that the Pacers did to make it to the playoffs, that's how they played to open the series. Then as time went on, Vogel would throw in new wrinkles.
"The adjustments come as the series go on, kind of like you don't want to show everything the first game," Vogel said. "You do what you do and then each game going forward, you make adjustments."
One of those small changes will likely be assigning the team's best wing defender, Paul George, on Hawks point guard Jeff Teague. The speedy Indianapolis native exploited the one-on-one matchup with George Hill and the other Pacers did little to stop him as Teague scored a game-high 28 points.
"Yeah, that's an option," Vogel said about George moving to Teague. "I'm sure we'll see some of that this series — at some point."
George says he and Vogel already spoke about the move and hinted that the change could come as early as Game 2.
"Yes, I would love to," George said about defending Teague. "Just change it up, give him a different look and really battle him out there."
George also realizes the Pacers must play near perfectly now, or else the season could soon be over.
"We know as of now they have home-court advantage," George said. "We got to go there and steal a game, can't ... lose anymore here. Our error or that little room we had, that window, they kind of closed it to where now we got to play great basketball going forward."
Candace Buckner writes for The Indianapolis Star and is a member of USA TODAY Sports' NBA power rankings panel.