Courtesy – ESPN.com
The Atlanta Hawks are currently sitting in first place of the Eastern Conference with a six game lead over the Washington Wizards. So far, Atlanta’s season has been truly unbelievable. Every single one of their players has been performing at their highest level of play, especially shooting guard Kyle Korver.
The Hawks have been steam-rolling throughout the season and could have up to as many as four players make the All-Star team this year. What could easily be the deadliest part of the Hawks game, comes from Korver’s deadly shooting. He has been lights out shooting the ball this year. Korver is 51.8 percent from field goal range, 53.5 percent from behind the arc and 92.2 percent from the free throw line. This season, he has become known as Mr. Automatic, a nickname he has without a doubt come to earn, as this season Kyle Korver has become the league’s deadliest shooter.
Korver is currently having a historic year in his third season with the Atlanta Hawks. In his 12th season, he continues to improve, putting up unprecedented numbers. I believe that Korver is succeeding so much with the Hawks because of their style of play. Atlanta’s head coach, Mike Budenholzer, has committed Atlanta to team basketball, where players are playing an unselfish style of basketball, where everyone gets touches and contributes.
The Hawks may not have a “big three” or abundance of “superstar” players but because of their style of play, everyone on the team thrives. Korver is always getting great looks at the basket. This is why I believe that playing under Mike Budenholzer has enabled Korver to continue to improve and become the league’s deadliest shooter. It should also come as no surprise that he is averaging 13.2 PTS per game, the second highest of his career.
Korver’s year has been a historic one so far and it doesn’t look like he appears to take his foot off the gas anytime soon. If he continues at this pace, he will become the second player in NBA history to shoot more than 90 percent from the free-throw line, while hitting more than half of his shot from the floor and behind the arc. The only other player to do so is current head coach of the Golden State Warriors, Steve Kerr, when he was playing for the Chicago Bulls during the 1995-96 season. This will also be the second season in a row that Korver finishes with the highest three-point field goal percentage in the league.
At this rate, I only see improvement for the Atlanta Hawks and Kyle Korver. They are going to be a hard team to stop come playoffs, especially if no one can stop Korver from shooting light outs on a nightly basis.
